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

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.

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.

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?

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.

January 2010 Toronto Real Estate Statistics

With a projected 7,000 plus sales for February, Toronto’s market looks like it will set a record for the month. 

The previous February sales high was 6,866 houses and condominiums changing hands in 2002 although 2006 and 2007 also were within a few hundred sales of this number.

Although the Toronto Star painted January sales as “crazy”, the 4,986 sales were lower than either 2007 or 2008.  They were only ‘crazy’ when compared to the dismal performance in January 2009 when we were at the absolute bottom of the market here in Toronto.

Listing inventory continues to be a problem… we now have the lowest number of houses and condominiums on the market since before 2000… and this is causing Toronto’s market to be extremely busy. 

Condo purchases have been very steady, taking up just over one-third of sales in the past six months.

What about that ‘bubble’ the media is so f0nd of talking about?  The problem is, they’re comparing this year to 12 months ago – an unfair comparison considering the world was imploding then. 

When you compare current 2010 sales to those of 2008 or 2007, the changes are not so dramatic.

Take a look at the chart below.  You’ll see that the average sale price on the Toronto Real Estate Board increased a modest 5.5% annually on average over the last 13 years. 

Compare this to double-digit sale price increases across many US communities in the first several years of the decade – which caused their market to crash and reprice itself.  Unlike the Americans, our busy markets are almost confined to two major cities – Toronto and Vancouver – and this is due to the strong economies, and buyer confidence, in both.

January 2010’s average sale price for condos and houses in Toronto was $409,058, actually down 0.7% from December 2009’s average.  The February 2010 average to the mid-month point was $429,997 – definitely a leap up if it is sustained in the coming months. 

TREB Sale Price Data

 Remember that we hit a high of $423,559 for the average sale price in October of last year which couldn’t be sustained.

We’re certainly seeming some effects from the advent of HST as of July 1st.  Infill home builders are seeing increased sales with deliveries prior to the end of June. 

I’ve had a couple of resale clients tell me they’d like to close prior to the introduction of the HST to avoid the extra tax on the various closing expenses. 

If it’s like the advent of the City of Toronto land transfer tax two years ago, people will be held back for a few months but will soon take the additional costs into account almost naturally and the extra bit of tax will just be another ‘cost of doing business’.

If you’d like to peruse the entire January 2010 Toronto Real Estate Board MarketWatch Report, click here.

A part of our company’s business philosophy is to give back to our community in which we live.  One of the ways we do this is through our annual RE/MAX Hallmark Scholarship Program.

Each year the sum of $10,000 is awarded to a number of university aged children of present and past clients of RE/MAX Hallmark Realtors.

We are now accepting applications for the 2010 Fall Semester.  The deadline for application submission is March 31st, 2010.

Please click on the links below to see the program criteria and to download a scholarship application form.

If you’re one of our present or past clients (going back to 1983 ), we encourage you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to assist you with your children’s future.

Click here to look at the scholarship criteria.

Click here to download the scholarship application.

Every once in a while we run into someone who says “I am going to wait for prices to drop”.

Last year one of our 2002 Buyer Workshop graduates called us to inquire about how the market was.

We told him the market was at the bottom and now was the time he had been waiting for.

Unfortunately, he did nothing!

Here’s what happened to one of our buyers who DID do something…

At this week’s 2-day RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada rally, there were three great speakers to educate everyone PLUS there were several special children in attendance.

These kids were awarded ‘medals of bravery’ for the surgeries that the Sick Kids Hospital has had to perform on them to save their lives.

Our Toronto’s Real Estate Team – Thomas & Sally Cook Plus has contributed many $thousands over the years to this cause as well as to the Search For A Cure program to find a cure for breast cancer.

RE/MAX internationally will reach $100 million in donations in 2010 and agents from across Canada have contributed almost $40 million dollars in support of our local Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.

Take a look at the awards ceremony… up on the screen they showed the types of treatments these kids endured.  Very brave!!

To find out more about the program, go to www.ChildrensMiracleNetwork.ca .

Thanks to your help, we’ve almost doubled the number of clients we’ve helped in 2009 vs 2008. Of course it helps that we didn’t build a cottage this year – that took, no kidding, almost six months of my time in 2008.

I applaud those buyers who, despite the doom and gloom of the first 4-5 months of 2009, saw the potential and made the plunge to buy a home.

In the March time frame it was looking pretty grim… I remember appraising a client’s home at the time for about $380,000 – $400,000. They found the home of their dreams in early October and we ended up selling their existing home for $489,000 – almost a $100,000 increase.

I did a recent appraisal for a lady who owns a condo down at CityPlace. She originally bought it in 2003 for her home and paid $215,000 but started renting it three years ago as an investment property. I appraised it for $330,000 – $350,000 – an increase of $120,000 + or $20,000 per year. It certainly beats renting!

Of course, during those 6 years, she paid down a significant amount on her mortgage too further increasing her equity position.

Real estate in Toronto has continually proven itself to be an excellent long-term investment. Maybe 2010 will be the year for you.

Here’s our 2009 Year End video message to all of you. Please enjoy and have a safe and profitable 2010.