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CategoryReal Estate news

Posted Mortgage News

Fall 2015 housing market remains hot!

$$ up arrowThe stats are in… House prices are up 6.1% in September compared with Sept 2014.  In fact, house prices were up across the country except Alberta, Saskatchewan and PEI.

Now, what’s the first thought that popped into your head?  Did you ask, ‘when will house prices collapse or go downs?’.   That’s probably what most of us are thinking.  The answer is, no one really knows.

The Canadian real estate market has proven to be as resilient as Justin Trudeau.   Our new PM took a lot of personal attacks but somehow, he managed to survive and win… a majority govt.  (not saying I want or don’t want him there… I’ll keep my personal politics private… for now anyways). Continue reading “Fall 2015 housing market remains hot!”

Posted Real Estate news

Rogers Communications shutting down Zoocasa.com on June 22, 2015

zoocasa  They launched back in 2008 in a beta version.  In 2011, they began offering property valuations through Zoopraisal.  And in the coming years, they provided the public with property sales data.   Surprisingly, Rogers Communications announced they will close the site as of June 22nd, 2015.

There is much speculation about why Rogers would close this online real estate site.  This was not some small business.  This site had a huge following and was ranked number 1181 in top websites in Canada…  That may not sound impressive, but that’s actually incredibly high.   Remax.ca is ranked #484, Royallepage.ca is #535, Sutton.com (Sutton Group) is just #3559… according to Alexa rankings. Continue reading “Rogers Communications shutting down Zoocasa.com on June 22, 2015”

Posted Real Estate news

Trump’s George Ross says Canada’s Housing market is undervalued….

George RossGeorge Ross is Donald Trump’s Executive VP.  He’s Trump’s senior advisor and has worked with Trump for 30 years.   You’ve probably seen him on TV on ‘The Apprentice’.   This week, he was quoted as saying Canada’s real estate market is undervalued, not overvalued.    That’s quite the opposite of what the so-called experts have been saying for 8 or 9 years.  (by the way, where are those experts now?)

If you listen to his interview, he makes some good points.   Office properties have more upward potential than residential properties.  But the residential market follows the Office or commercial market.   He also says that buying a house for a quick flip isn’t a good strategy.    It may sound good on the TV shows, but it’s a risky game to play.   Mr. Ross says more fortunes have been lost in real estate than have been made.   Continue reading “Trump’s George Ross says Canada’s Housing market is undervalued….”

Posted Interest rates

So, you think rates are gonna spike up this year? Who says?

Variable rate mortgage Here we go again…  The beginning of a new year, and the same annual forecasts for interest rates to go up!   Before I share my thoughts.. Here’s some of the recent headlines that I’ve seen….

  • a report by CBC News sharing 4 ways to prepare.. including selling your home, waiting to buy and locking into a Fixed rate mortgage!    (Can you say panic?)
  • Here’s another from The Globe and Mail telling us it’s “Bad News for Borrowers: The economy could improve this year”.  Really?  Tell that to the people in Alberta, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan.
  • And this one from last week says Get ready for Interest Rate Shock in 2015.

Wow, reading this means rates are certain to up this year…right?  So let’s see.. we should sell our home, put off buying (yet again) and lock in our Variable rates into Fixed rate mortgages..

Now let’s look at the most recent headlines.. Continue reading “So, you think rates are gonna spike up this year? Who says?”

Posted 2 Comments on Housing bubble? Waiting for the crash before buying has cost you 602 in the last 6 years. Case study

Housing bubble? Waiting for the crash before buying has cost you 60% in the last 6 years.

Housing BubleBad news travels 10 times faster than good news!  It’s just human nature that we can’t seem to escape.  We seem more likely to gossip about someone’s misfortune than their accomplishments.

Here’s a negative headline….  YOU LOST APPROXIMATELY $355,000, SO FAR, IF YOU’VE BEEN WAITING TO A BUY HOUSE SINCE 2008.  Read on to see understand how and why.

Take Wednesday’s headline in the Financial Post, “Bank of Canada warns house prices are overvalued by up to 30%” .  WOW!  How’s that not gonna get your attention?   It certainly got mine.  I immediately had to read this article.  But the more I read, the clearer it became that this statement wasn’t exactly true.

The article pointed to a semi-annual report that is put out by the Bank of Canada entitled, Financial System Review December 2014.  That headline is an attention grabber.. And like most media headlines, it’s not the full story.  In fact, it’s not an accurate reflection of what the Bank of Canada report had to say.   If you look at Stephen Poloz’s (Bank of Canada Governor) comments, he says “there is some risk that the housing market is overvalued, and our estimates fall in the 10 to 30 per cent range”.

But he’s not done there.. Continue reading “Housing bubble? Waiting for the crash before buying has cost you 60% in the last 6 years.”