Green housing projects are mushrooming, but not as fast as developers would like them to. While environmentally friendly technologies are rapidly advancing, there is one aspect which still has not fully kept pace with the emergence of green housing on the property market—the issue of appraisals.

Imagine you are about to build a standard $500,000 house. In addition, you decide to invest into high-quality insulation, solar panels, and ask your architect to design the house to utilize sunshine to its fullest potential. This will cost you some decent money, so let’s say the final bill goes up to $600,000.

However, your bank’s appraiser sees it differently. “It doesn’t do a lot of good to simply add value based on cost, but the question is, ‘How much will the market pay on resale?’” says David Snook, an appraiser and member of the real property committee on education for the American Society of Appraisers.

Let’s finish our example. Your bank will only accept a $550,000 value. With a 20% down payment, you will need $160,000 instead of $110,000. With a high-ratio mortgage 5% down payment, you will need $77,500 instead of $27,500. That’s certainly more than a small difference. This might force you to consider the cheapest green option, using older and cheaper technologies, or maybe you will abandon the whole green idea of the project altogether.

However, deciding to go for a green house does make a difference. According to Green Work Realty report, green houses are priced 8.5% higher on the resale market, and also sell 22% faster. Unfortunately, when you deal with an appraiser having little or no experience with green housing technologies (and that’s quite possible, especially if you are among the green pioneers in your area), your home’s value will most probably be underestimated.

There is not much that can be done about it right now. Nevertheless, I believe there will be strong initiatives soon to standardize indicators of environmental and energetic efficiency, which will definitely help appraisers (and future owners) to move forward. Green real estate is not only about the environment—it’s also about money. Not many of us are willing to buy a car without at least a basic knowledge about its fuel consumption. Understanding home energy consumption is the natural next step.
 

Here's a quick note to let you know how we can help you or anyone you might introduce to us.

 House To Fall In Love With?

Michelle was referred to us by her friend and our client Scott Carscadden. In a fun twist of fate Michelle fell in love with a house very quickly, one that she had seen while Scott was searching for properties. The team jumped right in - Jen presented her successful offer and helped her buy it. Michelle then had to sell her own place.

Michelle was considering selling her cool downtown loft privately. She had sold a property in the past and thought she might try it again in this hot real estate market. After meeting with Julie and discovering what a detail oriented team we were, Michelle was very interested in working with us. She found that there no substitute for the level of service, and of all the marketing tools that the team brings to the transaction.

Michelle's condo was listed and featured on the website complete with valuable neighbourhood, building and suite highlights and information, plus floor plan, professional photos and a unique youtube video walk thru "tour" presentation by Julie. With all the extra efforts - mulitiple offers were generated and Michelle set a record high sale price in her buliding! She can relax now and focus on the up-coming closing of her new townhouse.

However, let's not pretend there have been only fine cut gems produced in our city. Every studio produces a bulk of average movies and necessarily some trash too.

Comedies, action movies, horrors, or sci-fi; they have only two things in common - they were all filmed in Toronto and surroundings and they are all absolutely terrible. Let me introduce my personal Top 5 of the worst movies ever shot in Toronto.

Get your house working for you by building a granny flat or basement apartment.

basement bedroom, 218 Howard Park Avenue

With recent economic uncertainty and job losses, coupled with rising house prices in some parts of the country, it's little wonder people are looking closer to home, or, more specifically, at their home, as a means to generate income. Turning a primary residence into a partial income property by adding a suite or basement apartment is a popular option for homeowners, but doing it right requires expert advice and a hefty investment.

One of the biggest draws is being able to supplement your mortgage payments. "We see it a lot with first-time buyers because it allows them to afford a bit more house," says real estate insider Jennifer Palacios, a member of the Julie Kinnear Team in Toronto. However, she stresses that projected income from a rental unit isn't factored in when applying for a mortgage and won't increase the amount for which you qualify.

"It's a convenient additional income for any homeowner," says Ivan Koval, president of ReliableConnections.com, a southern Ontario contractor referral service. He says the request for self-contained units in single-family homes has risen steadily since July 2000, when the City of Toronto's second suites bylaw came into effect.

Prior to this, there were plenty of basement apartments and such out there, but they weren't considered legal. The new bylaw allowed for second suites in all single-detached and semi-detached houses throughout the city, as long as they complied with certain conditions.

To read the whole article, click here.

Have you enjoyed this nice sunny weekend? Did you take out your patio furniture and thinking about inviting guests? Don't get fooled, winter has still some aces up sleeve.

You have few days more to make this year's first bike trips around or have a long walk along the waterfront; however you should plan it before the next weekend comes. David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada and Canadian weather guru, said “We're being seduced by Mother Nature, but if you're realistic about it, you really have to expect some more winter.”

There is a 60% chance of flurries at the end of this week, but it will not change the fact we are experiencing one of the driest winters in recent years. While average aggregated snow level is almost one meter, this winter recorded only 52 centimeters of snow so far. Naturally, such deviations from average give hard times to climatologists.

“It's almost like weather has taken a holiday. This is like the March Break for weather,” Mr. Phillips added.

It's normal to expect about 20% of overall winter snowfall to occur after the beginning of March. Well, Mother Nature will probably not be able to reach last years' standards, but you should have a snow shovel by hand anyway.

TREB just prepared a new issue of their regular Market Watch report, confirming a strong year ahead.

One look at the February 2010 sales results will help you to make a clear picture. With 7,291 items sold, there was 77% growth in sales compared to February 2009 and almost 50% growth compared to the January 2010 results. But everybody who read the mid-month report could expect it.

The average price went up 19% to $431,000. 12,726 new properties appeared on the market (24% more compared to the year before), rising thus the overall number of MLS listings to 14,514. However, it's still 32% less than in February 2009. But you don't have to be afraid that you may have problem selling your property – quite the opposite. We noticed record drop in terms of the Days on Market indicator – from 28 in January to 22 in February (and 45 the year before). This indicator hasn't been so low for months.

TREB President Tom Lebour commented: “Increases in existing home sales and average price were noted across the GTA in low-rise and high-rise hometypes. Similar rates of growth were experienced in the City of Toronto and surrounding 905 regions. This suggests that first time, move-up and down sizing buyers are all active in the existing home marketplace.”

However, slowly rising number of new listings suggests that the market will become more moderate later in 2010, when new listings should start to outstrip the sales growth.
 

The provincial government has provided rules/guidance on how it will transition to the implementation of the upcoming Harmonized Sales Tax.

Background

The provincial government has passed legislation to combine the eight percent Provincial Sales Tax with the five percent federal Goods and Services Tax, creating a 13 percent Harmonized Sales Tax (HST).

The HST will come into effect beginning on July 1, 2010; however, note transition rules below.

HST will not apply on the purchase price of re-sale homes.

HST would apply to services such as moving cost, legal fees, home inspection fees, and REALTOR® commissions.

HST will apply to the purchase price of newly constructed homes. However, the Province is proposing a rebate so that new homes across all price ranges would receive a 75 per cent rebate of the provincial portion of the single sales tax on the first $400,000. For new homes under $400,000, this would mean, on average, no additional tax amount compared to the current system.

Transitional Rules for New Housing

Generally, sales of new homes under written agreements of purchase and sale entered into on or before June 18, 2009 would not be subject to the provincial portion of the single sales tax, even if both ownership and possession are transferred on or after July 1, 2010.
The tax would also not apply to sales of new homes under written agreements of purchase and sale entered into after June 18, 2009 where ownership or possession is transferred before July 1, 2010.

Additional Transitional Rules

Where services straddle the HST implementation date of July 1, 2010, the tax charged for the service may have to be split between the pre-July 2010 and post-June 2010 periods. However, the HST will generally not apply to a service if all or substantially all (90% or more) of the service is performed before July 2010.
Four key timelines are important (see below). All are based on the earlier of the time the consideration is either due (In general, an amount is due on the date of the invoice or the day required to be paid pursuant to a written agreement), or is paid without having become due. If consideration is due or paid,
Before October 15, 2009, HST will generally not apply (however, see above transition rules for new housing).
From October 15, 2009 to April 30, 2010, certain business that are not entitled to recover all of their GST/HST paid as input tax credit may be required to self-assess the provincial component of the HST with respect to goods or services supplied after June 30, 2010.
From May 1, 2010 to June 30, 2010, HST will generally apply for services supplied after June 30, 2010.
After June 30, 2010, HST will generally apply. An exception to this rule would be where ownership of the property is transferred before July 2010 or the invoice relates to services provided before July 2010.
With regard to the lease or license of goods, including non-residential real property, HST will generally apply to lease intervals or payment periods on or after July 1, 2010 and the general rules noted above will apply. However, where a lease interval begins before July 2010 and ends before July 31, 2010, it is not subject to HST.
With regard to the sale of non-residential property, HST is due where both possession and ownership of non-residential property occurs on or after July 1, 2010.

Additional detail on the transition rules is available at the provincial government web site or by calling the provincial government enquiry line at 1-800-337-7222.

Dundas and Parliament

Published in Friday's Globe and Mail on Friday, February 19th, 2010.

248 Ontario Street, Cabbagetown

• 248 ONTARIO STREET, Toronto
• ASKING PRICE: $499,000
• SELLING PRICE: $565,565
• PREVIOUS SELLING PRICE: 385,000 (2003)
• TAXES: $$3,684 (2009)
• LOT SIZE: 18 by 96 feet
• DAYS ON THE MARKET: six
• LISTING AGENT: Julie Kinnear, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.

To the delight of potential buyers, this 1,718-square-foot residence in Cabbagetown offers the charm of a heritage home, yet the conveniences of an urban dwelling, agent Julie Kinnear says.

"It had a lot going for it," she says. "It's a little bit quirky."

About 116 years ago, this detached, two-storey structure was built with full sound barriers and separate foundations from adjacent properties. In the 1980s, a major renovation eliminated some drawbacks typically found in old Victorian homes.

For instance, the interior is flooded with sun from skylights, walkouts and large windows, such as the one along the staircase to the 589-square-foot basement.

Sliding glass doors brings natural light into the recreation room and office in the lower level, which was dug deeper by about three feet. "I think the basement was one of the big highlights because a lot of Victorians don't have any basements at all," the agent says.

The main floor is fairly open with a combined living/dining area with a wood-burning fireplace and hardwood floors below 10½-foot ceilings.

The kitchen was outfitted with a rare powder room, painted hardwood floors and appliances including a gas stove, plus a walkout to the interlocking patio and an oversized garage off the rear lane.

The second floor houses laundry facilities, an updated bathroom and three bedrooms. One is brightly lit with a skylight and sliding balcony doors.

Changes within the past decade include an upgraded furnace, central air and central vacuum systems, as well as some new windows, roofing and insulation.

"It's definitely a user-friendly house," Ms. Kinnear says.