It sounds like quite the coincidence, but my roommate from law school also ended up practising in real estate – albeit in a much larger firm in Toronto. I got an email from Mahira a little while ago with a link to a case she thought I would find interesting, and I’ve...
Latest News
Real Estate
New or used?
MoneySense Magazine ran an article back in November on the 10 mistakes people make when buying a brand-new home rather than purchasing a resale property. In order: Falling in love with the show home Trusting the floor plan Not getting a lawyer involved until after you...
Subject to lawyer’s approval
Mark Weisleder wrote this article for Moneyville a while back on several recent issues with the “subject to lawyer’s approval” clause found in many real estate deals. He discussed two cases in particular, one where the deal was successfully cancelled because of a...
Fixed or variable?
The Globe and Mail had a feature a while ago about whether you should choose a fixed or variable rate mortgage when you buy or refinance, which included this handy summary of the issues. As noted in the article, if you are less comfortable with risk or are certain...
Rent or buy?
I came across this post a few weeks ago on reasons why it’s better to rent than to buy. In a nutshell, rent instead of buying if: (1) You move often (i.e. less than every five years) (2) You want money to invest in something else, or won’t have money to invest in...
Oops!
The Red Pin posted a link to this amusing little story the other day. Well, it was amusing to me - I'm sure it wasn't amusing to the seller. In a nutshell, over a series of emails Kelty Druet agreed to sell her condo to Marc Girouard for $155,000. Four hours later,...
Down by the bay
Up here in Simcoe County, there is a lot of waterfront property. In Barrie alone there are homes all along Kempenfelt Bay, and there are numerous lakes throughout the County where people own homes with waterfront access. There are particular issues to be aware of when...
Don’t take my land – please
There is a lot of construction going on in the south end of Barrie right now, with one of the major projects being the expansion of Mapleview Drive between Bayview Drive and Huronia Road. There is also talk that Mapleview is going to be expanded straight through to...
The end of the variable era?
I read this very interesting article in the Globe and Mail the other day. In a nutshell: fixed rate mortgages are the way to go right now. Because of prime rates being so low, and the constant fluctuations in the markets, it is possible to get a fixed-rate mortgage at...
Bridging the gap
I have a lot of clients who are moving up and selling the starter home they own in order to buy a larger home. Most of the time, they have these transactions occur on the same day: sell in the morning, buy in the afternoon, spend the weekend moving in. But what...