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Finely detailed home in golfing country • 3 bath, 3 bdrm bungalow - MLS® #N1253834 $650,000 - Luxury hobby horse farm Tottenham, New Tecumseth - Luxury in the Country! This spectacular, renovated, bungalow seamlessly combines all of the modern
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• 3 bath, 4 bdrm 4-level split "Open concept" - MLS® #N1152523 $850,000 - Million dollar area Cherry, Aurora - Incredible views and ultimate privacy can be found at the end of this exclusive cul de sac. The home has large open rooms,
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In any real estate purchase or sale one might think that it would be obvious that every person involved needs to be informed about what the steps are and who is involved. This means that the REALTORS®, the lawyers, the lender(s) and the buyer and seller all need to know about each other. Well the lenders really only need to be known by the party they servicing and the lawyers but the agents would be interested in knowing so that they can provide any needed information.
However, everyone needs to clearly know who the lawyers are. In Ontario, Canada, we do not have escrow services per say but everyone, or at least those that know enough to want to avoid problems, uses a lawyer to handle the closing procedures on both purchases and sales of any property. So I find it odd to have another case where a seller or purchaser has changed their lawyer without telling anyone.
I received a call from my client's lawyer the other day to inform me that the lawyer, that we had all been told was working for the other party, was not working for the other party. Luckily the closing on this home is a month away still, but this is the type of situation where problems occur.
In this situation everything is working out fine. I must stress again though, whether you are my client or not, if there are any changes that you make to the team of players that you have on your side of the transaction make sure that the other side is kept up to date on who is involved. A quick call to your agent to tell them to inform the other agent, or parties, is all that is required and it will save you a lot of grief. Do not rely on your new lawyer to introduce themselves to the other lawyer because it seems that they do not call them until they need something. Which is often too late if there are issues that need to be cleared up.
Toronto is proposing it's own land transfer tax on all properties sold in Toronto. This is on top of the existing Land Transfer Tax that is levied by the Ontario government. Under the powers that were recently given to the City of Toronto, under the new City of Toronto Act, you could be required to pay an additional 0.5% of the purchase price in the form of a land transfer tax if you purchase a home in the boundaries of the City of Toronto.
This means that the average home (approx. $380,000 in Toronto for 2006) will cost an extra $1,900 that can not be put into the mortgage, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board. However, the average sale price for a home in February, in the central districts on the Toronto MLS® system, was $504,381 which would mean an extra tax of $2,521.91.
So how is this likely to effect your home's value? It could undermine the
Toronto real estate markets. If you are in the upper end of homes the effects may not be
initially visible, although it will make homes outside of the Toronto boundaries a lot more attractive. However, if your home is best suited for a first time home buyer then this will hit your bottom line.
A large number of first time home buyers are purchasing their home with only 5% down and a 95% mortgage. Even with this amount of leveraging they are often pressed to make the 5% and all of their closing costs. Some buyers are even getting 100% mortgages. If the buyer for your home (asking $300,000) has to take $1,500 out of their down payment to cover extra closing costs this will decrease their buying power by $30,000 (if $1,500 = 5% then 100% =$30,000). Since this will effect all homes and all buyers this is
likely to decrease the value of your home by 10%.
You will also see fewer home sales as people who are using the 100% mortgage programs will have to wait longer to save up their closing costs. This could see a trend to have the seller paying for the buyer's closing costs, like you see in the USA sometimes, however that may be seen as a form of mortgage fraud depending on how you interpret the payment.
This effect on lower cost housing may dramatically effect the second home and luxury home markets. As people may need to stay in their "first step" home longer in order to save up the equity to pay for the extra closing costs. Which could take a long time if their property value drops 10% due to the introduction of this transfer tax. This could lead to a higher percentage of 95% mortgages on second home which could cause the prices in those markets to also fall by as much as 10%.
The bottom line is that a simple
0.5% land transfer tax will undermine the affordability of homes in Toronto, which is already one of the highest priced cities in Canada. Property values will get undermined, along with affordability, causing your property to lose value, which will decrease the number of sales in the Toronto area.
Studies have shown that every resale home causes around $27,000 in spin off spending. This would be for anything from new appliances to renovations. All of which generates taxes as well as boosting the economy. If the number of home sales decreases because of a newly created tax then the Toronto economy will be effected as well as the taxes that are generated through those purchases.
So what can you do? Send an email to Mayor Miller,
here, to let him know that you do not approve of this tax. Also, contact your local councilors and let them know. You can find your councilor's contact information at the
City’s Councillors web page.
Richmond Hill home sales volume in February 2007 was very strong. According to the Toronto Real Estate Board, this past February was the second best February ever recorded in terms of sales volume on the Toronto MLS® system. There were a total of
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Home sales in Richmond Hill, Ontario, had strong sales volume and increases in average sale price. Over all of the Toronto Real Estate Board's MLS® system there were 5,173 sales recorded which is up 12.8% from Jan 2006, 4,587 homes sold, and represents
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The Toronto Real Estate Board has published the real estate sales statistics for December 2006. There was a little over 4,400 sales in December bringing the total number of sales for 2006, in the areas covered by the Toronto Real Estate Boards MLS®
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Living in a new subdivision, like I do in the Macleod's Landing, comes with many trials and tribulations along with the great homes. Today was no different as I found a screw in my rear tire. No harm done as Rob at the Oak Ridges Auto Pro repaired
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Completely renovated loaded with extras • 3 bath, 3 bdrm bungalow - $750,000 - Luxury hobby horse farm Rural New Tecumseth, New Tecumseth - Luxury in the Country! This spectacular, renovated, Bungalow seamlessly combines all of the modern luxuries
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Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, the winter solstice or any other holiday, it does not have to interfere with the sale of your home. This is the time when we celebrate numerous religious and secular events and as a result of many of
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Well it is that time again. The Toronto Real Estate Board has published it's Market Watch newsletter with the sales figures for the York Region and Toronto Areas. I will continue to provide a more in depth analysis of the statistics for the Richmond
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