Thoughts & Happenings

Lenders can and will monitor your purchases until closing – it’s important to make each purchase count! The last thing you want is to go on a spending spree to furnish your home right before you close; the lender will wonder why you’re putting a $5k 3DTV on a credit card. When it comes down to it, you’re just going to want to err on the side of caution in the days leading up to buying a home. Even if you are going mostly with cash when you’re buying a home, just be careful. When you’re buying or refinancing a home your lender is going to keep an eye on things until closing.

It was once the most expensive home listed in America at $125m, but after drastic price cuts it looks like it’s heading down the pipe at $25m – with no guarantees that it will sell at all. It begs the question: how much is too much when it comes to luxury real estate? Is this Mediterranean style mansion in Miami’s South Beach really worth the asking price, or is it just wishful thinking?

When you’re thinking about buying a condo, you need to start doing your research. You’ll want to know the regulations of the condos you’re interested in. You need to know what the verbal homeowners’ association board regulations and especially what the fees are before you put down a bid. You need to know that they have plenty in the emergency fund and you’ll want to make sure that you have the condo inspected BEFORE you put your deposit down. Like they say, knowing is half the battle, and the more you know the better off you’ll be when you buy a home.

With so much doom in gloom, is now really the right time to buy a home? Are you better off waiting? If you check out the news you’ll see the last TEN YEARS have been doom and gloom for the housing industry – at least that’s what analysts have been saying. When you really look at the situation you’ll see that the ups and downs just aren’t affecting the luxury real estate market like they are midrange homes. With so much foreign interest and beautiful homes to choose from, now is a great time to find the home you’ve always wanted.

While most of us approach raccoons as if they’re marauding urban (and suburban) pests that like to make a big mess and clear out before you wake up in the morning, they’re actually really interesting critters! 

Toronto’s housing market has seen some ups and downs over the last year, but July has seen an 8% increase in selling prices bringing it up to $514,250 on average. Fewer homebuyers are coming out to buy, which may be due to awkward market conditions and some of the mortgage rule changes Canada saw last year. Sales in the Toronto area alone were up 16% compared with July 2012, clocking in at about 8500 new homes sold.

A new Bank of Montreal study that was recently released says that about 20% of people who are first time homebuyers are having to wait because of the new mortgage rules. Some are being flat out denied, others don’t want to worry about getting turned down when trying to buy their first home. Many just want to get a nice house but don’t know exactly how the rules will really affect them. Most of the rules are going to apply to people buying a home worth less than $1m, so if you’re in this camp you can probably breathe a nice sigh of relief!