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How Important is Local Media?
Bombshell news from last week. Metroland has filed for bankruptcy. In case you are unaware of Metroland they are the company behind the largest local print newspaper in Durham Region. They publish under the name “This Week” in most of the communities of Durham Region, and in total the company will cease to print 70…
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Experience from the 90’s Helping Home Sellers in 2023
A quick review of mortgage rates in Ontario looks something like this; eeek!The Bank of Canada started to increase rates last March and we have seen the lending rates have increased from .25% to 5%. These increases have happened over 10 resets of the lending rate. No one can argue that mortgage rates are higher than…
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Why Experience Matters
Something fascinating happened over the past few weeks. I was contacted by a Seller who had listed his home with a friend, and after a few weeks he terminated the listing and approached me to see if I could sell his home. His friend, an agent from Toronto gave him a “good deal” and brought…
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Why Building More Homes will not fix our Housing Issues
For the past few years, we have heard that we are in a housing crisis with the common reasoning being that there are not enough homes for sale to meet demand. Here are some points to ponder that may give reason to think the issues are much deeper than supply issues. Let’s begin with what…
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Buying a Condo Townhome or Detached home in Durham Region
What is the best investment? I recently sold a condo townhouse and during the selling process I had some very interesting conversations. A comment made by a renter who was looking at buying a home was that they felt condo townhomes would not increase in value like semi-detached or detached homes would, so they wrote…
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Durham Region Open Houses – Why Agents ask Buyers to Sign in
We hosted an open house recently and had a flurry of Buyers tour the home. There is always a mix of open house attendees; curiosity seekers, neighbours, and “professional” open house tourists. In this case, we had some very serious prospects looking at the home. One of the elements of hosting an open house is…
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Is Real Estate still a sound investment?
The average Canadian family income is around $80,000/year. Let’s assume a family can save 10% of their income yearly, they would have a nest egg of about $80,000 in a decade of savings. Now let’s assume they averaged a 5% return over that time. Their investment would have grown to somewhere between $84,000 and $100,000. …
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Sales Storytime: 2 Homes, Same Street, Different Results
The story of two homes that were sold on the same street, and how the results were 180 degrees different. I listed a home for sale that had been owned by the same family for over 60 years. It was in original shape, not in poor condition however it needed upgrading throughout. My guess was…
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When Neighbours are not your Best Friends
A client over the past few weeks had an interesting experience with their property. The home was a bungalow in need of some work and the Seller decided to list it with us and get the property on the market and sold. Prior to getting the paperwork signed and getting the home listed for sale,…
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Revisiting Predictions – Facts vs. Headlines
I spoke with a Buyer last fall, and they shared with me that they were holding off buying until the market bottomed out. If they gathered information from headlines of the major news media outlets, the Buyer may feel they were relying on accurate information or predictions. Alas, that individual would currently be paying about…
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