A Question We Are Often Asked As Mortgage Brokers By Clients & Realtors:    Why Do We Require So Many Documents?   We Actually Don't.    Why Does Then The Mortgage Lender Require So Many Documents?    They Actually Don't.    So Who then wants all these documents?    That would be OSFI --> The Office of The Superintendent Of Financial Institutions.    Their mandate is not to... [read more]

In the month of January, the City of Toronto received more than 200 calls from residents because their water wasn’t working. According to a release from the City, more than 90% of the water issues were due to frozen pipes on private property.  With another week of temperatures dropping well below -10 degrees Celsius, we want to share some tips to thaw and prevent frozen pipes in your home.  Let’s start with how to prevent frozen pipes because if you follow these... [read more]

The Toronto Real Estate Board released its quarterly rental market results, reporting tight conditions across the Greater Toronto Area as average rents remain unaffordable.  In the fourth quarter of 2018, the average rent for a one-bedroom condo apartment in the GTA was $2,143, which is a year-over-year increase of 8.8%. The average rent of a two-bedroom condo unit increased 5.5% to $2,774.  "The Greater Toronto Area has seen significant growth in its economy throughout... [read more]

The Toronto Real Estate Board released its resale housing market results for January 2019, and also provided a sneak peek of this year’s Market Year in Review and Outlook report. For now, we’re focusing on January’s sales figures because we want to take an in-depth look at the report to make sure we’re not missing anything important! You can expect our summary of the report very soon though. According to TREB, there were 4,009 sales in the Greater Toronto Area... [read more]

      Ontario to Help Increase Housing Supply, Attract Investment and Protect Jobs in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Proposed Changes to Growth Plan Posted for Public Comment     The Ontario government is helping to increase housing supply, attract investment and protect jobs in the Greater Golden Horseshoe by proposing changes to the region's Growth Plan. These changes would make it faster and... [read more]

  The Toronto Real Estate Board released its third quarter 2018 results for the Greater Toronto Area’s condo market, reporting tighter conditions. In the third quarter, there were 5,781 condo sales reported through the MLS system, which is 2% higher than the same quarter last year. It’s not surprising that 4,076 of these sales were in the City of Toronto. While sales increased, new listings fell 2.1%, which means supply dropped, leading to higher... [read more]

Toronto recently plummeted in a global ranking of housing markets. Is it a bad thing? Is it a sign of things to come? I think it might be a good thing. Having the hottest market sometimes means there are more people who can’t afford a home.   Real estate consultancy, Knight Frank, released its global index of housing markets around the world, and Toronto real estate fell to 137th out of 150 for the second quarter of the year. A year ago, Toronto was number one, the hottest... [read more]

In a Seller's market, Buyers often explore the idea of making a firm offer without conditions even if they have a house to sell. If you are thinking of buying before selling, a common consideration in a Sellers market when Sellers aren't likely to consider many, if any, conditions, you need to plan ahead in case your own home hasn't sold by closing. Buyers often explore options during a conditional period where there are contingencies on financing approval or prior to... [read more]

Selling your home doesn′t just mean hiring a REALTOR® to stick a sign out front. There are a lot of preparations you should make to ensure you get the best offer possible in the shortest time. Repair. Just because you’ve gotten used to the cracks in the walls and the rattles in the radiators doesn’t mean a buyer will too. If you have hardwood floors that need refinishing, be sure to get it done—hardwood is a huge selling point. Buyers like to snoop around, so be... [read more]

  As the events of the last few years in the real estate industry show, people forget about the tremendous financial responsibility of purchasing a home at their peril. Here are a few tips for dealing with the dollar signs so that you can take down that “for sale” sign on your new home. Get pre-approved. Sub-primes may be history, but you’ll probably still be shown homes you can’t actually afford. By getting pre-approved as a buyer, you can save yourself... [read more]