I thought a little bit about the headline of this blog, and I kind of like "From Real Estate to Life". I think it describes how a real estate transaction can be the start or end of a particular journey.
I absolutely love real estate and I really enjoy helping people take the next step in their life - whether it's buying their first home, moving up to a larger home to accommodate ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on September 21, 2010
The real estate market continues to change and we've now entered a balanced market, which means that neither sellers nor buyers have the advantage. In other words, market conditions are fair on both sides.
You might wonder if I'm a little crazy in saying this, especially when reading that the number of homes sold in July in the Greater Toronto Area dropped by 34% compared to July 2009. ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on August 6, 2010
It's a sunny Monday morning on the first day of summer in June 2010 as I write this blog, and it's interesting to see how the Greater Toronto Area real estate market is changing. About six to eight weeks ago, REALTORS® like myself started to see a shift in the market once again. Strangely, newspapers and other media haven't really caught on yet and so the general public still thinks ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on June 21, 2010
Yesterday, the Bank of Canada announced the first rate increase to the daily rate it charges banks from 0.25% to 0.5%. Does this affect you?
That depends on whether you have a mortgage or a line of credit, and if so, what type. If you have a fixed rate mortgage, then no - it does not affect you, at least until your mortgage is up for renewal. If you have a variable rate mortgage ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on June 2, 2010
I've been working with a really nice family lately showing them a few homes for sale in the Brampton area (actually, just three!) and talking with them about the process of moving house. The reason they've been planning on selling - and downsizing - is to save a bit of money as the economy recovers, plus their kids will be teenagers within the next few years and we all know teenagers ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on January 26, 2010
Happy New Year, everyone!
It's January 6, 2010 as I write this blog, and it's very interesting to see how the market has changed over the last year, eh?
At this time a year ago, everyone had gone into hibernation, and adopted a "wait and see" attitude with regards to the economy and the housing market. One year later, and the market has changed drastically! Prices are going up ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on January 6, 2010
I was surfing www.youtube.com today, and thought it might be interesting to see if there were any Century 21 videos. Well, I found a whole lot of them - many of them hilarious! Some of them were from real estate sales representatives showing off their listings (a cool idea), others were from clients showing off the new home they bought with help from their Century 21 REALTOR, and then ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on November 15, 2009
So, I've been discovering very interesting things happening in the market - it continues to improve. Today, the Toronto Real Estate Board has released a report to the media showing that the market is still rising. So far in September, the number of transactions has increased by 23% over the first two weeks of September 2008. And prices have increased by 8% in the same time period. So ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on September 16, 2009
So, how much is your home worth? Hmmm, interesting question and the answers will change depending on whom you ask.
To determine a recommended asking and therefore likely selling price, a good Realtor will compare your home to similar homes that have recently sold. What's a similar home? A similar home to Realtors and the public is one that is approximately the same size (square ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on August 14, 2009
I received an interesting email the other day from one of my Seller clients. My client copied me on an email that he sent to a rather unprofessional real estate salesperson who had an appointment to show his home. Here's the email that my Seller client sent to this person - note that I've omitted identifying names, etc:
***
"Dear (unprofessional real estate salesperson):
I am ...
Posted by Jim Datlen
on July 22, 2009