Female real estate agents in Brampton warned of suspicious person

A real estate agent in Brampton, Ont., is warning her colleagues about what she described as a "shady character acting as a buyer" who allegedly asked her for a late-night meeting and a ride in his car.

Anna Powell, a real estate agent for Re/Max Realty Services Inc. in Brampton, posted a warning on Facebook about her encounter with a man on March 11. "Need to send out ALERT to my fellow female REALTORS," she wrote in a post published on March 13.

Peel Regional Police said they received a complaint last weekend about a "suspicious person" and have "spoken to" the individual.

"It was found that there were no grounds for criminal charges," said Const. Rachel Gibbs, spokesperson for Peel police.

According to Powell, the man, who acted as a potential buyer, arrived at her office, requested that they take a drive in his car to the Caledon, Ont., area at night to look at property and followed her in his vehicle after she left the office. She managed to lose him in traffic, she said.

Awful things have happened in our industry that you have read about," Powell told CBC.

"I'm not a rookie. I'm not in a desperate situation. My fear was for that young female agent. If someone wanted to go to a remote location, an agent might agree because she might be seeing commission stardust. At least we have each other's backs."

After Powell posted her warning, the Brampton Real Estate Board sent out an alert to all staff, warning agents about the man. The board declined to speak publicly about the alert.

Powell met with the man — whom she described as East Asian with a husky build who is either in his late 30s or early 40s — at about 8 p.m. last Friday. He had told her he could only meet as late as possible and had recently sold property in Vancouver so he had cash to buy a house in Ontario.

Powell said that the man told her he was interested in buying property in the Caledon area. After looking at listings in her office, he suggested going there at 9 p.m. at night. She ended the meeting and, as she escorted him out, he took a quick look around the brokerage office and remarked that it was empty. She told him the cleaners were still there and escorted him out the door.

"He suggested that we take a drive in his car. At 9 p.m., that is a ridiculous request," she said. "I didn't know what his motive was. I can imagine."

When she left the office, she saw him in a van and the van followed her car. She said she deliberately lost him, driving across two lanes of traffic at one point, so he would not follow her home. 

"I didn't report this incident to anybody at first. I thought it just happened to me. But I heard that the following day, someone in my office had a similar incident."

'Safety first'

Re/Max, in an inter-office alert to staff, released the man's name and urged staff to call the brokerage if he tries to make contact.

Powell's posting has been shared more than 8,000 times.

"Please ladies, be careful, no deal is worth it. Safety first," she wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, police urge real estate agents to:

• Get identification and contact information from a client, including name, address and a copy of a driver's licence.
• Bring a co-worker along when viewing property.
• Let their office and another person know where they are or where they are going to be.
• Keep a cellphone handy when showing homes.
• Be aware of a home's exits in case they have to leave quickly.
• Trust their instincts.

"If someone doesn't feel right, remove yourself from that situation," Gibbs said.

 

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/real-estate-suspicious-1.3494306

How transportation impacts real estate prices

Being around public transportation wasn’t always a good choice when it came to real estate. After World War II, downtown living was frowned upon and people flocked towards the suburbs in order to find larger and greener land. As a result, real estate prices rose outside the city.

Fast forward to today and we’re seeing the opposite effect. People want to live in the downtown core and public transportation is at the forefront of political debate.

Billions of dollars are being spent on new subways and streetcars in cities like Toronto and Vancouver. Calgary and Ottawa are also beefing up its public transit service in response to a higher demand from residents.

In fact, every major city across Canada has plans to focus on public transportation. It’s a response to increased population demands, and on minimizing the cost of economic and environmental resources.

Increased housing prices are a result of higher demand. In terms of housing near public transportation, this demand has increased because people want the convenience of walking to a subway or streetcar. This is an advantage because there is no requirement to pay for parking.

The millennial generation (those under 30 years old) also prefers to live close to public transportation. This generation of the population has made a conscious decision to drive less and walk more, thus, making them more dependent on public transportation.

This is especially true in the rental market where many renters opt to live in housing that is walking distance to a subway or streetcar route.

Transit is vital for building communities. It’s an essential service that provides mobility, creates jobs and takes cars off the street. As a result, congestion is reduced, fostering economic growth in the economy.

In terms of real estate prices, property values that are located close to public transit increase at a higher rate and have been shown to be more resilient to economic downturns.

A study created by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) concluded that “property values with good access to public transit remained much closer to their pre-recession levels than properties without access, even within the same city.”

This can also be seen in the short-term rental market. Properties listed on AirBnB and VRBO yield a higher return when they are located close to public transportation and to the downtown core.

As cities across Canada become more developed, it will be more and more difficult to commute downtown via car. Thus, properties that are located closer to the downtown and have good access to public transportation will continue to see growth in real estate prices.

Source: http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/expert-advice/how-transportation-impacts-real-estate-prices-199523.aspx

How to sell a home leading up to the holidays

There is no controlling the time of year that a real estate investor might be required to divest of a property, but what about the busy period leading up to the holiday season?

Although listing a home too close to Christmas isn’t ideal in many cases, it can yield positive results if done properly.

One advantage of selling a property around the holidays is that there’s typically less competition. With fewer listings on the market at this time of year, you can take advantage of the more serious active buyers. It’s not uncommon that work schedules lighten up leading up to the holidays, which may allow active buyers to focus on house hunting.

The amount of active buyers will be somewhat dictated by the condition of the local market – for instance, a seller's market will typically see more buyer foot traffic at any point during the year when compared to a buyer or balanced market. With that said, many people simply stop looking for homes at this time of year, so an impactful marketing strategy is critical in order to generate interest.

The rules for staging a home leading up to the holidays change slightly as well. Prepare your property in such a way that buyers will feel warm and comfortable. Selectively decorate for the holidays, but do not go overboard as you want to appeal to all cultures.

If the home has a fireplace, be sure to have it lit for showings. Have the heat set to a comfortable 21 degrees or slightly higher on a really cold day. Ensuring your property shows well is of utmost importance during this time of year.

It goes without saying that pricing the home properly to reflect current market conditions will greatly contribute to the sale success. 

Source: http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/expert-advice/how-to-sell-a-home-leading-up-to-the-holidays-199224.aspx

How to protect yourself against provincial offences

The biggest worries for most landlords is a bounced rent cheque, an unexpected major repair or damage to the property caused by the tenant. However, all of these concerns pale in comparison to receiving a summons indicating that the landlord has been charged with provincial or criminal offences.

Although there are a variety of offences that a landlord could be charged with, the most likely to occur is a charge under the provincial fire code or related statute. Many landlords might assume that a fire code offence is not a serious concern, but the penalties can be steep.

In Ontario, for example, an individual can be charged up to $50,000 per count. If the owner is a corporation then the fines can be up to $100,000 against the corporation and $50,000 against individual officers and directors of the company per count.

Although rare, both individuals and officers and directors can be imprisoned for fire code offences. Compounding the severity of the penalties is the fact that, in most cases, multiple infractions are discovered at once. I have seen many cases where the landlord is looking at a cumulative fine of $500,000 or more.

So, what do landlords need to know to protect themselves against these types of charges?

1. How can I protect myself?

First and foremost, landlords should become familiar with what the law requires of them. This will depend on the type of unit they own. A legal rooming house, for example, will have different requirements than a one-bedroom condominium, which will in turn have different requirements than an apartment building. When the property is acquired the landlord should ensure that it is legally compliant.

Additionally, investors should be inspecting the parts of the property that can lead to charges whenever they are at the property for any reason, and at a minimum on a bi-annual basis. It only takes 30 seconds to make sure that hallway doors are properly latching, exits are clear of debris and smoke alarms are properly functioning. Failure to stay on top of the small things can lead to a massive fine which can erase years of profit from the landlord’s bank account.

2. Assume the property will at some point be subject to an inspection

Anything that might put the fire department in the vicinity of the property could lead to an inspection. If there is a fire, big or small, at your property you can safely assume that your property is going to be inspected afterwards. Although one could argue that the chance of a fire is rare, it is still a possibility and an event that is completely outside of the landlord’s control.

Additionally, a fire in the property is not a prerequisite to an inspection. For example, perhaps an accident occurs at the property and something catches the eye of EMS or the fire department while they are on site. A landlord has no way of protecting themselves from being inspected, so the best protection is to operate under the assumption that an inspection could occur at any time, because it can.

3. What to do If you get charged

Contact a lawyer as soon as possible. While this may sound obvious, many landlords will delay contacting counsel either because they are unsure of what to do or, worse yet, think that they can rectify the situation on their own.

Many offences are extremely difficult to defend given their nature. For example, there is almost no defence available for failing to have functioning smoke alarms in the property. In cases where there is no defence, the landlord will need to go into damage control as quickly as possible in order to mitigate the ultimate penalty that they will have to pay.

Most prosecutors (with whom you may ultimately try to arrange a plea) and adjudicators (who have the final say on the nature of the punishment) are looking to see that the problems have been rectified and in a timely fashion. Even though the offence has already been committed, time is of the essence and getting prompt legal advice is imperative.

In addition to rectifying the problems, prosecutors and adjudicators will want to see how diligent the landlord was in maintaining and inspecting the property. As stated above, regular inspections can be a life-saver for the investor. Even in cases where the tenant is directly responsible for the offence (for example, if they remove a smoke alarm, or improperly prop open stairwell doors) fault will still rest on the landlord’s shoulders unless they can demonstrate that the problems occurred even in the face of their diligent inspections and property management.

Most investors pay no mind to the thought of being charged with an offence until after the charges have been laid, by which time most of the damage has been done. While it is understandable to believe that it could never happen to you, the reality is that it certainly could. Given that the consequences are so severe, it is a risk that no prudent investor should take.

It's time for many Canadians to abandon the 20% down-payment rule

This one’s for the housing true believers out there.

You’re the buyers who keep pushing house prices higher in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Hamilton. Incomes are edging higher in these cities, prices are surging. If you’re primed to buy anyway, then listen up. Stop trying to save a 20-per-cent down payment and get into the market now.

A popular and sensible bit of financial advice is that you should ideally wait to buy a house until you have a down payment of at least 20 per cent and thus are excused from buying mortgage default insurance. But if it takes a few years to save that much, you may find that soaring prices more than offset the savings on mortgage insurance.

This insurance got a little more expensive in some cases this summer, so it’s time for a fresh look at the case for avoiding the cost of buying it.

Background for housing rookies: If you have a down payment of less than 20 per cent, you have to pay a hefty premium to insure your lender in case you default on your payments. The amount is usually added to your mortgage principal, which means it’s out of sight and out of mind. But it still costs you.

With a down payment of less than 10 per cent (5 per cent is the minimum), the cost of mortgage insurance rose in June to 3.6 per cent of the purchase price from 3.15 per cent. Larger down payments short of 20 per cent were unaffected and range from 2.4 per cent down to 1.8 per cent. You’ll pay provincial sales tax on those amounts in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. More importantly, you’ll incur extra interest charges by adding these amounts to your mortgage balance.

Let’s use the average resale house price in Canada to illustrate how much mortgage insurance adds to your costs when buying a first home. The average price in August was $433,367 – acalculator from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., a supplier of mortgage insurance, shows that a 10-per-cent down payment would trigger a mortgage insurance premium of $9,361. With that amount added to the mortgage, monthly payments on a five-year fixed mortgage at 2.59 per cent would be $1,807 per month.

With a 20-per-cent down payment, monthly costs on this mortgage fall to $1,569. Total interest over the five-year term of the mortgage falls to $41,390 from $47,681, a difference of $6,291. But would it really be worth postponing your purchase by three years to put 20 per cent down? With the market rising at 5 per cent annually (less than recent increases in Vancouver, Toronto and Hamilton), the chart that goes with this column shows you’d actually end up paying more per month.

Mortgage rates also have to figure into your thinking on whether to buy now or wait and save more. If we assume 4 per cent average annual price increases over three years and a rise in mortgage rates of one percentage point, you’d have to pay substantially more than if you bought now and paid for mortgage insurance (see chart).

If you live in a city with a slow real estate market, it pays to wait and save more. If you waited three years to double your down payment to 20 per cent on the average-priced house and prices rose 2 per cent annually, you’d come out ahead by more than $140 per month.

A June study issued by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals said the average house down payment for first-time buyers was $67,000. That represents a 21 per cent down payment on the average $318,000 spent by first-timers, and a 15.5-per-cent down payment on the overall average price of $433,367.

The CAAMP study found that 18 per cent of first-time buyers received gifts or loans from family. A thought for parents who want to help their kids get into the market: Try topping up their down payment to reach the 20 per cent threshold. Warning: Parents should avoid this type of financial help if they have to go into debt to provide it, or if it greases the way for their kids to buy a house they can’t properly afford to carry.

Down payments are one of the least strategized parts of home buying, and yet they can have a big impact on your total long-term cost of owning a house. The conventional wisdom about 20-per-cent down payments is right on the money, but not if you’re set on buying in a hot market. Either jump in now or resolve to wait and save indefinitely for sanity to return.

For a free evalaution of your home or to find out what we do to GET YOUR HOME SOLD, Call: 519-841-0559 or e-mail: roy@callcleeves.com

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/mortgages/some-housing-markets-too-hot-for-traditional-down-payment-wisdom/article26532772/?service=mobile

Six benefits to investing in real estate

The time and effort it takes to build up a real estate portfolio can test your will, but when you stick with it, the benefits are worthwhile.

1. The courage to walk away
The headaches of the corporate world: endless meetings, business travel, red tape, bureaucracy at its fullest, reorganization, hiring freezes, more cutbacks, the impact on your health.

Putting up with this for years and years isn’t always worth the upside and perks a job might offer. Even if you don’t like your job, having real estate investments to fall back on can give you the courage to walk away from it all, like I did.

I decided to walk away from that job and from higher-level positions that would have sucked up more of my time so that I could balance what’s important in my life. I think Frank (played by John Goodman) in The Gambler said it best (although with a few more curse words):

“... You get a house with a 25-year roof... you put the rest into the system at 3-5% to pay your taxes and that’s your base, get me? That’s your fortress of [f---king] solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of f--- you. Somebody wants you to do something, f--- you. Boss pisses you off, f--- you!”

2. The time to get healthy

You know that getting in shape and eating healthy is very important, but you constantly have other commitments in life that take up all your free time. You know that’s bad for your health in the long term. Even if your life isn’t stressful, you probably could benefit from more free time.

As you develop an income from real estate, it becomes easier to balance everything in life because it’s possible to be less reliant on a salary, and to be able to afford more time off. Examples include stepping back from your day job, building healthy habits, and placing health as a top priority. I decided to do all that, by taking extended time off to repair my 18-year-old shoulder injury and committing more time to dance and sports, rather than work.

3. The opportunity to take a sabbatical

Imagine a big dream vacation, one that takes you away for several months. It’s difficult, isn’t it, because you don’t have limited vacation time or the funds to pay for it? Having a real estate portfolio that pays you might be the push you need to take a break from work and go on a sabbatical. You might want to travel for an extended period of time, experience other cultures, and naturally wake up without an alarm clock, an agenda or a plan.

After enjoying a sabbatical where I was able to recharge, travel and spend more time with family, I decided to permanently leave my engineering career with the government.

4. Time to pursue interest-based work

Maybe you’ve wondered what it would be like to do something different, like going back to school, trying a new career or starting up your own business. It’s very liberating to know that you have options and you can choose work that balances with your values/beliefs, such as family and personal goals, rather than work that is driven by money.

I left engineering for good more than a year ago and decided to pursue interest-based work. My motto is to work as long as it is fun, rather than work because of the security, benefits or pension.

5. Early retirement

Dedicating time to building a nice nest egg in real estate can afford you extra time later in life. The best thing about early retirement is having more time to do what you want to do. You can afford a less structured life, such as waking up without an alarm clock and penciling in more fun activities, like volunteering or staying at home with the kids.

I haven’t gotten to this point (yet) but I’m actively working towards it. Life is too short to spend 40 years at your peak working so that you can ‘retire’ for the last 30 years.

6. The ability to pay for your kids’ education

If you are one of those people who hates volatility (as experienced in the stock markets) and likes steady returns and lower levels of risk, then investing a bit of capital to buy a property might be the easiest and most stable solution. It is almost impossible to get significant returns without taking a significant risk in paper assets. However, buying property works best when you have time to wait while a tenant pays down a mortgage.

For a free evalaution of your home or to find out what we do to GET YOUR HOME SOLD, Call: 519-841-0559 or e-mail: roy@callcleeves.com

Source:http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/expert-advice/six-benefits-to-investing-in-real-estate-196280.aspx

Seller Property Information Statements: What you need to know

While seller property information statements (SPIS) are not required by law, there are certain legal implications that investors and real estate agents should be aware of. Commercial lawyer Matt Maurer answers a range of questions about the statements

While seller property information statements (SPIS) are not required by law, there are certain legal implications that investors and real estate agents should be aware of. Commercial lawyer Matt Maurer answers a range of questions about the statements.


1. What is a seller property information statement?

A SPIS is a standard form document that was drafted by the Ontario Real Estate Association. It will contain information relating to defects, renovations and other pertinent property information based on the seller’s knowledge and experience.


2. Is completing a SPIS mandatory?

No. Sellers are not required by law to complete a SPIS. However, according to the Real Estate Council of Ontario, once a seller has completed a SPIS their broker or agent is required to tell all potential buyers of its existence. Additionally, if the buyer makes their offer conditional on a SPIS, then from a practical perspective the seller either has to complete one, or not sell to that particular buyer.


3. What are the legal implications?

SPIS have attracted significant judicial consideration in recent years.
The law in Ontario relating to SPIS was settled by the Court of Appeal in 2011. In short, where the seller completes a SPIS it is assumed that the seller intends that the SPIS will be disclosed to prospective buyers to use to inform their decisions respecting the purchase. This creates the relationship necessary in law to hold a seller legally responsible if the information contained in the SPIS is wrong, either through negligence (carelessness) or fraud (deliberately), notwithstanding the large disclaimer that appears at the beginning of the SPIS.
In a recent decision, the transaction was made conditional on a home inspection and financing (but not a SPIS). The agreement also contained a standard entire agreement clause. However, two days after the agreement was signed the buyer asked the seller to complete a SPIS and the seller obliged. The SPIS created an obligation on the seller not only to disclose existing information but also to notify the buyer of any changes to the information contained in the SPIS prior to the closing date.
The seller indicated on the SPIS that the house had not experienced any flooding. After the SPIS was delivered, but prior to the closing, there was flooding in the house. The seller failed to inform the buyer and the buyer ended up suing the seller after the closing when the buyer discovered the flooding issue. The court ruled in favour of the buyer and held that the SPIS and the obligation to make ongoing disclosure trumped the entire agreement clause found in the agreement itself.


4. What are the implications for agents?

Agents representing the seller are under an obligation to guide the client through the form and to provide specific warnings about the implications of completing a SPIS and the importance of ensuring that answers are complete and accurate. These warnings are to include the fact that by completing a SPIS the seller may be providing information to potential buyers that they are not legally otherwise required to provide.


In conclusion

Prudent buyers should, at the very minimum, ask the seller to complete a SPIS, and prudent vendors should avoid voluntarily completing a SPIS without the buyer specifically asking for one. If the buyer makes the request, the seller is under no obligation to do so. The seller’s decision as to whether or not to complete a SPIS at that point will likely depend on the condition of the house and the state of the local market.


For a free evalaution of your home or to find out what we do to GET YOUR HOME SOLD, Call: 519-841-0559 or e-mail: roy@callcleeves.com

Source:http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/expert-advice/seller-property-information-statements-what-you-need-to-know-195166.aspx