Greetings, I hope you have enjoyed the bit of good November weather we have been having.
Looks like we are in for the rainy season now.
A quick Toronto Real Estate Update and some Important Info About the HST and How It Affects You.
Because Rates are still very low we are having a stronger than expected market with 5 year rates below 4% with prime just over 2%.
In fact in the first half of November the volume of sales is up 84% over the same time last year. As you probably remember,
we were having a bit of market exhaustion and a cyclical slump.
If you are considering selling you will want to Click here to view “This Month in Real Estate”.
Our companies real estate update and insight into what makes for a very saleable property.
This is a robust sellers market so if you are buying, do your research, put in logical offers and be patient because the market will change.
Many folks feel that they cannot afford to buy in this type of market and that all homes sell for more than asking price. This is just not true.
About 12 % go over asking that leaves about 98% that don’t. For a little insight on how to buy in this market Read this article about Ugly Betty and Some Toronto Homes. You can also contact me Direct at (647)886-1550 or if you would like to talk about taking advantage of all this confusion because there are great opportunities available.
Or Click here to have new listings sent to you daily.
Click Here to see our November E-Newsletter with some tips on avoiding holiday risks, and some great videos on Fire safety & appliance makeover.
And finally, something very important to us all Taxes
If you want to understand better the effect the HST will have on us. Go to my blog at HST and Your Taxes and you will begin to get the picture. Pretty soon taxes here in Canada will be much on the same scale as Great Britain, where people are loaded with debt and can barely pay their bills. Does that start to sound familiar.
In the next couple of months I will be conducting my 90 minute workshop on Four Steps to Debt Irradication. I will keep you informed of the date.
The Canadian Real Estate Association has requested that I forward this to you and ask you to please take action.
Subject: Stop the HST – Cost of buying, owning and selling a home to go up by 8%
Earlier this week, the Government of Ontario formally launched its latest assault on homeowners, purchasers and sellers with the introduction of legislation to harmonize the provincial sales tax and goods and services tax.
Homebuyers and sellers will pay 8 per cent more on legal fees, appraisals, real estate commissions, home inspection fees, and moving costs, adding about $1,500 in new taxes to the average residential real estate transaction in Ontario.
For homeowners the HST will also add hundreds of dollars in additional tax on utility bills (gas, electricity and home heating fuel), on home renovation labour, the cost of lawn upkeep or landscaping and the cost of snow removal.
Please help Ontario REALTORS® fight this tax. In less than 30 seconds you can send an email to your MPP asking them to vote against sales tax harmonization legislation, by clicking here: http://bit.ly/stopthehst.
When you get to this page after reading the letter just scroll down to the bottom of the page.
When you fill in the blanks it automatically generates your name and info into the letter.
You can send it by e-mail or by snail mail.
Or you could choose to do both. I did.
E-mail is expedient but snail mail is much more effective, just envision the pile of letters on your MPS table rather than you e-mail in his spam box.
Yes you have to care enough to get out an envelope and buy a stamp.
But given the amount of taxes we will be paying shortly that should be a minor issue.
Best Wishes until next month.