When I was growing up many of my friends dreamed of buying a luxury car like a BMW or Mercedes Benz. By the time I was in my late 20s these cars became as common as Ford F150s. Leasing and creative financing options allowed regular folk to drive these fancy wheels. Over the last few years, something similar has happened in Real Estate. With mortgage rates sitting at just over 0% homeowner...Read More

  The average prices are in for July and guess what? The values dropped. Here is what they looked like for detached homes in June over July: Oshawa – June/22 $886,000 July /22 $816,000 (-$70,000) Whitby – June/22 $1,123,000 July/22 $1,097,000 (-$26,000) Clarington – June/22 $999,500 July/22 $909,000 (-$90,500) This should surprise no one who has been following the Bank of...Read More

  It was American Thanksgiving, and I was in Phoenix doing my best to enjoy a turkey dinner whilst recovering from emergency dental surgery. In-between bites, I ended up selling a home in east Oshawa. The Sellers ended up settling a good price which helped them move to a rental and enjoy the equity their home had built up since they purchased it over 60 years ago. 7 months later, in June of ...Read More

  It’s not the average price of a home in Oshawa, Whitby or Clarington. In 2008 the average detached home averaged $283,000. Currently, the average is $993,000. It’s not the price of a litre of gas. In 2008 a litre of gas was about .78 cents and currently, it is floating around $1.80. No, it’s mortgage rates. Last week Canada increased their lending rates to a Bank of Can...Read More

  Buy Sell Love for the win! We recently had a client who wanted to escape Durham region and move to an area where homes were much more affordable, lots were oversized, (in town) and the utility costs were dramatically less expensive. We are talking about the east coast of Canada. We started helping them get their home ready when they explained that they were having difficulty figuring out ...Read More

  “Reputation is like fine china. Once broken, it is very hard to repair.” — Abraham Lincoln   On my way to work this morning, I caught an interview with a woman who had a “nightmarish” experience with a moving company. She commented that she found the company doing a google search and did a bit of research to ensure they were reputable. They quoted her ar...Read More

  I had a newer agent reach out to me, exasperated about how the market has shifted over the past few months. After a few minutes, I realized that they were unsure of how to manage the sale of a property they had on the market. For context, here is the reality of our professional Real Estate community – the agent count on our board of Realtors has jumped from 33,000 in 2012 to over 65,...Read More

I read a headline this week that I saw covered repeatedly online and on radio. (I do not own a TV however I am certain it was front and centre there as well.) It was penned by Manulife Financial; “Nearly 1 in 4 homeowners would have to sell their home if interest rates rise more.” The sky is falling, the market is collapsing, and we will see banks kicking homeowners out on the streets...Read More

Where do you go for accurate information on local Real Estate? When I say local, I mean Durham Region. It is challenging to wade through the dozens of articles that lead with shocking headlines, only to be followed up with questionable journalism. Here is an example: Reuters – “Suburbs vs. Downtown. Toronto’s mixed housing market may signal a coming trend.” This article, ...Read More

We have all been sensing a shift in the Real Estate market for the past month and rather than sound the alarm bells, let's get past the “click-bait” headlines and look at what direction the market is truly heading. The alarming news – Overall, the supply of active homes for sale in Oshawa, Whitby and Clarington is up 28% from this time last year. Shockingly, over the past 8 ...Read More