Resources

Maps

A collection of maps useful when choosing where to live are on the maps page.

Earthquake Risk Information

We live in an earthquake zone and the big one is coming.  You may want to evaluate the risk in the specific area you are considering before buying.

Greater Victoria Earthquake Risk Map

Tsunami Hazard Regions in the CRD

Municipal Taxes

Greater Victoria is composed of 13 municipalities, each with their own property tax rates.

MunicipalitiesTax Rate ($/$1000 value)Representative House ValueResidential Taxes
Victoria7.1137 $566,834 $4,032
Oak Bay6.2827 $891,962 $5,604
View Royal5.8939 $543,446 $3,203
Saanich6.5635 $592,500 $3,889
Central Saanich6.6015 $543,668 $3,589
North Saanich4.8643 $692,435 $3,368
Sidney6.3977 $474,010 $3,033
Esquimalt7.99559 $471,106 $3,767
Colwood6.8131 $456,627 $3,111
Langford6.1814 $423,188 $2,616
Highlands5.8375 $525,191 $3,066
Metchosin5.4691 $535,629 $2,929
Sooke7.1104 $352,825 $2,509

Investment Property Analyzer

Courtesy of Bigger Pockets, a spreadsheet to analyze the investment potential of rental properties.

Wait or Buy Calculator

Prepared by Roger Need

The goal of the “Rent or Buy Calculator” is to determine if it is more advantageous to buy now or wait one or two years before purchasing a property. The intent is to make an “apples to apples” comparison between these different options. A number of input parameters must be entered on the left side of the Buy Now or Wait sheet and the results are immediately presented in a table on the right. The calculations and results are based on the following assumptions:

  • It is assumed that the same property is being purchased in all three scenarios. Only the time frame and purchase price are different. Current and predicted prices are entered by the user as parameters.
  • Each scenario is based on the same initial savings for a down payment which is entered as an input parameter.
  • The Annual Rental Costs and the Annual Ownership Costs are computed based on a number of input parameters. The difference between them results in an annual savings to the renter which is invested at a rate input by the user. The running total plus return on investment (ROI) becomes the down payment for a home purchase one or two years later. This requires savings discipline by the buyer and if the savings are not made the results are invalid.
  • Mortgage payments are based on a fixed term mortgage with the term and rate set by the user. If the property has a rental suite the after tax income is entered and used as an extra monthly payment. Predicted interest rates for now, 2013 and 2014 are used by the mortgage calculator to determine current and future monthly payments.
  • In order to make a fair comparison it is necessary to adjust the Buy Now, 1 Yr. Later and 2 Yrs. Later mortgage payments to have the same value. This is done by adding an additional monthly payment which goes toward paying down the mortgage principal.

Download Excel spreadsheet