Condo Buying : Brushing up on the Basics

Information provided by Kathleen Waters, vice-president, TitlePLUS

No matter if you're a seasoned homebuyer or a first-timer, you need to know about the many unique aspects of purchasing a condominium before you buy one. A good first step is to familiarize yourself with some condo basics, as outlined in this article. Then, before you buy, talk to your real estate lawyer who will not only be able to answer your questions but may also raise some specific issues you?ll want to discuss with the seller (or developer) before you ink the deal.

What is a condominium? A condominium is a residential structure in which the living space called the ?unit? (e.g., apartments or townhouses) is individually owned as a piece of real estate while the land and common elements (e.g., elevators, hallways and/or sidewalks) are jointly owned by all of the unit owners.

A condominium unit could be a suite in a high-rise tower, a townhouse or even a detached house. Each unit is given a legal description based on the space that it occupies.

Storage lockers and parking spaces may also be created as units within the condominium or they can comprise part of the common elements designated for the exclusive use of a specific dwelling unit.

The condominium corporation operates the condominium and the land. The unit owners elect a board of directors to oversee the running of the condominium corporation, including financial decisions. The board may contract out the day-to-day workings of the condominium (e.g., paying of utility bills for the common elements, cleaning the common elements, snow removal, etc.) to a property manager or property management company, or may run the day-to-day workings of the condominium itself.

What kind of condominium do I want to purchase? Types of condominiums in Ontario include:

Common elements condominiums: In a common elements condominium, you own the freehold land and the building(s) on the land. There are no specific units. You also own a percentage interest in the common elements. For example, homes could be freehold but roads and facilities, such as a recreational centre, could be common elements.

Phased condominiums: In a phased condominium development, different parts (e.g. new units or new recreational facilities) of a single condominium can be built in phases. As each phase is constructed, it is added into the already existing condominium corporation.

Vacant land condominiums: In a vacant land condominium, you purchase the land as a unit in the condominium. Then, you may decide what type of structure, if any, will be built on the land, subject to restrictions in the condominium's Declaration.

Leasehold condominiums: In leasehold condominiums, you own a unit and a share of the common elements, subject to the ground lease of the property on which the units and common elements are constructed. The initial term of the lease must be between 40-99 years, and the owner of the leasehold unit can sell, mortgage or lease the unit without the consent of the landlord.
Standard condominiums: Standard condominiums are those that aren't defined as the other types of condominiums (i.e., common elements condominium, phased condominium, vacant land condominium or leasehold condominium).


Fabienne Malenfant
http://agentsbysector.com

A conversation with a home staging specialist :Yves Doyle, affiliated real estate agent from la Capitale du Mont-Royal

Yves Doyle, affiliated real estate agent from la Capitale du Mont-Royal*
The small world of real estate
Volume 2, Issue 5 – May 2010
A conversation with a home staging specialist
We have the pleasure, this month, of interviewing Lucie Desrochers, who specialises in home staging and interior decorating. Lucie works regularly with Yves on home staging projects.
The small world of real estate: How did you become a specialist in home staging and interior decorating?
Lucie Desrochers: I’ve been dreaming of home decorating since I was young… As life is made of a succession of detours, it’s only now, after having spent 16 years as a real estate agent that I’ve finally made the switch. I studied interior decorating at the end of the 90s, beginning of 2000, and I’ve always had a good eye for it. Home staging is a natural evolution for me.
TSWRE: What more do you bring your clients when they consult you for a home staging project?
LD: The keen eye of a specialist who knows exactly how to set furniture and objects, where to hang pictures, how to free up some space as well as what to keep and what to get rid of.
TSWRE: Do you work mostly with real estate agents or is your clientele more diversified?
LD: My home staging projects are almost always done in collaboration with agents who send me their clients when an intervention is deemed necessary to improve the odds of selling the property rapidly and at the best price. I also have a home decorating clientele who consult me because they’ve seen my website or because I was recommended by a former client.
TSWRE: What aspects of your profession do you particularly enjoy?
LD: The home staging projects are my favourite ones for the short term results that they bring but mostly for the challenge of transforming an ordinary space into something a lot nicer with what is available in the house. It’s often a huge challenge but it always turns out great. It’s like magic!

Here is an example of Lucie’s work. These pictures from her website (www.luciedesrochers.com) were taken during a home staging project in a condo on Parc Lafontaine:










See next month’s newsletter for the conclusion of the interview...

*La Capitale du Mont-Royal CHARTERED REAL ESTATE BROKER
1152, ave du Mont-Royal est Montréal (Québec) H2J 1X8
Office: 514-597-2121 Fax: 514-597-0712 Cell: 514-812-7582
ydoyle@lacapitalevendu.com www.yvesdoyle.com
© 2010 Anne Marie Joly — conception and translation — amjoly@aei.ca
© 2009 Lucie Desrochers — photos www.luciedesrochers.com

Yves Doyle, affiliated real estate agent from La Capitale du Mont-Royal

The small world of real estate
Volume 2, Issue 4 April 2010

Internet and real estate: friends or foes?
How many real estate websites are there in Canada? No less than 400! According to an article on canoe.ca, 85% of people use the Internet to buy or sell their house. The social networking sites have also begun to transform the picture. Indeed there have been cases of people selling their property in just a few days after having sent a message to their Facebook and Twitter contacts. What exactly is the role of the Internet in the resell business? According to Yves, who has been following the trend over the last 10 years and who quickly realized that a website can make all the difference in the world, the Internet is a definite must. That said, one must not think that “tweets” will erase real estate agents from the map. Of course, it is possible to get a quick sell — without the help of an agent but with the contribution of real estate websites — for one’s lovely-two-bedroom-condo-on-the-Plateau-at-the-market-price. But will it really be the best price the owner could have gotten? We will never know because the property was not shown on the actual market. When the situation is a tad more complex, such as an undivided apartment, a plex located out of the mainstream or a property sold without legal warranty of quality, the owner will have to contact a real estate professional if he really intends to sell his property within a reasonable time frame. Yes, the future of real estate transactions depends on the Internet and the use of social networking sites but no, real estate agents are not on the endangered species list…!

Yves’s website in numbers
According to Google Analytics data for www.yvesdoyle.com from February 5 to March 7, 2010, there were 890 visits (including 668 absolute unique visitors). There was a traffic peak on February 8 and March 1st, when the monthly newsletter was put online. Visitors came from 5 countries, as follows: Canada (872), France (8), United States (6), Australia (3) and Haiti (1). On average, each visitor looked at 4.75 pages/visit and spent 2,36 minutes on the site. Finally, 65.51% of traffic was made up of new visitors. Keep reading and we’ll give you more stats at the end of 2010.


2009 Performance Gala
Just a few words to underline Yves’s fine performance as a solo real estate agent (remember he worked only part of 2009 as a solo agent): he was ranked 64th of the top 100 solo real estate agents of La Capitale in the province of Québec!


La Capitale du Mont-Royal
CHARTERED REAL ESTATE BROKER
1152, ave du Mont-Royal est
Montréal (Québec)
H2J 1X8


Office: 514-597-2121
Fax: 514-597-0712
Cell: 514-812-7582
ydoyle@lacapitalevendu.com
www.yvesdoyle.com

© 2010 Anne Marie Joly — Copy Writing and Page Setting

Fabienne Malenfant
Relationist
Agents by Sector

http://agentsbysector.com

National sale increase for Canadian Homes

Due to continuing affordability, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is calling for a national sales increase of more than 13 per cent this year compared to 2009.

It predicts about 527,300 resale homes will likely change hands this year -- a total that would surpass the existing 2007 record by 1.2 per cent.

Canada's economic health is improving at a faster pace that predicted, says deputy chief economist Doug Porter of BMO Capital Markets. "We're heading back to pre-recession levels on a number of indicators quite a bit faster than I think most people believed possible, despite concerns over how this would be a lacklustre recovery," he says.

Gross domestic product (GDP) was originally expected to grow by 3.7 per cent in the first three months of this year, an estimate Porter says could now be low.

Productivity is up 1.4 per cent and manufacturing sales are up 2.4 per cent.

"These figures suggest there's upside risk to that forecast and we could ultimately see something like we saw in the fourth quarter, when the economy barrelled ahead at a five-per-cent annual pace," say Porter.

In tandem with a resurging economy, consumers are taking advantage of low interest rates to get into home ownership, says CREA. Those low rates are expected to boost housing demand in the first half of this year, but will decline for the final six months because of expected hikes in mortgage rates as early as June.

The decline is expected to spill over into 2011, when sales could fall by just over seven per cent, says the association.

"Although interest rates are expected to rise, they will still be low enough to keep affordability within reach for many homebuyers," says CREA president Dale Ripplinger.

Indications are that rates will climb between 25 and 75 basis points (one per cent equals 100 basis points).

But Porter says "risks are growing" that the Bank of Canada will do more than hike by 25 basis points at each of its four meetings in the second half of this year.

Gregory Klump, CREA's chief economist, sees marginal increases.

"Fiscal restraint, a strong Canadian dollar and a subdued inflation outlook point to marginal interest rate increases over the next couple of years -- especially if the U. S, economic recovery proves to be weak and protracted," he says.

With sales activity pointing up in Canada, average prices will follow.

CREA numbers show a predicted 5.4-per-cent increase to the national average selling price to a record $337,500. In 2011, the price will likely slip back 1.5 per cent, again shadowing a decline in sales.

Thank you to Marty Hope for this article

http://agentsbysector.com

Housing market heats up

Royal LePage Q1 Survey: Real estate firm cites 'low borrowing costs, improving consumer confidence'

Although it experienced uneven growth nationwide, the Canadian housing market was generally buoyed by strong consumer demand in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Royal LePage House Price Survey released yesterday.

"The first quarter of 2010 continued where 2009 left off, with more Canadians enthusiastically participating in a rejuvenated residential real estate market," Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services, said in a release. "One of the earliest sectors of the economy to return to growth after the difficult recessionary period, the housing sector has been a prime beneficiary of low borrowing costs and improving consumer confidence."

House prices were up across all key housing types surveyed by Royal LePage, with the average price of a detached bungalow in Canada rising 11 per cent to $329,209 in the first quarter, compared with the first quarter a year earlier. Standard two-storey homes rose 10.3 per cent, to $365,141, and standard condos were up 10.9 per cent, to $228,963.

The survey, which looks at 250 neighbourhoods coast to coast, found three different trends across the country.

The first pattern, seen in urban centres like Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, was a roller-coaster effect in which prices dropped sharply, then rose dramatically to levels that exceed pre-recessionary prices. The second trend saw non-stop growth in markets like Halifax, Ottawa, Regina, Saint John, St. John's and Winnipeg. The third pattern saw level markets, where house prices have remained relatively unchanged in centres like Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Moncton.

The report notes, however, that price increases in all markets are expected to ease in mid- to late-2010.

"Even in our most frenzied pockets of market activity, the inevitable rise in interest rates coupled with home price appreciation will rein in demand as affordability erodes," Soper said.

"Expect house prices to continue to rise, but the rate of appreciation should ebb steadily, month by month, throughout the remainder of the year, as balance returns to the industry."

Thank you to the :

Financial Post

Does CREA rules on MLS ?

The Commissioner of Competition recently made an application to the Competition Tribunal claiming that the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) uses control of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to impose exclusionary restrictions on the use of MLS.

The commissioner claims CREA rules on MLS lessen or prevent competition and deny consumers the benefits of competition in the Canadian residential real estate services market. CREA maintains it has adopted the MLS rule changes proposed by the commissioner. However, the commissioner remains unsatisfied with CREA's changes. It has sought redress from the tribunal.

The commissioner's challenge hardly matters. Powerful external change drivers are already at work altering the way real estate agents conduct business. These external change drivers are a more disruptive force for change than the heavy hand of government.

Canada's residential real estate industry structure is riveted around MLS. Until recently, CREA rules permitted only agents to place an MLS listing and required that the agent handle all phases of a sale. This included setting a list price for the property, preparing a written description of the home and uploading it to the MLS system, marketing the property, handling buyer inquiries, arranging showings and managing the transaction.

These rules limited the industry to one business model, restricting competition and service innovation. For example, the rules prevented flat fee and "à la carte" service. The MLS rule change adopted by CREA is a good first step that opens the way for service innovation, greater competition and consumer choice. It is only the beginning of more significant change to come to the sector.

Technology, demographics, globalization and social and economic change drivers will have a more profound impact on the sector than enforcement of Canada's competition laws. These change drivers, which will create opportunity for entrepreneurial organizations to innovate, will refocus the industry on the customer rather than on inward preservation of the status quo.

Consumers of residential real estate services have benefited only in a limited way from technology innovation. CREA began to convert MLS from a paper to an electronic system in 1995. While the world is swimming in a sea of technological innovation, the information available for public access on MLS is extremely limited.

For example, MLS does not provide access to listings for homes that have been sold and their closing price, agent fee information and the pricing history of a home. By contrast, U.S. purchasers of residential real estate services have an abundance of information found on real estate sites such as Zillow.com and Trulia.com, which give consumers enormous market power. These sites are effective competitors to Realtor.com, a National Association of Realtors site.

Canadian consumers of real estate services have limited buying and selling information to place downward pressure on house prices and agent fees. It is just a matter of time until an entrepreneurial, innovative, technologically smart organization seizes the opportunity and challenges CREA's lock on the residential real estate market.

Globalization is a significant change driver for most sectors of the economy. Many countries, particularly the United States, are experiencing significant stress in their residential real estate market. The healthy Canadian real estate sector is attractive to foreign organizations. These organizations seeking competitive advantage and differentiation will circumvent CREA rules and focus on the consumer's need for a superior value proposition.

Demographics will affect the long-term health of the residential real estate market. Declining fertility, increased life expectancy and an aging population will change the structure of Canada's population. A house will return to being a place to live rather than a get-rich-quick investment scheme. House prices will decline in the suburbs. Prices in the inner core of cities such as Toronto will stabilize. Demand for large homes will drop significantly.

By 2015, the residential real estate sector will decline as Boomers retire and downsize. This will be somewhat offset by a demand for country homes. New family formation will decline, resulting in reduced demand for new housing. In sum, demographics will negatively affect the residential real estate brokerage sector. The forecast is for a slow decline that will place pressure on the realtor's value proposition, push for service innovation, and place downward pressure on agent fees.

The Commissioner of Competition's task is to ensure that competitive forces determine market outcomes. This objective is often achieved through government intervention. However, intrusion in the market place is a quick fix that fails to have lasting effects and it requires long-term monitoring to ensure compliance. Companies soon learn how to game the system. Eventually the government watchdog is indiscernible from the "regulated" company.

Evolving market demographics, technology, globalization and social change drivers are significantly more effective and more powerful in bringing about change than is government intervention. Change creates opportunity for innovative entrepreneurial organizations. It refocuses organizations away from internal concerns to external consumer needs. Entrepreneurial organizations will cause creative destruction in the sector, bringing innovative services and the benefits of competition to consumers, and greater competitive rivalry to the sector.

In the long term, the commissioner's challenge will not matter.

ehoey@hoeyassociates.com

Eamon Hoey is managing partner of Toronto-based Hoey Associates Management Consultants.

http://agentsparsecteur.com

Hausse des taux d'intérêt: l'échéance se rapproche | Rudy Le Cours | Canada

Hausse des taux d'intérêt: l'échéance se rapproche Rudy Le Cours Canada