Monthly Newsletter: February

I know this newsletter comes extremely late, but it's always a good time to look and analyze the numbers for the Toronto Real Estate market. I will start off by discussing the numbers for January 2012 and end off with the numbers for the first 14 days of February 2012.

The Toronto real estate market continued its frenetic 2011 activity right into 2012! Not only has the real estate activity continued, but low inventory levels of homes available for sale has pushed prices up almost 9% compared to January 2011.

A strong economy, continued immigration and low interest rates have created a favorable affordability situation, where buyers not only want to buy, but can actually afford to buy.

With 4,567 sales reported in January by the Toronto Real Estate Board, 2012 is shaping up to be another boom year. Hopefully as we get deeper into the year, the pressure on prices will release slightly as more homes come on the market.

I was looking back at the history of house prices in Toronto. 20 years ago, the average price of a house was $234,313. Today its $463,534. Sometimes I wonder – how many people missed the real estate boat? How many people are waiting (some for years now) for prices to adjust, for the bubble to burst? I know a few!

I don’t know if there is a bubble and I do not know if prices will adjust, but I do know that Toronto will continue to grow. I know that immigrants from all over the world find shelter and freedom from all kinds of persecution on our shores. I know that Canadians from other parts of Ontario and other provinces come to Toronto for jobs and opportunity. I know that demand causes prices to increase. I don’t know what will happen to prices tomorrow, but I believe that home prices will double in the next 20 years.

On that note, let's reflect back on the numbers for the first 14 days of February 2012 from TREB's report:

• 3,206 transactions reported through the MLS during the first 14 days of February, up more then 9% compared to the 2,933 sales reported during the same time in 2011
• Average selling price in the 416 area is.......$543,068, up 9% from the same period last year
• Average selling price in the GTA is..............$491,493, up by 9% from February 2011

The good news for buyers is that listings were up 13% during the first 14 days of February when compared to the same period in 2011, which will hopefully ease some of the competition happening between buyers in the market place and stabilize home prices.

On the flip side, the good news for sellers during the first 14 days of February is that sellers received on average 99% of their asking price and their homes were on the market for an average of 25 days. So if you're thinking of selling your home this year, no time like the present to do so and I can help!

So, I continue to encourage you, my clients, to buy real estate. Buy an investment property, buy a downtown condo if your kids are planning to go to University, invest in your country and your future!

I leave you now with a video of Jason Mercer from TREB discussing the Toronto Real Estate market in January 2012 and the outlook for the rest of 2012:

Also check out the new MLS Home Price Index, very exciting for real estate:

Have a great March and please call me if you have any questions or know of someone thinking of buying or selling. And don't forget about my referral contest too (click here for more details). I appreciate your help and support!

Your friend in real estate,

Guest Post: DIY Storage

I'm going to hit you with another guest post today. You are probably wondering what's up with the guest posts recently, well when I went away on my snowboarding vacation, I asked some of my favourite people to write guest blog posts to keep you all entertained while I was gone. Unfortunately the wifi I was promised in the condo I rented didn't work all week so I wasn't able to post anything. I figured I might as well post them now as there are some great posts and I couldn't let them go to waste!

So, next up is Renee Elliott, she is not only a dear friend of mine, but she's also the talent behind Eat.Live.Shop, a blog about, well, I think the title sums it up well. Renee doesn't stop there though, she is also an amazing DIYer, you can find her projects over on her column at Sweetspot, or join her for one of her crafting DIY workshops in her new studio, all details on her website, Re:Creative Works.

So without further ado, take it away Renee.........

I'm so happy that my amazing friend Aleksandra asked me to do a guest post for her!

I'm always brainstorming DIY ideas I can do in my small apartment. Not only does making things myself save me a ton of money but I always get immense satisfaction from it! Since my apartment is on the tiny side, I really need to focus on key storage and a good organization system. Here is a round up of some DIY ideas I've done in my apartment over the past few months:






Thanks Renee for these amazing ideas, I love the creativity and handmade details in each project. Make sure to follow Renee on twitter (EatLiveShop & Re:Creative) and "like" her facebook page.

What do you think of these projects? Is this something you would try?

Guest Post: Venturehomes.ca

I've had the pleasure of getting to know Ken Biehler through twitter and facebook, side note, social media is great for networking and boy am I glad we met. Ken is founder and president of Venturehomes.ca, a virtual tour company and pioneers in their field. Realty Royalty has had the pleasure of working with one of Ken's reps and let me tell you they are very professional and get the job done! With the popularity of virtual tours on the rise, a Realtor would be crazy not to have one for their upcoming listing and not utilize the services from Venturehomes.ca.

Ken has so kindly agreed to write a guest blog post and explain a bit more what Venturehomes.ca can do for all of us Realtors. So without further ado, take it away Ken.......

Venturehomes.ca boasts 12 years and over 30,000 virtual tours experience in marketing real estate via the Internet.  This vast experience has made Venturehomes.ca the leading Virtual Tour company in Southern Ontario.  Virtual Tours are a series of photos and multi-media elements that allows a potential homebuyer to view the home over the Internet without actually visiting the property.  It is basically a 24/7 open house of the home that allows hundreds of people to see the property.

Venturehomes.ca takes this to the next level.  We sketch a floorplan of the layout of the home; the floorplan is interactive and allows visitors to click the room of interest and automatically pictures of that room will appear. Unlike a movie that has a start and a finish, a Venturehomes.ca virtual tour allows the customer to see the rooms that they are interested in most.  Visitors have a very real experience of what the homes is like.  After viewing a Venturehomes.ca virtual tour the buyer is often interested in buying before they even visit the home in person.  That is great marketing!

You need more than just pictures on the Internet to sell a home. Like any form of advertising you need eyeballs to see the advertising for it to work. Venturehomes.ca actively links up to as many websites as possible and utilizes social media.  All virtual tours get linked up to Facebook and Twitter.  In fact Venturehomes.ca expects to receive 2 million visitors to the website this year and every property will get hundreds of extra visits! The visits are tracked and monitored through a stats program so you know when and how many people are visiting the virtual tour.

The extra attention can only benefit people selling their homes with a Venturehomes.ca Virtual Tour on it!

Don't forget to follow Venturehomes.ca on Twitter and "like" their Facebook page (and check out some of their cool tours). Thanks again Ken!

I'm Back!!!!!

As you may have noticed, I've been MIA from my blog posts this past week and a half, well not to worry because I'm back to blogging about everything wonderful in real estate. I was away in Quebec, hitting the slopes on my board in Mont Tremblant and although I had a lot of fun and came home with really sore legs, I'm happy to be back.

Here are a few pictures from my trip:

Pure white out conditions, couldn't see 1 foot in front of me, made for an interesting day of snowboarding


Soooooo serene, I love Instagram!


My perspective


I love poutines, especially in Quebec, I had my fair share last week!!!

Stay tuned later this afternoon for a guest post.

Cool Homes: Basketball Court

I think this has to be the coolest piece of real estate I have featured on my blog thus far and I'm super excited to share it with you! The designers of the company, The Apartment,  received a once in a lifetime opportunity to completely renovate and redesign the first US YMCA basketball court and suspended track into 7,000 square feet, 5 bedroom, luxurious, amazingness and they did not disappoint! The apartment features everything from an indoor garden to a 30 foot long kitchen to a 12 person home theatre, can you say wow? I love how they kept a bit of history by using the original basketball flooring in the private areas. The apartment also has been used in various TV shows, movies and photo shoots, which I don't find surprising in the least bit. It is definitely worthy of the attention it has received and the designers at The Apartment are genius.

I know you're dying to see it, so here it is:
Before...


After...

I LOVE how they painted that beam hot pink!








All the wallpaper was designed by The Apartment


My dream closet...who wants one?




The old basketball floors look great, perfect touch!




30 foot long kitchen, entertainers dream!


Indoor garden




I would die to cook on this stove top


Home theater......yes please!

What do you think?

If you have a cool space or uniquely decorated place that you would like me to feature, make sure to contact me.
***Images via Home-Designing***

More Great Finds!!!

I was busy all last week shopping up a storm for my project home and I'm excited to share some of my finds. First off, let me say it's hard to shop for finishes when your home is a complete reno mess, but somehow I managed, with a little help from a good friend of mine (Renee Elliott), to help me see the complete vision and be confident in the choices I was making.

Let's start with the paint colours, the pictures of the swatches are not the greatest, but I'm sure you will get an idea of the colours in the home.

The paint colour is from C-I-L, it is a Pewter Grey colour from their Clean & Playful collection and will be used throughout the whole house including basement. I have a lot of chunky window trim and tall baseboards that will all be painted white, so I think this Pewter Grey colour will act as a great contrast against the white and really  make the baseboards and window trim pop!


Next up is Grey Tweed also from C-I-L, this colour will be used in both bathrooms, as I like using a darker colour in the bathrooms and comes from their Deep & Luxurious collection.


Last, but not least, is the accent colour in the master bedroom. I LOVE accent walls, as is evident throughout my previous projects, so of course I decided to do one in this home too. This colour is Dark Cavern from Behr and will be used, you guessed it, in my master bedroom for the accent wall. I can't wait to see it all come together.

Let's move onto the flooring. The main floor and upstairs will have oak hardwood floors installed, whereas the basement will get carpet. Again you don't want to spend to much money in the basement as your focal points are on the main level anyway, so I find carpet is the best, inexpensive option. It also makes the basement feel more cozy and usable. Normally I choose a traditional medium brown colour for the floors as it's not too light (which I don't like at all), not too dark, where every dust particle shows and it's safe. But this time around I decided to live life on the edge and go with this colour.......

I love how this floor colour incorporates warm tones and cool tones, which is perfect for the home considering one whole wall on the main floor is brick (warm tones) and the other walls will be in the grey family (cool tones), how perfect is this? I received a great price for these floors too, courtesy of my good old friends from the Hardwood Liquidation Centre.

Now that I have established the colour palate in the home, here are some of my great finds....

Kitchen

These will be the colour of my kitchen cabinets, which I will be purchasing from Ikea. These stools I bought for my peninsula in the kitchen, from Urban Barn last week for $99 (on sale)!!!!!

A white farmers sink from Ikea will be placed in the peninsula and above it will hang pendant lighting which I haven't decided on yet.


Main Bathroom

I found this vintage beauty last week at one of the antiques stores on Queen St W in Parkdale for only $150!!!! I have been dying to use a vintage dresser as a vanity for my washroom and I finally got the opportunity after scouring the stores. I would normally go to an outdoor antique market, but there aren't many options during this time of year, so I had to stick with stores. This dresser has a long way to go, his and her white bowl sinks will be installed on top and the whole dresser will receive a makeover from Re:Creative Works, I can't wait! That light fixture I found at Home Depot for $79.99 and will go above this bathroom vanity, amazing!

3rd Bedroom


My 3rd bedroom closet is big and was missing closet doors. I really wanted to put up sliding barn doors, but didn't want to go through the hassle of finding ones I liked. Therefore, I had my contractor build these with some pine and a bit of stain, all that's missing is a cool handle. You also can't beat the price, this project came in under $100!!!

Front Porch


I found this great vintage light fixture during my visit to the Queen St W antique stores for $95!!! Upon seeing it, I instantly thought it would be a great front porch light fixture for my new beautiful porch (which still has some work). I love how the exterior of the home will have an old meets new look, just like the rest of the home.

I hope you enjoyed my great finds from last week, and let me know if you have any great finds of your own, I would love to hear about them!

Featured Listing- 140 Via Borghese St

Let's talk some serious business today and let me introduce Realty Royalty's featured listing. Now, before I wow you with the pictures and amazing virtual tour, we are going to go over the specs of this fine home first.

Specs:
Address: 140 Via Borghese St
City: Vaughan (Weston Rd & Major Mackenzie)
Type: Detached 2 storey
Bedrooms: 4+1
Washrooms: 4
Lot size: 45.37 feet x 113.88 feet
Garage/Parking: Double car with driveway
Features of the home:

• California shutters
• Pot lights
• Hardwood flooring
• Granite counter tops
• Stainless steel appliances
• Corner lot
• Marble Fireplace
• Closet organizers
• Fully fenced yard

Listing price........$859,900

Here are the pictures.....


Exterior

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Eat In Area

Open Concept Family Room

Family Room

Upstairs Hallway

Master Bedroom

Walk-In Closet With Custom Organizers

Master Bedroom

Master Ensuite

Thanks for visiting!

All the pictures were taken by Joseph K Muscat from Venture Homes. Check out Joseph's virtual tour here for more pictures and for more of Joseph's work, check him out here. Thanks again for all your hard work Joseph, the pictures and virtual tour look great!!!
What do you think?