I don't know what has promted the insanity that is going on in our marketplace, but it is difficult to explain to buyers that the principal of supply and demand in our city is alive and flourishing. I showed a very mediocre home 4 days ago; the seller's agent was reviewing offers July 7 at 4 p.m. We had registered our offer on July 6 and at that time, there were two others. The property is in a desireable location, however needed approximately $50,000.00 worth of work, plus there were two (count 'em) separate apartments in the basement. Doesn't sound like dream home, does it? Anway, what ensued afterwards was pandemonium. There ended up being 7 offers, including ours and I had suggested to my purchaser he be with me in the event our offer was accepted and changes were necessary. My client got to see first hand the "game" of real estate. People going in and out of the home (in this case, in no particular order or organization), home inspection(s) going on....madness. Anyway, we decided to retract our offer and keep looking. It will be interesting to see the end result of this deal today.
I can only explain what is happening as follows:
1. We have and continue to have, record low interest rates. Call up your bank today and you can still secure a 5 year rate below 4%. Unbelievable. The variable rate continues to hold and we in the industry anticipate this will remain very low (right now 2.65%) until well into 2010.
2. There is a severe shortage of homes on the market. Go down any street...no signs!!! Come on people, help us out here. Isn't it time for a move? ;-D
3. There are tons, I mean tons, of first time buyers on the market. They all qualify for government incentives that give rebates on land transfer costs and closing costs. Very affordable!
Finally, we just live in a great city! Beautiful, clean (except for right now with the garbage thing going on) and for a big city, quite safe. On a whim this past weekend, we were at Ontario Place and decided to take a helipcopter ride which they offer there. It cost about 60$ a person and flies over the city centre and harbour. I can tell you, we live in a first class city-it was breathtaking. Try it one day. I'm not a good flyer, but I loved this experience.
Cheryl Bower
RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd.
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