Many people are uncertain as to whether now – of all times – would be a wise idea to buy a home in Toronto. Toronto real estate lawyer and writer Mark Weisleder pointed out in his most recent column that in his 28 years on the job, he hasn’t seen so many positive signs for housing before. Here’s why:

There's never been so many reasons to buy a home in Toronto.

Immigration

Canada is appealing to immigrants for many reasons, including a steady real estate market. Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area in particular are top destinations for immigrants to come and live, and when they do, they often buy homes, keeping the GTA and Toronto real estate markets strong.

We aren’t like the US

The housing market disaster we’ve seen in the United States simply can’t happen here. Foreclosures in the US are at an all-time high, with approximately 7 million homes underwater and the same number already foreclosed upon. As banks repossess these homes and put them back on the market, they drag down prices across the board.

In Canada, over 99 per cent of Canadians are paying their mortgages on time, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Historically-low mortgage rates

Mortgage rates across Canada are currently the lowest they’ve ever been.

You can read the full column here at the Moneyville website.

Mark Weisleder is a lawyer and author who frequently writes about the Toronto Real Estate industry. for the Toronto Star and the Star’s sister site, Moneyville. Visit his website here.

Why It’s A Good Time To Buy Toronto Real Estate is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

How’s the Toronto Real Estate Market faring in 2012 so far? Quite well! The Toronto Real Estate Board has just released its mid-month resale housing figures for January 2012, which covers Toronto home sales through the Toronto MLS Listings for the first two months of January in 2012.

Toronto Real Estate sales are doing well even early in 2012. Think warm thoughts!

“The market didn’t miss a beat after the holiday season, with robust sales growth continuing and sellers’ market conditions remaining in place,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President, Richard Silver, in a press release about the mid-month housing figures. “Strong competition between buyers continued to push the average selling price higher in the Greater Toronto Area relative to a year ago.”

GTA real estate agents reported 1,506 sales using the Toronto MLS Listings during this time period, which is an increase of six per cent. New listings also increased over the same time period, rising 3.7 per cent over last year.

To see the full press release, including average prices and sales by property type and area code, click here!

Toronto Real Estate Sales In 2012 – So Far is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

This week, Toronto city council approved a 2.5 per cent residential tax increase for 2012. And to follow the example that all major local news outlets are using, this would add $60 to the current Toronto property tax bill for a home that is assessed at $447,090 – or what’s considered average.

Dust off the old calculator - should you get a Toronto property tax assessment?

Now, $60 isn’t a huge pile of money, but it’s still more than you were paying before. And, you might actually already be paying more than your fair share. Your property tax amount is based on your property tax assessment, which can be too high. An appeal of a property tax assessment that is too high can lead to literally thousands of dollars saved.

Homes along the residential streets of downtown Toronto are more likely to experience a tax assessment that is incorrect and too high. This is because in the sometimes monotonous suburbs, all the houses are of similar size and value because they were often constructed at the same time and by the same builder, as is the case with many neighbourhood developments. These homes are likely to all have the same property tax assessment and can be compared to one another easily.

In downtown Toronto, the homes are very unique and different across the board. You could have new construction, a single-detached older home and a small bungalow all on the same street.

If you’re concerned about your property tax assessment being too high, chat with nearby homeowners who live in homes similar to yours with respect to size, age and design. A discrepancy between tax assessments in similar homes could raise a red flag, but keep in mind that things you can’t see inside of the home – such as a brand new kitchen or master bathroom renovation – can also affect the home’s overall value and therefore the property tax assessment.

Note that for this tax year, the deadline to file a Request for Reconsideration (RfR) with the City of Toronto is April 2, 2012. This review is free of charge. Visit the City of Toronto website for more information.

Getting Your Toronto Property Tax Assessment is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

The latest numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board show that 2011 was officially the best sales year on record for Toronto real estate and four per cent higher than in 2010 with a total 89,347 sales.

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board, 2011 might have taken the top place had their been more listings in the GTA.

“Low borrowing costs kept buyers confident in their ability to comfortably cover their mortgage payments along with other major housing costs,” said Richard Silver, the president of the Toronto Real Estate Board. “If buyers had not been constrained by a shortage of listings over the past 12 months, we would have been flirting with a new sales record in the Greater Toronto Area.”

For the full press release, visit here.

Are you thinking of buying a home this year? Search our featured Toronto Real Estate Listings here.

December Numbers From Toronto Real Estate Board Make Second-Best Record Official is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

With the passing into a new year comes new goals and resolutions, in an effort to make this year a great one. Maybe one of your New Year’s resolutions was to finally buy a home this year or at least get yourself in a better position financially so you can realize your homeownership dreams. If you want to start looking for a new home by the end of this year, there is no better time to patch up your credit than right now.

Fix your credit to get yourself into the best position to buy a Toronto home.

Your credit history affects your mortgage a great deal. If you have poor or no credit history, you may not be able to get a mortgage at all. In addition, a better credit history will get you more desirable rates.

If you have no credit history, you can begin building your credit by applying for a low-interest credit card through your bank. Use this credit card for small purchases, and pay it off each month.

If you’re unsure of your credit standings or worry about having poor credit history, you should get yourself a copy of your credit report. The two major credit reporting companies in Canada are Equifax and TransUnion.

You are entitled to one free credit report per year from these companies, and you must mail in your application and copies of your required identification in order to get them. Alternatively, both companies offer online versions for about $20, while you can also get your credit score for a few dollars more.

Avoid “free” credit report companies, because there really isn’t any such thing except for your one free credit report per year from the aforementioned credit bureaus. Most of the “free” credit report companies will make you sign up for a monthly credit monitoring service in order to get your free report.

Knowing what your lenders will see with regards to your credit report is a great place to start when preparing to buy a home. First, check your report for any mistakes, such as accounts you’ve never opened that are under your name. Mistakes on credit reports are common, and credit bureaus usually have tools on their websites so you can report inaccuracies, mistakes or fraud.

The credit report itself shows your history with each form of credit that you have, with regards to payments being made on time, late or not at all. TransUnion reports, for example, contain a colour-coded chart listing all of the months in a year, where red months were missed payments, green months were on-time and pink months were a certain number of days late. You may also have a score and rating. Your score will be a three digit number ranging from 300 to 800 or higher (the higher the better) while your rating will consist of the letter “R” followed by a number (the lower the better). For example, R1 is a great rating whereas an R9 is a bad debt or collection.

Now that you have your credit report, you can track your progress throughout the year and see your credit improve once you take the steps to fix it. The best way to improve your credit is to make on time payments on all of your loans or credit cards – even just the minimum payment if you can, as long as it is on time. You can even set up automatic monthly payments through your bank so you won’t forget. Other steps to take include lowering your balances on your loans (if you carry a balance over 50% of your loan, you’ll lower your score) as well as avoiding applying for new credit, because this also lowers your score.

2012: Is This The Year You Finally Buy A Home In Toronto? is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

Earlier this week we posted the top three home buying errors that buyers make that can easily be avoided. The list comes from the Ontario Real Estate Association, and here are the other two mistakes on the list as well as one of our own.

Don't make the common first-time Toronto home buyer mistake of not getting a home inspection.

#4: Not knowing what you can afford

While there are plenty of calculators and homebuying budgeting tips available online, they may not give you a clear idea of what you can actually afford. Before you begin looking at houses that are outside of your price range, speak to a real estate agent or lender to find out your Gross Debt Service Ratio, which is a number that lenders use to determine your creditworthiness for a mortgage. In addition, being pre-approved for a mortgage is a great way to know what you can afford when it comes to home buying.

#5: Not getting a home inspection

A home inspection is definitely a necessity when it comes to buying a home, and when you neglect to have one conducted you are putting yourself at risk for costly repairs later. A new home inspection should be conducted even if the seller can provide evidence of a previous home inspection.

We’d also like to add one of our own that is not on the list:

#6: Not hiring a buyer’s agent

When hiring a a Toronto real estate buyer’s agent, you will have someone on your side, working solely for you during the homebuying process. If you use the listing (seller’s) agent when gearing up to buy a home, that agent is working on behalf of the seller and is not working for you to get you the best home for your desired price. Best of all, in most cases, the seller is on the hook for the buyer’s agent’s fees.

For the full press release from the Ontario Real Estate Association visit here.

More Of The Top Home Buying Errors From The Ontario Real Estate Association is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

The Ontario Real Estate recently published a list of the top five home buying errors that people make, all of which can easily be prevented. Here are the top three:

Not getting pre-approved for a mortgage is a huge mistake.

#1: Not getting pre-approved for a mortgage

Not being pre-approved for a mortgage before you start shopping around is the biggest mistake that home buyers make. Not only does being pre-approved for a mortgage by your lender give you a clear idea of how much you can spend, it will let the seller and their agent know you are serious.

Read this anecdote on our Toronto Real Estate Blog detailing why being pre-approved can save everyone involved a lot of frustration.

#2: Not knowing what you must have in a home

Once you’ve moved into your new home, it is too late to discover that features you thought you merely wanted in a new home are things that you really must have. Before you begin looking at homes, draw up a list of your must-haves and separate them from your “wants”, whether these include a swimming pool, a third bedroom, a spacious kitchen or a large driveway.

#3: Getting emotional during the homebuying process

Buyers can get emotionally involved when it comes to selling their own home and buying a new one. For example, when selling a home you may be assigning higher perceived value to your home because of the memories attached to it, but the buyer has no sense of this value and that needs to be taken into consideration.

The full Ontario Real Estate Association press release is available here.

Top 3 Home Buying Errors From The Ontario Real Estate Association is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

In Toronto, detached homes can be very highly sought-after in certain neighbourhoods. It’s no surprise that when a detached home is on the market, it is clearly listed as being a detached home.

When are detached homes in Toronto not technically detached?

Toronto Real Estate Lawyer Bob Aaron has taken a look at link-semi homes in his latest column. Link-semi homes look completely detached from the street, but technically are not fully detached homes because of a concrete attachment below the ground.

According to Mr. Aaron, these concrete attachments are no more than a couple concrete blocks that merely exist and serve no purpose, and builders only put them there when they built two detached homes on a lot meant for semi-detached homes. Most of these homes were built in the 1970s and 1980s.

In fact, one could easily dig them up and remove them. But in one case several years ago, an agent got into trouble by listing such a house as detached.

“Prior to closing, neither the listing agent nor the buyer’s agent disclosed that the property was a link house, although it could easily have been verified by calling the city’s zoning department or reviewing the R-plan. Had the buyers seen the plan, they would have noticed the dotted lines indicating that the foundations were connected.
More than 18 months later, the buyers complained to RECO about the listing agent, saying that the house was misrepresented as being detached, and that had they known it was technically a link house, their purchase decision might have been affected. (Hindsight is always 20-20.)”

To read the rest of the column, visit Mr. Aaron’s website here.

Toronto Real Estate Lawyer Bob Aaron: Not All Detached Homes Are As They Appear is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

Well, 2011 is almost at an end, and with that comes the 2012 REMAX Housing Market Outlook. The report contains predictions for the 2012 Housing Market, as well as highlights from the 2011 Housing Market, including that home sales is expected to be 90,500 units, which is five per cent over last year and the resulting in the second-best year on record.

“Greater Toronto’s residential real estate market continued to make headlines in 2011, defying expectations and posting an increase in both sales and average price… strong demand and limited supply set the stage for a year of multiple offers – with sellers firmly in the driver’s seat – from entry-level housing to the upper-end of the market,” said the report.

Click the link to the left to read through the REMAX 2012 Housing Market Outlook.

“Demand was especially brisk for resale condominiums located in the downtown core, where bidding wars were commonplace,” continued the report. “Blue-chip neighbourhoods in Toronto proper – the Beach, Riversale, Bloor West Village, High Park, Leaside, Lytton Park, Cricket Club and Allenby – saw tremendous activity.”

“The upper-end – the coveted Rosedale, Forest Hill, Lawrence Park, Hogg’s Hollow, Bridle Path, Kingsway, Lorne Park, and Oakville areas – soared, with sales of homes priced in excess of $1.5 million up approximately 32 per cent over one year ago.”
For 2012, home sales in Toronto are expected to hit 93,000, which is similar to 2007, and low interest rates will help boost home buying into 2012.

Read the REMAX 2012 Housing Market Outlook Report here.

REMAX Report: 2011 Toronto Real Estate Market “Defied Expectations” is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale

2 Rean Dr. #1908, Toronto, Ontario

$346,800
1 Bedroom
2 Full Bathrooms

The breakfast bar at 2 Rean Drive.

Our latest Toronto Real Estate Team Listing is a south-facing, open concept one bedroom condo with a den and solarium, but the den is easily large enough to become a second bedroom and can be made more secluded thanks to its French doors.

The kitchen is spacious and comes with a beautiful granite counter top and breakfast bar.

The building’s amenities include a pool gym, virtual golf, movie theatre, billiards and more.

Comes with the following extras:
Elfs, Fridge, Stove, Microwave, Dishwasher, Washer, Dryer.

Available for sale:
Both wardrobes, Computer desk in solarium, Buffet table and Surround sound speakers (already mounted).
For more photos, visit this Toronto Real Estate Listing here.

Hot New Toronto Real Estate Listing: 2 Rean Dr. is a post from: Toronto Real Estate | Toronto MLS Listings | Toronto Homes For Sale