“ We wish we had done this years ago! The place now looks fantastic!

We had no idea how inexpensive and easy it would be to make it

look this nice.”

Once a year I go over my property and make a list of everything that should be done if I wanted to list the house. Then I go ahead and complete the tasks. Although I have no intention of selling, I find it maximizes my enjoyment of the home when every room and the exterior looks great.

Fall is a good time to work on your house. As the weather gets cooler, we can prepare the exterior for winter, and we can refine each interior room as we will be spending much more time indoors.

Here are a few tips to make your house sparkle.

Check the landscaping. Do the gardens need attention? Do the windows and doors

need cleaning, repainting or caulking? Does the driveway need resealing or repair?

Could the garage benefit from cleaning and reorganization?

When entering, does your house feel organized and welcoming? Decluttering each

room and adding a few healthy accent plants can improve the atmosphere.

Check all your carpets. Do they need cleaning or replacing?

Carefully inspect each room an make a list of all areas where paint touch ups are needed.

Decide if there is any extra furniture that can be removed. Less furniture makes the room

sizes appear larger, and creates an open feeling in the house. Decide if any of your possessions that make the house look dated should be removed or replaced.

In the kitchen, remove any items on the counter that are not in constant use. Simplify the contents of your kitchen cupboards. Are there items that are seldom used that could be stored in the basement? Check your cabinets ( and all your furniture ) to see if they need to be touched up, cleaned, or refinished.

Check that all your appliances are in good working order, and have yearly maintenance done on the furnace and any fireplaces.

Simplify and organize the things in the linen cupboard, closets, bathrooms, and basement.

Finally, enlist some help and see if you want to rearrange your furniture for a brand new look.

In one week-end you can give your home an inexpensive and impressive make-over.

The only time that we would agree you can get by without a home inspection is if your home in less than 2 years old. The reason for this is that many facets of your home are still covered under the home’s Tarion warranty. Tarion Warranty Corporation protects all new homes in Ontario with a mandatory warranty provided by the builder and guaranteed by Tarion. The warranty coverage is 7 years in length, with changes in what is covered occurring over the term of the warranty. In the first and second years the coverage protect against defects in work and materials. More specifically:

The one year warranty is provided by your builder and it requires that the home be:

• Constructed in a workmanlike manner and free from defects in material;
• Fit for habitation;
• Constructed in accordance with the Ontario Building Code; and
• Free of major structural defects.¹

The two year warranty is provided by your builder and covers:

• Water penetration through the basement or foundation walls;
• Defects in materials, including windows, doors and caulking, or defects in work that result in water penetration into the building envelope;
• Defects in work or materials in the electrical, plumbing and heating delivery and distribution systems;
• Defects in work or materials which result in the detachment, displacement or deterioration of exterior cladding (such as brickwork, aluminum or vinyl siding);
• Violations of the Ontario Building Code affecting health and safety (including, but not limited to, violations relating to fire safety and the structural adequacy of the home); and
• Major structural defects. ²

Years three through seven cover against major structural defects which are described as being:

• Any defect in work or materials that results in the failure of a load-bearing part of the home’s structure or materially and adversely affects its load-bearing function; or
• Any defect in work or materials that materially and adversely affects the use of the building as a home.³

It is the home owner’s responsibility to complete the required reports of required repairs prior to the end of the coverage period for them to be enforceable under the Tarion Warrantee. “Most issues related to the Statutory Warranty are resolved between builders and owners without the intervention of Tarion. When necessary, Tarion will help homeowners and builders interpret the limits of the Act, and will intercede to protect consumers when builders fail to honour warranty obligations”⁴

As a realtor, I have noted that helping people choose a new home after their children are gone requires special skills. At this stage of life there are many types of residence options. Understanding all of the choices available is really important in helping clients select their new dream home.

Working with estate sales also requires unique skills. Often you are dealing with siblings who are very different. This means that you must be able to communicate with and work effectively with several vendors for one emotionally charged home sale.

Occasionally we are contacted by previous clients to discuss the potential of freeing up some cash that is currently locked as equity in their home. This may be to carry out updating and renovations for their property, or to do some long overdue traveling. I take the time to clearly and carefully explain to them the reverse mortgage program that looks so easy on the TV ads. Perhaps for their situation a line of credit might be better than the CHIP program mentioned above.

As mentioned above, my efforts to be as knowledgeable a real estate resource as possible to our clients, I have just completed an Accredited Senior Agent program. The A.S.A. program in combination with my experience provides me the tools needed to serve your needs better. The maturing population will require access to advice and services not usually associated with the buying and selling of real estate. I have now been trained to deliver a highly specialized level of service to those in the 55 plus and senior markets or their family members who will need special attention.

Some of the areas I now have a deeper understanding of are the basics of real estate tax planning, estates, capital gains, transition moving, and for those in need, care facilities, care takers, and other related services.

A strong team of experts within and outside the real estate field can make transitions far simpler. I work with a group of top quality financial advisors, tax consultants, appraisers, handymen and transition managers.

There are more than 90,000 realtors in Canada, and less than half of one per cent now has earned the prestigious Accredited Senior Agent professional designation. I am proud to be in this elite group, and am looking forward to being of service to you or to those you may refer to me. I have enjoyed working with this special group of clients in the past. I am now happy to be able to provide a patient, knowledgeable approach with many added professional tools to provide the excellence of service you and your family may require.

In theory, there are some basic guidelines to help you decide. These guidelines are based predominantly on the market conditions at the time you are considering to move. We advise our clients in Richmond Hill and Toronto to follow these guidelines because they protect your interests.

Buyers’ Market Condition:

A buyers’ market occurs when there are more homes available for sale than there are buyers looking to make a purchase. This affords buyers the benefit of more selection and causes a greater degree of price competition between sellers, allowing buyers to get exceptional value for their dollar.

Guideline: SELL FIRST, BUY SECOND

Rational:

With there being so many homes on the market for you to compete with as a seller under these conditions, a significant amount of your negotiating leverage can disappear if you buy before you sell. By buying first you have placed time constraints upon yourself. You now have to sell your current home in order free up the capital to put into the home you have just purchased. With the steep competition on the selling side, and time constrictions you may have to lower your price to generate more interest for an immediate sale, or accept an offer lower than you would like. The other significant risk you run by buying first is that if you are not able to find a buyer prior to the closing of your new home you are forced to carry two mortgages until you can sell the original property.

Conversely if you sell your home prior to buying, you will know the exact proceeds of your sale, which provides you a clear understanding of your financial position for making your purchase decision. With all of the selection in the market place and your home sold, you are gaining considerable leverage for your purchase negotiation.

Sellers’ Market Condition:

A sellers’ market occurs when there are more buyers in the market than there are homes available for sale. This provides an advantage to the sellers and results in more homes ending up being sold in “Bidding Wars” as multiple buyers compete for the same property. These conditions allow sellers the ability to maximize the return they will receive on their home.

Guideline: SELL FIRST, BUY SECOND

Rational:

I know that this guideline may almost seem comical because it appears to be the exact same strategy used in a Buyers’ Market, but the rational behind this strategy is sound.

In a Sellers’ Market there is a high probability that your house will sell. Developing a strategy to maximize the sale price becomes the focus. Always remember when selling your home under these conditions you have the leverage at the negotiating table. This allows you to control negotiable terms such as including a long closing period. This long closing period is important because it provides you the time to find a suitable property to purchase without feeling pressured that you are being rushed out of the home you have just sold.

Buying in a Sellers’ Market has some similarities to the buyers’ market situation such as having a full understanding of your finances including the net proceeds from the sale of your property prior to making your purchase. Another very important factor to making a sound purchase decision is keeping your emotions in check. This can be more difficult than it sounds because it may involve you walking away from a home that you absolutely love due to buyer competition driving the price of the home significantly above its market value. Overpaying for a property in a bidding war only exposes you to future risk, and diminishes the future returns on your investment. As experienced real estate professionals we will assist you in understanding the market value for any potential property, thus preventing you from making a costly emotional decision.

Presently we are in a Sellers’ Market due to the lack of homes available for sale. It is likely that the market conditions will shift back towards equilibrium with the spring market approaching. An influx of properties for sale is likely to take place over the next six weeks.

The above guidelines are only theory for the purposes of study and discussion, but reality should dictate your decision to buy or sell. Everyone and every situation is different and as such the only person qualified to assist you in evaluating these factors and developing a strategy for your situation is an experienced real estate professional. This is too important of a decision to act on emotion and there are many factors to consider. To ensure you are making the right decision for your situation, CALL US TODAY TO DISCUSS WHAT WOULD BE IN YOUR BEST INTERESTS AT THIS TIME.

Relocating your family can be a positive experience if you pre-plan to consider the specific needs of the adults, children and pets.

Organization is the key to planning a smooth move. If all boxes are clearly labeled with the rooms they are to go to in the new home, unpacking will be easy. Boxes with items that are to be stored should have their contents clearly indicated on the side of the box, so a visual inspection of the boxes can help you find the item you need easily. Although you will have changed your address for all of your important contacts and given the post office instructions to forward your mail, we recommend that you leave some larger self addressed and stamped envelopes at your previous address, and ask that the new occupants place any stray mail in them monthly to send to you. You do not want to miss any valuable information at income tax time.

On the day of the move, remember that you may not get the keys to your new dwelling until mid afternoon or later. Make sure that everyone is well fed and that there are games etc. to keep your children occupied.

Children can find moving very challenging. Reassure them and let them visit the new location once or twice before the move. Let them explore the house and possibly choose their new room or paint colour. In this way they will feel they are a part of the process. Let them have friends visit shortly after the move if possible. A sleepover with their friends at the new house would be an event they could look forward to. Take a walk to the new school before you move in, and look for neighbourhood amenities that they might be interested in. Is there a park or a swimming pool nearby that might give them something to look forward to? If there is any way to keep the family routine close to what they are used to the transition will be far smoother for them. Shopping in a familiar store, or watching their favorite TV show will provide continuity and reassurance.

Your pets will need special care and handling during the move. Dogs and cats should be carefully relocated by car and kept warm at both ends of the move. Be sure you have kept out food and litter for them. Smaller animals such as hamsters, birds and mice should be looked after in the same way. Make sure their cages are are kept away from drafts and extreme temperatures. Cover cages with cloths to keep the animals quiet and restful.

• APRIL 19 – IMPLEMENTING NEW MORTGAGE QUALIFICATIONS
• HST: HOW WILL IT AFFECT THE RESALE HOME PURCHASER?

APRIL 19 – IMPLEMENTING NEW MORTGAGE QUALIFICATIONS

April 19th brings new mortgage qualifications into effect. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty
has made changes to insure that home buyers will not be put in jeopardy should the
interest rates raise or the economy/housing market change dramatically. Everyone who
qualifies for a mortgage must now meet the criteria for the greater of The Bank of Canada’s 5 year Bench Mark Rate or the lenders 5 year fixed rate five year mortgage. While you may opt to take a variable rate mortgage at a lower interest rate, this requirement for you to qualify for the higher rate will provide you some protection as interest rates rise.

To prevent over-extension of debt should housing prices fall Flaherty has made changes to the rules for refinancing properties. Canadians will only be allowed to refinance to 90% of their home’s value. Currently they can refinance up to 95% of this value.

Investment properties (non-owner occupied) will now require a 20 % down payment in
order to qualify for financing. Note this change does not apply to duplex or triplex properties with the owner occupying one unit and renting the other(s).

Purchasing a second home can still be done with less than a 20 % down payment provided that it meets the qualifications of a second home. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) will continue to offer insurance for financing of second homes, provided that the property is one unit only and occupied by the owner or a relative on a rent-free basis.

HST:

As of July 1st, HST will replace GST. This tax is not applied to resale homes, but will
increase the amount of tax that is levied on commissions paid to real estate brokerages,
home inspections and lawyers’ fees.

The microFIT program is an initiative of the Ontario Power Authority’s (OPA) Feed-in Tariff program to assist in the development of “micro” renewable energy sources across Ontario. The premise of the program is to encourage property owners to invest in small scale renewable energy projects in return for a contract with the Ontario Government that pays them a fixed price for the power their project generates for the full term of their contract. The prices are set to allow for the investors to recover their costs and earn a reasonable return on their investment over the contract term.

The most common form of microFIT program is expected to be solar photovoltaic (PV) installations on homes and small businesses. These projects will produce 10 kW or less of electricity.

To participate in the microFIT program you must apply for a microFIT contract, meet all of the eligibility requirements, work with your local power distribution company to get your project connected to the grid and finally accept your microFIT contract.

The eligibility requirements are:

• be a renewable energy facility that uses solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, waterpower and bioenergy (biogas, biomass, landfill gas)
• be 10 kW or less in size and located in Ontario
• be connected, directly or indirectly, to the distribution system
• must have metering that is suitable for data collection and payment calculation. All microFIT projects require a separate meter so that the amount of electricity produced by the project can be accurately measured.
• not be the subject of an existing OPA contract. For example, a project must not have a contract through the OPA’s Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP). There are options to allow certain projects with a RESOP contract to transition to the microFIT Program. These are outlined in the Transition Options section. http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/microFIT-Program-Rules/Eligibility-requirements/TransitionOptions.php
• Solar (PV) contracts have domestic content requirements to ensure that a minimum percentage of the materials being used in the program are manufactured or produced in Ontario. http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/microFIT-Program-Rules/Eligibility-requirements/Domestic-content.php
• If your microFIT program is an extension/expansion of an existing renewable energy program some additional requirements apply http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/microFIT-Program-Rules/Eligibility-requirements/Incremental-projects.php

microFIT Pricing:

Once you have entered into your microFIT contract you are guaranteed to receive the fixed price for the power you generate for the duration of your contract. The price OPA is paying for Solar (PV) microFIT projects is 80.2¢/kWh, with a contract term of 20 years. For more information on microFIT pricing and pricing of microFIT programs other than solar (PV) Click HERE. http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/microFIT-Rules/microFIT-Program-pricing/index.php

Investment requirements will vary based on every projects specifications, for example the size of installation that your property can support, and the connection configuration to your local power distributor. More information on connection configurations can be found by Clicking HERE. http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/microFIT-Program-Rules/Getting-connected/Connection-configurations/index.php

Additional real estate related benefits of the microFIT program include that the programs government contract is transferable. This way if you choose to move prior to your 20 year contract being up, the microFIT system is an upgrade that sells with your home increasing its value, as the new owner will receive the revenue for the balance of your contract. Another great benefit of this program is that in many cases the programs investment costs can be blended into your mortgage increasing your monetary return.

If having your home provide you with an additional revenue stream through the microFIT program is of interest to you, contact us today. We will put you in direct contact with a solar system provider that will assist you in securing your contract with the Ontario government and installing your system.

Anyone considering to put their house up for sale wants to maximize both presentation of the house and the amount they sell the house for. Often, we are emotionally attached to our properties, and our choices in improvements may not reflect what the public is really looking for. Putting in a $200.00 faucet may not bring you the same return as a $50.00 faucet and $150.00 spent on showy flowers in the garden. You will want to spend wisely to improve the property, and invest the increased returns in your new home.

Who better to consult than the Appraisal Institute of Canada. Their association has extensive statistics on the return on investment for many varied types of upgrades. These values were derived from a survey of AIC members, whose experience in the field qualifies them clearly to make the above determinations. They have designed a user friendly area of their web site where you may enter the dollar value of each renovation separately. At the touch of a button you are provided with your expected range of payback return for the project. If you are considering which improvements to make, you will clearly be able to identify which ones will make you money!

You may enter any one of the 25 most popular renovations separately to calculate the results, or, if you wish to do several renovations, a full worksheet is provided, which will itemize your return for each project.

Bathroom and kitchen renovations will return 75% to 100% of the money invested, while interior and exterior painting will return 50% to 100%. Furnace and heating system replacements result in 50% to 75 % return, along with flooring and window/door replacements. Roof shingle replacement has a payback range of 25% to 75%.

For your enjoyment, you may access their site at www.aicanada.ca

It’s about trust, loyalty, commitment, service and personal interest in your client’s well-being throughout the entire process of buying or selling. It’s about respect: respect for your client’s budget requirements, for all the fears that naturally go along with making the biggest financial and lifestyle decision you’ll probably ever make.

Being a real estate agent is about listening carefully to your client’s needs and responding to them. It means doing the work-whatever is required. It means problem solving, researching answers, giving reassurance and generally creating an atmosphere of calm, informed confidence. As a team, we make sure no detail is overlooked.

Know that representing you is the most important commitment we make in this profession. We hold the above values as our benchmark in providing you with the best personalized service available.

Please do not hesitate to call us with any real estate related question. We will be glad to provide you with a well researched answer.

Market Update May 2010:

Several factors have combined to produce far slower sales conditions in the present Greater Toronto Area housing market when compared with the first quarter market conditions. While sales volumes started out very high in 2010, there has actually been declining month to month sales figures in three of the last four months. Contributing factors to this slowing are more stringent mortgage qualification requirements, increased home prices, speculation over interest rate escalation and a huge amount of inventory coming on the market in a short period of time. The mortgage qualification and rate speculation factors have combined to reduce the number of buyers in the market.  The number of properties for sale has increased significantly resulting in the reduced number of buyers having more options and less competition. This has caused  the houses to sit on the market longer while the buyers make their purchase decisions.

Statistics released April 6th show that the first quarter of 2010 has shown this to be the best quarter ever recorded by the Toronto Real Estate Board under its’ current boundaries. In March alone REALTORS(R) reported 10,430 sales through the MLS system bringing the first quarter sales volume to 22,418. The number of listings was 42% higher than March of 2009. In 2009 March’s median price in the GTA was $317,500, and this March the median price Jumped to $370,000.

What’s expected for the balance of 2010:

While it is unlikely that this record setting rate of sales activity will continue through out the balance of 2010 continual growth is expected. Bellow are comments of TREB President and TREB Senior Analyst with what they expect to happen in the market over the next nine months.

Jason Mercer, the Senior Manager of Market Analysis for the Toronto Real Estate Board feels that prices will continue to increase, but at a slower pace as we move through 2010. Increased inventory and low mortgage rates combine to provide potential buyers with the ability to find exactly what they want.

“The strong rebound in the existing home market was one of the initial drivers of economic recovery,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Tom Lebour. “While we don’t expect to see the same growth rates moving forward, GTA households will remain confident in ownership housing as a quality long-term investment, especially as economic recovery expands across all industries.”

It will also be interesting to keep an eye on what effect if any the changes to mortgage qualifications and HST will have on the real estate market activity over the next 9 months. For more information on these topics please read the The Important Update on Laws Affecting Real Estate. If you have specific questions with regards to the changes and how they may affect your specific plans, please contact Suzanne or Michael.