Buying a home with points, where our cities are shrinking and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for the week of Oct. 9

This week: A way to buy a home with rewards points, and the parts of our fastest-growing cities that are actually shrinking. Plus, a clash over discipline for a real-estate scandal, and one home worth a look.

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This rewards program wants to help you buy a home. Should you use it?

Rewards programs can help you travel, get cash back or even enjoy a free birthday treat, but what about buying a home? A new company offers a way for your everyday spending and even paying your rent on time to earn you points towards perhaps the biggest purchase of your life – no credit card required.

Quarters connects to all your bank accounts and credit cards, awarding you 1 per cent on most purchases that you can use to cover a realtor’s broker fee, potentially saving you thousands on closing costs. As Salmaan Farooqui reports, co-founder Romir Joshi says the program helps aspiring homeowners feel their goal is within reach, realtors get referrals for reliable clients, and institutional landlords attract tenants who are further incentivized to pay rent on time. “We just literally need to show them the property, sign a couple pieces of paper, and they [the realtors] can get paid,” Joshi told Salmaan.

But should you use Quarters? It’s gotten a couple of glowing reviews, with one user saying he saved $8,000, largely through purchases on Uber Eats, a partner app. Calgary-based rewards expert Patrick Sojka says the program is worth it because it allows you to stack your rewards on top of existing credit card rewards like RBC’s Avion or Blue Rewards (formerly Air Miles). However, it’s common for rewards programs to start out strong and then cut back benefits, so read Salmaan’s piece and keep an eye out for diminishing returns down the road.

Shrinking cities

The population is declining in pockets of Vancouver and Toronto. What if we built more housing there?

Has the solution to the housing crisis been right in front of us all along? Toronto and Vancouver’s populations have doubled in the last 50 years, but there are pockets where the population has shrunk since 1970s – sometimes by as much as 40 per cent. One of those neighbourhoods is affluent Kerrisdale, where my weekend bike rides take me by more and more shuttered shops. And as Alex Bozikovic reports with Yang Sun’s data analysis, the west-side Vancouver neighbourhood is far from an anomaly.

Using census data on clusters of a few blocks, the data shows something you can’t see from the street. In the Vancouver region, 21 per cent of these clusters declined in population between 1971 and 2021, losing 76,424 people in total, and many others failed to keep up with growth. The pattern is even more stark in and around Toronto: Almost three-quarters of those established areas had declined, shedding a total of 540,789 people. Statistics Canada advises against such a granular analysis because boundaries change over time, but, as Yang told me, “that is the level urban planners, demographers, cartographers or journalists often want to see how a place has changed.”

So what’s going on in your neighbourhood, and could building more into these shrinking areas help us avoid urban sprawl? Experts say they could absorb more residents and at a lower cost than building new communities, but as Alex writes, it’s not as simple as that. Read the story to see where cities are gaining or losing population, and why some see a solution to the housing crisis in the data.

This week’s lowest fixed and variable mortgage rates in Canada

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured vs. uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, Oct. 8.

Scandal in Saskatchewan

Punishment for realtors in multimillion-dollar scandal causes clash

Things are getting heated in the Prairies. The decision to allow two real estate agents who broke provincial and Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission rules dozens of times to keep their licenses has the Saskatchewan Realtors’ Association riled up over the “wholly inadequate” punishment and calling for an overhaul at the regulator. And as Shane Dingman reports, the disagreement is renewing attention on the scandal and how realtors are disciplined.

Paul Chavady and Jerry Hallgrimson failed to represent the interests of buyers when representing both buyers and sellers on 67 occasions, failed to remove conditions on sales contracts and, in one case, failed to disclose the presence of asbestos in a home they sold in dual agency, according to the commission’s recent disciplinary decision. The two business partners held key roles at Epic Alliance Inc., a real-estate investing and property-management company that collapsed in 2022, after it was found to have broken securities trading rules in raising $211-million from investors across Canada.

Their punishment? Each must pay $100,000 in fines and serve a six-month suspension, staggered so that at least one can continue practising real estate while the other is suspended. The SRA says it’s not harsh enough to uphold the trust consumers place in realtors, and has called for an inquiry and overhaul at the SREC. However the commission defended its decision, saying the evidence didn’t demonstrate the criminality required to permanently revoke their licenses. Read more about the scandal and why the two bodies are at odds over how to regulate realtors.

Design corner

Three beautiful heritage home renovations – and tips to do it on a budget

What’s old is new, and that goes for your home, too. But how can you actually turn good bones into something fit for this millennium? These three heritage home renovations took different approaches to balancing original character and modern comforts, but all got beautiful results. From opening up a vaulted ceiling in a 1920s Tudor in Toronto to preserving a neo-Georgian’s stunning woodwork in Quebec, take a peek inside the transformations to get inspired.

And while these projects weren’t necessarily on a budget, designers told Silvana Longo there are plenty of ways to keep a home’s character without breaking the bank. You might think it’s cheaper to gut everything, but read their tips for preserving your home’s history and your finances before you get out the sledgehammer.

Home of the Week

A B.C. schoolhouse gets a new assignment

816 248 St., Langley, B.C. – Full gallery here

This historic home offers a lesson in creative vision. Built in Langley’s farm country in 1922, the original one-room schoolhouse was expanded in 1970, shuttered in 1983 and became a private residence in 1987, with many haphazard renovations following. But carpenter Alex Oosthoek and his wife Jill, an artist, saw through the peculiarities to the cozy space it would become for their two daughters to grow up.

After taking it down to the studs, harmonizing the rooflines of the expansion and turning the covered former play area into an in-law suite, the vision started to come to life. The 1970s addition was once the school office, but now houses the kitchen, three bathrooms and lounging and dining areas with a wood stove and exposed beams on the ceiling. There is a modern farmhouse feeling throughout the inside of the four-bedroom, 2,724-square foot home, but vestiges of the former classroom remain, including panelled ceiling and walls painted white in the entry area. Outside, cedar shake siding gives it a distinctly West-Coast feel.

Sitting on an acre whose designation protects against urban sprawl, the property is surrounded by large equestrian estates and, save for the stars, “black, black, black” at night, said Mr. Oosthoek. But while the family enjoyed the quiet, the surrounding community’s connection to the schoolhouse – and, sometimes, their escaped cows – also made living there special. Inspired by the school’s pancake breakfast every Christmas, the Oosthoeks hosted a holiday potluck for neighbours, former students and retired teachers. “The school was a community hub, and it was really nice to do that again,” Ms. Oosthoek said.