Across Ontario, when Joe Public sells his house, he is going to be paying an average of $1,500 in additional taxes to the provincial government when this PST/GST "Harmonization" takes effect.
Based on total home sales last year, and using the average sale price as a guide, it will mean over $100 million in additional revenue to the provincial government.
How is this "simpler", as they say, for the consumer?
At a time when the economy is struggling and the real estate market is still in a decline, a new tax is not going to help things.
More articles about it.......
Blended tax drives up costs for both new and resale home buyers in Ontario
Ontarians to receive $1,000 tax trade-offWhat the #!%* is sales tax harmonization?
Ontario in decline
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Down but not out
The February numbers are in and although the number of sales declined over the previous February, the amount of the decline was less than that in November-January.
Some interesting articles...
Royal LePage says the slump is at the half-way point already. Article
The Globe and Mail probably has the most comprehensive real estate section. Numerous articles worth perusing over your morning coffee. Click Here
Yourhome.ca writes how Spring is the usual barometer for the housing market economy. Article
But I hugely object to their statement that the bidding wars were "gleefully orchestrated by real estate agents". There are bad apples in every bushel. Were some "orchestrated"? I suspect so. Were all 28,000+ Realtors doing it? Not at all.
A bidding war can almost be created at any time, in any market simply by deliberately setting the list price below market value in a neighbourhood. With more than 75% of buyers first looking at houses online before hitting the streets, the Internet has brought these listings in almost everyone's home - even for casual reading. I know several friends who simply love browsing the homes currently on the market. So more people than ever before are looking at these listings and when an unusual bargain hits the market, the multiple offers appear.
As an example, just recently I was involved in a multiple offer situation on behalf of buyers for a nice home in Scarborough. Compared to what else was on the market in Scarborough in that price range, this house was quite the bargain. The result? Seven offers were registered on that house and on offer presentation night, there were over a dozen cars parked on the street with agents and their buyers scurrying back and forth between cars to consult. Nothing about that was "orchestrated by agents" whatsoever.
It's funny but often times, sellers believe that the higher they set their asking price, they'll received a correspondingly higher offer. Not so.
Buyers comparison shop.
The more out of whack the list price is with area comparables, the greater the likelihood that they'll attract low-ball offers or no offers at all.
As the list price moves closer to the real market value, so too, do the resulting offers. And the number of offers will often increase, too!
And when the list price moves *below* market value, that's usually when you're going to get multiple offers and offers that exceed the list price.
So more than ever, in a market with fewer buyers, I advise my sellers that setting a very realistic list price is key to getting the buyers in your door and offers on your table.
Some interesting articles...
Royal LePage says the slump is at the half-way point already. Article
The Globe and Mail probably has the most comprehensive real estate section. Numerous articles worth perusing over your morning coffee. Click Here
Yourhome.ca writes how Spring is the usual barometer for the housing market economy. Article
But I hugely object to their statement that the bidding wars were "gleefully orchestrated by real estate agents". There are bad apples in every bushel. Were some "orchestrated"? I suspect so. Were all 28,000+ Realtors doing it? Not at all.
A bidding war can almost be created at any time, in any market simply by deliberately setting the list price below market value in a neighbourhood. With more than 75% of buyers first looking at houses online before hitting the streets, the Internet has brought these listings in almost everyone's home - even for casual reading. I know several friends who simply love browsing the homes currently on the market. So more people than ever before are looking at these listings and when an unusual bargain hits the market, the multiple offers appear.
As an example, just recently I was involved in a multiple offer situation on behalf of buyers for a nice home in Scarborough. Compared to what else was on the market in Scarborough in that price range, this house was quite the bargain. The result? Seven offers were registered on that house and on offer presentation night, there were over a dozen cars parked on the street with agents and their buyers scurrying back and forth between cars to consult. Nothing about that was "orchestrated by agents" whatsoever.
It's funny but often times, sellers believe that the higher they set their asking price, they'll received a correspondingly higher offer. Not so.
Buyers comparison shop.
The more out of whack the list price is with area comparables, the greater the likelihood that they'll attract low-ball offers or no offers at all.
As the list price moves closer to the real market value, so too, do the resulting offers. And the number of offers will often increase, too!
And when the list price moves *below* market value, that's usually when you're going to get multiple offers and offers that exceed the list price.
So more than ever, in a market with fewer buyers, I advise my sellers that setting a very realistic list price is key to getting the buyers in your door and offers on your table.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Interest is still in the market!
As the Spring real estate market begins to open up, I see some conflicting signs about the health of local real estate.
On the one hand, on behalf of buyer clients, just the other evening, I was presenting an offer that was 5th of 7 registered on a Scarborough home. Interest was incredible as in the days preceding the offer presentation, people seemed to be swarming over it like ants on a doughnut. The listing agent told me that they had been averaging 8-10 showings per day since it went on the market!
I've heard some similar stories from colleagues; how interest in certain geographical pockets is as strong as ever, if not even more, as bargain hunters appear to be on the loose with record-low financing rates.
Yet, on the other hand, we have the latest TREB statistics released for February now, which indicates that home sales have fallen 33% over the previous February.
Here's a recent article from The Star's site. http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/597391.
The average selling price was down 5% from last year to $361,305.
With prices cooling off a bit and interest rates at record lows, it really is an amazingly good time to be shopping for a house.
First time buyers get a break on both the City of Toronto and provincial Land Transfer Taxes and sellers are much more willing to actually negotiate than in recent years.
And still, like always, the best homes at the best prices are going fast.
It's that old analogy from the grocery store.
If you're buying apples, you peruse what's available, pick through them and at that price, you pick the best looking, shiniest apples and skip the rest.
The following shoppers look over what's left and if there's nothing that interests them at that price, they pass and wait for either the produce manager to lower the price for the lower quality apples that remain, or they wait for new apples to hit the market and start picking through them all over again.
The housing market is no different.
On the one hand, on behalf of buyer clients, just the other evening, I was presenting an offer that was 5th of 7 registered on a Scarborough home. Interest was incredible as in the days preceding the offer presentation, people seemed to be swarming over it like ants on a doughnut. The listing agent told me that they had been averaging 8-10 showings per day since it went on the market!
I've heard some similar stories from colleagues; how interest in certain geographical pockets is as strong as ever, if not even more, as bargain hunters appear to be on the loose with record-low financing rates.
Yet, on the other hand, we have the latest TREB statistics released for February now, which indicates that home sales have fallen 33% over the previous February.
Here's a recent article from The Star's site. http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/597391.
The average selling price was down 5% from last year to $361,305.
With prices cooling off a bit and interest rates at record lows, it really is an amazingly good time to be shopping for a house.
First time buyers get a break on both the City of Toronto and provincial Land Transfer Taxes and sellers are much more willing to actually negotiate than in recent years.
And still, like always, the best homes at the best prices are going fast.
It's that old analogy from the grocery store.
If you're buying apples, you peruse what's available, pick through them and at that price, you pick the best looking, shiniest apples and skip the rest.
The following shoppers look over what's left and if there's nothing that interests them at that price, they pass and wait for either the produce manager to lower the price for the lower quality apples that remain, or they wait for new apples to hit the market and start picking through them all over again.
The housing market is no different.
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