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Lovely, Oversized Downtown Toronto Condo Has Wood Fireplace
See how big this suite is for the money!!
Our Team has just listed a very large (953 sf) one-bedroom suite on Lombard Street just west of Jarvis.
The suite faces south with lots of sun coming in through the den/solarium floor-to-ceiling windows and overlooks a quiet courtyard with fountain.
In addition there are two bathrooms and one underground parking space with locker cage above.
The owners have taken extra good care of their home and it shows! The building has fabulous concierge service and the roof-top deck is the place to spend some summer nights around the pool!
Take a look at the interior photos, feature sheet and the video to see if this suite is perfect for you!
You can also arrange a showing right from that same page 
Toronto Real Estate Board Posts Record Sales In February
Large 1-bdrm + den & solarium overlooking the lake coming for sale in a week
Although the official Toronto Real Estate Board statistics haven’t been released yet, preliminary estimates show that February had record sales above 7,200 houses and condominiums.
The main problem is inventory… there were just over 14,400 listings on the market during the month – down 32% from one year ago (not a reasonable comparison due to the economic situation then) – but also down from 18,000 homes for sale in February 2008.
These days we’re encountering multiple offers due to listing agents deliberately underlisting homes almost 90% of the time! Not fair to buyers and no real advantage to sellers!
Check back with us by the end of the week for the full Toronto Real Estate Board statistical analysis.
You’ve Renovated Your Toronto Home To Claim The Home Renovation Tax Credit – Now What?
The Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) was a program introduced by the Canadian Government to help homeowners boost the value of their homes by allowing them to claim a tax credit for completing any necessary renovations.
Any work performed or goods acquired between January 27, 2009 and February 1, 2010 can qualify, and the purchase of supplies for renovations is eligible no matter when they are actually installed.
Some examples of renovation details that are included in the HRTC are building permit fees, professional installation, equipment renting costs, painting, remodeling, finishing a basement or adding new flooring. Even if you performed all or most of the work yourself or had a family member help out, many of the supplies purchased will still be eligible.
What is the maximum tax credit?
Homeowners can claim 15 per cent of any eligible renovation expenses that are between $1,000 and $10,000, resulting in a maximum tax credit of $1,350.
How do I claim the HTRC?
The HTRC is claimed on a special section that will be added to tax booklets for the 2009 tax year called Schedule 12. This section must be completed and any original receipts for services or goods that qualify should be included.
The Canada Revenue Agency has also maintained that it will be strictly enforcing actions against members of the “underground economy”, meaning individuals or businesses who aren’t registered and don’t pay taxes. It’s important to note that the business or GST number of the company should be included, and the Canada Revenue Agency has cause to deny any portion of a claim that involves an unregistered or illegitimate business.
Missed out on the HRTC?
The qualifying period for the HRTC expired on February 1, 2009. However, there are many other programs that have been implemented by all levels of government to assist you financially in the renovation of your home. These programs include the Government of Canada Retrofit Rebate Program, the Ontario Home Energy Savings Program and the Home Energy Assistance Toronto Program.
All three programs combined allow homeowners to receive up to $11,000 in grants and rebates to renovate their homes to be more energy-efficient, and they don’t expire until March 31, 2011.
Low Toronto Real Estate Inventory Levels Set Stage For Busy Spring Market
New RE/MAX report shows active listings down in 81 per cent of Canadian markets in January
Lack of inventory will be the greatest challenge facing housing markets across the country this Spring, according to a report released by RE/MAX!
The RE/MAX Market Trends Report 2010, which examined real estate trends and developments in 16 markets across the country, found that unusually strong activity during one of the traditionally quietest months of the year has led to a sharp decline in active listings in 81 per cent of markets surveyed.
The threat of higher interest rates, tighter lending criteria, and in British Columbia and Ontario, the introduction of the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) have clearly served to kick-start real estate activity from coast-to-coast, prompting an unprecedented influx of purchasers.
As a result, 87.5 per cent of markets posted an increase in sales in January. Average price appreciated in 81 per cent of markets surveyed.
There have never been so many motivating factors in play at once. We’re in for a heated Spring market that will, in all probability, spill over into the summer months, as the window of opportunity draws to a close.
The supply of homes listed for sale has been drastically reduced, housing values are once again on the upswing, and banks and governments are moving in unison toward stricter lending policies.
Markets experiencing the tightest inventory levels include Toronto (- 41 per cent); Kitchener-Waterloo (-33 per cent); Ottawa (- 30 per cent); Victoria (- 30 per cent); Greater Vancouver (- 27 per cent); Halifax-Dartmouth (- 19 per cent); London-St. Thomas (- 18 per cent); Regina (- 16 per cent); and Winnipeg (- 13 per cent).
Active Listings Are Down Across The Country
Conditions were still balanced, but starting to tighten in Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon, particularly in the single-family detached category.
The highest year-over-year sales gains were reported in Greater Vancouver (152 per cent), Kelowna (121 per cent), Greater Toronto (87 per cent), Victoria (69 per cent), Hamilton-Burlington (58 per cent), London-St. Thomas (55 per cent) and Calgary (47 per cent).
Western Canadian cities dominated the list of centres with the highest increases in price appreciation. These included Victoria at 25.5 per cent, Kelowna at 22 per cent, Greater Vancouver at 19.5 per cent, and Winnipeg at 17 per cent.
St. John’s (23 per cent) and Toronto (19 per cent) were also among the frontrunners for price growth.
Affordability is the catalyst for the vast majority of purchasers in today’s housing market. While homeownership is still within reach in many major centres, levels are slipping. There is a growing sense, on both sides of the fence, that the time to act is now.
While buyers are taking advantage of favourable conditions, sellers too are reaping the rewards. Competing bids are a factor in the marketplace once again, with well-priced listings—especially at the entry-level price point—experiencing multiple offers.
Properties priced at fair-market value will likely sell quickly for top dollar. The overall pressure on sales and price is significant across the board – and it’s not likely to subside unless more inventory comes on-stream.
The level of frustration is growing, as pent-up demand builds. For every successful offer, there are those that will walk away empty-handed. They’re thrust back into the buyer pool and the process starts all over again.
Some buyers are upping the ante, while others are considering alternate housing options. Still, purchasers remain cautious in their bids, with most careful not to max out debt service ratios.
Recent revisions to lending criteria will add fuel to the fire in the short term. Buyers considering a variable rate mortgage will step up their plans for homeownership in the next month or so just to get in under the wire. In the longer term, buyers will adjust, but move forward.
Compromise has long been a reality—particularly in the larger centres. This simply means they may go smaller or further in their pursuits.
It’s been a 180 degree turnaround from this time last year. It’s clear that real estate from coast to coast has roared back to life and markets are once again firing on all cylinders. The vast majority of markets are now recovered and fully-evolved, with all segments working in tandem.
At the luxury price point, activity was brisk in seventy-three per cent of centres surveyed, with momentum ramping up in the remainder.
Opportunity exists in some areas, but the question is for how much longer?
My Faith In Toronto’s Real Estate Media Has Been Badly Shaken Recently
We’ve all heard those conspiracy stories… hidden government agendas, commies under everyone’s pillows, spies behind every lamppost… but I really haven’t bought into them over the years. I believed that what I read in the newspapers or watched on television was reality and could be believed. Naive maybe but I was a believer in the truth.
Now for the first time, I’m not so sure!
Recently three things have happened to shake my faith in ‘truth in reporting’ and I’m not convinced that it’s a conspiracy but MAYBE just a case of incompetent reporting.
First was the H1N1 scare and the reporting that the vaccine was harmless. In my limited circle of people I know, there have been three near-fatalities and one death from taking the vaccine. In one case, the mother called all the big news networks to tell them about how her 22-year old daughter almost died within seconds of getting the vaccine administered and none of them were interested in the story.
The second was the Toyota vehicle recall. Day after day we heard about all the recalls and the dangers of those cars. Nowhere did we hear that the type of problems that the recalls were all about happened extremely rarely and almost always to vehicles which had been driven a lot of miles! Still a concern and something that needed to be addressed, but a needless worry to someone who drove their car normally and hadn’t experienced any symptoms whatsoever.
And then the icing on the cake – the media frenzy about the Competition Bureau’s action against the Canadian Real Estate Association and all of it’s Realtor members across Canada. The media has been presenting information in a distorted, inaccurate and misleading fashion throughout this entire affair.
The fact is that there have always been alternate MLS commission structures available to consumers right down to practically zero for the lowest level of service. And that’s OK – home sellers should have a choice. In fact, owners have always been able to sell their homes for zero commissions by themselves and there are plenty of companies and websites which cater to this type of consumer.
The problem is… for the most part selling properties on their own OR hiring a cheap agent have either failed to get the home sold or resulted in inferior service… a natural result of not being exposed to the best market for buyers (the MLS system) or not having adequate, competent representation.
Be honest, if you were only getting paid pennies on the dollar for a job, would you give out YOUR best work? Isn’t that why the communist system collapsed in Russia and Eastern Europe? No one ever did anything or, if they did the work, it was shoddy at best!
The issue which the media have missed entirely with the Competition Bureau’s Tribunal application is it is NOT a commission issue, it’s a representation or agency issue! They want consumers to be able to list their homes on the privately owned MLS system (imagine going to a GM dealer and saying “I want to park my car on YOUR lot and sell it privately”) and not have anyone to represent them at all.
In reality, the potential for multiple lawsuits coming from all of this is immense.
For example, a seller representing themselves agrees to pay a commission to a buyer agent. The buyer agent does a great job for their client (the home purchaser) and gets them a fabulous price – certainly possible since most sellers aren’t versed in the art of negotiation – and the seller realizes later he sold his house for too little.
Or a seller, acting on their own, fails to disclose some major defect about his or her home – something which a reputable listing agent would always do – and the buyer finds out after closing.
These are only a few of the consequences of not having representation which come to mind immediately – I’m sure there are lots more.
So… we need a media which FAIRLY and HONESTLY represents the public interest. Perhaps taking a bit more time to dig deeper into a story to get to the truth and avoid the sensational headlines which they so love to print or announce on the eleven o’clock news. In fact, they might find that there’s NO sensational story there in the first place.
I came across this video recently and, since it applied to my current distrust with what the Toronto Star or the Globe And Mail have been printing lately, I thought I’d have some fun with it. With a bit of “tongue-in-cheek”, take a peek.
