Toronto Real Estate Sales Drop 17%

The Toronto Real Estate Board released it figures for April 2011 showing that 9041 homes changed hands compared with over 11,000 for the same period last year.

While the drop sounds significant the shining fact is that the available inventory ( homes for sale ) in the same period dropped proportionately. Homes are taking an average of 22 days to sell. More desirable neighbourhoods in Etobicoke are moving immediately to multiple offer country.

We have just come off an election that hopes our economy and governance will be stable. The dollar is slightly over the US greenback. Interest rates appear to be holding with modest if not quarter point adjustments for the near future.

Of greater concern for many, is the increase in gasoline prices and how far they can afford-ably travel to purchase a starter home with the average Toronto detached property trading at 477K. SO lets really say $ 500 thousand. That makes an outlying townhouse or semi affordable at $400 with some commuting added.

This economic reality helps you better understand why the homes are selling so well ( fast) in North Mississauga, Brampton, Milton and Georgetown, (Homes in the 905) Indeed from the stats of the Toronto Real Estate Board fully 5500 homes traded in the west end.

If you would like somewhere to live that is Etobicoke, Humber Bay Shore, Markland Wood or Centennial Park, into Mississauga 's reviving Lakeview and Port Credit, feel free to reach out. Always have time for just one more shopper.

Men and Women are different

Kim Kargus was recently divorced and looking for a home to buy for herself and her daughter. The 36-year-old child protection worker loved the look of a three-bedroom house in Cobourg, but was a bit nervous about putting in an offer.

She had always rented and was concerned about taking on the debt, a mortgage and the day-to-day responsibilities, from plumbing to electrical, of home ownership.

“When you are renting and something goes wrong, you can call your landlord to come and fix it. But when you buy a house, it all falls on you,” she says. After doing some research, she knew she was ready to take the plunge.

“I had heard lots of other people’s stories, both good and bad. And so I was kind of anxiously waiting and hoping everything was going to go well,” she says.

Kargus’ situation is a good example of how men and women differ in attitudes towards buying a house. Studies by Genworth Financial Canada found more women than men want an easy to understand mortgage structure, and low monthly payments.

Women are also more anxious about their financial future, find shopping fora home more stressful then men, but like men find the notion of home ownership comforting.

A recent Bank of Montreal study made similar findings, noting that women are more likely to report feeling overwhelmed by the home buying process. This trend – and the fact that more women are buying their own homes – has led to a rise in services catering to women.

Banks are focusing on female buyers in their marketing materials and mortgage brokers, such as Marcy Berg, have sprung up. Berg runs the Cobourg-based Mortgages for Women, which courts female clients.

Berg’s clients include separated and divorced women as well as the never-married, single crowd. The latter group is on the rise. A 2007 Royal LePage survey found that 30 per cent of women who have never been married already own their own home. And of those who didn’t, 31 per cent said they planned to purchase a home within three years.

Kargus met Berg three years ago and was preapproved by a mortgage company for a mortgage but the interest rate was fairly high – partly because rates were generally higher at the time but also because Kargus had some debt.

Berg encouraged Kargus to postpone her purchase and pay off her debt to improve her credit rating. She also suggested Kargus wait at a year to buy to give housing prices and rates a chance to drop. “It was one of the best pieces of advice that I ever got,” Kargus says.

Two years later, when she returned to Berg, houses were more affordable. Thanks to paying off her debt and interests rates dropping, Kargus received a lower rate.

Looking back, Kargus says, it was worth the wait. “I don’t regret it all. I absolutely love my house.”

Some single women are purchasing a home with a friend or friends, says Laura Parsons, Bank of Montreal’s manager of specialized sales.

“We just put three waitresses into a mortgage last year,” said Parsons. “They work together. They were all paying rent at $1,200 a month. Why would they not go together? It’s an investment.”

Regardless of whether women who are buying real estate are single, separated, divorced, or coupled up, the home-buying process should begin the same way, Parsons and Berg say.

Sit down with a mortgage specialist or mortgage broker to find out what you can afford. Don’t get rushed through the process over the phone. “There is so much disappointment in that,” Parsons says.

With a mortgage, don’t just focus on the monthly payments. Pay attention to the amortization schedule, which shows, over the entire term of your loan, how much of each payment goes towards interest and how much goes towards principal. (The allocation will change over time.)

“You have to look at how much money this is going to cost you over the life of the mortgage,” Berg says. “People look at the monthly payment and say, ‘I can afford this.’ Well, you can afford the payment, but is it the smartest payment to make?”

After meeting with a mortgage specialist or mortgage broker, don’t be discouraged if the conclusion is that now isn’t the best time for you to buy. Get help setting up a plan that will lead you towards home ownership, Parsons and Berg say.

Naomi Carniol is a Toronto freelance writer.

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/879753--how-women-differ-from-men-in-home-buying-stress

David Pylyp; When you are ready, lets work out your financing details, and without any pressure or drama, find a place for you, your place to start building your own equity. Call or email.

Welcome 2011 Toronto Real Estate

Lets recap the Toronto Real Estate Market events for 2010 and forecast for 2011.

Although We saw a “softening” of the number of sales in 2010, but not the “bubble bursting” that was predicted by so many. we finished with 86k sales just slightly below the 87k in 2009. Listings right now are at 10k homes for sale. This is very low for a city of 4 million plus in the Toronto GTA.

So, what will happen in 2011? Inventory numbers (number of houses for sale) will remain relatively low and prices in the GTA will continue to rise at a slower pace than we’ve had over the last few years. Simply put, the last few years have been strong so we’ll go back to “normal” price increases. [that are the rate of inflation plus savings deposit returns, so lets say 3 - 4%] Many neighbourhoods of the GTA will remain firmly in a “Sellers Market”.

Digital Advertising, QR codes and Video marketing will separate Agents with Content and Internet Marketing and their property presentations from "Old School" agents that will need to work harder and do more effective marketing.

Many things are influencing our market.

1. Our inventory levels are very low and should remain low. Except for late night TV foreclosures and power of sales do not really exist as far as “distressed properties” coming on the market. Buyers won’t be able to sit back to pick and choose. We won’t have a huge influx of new listings

2. Mortgage interest rates are very low and should remain low for quite some time. Although we may see marginal increases over the next while, home ownership will remain very affordable.

Have included a comparision calculator for you to try as Buy vs Renting Calculator

http://www.caamp.org/mortgage-calculators.php?pid=502 I found that when you compare a 2 bed 2 bath rental at $1800 per month vs the cost of ownership at $1250 Owning makes sense.

3. Our economy is very strong, Unemployment is low at less than 8% in Toronto and may be improving. Toronto continues to be a leader and will be right in front leading Canada. Buyers and Sellers are already asking if Rob Ford [our newly elected Mayor] will repeal the Toronto Land Transfer Tax. This may create additional hesitation.

Would you like to live here? Call me or email. Lets get you started!

Buyers, check condo status certificates carefully

In the course of my real estate law practice in Toronto, I often review condominium status certificates for purchasers. Usually this is a fairly routine function, where the lawyer looks for arrears in common expense payments, underfunded reserve funds, litigation by or against the condominium corporation, special assessments and similar items which could impact on the purchaser or her bank account.

Unfortunately, the contents of about four or five out of every 10 status certificates I examine are at odds with the advertised real estate listing, the agreement of purchase and sale or the seller's registered title.

The areas where the certificates differ from the other documents fall under several headings:

Common expenses

More than half of the status certificates I review show common expenses, which disagree with the advertised figures. This is often caused by sellers who advise their listing agents of the wrong amounts, and by real estate agents who fail to verify the numbers with property managers.

Sometimes, when a real estate listing runs through the condominium corporation's year-end, and the common expenses are increased, the listings are not updated with the new figures.

When the discrepancy is revealed, there is often a tug-of-war as to who will absorb the difference, which may be just a few dollars a month, or occasionally, as much as $50 or $100.

Special assessments

The same thing happens with special assessments. In Ontario, the standard form Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) condominium agreement of purchase and sale contains a warranty that there are no special assessments contemplated by the condominium corporation.

Unfortunately, with the aging condominium stock in Ontario, special assessments are becoming increasingly commonplace.

The problem is that a unit owner may not know that a special assessment is under consideration by the board at the time an offer is accepted.

In cases like this, the seller or the real estate agent often winds up eating the cost.

Parking and locker mix-ups

For some unexplained reasons, many Ontario condominiums have numbers posted on parking and locker units which differ from the numbers on the registered deeds.

For example, a parking or locker space with a painted number 99 may be shown on the registered title as unit 53 level A.

Unit mix-ups: the ultimate headache

Every so often I come across buildings where two or more owners are actually living in units they don't own. This usually happens at the time of title transfer from the developer to the first owners, and is not discovered for years.

Nobody wants to have a deed to the unit next door. It becomes very difficult to sell your condominium, when the time comes, if you don't have a deed to it.

This actually happened on closing day in 2005 for 124 units in a downtown Toronto highrise on Jarvis St., but was corrected at the very last second.

The moral of the story: Never purchase a condominium unit – new or used – without cross-checking the unit numbers on the deeds with the floor plans. A few dollars invested in the floor plans are cheap protection to avoid a disaster.

Several lessons emerge from all of this:

• Sellers and listing agents should be careful to advertise the correct common expenses and to amend them during the listing period if a new budget is passed.
• Unit and level numbers for parking and locker spaces can and do get mixed up. Posted numbers don't always match the deeds. Sellers, buyers and agents should take care to verify unit numbers and location at the time the offer is signed.
• When special assessments are being contemplated, they should be disclosed to owners at the earliest opportunity, and sellers should disclose this to their listing agents. Sellers should also check with the condominium board or management to see if any assessments are being considered.
• Deeded numbers for condo units should always be compared with the registered survey plans for the condominium levels. They're not always right.

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Bob Aaron is a Toronto real estate lawyer. He can be reached by email at bob@aaron.ca, phone 416-364-9366 or fax 416-364-3818. Visit the column archives at http://aaron.ca/columns/toronto-star-index.htm for articles on this and other topics.

David Pylyp One unmentioned item is the ownership or exclusive use of parking spots that can greatly improve your chance to sell and your value in renting or selling the parking exclusive of your unit. This also creates an issue about collecting money (parking rental income) for an exclusive use asset and the concept of selling a parking unit to someone who only ownes parking spaces within building.

Your comments are always invited.

Adding Value to your experience

Since I originated from a Finance and Business background in the mid 80's, yeah that long ago, I have been using what was called Lotus 123. I used lotus for years and then strangely it just became Excell.

For the benefit of my prospects and normal business when buying I will often create this worksheet as an investment summary or answer income to qualify questions. Human nature seems to think in Monthly dollars amounts and not the grand totals.

Scribed


There are a number of variables here.
Interest Rate is calculated by the posted rate weekly, Land Transfer Taxes are variable based on where you purchase. Land Transfer Calculation Link Do you qualify for a Land Transfer Tax exemption or rebate I usually take from here. I can prepare one for you rather easily on my laptop and send it along as an email. We will, during the course of our shopping adventure look at a number of these to clearly understand out monthly long term commitments.

An average Condo purchase in Downtown Toronto will include taxes of $1800 per year plus maintenance number that could be as high as $500 plus per month. The newest trend seems to be montkly parking via valet at $450 per month. Better to have bought the parking when offered at $15,000 a few years ago.

Why are more agents not using this technology? I have handed this out in both printed form and memory stick or email to hundreds of agents, but have yet to see it applied.

Would you as a consumer be interested to understand the cost of your closing, the largest purchase of your lifetime? This worksheet is now under revision for the effects of Harmonized Sales Tax. I welcome your input as to what else can be included.