Here we Go Again! Our Latest Offering To The Buying Public!

We'd Like You To be Among The First To Know!

Just in time for those summer family or group gatherings

• Lovingly maintained and located The Elms neighborhood of Islington and Elmhurst
• 4 large bedrooms to accommodate 2 young families or maybe in-laws
• Parking can be for 6 cars

Click here to get all the information you'll need

More information on the details of the federal incentive to First-time home buyers

The program is called First-time Home Buyer Incentive first announced in March and to be implemented starting September 2, 2019. First closing to be on or after November 1, 2019. As there may still be changes keep in touch with your real estate agent to keep abreast.
Here's an excerpt from CBC news.

Government lays out fine print of new CMHC program that could contribute 10% to price of first home 

The government on Monday released details of a program  announced during the last federal budget, an initiative that could see Canada's housing agency contribute up to 10 per cent of the price of a buyer's first home if certain conditions are met.

Under the First Time Home Buyer Incentive program, which was announced in March and will officially launch in September, a first-time homebuyer who earns less than $120,000 can qualify. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation would kick in up to 10 per cent of the purchase price of the home, providing the borrower can come up with the minimum amount for an insured mortgage, which is now at five per cent.

If that bar is met, the CMHC may kick in an additional five per cent of the purchase price of a resale home. For a newly built home, the CMCH may contribute up to 10 per cent.

The stakes from the CMHC would be interest free, meaning no ongoing cost to pay down, like a mortgage does. But the government says in exchange for its stake, the CMHC would get to participate "in the upside and downside of the change in the property value" — which means they would be entitled to any corresponding increase in the value of a home when the buyer eventually sells. On the flip side, the government would also on the hook for any share of the loss if the property depreciates.

On a home costing $500,000, if the borrower puts up $25,000 and the CMHC puts up the same amount, the CMHC would then own five per cent of that home. So if, down the line, the house appreciates to $600,000 and the borrower wants to sell, they would have to give the CMHC five per cent of the sale price — $30,000 in this example — not the $25,000 the CMHC put down in the first place.

While a bill would be paid down the line, the savings over the years could add up. In the example above, the program would save a would-be borrower $286 a month in mortgage costs over the life of the loan, $3,430 a year.

We'd like you to be among the first to know!

THIS LISTING SOLD FOR OVER THE ASKING

We have been entrusted to market this STUNNING UNIT for you to live in or as an investment!

• Gorgeous one bedroom + den on the 37th floor with spectacular views of the city, lake or CN Tower
• Floor to celling windows with open balcony with fabulous facilities including a fitness centre
• Direct access to subway, Union Station, Air Canada Centre and stores

DETAILS:
Click here for more information:

What is in the Federal budget for 'first time home buyers'?

First Time Buyers:
Is the government lending you a hand in acquiring a house? You've probably read about how qualifying  for a mortgage have been changed with more stringent rules making it harder for buyers to qualify for a mortgage- well here's some good news- the 2019 Federal Budget has some help for first time buyers. Thru CMHC and in return for 10% ownership, it can now be easier to qualify.

"Precise details of how the program works won't come out until later in the fall, but today the government provided a rough breakdown of how it might work for a prospective buyer. If a first-time buyer wants to buy a home that costs $400,000, they'd have to come up with a $20,000 down payment, under both the new rules and the old ones.

Normally, they'd have to take out a loan for $380,000 to cover the rest of the purchase price — but under the new program (if it's a newly constructed home), CMHC could kick in $40,000 toward the purchase price, in exchange for a 10 per cent stake in the home.

That brings the buyer's mortgage down to just $340,000 for the home, instead of $380,000. On a standard mortgage at 3.5 per cent interest, that translates into a monthly mortgage payment more than $200 lower than it would have been for the 25-year life of the loan. That's more than $2,700 a year in potential savings."

Read the complete article here.

Again We'd Like You To Be Among The First To Know!

THIS LISTING HAS BEEN LEASED FOR 5 YEARS!

You or perhaps someone in your family, a friend or colleague may want to lease a property to start a business. This place will be ideal for retail, office or clinic, medical or financial services, or consulting services. 

WE HAVE JUST BEEN ENTRUSTED TO MARKET THIS PROPERTY TO YOU-  2241 Dundas ST. W. In THE Roncesvalles AND DUNDAS AREA.

• Fantastic foot traffic- steps to Dundas West Station

  
  

Click here for more information:

GTA Home Sales Down 16%

This article is from TREB Watch. The item is also discussed in the Toronto Star which I also posted on Facebook. Homeowners should take note of this development to be guided on what your plans are for the year 2019- real estate wise.

TREB RELEASES RESALE MARKET FIGURES AS REPORTED BY GTA REALTORS® TORONTO, ONTARIO, January 4, 2019 – Toronto Real Estate Board President Garry Bhaura announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported a total of 77,426 residential transactions through TREB’s MLS® System in 2018.  This result represented a 16.1 per cent decline compared to 92,263 sales reported in 2017.  Total new listings entered into TREB’s MLS® System were down by 12.7 per cent over the same period to 155,823. 

The overall average selling price for 2018 transactions, at $787,300, was down by 4.3 per cent year-over-year for all home types combined across the TREB market area. 

Home prices were up very slightly in the City of Toronto and down in the surrounding GTA regions. This dichotomy reflects the fact that the condominium apartment segment, which accounted for a large proportion of sales in the City of Toronto, performed better from a pricing perspective than the detached market segment.  The average price for condominium apartment sales across the TREB market area was up by 7.8 per cent year-over-year.

 “Higher borrowing costs coupled with the new mortgage stress test certainly prompted some households to temporarily move to the sidelines to reassess their housing options.  With this said, it is important to note that market conditions were improved in the second half of the year, both from a sales and pricing standpoint,” said Garry Bhaura, TREB President. 

“After spiking in 2017, new listings receded markedly in 2018.  In many neighbourhoods, despite fewer sales from a historic perspective, some buyers still struggled to find a home meeting their needs.  The result was a resumption of a moderate year-over-year pace of home price growth in the second half of the year.  Price growth was strongest for less-expensive home types, as many home buyers sought more affordable home ownership options,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis and Service Channels.

On February 6, TREB will be releasing its fourth annual Market Year-in-Review and Outlook Report.  The report will feature the latest results from the Ipsos surveys of existing home owners and intending home buyers.  The surveys will cover off home buying intentions, impacts of recent government policy decisions, interesting information on investment property ownership, renovation spending and mortgage trends.  The report will also contain information on the new home and commercial real estate markets.  New research on mid-density housing by the Ryerson Centre for Urban Research and Land Development and a study on transit-supportive development by the Pembina Institute will also be presented. 

Buying Houses as a Retirement Vehicle

Excerpted from Toronto Star:
I came across this article from the internet about a woman who decided to buy houses as part of her retirement plan. She walks you thru with what she did using the concept of being a landlord and selling in 3 years which she calls RTO (rent to own). She even tells you what the ideal tenant should be. Her advice- "1. Trust everything will be OK. “There is always fear; it’s like jumping off a cliff and trusting that your parachute will open;” and 2. Have people you trust, including your real estate agent, financial planner and mortgage broker. Ask them “If this was your money, what would you do?”

A Mississauga woman’s retirement plan included buying homes. A lot of homes
Tracy Hanes Special to the Star

Nov. 16, 2018

When Lisa Nagy’s marriage ended in 2014, so did her secure financial future. Her adviser suggested she buy houses.

By 2017, Nagy owned six homes.

“In three years, I’ve lived through bounced cheques, four basement floods (one caused $40,000 damage) and interest rate hikes,” she says of the various stress factors. “But there is a long game here and it is my future.”

Her first purchase as a newly single woman in 2014 was a $460,000 house in Mississauga she bought as her own residence with cash from her divorce settlement.

Rising home prices put buying a second house in Mississauga out of range, so in 2015 Nagy looked to more-affordable real estate in St. Catharines. She attended a Rent to Own (RTO), and wanted to try the concept of being a landlord with the option to sell in three years. With RTO, tenants either make a non-refundable deposit towards the purchase of the house, or pay a higher rent with a portion going toward the purchase. 

Nagy found an older bungalow in St. Catharines and bought it for $270,222 in May, 2015, with five per cent down and a mortgage on the rest. (Investment properties now require a 20 per cent down payment.) She got 3,000 responses to her ads seeking a tenant and within eight days had rented the house to a woman who had gone through bankruptcy due to divorce and needed a place for her and her mother to live.

“The ideal RTO person is someone who maybe had a rough patch in their financial history and aren’t quite out of the rough yet, but in three years should be able to qualify for a mortgage,” says Nagy.

After consulting with her mortgage broker, Daniel Patton of Butler Mortgage in Toronto, she bought an $180,000 townhouse in Niagara Falls as an RTO, in September, 2015.

Both RTO tenants each gave her a non-refundable deposit of $5,000 to put toward the purchase of the houses at agreed-upon 2018 prices, based on 2015 Canadian Real Estate Association data that then projected a 4.5 per cent annual increase was reasonable for the Niagara area.

In 2016, Nagy bought a second St. Catharines bungalow for $319,000 putting the down payment on her line of credit and mortgaging the rest. This time, with her retirement finances in mind, she rented it to a long-term tenant while the property’s value climbed — similar houses in the area are now selling for $465,000. 

“I call this the ‘GO Train house,’ because once the train goes to St. Catharines, the price of this house will skyrocket,” Nagy says.

In 2017, she researched other Ontario markets and found Windsor offered potential, with a new bridge under construction, a large new hospital and proposed high-speed train. She bought two homes in Windsor in 2017 for $187,000 and $167,000. She used her line of credit for the down payments and took out mortgages.

“The Windsor houses rent for $1,400 and $1,276 each,” she says of the properties she describes as “my most profitable homes.

“My mortgage payment (for both houses) is $700 a month, so I have an $800 surplus a month (after property management and insurance costs) that pays off the line of credit,” she says.

In St. Catharines, Nagy is selling her first RTO home after the tenants didn’t qualify to buy it. “Between when I bought it and now, the price has gone through the roof.” 

Her second RTO tenant qualified for a mortgage and Nagy turns ownership over to them this month, realizing a profit of more than $55,000.

“I’m happily looking forward to selling my second and third houses (the RTO purchases in St. Catharines and Niagara). My financial planner says the money from those sales are my fun money and I should buy whatever I want, as the remaining three properties will fund my retirement.

“So, I’m putting in a pool at my own house next year ... and my daughter and I are going on a pretty fantastic trip.”

Nagy has two pieces of advice for others considering property investments: 1. Trust everything will be OK. “There is always fear; it’s like jumping off a cliff and trusting that your parachute will open;” and 2. Have people you trust, including your real estate agent, financial planner and mortgage broker. Ask them “If this was your money, what would you do?”

Nagy’s mortgage broker Daniel Patton says successful real estate investing starts with having a detailed meeting with a financial adviser to fully understand your finances and to get financing pre-approved. A banker or broker should explain about refinancing, lines of credit and the ins and outs of adding a mortgage.

“It is tougher to qualify for financing now, and you need to understand the differences between a banker and broker,” Patton explains.

Patton also notes that financial institutions have different views of rental income: one bank factors 50 per cent of rent as income when approving loans; other banks will look at 80 to 85 per cent.

Successfully owning multiple properties, Patton adds, is about having a passion for real estate and putting time into it. “If you work 40 hours a week at another job, you need people who are going to help manage your properties — but you are still doing to have to do your research. For any return, you have to put in some work.”