Durham Region Real Estate Blog

Who said we are in a recession?  You sure wouldn’t know this from the early statistics for August in the Durham Region!

The Durham Region Association of Realtors (DRAR) reported 471 sales for the first half of August, 2009, showing an increase of 19% over the 349 sales reported for the same period in August, 2008.  The average selling price climbed 3% to $281,223 from the $272,788 reported in 2008. Durham Region’s housing market is booming and with only 1,929 active listings, down 35% from the 2,972 last year. The market , which was favourable for Buyers, is now opening its doors in favour of Sellers.   Stay tuned here for the story of how the rest of the month pans out!

Receiving an offer to purchase is one of the most emotionally charged events in the entire selling process.  As a Selleryou need to bear this in mind, and make a conscious effort to stand back and take an objective view of the situation.  Over the years I have seen sellers who let their personal attachement to their home cloud their judgement;  their emotional reaction making them lose sight of the importance of working with an offer – even a low one.  Low offers are not a personal insult, though they may feel like it sometimes.   Try to avoid reacting so strongly that you close your mind to this buyer. If you let this happen to you, then you could be missing out.

Even if it looks like you and the potential buyer are very far apart, the important thing to keep in mind is that a buyer has made an offer that has opened negotiations. Your goal is to keep them open until you get the results you want.

When considering an offer, bear in mind that prospective buyers usually don’t expect their first offer to be accepted outright.  Don’t let your emotions drive your decision.  Look at is as a purely business proposition.  There are several positive aspects to receiving an offer, even if it’s not what you hoped for.  First of all, you’ve made contact with a buyer who’s ready to purchase.  Secondly, you know the buyer prefers your property over any other in your price range.  You can keep negotiations going with a counter-offer (or sign back).  When coming up with a counter offer, it’s important to keep in mind that other aspects of an offer have value besides price.  Even if you can’t move very far from your list price, you may be able to offer other concessions such as including fixtures (lighting, appliances, draperies) or changing your preferred closing date to accommodate the buyer.

It is my job, as your sales representative to keep the lines of communication open, to try and exhaust all avenues to getting you the offer that gets your home sold!

Did you know that the average Canadian uses 1600 cubic meters of water per person, per year?  That’s enough water to fill more than 2000 bathtubs!  We use twice as much as the average person from France and six times as much as the average Brit.  With 80% of Canadians surveyed in the 2009 Canadian Water Attitudes Study commissioned by RBC expecting a fresh water shortage, you’d think we would want to change our habits. 

Have you thought about the small changes you can make to use water more wisely?  Toilets use 30% of household indoor water.  By installing a low flow, dual flush toilet you can reduce your consumption by up to 60% over your old toilet.  An efficient shower head can use up to 70% less water and since showers and bathing count as 35% of indoor water use, you’ll quickly see a change in your water bill when you just make these two changes.

Then take your new attitude for water conservation outside.  Water lawns and plants early in the morning. Less water will evaporate from your lawn so you won’t need to water so much.

Blair and I tried out these measures about 10 years ago while living in Oshawa.  We weren’t great at sending in the meter readings so our bills were often estimated.  When I finally sent in the actual reading, the water department called to confirm that I had given the correct numbers.  When I double checked they asked about any changes we may have made so I mentioned the new toilets and shower heads. We ended up with a credit of over $450!

The other bonus about nice bathroom renovations is that they always pay a high return when it comes time to sell your home and now you can take advantage of the renovation tax credit too!  If you make some changes, let me know the results you’ve had.  Happy renovating!

July, 2009 has continured the upward trend in sales that we saw happening in May and June.  Average selling prices were up 1.2% ($285,247) in July, from June’s $281,765, and up 3.7% from the reported $275,139 in  July, 2008.  There were 1033 recoreded sales which were up 16% from the 891 sales reported a year age.  And total active listings were down 11% (2023) from June’s number of 2276 and down a total of 33$ from July, 2008 which had 3003 new listings. 

So despite market dynamics, Durham’s spring and summer markets have remained particularly stong.  Although many records were set in last year’s housing market, they can be contributed to far better economic condition.  To see record set in what was forecasted to be a slow market shows that despite the current economic conditions, buyers are confident that better times are to come.  And the numbers are showing us that what was once a buyer’s market in 2009 has now turned into a seller’s market with listings down and sales up.  I think it’s going to be an interesting ride into the fall market.  Stay tuned here!

We are all looking for a way to save money and the amount we spend on energy heating our homes is something we all think about.  If you are thinking about making some improvments to your home, you may be able to take advantage of the Ecoenergy Retrofit Grant available through Natural Resources Canada.  It encourages home owners to make their homes more energy efficient by offering a grant of up to $5,000.00  Whether you are planning to replace your furnace, windows or re-insulate you home buy installing energy efficient products you should be eligible for a substantial rebate.  You would also increase the energy efficiency of your home, effectively saving you money on your energy bills.  Go to www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca for more information.

If you purchased your first home after January 27, 2009, you could be eligible for the First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit.  This government initiative realizes that the cost of a new home can be overwhelming and offers monetary relief.  Beginning with the 2009 personal income tax return, a new line will be incorporated to allow you to claim the credit.  It is calculated by multiplying the lowest personal income tax rate for the year (15% IN 2009) by $5,000.  For 2009, the credit will be $750.

In order to qualify for this incentive, neither you nor your spouse or common-law partner owned and lived in another home in the year of purchase or any of the four preceding years.  If you are a person with a disability or are buying a house for a related person with a disability, you do not have to be a first time home buyer.  However, the home must be acquired to enable the person with a disability to live in a more accessible dwelling or in an environment better suited to the personal needs and care of that person.

  In order to claim the credit you do not need to provide supporting documentation, you just need to ensure that the information can be provided should the Canadian Revenue Agency request it. 

Low mortgage rates, competitive home prices, a chance to build your equity and now the HBTC may just be enough to send you into the exciting world of home ownership.  If you’ve got questions, just call or email me.

There are simple ways we can all conserve energy and if the steps we take save us money, that’s a great bonus!

How often do you turn off lights that aren’t required in your house?  Do you really need the light on in the upstairs hall when you are in the kitchen?  And have you purchased compact florescent light bulbs yet? The average home has 40 lights and since the cost of energy saving bulbs is higher than standard bulbs, just start small.  Change your most often used bulbs (say 3 or 4 of them) and see what you think about the light they provide.  Watch for bulb sales.  They happen quite frequently at stores like Zellers or Canadian Tire, so you can save even more money.

Do you think you could also save money on air conditioning?  I know this year hasn’t been too warm for us here in the Durham Region, but we’re still using air conditioners.  Close your windows and blinds during the hottest hours of the day and try to minimize the use of lights and appliances.  Then at night, when the air is cooler, open the windows and blinds to allow the cool, outside air to blow in.  If there isn’t a breeze, then place one fan near a window to draw the cool air in and one near an opposite window to push the warm air out.  Do this on the cooler days before a predicted heat wave and you will surprise yourself with how cool your home stays!

I’ll give you some more tips in other posts, but for now, start small and see what a difference you can make.