real estate Archives - Womens Post

Sustainability May 18, 2017

Reality check: millennials are poor and house prices are rising

As a millennial, I enjoy avocado toast and expensive coffees daily and travel to Europe on my weekends instead of buying my luxury home.

NOT.

In reality, I am living in a world where two-ply toilet paper is a treat, scrounging for change for transit causes cold sweats, and an avocado is a treat I get once a year in my Christmas stocking. In other words, millennials are poor and house prices are rising. Seeing a unicorn walk down the street is more likely than being able to afford a decent home in the current real estate market.

Recently, Australian real estate millionaire Tim Gurner revealed on Australia’s 60 minutes that he believes the younger generation is wasting their cash on frivolous snacks instead of investing in future homes. This has caused international outrage, with several young people pointing out the obvious — no amount of avocado toast is going to make up for the fact that millennials are being priced out of almost everything that previous generations enjoyed.

It is common fact that employment is not plentiful, with baby boomers hanging on to their jobs, and technology wiping out the rest. University and college have become essential in this job market and this leaves millennials with overwhelming student debt on top of everything else. Wages have stagnated as a result, creating a society where working for minimum wage with a degree is the norm. Healthcare coverage, salary jobs, and benefits are the childhood dreams of Narnia, and working long hard hours is standard.

Interestingly, Gurner, who incited the wave of indignant avocado toast hatred worldwide, happens to be 34. He falls within the age range of a millennial, and yet feels justified as a classic ‘one percenter’ to provide the obvious reasons why the rest of the world can’t be like him. If anything, Gurner should have to mail a piece of 19 dollar avocado toast to every millennial he has disrespected.

While I wait for my apology, I think I might go to the coffee shop and buy my daily avocado toast. Women’s Post looks forward to seeing you in Europe on the weekend fellow millennials. Don’t forget your two-ply!

Sustainability May 13, 2017

Co-operative housing may be the way of the future in Toronto

Have you ever dreamed of buying a house, but didn’t have enough money?

It turns out with ‘C-Harmony: Creating Co-operative Connections’, it may be possible to still buy a home by joining with other prospective buyers. The concept comes from owner, Lesli Gaynor, who launched GoCo., an enterprise that helps facilitate co-ownership and runs the C-Harmony events. The first pilot event held last week brought together prospective buyers to meet in a speed-dating styled experience to see if they are compatible to purchase real estate together.

Gaynor came up with the idea when she co-purchased a home with a friend several years ago and shares her experience with others looking to do the same. GoCo facilitates events and support services to help with financing, the legalities of co-ownership, risk mitigation, finding partners and property, and establishing an agreement. Though the idea of co-owning seems unorthodox, the more you look into GoCo, and the steps to take to make it happen, it becomes a sensible way to buy in an expensive city such as Toronto.

Begin by calculating what your current rental payments are and average that amount to equal what you would pay in mortgage and expenses. This lays the groundwork for how much you can afford and what you could provide financially in a co-operative ownership. There are other issues to consider once you decide to proceed with co-owning such as discovering what your living needs are. Do you want two bedrooms? A backyard space? How many bathrooms? Once all this criteria is laid out, the idea is to find an owning partner who has the same needs, equitable finance and a compatible personality. Then you can set out on finding a property together.

Other key considerations include deciding how the property will be divided. There are many different ways according to GoCo. on how to proceed with co-sharing including living in the home together, or one party living in the house while the other invests money into it. Both parties would need to decide what works best for them and divide financial responsibilities and bills in advance to avoid any issues.

Though co-owning a home is a difficult decision to make, it is a progressive concept for community building in an expensive real estate market such as Toronto. GoCo. is giving a forum for people to join together and compete in the housing market, which will allow more families and individuals access to good homes. It will be interesting to see how this new speed-dating concept of co-owning proceeds in Toronto and if it grows in popularity.

#TOpoli May 12, 2017

Toronto to end commercial tax rebate, adopt rent control

Next week’s executive committee meeting is gearing up to discuss sweeping changes to housing in Toronto.

Mayor John Tory recently proposed phasing out the vacant commercial and industrial tax rebate program that gives businesses that are sitting empty a tax rebate. The tax rebate program, which has been in place since 2001 offers unoccupied commercial properties a 30 per cent tax rebate and industrial properties get 35 per cent. The program requires owners to try and rent the space, but does not provide a time limit on how long a business owner can receive the rebate. A city report revealed the program has given more than $367 million in subsidies to property owners, much-needed revenue that could be better spent elsewhere.

The proposal that will be discussed at next week’s meeting recommends the city lower the tax incentive to 15 per cent, beginning on July 1, 2017 to June 20, 2018, and then permanently shut down the rebate program on July 1, 2018. The report also recommended the rebate expenditures be reinvested in job growth programs and the poverty reduction strategy. This decision has been widely embraced by the city because poverty reduction is in dire need of funds in Toronto, and promoting businesses to stay empty is bad business after all. The rebate program has been criticized in the past because it allowed property owners to sit on their vacant stores while the value of the location increased. This has left several stores empty and little available business real estate in Toronto.

The executive committee also plans to focus on rental affordability in Toronto. Recently the province has put forward a bill on rental control, and has indicated that municipalities will be able to implement it at will. City council is moving forward with this initiative and will discuss how to implement rental control with a specific provision to have the rent control tied to the unit and not the tenant. There will also be an update on inclusionary zoning and laneway suites in Toronto.

The city is taking sweeping steps to respond to the high-pressure housing crisis in Toronto. By removing the tax rebate to empty businesses, it incentivizes business owners to fill their storefronts and reallocates much-needed funds to poverty reduction. Moving forward with rent control, inclusionary zoning and changing the regulations around laneway housing are all necessary to make Toronto a more liveable city. The outcome of the meeting will be interesting indeed, and will set up for a sure-to-be exciting May City Council.

Sustainability February 17, 2017

Empty houses are driving up Toronto real estate market

People often speculate on reasons why the real estate has ballooned so heavily in the last couple years in Toronto, and across Canada. Everything from foreign buyers to decreased land availability has been blamed, and Statistics Canada sheds further light on why the housing market is on high alert.

The newest 2016 census shows that Toronto alone has over 99,000 unoccupied homes in the city. These statistics results reflect that a lack of occupancy is a top housing issue in the city and is growing at the same rate as the rising price of real estate. Across Canada, the number of unoccupied homes as grown and is highest in Toronto, followed by Montreal. Vancouver is trailing in third, potentially in part due to the new foreign buyer bylaws that have come into effect.

By comparing the number of total private dwellings and the total private dwellings occupied in each city as collected in the census, it is easy to see there is an unusual difference between occupied homes and total dwellings available. In the last 10 years, the amount of unoccupied dwellings have also grown 10.5 per cent in Toronto, and the problem continues to worsen. It appears that the highest rate of non-occupancy is in the Concord area of Vaughan, which was at 35 per cent. Downtown Toronto also had more homes that weren’t being occupied, especially in the fashion district at King St. W, with 21 per cent not regularly occupied.

In this circumstance, blaming foreign buyers isn’t a viable reason because local Canadians are most often the residents to fill out the statistics report. Other factors could be AirBnB or short-term rentals to explain the unoccupied rentals, but it is becoming more clear that speculation is a big part of the reason. Homeowners are hanging onto their homes while the red hot real estate market is at its highest, and people are waiting until the city hits its peak price. These people are often known as ‘flippers’ and are unnecessarily preventing families in desperate need of housing from getting a much-needed house.

Having statistics available to highlight housing issues can provide answers to convoluted real estate issues that are often kept under wraps by stakeholders. By crunching numbers, it is easy to see why unoccupied homes are negatively contributing to the real estate bubble in the city. House flippers and speculators need to sell or rent unoccupied homes to people who need them, and housing must be made more affordable. Hopefully the government takes the necessary steps to crack down on unoccupied homes, and the real estate market can balance as a result.

News October 4, 2016

FOR SALE: Stunning 4-bedroom home in Vaughan

Are you looking for a new home in a quiet neighbourhood in Vaughan, Ont.? Look no further. This beautiful two-story, 4-bedroom home on Windrose Court is in desperate need of a new owner. And it could be you!

The home is beautifully finished — with a large yard in the front and a brick-layered backyard. The kitchen is furnished with wooden cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and marble countertops. Wooden floors and clean tiling can be found throughout the house as well. Each bedroom and living space is equipped with a large window that allows natural light to encompass the space.

virtual-tour-220836-27-1474623944 — Kitchen, Visual Listings

The neighbourhood has everything: parks, grocery stores, coffee shops, golf course, and recreation centres. It’s perfect for a family looking to get away from the hectic city, but still maintain an important sense of community.

The asking price is $1.5 million. Take a look at this virtual tour of 107 Windrose Court for more information. If interested, please contact Nicolas Scorza, Sales Representative for Vanguard Realty Brokerage Corp at 905-856-8111 / 647-638-7872 or by email, nscorza@trebnet.com.

Home & Garden June 9, 2016

The value of a home

My husband and I bought a monster house 12 years ago. It was an old Victorian style, double brick with good bones, but in need of repair. In the 60s it was divided into four apartments and no one had renovated it since. The yellowed shag carpeting had seen better days, and the white stucco walls and arched doorways had gone grey over time. It still had all the old plumbing and knob and tube wiring so needed desperately to be gutted and restored.

A house has a personality, and ours seemed to be like an old oak tree that had been made to look like a Christmas pine. It had a solid soul, but the renovations were horrendous. Our goal was to restore it to the solid home it once was. It was the perfect project for a newly married couple!

We decided to live in it and tackle one floor at a time. Both of us were working full time, so it meant spending our evenings and weekends toiling away on the house. After gutting out all the apartments, we found signs of the original stairs that were located right where we planned to put in the main stairwell. We repaired all the old fireplaces, putting new liners in all and using old bricks from the original construction that we found hidden away to repair the chimneys. We managed to save all the original leaded glass windows, and searched salvage yards for old six panel solid wood interior doors to match the original doors in the house.

Between electrical, plumbing, tiling and carpentry, we found that only a few of the trades people we hired could deliver the quality that we wanted and so did much of the work ourselves. There were months when we were too busy with our jobs to do anything on the house, and with the demands of toddlers, there was a year or two when very little was done. Our 10-month renovation project took us 12 years! And now that it is finally done, it feels like we’ve reached the top of the mountain. We’re looking around and enjoying the view, thinking cool we did it… but now what?

I don’t think I can sit quietly in a huge house, sipping tea and eating bon-bons, or give up the confidence I get from building with my own hands. What many think of as menial work —painting, sanding, tiling — is my way of keeping grounded and in shape! Being able to see the work that you have done take shape doesn’t happen often in politics, and there is nothing like taking down a wall to let out a little frustration!

Although we have built many terrific memories in our house, it was the journey, not the asset, that created them. And so we decided to put our house up for sale and continue our journey.

I feel that we have lucked out when it comes to our real estate agent. We have listed with Cheenee Foster. She is with Slavens and Associates and is one of the hardest working agents I have ever met. Cheenee spent years staging houses and has an eye for design. But what I admire most about her is her drive. She isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and help, although she is always dressed to perfection. Watching her in an elegant summer dress and high heels as she set up my living room furniture, moving couches and chairs without hesitation, reminded me that women can do anything men can do — and we can do it in heels!

Cheenee spent a week helping me stage the house. From moving furniture to picking paint colour, she walked me through the process of preparing our house to sell. Few agents would invest the time that Cheenee gave to making sure our house looked terrific. But, what truly makes her a top agent is her integrity. She knows that we aren’t in any rush to sell and has suggested that if we don’t get what we want, she’d recommend taking it off the market and trying again in the fall. I’ve bought and sold a lot of homes, and where most agents would try to coerce us down in price to make a quick commission, Cheenee sees the value in our property and in holding on for a better market if need be. What makes Cheenee Foster one of Toronto’s best real estate agents is that she puts her customers before her commission. So, if you are looking for a good agent to help you through the stressful process of selling your home, I highly recommend Cheenee Foster.

She’ll be hosting an open house at our home this weekend. Come out and meet her!

Uncategorized March 17, 2014

Real life real estate

I’m a sucker for real estate reality television. Property Virgins, House Hunters, and 2 a.m. reruns of the Property Shop – I live for these shows, and always love watching couples and families go through the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, all to finally find the property of their dreams, and right on budget too.

As a real estate agent though, sometimes I have to giggle at how easy it seems. House showings to key pickup, all wrapped up in a 22 minute time slot. Of course, with the time limitations, there isn’t enough time to get into the intricacies of a normal, average real estate transaction, but I imagine that most viewers who haven’t actually been through the process might romanticize the experience with the information provided on these shows.

In the real world, the process can take months. Buyers have to talk to financial professionals to apply and qualify for financing or a mortgage, and then find the right agent with knowledge of their circumstances, their needs, and the area that they’re looking to purchase in. Then there are the house showings. On television, they show three houses and decide between the given options. I’ve had clients go on as many as 15 showings before deciding on a property, and rightly so. This is not a pair of shoes, this is a home, for families with children, dogs named Rover and cats named Meow. While timing can be of the essence when it comes to getting your home once you’ve decided on a property, finding the right home for you is a process that in my opinion shouldn’t be rushed or double-guessed.

Even after getting an approved offer, we’re often not ready to pick up the keys just yet. Accepted offers are usually “conditional”, meaning we now have to deal with home inspectors, appraisals, and final steps for financing. Your dream home might end up being a nightmare property if an inspector turns up foundation issues or termites, so there’s usually a period of time when a buyer can walk away from a property.

But I’ve seen firsthand how these shows have affected the real estate market in a very real way. Buyers and sellers are more educated now, and real estate professionals have been forced to step up their game. Sellers understand the value of “curb appeal” and not having animals or dirty laundry in the home during showings. Buyers are learning to see past superficial things like bad paint colours and minor improvements to see how a home can be made to fit them. Knowledge is power, and in the real estate game it can be the difference between a make or break deal.

All in all, these shows, by necessity due to timing and probably in large part entertainment, are condensed versions of what to expect when you’re purchasing a property. I take whatever lessons I can from real estate powerhouses like Tatiana Londono, but in the end, I really just take it for what it is: entertainment. Good, clean, funny, exciting, licorice and white cheddar popcorn on a Thursday night entertainment, and I love every second.

Uncategorized January 12, 2014

Sunshine and real estate

It’s common knowledge by now that the weather has a tangible effect on retail sales. December sales suffer if a snowfall doesn’t happen to get consumers into the “holiday spirit,” and sunny days can mean day-long window shopping excursions that turn into impulse purchases and the obligatory dinner and drinks that follow. The real estate market is no different.

Even with major investments like real estate, consumer tendencies seem to move with the mercury, almost independent of the economic climate. In Toronto, January is traditionally the slowest month for home sales, no doubt a combination of lower cash flow after the holiday season and the difficulty of showing houses effectively. Buyers are less motivated to venture out through the snow and slush to view multiple properties, and sellers can find it difficult to showcase the true beauty of their properties through the ice and snow.

And then there’s spring and summer, “high season” for those in the real estate game and prime time for sellers who want to get top dollar for their properties by employing agents who know how to capitalize on the landscaping and vibrancy of their biggest season.

The numbers are already starting to show the rise in national home sales. According to statistics released just this month by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales rose 0.6% from March to April, with home sales improving in more than half of all local markets from March to April. This trend was led by gains in the GTA, Winnipeg, Calgary and Victoria, and with the national average sale price rising 1.3% on a year-over-year basis in April, the Canadian housing market is firmly lodged in balanced territory, which is great news for buyers and sellers alike.

Even with the new mortgage rules that took effect in 2012, the market has remained remarkably steady, and the upward trend for this warmer season is still a palpable reality for all those caught up in the real estate game.

Hours of sunshine always helps me shake off the lethargy and “blah-ness” of the winter months and gets me even more excited and geared up for my work, and I can always see the excitement in motivation in my clients as well. I feed off of it, I love it. And it’s that energy that can translate into some incredible transactions this season.

Denim shorts and wedge sandals, sunshine and real estate: my four favourite summer things. I’m looking forward to having a blast. Won’t you join me?

Uncategorized December 21, 2013

REAL ESTATE ETHICS: Dealing with property stigmas and dark pasts

One year ago, almost to the day, the entire nation was rocked by the discovery of 33-year-old university student Jun Lin’s torso in a suitcase behind a Montreal apartment building. Luka Magnotta, 30, now faces first-degree murder charges with allegations that Lin was actually killed and dismembered in his apartment.

That bachelor apartment sat vacant for more than six months following the international manhunt that led to Magnotta’s arrest. The building’s superintendent, Eric Schorer, confirms that it has now been rented to a man he describes as a foreigner who may not know anything about the past of his current home.

I don’t know how I feel about this. As a Realtor, current legislation requires that I disclose to potential buyers or renters any physical defects of a property that may be hidden from view. That’s not a choice or a business decision. That’s the law. But there is no law that requires that I disclose any stigmas or dark pasts and revelations about a home. So do I let the new owners know that the property was the site of a murder? A suicide? It has nothing to do with the structure of the property itself, but even my appraiser agrees that certain events will impact a property’s value, even if it doesn’t impact the physical structure.

Talkative neighbours could impact future sales, and prospective buyers who aren’t even suspicious of any negative events could pull up an old news story just by Googling the address of a property. The financial impact is real, but even foregoing that element of a Realtor’s duty, in metropolitan cities like Montreal and Toronto, the number of buyers and renters with cultural backgrounds that could make them sensitive to these stigmas has to be taken into consideration.

I started this article unsure of how I felt about this topic. There are financial realities that impact both sides, and I suppose it comes down to a case by case issue as to what needs to be disclosed – the murder last year vs. the neighbourhood kids think the place is haunted. But in reality, it comes down to a pretty simple rule that should be guiding every decision I make in business.

It is my duty as a Realtor to do right by my clients and the individuals that I work with, and that includes following the letter of the law in addition to staying true to my moral compass and disclosing what I think needs to be disclosed to the young couple renting their first condo, the young family buying their first home, the business partners buying another investment property, and everyone in between. All hands on deck and all cards on the table – people deserve to know all the details behind what will most likely be the single largest transaction of their lives, and I have an obligation as a professional and as a good person to make sure that that happens.

Follow Chellie on Twitter: @ChellieMejia

Featured September 16, 2013

Women of the week: Maryam and Nargues Mansouri

I meet the Mansouri sisters in the presentation gallery of the Perry. Stunningly gorgeous, it is a great illustration of why they are the builders to watch in today’s condo market.

Maryam and Nargues Mansouri are easily recognizable as siblings, sharing a cup of tea and playfully interrupting each other throughout the interview. But this familial dynamic does not affect their work environment. In fact, as the sisters tell it, it helps.

“Siblings bicker here and there and I think as part of the work experience and work life it’s easier to tell your partner how you feel about certain situations rather than keeping things pent up and inside.”

“We’re really honest with each other. It’s not rivalry though, because we’re all on the same team, trying to get to the same goal,” Nargues says.

“We have a really good dynamic and fit,” Maryam adds.

As co-vice-presidents of Mansouri Living, they take on a company created by their father, Sharok. According to the sisters, it was “really natural” for them to join the family business. As children, Maryam and Nargues were often taken by their father to sites to see what he was currently developing. “We were always surrounded by it growing up,” Nargues says.

Both are heavily involved in every step of the Perry’s development, yet each sister chose to explore different areas of the field academically and focus more on the areas that hold their strengths. This was a choice made with solid logic as, as Maryam explains, “You have an incredible mind when it comes to business and numbers and finance and legal so you get it when I don’t, and likewise.”

Their great dynamic and combined grasp of the overall process is vital, given the competition they are up against. Toronto has an oversaturated housing market, with more condos under development that any other city in North America.

“From the beginning we knew it was going to be an issue, so we really tried to make the Perry different. It came down to the finishes, the scale, the location. Just the details we put into every single suite, regardless of the size,” Nargues says.

The result is a design that encapsulates the word elegance. People who come to live in the Perry get beautifully designed suites furnished by Poliform, a membership to the Perry’s executive concierge service, Quintessentially, and access to the building’s incredible extra features, which include a piano lounge and the serenity garden.

What’s a serenity garden? This feature of the building was designed to serve as an oasis to today’s busy business life. The logic behind it: “Take 10 minutes to relax and that makes all the difference,” Nargues says. To businesswomen who spend so much time in the concrete jungle, it is the ideal escape.

As well, the Perry was designed with sustainability in mind. This, the Mansouris stress, was very important. Plumbing and lighting choices were made to create an environmentally-sound structure and green products were (and are) used throughout the building.

In such a competitive market, it is fantastic to see two women rise above the pack and create an all-around quality condo residence that people will be happy to call home. Watch for the Perry as it joins the ranks of successful condo developments. And watch for Maryam and Nargues Mansouri as they join the ranks of real estate titans.