December 2011: Year Ends with More Sales

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

December marks the 7th consecutive monthly increase in existing-home sales. Compared to sales from December 2010, in 2011 there were 7% more sales according to the Greater Montréal Real Estate Board (GMREB).

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From all the areas that had increases; Vaudreuil-Soulanges (+39%), North Shore (+28%), Laval (+9%) and the South Shore (+2%). Only the Island of Montréal had a decrease in sales (-4%).

Sales increased for all property categories.

  • Single-family homes 8%
  • Condominiums 6% and
  • Plexes 3%.

In terms of prices…

  • Single-family homes had a decrease in median price (-1%) to reach $260,000.
  • The median price of condominiums increased by 2% to reach $222,000,
  • Median price of Plexes went up by 5%, reaching $405,950.

In a nutshell, The Island of Montreal had more listings and less sales in December 2011.

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Filed Under: Montreal Market Report Tagged With: , , ,

Taxe de bienvenue: Qui n’a pas à la payer?

January 30, 2012 By 1 Comment

Dans un article précédant nous avons mentionné que la était applicable sur tout transfert de titre de propriété d’immeuble. Toutefois, il existe certain cas d’exonération dont ceux-ci :

  • Achat d’un immeuble par un organisme public (gouvernem
  • Achat de fermes ou de boisés qui continueront d’être exploités
  • Transaction dont le prix de vente est inférieur à 5000$
  • Transfert d’immeuble à sa compagnie par un actionnaire détenant 90% des actions dans la compagnie ou vice-versa
  • Transfert d’immeuble entre parents ex. :
  1. En ligne direct, c’est-à-dire : fils, fille, mère, père
  2. Entre conjoints, c’est-à-dire : époux, conjoints unis civilement ou vivant ensemble depuis un certain temps (habituellement 12 mois)
  3. Entre beau-père ou belle-mère et gendre ou bru
  4. Entre beau-père ou belle-mère et beau-fils ou belle-fille

Lors d’une exonération, la municipalité peut percevoir un montant de 200$ (droit supplétif) ou de 0.5% du prix de vente ou de la valeur de l’immeuble si elle est moindre de 40 000$.

Pour plus d’informations sur les règlements se rattachant à la Taxe de bienvenue ou sur tout autre sujet en immobilier, vous pouvez me contacter directement : Sheila Iacono 514.823.8611.

Ecrit par Sheila Iacono. Courtier Immobilier.

Filed Under: Articles en Français, Premier Acheteur Tagged With: , ,

The difference between pre-qualification and pre-approval?

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Updated from our Mortgage and Financing Archives. Originally posted in March 2009
Mortgage Pre-Approval

Pre-qualification is the starting point in your search for mortgage financing. A quick snapshot is taken which includes income, existing debt, savings, length of employment, etc. All of these factors will then be analyzed to determine your loan eligibility.

Pre-approval is written documentation that shows you have the support of a lender who is willing to finance you. It means an underwriter has reviewed your loan application. Based on your income, debt ratio and savings, the underwriter provides the dollar amount you are eligible to borrow. Now you can shop around for houses that fit into that loan amount category.

Here is the nice thing about the pre-approval: It gives you the leverage to shop as a cash buyer!

  • With a pre-approval in hand, you now have the power to negotiate.
  • The seller will take your offer much more seriously knowing you are already approved by a lender.
  • Pre-approval can also shorten the time it takes to close, making even a lower bid attractive to sellers who are seeking to move quickly.

What will my monthly payments be?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate, First Time Buyer, Mortgage & Financing Tagged With: , ,

Q & A: How Many Buying Brokers Can You Hire?

January 19, 2012 By 3 Comments

This is the first freshly written post of 2012. I hope you all had a great new years!
Today we’re posting a video shot last month, and here we discuss how many agents/brokers you (the potential buyer) can employ when looking for a property.

A reader sent me the question on What’s the limit amount of agents a buyer can work with. My answer is: you can work with as many as you want, as long as you haven’t signed a buyer’s brokerage contract. Something you should know: we brokers share the same database (MLS), so chances are, if you’re working with multiple brokers, you will end up getting emails from all the brokers employed containing the same listings. [if you're giving all brokers the same search criteria]

The idea is to get fast results, right? Having to go through so many people to get the same results seems counterproductive. My suggestion: meet a few agents first, but work with the one (or two) that you like the most, the ones that gives you the best service/results. Keep in mind, however, that once you decide to make an offer in a place, you will have to commit to working with one broker, for that transaction.

Transparency is also encouraged. If you are already working with a broker, when approaching a new one, please be clear and let them know where you stand.

Further questions and comments? Feel free to send me an email.

More videos are now available at the Montreal Real Estate Blog

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate, First Time Buyer, Video Blog Tagged With: ,

Should your house be staged before you sell?

January 16, 2012 By 6 Comments

To Stage or Not to Stage – that is the question!
by Sveta Melchuk

Updated from the Home Staging archives. Originally published on Jun 18th 2007.

Staging a Home for sale will cost you money. Is it worth spending time and effort on it? After all, once the decision to sell has been made, you just want to get it over with as fast as possible, right?

First, did you determine the «right» price for your house? It should be based on certain objective criteria, such as the location of the property, sale price of comparable homes in your neighbourhood and today’s market conditions. But don’t forget the desirability factor…
While you can’t control some of the other criteria, you definitely have a say in the way your property looks, feels and is perceived by prospective buyers. Increase the visual/emotional value of your property and you will increase its desirability, therefore the price and the urgency to buy it from potential buyers. Why? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home Staging, Popular, Selling Real Estate Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Comparative Market Analysis: CMA

January 9, 2012 By 1 Comment

A comparative market analysis (CMA) is an evaluation tool used by real estate agent’s, based on local listing and sales data, to determine the probable sale price of a property in the current market.

Who can use this information?

Both sellers and buyers alike.
Home sellers can use a CMA to help determine a list price.
Buyers can use it to help them determine the offer price on a property they want to buy.

How accurate is this analysis?

Depending on the quality of the data; the listings used for comparison should ideally be located in the neighborhood, and they should be as similar as possible to the subject property.

Comparative elements:

  • Property Type (condo, two storey houses, split level,etc);
  • Numbers of rooms;
  • Size of the living area and/or building size;
  • Year built;
  • Garage or parking spaces;
  • Basement: finished, semi-finished or unfinished;
  • Other similar features such as: fireplaces, inground pool, air conditioning, etc.

To determine the probable sale price of a property, the CMA will use the recent sales from the last 6 months. If the current market is changing rapidly, six months may be too long a time frame, in this case, 3 to 4 month sales records will be used as a reference.

The CMA should also include information about currently available comparable listings, as well as information about properties that did not sell during their listing period. These are called expired listings.

For sellers, active listings would be your competition once your home is on the market. How you price your property relative to the competition is critical to your home-selling success.

Thinking of selling your home?  Contact us today for a free home evaluation!

Get more home selling tips: subscribe to the Montreal Real Estate Blog!

Filed Under: Selling Real Estate Tagged With: , , , ,

2011 almost gone. Happy New Year: 2012!

December 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

happyNewYear2012.jpg

It may strike you as an odd type of image, given the fact that it is quite white and cold outside. But the truth is, I will be in Barbados for two weeks as of January 1st . Don’t hate me for it.

So this is what the first day of 2012 will look like in a few hours. And I am so counting the minutes.

In review, 2011 was a year of many changes and challenges. And of many blessings as well. I had a great year as a debutant “mom”. Slowed my pace to enjoy the little things that really matters: Family life. Friendship and travel.

Earlier this year I took my (then) four month old little girl back to my homeland, got in touch with old friends from childhood in Venezuela, and here in Montreal, I reconnected with old friends from my college days.

Business wise: I came back this summers after taking a year off, to attend the new challenge of a new born. And now, work is slowing taking a bigger space in my schedule. I’m easing into it, though. No rush. Priorities have changed. The new word here is: Balance. Easier said than done, of course. But we try everyday :)

And so with the new year, I wish you all the most productive, balanced and life-fulfilling year ever. May you work hard and attain your goals. And most importantly: may you be happy while achieving them.

And while we’re on the topic of goals…
What are your top 3 goals for 2012? – leave me our comments below ;)

Warm wishes to all. And happy new year!

Filed Under: General Info Tagged With:

Video Blog, Episode Four: BANK Project in Old Montreal

December 22, 2011 By 2 Comments

This is something I have been looking forward to shooting since the summer time, when I was first told about the development!
I present to you a video tour of one of the hottest projects in Old Montreal at this moment.

BANK Condo Project offers us 43 units of high-end design, a graceful mix of the historic and the modern.
I had a small interview with Mickael Chaput, Real Estate Broker with McGill Immobilier and he gives us the insights of the projects architecture, features, sizes and prices.

Here is the video…

{Special thanks to Mickael Chaput for giving us the tour and to Patrice Groleaux for the video editing job. Merci!}

If you’re not able to view it from your inbox, here is the permalink.

More information on this project, visit McGill Immobilier website.

Filed Under: Hot Development, Old Montreal, Video Blog Tagged With: , ,

The Real Estate Procrastinator

December 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Updated from our “Buying Real Estate” Archives. Originally posted in December 2008

By Brian Madigan LL.B.

We all know the type: they look, look and look, but they never buy. For some strange reason, however, they keep on looking!

Five or ten years can easily pass, then they kick themselves for all the deals they have missed. Frequently, they can often recite all the features of a home including frontage, square footage, price and financing a decade later. Naturally, it’s now more than doubled in price. But, why didn’t they buy?

Oftentimes, the real estate procrastinator will have full market knowledge and just be apprehensive about actually doing the deal. There is always one more piece of information, one more item at the office, one more piece to the puzzle before they can say “yes”, let’s put in an Offer.

More frequently than not, these individuals will be highly-educated. They will require a great deal of information about a property before they can make a decision. But, why is this? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate

Would you like to rent your property for more money?

December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Posted by:  Sveta Melchuk. Founder of Home Staging Montreal

Professional staging/decorating for rental of a condo or an apartment is becoming more and more in demand. If you are looking for executive rental income for your unit, the property has to be presented accordingly.

Some of the apartments are quite new and others require some cosmetic renovations before decorating for rental. Some clients need help with managing the total project from beginning to end and taking care of things such as:

  • Make the list of what needs to be updated
  • Purchase all the materials, tiles, light fixtures, etc.
  • Provide renovation team to do the work
  • Provide cleaning team
  • Purchase all furniture
  • Purchase all accessories
  • Purchase linens, towels, even dishes if required
  • Decorate the apartment for rental

Decorating for rental involves some clever and creative thinking. We want it to look nice but we don’t want to spend a lot. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home Staging Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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