How's the market? As a Realtor, I hear that question a considerable amount. The answer varies depending on your location. Currently in the Westvale area of Waterloo, there are 11 resale houses for sale from $259,000 to $499,900. To put that number into perspective, in the Huron Village area of south Kitchener, I found 11 properties for sale ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on April 19, 2011
There were no bargains to be had in March as brisk Kitchener Waterloo residential MLS sales carried over to power of sale activity. There were 10 properties sold under power of sale in March. The average list price to sale price ratio was 99% and the average days on the market for these sales was just 27. The Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal and Firstline/CIBC ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on April 16, 2011
As occupations go, a day in the life of a Kitchener Waterloo Realtor is generally pretty safe. However, while showing houses for sale on the weekend, I was amazed how many had no railings on the stairs to the basement. I personally know 2 Realtors who suffered serious injuries losing their balance on staircases. In one case, a lawsuit ensued and the Realtor ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on April 11, 2011
First-time sellers of Kitchener Waterloo real estate often struggle with this question. Twenty-two years of selling real estate has taught me there is an ideal time to sell every home. Choosing the wrong time of the year to sell can cost a seller thousands of dollars in hard earned equity. Other times, it can result in an expired listing or a ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on April 6, 2011
With a long winter behind us, Kitchener Waterloo home buyers were out in full force in March. Preliminary numbers from the Kitchener Waterloo MLS show residential sales of 457 properties in Kitchener Waterloo. Of those, 36 were brand new and 421 were resales. For comparison, in the pre-HST buying spree of March 2010, there were 546 March sales with 69 new and 479 resales. For ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on April 4, 2011
It's often said been that the three most important things about real estate are location, location, location. With that in mind, here is another of the top 10 things I love about living in the Westvale area of Waterloo.
#2 Location
Five minutes! It's amazing how many important local points of interest are just 5 minutes away from Westvale. Among these are Uptown ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on March 9, 2011
February 2011 saw healthy MLS residential sales results in Kitchener Waterloo. Unit sales totalled 373 for a decline of approximately 4% over February 2010 sales of 385. Of note, Kitchener Waterloo homebuilders experienced a 46% surge with 60 new home sales through MLS versus 41 for last February. This left resale properties off by 9% year-over-year(313 vs. ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on March 3, 2011
Just finished reading a thought provoking book by Canadian economist Jeff Rubin called Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller. The book makes a number of predictions including $200/barrel oil, $2/litre gas in Canada($7/gallon in the U.S.), escalating food prices, and the return of some manufacturing jobs as shipping costs rise. The book is well-researched and written ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on February 28, 2011
As the snow melts and it starts to feel like Spring, the neighbourhood comes alive. You begin to see more people out for a walk enjoying the relatively mild weather. I read a blog post last week about a lady who was struggling to clear her driveway of snow with her husband away and 2 small children to care for. It recounted how her neighbour failed to offer ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on February 16, 2011
It's time once again for Westvale Wednesday where I share one of the top 10 things I love about living in Westvale.
#7 The Boardwalk at Ira Needles Blvd.
A recent addition to the Westvale neighbourhood has been the massive 1 million square foot commercial development depicted above. The Boardwalk is located at the end of University Avenue West and Ira Needles ...
Posted by Jeff Gingerich
on February 2, 2011