Heart Lake Community

I have a special place in my heart for the Heart Lake community. It was the first place in Brampton where I owned a house and I lived there for about 5 Years. It is located at Kennedy and Sandalwood in the North End of Brampton.

There is an array of different types of homes in the area from townhouses all the way up to Million dollar homes.  There is a plaza right in the middle of the community with almost everything one would need including a Grocery store, Beer Store, Banks and of course I cannot forget Tim Horton’s.  It is only a couple of minutes from the 410 so it is a very easy location to commute from.

It has a community centre (Loafers Lake ) and a Library as well as many parks and schools (both public and Catholic).  There is a Conservation area called Heart Lake Conservation Area, which offers over 8 Km of hiking trails, boats you can rent, picnic areas and a new splash pad for the kids.

There is a great mix of people and cultures and I have never had a bad neighbor, everyone is very friendly and you can feel the sense of community.

Currently in the Heart lake area there is 23 houses for sale ranging from $279,000 all the way up to $1.2 million. If this sounds like a place you would like to live I would be very happy to show you around.

http://www.thehillsofheadwaters.com/heartlake/mem-welcome.php

Average selling price up, number of listings down in February in GTA

 

There were 6266 transactions reported through the TorontoMLS System in February this year for the GTA. There was 14 % drop from last year.  Everyone should look on the bright side as this is still a 50% increase over the number of transactions reported in February 2009.  The average sales price for last month was $454,423 which was 5% higher than February 2010.

In Brampton there was 976 new properties listed and 562 sold during the month of February 2011. The average selling price in Brampton was $366,660 and the average number of days on the market in Brampton was 23 days.

We are just entering the first week of March now and the number of houses popping up on the market is growing considerably, it is going to be a very active spring market.  Which means it will be a great time to sell and buy a home.

If you have any Real Estate questions please contact me, I am always here to help!

Spring is Right around the Corner.

I have already seen the increase in the market. Houses in my area (Brampton and Mississauga) are popping up on the market quickly and then disappearing just as quick.

If you are thinking of buying a house this spring there is a couple of things that you can do before hand to help make the process run a little smoother.

Get yourself pre-approved for a mortgage.  If it is with your Bank or a mortgage broker this step will do a couple of things for you:

1.     Lock you into a Rate for your mortgage for up to 120 days.

2.     Tell you exactly how much you can afford

3.     By getting everything ready for the Mortgage agent beforehand will mean that you will have a lot less running around once you get your home. 

Narrow down the area you want to live in. If you are thinking of moving to a new area that you do not know much about, take a drive or walk around the area at different times of the week (at night or on the weekend) this will let you see what the people are like in the neighborhood at all times.

Compile a list of requirements. Break the list down into "must haves, preferred and wishes". We must have at least 3 bedrooms, but a 4th is preferred. A den or other bonus room is one of our wishes and so is having a laundry room on the second floor. This will make your job and your real estate agent's much easier.

Ensure you have the deposit ready. As you may or may not know you must have a deposit when you buy a home. This amount will be put towards the purchase price of the house and help in trust with the list brokerage until closing. If you have this ready and waiting it will be an easy trip to the bank to get the cheque once the offer has been accepted. Usually it is amount $5,000 for each deal.

Hire a buyers agent. A buyer’s agent is ethically required to do what is in your best interest in the real estate transaction. An experienced buyer’s agent is going to understand the market, and know how to whittle 1000 possible listings down to the five to ten that most meet your requirements. They will save you tons of time, tons of money, and tons of stress. This is where I come into play.

 

If you are looking to buy a home this spring or anytime. Please contact me and allow me to help you through the process.

My Networking Group Experience

My experience with networking groups all started a couple of years ago at a wedding, I was sitting across the table from someone that had said they were looking to move, as a real estate agent, this is when it is my job to offer my services. I got shot down very quickly because this couple will only use the Realtor in their networking group. This was completely new to me and I wanted to hear more.

I met with a man whose job it was to start and grow BNI groups.  Since every BNI group had a Realtor, my only option at this time was to start my own group.

After a couple of months of meeting we had grown our group to about 5 or 6 core people, who are still in the group today. After a year of trying to grow the group to the requirements required for BNI and not meeting them, we had to venture out on our own.  What many of us had found is after meeting with each other every single week for a year we had made great friendships and strong business relationships had also been formed.

Freedom Networking has now grown to about 20 official members and we are in the processes of forming an official not-for profit organization to support the goals of the group.  We have established rules and regulations for the group and in the next couple of months we will be having an official Freedom Networking launch party. This party is something that we have been aiming for, for quite a long time.

The basic rules for Freedom Networking are very similar to many other networking groups. 

1.       There will only be one person from every type of occupation allowed in the group,

2.       You must try to invite people to come each week

3.       And most importantly you want to try and bring referrals in to the group. 

We understand that this is a business meeting but we have a good time every week.  How else will you get people out of bed at 5:30am on Friday mornings?

I now have a trusting relationship with, a mortgage broker, Financial advisor, Personal/Business Coach, Accountant, Insurance agent, Painter, Home Inspector, Contractor, Home Staggers, Isagenix Professional , Video/Photography Guru, GTA Courier, Jewelry Maker, Personal Wardrobe Creator, Social Media/Networking coach, Sport Injury healer, a Web Developer and  a Promotional Products Creator.

This is so important to me because I have to trust the people that I am handing my clients off to for help in other areas that is not my specialty.

If you are looking to grow your business, I might suggest looking into finding a networking group. The business relationships formed in the group can last for years and the Friendships can last even longer.

If you want more information on Freedom Networking please contact me at suzannehanlon@royallepage.ca or if you would like more information on BNI you can contact Fred LeBlanc at talktoFred@rogers.com.

January Market Numbers

Below you will find a quick summary of some numbers for Brampton and then the entire GTA.

In Brampton during January there were 830 active properties, with 744 of them coming on the market during the month.  Out of all of these properties,  390 where sold with an average sale price of $342,750.00.  The Average numbers of market was 29 for the properties that sold.

The Sales in January all across the GTA were 13% lower than the Numbers for January 2010, but still remaining at a very stable 4,337 transactions. The average selling price Last month was over 4% with an increase of $427,037 from $409,058 in January 2010.

If you have any questions or would like numbers for any other specific area in the GTA please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Thank you TREB for the above numbers.

Moving with Kids can be Difficult

I have helped many families move with children and one of the parent’s greatest concerns is making sure the kids will fit in at the new house. Will they be ok with the move?

 

There is so many things that parents can do to help children with the change of moving.

Explain where and why you are moving.  Don’t wait to do this either. You want to give your kids time to get used to the idea. Try and be to the point and explain in words that they will understand.  For example “Dad has got a new job and we have to move closer to his new office.”

Always be positive about the move; if you are stressing out or dreading the move your children will sense this and the move will not be something they will look forward too. On the other hand if you are positive and excited about the move, you just might get your children to be as well.

Ask your children to make a list all of the questions that they have about the move. You want them to have a clear picture of what will happen.

Let them plan their new room. Draw out a floor plan; let them pick their paint colour, sheets, and decorations for their space.

Make sure you research the community and schools. Your kids will want to know about activities and schools in the area since that is where they will be spending a lot of their time and where they will be meeting new friends.  For older kids they will want to know about movies, shopping, jobs opportunities, local sports teams, etc…

Before you move, if possible take the kids to the new school so that the building does not seem so scary on the first day when they have to go alone. By doing this you will also allow your children to be a little more familiar with the area.

Make an address book with all of your children’s friends, make sure you get their addresses, phone and email addresses so that your child can keep in touch with their old friends.

One great way to say goodbye to everyone is to have a farewell party a couple of weeks before you leave, this will allow not only your children to say goodbye but it will give you the chance to say goodbye as well!

 

I hope these tips will help you in the future if you are ever moving with children and that you will look as happy as these people do during the move!!

 

What should I write about next?  Is there a Question you have about Real Estate that I can help answer?

New Regulations passed from Canadian Government

Today Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has tightened up the mortgage guidelines for all Canadians that will take effect on March 18, 2011.

The changes that he has made are as follows:

• Reducing the maximum amortization period from 35 years to 30 years for government backed  insured mortgages with loan-to-value ratio higher than 80 percent.
• Lowering the maximum amount Canadians can borrow in refinancing their mortgages from 90 percent to 85 per cent of their homes value.
• Withdrawing government backed insurance on lines of credit secured by homes, such as home equity lines of credit.

The reason for these new/tighter guidelines is to help Canadians tackle growing household debt.  They want to prevent Canadians from taking on excessive debt.

Some forecasters are predicting housing prices will dip a bit over the next 12 months because of the changes to the amortization lengths. Buyers who would have opted to spread the cost out over 35 years will be forced instead to borrow less in order to keep their payments reasonable.

It will be interesting to see how much these changes will affect the real estate market over the next year. Personally and professionally I hope it’s not too much but only time will tell. 

If you have any questions about these changes please give me a call. I am always here to help.