Toronto Real Estate Report

Summer in the City

The weather this summer has been spectacular. I love the heat and all the activities the city has to offer.   Many people like to jump on the highway and head north to enjoy some time by a lake, swimming, boating and building sand castles.  But you can enjoy all that in Toronto, without the 2 hour plus drive.

There are many beaches throughout the city, perfect for a picnic or a quick dip.  I say quick, because Lake Ontario is COLD.  We went to Cherry Beach this week, and there was what looked like a swim team of sorts, doing laps from one buoy to another. The bay was full of sail boats and the odd Kayak. Several people were having picnics and there was evidence of a sand castle that had been built earlier in the day.

This beach, like many in the City, is designated a "BLUE FLAG" Beach which represents a high standard in terms of water quality and cleanliness. According to the website the Blue Flag - is an internationally recognized eco-label awarded to beaches that achieve high standards in 29 criteria including water quality, environmental education, environmental management, and safety and services.

Want to learn more? Click on the link: Blue Flag Beach

The water quality of Toronto beaches is tested regularly, you can check out the HOTLINE to find out if any beaches are off limits by calling

416-392-7161

To find out more about Toronto Beaches, check out the City website: Toronto Beaches

The Ships are coming!

Do you love Tall Ships?  The Redpath Toronto Waterfront Festival takes place this weekend from June 30th to July 4th.

According to the website, this is what it's all about:

The Redpath Toronto Waterfront Festival is an annual festival celebrating Toronto's waterfront, managed by the Waterfront  Business Improvement Area (BIA).  The Waterfront BIA is dedicated to raising the awareness of Toronto's urban waterfront by promoting Toronto as a "Waterfront Destination". Numerous recreational and cultural activities add to the allure of this unique neighbourhood with the Waterfront Festival positioned as the signature event.

Over the 5 day Festival, 15 international and local ships will participate, a fleet not seen here since 1994.  The Festival will enhance the Toronto lakeside experience by delivering a premiere event that will also provide environmental educational programming through its interactive Green Village, as well as cultural entertainment through unique "TALL SHIP" experiences.

Check out the website for the complete details: Redpath Toronto Waterfront Festival

Listed for $1

Are you looking for a hot real estate deal in Toronto?  The market has been slowing down, but it's not dead! As the HST gets incorporated, buyers adjust to slightly higher interest rates and the uncertainty leaves the market, the Toronto real estate market will continue to march forward.

But, back to the real estate deal.  How would you like a piece of land, 15.46 x 100 feet to build your dream home at Queen & Strachan?  Listed for $1.00, yes you're reading it right, it's "one dollar".

Well actually, the sellers won't accept $1.00 and as the listing indicates in the Brokers comments, "Seller Reserves The Right To Refuse Any Offer Or Bid Regardless Of Offering Price, Terms And/Or Conditions".

It's been on the market for over a month, so if this was a strategy to create a bidding war, maybe it didn't work?  Or, they have received offers, but none at the price they are willing to accept.  Then why don't they list it at the price they are willing to accept?

During offer negotiation, a seller may accept, reject or counter offer.  It's often frustrating when a buyer submits an offer in good faith, at full list price and the seller refuses to accept it.  Now, I'm not suggesting that they should accept $1 for the property, but they should conduct a proper market analysis and list the property accordingly.  Why don't we stop playing games.......

Want to have a look at the listing, here it is: 840 Richmond St.

Explore the City

I have lived in Toronto all my life.  I was born in Vancouver, my family landed there when they immigrated from Iceland, but we moved to Toronto when I was about 2 years old, so Toronto is the only city I've ever known.

I love Toronto.  It's a busy, bustling city with so much to offer.  This week I walked along the lake at Harbourfront, after showing condo's, had lunch with a friend in The Beach and went for a run along the Belt Line trail.

After spending most of his summers in Muskoka, my son is in the city this year with a job in downtown Toronto.  He's keen to explore the city, the many unique neighbourhoods and cultural events.

Do you love the Blues?  Check out the Waterfront Blues Festival at Woodbine Park this weekend.  Check out this link for details: Waterfront Blues

I found a great website that gives you tons of information on all the great things to see and do in Toronto, check it out: Where

Enjoy!  

Do It Yourself

Are you dreaming of building a new deck in your backyard this summer? Does the thought of going to Home Depot and loading up your car with building supplies get your heart racing?

Projects around the house are exciting to plan, fun to shop for, BUT do you know what you're doing?  After spending several weeks last year learning building techniques for Habitat for Humanity I realized that construction is a precise art that requires a great deal of knowledge and expertise.  From a real estate perspective I've seen too many "do it yourself" renovations that leave much to be desired. 

If you're planning a renovation or improvement you should check out Build-It-Yourself Learning Centres. This company offers a huge variety of classes to learn hands-on skills from accredited, professional instructors in workshops and seminars. From building a deck, finishing your basement to installing your ktichen from a box, they will teach you all the skills and techniques.

They operate out of 2 locations, one on Dufferin in the west and the other is at the north end of the city near Highway 400.  Here is the website: Build-It-Yourself Learning Centres

Have fun! 

Leslieville Townhome for you?

One of the hottest neighbourhoods in the City is Leslieville.  As Toronto Life describes it , it's not the "next big thing", its arrived!  Check out this article: Toronto Life

A vibrant part of the city that makes for some highly desirable real estate.  According to Wikipedia -

"Leslieville began as a small village in the 1850s, which grew up around the Toronto Nurseries owned by George Leslie and sons, after whom the community is named. Most of Leslieville's residents were gardeners or were employed at one of the brick-making factories in the area." Want to read more about the area click on this link Wikipedia

Are you looking for a home in Leslieville?  Check out the great new condominium townhome for sale at 32 Curzon St., Unit 1.  It's been beautifully renovated with a new kitchen, new bathroom, pot lights and freshly painted from top to bottom.

Check out the listing details: 32 Curzon St. Unit 1

A great place to live. 

Is the frenzy over?

Has the spring real estate market in Toronto lost steam?  It certainly feels like the environment has changed a bit.  Homes not selling on offer night, some agents removing the "offer date" strategy all together with the inviting "Offers any time!". Some homes are initially listed to attract multiple offers and when they don't appear, the home is re-listed at the actual value the seller was expecting.

There are a few factors that are causing this hiccup.  Interest rates are on the rise, the mortgage rules have changed in order to tighten the credit markets and avoid "bubble like" conditions, the HST is coming July 1st.

The new tax will affect all the services related to purchasing a resale home, such as the legal fees, home inspections and all the additional services used to renovate and maintain the home.  The overall cost of purchasing and owning a home will increase 8%, for a total tax of 13%.

This tax increase will also affect condo maintenance fees and reserve funds will need to be topped up adequately to budget for this increase.

Want to learn more about the tax, click on this link: HST

What ever it takes

Under Promise, Over Deliver.  Go the extra mile.  Give it 110%  All cliche terms that express the concept of providing exceptional customer service.  In today's competitive market place, just saying you provide  this type of service isn't enough, you have to "put your money where your mouth is" and provide an exceptional customer EXPERIENCE.

As I was scraping paint off garage windows this week, in order to get the home I'm listing to show well, I thought this is and example of what differentiates one agent from another, in the vast Realtor population. 

Here is the situation:  In new home developments they cover the garage windows with a plastic film, and then paint the garage door.  When you move in you're suppose to peel the plastic off and reveal the window panes.  Unfortunately with this particular home, people are busy and they never got around to doing this.  Fast forward a few years, time to put the house on the market, and the plastic film & paint has been kind of baked on by the sun over the years. It doesn't look very good, and it's the first impression you get of the home.

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.  The home is beautiful inside, but the psychological impact when a potential buyer approaches the home would be that the home is not well cared for, which isn't the case.

So I called a window cleaning company, hired them to clean all the windows in the house and take care of removing the plastic film.  They cleaned the windows but called and said the couldn't remove the film.  I had a photographer showing up the next day at 10 am.  You know "pictures paint a thousand words", what was I to do?

Go to Home Depot of course, where they suggested a product called "Goof-Off 2" which removes plastic film.  Armed with a plastic scraper and the product, I showed up an hour before the photographer to take on the windows myself. I only got one set of window panes done in time for the photographer, but thanks to  Photo Shop all the windows look perfect in the picture.

An hour or so later, I was done! I would say this is going above and beyond the call of duty, but all in a days work as a committed Realtor.  Have a look at the before and after pictures of my handy work!

Now I need to get the feature sheet designed and printed, install the lock box, For Sale sign, input the listing, write the ads, host open houses, follow up with agents that show the property & negotiate the sale. Now the fun begins!

Open House Theft

Tragically I heard about two open houses that were robbed of jewelery and other precious items recently.  These stories crop up every now and then, which reminds us to remove ALL valuables from the home when exposing it to the public.  This is not a common occurrence, and for the most part open houses are a great way to expose the property to a large number of potential buyers, and can build interest in the home.

However, there are "pro's" that work the circuit, as in almost everything, that target open houses.  They generally come together in a group, maybe a couple and their children, or 2 couples that come together, one distracts the agent with questions while the others help themselves to valuables.  In fact it's not only the contents in the home that is at risk, I have heard of agents purses being stolen, so I always keep mine hidden away or left at home.

Do open houses sell houses? Are they necessary?  Not in all cases, but I do think the added exposure can help, especially when the home is full of people and it builds up a bit of intensity with respect to the potential demand.  Sometimes people that aren't really looking for a home, wander in and find a great house that they weren't expecting to find and they come forward with an offer. 

Maximum exposure means that a large number of people see the home, the more people that see it, the greater potential for multiple offers, which will get the seller more money and sell the home faster, all of which is what the seller is looking for.

Yes, there are lots of nosy neighbours who just want to see what you've done with the place.  But who cares, you're moving anyways.

Should we ask for photo ID? At this point I think it would just annoy people, but if it became a standard in the industry it would be a lot safer for everyone involved.

To open house or not? That is the question. Done properly they can be very effective, but remember to remove all valuables.

The Competition Bureau

Attention: Melanie Aitken, Competition Commissioner

Dear Ms. Aitken,

It must be nice to sit in your cozy office and pass judgement on the real estate industry.  You have the nerve to call Realtors anti-competitive, do you actually know how competitive the industry really is? We don’t stop people from trying to sell their own homes, or in fact regulate what someone should charge for commission.  There are starving real estate agents that will take your listing for practically no commission.  The only thing that is highly regulated is the rules and regulations to protect the consumer found in the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act and the RECO Code of Ethics which we are bound by.

Why don’t you take and pay for all the courses required to get your real estate licence, from the Ontario Real Estate Association,  then pay all the fees to the

•    Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)
• Toronto Real Estate Board
• Real Estate Council of Canada (RECO)
• Errors and Omissions Insurance

Then order your business cards, signs and marketing material.  Now go out and try to find some business.  You have to be motivated, a self-starter.  You see, we don’t get a pay cheque every 2 weeks like you do, we actually have to find our pay cheque.  Then the funny thing is, we have to pay the Broker a part of the commission to cover office and administration costs, someone has to answer the phone, book appointments and deal with a lot of paperwork.  If we are associated with a reputable brand we also have to pay a franchise fee, and then the government (which pays you) also takes a percentage of the commission.  Then what’s left, I get to earn. But that’s only if I make a sale, which in fact, is VERY COMPETITIVE.

There are currently 29, 619 real estate agents registered with the Toronto  Real Estate Board.  The total transactions in 2009 was 87, 308. So we have roughly 30,000 agents chasing 90,000 listings.  The odds aren’t in our favour. 

So let’s do the math.  3 deals per agent, average price of a home is $431,000, we split the 5% commission and receive 2 ½ which would amount to $10,775, now multiply by 3 deals for a gross income of $32,325.  Let’s say you’re on a 80/20 split with the Broker, your end is $25,860.  Now pay tax on the income, say 25%, you’re left with a net income of $19,395 per year or a whopping $1616 per month.

To make a living in this highly competitive industry, it’s not simply about listing a home on the Multiple Listing Service, it’s about competing for business, providing exceptional service and expert advice, guided by strong ethical principles and best business practices in order to protect the consumer.

Protecting the consumer – isn’t that what you should be doing?