Provincial Land Transfer Tax Refund Extended

The Province of Ontario has just announced that it is extending the land transfer tax refund for first time buyers of newly constructed homes to now include resale homes. This means that first time home buyers can now save up to $2,000 on a resale home purchase. The legislation for this rebate has not yet been passed, but any first time home buyer that enters into an "agreement to purchase and sale" on or after December 13th, 2007 is entitled to a rebate of up to $2,000 once the legislation is passed.

The City of Toronto has also up dated their new land transfer tax so that first time home buyers should not have to pay the land transfer tax on the first $400,000 of their home purchase at all. Previously any first time home buyer who is buying a home that is priced over $400,000 had to pay the full tax up front and then get a rebate for the tax paid on the first $400,000. Under their new system, which they hope to have in place before Feb 1st 2008 when the tax starts, first time home buyers will be able to pay only the tax owing on the balance of the purchase price minus $400,000.

Toronto Area Mortgages

Well I did it! I took the plunge and took my business and added to it to make a more seamless service to help my clients get better results, quicker and more efficiently. I have now added mortgages to my real estate service by becoming a Mortgage Agent with Mortgage One Solutions Ltd. a member of The Mortgage Centre.

Now you can get a great wholesale mortgage rate with terms that best meet your needs. Get your pre-approved mortgage quickly and easily. Best of all, I work for you not the banks, top that off with the fact that my main purpose is to help you buy a home, or sell your home by providing mortgage approvals to qualified buyers; so I am not concerned about finder's fees and I will concentrate on just getting you the best mortgage for your needs.

Looking to renew, refinance or consolidate debts? I can help you with that with the same emphasys on exceptional service and great mortgage products.

I protact your record by only pulling your credit once when I shop your mortgage application to over 40 lenders for the best rates. Including most of the big banks, although some of them only deal with mortgage brokers through subsiduary businesses, I can often get you the same or better rate that you can get at the banks. Another benefit is that I don't just let you fill in the blanks and press submit. I work with you and your situation to get you mortgage approved and if there are issues that are blocking your application, like outstanding debts, I will go through your report with you and help you to get your credit record back on track.

Happy house hunting!

Toronto and York Region Real Estate Markets Update

2007's real estate markets seem to be unstoppable. Once again October sets a new Toronto MLS® record for the number of homes sold smashing the previous October record (Oct 2003) by 10% and sending the total home sales, for 2007, over 81,500 homes sold. That is just 1,500 short of the final number of homes sold in 2006 with two months to go, in which we would usually expect to see about 10,000 sales more. On top of that the sales volume in Toronto are expected to be extra high in November and December as home buyers are trying to avoid the new municipal land transfer tax which comes into effect on homes purchased after January 1st, 2008 and closing after February 1st, 2008.

The average purchase price for a home on the Toronto MLS® system in October, 2007, was $394,646 up from last October's $356,423.

In Richmond Hill's 3 MLS® districts (N03,N04 and N05) there were 396 homes sold with the majority (211 homes) in the South end (N03) with a high number of Condominiums and an average sale price of $408,291 where as in the North end (N05, Oak Ridges down to Gamble Rd.) the there were only 68 homes sold, mostly detached home, with an average sale price of $491,850.

Toronto home's averaged $522,800 for the 1,602 homes that sold in October. That said there are still areas where you can get a detached home for under $400,000.

Real estate markets in the Toronto area and York Region are still very strong and it is still expected to continue being strong with stead price increases for the next few years. Making now a great time to buy or move if you haven't already.

If you would like more information feel free to contact me or fill out a "home search request" or " Home Evaluation request" on my website www.AndrewHodgeREALTOR.com

Talk to you soon.

Toronto Real Estate Market - Mid August sales

Toronto Home Sales in August are well above expected numbers in terms of volume. As of August 17th there were 3,838 homes sold, up 17% from Aug 2006, and the average sale price across the Toronto MLS® system was $355,829.

So it looks like the summer market is doing very well with the lower priced home and condo sales. I, for one, am looking forward to see how the upper priced home sale come back in September.

York Region Real Estate market statistics - July 2007

York Region's real estate markets were hot in July 2007 as were all of the Northern districts on the Toronto MLS® system. Sales this year were up 27.7% with 1,797 homes sold compared to 1,407 homes sold in July 2007. The year to date home sales numbers are also up 16.3% to 12,232 homes sold in York Region, the Uxbridge area of Durham and parts of Simcoe County.

Over all average sold prices increased by 5% from $373,573 to $392,360 in July 2007. There were some very active markets in York Region including the 3 Richmond Hill Ontario real estate districts (N03, N04 and N05), Aurora (N06) and Vaughan (N08).

In Richmond Hill there was an increase of 47.1% in the total number of homes sold, going from 291 (July 2006) to 428 (July 2007) homes. Most of this increase was in the South end in the N03 and N04 districts. Richmond Hill seems to have been hit by the summer market effect resulting from higher price range buyers going on vacation. The result was a decrease in the average sold price but an increase in the median home sold price where they were very close to one another. The largest effect was in the detached home market where, in the N03 district, the average home price dropped from $601,645 to $556,140 while the median home sold price increased from $537,000 to $557,750, not that that is chump change or anything but there were definitely fewer million plus dollar homes sold in July 2007.

Aurora Ontario's real estate market saw an increase in home sales of 26.3% from 57 to 72 and an increase in average sale price from $392,658 (July 2006) to $454,512 (July 2007).

In the N08 district (Vaughan) and the N11 district (Markham) both saw increases in sales volume between 27% and 30%.

Happy house hunting.

Toronto Real Estate Market Statistics - July 2007

Toronto's real estate markets keep motoring along. In July 2007 there were 1,590 homes sold in the central districts on the Toronto MLS® system. This would account for the down town core and everything between Dufferin and Victoria Park, South of Steeles, with the DVP as the eastern boundary south of Eglinton Ave. That is an increase of 24.3% over last year's 1,279 Toronto homes sold.

The average sold price in the Toronto Central districts was $470,464 up 9.9% from July 2006's $428,031 and the median home sale prices in central Toronto raised from last years $313,200 to $334,500. The one thing that Toronto still has is variety. The average home sold prices vary widely from district to district. The lowest average sold price was $329,339 in the C8 district which is predominantly condominiums. Where as the highest average home sold price was in the C12 district with and average home sale price of $1,442,216.

So far, in 2007, there have been 10,591 homes sold in the central Toronto real estate markets which is up 12% from last years 9,450. Even with the potential new land transfer tax, that may get the go ahead if the City or Toronto does not figure another way to fix their budget issues, the real estate markets are booming with a sales to active listings ratio of 64.7% in July 2007 for the central Toronto districts.

It is still a great time to buy or sell Toronto real estate. Please let me know if you are looking for Toronto, Ontario, homes for sale or if you want to sell you Toronto home or condo fast.

Toronto Real Estate Home Inspectors - How to Choose One

The home inspection industry is currently not a regulated industry, which means that anyone can call themselves a home inspector and charge a fee to look at homes and give you a report or opinion on the condition of the home. So until the home inspection industry gets its own version of REBBA making it illegal to charge a fee for a home inspection related service, without first being registered and insured, how do you choose the right home inspector?

I think we would all recognize that this picture would be of someone you would not like to have inspecting your home, yet home inspectors are rarely this obviously unqualified. So, always make sure that they are a member of the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI) and in Ontario, Canada, they should also belong to the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors (OAHI). These two organizations have their own rules, regulations, ethics codes and training qualifications that must be met in order to remain a member.

Make sure that they have errors and omission insurance that is up to date and paid for, just in case they do miss something that should have been detected. I believe that Insurance coverage is a requirement for both of the above organizations, however it is best to ask and even to see an insurance policy "slip" stating that the insurance coverage is valid and active.

In Ontario, Canada, all REALTORS® must advise their clients that a home inspection is recommended service. Most will even give you a few names to choose from. You should call at least 2-3 home inspectors and interview them to find out what they do and how much they charge. Some may provide extra services for a premium or use specialized equipment that goes beyond a basic home inspection. You can expect to pay close to $400 for a home inspection on a home up to 2,500sq ft if it is not too old. Older homes may cost more as they often need to be home thoroughly inspected and my have crawl spaces and awkward spaces that the home inspector needs to get into to inspect the home. Larger homes will often cost more as there is more home to inspect and it will take longer and may even involve multiple heating and ventilation systems or other home systems that are included in the inspection.

As Part of my York Region real estate service I have several home inspectors that I recommend to my clients based on how thorough they are. They do not work for me, so they are responsible to my clients to provide the information that they need even if it means the client does not want to close on that home because of it. I would rather we all know that a home is in poor condition and move on to finding a home that is good than to have an unhappy client in the future when the problems become more obvious.