Dream Home Service Van

I am proud to introduce my Dream Home Service Van.
Outstanding service for my buyer clients.

I still remember when I was about to buy my first home and my real estate agent took me around in his "service mobile". The service he had to offer: Broken doorhandles, stained carpet, a cracked windshield, saggy seats, garbage everywhere and a car smell that was comparable to that of a wet dog. It wasn't comfortable, neither was it my most favourable experience. We were looking at all these nice homes. I was about to buy a home for several hundreds of thousands of Dollars from that guy and I felt like I was driven around in a dump. That somehow didn't fit together!

Luckily nowadays I am in the driver's seat.
I think it is very important to make things as easy and comfortable for my clients a s possible. That's why I introduced the Dream Home Service Van. If you are booking your personal home viewing tour with The Dream Home System I will show you around "in style":

• Comfortable Leather Seats
• Air Condition and Separate Climate Control for passengers
• Electric Doors for quick and easy "in and out"
• On board DVD Player with movies to watch for the kids
• DVD remote control and wireless headsets
• FREE Real Estate Publications to keep you up to date
• FREE Munchies and Drinks for the road
• Your personal home tour file with all feature sheets and maps of the homes that you are about to visit on your tour

I think that is the right way to look for a home.

I am looking forward to driving you on your next home viewing tour. Enjoy the ride!



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Yes, yes and a clear NO!

The summer is over, people are done with their vacation and can get back to their daily routine and worries. Oh, and that means for me it's time again to face the all important 3 questions of Real Estate..

"Is the real estate market still good?"
"Is it a good time to buy or sell?"
"Is the real estate market going to crash?"

Here a short extract of the latest freshly printed MarketWatch issue from the Toronto Real Estate Board that I get each month on my desk:
"August 2007 became the fifth record-setting month in a row, with 8,059 sales reported by TREB members troughout the GTA ... This figure is up 15 per cent over August of last year, and up seven per cent over the 7,498 sales recorded during the previous "best ever" performance for the month of August ... Summer (one of the slowest months in the Real Estate market) 2007 has been hands-down the most active holiday season for the resale market in the history of the Toronto Real Estate Board...Year-over-year prices increases have remained in the single digits. This kind of activity is sustainable for a long time."

My comment to the actual market situation:
We are still in a very strong market which will even pick up during the next two months again before it slows slightly down over the winter holidays again.
I just want to mention a few economic fundamental facts that are giving me the impression that we do not have to worry for a while about the housing market to crash in good old Canada.

1. Our economy is strong with a low unemployment rate.
2. The Canadian Dollar is slowly growing in strength.
3. We have over 250,000 immigrants each year. Most of them coming into the GTA (some go to the Vancouver area or Edmonton/Calgary, some poor souls even get lost in the Prairies) where they support the local rental market
4. A strong rental market supports a good housing market

Without getting too much into economics ... that is all GOOD! I personally have a very strong and positive outlook on the future real estate market.

So ... again, my answer to the three questions that I get asked the most is:
YES, YES and a loud NO!



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Photo not available?

One of the things that really bug me in the professional real estate world is the lack of quality photos of the properties that agents are putting up for sale. You would think that all of these so called "Professionals" would have heart the words "A picture is worth a thousand words" at some point in their career.

Well, ... I know that buyer clients are really keen on looking at a lot of pretty online pictures before they are even interested in taking a closer look at a home. I also know that seller clients would like to have the best and most professional photos of their most valuable asset on the net to attract buyers. Isn't that common sense?

Hmmm judge for yourself ... (here are a couple of pictures that I recently came across while I was browsing for homes for some clients of mine) ... what do these pictures want to tell us?

Let's assume I had hired an agent to sell my property and would pay thousands of Dollars for that service. I think I would have not been overly happy with these really original shots probably taken by one of these "#1" agents personally. I do not want to brag about myself but my clients get their properties photographed by a person that is called a photographer! They even put beautiful virtual tours together where the smallest home still looks like a little palace!
I am not saying that all the other guys and girls out there do a terrible job in regards to presenting their client's homes but if I were a client it would be one of the most important things to me. If I am turned off by some pics already as a real estate person who should be able to see "the true picture of a home", what does the consumer think?

And my personal favourite: "Photo not available" Really sells the property!



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Adios taxos!

No new Land Transfer Tax, yet!!!!
If you read one of my last posts I was writing about a new proposed tax that could cost you thousands of Dollars when buying a home. Toronto Mayor Miller wanted to see that new tax law agreed upon yesterday. Fortunately making a final decision about that has been put off. Our local government voted 22 to 23 against it (The Toronto Star about Mayor Miller's defeat) and therefore the new tax is put on ice for now. This issue will probably come up again with the next Provincial elections.
Until then ... "adios taxos"!



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House prices doubling in the next 20 years?

Sure! I am 100% convinced about that!
I read in the June issue of the REM (Real Estate Magazine) an article by Jim Adair which
had the heading:"House prices will double in the next 20 years - economist". Yes, I think that is exactly what's going to happen. Even if prices do not increase every year dramatically but over time Real Estate has always gone up! Well of course there will be some lower years in between or some leveling off at some point before it increases again. Here is a fact:
Over the last 160 years house prices have always increased!!! For all the ney sayers: Sure we had periods in between where house prices went down but just to come up even more after that.

Show me one property that has not increased dramatically in value over the last 20 years.
Who would have thought 20 years ago that you would have to dish out $40,000 plus for a decent new car? Who laughed at $75 per oil barrel prices 20 years ago? If you bought a home 20 years ago, did you pay half of what it's worth now?
Ok, we figured that out ... and let me think ... mhhhh ... is not everything nowadays even faster paced, meaning prices increasing quicker?
I honestly think a 100% increase in house prices over the next 20 years is absolutely realistic.

Unless ...
... we get a major economic recession for whatever reason, including huge inflation, loss of jobs, crash at the stock markets almost worldwide
... OR ...
... we get the honor to participate in WW3 (which starts in the middle east provoced by the US)
... OR ...
... oil runs out quicker on us than we expected (ooops big surprise!)
... OR ...
... last but not least the Global Warming and Climate Change eradicates all living things on planet Earth (I assume in that case we are not too worried about house prices anyways)

Ok, I hope I didn't scare you too much (like our media likes to do all the time) and all in all you will have a fairly positive and realistic outlook on future house prices.




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Best June EVER!

Just a quick note for all the people who are still questioning the strength of our local Real Esate market. Last month the Toronto Real Estate Market (which includes the area from Milton in The West to Bowmanville in The East and Toronto South to Innisfill in the North!) recorded 10,451 sales for the best June performance ever. After May, which was the best month ever (since the start of recording market figures) with 11,146 sales, this last month has been a very strong one again. To get some idea of the current strength of the market:
there have been more sales in the last two months (21,597) than occured in all of 1977 (20,512), thirty years ago this year.

So friends, family, clients, customers and neighbours ... people ... please stop asking if the market is still "good". It is not just good ... it is OUTSTANDING!




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Who likes to pay more tax?

What? You don't? ... mmm ... who would have thought. Well, Mayor David Miller thinks it's a great idea that will probably get a lot of support from the public. The City of Toronto is considering a tax on home buyers that could cost the average person an extra $4,200, or more, when they purchase a home. That is a 100% increase in land transfer taxes! For current home owners, this could hurt property values. My personal opinion regarding that tax increase idea?
Let's express it this way: I am not the biggest fan of it! So ...if you are not neither, then

HELP FIGHT THE NEW TORONTO HOME BUYING TAX!
YOU CAN HELP STOP THE TORONTO HOME BUYING TAX!

On July 16^th, 2007 Toronto Councillors will decide on the fate of the proposed bill to implement a second land transfer tax which would increase the tax by 100% in Toronto. The Toronto Real Estate Board disagrees with this bill and is encouraging EVERYONE to visit www.nohomebuyingtax.com to learn about the proposed bill AND to send an email to Mayor David Miller and to the Toronto Councillors OPPOSING the idea of implementing a second land transfer tax.

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Welcome to my Blog

Welcome to my blog "Inside Andy's Head - Real Estate Topics".

This blog will give you as a client, friend, family member or curious visitor, the very unique opportunity to get into my head and read my thoughts. Please be advised that this blog is not meant to promote my business or to sweet talk you. This blog is a real reflection of my personal thoughts as well as my professional opinion on real estate related topics. Have fun reading my posts and don't be surprised if you get the odd idea out of them or feel inspired to put your own thoughts down in writing. If you want, feel free to contact me to ask me any real estate questions that you wonder about. I will be happy to answer them. Let me know if you want me to write about a certain topic. You are also welcome to comment on any of my posts and leave your thoughts with me.

Enjoy reading and happy blogging!



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