Century 21 Canada: What’s in store?

Century 21 Canada is the most trusted company that offers homes for sale throughout Canada. Century 21 is also recognized globally with franchises in 72 countries and territories worldwide. With its experienced brokers and professional REALTORS®, Century 21 has become the Real Estate Company of choice for hundreds of thousands of clients over any other brand.


“Connected to More™” is the slogan of Century 21 - with this, clients can expect more from Century 21 over the years to come - with more technology and more innovation, there are exciting features on the horizon! To watch a video clip to see what Century 21 has to offer, click here.

Until next time,
Jamie

Knowing About Your Real Estate Privacy

Once a home is sold in your neighborhood, people tend to talk about it - they want to know how much the sellers were asking, what the buyers paid for it, what the seller paid in the way of commission, and many other details about the home. Not all sellers want to divulge this information, especially if they did not give their consent for this information to be released.


There is a privacy law in Canada that can protect you from having information regarding the sale of your home given to others. The purchase price is considered to be private information and permission must be given to allow it to be advertised. To learn more about the privacy legislation by the federal government, click here.

This is a good read. As a seller, it gives information about some of the legal issues of real estate, including what information is determined to be “Personal Information”. It gives information regarding how to protect your privacy, even how the buyer can keep the sale price off the title registry.

Until next time,
Jamie

REALTOR® Fees

Have you heard the news about the consent agreement between CREA (The Canadian Real Estate Association) and the Competition Bureau of Canada? The agreement followed a prolonged negotiation between CREA and the Competition Bureau of Canada as the Bureau claimed that CREA’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) was a monopoly.


Well, what does this agreement mean? It simply means that now any home owner wanting to sell their own home can pay a fee to a REALTOR® to have their listing put onto the MLS site and then sell their house themself. This agreement may be advantageous to some, most especially if the home owner has solid real estate knowledge and marketing skills. However, for those selling their own homes without these skills, the agreement may be dangerous.

REALTORS® are well trained and educated professionals. They have a great deal of knowledge of contract law, mortgage financing, land laws and negotiation skills. It is not an easy profession. All REALTORS® must carry professional insurance and must continue their learning in order to annually renew their Real Estate license. It is also important to note that the REALTOR® does not keep the entire commission – the commission must be split between the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent, then must be split again between the REALTOR® and their sponsoring company. REALTORS® pay a substantial cost for marketing of their client’s homes including advertising, websites, flyers, newsletters, etc. They spend time and gasoline taking clients to see properties, sometimes to no avail as the potential buyers, at any time, can decide they don’t want to buy a home. REALTORS® can also spend countless hours in back and forth negotiation between buyers and sellers.

To read more about the agreement and how REALTORS® earn their fees, click here
 
Until next time,
Jamie

CREA Adjusts Its Estimation of Annual Housing Resales for 2010 and 2011

CREA (The Canadian Real Estate Association) has recently revised its annual resale housing forecast. This reduction of annual forecast was due to weak sales activity in third quarter of 2010. However, it is important to note that sales have improved so far in the fourth quarter, suggesting a stabilizing resale housing market. CREA also noted that based on a year to year comparison, resale levels may remain reduced into 2011 due to strong activity in late 2009 and early 2010.


CREA reports that housing supply and demand is stabilizing. This is an advantage to home buyers and sellers as it will result in price stability as the housing market is balanced. If interest rates continue to be low and stable the resale housing market is likely to remain balanced.

To read more about the figures and forecast of CREA, click here.
 
Until next time,
Jamie

Real Estate Sales for October

We’ve entered the last quarter of the year, it's hard to believe we are almost at the end of 2010 already! In the Real Estate world, home sales have been stable since the third quarter of this year. The average price for homes sold in Barrie and District over the past ten months is up seven percent from the first ten months of 2009. What’s next? Will the market continue to be stabilized? Well here’s an update on sales activity for October in Barrie and District.


Since August 2010, residential property sales have consistently increased, edging up one percent in October over steady increases in August and September, on a seasonally adjusted month-to-month basis. However, the data also shows residential sales remained below last year’s record levels for the month of October. These records are from the MLS® System of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc.

According to the President of the Barrie and District Association of REALTORS®, Catherine Gabe, the Real Estate sales market is now calmer as compared to early this year and buyers seem to be taking their time in making their buying decisions. To read more about the figures of real estate sales, click here.

At the present time it seems like we’re looking at a continuous balance of supply and demand in the real estate market, although in comparison to last year at this time sales remain lower than those record levels.

Until next time,

Jamie

The Power of Social Media Sites

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln and MySpace - Who doesn’t know any of these? Most probably know at least one. Did you know that there are 550 million users of Facebook, 98 million users of Twitter, 67 million users of MySpace and 41 million users of Linkedln? Interesting isn’t it? But did you also know that in the 3rd quarter of this year, the number of users have declined on each of these social media sites, except for Twitter. In the case of Facebook, the number of users has dropped from 550 million to 540 million. The number of Twitter users did not drop, however, their numbers didn’t make a drastic increase either, from 96 million users in the 2nd quarter it only gained 2 million users in the 3rd quarter of this year.

It is also interesting to know that each of these social media sites have different functions. Facebook is said to be more of a social sharing site, while Twitter is more of a learning network. MySpace is more of a social relationship network while Linkedln is more of a business-related site. For more interesting facts about social media sites, click here.

Until next time,
Jamie

CANADA - The Most Respected Country Brand in the World!

Here is an interesting little article I found about branding.  I know that companies are often concerned with their "Brand", but did you know that countries are as well?  In this article, you will see that Canada has made it to the top spot in the Branding world.  Pretty cool!  That is why I'm proud to call Canada my home!  To read the full article, click here.

Until next time,
Jamie

Tips to Help You Avoid Buying the Wrong Home

Buying a home is a big investment, probably one of the biggest investments you will make in your life, therefore it is imperative that you be careful in choosing and buying one. A home purchase should not be based on what your heart desires, rather you should carefully inspect, plan and evaluate things before you decided to make the purchase. Here are some tips you may find useful to prepare for a home purchase:


Preparation: It is recommended to do some research first before starting the process of buying a new home. First and foremost, you must have the financial capability to buy a home. Speaking with a mortgage broker or with your banker is a good way of determining what you can and cannot afford.

Considering Using a REALTOR®: Another part of your initial research should include whether or not you want to work with a REALTOR®. REALTORS® have extensive connections and much experience when it comes to buying and selling homes.

Visual Inspection: Once you find a home, it is best to do an inspection of your chosen house. Not only do you need to inspect the house physically, you should also consider the surroundings. You may want to talk with the neighbours to get a feel for the neighbourhood. You may also want to return to the neighbourhood at some specific times of day in order to determine how busy the neighbourhood is at different times of the day.

To get more tips on home buying, click here, to view a great article which may be very helpful to ensure you get the best value for the money you spend on your new home.

Until next time,
Jamie

Real Estate Sales for September

We’re already in the last quarter of the year. How are real estate sales so far? Here’s an update.


Residential property sales have remained almost the same as last month, rising 9 percent on a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis. However, sales are still down by 8 percent from last year’s sales records.

The MLS® System of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc. has recorded that the average price of homes sold was up 8 percent from last year for the period of January to September. New listings were recorded to be up by 5 percent as per year to year listings. For more figures and trending data, click here

According to the President of the Barrie and District Association of REALTORS®, demand for high end properties remained strong while demand has slowly weaken in low and mid-priced properties.

Similar to the past months, there is still a market balance between supply and demand. So far trends have been the same yet we should still look forward to what lies ahead in real estate sales until end of this year.

Until next time,
Jamie