Thoughts & Happenings

There are so many places you can buy a home in Oakville, but which one is right for you? When you want only the best in Oakville luxury real estate it always pays to understand what neighbourhood is going to work best for you. Here we’re going to go over a few of the neighbourhoods for finding good Oakville luxury homes for sale, so let’s get started.

Selling Oakville real estate in summer is easy – but when it comes to winter it’s a different kind of problem. You can’t turn on the air conditioner and put out flowers in your flower pots; you’ll find that there are different kinds of buyers on the lookout and you’ll have much different conditions to deal with. Brown and muddy lawns aren’t helpful, and neither is half the property being buried under snow… but there is a way to do it! Here we’re going to go over a few tips to sell your home in winter and to get those bids as high as possible, so let’s get started.

If you’re thinking about upgrading your home to save on energy, you might be surprised what you can do with a few tweaks to your daily routine. You’re going to need to look at your appliances, how much you’re spending on idle power consumption and if you’re really heating and cooling your home effectively.

Everyone wants something now, and with the “off season” you can find some good deals on luxury Oakville real estate. The thing to remember is though that some homes may not be available right now. Sellers may be away enjoying the holidays and might not return until spring. While it’s good to take a look now to see what’s out there, it doesn’t hurt to wait until the busy season kicks back up either. Here we’re going to talk about the benefits of waiting for the right home, so let’s get started.

The economy is picking up and wealthy would-be homebuyers want to have a good time.

An amazing new trend is emerging in luxury real estate – “perfect for entertaining homes”. You won’t find listings that are hyper focused on facts and functionality; instead, you’ll find sellers creating unique experiences that connect with buyers on an emotional, aspirational level. Why talk about square footage and how many foyers you have when you can focus on all the wonderful lifestyle features of your home instead?

Did you know that you can donate your unused loyalty reward points to bring down just how much you owe at the end of the year – and the more you give, the more you save. If you have miles or points on a card you know you’re never going to get around to using, it might be time to donate ‘em and actually get rewards you can use, like a lower tax bill in 2014.

We’ve all heard that saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” – and all those lovely perks and benefits that come with a condo are no exception. As condos move to attract wealthy homebuyers like you that expect the best of the best, it’s no surprise that operating costs are increasing… and so are their building and HOA fees. Is the ease, comfort and slight affordability of condos a mirage, or is there more than meets the eye?

Home prices aren’t just rising in the metro areas – all across Ontario buyers are seeing the cost of housing rise – and it may not be a good thing. Right now some new land-use planning rules could go into effect, and the province is seeking input from everyone to see how they could ease the cost on homebuyers but still provide for development province-wide.

We’ve seen some amazing gains across the GTA in the last 2 years with housing prices – but more importantly, we haven’t seen any depreciation. This winter (like every winter season!) is expected to cool a hot market. Prices will continue to rise, but they won’t keep rapid, rabid pace like they had been this summer. Prices are expected to continue their upward swing in Spring and Summer 2014… but what does this mean for you?

Last month CREA and CREB warned that home and condo sales would hit a slump and prices would begin to slow their ascendance – but prices were up 11.3% and sales rose about 14% year over year compared with November 2012, and that’s a big jump! Even with all the steps that Ottowa and the Toronto Real Estate Board have taken to try and make the market cool down, it’s all been in vain.