First, a family unit — and this includes spouses and any children under age 18 — can only designate one property
as a principal residence in each calendar year.
This is great news for families with multiple properties, because you can claim the property with the highest gain
as your principal residence for any given period.
Non-borrowing spouses, who are named in the HECM documents, will now be allowed to defer payment on the home and continue to occupy the home
as the principal residence as long as they meet certain criteria such as paying taxes and insurance on the property.
The property will qualify
as a principal residence if the taxpayer, taxpayer's spouse or common - law partner, or any of the taxpayer's children lived in it at some time during the year.
You don't have to choose which house you designate
as your principal residence immediately; you can make the election when you sell one of the properties, unless you decide to rent one of the properties.
Option 2: If you designated your house
as your principal residence from 2001 to 2009, then you'd owe tax on the sale of your home (when you sold it) for the years 2010 to 2015, and you'd owe tax on the sale of your condo for the years 2002 to 2009.
Investment properties, even if originally acquired
as principal residences by the current borrowers, may only be refinanced for the outstanding principal balance.
So in your case, if you were to rent your house out and move into a rental property with your spouse then you could still designate your house
as your principal residence even though you're not living there — although you would still need to file a subsection 45 (2) election as part of your next tax filing.
Capital Gains with No Income Tax: Once every two years, single homeowners can accept a tax - exempt profit up to $ 250,000, as long as they owned and occupied the home
as a principal residence during any two of the last five years before they sold.