I happened across this video today and I thought it was worth re-posting here. Its a report done by CBC in Ottawa about mold in the home. In my experience, it’s not unusual to find traces of mold in resale homes. As the video suggests, some of them are toxic while others pose far less [...]
MacLean’s recently ran a story titled, “In a cooling housing market should you wait to buy and hurry up and sell?” They sought the advice of a few prominent agents who provided interesting feedback. Check it out here.
Allow me to draw your attention to Les MacPherson’s column, in today’s Star Phoenix titled, “Buyer beware when it comes to home purchase.” The Buyers bought the condo and took possession in June of last year. In spite of a musty smell in the basement when they were shown the property, they did not have [...]
Rough transcript. Condos purchases have increased substantially in recent years as the cost of housing has moved higher. Just ten years ago, condo sales accounted for roughly 16 percent of Saskatoon’s MLS® housing market. This year, condominiums account for roughly 27% of all residential resale activity on the Saskatoon multiple listing service®. According to the [...]
From the Star Phoenix website today: “The Saskatchewan Party says a new tax credit for first-time homebuyers would make home ownership a little more affordable. On the campaign trail in Regina on Thursday, Premier Brad Wall pledged to introduce a non-refundable income tax credit to all first-time homebuyers that would result in an income tax [...]
I had a phone call today from a client who is looking to purchase a house in Saskatoon. Previous to my discussion with him, he had phoned his mortgage broker to ask how much he should have saved up for lawyer costs in terms of closing his transaction. The banker had told him 1.5% was [...]
In a news release yesterday, BMO states that nearly seventy percent of Canadians are “open to the idea of shorter amortizations.” The big bank is encouraging borrowers to consider the shorter, more traditional amortization period by offering low mortgage rate of just 3.54% on their five-year fixed, currently their lowest fixed rate option. The BMO [...]
Following my initial blog entry in October discussing the basics as to why it typically takes a few business days following possession date for a seller to receive their sale proceeds, I thought at this point it would be prudent to now calm all of those current and prospective sellers who read my post and [...]
I’m a bit disturbed by the increasing occurrences of verbal negotiations in the real estate business in Saskatoon. Verbal proposals are most often brought forward at the counter offer stage with comments like, “We really don’t want to waste your time, so would you speak with your client and find out if X is acceptable [...]
The Multiple Listing Service® is a system that real estate brokerages use to share information with each other about properties that are for sale. It provides us with opportunities to quickly share details about our listings with all local agents who participate and it also provides us with a large inventory of homes that we [...]
One of the most exciting on-going developments in technology has to be mapping. Today, maps are moving to new levels that go far beyond simple directions and street views. Data that is location specific and appropriately tagged with geo-coordinates is flowing onto the web at a rapid pace finding its way onto maps, and changing [...]