Frank Steinhausen, Broker
FSteinhausen@REMAX.net
RE/MAX Rouge River Realty Ltd., Brokerage
Phone 905-428-6533
Fax 905-668-1850
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Archive for December, 2007
Getting To “Open House Ready”
December 20th, 2007 Categories: Real Estate, Selling real estate
Preparing your house for selling can be a daunting and overwhelming task whether you have lived in your home a few years or many. The longer you have lived in your home the more things you will have acquired. The intent of this Top 10 Tips for Successful Home Staging is to help you save TIME, MONEY & ENERGY.
In preparing your house for selling you need to take a step back and have the mind set that this is no longer your home but your investment for your future. You want your home to have broad buyer appeal to your target market. Following these 10 Tips for Successful Home Staging will help you sell your house sooner and possibly for more money than if you did not prepare it for selling! Remember most people want to move into their new home without having to make updates to it.
- Curb Appeal – stand back and view your home as if you were seeing it for the first time. This is the ‘first impression’ stage. Depending on the season you may want to have pots of colourful and attractive flowers to greet buyers; a clean and inviting door mat; new and shiny door handles and/or knockers; a freshly painted door – black is my favourite colour!
- Declutter – start your pre-pack as soon as possible. You need to decide what you are going to keep, give away, sell or throw away/recycle. Many clients will rent storage lockers or have pods delivered so they can start to clear out what is not going to make the house look good.
- Clean – you would think this one is common sense but let me assure you, I wish it was so! A clean home translates into ‘They must have really cared for their home.” Use environmentally friendly cleaners where you can, for hard cleaning areas tsp is a good product. Bathrooms and kitchens must be sparkling clean at the very least.
- Depersonalize – we know you love your family photos and your personal treasures and for living they are perfect. For selling pack them up carefully so you can showcase them in your new home. For selling you want buyers to focus on the best features of your home and not your personal things or collections.
- A neutral colour scheme is the way to go for selling. Choose only 3 colours or less to paint your house for selling. If you have an open floor plan then paint the main floor all the same colour. Bedrooms look good in light sage greens or warm blues like the new aqua.
- Highlight your home’s best architectural features – place your furniture in each room so that you have very obvious focal points that show off the home’s best selling features. For example, if you have a beautiful fireplace then place the furniture in a parallel grouping so that the eye is drawn to the fireplace.
- Decide on the function in each room – if you were using your guest bedroom as your den for living, for selling turn it back into a bedroom with bedroom furniture in it. If you do not have the right furniture for each room consider renting it. There are more and more rental furnishing companies opening up every day. If you don’t want to rent then borrow.
- Lighting your home to its best advantage – spend money on new light fixtures in brushed nickel or stainless steel. Brass is out so don’t fight it. There are many low-cost lighting stores to select from so no excuses for having dated light fixtures.
- Window treatments that sell your home – the most popular on the market are the 2” faux woods in a white tone to go with your trim. Decorative side panels will do the trick if you n eed to add warmth and colour.
- Flooring needs special attention and is a good investment for updating the look of your home – tile or linoleum is great for entranceways, bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms; a good quality laminate or hardwood is perfect for living rooms and family rooms; bedrooms are attractive in a neutral carpet.
By planning and budgeting you can get yourself to the “OPEN HOUSE READY” stage.
Remember that over 79% of prospective buyers have already checked you out through the MLS listings. Will they like what they see?
Happy Selling!
Dana J. Smithers is a professional interior decorator, redesigner and home stager with a CRSS designation. As the owner of Sun On My Back Redesigns she operates a successful business and is a Professional CRDA Redesign & Home Staging instructor. Dana has appeared regularly on television, radio and has many published articles on Redesign & Home Staging. To receive your monthly tips from Sun On My Back Redesigns sign up for our eNewsletter at www.sunonmybackredesigns.com. Dana can be reached at 604.836.7174 or info@sunonmybackredsigns.com. Stay tuned for her new ebook series and her Handbook for Home Staging – Getting To Open House Ready! coming in 2008.
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Going To San Francisco-By-The-Bay, Pickering
December 18th, 2007 Categories: Buying real estate, Durham Region, Pickering
San Francisco by the Bay, just south of Highway 401 on the site where the 
Bay Ridges Plaza now stands, will become the region’s largest new condo development and its first mixed-use, master-planned community.
The project will consist of 350 condominiums in 16- and 18-storey towers, as well as 121 townhouses.
The towers will share a two-storey podium with 25,500 square feet of retail and commercial space, including live-work units and have 12,000 square feet in amenities such as fitness facilities.
Part of the attraction probably is value for the money. Ralph Del Duca, vice-president, marketing for builder Chestnut Hill Homes, says the condo suites are priced substantially less than comparable units in Toronto, where cost is close to $400 a square foot, not including a parking spot. San Francisco by the Bay units run about $300 per square foot and include parking. Townhouses start from the mid-$200,000s and condo suites from the $140,000s.
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Ontario Expands Land Transfer Tax Refund Program
December 17th, 2007 Categories: Buying real estate, Real Estate News, Real estate investment
First-time buyers of resale homes to benefit from new tax measure
TORONTO – The McGuinty government is giving all first-time home buyers a break on land transfer tax by proposing to expand the Land Transfer Tax Refund Program to include purchases of resale homes, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced today.
“Expanding this Land Transfer Tax refund is an important part of our government’s commitment to helping Ontarians buying their first home,” Duncan said.
Effective midnight tonight, first-time buyers of resale homes, as well as newly constructed homes, would be eligible for a refund from the provincial government of up to $2,000 of the Land Transfer Tax paid.
The expanded Land Transfer Tax Refund Program for First-time Home buyers is part of a package of new tax initiatives announced in the 2007 Fall Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review that would provide $1.4 billion in provincial tax relief for business and people over three years. The government is making strategic investments in people, communities and infrastructure to strengthen Ontario’s economic advantage and help manufacturers and other sectors challenged by current economic conditions.
http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/media/2007/nr12-fes2.html
Can you benefit from this program? I can tell you.
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House Prices In Ajax Still Going Up
December 8th, 2007 Categories: Ajax, Buying real estate, Real Estate News, Selling real estate
Good press, bad press. You can read a lot into what is being said about the real estate market. The best place to look is what is happening in your local market. That is the trend you want to watch.
What is happening in Ajax?
Ajax has a very diverse market. There are 2 bedroom war homes right up to the million dollar homes of Deer Creek.
So trends can’t tell you what your home is worth. They can tell you which direction it is going.
The average price of homes sold in November in Ajax was $284,304. That is up from last year’s $259,000. So, on average, over all 130 homes that sold, there was a 9% increase in price.
Interested in finding out what kind of gains your home has shown? I know.
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House Values In Pickering Continue Upwards Trend
December 7th, 2007 Categories: Buying real estate, Pickering, Real Estate News, Selling real estate
It has been quite a roller coaster ride for the real estate market this year, according to the press.
Following national news and national trends can be deceiving when it comes to the local market. You need to know what is happening in the Pickering market to decide if the time is right for you to sell or buy.
What’s happening in Pickering?
The Toronto Real Estate divides the city of Pickering into two areas with the 401 being the dividing line.
In South Pickering, the 14 sales in November had an average price of $307,571. Now 14 sales doesn’t really make a real estate market or a trend.
In fact for average price, a number of factors could come into play. For example, one or two $150,000 condos or one $800,000 home could pull the average up or down.
The year to date average price for this mature area of Pickering is $289,306 which is about 3.5% over the prices for 2006.
In the rest of Pickering, there were 85 sales which had an average price of $293,797 which is up almost 9% over November 2006.
The average price for all of 2007 is also up about 9% over the prices for 2006.
Want to now how this affects the value of your home? I can tell you.
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A Record 11-Month Year For Toronto Real Estate Markets
December 5th, 2007 Categories: Buying real estate, Durham Region, Real Estate News, Selling real estate
The Toronto Real Estate Board has released the sales figures for November across the board. 2007 has already out sold every year previous. The previous best 2005 year saw 84,145 unit sales. By the end of the November, there have already been 88,695.
House prices are continuing to rise year over year. The average price in 2006 was $351,941. In November, the average price had rise to $375,445, more than 6%.
Does that reflect in the Durham market the same exciting news?
|
Year |
Area |
Number of Sales |
Average Price |
|
2007 |
South Pickering |
255 |
$289,306 |
|
|
Pickering |
1079 |
$309,535 |
|
|
Ajax |
1694 |
$288,840 |
|
|
Whitby |
1632 |
$288,655 |
|
|
Oshawa |
2469 |
$216,629 |
|
2006 |
South Pickering |
270 |
$282,198 |
|
|
Pickering |
1220 |
$289,782 |
|
|
Ajax |
1542 |
$277,762 |
|
|
Whitby |
1554 |
$274,475 |
|
|
Oshawa |
2323 |
$205,708 |
|
2005 |
South Pickering |
243 |
$260,975 |
|
|
Pickering |
1153 |
$286,578 |
|
|
Ajax |
1456 |
$269,910 |
|
|
Whitby |
1590 |
$271,945 |
|
|
Oshawa |
2293 |
$198,824 |
Prices are up and it is not quite a banner year for the big Durham centres. But the year isn’t over yet. Let’s see what December brings.
Want to know what has happended to your home’s value? I know.
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