-
Show Me the Money
It seems like chat around the office water cooler or photocopier always seems to revolve around Real Estate. A question that commonly comes up is that given the state of our economy in Canada, “Where is all of the money coming from for people to buy houses?” Mortgage, loans and lines of credit rates are…
|
-
Homes in Durham Region — Where are the Buyers Coming From?
It has been 3 weeks since the Bank of Canada decreased their lending rate by ¼ percent and thought it would be a good exercise to see how the market has reacted. From Whitby to Clarington there are currently 888 detached homes for sale. At the beginning of June, the inventory was 725, an increase…
|
-
What Upgrades Pay off?
I met with 2 groups last week, one a potential Seller and the other a Buyer I had been working with. After meeting with them, I reflected on how different the two experiences were when it came to valuing Real Estate. The first was a Buyer who I had been working with for the past…
|
-
Durham Region Real Estate Rental Report
I spend much of my time reading reports on Real Estate and most articles and blog posts discuss Buyers, Sellers and the state of the market as it relates to mortgage rates. What I rarely see is information about how the rental market is doing in Durham Region. I thought it would be worthwhile to…
|
-
Are we in a Buyer’s Market or a Seller’s Market?
I had a conversation with a newer agent over the weekend who did their best to convince me that we are in a full-on Buyer’s market. The number of homes for sale is up, prices are flat, and the selling times have increased. I simply nodded thinking to myself, “this agent may have never seen a true Buyer’s market.”…
|
-
Busting through Real Estate Myths
I thought I would take some time and offer some truths on common misconceptions in the world surrounding Real Estate. I have heard many things Buyers and Sellers have shared with me over the past 40 years that might fit more into “wives’ tales” or just plain silliness. Let’s look at a few of the ideas that…
|
-
What is a parking spot worth?
I took a look at what developers are charging for parking spots on newly built condos locally. Tribute has several towers on Simcoe and the lowest priced unit with a parking space is listed for $714,000. This unit is 828 sq feet. Another unit with no parking and at 482 sq ft is priced at…
|
-
Understanding Real Estate by Reading Trends
One thing I love to do is to make predictions. In December 2023 I made some predictions about where the values in Oshawa, Whitby and Clarington would be in May 2024. Let’s review my thoughts and see how accurate I was.The 4th quarter of 2023 was challenging time for Sellers, with values declining and sluggish sales. For…
|
-
Durham Real Estate – Timing is Everything
Last week was March break and typical for this week many of the Buyers who would normally be looking, were entertaining their children. A recent survey found that 59% of recent Buyers were married couples and with this, March break normally sees a slight slowdown in Buyer activity. This year was no different. Comparing the…
|
-
Another Federal Real Estate Incentive Disappears
It came, it went and honestly very few people had any idea what it was. I am talking about the “First Time Home Buyers Incentive” program. This complex program seemed doomed from the beginning, with the gain in equity shared by the Federal Government. The maximum a first time Buyer could spend to qualify for…
|