When is the market going to drop so I can get in at a lower price?

Every week for years now I have talked with numerous buyers and sellers.

Most understand the market and that it generally goes up.

But there are always a few nay sayers . From them I will  consistently here these words….  

 we are in a bubble, or I am going to wait until the price drops.
 When do you think the market will break so I can get in at a lower price?
 
 When I first started in this business the average price in Toronto was in the $60,000 range.
 Yes that does date me doesn’t it. Oh well.

Today the average Toronto home price is $485,000.00
 Eight times higher than when I started. This confirms for me what I always say about City of Toronto Real Estate.   It at least doubles every 8-10 years. Actually more than doubles since I am no where near 80 yet.
 
 So I thought you might find these statistics below with regards to Luxury Condo costs around the world rather interesting.   This information was found in the Financial Times of London and it is the cost per square foot.

The next time you get to thinking that we are in a blip a bubble or the market is about to crash give those numbers some thought.

 The market does cycle and it can drop substantially like back in 2009 when it cycled down for roughly 6 months and created a great buying opportunity for savvy buyers with a 15% drop in values.  It regained that 15% and added 4% more in 2010. Toronto does this consistently.  What I am saying is it recovers and keeps on moving up.

For years now I have seen many of the nay sayers literally get locked out of the marketplace and many of them for good, others ending up buying in areas that they really didn’t intend  to live in such as Newmarket or  Bradford.

It is my humble opinion that you cannot lose money if you  use your noodle and invest wisely in Toronto Real Estate.  Remember that when it comes time to sell, your home is your biggest tax free investment in Canada.  In fact it is the only truly tax free investment you have at this point in time.  When you choose to retire and take money from your RRSP it will be taxed at the top tax rate as your tax deductible expenses will have dropped.

So make it a point to own either the biggest home you can comfortably afford or a home in the most expensive neighbourhood or condo building that you can comfortably afford. The better the neighbourhood the more it will go up.

A 5% increase on a $500,000 home is $25,000.00 but the same 5% on a million $$ home is $50,000. And we do tend to increase 5-6% per year on average.

But I know you still want to know when things will drop in price a little don’t you.  Ah, we are human.

Okay the market is seasonal and in mid summer and the months of December to end of February quite often things are a little less expensive.   No one seems to want to view much real estate when it is 20 below. We are talk 1-3% less expensive generally it is not a 20% drop.  So a small advantage.

Let’s take right now for instance  the end of June. All of a sudden things are starting to slow in some neighbourhoods… not all mind you.  It is a combination of two things. One is we are moving into the summer slump. Folks aren’t viewing homes or Open houses on the weekend because they are out of town at the cottage or on their holidays.

 In the summer in Toronto comes a Laissez-faire attitude to things in general .  Why not we all need a break and so much of our year is cold.  We’ve got to enjoy that nice weather when we can.

 However CMHC did predict in the early part of the year that the housing market would start to slow in the second half of the year.   So it is possible that this factor is kicking in as well.  The truth is we won’t know until about 90 days out.  

We always seem to understand the Toronto market best looking backwards.  We don’t know prices have softened a bit until after it’s done.  It also takes 30-90 days to see a big upswing in activity and price.

What will affect price and cause a levelling off affect is if we started to get a large number of listings on the market.  At the moment  new listings coming on the market is off by more than 27% . At this point there is no sign of an increase anytime soon.

It also takes homeowners who are trying to sell an average of about 90 days before they seem to get the picture that things have changed and they may not get all that they wanted for their home.  That is when we see price adjustments if they are coming.

So if you need to buy a home right now then mid summer will be a good time.  With fewer buyers in town you may be able to negotiate good terms for yourself.  Let me know how I can help you with your purchase or your mortgage.

Aeriol Nicols is a Real Estate and Mortgage Broker in the City of Toronto

You can reach her at (416)443-0300

DLC Edge Financial Licence # M08008390

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has issued a new, voluntary code of conduct for credit and debit card companies. If not widely adopted, the code may become government regulations.

The initiative intends to promote fair business practices by creating transparency for merchants and consumers to clearly understand the costs and benefits of the cards. The fees credit card companies charge merchants can vary widely, and this announcement now comes after years of consumer groups and businesses voicing concerns that the disparity of fees can cause unpredictable harm to the bottom line.

The code will be on a sixty-day consultation period where credit card companies and businesses alike will have the opportunity to provide feedback before the code goes into effect.

Source: The Toronto Sun

Boulevard parking information on the City’s web site is available at www.toronto.ca/transportation, under “parking”, then “off-street parking”, and then “licensed locations”.

 1/ Bugs – this is my #1, I don’t know about you but I hate them.  So being honoured with an invitation to fight them off all weekend doesn’t really appeal.  This year Ontario’s

North Country has a record amount of black flies to eat you… a word for the wise.. Stay away. A chance to be eaten by black flies have your blood sucked by mosquitoes, have ants walking across your food, stung by wasps   oh my gosh.

2/ Sand. Charming and romantic in the moment but when you get home it is still there even a week later… it pours out of your shoe, grates between your toes, it’s everywhere, and it’s everywhere.

3/ Unsightly Views and Loud Noises. So tell me what do loud jet skis, and other water contraptions plus ugly blow up toys have to do with communing with nature. Compare this to staying in the city and taking a long walk on one of our city park systems where you may view a rabbit or a fox in the distance, then having din dins at a nice local tratoria and attending a little theatre afterwards. No long drive home just a 5 -10 min car ride and plop into your own comfy bed with no sand in it.

4/ Traffic, Traffic, Traffic

5/ Gas Price, Gas Price, Gas Price

6/ Cottage Politics. Cottage living is like living in a small town, it has it’s good points but some definite negatives.  If your neighbour decides to build an offensive addition and there is an argument the whole community talks…. Same if young Sally gets caught making out with the neighbours son and the two young ones have to be taken to task, somehow it gets around.

7/ Expectations. Once you own a cottage you feel pressure to invite up your relatives and friends. Then of course you have to entertain them.  This means extra food expense, changing beds, extra laundry and having someone drink your good bottle of Chablis while you were out shopping to feed this lot. Need I say more.

8/ There is nothing to do out there.  You may go into town at night to see a 3 year old movie or to a local corn roast.  But really what fun is that.

9/ Guilt.  Now you’ve bought the place you have to use it.  You can’t just go somewhere else, you can’t just forget it… and there is still maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. After a hard snow fall you may have to go out there and make sure the roof didn’t collapse.  All this and you could have been in  Florida enjoying the sun.

10/  Boring Games.Because there is nothing to do out there you end up playing boring games at night.  Your chance to know every bit of boring trivia about everyone that you never really wanted to know.

11/ Who’s got the supplies.  There is always someone who brings everything and then there are those who don’t bring enough and expect everyone else to supply them with stuff.  They constantly interrupting asking if they can have some of yours and you comply trying to be nice. Before you know it your stuff is gone to and there is no where to go to buy more. 

12/Reciprocity. You can get an invitation to a cottage if you already have a cottage.  The rest must suffer in silence hoping for invitations and they have nowhere to invite you.  This system doesn’t really work.  Try an online house swap  this would be much more reliable and can work really well if you have a home in a desirable downtown location.

Well that’s my list and I am staying home this season.

Real estate agents wheel and deal but also help raise the bar on return

Nov 03, 2007 04:30 AM
Melinda Mattos
Special to The Star

When I put my condo on the market this fall, a friend asked why I was bothering to use a real estate agent.

“It’s a hot building in a hot market,” she argued. “You could save yourself some money by selling it privately.”

The suggestion was tempting. After all, when you factor in lawyer’s fees and penalties for discharging the mortgage, selling a home can be expensive. I wasn’t thrilled about losing another 5 per cent of the purchase price to commission.

But while my penny-pinching instincts are powerful, one thing stopped me from going it alone: I don’t know anything about selling real estate. Even Monopoly stresses me out.

Just like I wouldn’t drill my own cavities to avoid paying dentist’s bills, I was unwilling to fake my way through selling a home.

Instead, my selling partner and I rehired the agent who’d helped us buy the place. She knocked 1 per cent off her commission because we were return customers and set to work taking photos, having a virtual tour recorded and promoting the sale on MLS and in the classifieds. I was glad to have a pro on board.

Of course, that didn’t mean I could avoid all the wheeling and dealing. Though an agent facilitates the selling process and makes sure everything gets done properly, the seller still has to make some big decisions – like setting a price.

When we bought the condo about two years ago, we paid just under $215,000. We knew that property values had gone up since then, but we didn’t know exactly how high.

When our agent showed us MLS listings for similar units that had been sold in the building over the past year, we were surprised to see prices in the $235,000 to $240,000 range.

Still, I was skeptical about what our unit was worth.

Ever the pessimist, I went through the listings with a red pen, circling all the ways these units might have been worth more than ours – noting their polished concrete floors, unobstructed views and fancier appliances.

Luckily, our agent was not as wimpy as I am.

“Your place shows really well,” she reassured me, suggesting we price the suite at either $239,900 or $244,900.

As I considered these figures, I could feel cartoon dollar signs appear in my eyes. When we first decided to sell, I had hoped that we would break even. Now it seemed like we might make a profit, too.

Though it’s common wisdom that buying property is the best investment you can make, the truth of that statement didn’t click for me until that moment. Suddenly, I wanted to do everything in my power to maximize my return on investment.

We chose the higher figure.

Next, we had to settle on a timeline for accepting offers.

When we bought the condo, the seller had been considering offers as they came in, which gave us a strategic advantage as buyers: when we slipped him a lowball offer, it was the only one on the table. Though he signed it back, asking for a few thousand dollars more, we still nabbed the place for less than the list price and even got him to throw in his dinette set.

I didn’t want that happening to me as a seller.

So, in the hopes of inspiring a bidding war, we decided not to consider offers until a week and a half after the suite went on the market.

For that week and a half, we found other places to spend our time, making the unit available for viewings all day, every day, including an open house on the weekend (which, our agent informed us, was well attended by potential buyers and nosy neighbours alike). Dozens of people came and went.

On the day we were scheduled to take offers our agent called to say that at least two or three would be coming in. We nervously awaited the 7 p.m. deadline.

Return to this space in two weeks and I’ll tell you what happened.

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday.  Maybe we should all take some of his advice.
 
    A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.
 
     1. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name  put on them.  If someone takes your  checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your
checks.
 
     2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards.  Instead, put “PHOTO ID REQUIRED”.
 
     3 When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete  account number on the “For” line. Instead, just put the last four numbers.  The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.
 
     4. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone.  If you have a PO Box  use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.   Never have your SIN# printed on your checks.  (DUH!)  You can add it if it is necessary.  But if  you have it printed, anyone can get it.
 
     5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine.  Do both sides of each license,  credit card, etc.  You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and  phone numbers to call and cancel.  Keep the photocopy in a safe place.  I also carry a photocopy  of my passport when travel either here or abroad.  We’ve all heard horror stories about fraud  that’s committed on us in stealing a name, address, SIN, credit cards.
 
     Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last  month.  Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied  for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN  number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here’s some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:
 
     1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the  toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call.  Keep those where  you can find them.
 
     2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc. were stolen.    This proves to credit providers you were
diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation  (if there ever is one).
 
    But here’s what is perhaps most important of all:  (I never even thought to do this.)
 
    3. Call the two national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your  name and Social Insurance number.  I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank  that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have  to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
 
    By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been  done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves’ purchases, none of  which I knew about before placing the alert.  Since then, no additional damage has been done,  and the thieves threw my wallet away. This weekend (someone turned it in).  It seems
to have  stopped them dead in their tracks.
 
     Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet,
etc. has been stolen:
         1.) Equifax Canada: 1-877-249-2705
         2.) TransUnion: 1-877-525-3823

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=df1a7663-2c56-4b44-9065-f54eb8f065a5&f=00&fg” mce_href=”http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=df1a7663-2c56-4b44-9065-f54eb8f065a5&f=00&fg”= Staging on $100.00

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=c0576066-3250-4b67-80b2-57569e08da7a&f=00&fg= Staging on $500.00

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=ba5c859b-1a76-4ae6-8950-b8af72465209&f=00&fg= Staging on $5000.00

1/Sign a contract that is specifice about the work to be done, including price, financing terms and hourly rates for extra work.

2/Confirm the contractors permanent address and whether he is licenced to work in Ontario.
3/ Ask for references before procedding with work and visit your site while work is in process.

4/ Don’t sign a contract that differs from oral promises. Don’t assume it will somehow just be okay.

5/ Don’t make final payment until the project is finished

6/ Don’t start work until the financial arrangements to pay for work are complete.

7/ Don’t sign for delivers. The contractor must assume the risk.