7 First Time Home Buyer Grants & Incentives in BC, Canada (2025 Guide)

Buying your first home is a huge milestone — but in a competitive and high-cost market like BC, it can also feel overwhelming.

The good news? If you're buying your first home in BC, there are powerful grants and incentives designed to help you save tens of thousands of dollars on your purchase.

In this guide, we’ll break down 7 essential grants, exemptions, and incentives at the provincial and federal level that will save you thousands of dollars on your first home in Kelowna, the Okanagan Valley, or anywhere across the province of British Columbia, Canada.

Incentives for First Time Buyers in BC, Canada

Provincial Incentives for British Columbia Buyers

1. First-Time Home Buyers’ Program (Property Transfer Tax Exemption)

The…

788 Views, 0 Comments

10 Best Schools in West Kelowna, BC (2025 Guide)

Your child’s future starts with the right school—and in West Kelowna, the options can feel overwhelming. What if you choose the wrong one?

Whether you're moving here for a fresh start or raising your family in the place you love, the school you choose can shape your child's confidence, creativity, and lifelong potential. The best schools don’t just teach—they unlock hidden talent, nurture emotional growth, and give kids a chance to belong.

In this 2025 guide, we break down the top-rated elementary, middle, and high schools in West Kelowna—one of the best places to call home in the Okanagan.

We review test scores, plus other important matters for parents: safe environments, strong programs, community culture, and future-ready…

300 Views, 0 Comments

How to Become a REALTOR in BC, Canada

Thinking about a career in BC real estate?

Becoming a REALTOR in BC gives you the freedom to be your own boss, chase limitless earnings, and experience the joy of helping people find their perfect home.

This guide walks you through the steps required to launching your real estate career in British Columbia, Canada in 2025.

1. Get Licensed as a REALTOR® in BC

Your first step to becoming a real estate agent in British Columbia, Canada is completing the Real Estate Trading Services Licensing Course with UBC’s Sauder School of Business.

✔️ REALTOR pre-licensing is offered by the University of British Columbia, covering essential topics like real estate law, ethics, valuation, and finance.

✔️ Next, you’ll complete the Real…

251 Views, 0 Comments

What’s the Right Way to Flip a Home?

Now that flipping homes has made a resurgence in popularity, I want to give you advice about how to do it properly.

Search All Homes on the MLS | Get a Home Valuation

Today, let’s talk about something near and dear to my heart—flipping homes. This is something that I consulted many people on about 10 years ago during that last real estate boom. During the slump, it went out of style, but here we are again at the height of another real estate boom.

Flipping homes makes good sense in this market, so today, I’ll be giving you an updated version of the right way to flip homes.

A lot of people make the mistake of just buying a home, adding a profit margin, and then just taking a price that they think they’d need to justify the whole…

2214 Views, 0 Comments

How Will the New BC Budget Impact Real Estate? - Video

Will the new British Columbia budget heavily impact the real estate market? Here’s what you need to know.

Search All Homes on the MLS | Get a Home Valuation

Today, we’re going to discuss the new BC budget and what the potential impacts are to our real estate market.

1. Foreign buyers tax. The foreign buyers tax has increased from 15% to 20%. The interesting part is that it now includes us, where we were exempt before.

2. Property transfer tax. Properties over $3 million will now have a 5% transfer tax. If you buy a $3.5 million house, you’ll see about another $2,500 on your transfer tax bill. Is that going to dissuade someone at that price point? Not likely.

3. The BC Home Partnership program, which was giving first-time buyers a…

2900 Views, 0 Comments

Don’t Fall for These 7 Bad Real Estate Investing Ideas - Video

Don’t fall for these bad ideas if you plan on investing in real estate in 2018.

Search All Homes on the MLS | Get a Home Valuation

2018 is a new year, which means new opportunities. However, there are a few bad ideas that you should avoid this year.

1. Do not get your information from the media. You probably clicked on this video because of the negative headline, right? Keep in mind that almost every economist, from the Bank of Canada to RVC to the credit unions, expects 3% to 7% growth this year. That is not much of a headline, so the headlines will all be about bad news because bad news sells. Look at economic models to know what’s really going on. Of course, we’ll continue to roll out our educational videos about the actual…

2641 Views, 0 Comments

What You Need to Know About Your Property Tax Assessment - Video

Search All Homes on the MLS | Get a Home Valuation

Be Sure to click "Read Full Post" below to watch video.

By now, you’ve probably received your property tax assessment in the mail. You may have mixed feelings about the large increase we’ve seen in property values lately, so I want to dispel some common misconceptions about property tax assessments.

A lot of people assume any increase in their assessment will equate to the same increase in their property taxes. In other words, if their property’s value goes up by 20% in their assessment, then they’ll see the same 20% jump in their property taxes. That’s not the case, though. How property tax assessments are done is a little more complicated than that.

Assessors also take into…

2464 Views, 0 Comments

Kelowna’s Top 5 Hottest Neighborhoods—#1 Will Surprise You

We hear headlines like the central Okanagan home values are up 8.5% year over year and that’s great, but which neighborhoods in Kelowna are driving that appreciation? Which neighborhoods are performing well above the regional average? Whether you’re an investor looking to buy in the hottest little pocket or just a homeowner curious to know how your neighborhood stacks up, this little comparison should be of interest to you.

Before we jump into the top 5 growth neighborhoods, here is a bit of context to give you a frame of reference. The bottom 5 neighborhoods only appreciated by between 4% and 10%.

OK and now for the list. You will note that the top 3 are essentially in a 3-way tie and at 23% price growth. A couple tenths of a percent can be swayed…

12195 Views, 0 Comments

The Launch of The Vantage Report - Okanagan Real Estate Q1/Q2

UPDATE - READ THE UPDATED 2017 Q3-Q4 VANTAGE REPORT HERE

With the first half of the year on the books, I wanted to summarize where we are at during these interesting times.

The Desire for Investment Properties Is Staggering

As you might expect with two years in a row of double digit property value growth in the Okanagan, and the headlines that go with it, we have seen the number of properties purchased for investment increase by 40 percent. This is a combination of baby boomers looking to augment their retirement income and out-of-towners catching wind that Kelowna’s market is in the full swing of a real estate boom and looking to get a piece of the action.

Now not all real estate investments in Kelowna have performed equally. Some have…

1358 Views, 0 Comments

Is Investing In Kelowna Real Estate Actually Worth It?

I like to tell war stories. You know, the really gritty, tough moments of being a Kelowna real estate investor—the nightmare tenants who are 3 months behind on rent, the money sucking roof repairs, flooded basements, and backed-up sewer lines. Maybe it's a badge of honour, or maybe I just like to vent, but inevitably every time I share one of these trials with someone I get a similar response. People say “Yeah, I just don't think it's worth it” or “Seems like it's not worth the hassle”.

Now, to be fair, typically the people I'm chatting with aren't high-powered executives or independently wealthy types. They're regular, working-class people like you and me, who work a 40 or 50+ hour week in exchange for a wage or salary. Most of them are daily…

6812 Views, 0 Comments