Blog Toronto Real Estate

Start living your ‘perfect life’ today

Some days are tougher than others, it’s true, but if you suffer from a general feeling that your life isn’t quite what you had hoped it would be, you may benefit from sitting down and reflecting for a while.

Get a pen and pad of paper and think about what your perfect day would be like. Let your imagination loose and don’t hold back ideas as they come, even if they seem far-fetched.

After you’ve finished your perfect day, then take it a step further and write what your perfect life would be like. Again, let your imagination run wild and write whatever comes to mind.

After you’ve finished look back at what you’ve written and ask yourself if there is a big gap between how you would like your life to be and how it is.

Then after you have established what seems to be missing from your life, see what you can do, realistically, to take your life just one step closer to your ideals. Don’t try to, say, jump from your life where you struggle to just pay the bills to traveling the globe, but possibly if traveling the globe is in your “perfect life” vision, you might be able to introduce some adventure into your life by visiting a museum that is nearby and you’ve always meant to take in but haven’t been able to find the time for.

Try to instill the values of what your “perfect” visions tell you are important within the framework of the life you have. You are likely to expand your experience and enjoyment of things that are within reach now—not someday when you finally have enough money (which might take a while to accomplish.)

How failure and imagination, kicked off a journey

When J. K. Rowling, author of the phenomenally successful Harry Potter series, had been out of college for seven years, she found herself at a dark juncture in her life. At that time, she says, she had failed in life on an epic scale. “An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded. I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless.”

In short, Rowling says she was the biggest failure she knew.  And while she says there is nothing ennobling about being poor, she believes she reaped benefits from her failures. Failure, she says, stripped away all the inessential aspects of her life. She stopped pretending to be anything other than herself, and it was then that she began to earnestly pursue the only work that mattered to her. It was not, she says, the fairy-tale transformation to success so often written about her in the media.

Learning to imagine played an important role in Rowling’s life, yet surprisingly it has nothing to do with the colorful world of Harry Potter she created. Instead, she says, she learned to imagine when she worked for Amnesty International in her 20s. There, she was exposed to people and people’s stories from all over the world that were filled with terrible realities that she herself had never experienced; she looked at pictures of people who had disappeared without a trace, read testimonies from people who were tortured, and saw pictures of their injuries. She learned how evil human beings could be to their own kind.

Though seeing this dark side was anything but inspiring, Rowling says she also saw what was good about people while working for Amnesty. People who themselves had never suffered these atrocities organized to help people who had, because they could imagine what it was like to be surrounded by malevolence. Choosing to exercise your imagination for the good of others was a humbling experience, she said. Choosing to raise your voice for those who cannot do it for themselves can transform lives in ways we often cannot predict.

How Can You Get The Highest Price For Your Toronto Home?

After being a Realtor in Toronto since 1980, I've learned there is one constant that every house or condo seller wants... the highest possible price!  Any why not.  The home owner has taken the 'risk' in buying in the first place, has paid their mortgage payments on time and has maintained the home.

Although being a relatively new term, 'staging' has actually been offered by agents 'in the know' for many years.  One of the first things I do when meeting with a home seller is to take a walk through the home making notes on what I find.  Our Team calls this a 'Room-By-Room Review' and it consists of giving sellers very specific tips on what cosmetic-only repairs and changes to the existing furniture layout may be required to maximize their sale price.

After all, in order to compete in the marketplace with over 24,000 other listings on the Toronto Real Estate Board, you must be priced right and look better than other similiar houses or condominiums.  You want to present your home in the best possible light.

Sally has taken her professional training a bit farther.  She has attained her ASP designation (Accredited Staging Professional) and is actually quite good at it (not that I'm biased in any way :) ).  Many of our clients will attest to her skills... Sally recently staged a home that had previously been on the market and failed to sell.  After the seller followed all of Sally's suggestions, we sold the home for full price!

Many of our clients have needed to 'slim out' their homes after having lived there, or added to their family size, over the intervening years.  Of course, houses or condos that look bigger will sell faster and for a higher price.  There are several storage solutions.  The first to come to mind is a back corner of your basement, your garage or even your family's garage.  Next would be to rent a storage locker someplace locally. 

Here are a couple of other storage options... www.Canada-Storage.com, www.StorageStadium.com, and www.PackAndStore.ca all of which offer mobile storage units which are delivered to you and picked up and kept in a secure, heated location after you've finished packing them up.

One important thing to remember... try not to wait until the last minute to get your home ready for sale!  Call us to arrange your free Room-By-Room Review weeks or often months in advance of when you want your home to be on the market so you're not stressed out getting all the very important fix-ups completed!

It's Buyer Beware When Purchasing A New Condo In Toronto

Besides helping many people buy resale condominiums in Toronto, we also occasionally get to assist brand new condo buyers with their purchase.  It is a completely different process however and it's very important for buyers to know what the differences are.

The primary difference paperwork-wise is the purchase agreement.  In a resale condo purchase, the offer forms are all standardized by the Toronto Real Estate Board.  There's no ambiguity or changes to the 'fixed' portion of the offer allowed.

However, for a brand new condo purchase, there are several contract differences.  First, no builder's contract is the same.  Each have their own language and clauses so they have to be read very carefully.  Second, it has been traditional for the builder to have a 'closing costs' clause which is very open ended and includes the buyer paying for utility meter hookups, city lot levies (and even art levies), Tarion new home warranty registration costs and a bunch of other nickel-and-dime charges.

The problem arises because there is NO cap on what these expenses might total up to.  That's one of the skills we can bring to the table as our client's buyer agent representative.

Just recently Bob Aaron, a local real estate lawyer in Toronto, has written an extensive article in the Toronto Star about a new twist some builders have started doing.  Now they are including in the Condominium Declaration document (a very large, complicated 50-100 page package that is provided by the builder when you purchase) additional expenses that the new condominium board will be obligated to pay once they take over the operation of the condo one year after registration.

One example required that a board pay the builder for the cost of guest suites (say $200,000) that each condo owner would be required to pay for monthly in addition to their regular maintenance fee (ie approx $20/mo for 15 years for each suite in the building).  Another builder 'sold' all the heating, cooling and other physical plant to the board for over $1,000,000 at the turn-over time.  These expenses are typically unexpected by the condo owners and may substantially increase their required monthly payments to the condominium corporation.

To read Mr Aaron's entire Toronto Star article, please click here.  As usual in any real estate transaction, it's buyer beware.  Also as usual, it's always better to have an educated, professional buyer agent on your side who is dedicated to representing your best interests.

If you'd like to learn more about the benefits of having a buyer agent represent your interests, please click here.

Toronto Real Estate Viewing Centre Has A Party

Last Saturday we had two office 'Open House' parties... one for the Beaches neighbourhood between 2-4 pm and one for our clients that evening between 7-10 pm with lots of nibblies.  The afternoon party was fun because we had Santa in attendance with two of his elves and a real, honest-to-goodness Superbowl champion (Jason Gavadza) on hand to show kids his enormous Superbowl ring. 

Our professional Team photographer, Georgie, took photos of the wee ones with Santa.  We've put a little Xmas border around their pictures and sent them out to the proud parents.

One of the afternoon's highlights (other than seeing lots of cute kids) was a neighbour dropping by for a bite.  He has been living around the corner from our office his entire life and has some great stories including damming up a local stream to go swimming in the summer and having his family's groceries delivered by horse and sleigh in the winter!

In the evening, our clients came around and were given a tour of our new office.

We had door prize draws for lots of items donated by many of our Preferred Professionals (Click Here for a list) including Leafs hockey tickets donated by John Both, our landscaper.

Two psychics were in attendance telling people's fortunes during the evening and, for our grand finale, we drew from a list of people who have referred friends and family to us so far in 2006 for a free one week trip to a Caribbean resort including airfare for two.

We asked the neighbourhood and clients to bring used clothing or canned goods to donate to Senior Link, a local group which assists seniors. We collected several large bags full plus a local lady called me to drop by and pick up 3 boxes of nearly new clothes which she had recently cleaned from her closet and neatly organized for us.

All and all it was great fun and a wonderful chance to see our clients again and catch up on news.

Sally Says Shopping Around DOES Make Sense

After living in our home on Boardwalk Drive, and having part of it as an office for our Thomas & Sally Cook Team for eight years, I decided it was time to do some renovations and give the house a face lift... new hardwood upstairs and refinished hardwood on the main level, carpet, painting, wrought iron pickets and handrails, kitchen cabinets and appliances.

As my life is very hectic, having the time away from my Toronto real estate clients to source all the kinds of materials, colours, furniture etc…was going to be a challenge.

My first good investment was to hire an interior designer who was able to provide all the samples I needed to create my vision. Then I needed to start looking to find who was going to give me the best prices.

A contractor friend of mine told me about an appliance place that had a great selection and good prices. After doing my research, I decided on a specific line of appliances and negotiated a discount with them from the floor prices and felt pretty good about the savings I had just obtained.

The sales person told me sort of casually that if I was to find a better price with another store, they would match it. I have heard this before when I have bought other large ticket items but never acted on it thinking they must be the lowest if they are offering this; not this time.

I decided to call a few other appliance dealers - one I was referred to by another friend and one I found by calling 411 on the name of a company I remembered hearing about in the past - plus I checked out the big stores such as Home Depot and The Brick.

My first call had me talking to a man who’s family had been in the appliance business since the 1950’s. He was wonderful. He gave me great advice and amazing prices! I was so surprised that after calling the second place (prices were better than the original quote but not as good as the one I had just received minutes before), I called back just to make sure we were talking apples vs. apples.

I then contacted the original company I had placed the order with and told them I was going to go with the appliance dealer who had offered me the great prices. But, as I had given them a deposit when I was in their store, they did not want to let me have my money back. They did however match the new quote and I had just saved a whopping $1,200!!

I probably spent about an hour in total making the calls to the two competing companies and then renegotiating with the original company but it was definitely worth the effort! I also found out that the Big Box stores are not necessarily the deal they hold themselves out to be.

If you are interested in upgrading your appliances in the near future, give me a call at 416-691-8118, Extension 303 and I’ll let you know the best contact names and numbers.

We Need To Sell Our Home On Blantyre Avenue… And We’re Willing To Take A $40,000 Discount To Do It!

Toronto (ON) - My name is Sean McGroarty – my wife and I had our home custom built at 110B Blantyre Ave five years ago and it's time for us to sell. We’ve purchased another home with a closing very soon. To prevent making double payments on taxes, utilities and insurance, we are offering our home at a $40,000 reduction to move it quickly. We have a beautiful detached 4-bedroom home on a 200’ deep lot with lots of bells and whistles. Including the finished basement (which as a walk-out by the way), there is over 3,700 sf of finished living space on all three levels. One of the benefits over other homes is that we’ve already paid to have the landscaping updated, installed all the window treatments and upgraded the appliances, master bathroom ensuite and light fixtures.

We were asking $949,000 and have now reduced it to $909,000. That’s $40,000 off our asking price. An almost identical home on the same street by the same builder sold recently for over $1,000,000. That’s a savings of almost $100,000! We will be accepting offers on a first-come, first-serve basis (no holding back offers). If you would like to view our home personally, or just get a bit more information, Sally Cook gave us permission for you to call her directly. Her cell number is 416-456-9197. If you would like to see more exterior and interior photos of our lovely home, take a look at a video or check out our floor plans, please click here.

October Toronto Home Sales Down 4.3% BUT...

October Toronto real estate sales are down 4.3% but 2006 is still on track to be the third best month in Toronto MLS history!

Hand-in-hand with the cooler autumn weather, the GTA fall housing market is cooling off from a sizzling summer of resales.

In October, 6,876 resale homes changed hands in the GTA, according to Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) statistics.

Although last month’s resales were up from 6,622 in September, they were down from 6,976 in August.  What we are seeing is an increase in the listing inventory which gives buyers more choice.

Traditionally, the summer housing market slows down while people vacation and enjoy the hot weather, only to pick up again in the fall. The trend has reversed this year as the GTA’s record-breaking housing market finally eases up a bit.

To put things in perspective, however, Toronto real estate “year-to-date figures show this year's house and condo sales are within one and a half per cent of 2005’s record pace and October home sales were four per cent higher than September’s, indicating a solid autumn market," says TREB President Dorothy Mason.

The average resale home price in Toronto was $356,423 last month, up two per cent from September and up four per cent, year over year.

Some economists think that examining median prices for homes is a more accurate reflection of whether prices are moving higher or lower. The median price is the point at which half of resales sold for less and half sold for more.

In October, the median resale price for a Toronto detached home was $375,000; that’s the same median price as June. In October 2005, it was $358,000, which means that median prices are still inching up.

Having Fun At Our Real Estate Viewing Centre

Halloween is always a terrific time to decorate and dress up to join in the kid's fun and games.  Since this our first Halloween in our new office, we decided to put a couple of signs out to let the families know we would be open that evening for trick and treating.

Three of our wonderful staff members, Melissa, Ashleigh and JP decided to dress for the occasion and have some fun too.

We're participating in the community in other ways as well.  The local Norway Public School is having their annual parent talent night fund-raiser and we're providing some of the sponsorship for that.

We're also partnering with the local YMCA starting in January to pay 50% of the cost of a child's tuition to become a certified baby sitter.  Figure our granddaughter can take advantage of that :)

I'm On The Path To Enlightenment

Well, not really enlightenment in the true spiritual sense but certainly in the real sense when it come to helping our Toronto real estate clients!

Last Sunday I flew to California and drove south from LAX to San Diego for the first seminar being held by By Referral Only (BRO).  Many of you know that this is the place where Sally and I first started our 'Super Servant' learning over 13 years ago and where each member of our Thomas and Sally Cook Team must go when they first join.

On the way down I had to make one important stop... at the OC!  Rylie, our 14-year old son, is currently watching, for about the 4th time I think, the complete OC series so I just had to stop into Newport Beach for a quick lunch on the pier to see what it's all about.  California is beautiful with the ocean and the mountains virtually side by side but there is definitely a lot of traffic!

This San Diego training called "Strategic Leader... The Continuing Quest For Excellence" was a collection of the top By Referral Only agents from all across North America getting together to exchange ideas about customer service improvements, client communications and marketing solutions to help our seller clients in a more challenging market which we're entering in Toronto right now.

The best thing... many of my American friends have already been in the 'challenging', and in some cases 'declining' market for several months now so the techniques and solutions they've used will come in very handy in Toronto.

I did have the privilege of being the moderator on one 'ideas' panel and participating in another where I got to rub elbows with some of the top Realtors in California, Virginia and other states.

I'll be sharing some of the ideas I got with some of you personally and will talk about many of them in upcoming posts.  Keep coming back for more reading :)

As of today, I start another seminar in Santa Monica with Coach Ken.  He's a real estate coach for agents from all across North America and we're on a conference call every week to improve the way our Toronto real estate business is run.  More on the ah-ha's from this seminar later on.  Keep coming back for more reading :)

Toronto Home Buyer And Seller Were VERY Disappointed And Angry!

Last evening I received notice that the sale of one of my listings was not going to go through.  The buyers were unable to obtain their financing as promised by their mortgage broker!

Whenever an agent calls and says that he or she has an offer on one of my listings, the first question I always ask is "Have they been pre-approved for a mortgage?".  To this buyer agent's credit, she responded by saying that she'd shown my listing several days prior but did not want to bring an offer until the purchasers had received their pre-approval... which is absolutely the right thing to do.

So what happened?

It turned out that when her buyers went to their mortgage broker, he took what they'd told him at face value and did not check their income or credit bureau.  This was a major error on his part because, after the buyers had put in their offer and the broker got serious about their application, it turned out there were issues with their income and credit bureau score that precluded them from purchasing.

The buyers were very angry at the broker for getting them all excited about the possibilities of owning this lovely home and the sellers had their home off the market for several days while the condition on financing was being processed.

So what should have happened?

Our Thomas and Sally Cook Team asks OUR home buyers to assemble their documents in advance and get what we call a 'Full Mortgage Pre-approval".  For proof of income, we need copies of employment letters, tax assessment forms from Revenue Canada and pay stubs.  For proof of down payment, we need copies of RRSP statements, GIC's or term deposits or bank account statements.  We then get the buyer to ask, no demand, that their lender do a credit bureau right up front to ensure that no glitches appear.

So why don't all Toronto mortgage lenders do this?  To be blunt... because they're too lazy.  Their feeling is that they don't want to do any real work until the buyer has proven they're serious and have actually put in an offer.

This put all the stakeholders (buyer, buyer's agent, seller and seller's agent) in a quandry because the buyer can't have confidence that they'll get the mortgage until they actually spend their time, and that of all the other parties, and provide an accepted Agreement of Purchase and Sale.

Our Thomas & Sally Cook Team decided several years ago to solve this by dealing with just one mortgage lender... someone who was experienced, very knowledgeable and who would do the necessary work up front for all our buyer clients because they knew they would have our loyalty over the long term.  His rates have been consistently competitive with everyone else's and our buyer clients have the comfort of knowing that their mortgage is "fully pre-approved".

On many occasions, where the purchaser might not be in a financial or credit-bureau score position to buy right now, he has offered them excellent counsel and advice on how to solve any problems and offer a plan for them to go forward in the future.

His name is George Christopoulos and you can reach him at 416-721-9299.  Tell him the Thomas & Sally Cook Team sent you.

By the way, we did sell this listing just one week later to a different buyer and got our sellers an extra $2,000 - sometimes things just work out!

New Loan Programs Provide Lower Monthly Payments

Over the past few months, some new loan programs have become generally available to Toronto home buyers which can significantly reduce the monthly mortgage payments that consumers have to make.

Although long-term 5-year interest rates have been dropping recently, that's not the secret!  A change in the amortization period of mortgages is what's made the difference.

Traditionally in Canada, our mortgages have been amortized over 25 years, meaning that if you started out today at 5.3% say, and kept that interest rate constant over the entire period (which we can't do by the way), at the end of 25 years your mortgage would have been paid off in full.  Of course, that amortization period would be shortened if you take advantage of any of the pre-payment privileges that are typically available from any bank.

Now we have available to us 30- and 35-year amortizations which stretch out that payment-to-zero period.  This results in a lower monthly payment (and a higher interest paid over the life of the mortgage) and allows a home buyer to purchase a higher priced property than they would qualify for at the old, standard 25-year amortization calculation.

CMHC recently revealed that over 20% of the mortgages they now insure have that longer amortization period in place.

Some cautions are in order however.  Since the amortization period is longer, less of each monthly payment is going to principal and more is going to interest.  In each 5-year period, the home owner's gain in equity through principal reduction will be significantly lower.  Therefore, it is more important than ever for a home owner to take advantage of amortization-reducing 'tricks' such as paying their mortgage every 14 days and increasing their bi-weekly payment by 10% or more annually!

See the article on www.TorontoRealEstate.ca entitled "Mortgage Terminator Program" for more tips on how to pay off your mortgage sooner and save literally thousands of dollars in interest.

Who Should You Call?

Have you ever needed to get answers about street parking, garbage pickup times, special pickups, street not plowed, basement drain backing up from the city line, low water pressure or noise complaints?

The Toronto Real Estate Board has developed charts to help home owners in GTA communities with getting answers to all these types of questions and many more.

You can download the PDF for Toronto home owners right here...

Download city_of_toronto_services.pdf

and, if you live in any of the communities surrounding Toronto, go to www.TorontoRealEstateBoard.com , click on Consumer Info and then click on City Services to find a list of community phone numbers.

Our Team has had lots of experience with many city departments over the years... especially the Buildings Department in Toronto.  If you have any questions about them, please give us a call at the office - 416-691-8118 - anytime.

What's NOT Been Happening In The Toronto Market

What's not been happening is that the sky hasn't fallen in!  Although sales numbers are down for September over 2005, transactions were still the 3rd highest in MLS history.

Unfortunately we get hyped here in Canada from what's been happening in the US market where some states have encountered a slowing in the marketplace.  What you don't read is that some of the other US states/cities are doing extremely well and are having record sales.  So let's look at our fundamentals in Toronto and attempt to analyse them.

I just read an interesting article commenting on the fact that economists are now beginning to challenge the media's generally negative outlook on housing.  The author stated that the media's constant warning of imminent crashes and home price meltdowns was way out of line with reality.  He states that the market is simply going through a correction in many US cities which have had recent double-digit appreciation levels... and that this correction is badly needed after five years of record sales.

The best thing about our Toronto market is that we, for the most part, haven't had double-digit appreciation levels... our average appreciation year-over-year has been in the 5-7% range!

The history of housing prices tells us that they fall only when and where a local economy fails.  We're seeing that local Toronto markets are each following their own pattern, based on the 'local' economy and local price levels.

For example, we are seeing a slowdown in some of the more distant 905 areas because of recent job losses and the higher cost of commuting (expensive gas prices and traffic gridlock).  Contrast that to the downtown market where condominium sales have been robust at about 30% of the market and brand new condo sales in September 2006 were at their highest in the last 5 years.  Why... no commute required and more affordable for many first-time buyers.

As some of the established neighbourhoods in the 'close-to-downtown' such as the Annex, North Toronto and Etobicoke are showing zero growth because prices have been climbing in recent years, other 'short-commute' communities such as Scarborough, Richmond Hill and Markham have shown upper single-digit to low double-digit increases because their prices haven't kept pace with the downtown neighbourhoods and are now seen as being more affordable.

The one trend that bodes well for buyers, and a warning for sellers, is that inventory levels for resale homes are at a millenium high.  In September, listings available on the market hit 26,383 while sales were at 6,622.  This gave us a sales-to-listings ratio of 25.1%... just on the borderline of being a buyer's market! 

Our conclusion... buyers now have more choices in the marketplace and serious sellers will need to adjust their prices, and reduce their expectations, in order to get their homes positioned competitively in the marketplace.  Although prices aren't falling, there's less upward pressure to make homes appreciate at higher levels.

Back To The Blogging World With Gusto

It's been awhile but it feels good to be back... it's an indication that other things have smoothed themselves out finally.

Specifically our new Real Estate Viewing Centre is now complete!  The final touches were done last week and we're fast forward from here on.

It's a great location for clients to meet with us to discuss their needs and wants... both for buying and selling... and we've got 3 client counseling areas set up on the main level so people can get on the internet and view the newest listings not yet available on the public MLS site and can take a look at comparable sales in their neighbourhood if they're interested in selling.

The back area of the main floor has private desks for several Team members and our entire Client Care staff are located upstairs on the second floor level. The basement level also has Team facilities for future expansion.

The building is an interesting configuration... narrow at the Kingston Road end and widening out considerably at the back.  The previous owner had been in the building since the 1940's so absolutely everything needed to be updated.

We'll be having an open house for the neighbourhood from 2-4 pm on Saturday November 25th   and a special, invitation-only party for our clients that evening from 7-10 pm so please plan on attending.

Our Thomas & Sally Cook Team Office Is Moving

Sally and I have purchased a commercial building for our Team to move into.  It's located at 450 Kingston Road on the NE corner of Brookside, just across from where Waverley Road comes up to Kingston Road (2 lights east of Woodbine).

Construction is madly going on with a new storefront as seen here plus 2 new furnaces, wiring, plumbing, drywall, office furniture, phones, etc, etc, etc.

We're calling our new space the Real Estate Viewing Centre and we'll have three consultation spaces at the front with 26" wide-screen monitors so that people can come in and browse through listings, etc.

We'll have our grand opening for clients and friends in November... date to be announced in the fall... and we'll actually be moving into the space within the next 30 days.

It's a really exciting move for our Team and will allow us to an even more professional level of service to our Toronto home buyer and seller clientele throughout the GTA.

The Toronto Market Chugs On...

May 2006 stats for the Toronto Real Estate Board revealed that May was the absolute best month ever for sales in the Board's history.  9,434 sales were made, a 2% increase over May 2005, including 2,661 condos (a 28.2% market share).

Despite an increase in inventory up to 26,220 homes offered for sale, the highest in several years, the ratio of sales-to-listings showed 36% indicating a strong seller's market.

Overall year-to-date, sales are up about 4% over last year despite a CMHC prediction last December which forcast a 4,000 unit drop in sales above 2005's record pace.

By mid-June, the Board released findings indicating that the average sale price in the GTA was just under $357,000, still a very affordable number compared to Vancouver and certainly to other 'world-class' cities like New York where the average is over $850,000.

An amazing, and very interesting, trend we're seeing in the market is the acceptance of the condo lifestyle for many types of people.  We've just helped one client sell their 3-storey Beaches home and move to a lovely loft 2-bedroom on the waterfront.

Other clients are moving from small condos to larger ones... and staying in the lifestyle instead of automatically going to a house as their second move-up home.

This is indicative of the tremendous variety of choice now being offered in condominiums... from the small, starter bachelor suite to the larger lofts and 2- or 3-bedroom luxury or retirement option.

Currently we're seeing almost 100,000 people settling in the GTA every year which is requiring a lot of new construction to accommodate these immigrants.  Intensification will be almost manditory to avoid more urban sprawl, especially with the moratorium on building up north of the city.

The incredible thing is that we're building more condominiums, and selling them to owner occupants, in downtown Toronto than they're constructing in New York City!  There's a synergy taking place that makes more people excited about living downtown the more people there are 'walking the streets' as residents which then causes more interest, more building and so on.  I believe this is fantastic and will almost 'recession proof' this part of the market.

If you have any questions about where the market is going, please email me at MarketTrends@TorontoRealEstate.ca anytime.

The Children's Miracle Network Benefits From Every Team Transaction

Have you ever been down to the Sick Kids's Hospital on University Avenue?  It's got a beautiful atrium lobby with lots of sunshine and a very cheery atmosphere.  Behind the scenes of course is where the work goes on to make our children healthy after a serious sickness or injury.

The Thomas & Sally Cook Team has made it a goal to increase our contributions to the Children's Miracle Network (CMN) which supports Sick Kid's Hospital every single year.  Every time one of our clients buys or sells toronto real estate, we have our RE/MAX Hallmark office deduct a portion from our commissions which then goes to CMN.  Our entire Team contributes including each buyer specialist and of course Sally and I.

In 2005, we had our best year ever... a contribution of $15,390.  With your help and support of our Team, we hope to make 2006 even better!

How To Ruin Your Credit Rating Almost Overnight

Most people are guilty of receiving a credit card invoice or some other bill where the balance or minimum payment was just a small amount of money and deciding to put it aside and pay it, perhaps in full, the next month.  Maybe the minimum payment being asked was say $45 and you planned on paying $200 on account when your next pay cheque came in.

The problem is that the credit card companies don't take a joke very well.  They want their minimum payment when it is due... even if you pay a higher amount later on.

If you miss the payment due date by one month, your good R-1 credit rating drops to an R-2.  If you miss two payments, it drops to R-3 and so on.  Your FICO score, the measure mortgage lenders use to see if you're creditworthy, will also drop when you start having R-2's, etc.

So what should you do?  Make at least the basic minimum payment on time every single month.  You can always send in an additional payment later on if you wish but DON'T MISS making the minimum!  You'll maintain an R-1 rating with each of your creditors and toronto real estate mortgage lenders will love you.

If you would like to obtain a copy of your FICO credit score used by most lenders, plus a copy of your credit report, go to www.Equifax.ca online.  The cost is $23.95 for everything.

What An Intrusion !!!

It all started the middle of April when Rylie's bike was stolen from our garage behind our home.  We'd lived in the house for almost 8 years and never had a problem so didn't ever lock the 'man door'.  We thought it was a random, one-time occurence but we were very wrong.

Two weeks later, Sally's bike was stolen so, since the cart had already left the garage, we started locking the man door.  Late one evening in early May I was packing up to fly to a seminar the next morning.  I'd left my cell phone headset in Sally's car in the garage so ran out quickly, unlocked the door, dashed to get the headset and then slammed the door shut on my way back to the house.

You guessed it... I left the garage door key (attached by the way to Sally's car key) dangling in the garage door!  The next morning I'm just about to get into the airport limo when Sally shouts "My car's gone!".  The bike thieves have just escalated the game.  A police report was made and the insurance company told Sally that she'd never see her lovely copper-coloured Infinity FX35 with the distinctive BUYHOME licence plate again.

On the following Saturday (3 days later), Sally and Rylie are riding in a rental car on the way to go shopping just three blocks from our house when Sally sees a car approaching that's the same colour and model as hers.  As it passes she notices the tow hitch (unusual for this type of car) and then notices the plate... it's her car!

Rylie gets on the phone to 911 and Sally follows the car (keeping in mind all the shadowing techniques she's learned from watching cop shows on TV) and tracks it to a house about 5 minutes from where we live.  To make a long story short, the police showed up, chased the two suspects and lost them whereby Sally ran around the block and pointed one of them out to another approaching cruiser... one captured and one escaped.

Sally's car was still full of their stuff when Sally picked it up from the impound lot to take it in for repairs.  The whole process... getting the car stolen, the chase and recovery and now driving it with other people's stuff in it... was very stressful for Sally (and Rylie too).  To quote Sally... "It felt like they were injected into my personal space... a sickening feeling".

Needless to say, we're now locking the garage full time and have ordered a security system for our entire house.  Better late than never!

Moral of this story for you... Do the same, lock up your belongings and don't assume that just because it hasn't happened before, that it won't happen to you.  Pay attention to neighbourhood stories too.  After the fact, we heard that other neighbours have had stuff stolen from their garages off the laneway.  If we had known beforehand, we might have paid attention and secured our property a little better.

Why Can't You See Real Estate Signs At Night

It's pretty simple... often there is no streetlight right where you'd like it and running a spotlight and extension cord from the house seems pretty crude.

I've often given some thought as to how to light up my For Sale signs at night to give my toronto real estate seller clients more exposure for their homes and to make it obvious to people driving by after dusk that there are full-colour feature sheets mounted in a box on that signpost.

Finally there seems to be a solution... a California company recently came up with a portable lighting system that sits up on the top of the sign and has two LED light arms extending out to both sides of the sign.

I just installed the first three of them last night... what do you think?

There's a bit of ongoing 'battery' maintenance with them but I think the result is terrific.

RE/MAX CEO Comments On Toronto Real Estate Market

Sally and I had the pleasure of listing to Walter Schneider, the President of RE/MAX Ontario, several US RE/MAX districts and RE/MAX Europe last Friday.  As a man who is in the forefront of real estate here in Canada as well as internationally, he had some interesting observations about our local Toronto real estate marketplace.

His conclusion... the Toronto real estate market will remain steady for several years to come.  Why?  First of all, there's more people living here now than there were in the late '80's when investors ruled.  That stabilizes the marketplace immensely. 

Immigration remains steady with about 100,000 people moving to the GTA every single year.  Traditionally, immigrants purchase homes within 7-10 years of their arrival here... to them it is a very important step on the way to becoming Canadian.

The number of single-sex households is growing steadily... now at about 22%, this phenomenon is relatively new in the Toronto real estate marketplace.  This ties in with the fact that 'New Millenium' kids, those born within the years 1979 to 1994, are now starting to be of the age to buy real estate.  Imagine this... there are over 71,000,000 of them in the USA and Canada in this age range!

And finally, more and more people want to 'live in their asset' instead of investing solely or predominantly in the stock market for example. They realize that it's a far more secure, and useful, way to build equity than other methods.  Sally and I have had several clients come to us this year alone to sell and move up to their next, larger home.  Most have realized a large gain in equity which would have been absolutely impossible to earn, especially tax free, from any other method of investment!

One of the best ways to get started is to have a buyer consultation with a Realtor.  See what this is all about by clicking on www.BuyerConsultation.TorontoRealEstate.ca.

The Real Estate Minute Home Buying Series - Part 3

The Thomas & Sally Cook Team "The Real Estate Minute" is back with our third educational real estate video.

This edition of the Real Estate Minute series is entitled "Buyer Consultation - Why You Should Do One". 

Many agents typically just ask a few quick questions of buyers over the phone such as "What neighbourhoods are you considering?" and "What is your price range, how many bedrooms and baths do you want and are you looking for a semi or a detached?".  Then they pick up the buyer and waste their time touring through a lot of homes which, very often, don't fit the buyer's needs.

There is a better, more time efficient and effective way to go about finding your dream home.  Click below and listen in.

Home Buyers Were Very Disappointed...

Recently one of my Toronto real estate condo listings sold to a very excited buyer.  They had already put in offers on 2 other condos before coming to my listing but they were told by their bank that they could only afford to go to a maximum $150,000 purchase price.  The other sellers weren't willing to come down to that price.

As usual, I asked the buyer agent "Have your clients been pre-approved by their lender?" The answer was yes... they had their pre-approval all taken care of.

Finally they had secured the home of their dreams at an affordable price and were really excited.  End of a happy story right?

Unfortunately NO.  Their bank had previously only asked them the most basic questions about "What is your income?" and "What are your debts?" and did NO backup work to confirm anything.  They even ignored that fact that these buyers had a line of credit at this same institution which they had maxed out.

When the banker was presented with an accepted offer, only then did the banker do their work and happen to notice that this line of credit really limited the purchasers to a price of maximum $135,000.  The buyers had spent all this time looking, putting several offers in and finally finding their dream home and now all these dreams were shattered!  They couldn't buy it after all.

Moral of this story... INSIST that your lender do a credit bureau immediately and that you supply your lender with proof of income and proof of down payment.  You have to supply this information anyway so it is far better to do it ahead of time, get what we call a "full mortgage pre-approval" in writing and remove any uncertainty from your home searching!

If you would like to learn more about how to arrange a full mortgage pre-approval, and get many other Toronto real estate home buying and mortgage financing questions answered, consider attending one of our home buyer workshops held in 5 different classroom locations across the GTA.  You can look at upcoming dates and locations at www.HomeBuyerAcademy.ca.

Mortgage Interest Rates Rise Again

The Bank Of Canada raised it's rates this week causing the prime rate to rise by 0.25% making the prime now 5.75%.  This directly influences the variable rate which is usually 0.80% below the prime rate.

Because the bond market is also very strong right now, our 5-year posted rate has climbed to 6.6% and the discounted rate is now 5.35%, up from 5.1% at the first of April.

If you're planning on purchasing in the next 6 months or so, you should consider locking in your rate now before any further increases take place.  Our Team has an exclusive arrangement with one of the major banks whereby we can lock in the rate for our clients (on a new purchase or a transfer at the end of an existing mortgage term) for a full 6 months ahead!

Just give Sally or I (Thomas) a call to set this up at 416-691-8118.  Don't delay.

Just Call Us Nanna, Grandpa and Uncle!

WOW!!! We're now grandparents to a lovely 7 lb 14 oz baby girl, Devyn Elizabeth Gear who was born Thursday April 13th, just before Easter. Congratulations to mommy Jodi and daddy Alan!

I love those little hats they put on babies just after they're born to keep their heads warm.

Sounds a little strange to be called Grandpa... since I'm only 29 (in my mind at least) :) and Rylie is now going to be an Uncle.

Seems now my 'reticular activator' is on and I'm noticing other babies everywhere. Several of our clients have recently become happy parents and, in many cases, this is causing them to consider moving up to a larger home too.

Congratulations to all new parents out there and may all our babies be happy and healthy.

No Credit Worse Than Bad Credit

This may seem extreme but it's actually true.  We've encountered many home buyers over the years who, being conservative, have regularly paid cash for everything and didn't own even one credit card.  This might seem to be laudable but here's what happens...

Now, any lender considering them for a mortgage does not have any reference point to see whether they pay their bills on time or not!  It would seem a shame to have conducted themselves so diligently to have no bills or debts that they're actually penalized for it.

Here's the simple solution.  We know that buyer is debt adverse so simply get any credit card with say, a $1,000 limit, and then use it minimally but regularly.  Spend about $100-200 consistently every month and then pay it off 100% when the bill comes in. 

You won't have incurred any interest charges if you pay in full BUT the credit bureau will have you on file as having an R-1 credit rating... the best you can attain!

If you're curious as to what your credit rating is, go to www.Equifax.ca and check it out.  The cost is minimal and every buyer is encouraged to do this in advance of purchasing to make sure there are no mistakes showing up.

Soft Landing Predicted For Our Housing Market

At a recent economics seminar Sally and I attended, Craig Alexander, a VP at TD Financial, had some interesting and positive things to say about our Toronto real estate housing market.

There's been some news recently about the run-ups in oil prices and speculation that this might impact on inflation, interest rates and housing.  Craig stated that oil prices would need to be in the $90 per barrel range before we would have energy shocks like we had in the mid- to late-seventies.

One of the issues might be the slowdown in property refinancing in the US caused by rising interest rates.  The problem there is that the funds pulled out of home owner's equity are often going into comsumer spending.  Therefore, if refi's are down, so will consumer spending be down.

The good thing is that Canadians have not been so fanatical about refinancing their homes so our comsumer spending didn't have the big upswing and won't have the downswing either.

As the chart shows, affordability in Canada is still excellent and is at the low end of historical standards.

There has been some speculation about the Toronto real estate condo market and whether or not it has been overbuilt.  The good news is that the toronto market is mainly owner-occupied driven, meaning that investor sales are a low percentage of the overall marketplace.

The accompanying chart shows that the Toronto condo market is right in line with the long term trend line, unlike Vancouver's market which has spiked up much higher than the overall trend.

The conclusion... Canada's economy is in great shape, there is little sign of speculation in Canada's housing market, so minimal risk of a bubble and that slightly higher mortgage rates will only bring the housing market in for a soft landing with lower levels of appreciation... NOT declines in value!

RE/MAX Awards Dinner Was Last Night

The annual RE/MAX awards dinner and gala was held last night at the Harbour Castle hotel in Toronto with over 2,000 RE/MAX agents attending.

As usual RE/MAX Ontario hosted a terrific event with lots of excellent entertainment.  One of the highlights of course was the awards ceremonies where several of our Team buyer agents received recognition for their efforts in 2005.

Our Thomas & Sally Cook Team ended 2005 by being #1 in Toronto, #3 in Transactions and #4 in Earnings for Ontario, #5 in Canada and #38 worldwide for RE/MAX.

Our thanks to all of our clients who helped make it happen and please keep us in mind for your referrals in 2006 and beyond.

Grow House Address Are Now Online

Grow houses for marihuana cultivation are a 'growing' concern across the GTA and home buyers should be aware of the potentially serious pitfalls when considering purchasing one, regardless of the purchase price.

A marihuana grow operation requires massive amounts of light (and therefore heat) and moisture to make the plants mature.  The house of course must remain a secret so all the windows and doors are closed and whatever ventilation there is will usually be ducted up into the attic.  The result... the heat and moisture combine to make a very suitable home for mould.

Now you won't necessarily see the mould, because the home owner may attempt to cover up surface indications but it will still be there, primarily, behind the drywall growing unobserved.  This can present severe health hazards for many families.

Any home seller, and listing agent if he knows, are supposed to declare on the listing that this home had been a grow house and that it is essentially 'buyer beware'.  The problem arises when the seller does not disclose this to their listing agent, or the listing agent does not declare this situation on the MLS listing.

For the first time in Toronto, the 42 Division in Scarborough has taken the initiative to identify grow house addresses on their website.  In fact, in just 2005 alone this Division busted 109 grow houses... an astounding number!  Check it out at www.TorontoPolice.on.ca/d42 and click on 'Latest Community Bulletin" near the top right corner of the webpage.

There's also a PDF file there which you can download entitled "Spotting A Marijuana Grow House".  It summarizes what you should be looking for in your neighbourhood.  I met with a client last week who was able to identify and alert police to a grow house right next door to his home.  It pays to be alert!

US Borrowers Back Away From Variable Mortgages

A recent Inman News article indicated that the use of adjustable-rate or variable rate mortgages has declined significantly in California in the last several months.  The number of home purchasers choosing this type of mortgage has now declined from a high of 73.7% of buyers in May 2005 down to 51.9% as of February 2006.

Commentators believe that the California market has passed its frenzy stage and is moving into more balanced territory.  People are realizing that, with the US Federal Reserve raising rates, they're better off with a fixed rate mortgage where they can count on knowing what their payment will be over the next 5-10 years.

Currently here in Toronto, the spread between a 5-year fixed mortgage and a 7-year mortgage is only 20 basis points.  This, in this author's opinion, is the best way to go for 1st-time house or condo buyers.  The current discounted mortgage rates are excellent and fixing the term allows a home owner to relax and not have to worry about what their payment will go up by in the months ahead.

Making The Wrong Market Trend Assumptions Could Be Costly

It pays to be diligent when trying to understand where the real estate market in Toronto is headed.  Sally had two buyers recently say that they felt the Toronto market was headed for a crash and they were basing this assumption somewhat on some United States new construction sales numbers that they had read.

First, and most importantly, we are not the United States and there are some very dramatic differences between our markets.  In several US states, they have had double-digit annual appreciation in the last couple of years... in some cases into the low- to mid-twenties.  This is pretty extreme and logic would say that this is not sustainable and some sort of a shift is bound to occur.

The Toronto Real Estate Board however had an average appreciation level of 6.6% between 2005 and 2005... much more modest.  In addition, 2005 was a record year for Toronto real estate sales so, if as CMHC predicts, sales will drop this year by a few thousand units, it will only bring us back to 2003-2004 levels, which were record years at the time!

Don't forget... a drop in sales numbers does NOT indicate that prices are falling.  Au contraire, CMHC is predicting that our appreciation level in 2006 will indeed decline from 6.6%... but only down to 3-4% annually.  Don't forget, this is still UP from current prices in a very modest, understated way (similar to Canadians in general :) right?).

The Post carried an article March 22nd with a headline "Condo sales down 12% from last year".  You had to read the entire article before realizing that first, in 2005 we had record condo construction sales which were up 31% over 2004.  It would be reasonable to believe a slowdown would be almost normal!

Now remember, that was brand new construction.  Lest the resale condo market be painted with the same brush, by the end of February, resale condo sales were up 16.2% by the end of February over 2005... totally in the opposite direction.

A Globe And Mail article from March 6th indicated that "At an average of $327 a square foot, city suites cost half of what they would on the West Coast".  This price has only risen 8.6% from January 2005 and, compared to Vancouver prices at $651/sf, we have a bargain. 

We're seeing a continuing widening of choices in terms of size, layout and style here in Toronto which is increasing the number of existing condo owners who 'move up' to another condo (unheard of 2-3 years ago).  We're even seeing house owners in the 40's making the move to snazzy units along the waterfront with expansive views and spacious balconies.

So what are the positives?  Continued low interest rates (currently 5.1% for a 5-year term and only 5.5% for a 10-year term), continued strong regional economy prospertiy in Southern Ontario and continued immigration to the GTA will allow our marketplace to continue to appreciate in the years ahead.

Remember, even if appreciation slows to 3-4%, it is STILL UP and waiting does NOT work to a buyer's best interest!

Underpricing Listings Is Bad For The Seller & The Buyer

For the last several years we've had a busy Toronto real estate seller's market.  That has resulted in at least 20% or more of the sales resulting from multiple offers.  That means more than one purchaser was trying to buy the home at the same time.

In the past year or so, the phenomenon has become almost ridiculous because of agents deliberately underlisting homes with the sole purpose of making themselves look like heros!  Their 'selling point' has been that underpricing the home will attract lots of offers (often but not always) and that the seller will get more money than they would have otherwise (often NOT true).

Recently Sally was on an offer in the Bloor and Bathurst area for a home listed at $399,900.  Upon checking old solds for that property she found that it has sold for $410,000 two years previous and certainly the market had NOT dropped in that neighbourhood!

We did our analysis of value and came to the conclusion that the value was really in the range of $470-480,000.  Our client couldn't afford to go that high but was very happy to pay $463,000.

When it came time to present the offer, there were 7 offers on the table.  Our client got it for the price she could afford so we were very happy.  The listing agent thought he was a hero, but we believe that the seller undersold their house and potentially lost between $7,000 and $17,000!

There are other problems with this process too.  Buyers see a home listed at $399,900 and get excited at purchasing a house for that price in that neighbourhood.  Problem is... they can't!  They get disappointed (and pissed off at such a silly process) and sometimes lose their faith in Realtors and quit looking altogether.  It wastes everyone's time.

Another problem is the bank appraisal.  If the sale price goes over list by more than 10%, there may be issues with getting a mortgage approval unless the buyer agent has done their homework and provided the lender with other comparable sales in the area to use when calculating the value.  If the appraisal comes in low, then the purchaser may be on the hook to come up with a larger down payment.

What is the solution?  Complain to RECO (Real Estate Council Of Ontario -> 416-207-4800) about the inequities of this process... it's the only way it is going to change.

Do You Know How To Save ?

In a recent MacLean's magazine article, they were talking about how very few Canadians save properly for their retirement.  As Sally and I get closer to that big day (still several years away), we've become a bit more focused on paying down debt and clearing off mortgages.  Here's a couple of tips on what we've found works very well for ourselves and our clients.

If you're not currently a homeowner, the absolute best way to save for a home, and get some free money from the government to do it, is to use your RRSPs.  Let's say you have 6-12 months before you plan to purchase but have no money saved right now.  First step is to check your Revenue Canada Notice Of Assessment which will tell you how much contribution room you have.  Each buyer can contribute up to $20,000 to their RRSP and use it towards their down payment.

Next is to arrange an RRSP loan.  You should do that immediately and set it up for, let's say, a 12-month amortization.  At the end of that 12 months, you'll have saved a significant amount and, when you file your taxes in April 2007, the government will give you back a big cheque.

There's more detail to it than what I've outlined here of course.  To find out the nitty-gritties of setting this up, go to www.FreeHomeLoanReport.com and a member of our Free Home Loan team will be in touch to give you some personal help.

If you already own a home, and want to save big bucks on the interest you're paying to the bank, Sally and I use our Mortgage Terminator Program to painlessly pay off the principal of any mortgage in just 10 years without having to use any lump sum payments whatsoever.  Sally and I are down to under 2 years left on our mortgage now and the process is very simple... you don't even miss the small payments coming out of your bank account every 14 days.

Read more about it at www.MortgageTerminator.TorontoRealEstate.ca and, if you're interested, we'll send you a custom spreadsheet tailored to your specific mortgage to show you how you can do this too.  It's quite exciting to see your balance shrinking when you get your mortgage statement every January!

The Real Estate Minute Home Buying Series Continues ...

The Thomas & Sally Cook Team "The Real Estate Minute" is back with our next educational real estate video.

The second in the Real Estate Minute video series is entitled "How Do You Choose The Right Buyer Agent?".  Take a look and email us your comments by clicking below where it says "Comments".

We Are Really Lucky !

Sally and I have been coming to the Cayman Islands for many years... my first visit was in 1979... and the people here have always been fantastic.

Last time we were here was August 2004, just before Huricane Ivan.  I'm astounded by the amount of damage still left here on the island from that storm.  There are quite a few homes still boarded up or minus their roofs or windows.  Most of this is from the homeowners either not having insurance at all or not having enough coverage to pay for all the damage.

This is all that's left of the Cayman Diving Lodge where I took my dive training back in 1988.

The Tortuga Club, a timeshare resort where we're now staying, had two buildings facing the ocean so badly damaged (both were leaning off their foundations with the concrete pool left almost vertical after the storm) that they had to be torn down completely.  The new replacement buildings are just being started now.

I was speaking to Teresa at the front desk the other day.  She and her family, local Caymanians, live on the North Side, about 40 minutes from the capital.  After the hurricane hit, they spent 80 days without electicity or running water. 

Imagine, having to beg ice anywhere you could to keep food from going off.  Even those few families with gas generators weren't any better off because for quite some time there was no gasoline available and the roads along the south coast, the only access from the port in Georgetown, were washed out or blocked by mountains of coral.

Things are getting back to normal now after lots of work and effort by the local population.

The Tortuga Club at the very east end of Grand Cayman has reopened its interior, pool-side rooms and people can now again enjoy the terrific beaches and temperature.

The diving dock was totally carried away by the storm but the boats were safe in a snug harbour inland.  The underwater scenery is as excellent as it always was and divers are now starting to come back to enjoy the Cayman hospitality.

We are so fortunate (knock on wood) that we haven't had any natural disasters of this scale in the Toronto area.

I Was 'In The Zone' On Sunday

Being 'in the zone' to me means that mind and body are both sharp - both functioning at peak performance and everything is working as it should.  The mind's awareness is 100% and the skill level is right up there.

I used to get that feeling a lot in my skydiving days in the '70's.  After almost 1,100 jumps, the body learns to react quickly and time almost stops... everything that happens in those 30-60 seconds of freefall is crystal clear.

Just for a moment that happened when I was skiing on Sunday with my 13-year old son Rylie.  When our family was out to Whistler in February, Sally and I took lessons... something we should have done before!  The instructor was terrific and broke down the process of making a smooth turn into all its little steps.

As in skydiving, I found that a lot of the processing of that learning goes on at night while we're sleeping and over time.  A certain task or movement might seem difficult while right in that class but it does sink in afterward.  That's what happened on Sunday.

When Rylie and I went down our first slope on Sunday morning, I found myself doing naturally what the instructor had told me weeks before and, by afternoon, I got that 'in the zone' feeling - the feet were moving, the knees were leaning and the hands/arms were manipulating the poles in exactly the right way for my turns.  Fantastic!  Unfortunately it only lasted several seconds but I can see the potential there.  I can hardly wait to take lessons when next year's season rolls around.

I guess the moral of this story is "An old dog can always learn new tricks".  Take advantage of any learning opportunity you come across, even as a buyer or a seller, and use it to increase your skill level and enjoy being 'in the zone' whatever you're doing whether it's work or play!

RE/MAX Team Ranking Results Are In For 2005

It's now official.  RE/MAX International has just released their 2005 Team ranking statistics for RE/MAX agents world-wide.

The Thomas & Sally Cook Team at RE/MAX Hallmark ranks the #1 Team for RE/MAX in Toronto, #5 in Canada out of over 16,500 Realtors and #38 world-wide out of over 110,000 agents in almost 40 countries in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Click here to see the official RE/MAX statistics.

Our thanks for our Team success goes to the 348 happy buyers and sellers who trusted us with handling their real estate buying or selling transaction during 2005.

We hope that you'll continue to send us your referrals and calling us to help with your move up to your new home when the time comes. 

Thanks again from Thomas and Sally, our Buyer Specialist team members and our oh-so-important support staff.

February Resales In Toronto Up 9%

It's official... all February we felt the market was busy but the month-end stats proved it.  There were 6,756 sales during the month - the second best February every recorded by the Toronto Real Estate Board.

The average sale price for the month came in at $353,928, an increase of 6% over February 2005.  The listing inventory is climbing, as it always does in the spring market, and, as of the end of the month there were 19,992 homes for sale on TREB.

The ratio of sales-to-listings, an accurate barometer of how busy the market is, rose to 33.8% indicating a moderate seller's market.  Condominium sales (high-rise and townhouse) made up 28.5% of the market... again about average for the past year.

Click here to download the February 2006 Toronto Real Estate Board Market Watch.

All in all, it looks like another excellent year for real estate in Toronto.  Interest rates are still moderate at 5.1% for a 5-year term and our economy is still running smoothly.

Check in mid-week and we'll have the complete February market analysis for you to read.

The Real Estate Minute Video Series Makes It's Debut

The Thomas & Sally Cook Team has just launched it's latest home buyer and seller learning program entitled "The Real Estate Minute".  This time it's on video which you can download and watch on your home computer.

Thomas & Sally have been doing home buyer workshops since 1998 in 5 different classroom locations across the GTA (see www.HomeBuyerAcademy.ca ) and this is just one more option that they're providing to the home buyer and seller clients to inform and educate them before they make a home purchase or sell their existing property.

The first in the Real Estate Minute video series is entitled "How Do You Decide What Price You Should Be Paying For A Property?".  Take a look and email us your comments by clicking below where it says "Comments".

Buyer Saves Money... But Didn't Get The Home

One of our Buyer Agents on our Team, Natalie Lynch, recently met with her client Monica for a consultation shortly after she attended one of our workshops. Being Monica’s first time buying, so she was very excited, and of course, a little nervous.. With a fair idea of what she was in search of... a nice, cozy home, on a quiet street within walking distance to TTC and shops, the search was started.

After a short search, they found a terrific home, prepared an offer that evening and started the negotiations. The property was listed at $219,900. Natalie knew that the seller had accepted a previous offer that was very close to the asking price. However Natalie and Monica were aiming for something closer to $215,000, even though their research showed it was priced quite well. Unfortunately, the first night of negotiations didn’t go so well. There were three parties involved on the selling side and one of them was being extremely difficult to deal with and didn’t even bother showing up!

It turned out Natalie and her purchaser didn't even get a signback... another offer appeared at the very last moment. They found out a few days later that it sold for a whopping $236,000! Someone very obviously over-paid for this property (our buyer's offer was in the upper end of market value) and was very possibly not counseled correctly and honestly by their Buyer Agent.

We know that although the house was appealing, Monica is thankful that the guidance she received from Natalie and the market value details that she was shown were honest and realistic. At least she didn’t over-pay, nor will she, when Natalie does find her a home.

To read more specifics on this true story, please go to www.Natalie.TorontoRealEstate.ca .

Children's Miracle Network Contribution Numbers Are In

Once again in 2005 the Thomas & Sally Cook Team at RE/MAX Hallmark led other Realtors for their support of the Children's Miracle Network (CMN) and the Toronto Hospital For Sick Kids.

Every transaction our Team does, either helping a buyer or a seller, results in a substantial payment to the Sick Kids Hospital.

Total contributions for the 2005 calendar year were $15,390 and, combined with 2004 contributions, the CMN has received over $29,000 from the Team in the past two years.

Fortunately, knock on wood, our family personally has not needed Sick Kid's help but several of our clients have had their children in there for care.  All to date have come out healthy and happy to our great relief.

Letting our Team be your advisors and counselors for your real estate transaction helps you as well as our community at large.

To find out a little more about our Team, just click on www.Team.TorontoRealEstate.ca .

Lots Of Low Priced Opportunities For First-Time Toronto Area Buyers

There are many opportunites to stop renting right now.  Maybe first-time buyers in Toronto whose incomes limit their purchase price to under $150,000 believe there are no opportunities out there for them but nothing could be further from the truth.

Currently there are lots of homes, condos specifically, all across the GTA (not including downtown however) which are priced as low as $82,800 on up to $160,000.  In most cases they include a parking space and sometimes two.

Why are more of these homes on the market right now?  Those owners have built up equity or have had increases in income to allow them to move up to their next home.  You could do the same!

Things to watch for... special assessments from the building condo corporation which are needed to either build up a reserve fund or to pay for needed building infrastructure repairs.  Your buyer agent should inquire from the listing agent what special assessments are either ongoing or upcoming in the near future.

Take a look at www.NewTorontoListings.com to see just a few of these affordable first-time buyer homes.

When Is The Right Time To Approach A Bank About Mortgage Financing?

Recently we had a buyer come to us and say "I believe there is too much emphasis placed on getting a mortgage pre-approval.  If a buyer has a good job and a reasonable track record with the bank, is it necessary to have everything in writing before an offer can be made?".

The short answer is "Yes you do!".

Many well-intentioned house and condo buyers go to their banks before purchasing but often get the brush-off.  Now, this is not deliberate on the part of the bank person but is just a function of how busy they typically are.

The banker will usually just ask some basic questions such as "What is your gross income?" and "What are your debts?" and punch those numbers into their keyboard.  Up on the screen comes a number that the prospective home buyer 'could' be approved for.  At that point in time, most buyers are told to go and find a home and then come back to see the lender with their accepted offer.

The problem with that is the home buyer still doesn't know FOR CERTAIN how large a mortgage they can be approved for OR even if they could really get a mortgage at all!  This in itself can cause serious problems in certain home buying situations such as multiple offers.

Recently we had an offer come in on one of our Team listings and I always make it a practice to ask the buyer agent "Has the purchaser been pre-approved for a mortgage?".  In this case, the buyer agent enthusiastically said "Definitely.  In fact, they were refered to me by my mortgage broker".

How much better could it be?  Problem was, 4 days later the same buyer agent came to me very apologetically and said "We can't get the financing".

So what happened?  It turned out that the mortgage broker had only taken down some verbal details from the buyer, ran their numbers and came up with an approximation of how much the purchaser could qualify for.  No back-up paperwork was asked for or provided by the buyer and no credit bureau was done to firm everything up. 

The result... when the broker did a credit bureau, and checked the buyer's stated income numbers against actual pay slips and employment letters, it turned out that they did NOT qualify for that large a mortgage after all!

The purpose of getting what we call a FULL Mortgage Pre-approval in advance is actually to save you the buyer time, and needless heartache. 

I can’t tell you how many times we, in the old days, had buyers who had their hearts set on a property only to be extremely disappointed because either they couldn’t get a mortgage at all or they couldn’t get as large a mortgage as they were told by a well-intentioned banker who didn’t have all the facts at his disposal (ie proof of income, proof of down payment and had done a credit bureau search).

Now, we have our house and condo buyers do all the prepatory work up front.  They supply our lender with proof of income (an employment letter PLUS one of the following - a current pay stub, a T-4 or the Tax Assessment form from Revenue Canada), proof of down payment (copy of GIC or Term Deposit, copy of their RRSP statement if that's where the down payment is coming from, a print-out of their bank account if that's where the cash is or a Gift Letter from a family member) and our preferred lenders do a credit bureau check.

I reiterate... since you have to supply all of this information anyway, there is NO time lost.  Imagine the time wasted if you did all that looking, found the home of your dreams, negotiated an offer and then were NOT able to get the mortgage.  This happens all the time in our industry… twice in the last 4 months on 2 of my listings where the buyer was brought by another company’s agent!

You the buyer are simply protected that much more by knowing in advance, without question, how large a mortgage you will be approved for. 

In fact, with our lender, if you supply the information ahead of time, the unconditional pre-approval letter we receive is just like you having a credit card to go out and purchase a home.  It IS that secure.  You have the comfort and security of knowing that whatever property you choose, within the bank’s pre-approval guidelines, financing will not be the issue to hold you back.

Isn’t that comfort worth a lot?

Make Sure Your Basement Doesn't Leak This Spring!

According to a recent Carson Dunlop Report, ninety percent of wet basements are caused by surface water -- not by underground streams and high water tables. Surface water comes from rain or snow that lands on your property (your lawn, garden, roof, driveway, etc.) or your neighbors'.

If your lot slopes toward your home, you're just asking for a wet basement.

So how should you fix it?  First, ensure that all the land around your house slopes in the right direction... away from YOUR foundations. This can require as little as a couple of bags of topsoil or as much as a new driveway. Pay attention to localized low spots like gardens, window wells and especially the space between sidewalks and foundation walls.

Secondly, look at your gutters and downspouts. Gutters must be sloped properly to drain. Downspouts must be frequent enough (every 35 feet) to prevent overflow in heavy rain.

Look at where downspouts discharge. If they go into the ground, the below-ground portion of the drain may be broken or plugged. This almost guarantees a wet basement in the vicinity of the downspout. It is better to have downspouts discharge onto the lawn.

Make sure the downspouts extend at least six feet from your home. Place them where they won't get tripped over and where they won't create sheets of ice in the winter.

  Grading improvements should be made with impervious materials like concrete or asphalt wherever possible. Soil and grass work reasonably well, but extremely porous materials like gravel allow water to drain right through them. Gravel works well as ballast over plastic sheeting in areas where plant life won't grow, like between houses that are very close together.

Sally and I own a house where the water runs down the paved driveway from the back yard and out to the street.  We have to check every 1-2 years to make 100% sure the crack along the foundation wall where the asphalt driveway meets the concrete wall is always sealed with outdoor caulking.  If there's even the slightest crack, we'll get water in the basement!

For more home owner tips from Carson Dunlop Home Inspections, go to www.CarsonDunlop.com or www.ManageMyHome.com

New CMHC Program Allows 30-Year Amortizations

CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp), the company which insures high-ratio mortgages for all the banks, has just proposed extending the amortization on mortgages from the traditional 25 years up to 30.

Amortization is the number of years that it would take to pay a mortgage off to $zero if the interest rate was the same all the way.

This change will allow buyers to purchase more expensive homes while making the same incomes because the mortgage repayments are spread over 5 more years.

Next week, we'll give you some examples of how effective this is.

Downtown Condo Attracts Multiple Offers

Early this week we listed a 1-bedroom plus den at CityPlace in the Matrix building.  It was priced competitively but certainly not under market value.

The response was terrific... several showings in the first few days and two offers at the same time.  We were able to play those buyers off against each other so our seller received a terrific price.

At this point it is sold 'conditional on satisfactory examination of the Status Certificate' so we can't reveal the price... we'll let you know when it's sold.

If you would like to check out the listing, go to our 'neighbourhood' site for this group of condos called www.LivingInCityPlace.ca and see how we marketed this home.

Welcome to our new Blog

Hi everyone,

Our latest effort to provide value to our past, present and future clients is our BLOGTorontoRealEstate.ca weblog.

We will be posting timely articles to this site for future home buyers, existing house or condo owners and for future sellers.  You can look at all the posts online or simply click on the category which interests you and learn more about that.

We'll post photos of interest to everyone PLUS private posts of photos for client's homes.  These will be password protected and only available to family and friends of the buyer or seller who have been given the proper access password.

We hope you enjoy our BLOGTorontoRealEstate.ca site and will subscribe to the automatic feed of articles in the categories of your choice.

Thomas & Sally Cook