Market Incline

We are so focused on working with our buyers and sellers that we have’t had a moment to update our post so here is a quick note on what’s been going on in our immediate neighbourhood at Yonge & Sheppard.

In Willowdale West and Lansing Communities the average sales price has gone up in some cases by 10% in just 4 months! That’s right!  Since October 2011, the average sales price of sales between $600k – $900k has increased by 10%!  The median price has also risen by close to 10%!

If you had a market evaluation on your home last year – it’s time for an update – and we are happy to provide you with the information you might need to make a decision! 

What do you think our market will do this year and next year? Will you be buying or selling…or both?

Sales are strong and Multiple Offers are back!

Keep in mind that ‘multiple offers’ means just that; more than one offer on a property at the same time.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that all the homes are selling for tens of thousands of dollars over list. However, in a multiple offer situation, sellers often enjoy a position of strength that comes with having more than one buyer for their home.

Buyers may be entering this process with more caution that was seen last Spring.  They are less likely to remove a home inspection condition and while many homes are still selling for over the list price, home buyers are carefully comparing prices and value before they throw all their gold on the table.

Whether buying or selling a home or condo – this is all good news!

Sellers are realizing decent prices and Buyers are taking advantage of unbelievably low borrowing rates.

How do you feel about competing for the home of your dreams? Would you still make an offer on a property that already has an offer on it?  Would you prefer to shop for homes that you feel are over priced so that you can negotiate the price down a little? We’re curious about your thoughts as we move toward a Spring Market.

Your ideas and thoughts matter to us!

Happy New Year From Our Families to Yours!

The Mulholland Real Estate Team is excited and proud!

The 3rd annual ‘Fun Family Skate Day’ on Dec 31st 2011 attracted loads of generous neighbours and friends and collected over 300lbs of food for the North York Harvest Food Bank!

People enjoyed an afternoon of skating, music, face painting, free hot chocolate and lots of great prizes – some generously donated by our local business community!

Thank you everyone for coming out and making it such a great  New Year event.

BOB Owns His Home:
$310,000 Purchase Price
Investment $60,000
Mortgage $250,000 @ 6%
Total Cost of Home $480,000
In 25 years home is debt free
And valued at over $800,000
At thirty years the home is worth more and Bob is no longer paying

SUE Rents Her Home:
Monthly rent of $1500
(Not including rent increases)
Total cost of rent $450,000
In twenty five years Sue has nothing
In thirty years Sue continues to pay.
And still owns nothing.

For those of you who are still on the fence about owning a home – or moving up to a larger home, keep this in mind.  Your Real Estate investment is not about the purchase price of a home – it is about the COST of your home. 

There is another way to look at the buying vs renting argument, using the example above;
If Bob has a fixed rate mortgage at 6% (assuming it doesn’t change)  for twenty five years and his property now is still only  worth $310,000, over the life of his loan he would pay $480,000 in mortgage and interest payments – and he would still have an asset of $310,000.

By comparison, Sue over that same twenty five years, would have paid $450,000 in rent (assuming the landlord never raised her rent.)

On a basic level one might assume Sue paid less and has therefor saved money – but a closer look reveals that Sue has not built any financial wealth through her monthly payments and has nothing to show for her $450,000 investment while Bob still has a $330,000 asset.

Chances are that Bob’s home would have appreciated to more than $800,000, creating a positive gain of over $300,000.  Bob has also enjoyed the independence that comes with home ownership – the ability to leverage or borrow against his equity for other investment opportunities.  Finally, when Bob sells his home he will not pay any income tax on the sale.

  Who would you rather be in 25 years…Bob or Sue?

Happy Skaters at Last Years Party!

Over 40% of the people that use the Food Bank will do so for less than 6 months.

The North York Harvest Food Bank is the 2nd largest food bank in the Toronto area and serves our communities and those in needs so many different ways!  Read More!

You can help by making a donation on our secure partner website - and get a tax receipt!

Happy Prize Winner!

The Mulholland Ross Team have been proud supporters and sponsors for over 5 years – this year we invite you to help support the North York Harvest Food Bank. Join neighbours and friends at our 3rd Annual Family Skate Party on December 31st between 12:00 – 2:00pm.

Free hot chocoate, Music, Face Painting and More! Bring a non-perishable food donation for your chance to win some fantastic prizes.

Goulding Park Arena * 45 Goulding Ave * December 31 12:00 – 2:00pm

Some Realtors will tell you it is a waste of time or that it only attracts nosey neighbours. Some may be influenced by their own desire to take a weekend off work.  We at the Mulholland Ross Team have a different opinion. 

Here are our Top 10 Reasons We Do Open Houses

1. Attract buyers whose only opportunity to see a home during daylight hours is on a weekend
2. Make it easier for agents to get their Buyers into Our Listings
3. Get direct feedback from buyers as they view your home
4. Get direct feedback from buyers about other homes they have seen in the area (your competition)
5. Answer questions and dispell myths about community, neighbours, school, transportation etc.
6. Encourage neighbours to tell their friends about a home for sale on their street
7. Condense what might have been a full day of showings into two hours
8. Create more advertising opportunities through Open House websites and Newspaper Ads and Marketing Pieces
9. We are the best people to sell your home – allow us an opportunity to fill your home with buyers
10. They Do help sell homes! (Agents who tell you otherwise are either not doing them or not doing them effectively!)

Our Sellers who choose not to have Open Houses still reap the advantages of having a Team that is always out there meeting and talking to New Buyers in the Neighbourhood! Curious about how this can help you in the sale of your home? Just give us a ring or send us a note.

We know. We see it and we can help.

First, some advice.  While we know you can’t always tell mom and dad that it’s time to sell the home (really – you’re still the kid and this conversation can get touchy), you can assist by offering to clean out all your old things from their basement. Get your brothers and sisters together and make a pact that you will help your parents organize all that stuff that none of you use anymore .  There are so many services today that assist with Contents Sales, Organizing and Donation services etc.  We are happy to supply anyone with the info we have.

If you are a parent and/or living on your own and the home is becoming too much for you, there are many services out there to support you staying in your home. However, if you would like to be a little more social then some of the Seniors Residences might be just perfect for you!

The social calendars at most of these residences are brimming with fun activities from bus trips to the Theatres, Malls and even Niagra Casino!  There are art classes, music classes and card games. There is truly something for everyone!

We know it can be overwhelming and our experience as Accredited Senior Agents gives us the experience and ability to help you through the process and align you with numerous groups of people who are here to help.

Breath. We just made selling your family home a little easier!

ora@realestatetoronto.com

Note: we’ve posted this one before yet we feel it is so important that we thought we run it again. Your comments and thoughts are welcome!

“Remember when homes at Yonge and Sheppard were selling for less than $200,000? I should have bought 3 of them.”

Oh how we wish we had purchased more real estate when we were younger.  Before we had kids and we were able to live with more flexibility; we could bring in room mates, purchase a home with a friend or colleague, or rent out a basement to help pay the mortgage.

It’s a shame that ‘accumulated interest’ and ‘Real Estate Investment’ isn’t taught in any practical applied context right from middle school!  Business, Investment and Money Management should be a mandetory class in High Schools everywhere.

Back in 1984 I was working in a Veterinarin Clinic earning about $17,000 per year and paying $475/month for rent.  One of the other assistants had a goal of purchasing Real Estate before she was 21 years old.   Three of us decided to pitch in and purchase a home.  We called a Realtor and went and looked at a skinny detached home on Carlaw Avenue just off the Danforth.  The home was listed for $97,000.00 

We walked through the home and found the stairs too steep, the rooms too small, the kitchen wasn’t bright enough etc. This was before the days of ’staging’ and we just couldn’t see the potential. The Realtor didn’t take us very seriously and didn’t bother reviewing how easy it could have been for us to purchase and tidy up the home.

Can you imagine! At the time the 3 of us would have had to each pitch in $5000.00 and carrying costs would have been about $600.00 each per month.  We just didn’t understand – and we simply didn’t believe we were in a position to buy a home.  Two years later, that home on Carlaw was worth over $200k and today it would sell for over $600k.

Perhaps more time should be spent teaching younger people some very practical rules;

• Save enough money for a down payment.
• Find a friend or group of friends/colleagues that are responsible and reliable and buy something together (remember this isn’t your ‘forever’ home).
• Be willing to purchase a town home or semi detached in a good neighbourhood – even if it’s not the neighbourhood you really want to live in.
• Be ready to purchase a place that needs some spit and polish (you don’t really need pot lights or stainless steel appliances). It’s okay to ‘rough it’ a little when you’re young.
• Be ready to rent out a bedroom or two to some friends – let them help you pay down your mortgage (be willing to take the smallest room in the house if it means getting better rent)
• Be organized and track your income and expenses. This will prove to be a valuable lesson for the rest of your life.
• Keep the home in a state of good repair and decorate with taste so that when you are ready to sell it will not look like a bunch of college kids lived in your home.
• Understand ‘Compound Interest’ and know how important it is earn it.
• Understand ‘Compound Interest’ and know how important it is to pay it off as quickly as possible!
• Understand that your first home is not your last home – that it is merely a stepping stone to assist you in building personal wealth and that it can help build your personal wealth faster than just about any other investment.

You’re never too young to invest in Real Estate – and our children are never too young to be taught about it!  Do you have a story to tell?  We’d love to share a wise Real Estate investment story with our readers!

Looking for some educational reading for yourself or your motivated teen/future investor? Send us a note and we’ll drop you a copy of Gary Keller’s Millionaire Real Estate Investor! This is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in building personal wealth through real estate.

Clearing the way for Beecroft Road at Yonge & Sheppard

Many who drive through the Central North York area between Sheppard and Finch along the Yonge Corrider on a regular basis are getting excited about the progress of Beecroft Rd. Designed to reduce traffic along Yonge St. and the smaller private streets, Beecroft should be a huge relief during rush hour!

Changes to the neighbourhood are happening rapidly. 

• New Condos
• New Homes
• New School Boundaries
• New Roads

One of the real bonuses belongs to the home owners on the first block west of the new Beecroft on Horsham and Hounslow Avenues.  These people find themselves perfectly situated on a tree-lined cul-de-sac just steps to Yonge St. and the Finch or City Centre Subway.  Up until very recently both Horsham and Hounslow went right through to Yonge Street and cars typically ‘cut through’ at top speeds. No more. The streets are now ‘dead ends’ and the plans are to have a large treed boulevard to offer some separation from Beecroft and the homes.

Our new listing at 73 Hounslow Ave is one of the homes situated on the brand new cul-de-sac close to Yonge and is a great location for the large busy family who use the subway!

The only streets that will go directly out to Yonge Street from Senlac Road will be Park Home Avenue and Churchill Avenue. All others will either be dead end streets or crescents.

Curious about changes to the neighbourhood and how they may effect the value of your home or your lifestyle? Give us a call and we’ll tell you everything we know. Have a comment about the new Beecroft Road? Feel free to share it with our readers!

If you are working through a divorce, It is important to know that your ‘Matrimonial Home’ is treated differently from the rest of the property that is brought into or acquired during the marriage.

It does not matter if one spouse is not on title, or if one spouse bought the home prior to the marriage.  No matter what, each spouse has an equal right to possession of the Matrimonial Home.  If only one spouse is on title, then that person is entitled to keep the home – but they must pay the other party 50% of the value of that home on the date of separation.

There are many misunderstandings about ‘Common Law’ relationships and Real Estate. In the province of Ontario, only legally married spouses can make a claim to 50% of the Matrimonial Home.  No matter how long you have been living together, if you are not legally married, you must make your claim under Constructive Trust for a portion of the value, although the value is almost certain not to be as much as 50%.

You Can Have More Than One!

You can have more than one matrimonial home. If, apart from your everyday home, you also own a cottage, a timeshare or a houseboat, and these are used regularly by the family to live, it is considered to be a matrimonial home, and is subject to the same rights of possession and to claim part of the value as the primary residence.

This claim on the matrimonial home does not require that the person be on title, that they have contributed money toward the house, or even that they work at all. This claim is rooted in the court’s viewpoint that the marriage is a partnership, and that both parties contribute to the best of their ability. Work outside the home, or for pay, is not considered to be more valuable than taking care of the home and the children.

Of course every situation is different and we are simply attempting to share information we hope you find information.

Whether you are going through a divorce or happily married – if you’re seeking information regarding any of your Real Estate, feel free to contact the Mulholland Ross Real Estate Team in absolute confidence!

Ora@RealEstateToronto or 416-230-8500