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Ask me anything about Real Estate

Are Canadian allow to invest properties located in the State?

If I decided to go for mortgage for property investment, am I allow to get Canadian mortgage buying properties in the State?

As a Canadian, is it possible to get US mortgage investing in US housing market?
 
What are the steps to become a Real Estate agent? How long does it take, do I need a sponsoring firm? Can I do the job part-time, and does it make financial sense to get a license to sell 2-3 homes a year (i.e. for the family)?

Go to www.orea.ca to find out more information about becoming an agent. Is it worthwhile doing it?!?! I don't know what your circumstances are but I do know that there's an 70 to 80 % failure rate in the business within the first two years. Also, this business is not cheap and requires some substantial investment in dues and brokerage fees.

You don't need a firm to sponsor you to do the course but will need someone to work with if you want to practice real estate. We're currently hiring and can help you get trained and ready for the market if you're interested.

Call me and we can chat on how to become a real estate agent!

1-877-439-2339

Thanks,
 
Are Canadian allow to invest properties located in the State?

If I decided to go for mortgage for property investment, am I allow to get Canadian mortgage buying properties in the State?

As a Canadian, is it possible to get US mortgage investing in US housing market?

Canadians are allowed to invest in real estate properties down in the US and mortgages are offered by banks such as TD who have branches in the US and in Canada. I don't know what you mean getting Canadian Mortgage to buy in the US. You can use a bank that is in Canada to provide a mortgage in the US.... Talk to the bank you do business with right now and they can direct you better...

If you need a referral for an agent or mortgage broker in any US state, let me know and I'll set you up with someone worth while...

Cheers,
 
What's the average turn around time for a house in East York, time from being put up for sale and when it is actually sold. Woodbine and Danforth area to be more precise..
 
What's the average turn around time for a house in East York, time from being put up for sale and when it is actually sold. Woodbine and Danforth area to be more precise..

Depending on if you're north of Danforth or South would dictate which district you fall under and what type of property that you're inquiring about.

You can take a look on my blog for Market Update of August and check out Districts E01 if south of Danforth or E03 if you're property is located north of Danforth.

It also goes into detail and tell you want different types of properties are selling for.

Hope this helps...
 
Do you predict a long fall of housing prices in the GTA in the next little while??
 
Do you predict a long fall of housing prices in the GTA in the next little while??

I can't answer this question with conviction because I don't know.

Traditionally, there is no set time for a recession... It can be for a quarter or even years... I've been doing a lot of research and reading about this over the past couple of weeks and I'm expecting at the very least it will last till the US elections are done and how the newly elected government will handle the economic condition.

Canadians have always been conservative but they are still not above the turbulent market conditions. We've seen a 1% price drop in Toronto over the past month (August) and there is a possibility that the trend might continue. We (as Canadians) are also known to hold on to assets if we think we're going to loose money and ride the wave.

So... In a nut shell... The slower market will be around for at least 6 months. Consumers who need to sell, will sell... There's always activity in the market place... The change is how many buyers are buying.

I've stated before that my prediction was that the prices would drop to 98 or 99% of what the market value was from 2007 in 2008. Anything beyond is speculations at the moment.
 
Hi Addy,

2 things, #1. I didnt know you qualified for a rebate on the land transfer taxes on your first home.. I'm on my second home now and never claimed that.. I take it I'm F'd now tho eh?
#2. I currently own a condo townhouse, I wouldnt mind moving into a free hold or something bigger (detached).. I only bought a year ago but at the moment, house prices in my complex are going for 30g's more than what I paid and are selling in under a month.. I wouldnt mind getting out, but I would have to use that profit for a downpayment obviously. I guess my question is, when do you think I should try and sell and or if i should.. So far, I've seen 10 places go up in my complex these past 2 weeks! theres always usually one here and there but theres a mad rush to get out now..

thanks

dave
 
HeyAddy

hehehe get it~~

Anyway, I bought a condo a couple of years ago and I currently rent it out, and now I'm looking for new tenants for Nov 1 (PM me if anyone is interested :D)


How much would someone like yourself charge to find the right tenants? Or Am I better advertising on my own? If I'm better going on my own, any certain place that I should put a ad , like a rental maz??

thanks~
 
Hi Addy,

2 things, #1. I didnt know you qualified for a rebate on the land transfer taxes on your first home.. I'm on my second home now and never claimed that.. I take it I'm F'd now tho eh?
#2. I currently own a condo townhouse, I wouldnt mind moving into a free hold or something bigger (detached).. I only bought a year ago but at the moment, house prices in my complex are going for 30g's more than what I paid and are selling in under a month.. I wouldnt mind getting out, but I would have to use that profit for a downpayment obviously. I guess my question is, when do you think I should try and sell and or if i should.. So far, I've seen 10 places go up in my complex these past 2 weeks! theres always usually one here and there but theres a mad rush to get out now..

thanks

dave

Hi Dave,

First, the question about the land transfer rebate...

The rebate is a relatively new incentive which was only offered to first time buyer purchasing NEW properties and was extended to resale homes too. This happened in mid 2007. If you're purchase was before 2007, then you wouldn't have qualified for the rebate hence didn't miss out. Check with the lawyer that did your closing to confirm if you should've qualified for the rebate or not!

When is a good time to sell you're property.

Well, I always say it's always a good time to sell a property but I'm considered bias when making the statement. I'll try to explain why it's always a good time.

Since you already have a house to sell and a house to buy and the market is going downward, I could propose that you sell you're property first and ask for a longer closing. With the passage of time, the market would decline a bit more and help you purchase something at a better price. This is the best scenario. There could be other factors such as interest rate drop, local demand for the property and area you're buying into etc... that could push the market in a different direction.

The best outcome you should expect is that you would sell and buy in the same market conditions and would pay market value.

This would require a bit more detailed look at how much dollars we are talking about. I invite you to contact me and we can do a detailed analysis about how much you're house is worth, what monies you can use for your next place and what's the best place you can get into.

Hope this helps...

1-877-HEY-ADDY (439-2339)
 
HeyAddy

hehehe get it~~

Anyway, I bought a condo a couple of years ago and I currently rent it out, and now I'm looking for new tenants for Nov 1 (PM me if anyone is interested :D)


How much would someone like yourself charge to find the right tenants? Or Am I better advertising on my own? If I'm better going on my own, any certain place that I should put a ad , like a rental maz??

thanks~

T,

I love your condo... can you marry me so I can own half of it too..> :)

I would recommend going to craiglist or Kijiji to get the condo listed and rented on your own. It's a far cheaper alternative.

You can use the services of a REALTOR to do the same and it would cost you one month's rent. The REALTOR would be responsible for finding the best tenant for your place. Ask the REALTOR to do all the due diligence required to ensure the tenant will be able to pay and will not be a problem tenant.

Due Diligence could include:

Credit Check
Criminal Background Check
Reference Checks
Detailed Application of employment history and rental
Any other information that you deem necessary.

I hope this helps... If you have any questions, you got my cell... Call me and I'll be more than happy to sit down with you and talk it over... :)

Cheers...
 
Another point worth noting...

Anyone thinking about renting out their residential property should review the following website and get yourself very familiar with what it means to you!

www.ltb.gov.on.ca

If you need any help or have any questions, please feel free to post them here or call/PM/email me about them...
 
Addy,

You are a good person. This thread is very helpful..

Angus.
 
T,

I love your condo... can you marry me so I can own half of it too..> :)

I would recommend going to craiglist or Kijiji to get the condo listed and rented on your own. It's a far cheaper alternative.

You can use the services of a REALTOR to do the same and it would cost you one month's rent. The REALTOR would be responsible for finding the best tenant for your place. Ask the REALTOR to do all the due diligence required to ensure the tenant will be able to pay and will not be a problem tenant.

Due Diligence could include:

Credit Check
Criminal Background Check
Reference Checks
Detailed Application of employment history and rental
Any other information that you deem necessary.

I hope this helps... If you have any questions, you got my cell... Call me and I'll be more than happy to sit down with you and talk it over... :)

Cheers...


Thanks for your advice Addy, Craigslist is pretty much what I've been trying...hopefully I'll find someone good.

As for marrying you, i'll have to think about it~~~thinking~~thinking

Ya NO!!!
 
List/sell with a long closing date........very interesting. :idea1:

The market direction is never a sure bet so best not to use this as the main motive to sell a place.

If one is looking to sell, sell because you want to upgrade/downgrade/change... Have strong enough reasons to go through it.

It's always nice to have strategic options when selling or buying a place!
 
I had made a post about this today and thought I'd share it with you too...

When is a good time to buy in a down market?

I get the question alot, "When's a good time to buy real estate?" and frankly, my answer always is whenever you're ready! This answer is usually met with a smirk which reads more like, "I was expecting you to say that since you make a living through purchase and sale!"

There is no way anyone can predict when the market has hit rock bottom. We see this evident from the news when the anchor comes on and says that the market is starting to rebound back and two days later we hit another low. Instead of paying so much attention to trying to time the market, best is to look at what variables you can control when purchasing a property. Let's take a moment and review some of the variables.

Purchase/Sale Price Justification

Let's say you're a seller who is looking to move from their current home which is worth $200,000 but because of the market turn is going to sell for 180,000 which is a 10% drop. So instead of receiving $200,000 you received $180,000 minus closing costs and commissions. The $20,000 looks like a big loss but when you put it in perspective of your purchase, it looks like a better bet.

If you were purchasing a property that was within the same demographic/geographic location, the market conditions would prevail there too. It might prevail at a greater extent if it's listed at a higher price point since slower markets usually hit higher price points much harder. Let's use an example of purchase price $300,000. You had experienced a drop of 10% which would result in this property selling for $270,000 which means that you were able to save $30,000.

Now comparing this to $20,000 you lost in your own sale, you're actually $10,000 ahead of it!

Now add a declining market into the equation, you could sell with a long closing, move into a rental unit for a short term lease and might even expand the margin you were expecting as your real gain ($10,000) to even more.

Cost of borrowing

As real estate prices start dropping, we usually see an increase in the interest rates. We recently saw the central bank drop interest rates by 0.50% but the banks came in and increased their interest rates basically eliminating the discounts that were being offered off prime.

On good credit, banks such as TD were offering their customers 0.6% discount off prime which was at 4.75%. So customers were getting an interest rate of 4.15%. The central banks dropped their interest rates and TD was the first to announce that it will be eliminating the interest rate discount instead adding a premium to it.

The prime rate currently being offered is 4.5% with a premium of +1% attached. So the best rate one can get in the current market is 5.5%.

What does this mean? Every 0.5% change in interest rate results in about $25,000 in affordability of mortgage. How can this be? Let's do the math based on the following purchase prices and interest rates:

* $400,000 of purchase price, at 4.00% interest, Monthly payment of $2,199
* $375,000 of purchase price, at 4.50% interest, Monthly payment of $2,152
* $350,000 of purchase price, at 5.00% interest, Monthly payment of $2,095
* $325,000 of purchase price, at 5.50% interest, Monthly payment of $2,028
* $300,000 of purchase price, at 6.00% interest, Monthly payment of $1,951

These numbers are based upon purchasing the property with 20% down payment and amortization of 30 years. As you can see, the monthly payment is virtually the same but the difference between purchasing a property at 4% interest rate versus at 6% is $100,000 and difference of $250 per month.

All in all, it's up to you as a buyer which option you would like to practice when purchasing a property. Should you sell your property now or should you wait? Should you buy now or wait?

The answer can only come from you!

If you'd like some assistance in review what your specifics are, please feel free to contact me directly.

The contributing factor,

Addy Saeed
Real Estate Sales Representative
Re/max Active Realty Inc., Brokerage
Website: www.HeyAddy.com
 

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