RSS

7 charts that show how Canada's housing market is getting back on its feet after a serious drop

This is a really well laid out summary of all of the major indications to watch in the real estate market, complete with visually simple and clear charts. BuzzBuzznews does a nice job of explaining sales so it’s clear they are talking about transaction volume, and then they separately address price, which is the thing all homeowners care about. They also show how the market has shifted to lower priced properties (mostly driven by the new mortgage qualification rules) and the resulting trend toward alternatives to detached homes, such as apartments/condo’s and townhouses.

 

 

"What’s going on here: The Toronto Real Estate Board shows how home sales have varied on a month-to-month basis over the past three years.

The takeaway: Sales are inching up month-over-month in the GTA, though they’re still well below previous years. It could be a sign that sales will continue to climb in the coming months." According to BuzzBuzzNews

 

The net–net: prices are set to rise, and it’s a balanced market so its good time to move out of one property (sell) and get into another (buy).  We’re here to help understand the market as we see it, and particularly the effect of the last week of sunny weather. Call any time.  905-220-7993

 

#LindaMaguireRE 

Read

Be careful when making a home purchase offer without a Financing Condition 

- Couple ordered to pay $470,000 after reneging on Ontario home deal

 

 

A recent Toronto Start article highlighted the risk of not including a Financing Condition on your house purchase offer.  Back in late 2016 and early 2017, it became customary to see buyers making home purchases with no conditions, i.e., not conditional on financing. Many buyers subsequently bought homes, and then were unable to close, as the price of their existing feel with the market correction.  Many of those buyers are now in court attempting to recover their deposits.  The first of those cases in Ontario has now reached a conclusion, with the defaulting buyers now obligated to pay damages of $470,000!

 

 

Damages associated with backing away from a firm (no conditions) house purchase can be quite extensive, as they include the drop in price of the subject home, in the time from the initial deal (housing price peak) to the sale price when the house was later relisted and resold at a lower market.  As an example, if a house sold with no conditions in the spring of 2017, for $1.0 million, and then had to be relisted and resold after the market correction, for 15% less at $850,000, the damages would include the price reduction of $150,000.  Legal costs could also be awarded.

 

We’re likely to see many more of these stories as these many cases work their way through the Ontario courts.    

 

Firm buyers often win in competition, and although the market is fairly balanced now, we still see competition for some properties.  Should buyers go firm on house purchases?  It’s obviously risky.  In some cases the seller will not resist giving the buyer the deposit back.  In others, the seller is willing to go to court for damages.   If you’re dealing with a mortgage broker, he/she should help you figure out.  If not, call us and we’ll connect you to our mortgage broker – she’s outstanding and has helped many of our clients.

 

 

https://bit.ly/2Hre7Mr

 

#LindaMaguirerRE #Burlington #Oakville #BurlOak #BurlON

 

Read

GTA Home Pricing is far better than most reports imply.

 

From a pricing standpoint, the spring GTA Housing Market is better than many publications imply.  To understand why, we need to put the current market in context.  It’s a unique time in the history of housing in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as a result of the previous three successive years (2016, 2015 and 2014) in which we saw unprecedented annual price increases, first 10% then 20% and then a 35% jump! That three year backdrop makes it easy to misunderstand, and easy to be misled by, current announcements of real estate market statistics.  Most year-over-year reports on PRICE are indicating a 15% drop March 2018 over March 2017, along with speculation about the reasons (government intervention, mortgage qualification rules and interest rate fears).  But if you’ve owned a home for the last four years, even with this latest 15% price drop, you’ve made a spectacular and rare return on investment, and its tax free for most people.  Home equity has increased dramatically in that time. 

 

 

 

Is a 15% PRICE DROP good or bad?  Obviously if you’re planning to sell soon, a small portion of your recent equity growth has been eroded. But the price drop is also a good thing in some ways.  Market speculators are leaving the housing market since flipping a home is no longer a safe bet. Speculators represent a false element of home demand, so it’s a good thing that the market is now less driven by their activity.  Also, the price drop over the last twelve months is a long-expected correction of a previously unsustainable price surge.  The market is now returning to a balanced position, where neither the buyer nor the seller has a consistent upper hand.  Balanced markets are good for all consumers, as it reduces the likelihood of catastrophic mistakes by those who cannot afford them (like the homeowners who bought not-yet-built homes at the highest price points of the market, hoping to sell their current home later at a market-peak price, only to discover that they are now in real trouble because they overpaid for the new build and cannot afford to sell their existing home at current prices.)

 

Click the link to read economist Derek Holt’s view, written by Sarah Niedoba

http://news.buzzbuzzhome.com/2018/04/gta-housing-market-much-better-people-think-economist-says-yes.html

 

 

 

Read

If you have followed the last couple of years of “developments” in downtown Burlington, you’ll be well aware that residents have an increasing feeling of being left out of City Hall’s planning process.  In one recent example, signs went up announcing a 23 storey condominium covering most of a large block on Brant St. south, right across from city hall, in the heart of old downtown.  Residents had already been feeling as though City Hall had been secretly allowing developers to run roughshod over Burlington’s zoning and official plan, so this episode, along with several other recent baffling high rise announcements, has really angered many residents.  Whether its actually City Hall’s intent to mislead, or just its inability to communicate, inform and gather input from residents, is anyone’s guess.  But the sense that it’s the former is growing stronger.

 

Now Marianne Mead Ward, downtown Burlington councilor, has announced that she plans to join the October race for Mayor.  Marianne has demonstrated over her term as councilor, that she’s a very good communicator.  She has a background in communications, and has employed current technology to provide information in the ways that people like to consume it: email and video.  In my opinion, she’s really stood out among Burlington City Hall councilors in that she provides updates, listens and openly shares her “take” on important issues.  And she provides her views as though she’s a concerned Burlington resident, rather than as distant politician.  This may be the mix of skills that would help to enable residents to be informed, heard and involved.  Have a look at her Youtube video. 

 

 

Read

Consumers don’t care about housing VOLUME statistics: they care about PRICE

 

Real estate publications (real estate boards, national newspapers and various associations) write their reports in a way that confuses consumers. Consumers of their analysis cannot easily interpret the reporting of SALES VOLUME from the reporting of PRICE CHANGES.  Homebuyers and sellers care about PRICE, and yet the reporting typically starts with an inarticulate reference to the market TRANSACTION VOLUME, not PRICE.

 

GTA housing prices

 

Here’s a recent example:

According to data released by (…a real estate board) last week, sales were down a whopping 39.5 per cent year-over-year in March (2018).

 

Homeowners read this and think the worst – that their home is now worth 39% less. That's not true. 

 

These reports start by confusingly highlighting something that most consumers really don’t care about and don’t want to learn about – TRANSACTION VOLUME. The word “Sales” means transaction volume.  It’s the number of homes that changed hands.  Who cares about VOLUME?  Economists, newspapers and market analysts.  To them it implies something about the evolving state of the economy. 

 

The thing that consumers care about is home PRICE.  When consumers read most reports on the housing market, the reader must diligently wade past the confusing “Sales” mentions, and get to the portion on PRICE.  I look forward to the point when these publishers recognize the consumer need and clearly state their findings in capital letters, with the most important topic first.  Here’s what that would look like:

 

Housing PRICES are up/down by X% in the last year-over-year period.

Housing TRANSACTIONS are up/down by Y% in the same period.

 

That is actually what these publications are trying to communicate, but as a homeowner/homebuyer reader, you need to be careful and clear minded to distill most reports down to those two points. 

 

Read More

 

#LindaMaguireRE

Read

Linda Maguire from Royal LePage is known for her kindness and energy.  These two characteristics cause her to do a lot of little extra things for her clients.  She deeply cares about her clients and helping them get to their life goals, and she understands that selling or buying a home is just a step toward those goals.  Because of her undying energy, she readily jumps in and helps out in ways that often surprise clients.


As an example, in one recent case, Linda’s client was concerned that a dead tree in the back yard of her home, was detracting from the open back yard of a home that Linda was listing for sale.  Linda thought, “lets just cut it down”.  She went home, picked up a “sawzall” and extension cord, and on a cold day, in the midst of a heavy rain storm, Linda got down in the muck in her jeans and Burberry coat, and started cutting.  Down came the tree.

 

On another occasion, Linda’s client was concerned that, with a small dog in the house during the day, showings would be difficult to arrange.  Linda volunteered to temporarily adopt the dog, and look after it at her own home. She happily transported the dog to her home and set it up with its own bowls and a few walks per day, and showed the dog where it would sleep – in bed with Linda. 

 

Linda’s kindness and energy propel her to naturally jump into client situations and do the things to help smooth the client’s otherwise stressful process.  No wonder Linda’s clients become such close friends.  

 

   

Read

Staging: Doing Whatever It Takes

 


When the Linda Maguire Team offers to do staging for a client’s home, to prepare it for listing, it means doing whatever it takes. In this example, the seller clients had lived in the home for over 40 years, and although the home has great potential, there were many areas of the home that were showing significant wear. Linda and her team jumped in to not only bring in furniture and accessories, but they did everything from painting trim, to removing bifold doors, to taking loads of trash to the dump and more. In this series of pictures you can see Linda herself doing the painting (Linda’s dad had been a painter, so she has no hesitation about grabbing a brush and doing touch ups).

 

When the client saw Linda down on the floor painting doors and trim he was very pleasantly surprised. The client said: “We hired Linda because we loved her energy, but we never expected this. She does it all. And she never seems to stop.” Like many clients after Linda’s Team has staged their home, this one said “the house looks so great we really aren’t sure we want to sell it”.

 

Linda Staging Painting


The Linda Maguire Team takes a full on approach to staging. Rather than just bringing in a staging consultant, or creating a list of tasks for the client to undertake, Linda, with her decorating background, creates her own task list, and then actively goes 

about doing the work. With a warehouse jammed with furniture and accessories, Linda and her team load up a truck (often making several trips) and they start doing the actual staging. This might seem like an obvious thing for realtors to do, but when most realtors offer a “staging service”, the burden falls on the homeowner, so that either the client will pay for a professional staging company, or the client will do the work. Not so with Linda. Linda takes on the whole job, and applies a ton of energy and determination to get it done.

Linda Staging 2

 

Here’s a list of the things The Linda Maguire Team did at this home:

 

  • Decluttered three floors of contents so that each room was fully visible for showings, loading things in boxes and carrying items to the garage for temporary storage
  • Replaced area rugs, towels, bedding, pillows and curtains
  • and Painting where needed, meaning trim, doors, darkened ceilings etc.
  • Removing bi-fold doors between the kitchen and other areas of the house so that the doorways and the home seemed more open, with better traffic flow.
  • Replacing dim florescent light bulbs with bright LED bulbs and washing light fixtures so that the extra brightness would make the rooms more inviting
  • Mulching the gardens to improve landscaping appeal
  • Taking loads of trash to the dump to help with decluttering and ease the burden on the client

Linda Maguire Team Staging RepairsAs Linda says, “At the end of the day, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the smiles on the faces of the clients as they realize how much we have improved the appeal, and the saleability, of their home. We know how important this move is to our clients' personal goals, so its well worth our team’s efforts to push like this to get the job done”.

 

 

Read

Learn how to Maximize Your Profit Before You Sell your Home

Get your FREE copy of our ROADMAP TO SELLING YOUR HOME

 

Selling a home is a process, not an event.  As with most important things in life, being well educated in advance is critical.  These days we can learn a lot as consumers on line and through conversations with friends. That’s all good, but consider taking a few minutes to see the whole process laid out in clearly defined steps, so before you start, you know where you’re headed and how to get there with maximum profit.  

 

house for sale burlington how to sell a house

 

For example:

Pricing a Home: most people would be interested to know how to properly establish a list price for a home, and the profit pitfalls of improperly pricing it.

 

How the Money Works: Most people sell or buy a home on average every 7 years.  Often its 20 years between transactions. Learn how the money works in a real estate transaction (deposit, down payment, mortgage, commission, lawyer fees, moving costs) before you start. 

 

Negotiation: The negotiation steps are critically important, and they have the biggest impact on Seller Profit at the end of the process.

 

We can help. We’ll be happy to send you our Roadmap to Selling Your Home, and to answer your questions about the process and the market.  

 

CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR FREE COPY

Brian Maguire, The Linda Maguire Team, 905-220-7993,

or email to: brianmaguire@royallepage.ca

 

 

 #LindaMaguireRE #BurlON #BurlOak #Oakville

Read

The Linda Maguire Team, Top 1% in Royal Lepage Canada

Join our growing team to maximize your Real Estate earnings.

 

We provide a very supportive and fun work environment where you learn from the best professionals and fully develop your potential. We are looking for positive, bright, polished and dedicated sales agents. On our team, Real Estate is a passion that allows agents to be their own boss, maximize income potential and positively impact people’s lives.

 

Whether you are new to the industry or a seasoned professional, The Linda Maguire Team has a lot to offer you:

  • Supportive and sharing teammates that dig in to maximize each individual’s success.
  • Leading edge efficiency using the best and fastest technology to make us all more effective than our competitors.
  • Top negotiators, presenters and highly effective sales people to learn from.
  • Canada’s top and most prestigious and respected real estate brand (Royal Lepage) –100% Canadian owned and operated. Key Skills Customer-focus and empathetic client understanding
  • Confidence, determination and motivation
  • Professional, polished with strong oral and written communication skills
  • Technically savvy – computer literate and social media active

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or have just earned your real estate, we invite you to take the next step and launch your career with The Linda Maguire Team at Royal LePage Burloak today!

Qualifications:

  • You must have an Ontario Real Estate License.
  • You should be a resident of Burlington, Oakville or nearby. 

Contact Brian Maguire at:

905-220-7993

Brianmaguire@royallepage.ca

Read

Real estate remains a great investment in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  While we have historically seen prices double every 13 years, the last 10 years have been exceptional for price growth, with home values doubling over that period. According to a report in the Toronto star.

 
real estate market burlington oakville toronto gta linda maguire toronto star
 
Implications for buyer: as we’ve seen, first home buyers are finding it more and more difficult to get into the market.  Various first time buying strategies include: teaming up with a relative or close friend, relying on parent for borrowing a big portion of the downpayment and maybe some monthly payment help, refocusing from detached homes to condos, where supply & price are both better.  
 
Implications for sellers: Many older homeowners are cashing in, selling and “downsizing”, although that word’s meaning has certainly changed. Some are heading out of the GTA, where lower prices result in cash in hand for travelling and retirement. Others are taking the equity and reinvesting larger homes, while they continue to benefit from historically low interest rates. 
 
Is likely to be an active market, once this deep winter chill lifts, around March 1.    
 
We’re always happy discuss the market.  Give us a ring any time of day or evening. 
 
 
#LindaMaguireRE #burlON #BurlOak #Oakville #TorontoStar
Read

Cold weather tends to slow things down, and we certainly have that in spades as of January 2018. 

The Mellenials are getting more and more press, with the main group of them, known as "Peak Milennials”, now making up a big part of the first time homebuyer market.  In the Toronto market, Peak Millenials are often targeting condo’s, due to their affordability, compared with detached homes.  Baby boomers are also more and more heading for condos as a means of downsizing the complexity and maintenance of their homes, and freeing up money for lifestyle changes (mainly travel). As a result, in the GTA especially, we’re becoming a “Condo Nation”. 
 
Of course rising interest rates (another rate hike was announced today) and the forecast for addition increase in 2018 and 2019, will make it interesting.  
The level of available homes for sale, known as “Inventory” is low but will improve as we move into spring which will make buying a bit easier. 
Another factor affecting the Burlington/Oakville market is migration from other Canadian provinces.  The GTA is where the jobs are so we’re expecting that trend to continue to put upward pressure on our home prices. 
 
Lots to take in, but when you look at the marco economics, homes in the GTA are still considered by buyers across the globe to be very affordable, believe it or not, and that view, coupled with security, multiculturalism and economic prosperity will make this area a great investment for real estate for the foreseeable future. 
 
See what Royal Lepage CEO Phil Soper and others are saying: 
 
#LindaMaguireRE #LindaMaguire #BurlON #BurlOak #Oakville #HamiltonON
Read

December Homes Sales Surged In Advance of New Mortgage Rules

This is the result we saw in December, as some sellers rushed to get ahead of the feared drop in prices.  We haven’t seen dropping prices, even into January, as inventory (the number of hones on the market) continues to be very low, which causes buyers to have little in the way of home selection options. Inventory is typically low at this time of year, as owner prefer to wait till their yards are viewable in the spring.  In addition, buyers tend to lay low in December and January, and then start to come out of hibernation toward the end of February.  Stay tuned - we should see more inventory then.   

 

real estate sales burlington december linda maguire dominion lending

 

Rad the full report HERE

 

#LindaMaguireRE #BurlON #BulrOak #Oakville #HamiltonON 

Read
The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS®, and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are member’s of CREA. The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by CREA and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.