Two articles caught my attention today. You’ve probably heard that average home prices in Canada – particularly in Toronto and Vancouver – have been climbing like crazy. One article today covered Moody’s warning about the dire impact of a pending housing correction in Canada. They put us in a bucket with Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand – all four countries …
If you’re thinking about buying a home in Ottawa’s suburbs, you might have tried to figure out which one is the smartest choice. Obviously there are things that are important to you other than how the market is doing – like where your friends and extended family live, where you’ve lived in the past, and where you work & play. …
People often ask me to confirm what they’ve heard about home sales in each of Ottawa’s major suburban areas comparatively. For the past couple of years, the prevailing belief is that Orleans is sinking (cue The Hip, sans New) while Barrhaven and/or Kanata is/are on the rise. The primary reasons given are the move of RCMP HQ from the Vanier …
Basement bedroom window size is an issue that often comes up during home showings and inspections. When buying a home: “Is that bedroom basement legal?” When helping a client prepare to sell their home, the question is, “Can we call this a 3+1 bedroom home?” Does the bedroom in the basement “count”? Is it legal? The answer is… it depends …
With 2015 in the books, it’s time to have a look at which neighbourhoods saw the most home and condo sales activity. This article looks at where average sale prices rose the most – or fell the most – compared with 2014. Every month the Ottawa real estate board issues a news release with average sale price information and they …
I’ve read quite a few posts on social media this week, mostly from real estate salespersons and brokers, making observations about Rogers Communications’ decision to shut down the “online real estate brokerage” Zoocasa. Most of the observations I’ve read have felt self-serving; not very objective. I believe Zoocasa failed for the same reason that I believe Trulia, Zillow, Xome, Property …
Why is Your House Not Selling? Here are seven unexpected reasons that I see every day. 1. You’re preaching to the choir. Yes, that’s a mixed metaphor. Although people often mix up the expression like this, I mean it this way. When people use the expression “You’re preaching to the choir” they mean to say that you are trying to convince someone …
A couple of months ago I decided to carve up the City of Ottawa into a few big chunks to help understand house prices and condo prices in different parts of town. Of course, where you draw the lines is somewhat subjective and could be debated all day long, but I think for the purpose of getting a general idea …
You often read about average home prices in Ottawa or Canada as a whole. You’ll read, for example, that house prices on average were 1.6% higher in Ottawa in 2014 than in 2013. For the past 5 or 6 years there have been regular reports of average home prices in Canada escalating to the point that we have the highest …
Overall, 2014 looked a lot like 2013 for real estate in Ottawa, with a few differences. With an entire year of data to work with, I thought we’d take a look at last year in Ottawa real estate from three different angles: looking at the graphs of 9 key statistics that I put together every month, using the Ottawa Real …
When it comes to building a portfolio of investment properties, there is something on the menu for every taste. To suit your specific tolerances and objectives, you will want to discuss the ins and outs in detail. But I thought it would be fun to write-up a brief table of ingredients for two types of residential properties that are at …
A client of mine who is mulling over the idea of acquiring some real estate for investment purposes, started doing some reading on her own and came across a piece about rules of thumb. She read, in addition to other bits of wisdom, that: The rule of thumb is that the purchase price of investment property should be 10 times …