Thoughts & Happenings

If you’re not from the area, you may shy away from renting a room with a lengthy lease or staying in a hotel, but short term rentals can make things much easier. When searching for that piece of Oakville real estate that makes your heart sing, a short term rental will give you enough time and space to explore Oakville without having to commit to a lengthy lease period. Here we’re going to discuss how you can use these to find your Oakville dream home, giving you enough time to find your home and move into it.

When looking at Oakville real estate you’re going to come across a great many condos; before you even think about buying one make sure you get a status certificate! A status certificate will give you the peace of mind and all the information you need to know about a specific condo or development. Do you know what kind of legal actions has been brought against this development? Do they have any funds in reserve, or will you end up in an endless cycle of special fees? What are the bylaws of the place, what rules will you need to follow? What amenities are offered? All of these things and more will be on your status certificate, so make sure you get one before you think about bidding on any Oakville real estate!

Starting July 9, 2012 new mortgage rules come into effect for all Canadians. While the Oakville real estate market is still going strong and mortgage interest rates are lower than they’ve ever been (in our lifetimes anyway!), steps had to be taken so Canada could avoid a housing bubble or crash similar to America’s over the last decade. Here we’re going to go over what the new rules are and how they’re going to affect you. It’s important to understand these, even if you were pre-approved for financing your deal may have changed.

When you’re looking for a great home, you have to get your financing in order first! Getting pre-approved before you buy Oakville real estate helps you know how much money you have to spend; it also helps us figure out what kind of homes to show you. This way you save both time and money, avoiding any awkward situations later. Even if you’re not sure that you’re going to buy a home, pre-approval will last for many months so you’ll have enough time to find the right home.

Some say you can never view too many Oakville homes for sale, but that may not always be the case! You want to pick a nice round number of Oakville real estate properties to have a look at, and you don’t want to see them all in the same day. You can space them out over the period of a month or just a week, but make sure you don’t try to digest all of your options all at once if you can help it. Here we’re going to go over the benefits of choosing the properties you view and if you should do it.

When dealing with Oakville real estate, many people are looking to “downsize” their homes. Maybe they have too much house; maybe they just want something more manageable. Either way, downsizing doesn’t have to be a bad thing! You’ll be able to get exactly what you need without the things that you don’t. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to move into a tiny little house and throw away everything that ever mattered to you. Here we’re going to talk about downsizing; is it a dirty word or a smart move?

June and July are the most active months in Oakville real estate, which means it’s the perfect time to buy and sell your home! It gives you enough time between the kids being out of school for summer break and your own vacation. With great dry warm weather you’ll be able to move without worrying about bad weather, making the kids adjust to a new neighbourhood. If you're holding off until later, you’ll find that early spring (February and March) is also a great time to sell your home, and the best days to buy a home are Easter and Christmas Day.

Here you’ve undoubtedly found why you need us to work with you, what we can do for you, etc. But we can’t forget that selling Oakville real estate is a two part process; you and your realtor will need to work together to get your home sold. Sometimes a realtor can’t get into your property because you’re unavailable or gave them the wrong key code… and then your home doesn’t get sold. Here we’re going to go over the importance of working WITH your realtor to make sure your Oakville home for sale gets sold.

When you’re thinking about placing an offer for a piece of real estate, you may not know everything you need to know to come to a smart decision. What issues does this home have, and how will these affect the value of the house? Is it worth paying a few hundred dollars to have a house inspected that you may not even end up buying? It’s important to be informed before you buy, and here we’re going to answer all your questions. Let’s get started!

Some realtors are all doom and gloom these days, mostly because of the new mortgage rules released by the government. So is the Canadian, and more importantly, Oakville real estate market boom over? According to CREA (Canadian Real Estate Association) home prices have risen almost 40% in the last 3 years, but they’re expected to stay the same for through next year. So this isn’t a decline in home prices, but it’s not a huge gain like we saw before. What does this mean for you though, and does this mean you shouldn’t buy Oakville real estate now?