Planning to buy the home of your dreams in south York Region?

Our exclusive Richmond Hill Real Estate MLS Listings Search is a Decision Engine around Toronto MLS - the most reliable source of local real estate information. It is designed to help home buyers overcome information overload and make faster, more informed decisions when searching for houses & condos in the York Region online. This intelligent MLS Listings Search will enable you not only to look for properties in Richmond Hill, but also to:

• Gather valuable neighbourhood & school information
• Compare home prices and features
• Reposition the map to see property search matches in the surrounding GTA areas: North York, Thornhill, Markham, Vaughan and Aurora.

Check out Hundreds of our Listings

According to many of Canada’s top economists, higher interest rates – and debt servicing costs – may be just around the corner. Exactly when rates will rise is unclear and depends on who you talk to.

In its latest Financial System Review, The Bank of Canada judges that vulnerability of Canadian households to adverse wealth and income shocks has grown in recent years. “At present, Canadian household finances appear quite healthy,” Governor Mark Carney says, but it is the responsibility of households now to ensure that in the future, when the recovery takes hold and extraordinary measures are unwound, they can still service their debts.”

The Bank of Canada still maintains it will hold the line on rates until July of this year, and many analysts believe rates may start to rise in the fall of 2010, with some expecting a full three percentage point hike by the end of 2011. Here’s a summary of a few of the forecasts for where interest rates are headed over the next year and a half:

TD Canada Trust Quarterly Economic Forecast

Toronto Real Estate Facts

Spring home buying frenzy continued in June. Buyers and sellers reached deals on 10,955 properties, which is 27% more compared to the same period last year. The average price for MLS sales was $403,972, up by two per cent compared to last year.

It is very unusual what is happening on the market and even the oldest agents in my office haven’t seen anything like this. All of the sudden we are seeing multiple offers, but it is hard to believe recession is coming to an end. I think that sellers were afraid to list so we have a shortage of supply. If that’s the case market will soon become balanced.

If you are a home buyer who missed Toronto Real Estate market bottom while waiting for recession to push home prices further down, then you should check out my article Where to get good deals now?

To establish your property’s assessed value, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) analyzes property sales in your community and applies the Current Value Assessment (CVA) method, which is used by most assessment jurisdictions in Canada and throughout the world.

In addition to sales, MPAC looks at the key features of every property and may consider up to 200 factors when assessing the value of a residential property. Five major factors that account for 85% of the value are:

If you are one of the buyers who was waiting for home prices to come down more, than you have missed the housing market bottom in the GTA. But don't worry, you can still find great deals in the areas & home types that depreciated more during this downturn.

Toronto neighbourhoods to look at

The Federal Budget 2009 recognizes economic importance of housing to stimulate the economy introduces several incentives to get Canadians spending by buying a first time home, or renovating the one they are already in. New Canada's Economic Action Plan includes:

1. Home Buyers’ Plan Withdrawal Limit Increase
2. First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit
3. ecoENERGY Retrofit Homes Grant
4. The Home Renovation Tax Credit

Property taxes are often overlooked factor for many people in Greater Toronto Area. However, when buying a home, property taxes are nearly as important an issue as the selling price of the home.

Home Buyers Beware!

Residential taxes in cities and towns across GTA & surrounding area may differ a lot. In some of the municipalities residential property tax rates are so high, that they will not only hinder you as the buyer, but also will most likely draw concerns when you attempt to sell your house.

Property Tax Rates Chart for 2008

Recent changes to Canadian government guaranteed mortgages will soon make buying a home with zero-down payment thing of the past. News announced by the Minister of Finance has left the majority of Canadians mystified as to what removing the “government guarantee” from some of lending programs means.

My in-house Mortgage Professional Justin Risi explains...

Most understand how mortgage insurance works (not mortgage life and critical illness insurance, but mortgage default insurance). It’s a premium applied to your mortgage, paid to a mortgage insurer, who in turn agrees to insure your mortgage with your lender in the event you default. In other words, it is protection for the lender should their customer not make payments. This is a mandatory insurance for mortgages higher than 80% of the home value.

But what if a lot of people all suddenly can’t make their payments and the insurer responsible for protecting the lender is unable to cover their insurance obligations? The lender then faces a borrower not being able to make payments and an insurer possibly not being able to pay out insurance coverage!

Enter the government guarantee...

Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) gives Realtors who are TREB members information about new Homes For Sale at least 2 days before listings are posted on public MLS websites. Bargains and good deals will often sell before average home buyers even find out about them!

How to find Hot New GTA Listings like TREB Realtors®do?

You can be among the first to know about the hottest Real Estate listings in Toronto & York Region. With my exclusive Pre-MLS Alert System you will receive by e-mail ALL new listings (with pictures & addresses) that:

• Match exactly what you are looking for from all the real estate companies,
• Include any Bank Foreclosures, Power of Sales & other good deals,
• Days before the general public has access to them on Multiple Listings Service (MLS).

Your time is NOT wasted looking at outdated information or driving from neighbourhood to neighbourhood only to find out the home you like is already sold.

Don't miss out on The Perfect Home because you didn't know it was for sale!

You can take control of the House Hunting process and receive personalized list of Greater Toronto Area Homes for Sale, including Bank Owned Properties not yet listed on the MLS. Simply create your Home Buyer Profile to get priority access now. There is NO cost or obligation to buy.

Despite the U.S. housing recession, where home sales are to hit bottom in early 2008 and the current housing crisis is expected to run through early 2009, Canada's real estate market continued to post significant price gains in the fourth quarter of 2007 and showed little sign of the usual winter slowdown. Toronto Real Estate Board Market Watch reported 2007 was Best Year Ever, with 4,646 sales in December and year-end sales of 93,193. This is 12 per cent higher than year-end sales in 2006 and 11 per cent higher than 2005, the Toronto market's previous best-ever annual performance!

Here is a summary of recent Royal LePage Real Estate Reports and interviews our president Phil Soper did with the Canadian media to discuss the Canadian Real Estate market and the outlook for 2008.

2007 was a record-breaker for the Canadian Real Estate market. The big stories were price out west and volume in central and eastern Canada. We knew prices would continue to appreciate in the west but the pace of appreciation particularly in the first part of the year really defied all expectations; and in Ontario and Quebec we saw the number of homes trading hands really spike up in the second half of the year; very, very strong year for real estate. Toronto area displayed high levels of home buying activity in the fourth quarter, despite the city’s rising house prices, partly related to the introduction of a new Toronto Land Transfer Tax.

2008 Market Survey Forecast

First Time Buyers of Resale Homes to Benefit From New Tax Measure

Effective midnight tonight, first-time buyers of Resale Homes in Ontario would be eligible for a refund from the provincial government of up to $2,000 of the Land Transfer Tax (LTT) paid. The refund was previously available only on new construction.

Ontario Expands Land Transfer Tax Refund Program

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced yesterday that the McGuinty government is giving all first-time homebuyers a break on land transfer tax by proposing to expand the Land Transfer Tax Refund Program to include purchases of resale homes.

Toronto City Council has approved a Municipal Land Transfer Tax (LTT) that will be levied on top of the Provincial Land Transfer Tax. The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) worked very hard to oppose the new LTT.

Google Gadget Calculator compares Ontario & Toronto Land Transfer Taxes

Feel free to add my Land Transfer Tax Calculator Gadget to your iGoogle home page to determine what Toronto LTT will cost you and see if it's time to consider moving to York Region and other 905 areas, where you pay only the Ontario Land Transfer Tax and get bigger homes for less money:

Where To Buy the Next House in Toronto?

Toronto Life, September 2007 issue features an article on five pockets of Toronto that, through the incremental magic of gentrification, are about to take off. For each neighbourhood, "Home at Last" article lists favourite local schools, restaurants and shops; celebrity residents; best bets for commuters; as well as recent home sales in low, medium and high-end. 11-page Real Estate Special describes

5 Up-and-Coming Neighbourhoods in The City:

1. Beaconsfield Village, THE NEXT TRINITY-BELLWOODS:
   

   When the artists arrived, it was only a matter of minutes before the once-spooky strip came to life with galleries, hipster bars and a gym with dog-sitting.

2. Hillcrest, THE NEXT ANNEX:
   

   Sprawling Edwardian fixer-uppers on winding streets make for sweet deals. Equally charming are St. Clair's dueling patisseries, yoga studios and coffee joints aplenty.

Your home is one of the single biggest investments you are ever likely to make, so you will want to do all you can to care for it. A home, like an automobile, will require attention from day one. Preventative maintenance is far more cost-effective than the crisis management approach of waiting until something breaks or wears down and having to scramble to have it repaired. Preventative maintenance can avoid repairs, extend the life expectancy of many components and reduce energy consumption. A well-maintained home typically sells more readily and brings a higher price.

Call 905-731-2000 to receive a Complimentary copy of "Manual for a Happy Home" - book published by the National Association of Certified Building Inspectors (NACHI), when you begin searching for your Dream Home in the GTA with me!

Why Manual for a Happy Home?

You’ve made us #1 in York Region AGAIN & #1 Independently Owned Brokerage in Canada for Royal LePage.

Thank you! We have assisted over 5,000 families in finding their special new home in 2006. Take look at the York Region Independent Market Share Report based on TREB properties listed and sold in York Region (from Steeles to Lake Simcoe and from Dufferin Street to the York Durham Line):