Durham Region Real Estate Blog

It’s been all over the news, so I’m sure you’ve heard that the McGuinty government announced its intention to harmonize the goods and services tax with the provincial sales tax. As a result of this change, provincial sales tax will now be levied on legal fees, appraisals, real estate commissions, home inspection fees and other services related to real estate transactions. I don’t know how the government can think that this is a good idea. Calling it what it is, this tax grab will severly hurt the resale housing market and reduce affordability for Ontarians trying to buy a home.

I want to encourage all of you to write to your MPP to express your outrage at these new taxes and to tell them how badly they will hurt the real estate market in your area. You can also go to www.orea.com/consumercfa and email your MPP from there. It only takes about 30 seconds and the letter is all made out for you!

This morning I made a few phone calls to past clients and heard some great news.  One of my clients just went to the CIBC Bank to talk about renewing their mortgage.  They have locked in to a 5 year term at 3.7%!  We’ve seen interest rates like that for variable rate mortgages, and just a few days ago I posted a blog with the RBC rate of 4.1%, but I didn’t think we would see such a great rate on a closed mortgage.  Looks like I’m going to need to meet a CIBC Mortgage professional! 

Then yesterday I was searching out more statistics to help a buyer convince her husband that now is a good time to buy a house.  She wants to buy now and he wants to wait a year.  The average price for a house in the Durham Region in February, 2009 was $263,899, down from $271,408 in February, 2008 and on par with the $263,039 of February, 2007.  Well, let’s say that prices do fall a little farther, what are the odds that the interest rates will remain so low?  Any savings that the husband might experience in house prices, is sure to be eaten away by the interest he will pay, due to the higher interest rates.  I think the wife has a good case for buying a home today instead of waiting. What do you think?

I think the media is great at creating panic. I’m sure it sells newspapers and we all know that they need to sell a lot of them. The more sensational the heading, the greater the chance you’ll buy the paper. So if the heading was “Housing Prices Down Only 2.77% in the Durham Region” would you buy the paper? Well, that statistic is true. Sure the number of house sales are down (507 compared to 770 in February, 2008) but there were still a lot of sales. Not a record year, but how many years can we keep having record years?

Only you can decide whether or not it is a great time to buy a house. Your personal circumstances, job security, down payment etc. all play a big role in the decision. Mortgage rates are fantastic right now. RBC is stating a 5 year, fixed mortgage at 4.1%! There are great properties for sale right now, so maybe it is a good time for you.

Have more questions? Post them here, or call me and I’ll help you figure out what your next step should be!

Conceived in 1992, World WaterDay grew out of the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio De janeiro to draw attention to the critical lack of clean, safe drinking water worldwide. 

The first obsevance was March 22, 1993, and today World Water day is celebrated around the world in many differentways.  In Fort McMurray, Alberta you can attend their wave maker celebration and in Ottawa, Ontario you can see the delivey of the National Toilet Seat Petitin – aimed at making a stink about the on-going, clean water crisis in the developing world! 

The goal from 2005 to 2015 is to halve the prportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. So tomorrow, conserve a little and find out how you can make a huge impact, however modest your effort.

Welcome to my blog.  This is my first post and I’m likely a little more excited about it than you are!  I’m going to blog a little about the current real estate market using some stats and other available information to try and keep you apprised of the market in the Durham Region.  I think I’ll also give you some home selling and buying tips that may make the whole, scary process a little easier.  Please let me know if you’ve got an idea for a topic and I’ll do my best to cover it.  So, tomorrow look for some interesting (well to me they’ll be interesting) little bits.  Don’t be a stranger!