Vol. 28, Issue 1, January 2020
- Julie's Scoop
- Quote of the Day
- Chit Chat...
- Market Watch & Mortgage Rates
- Feeling like Giving Back?
- The Julie Kinnear Team's GEMs (Genuine Evidence of Merit)
- What They Got - More of our happy buyers & sellers!
- The JKT's Featured Furry Friend
- A few of our Favourite things
Julie's Scoop
Happy New Year and #2020Vision!
Hope everyone enjoyed the seemingly extra long break this year. What a holiday though, marred by the out of control bushfires of Australia, Iran / US conflict and the heartbreaking plane crash of Flight 752. It is another reminder to count our blessings and be grateful for our good health, beautiful country and the many reasons to be hopeful.
Our team has been growing since our last newsletter! Jay Banks, a 25 plus year veteran award winning realtor joined our team. I know from personally watching him run his very organized and award winning business with Re/Max all these years while in Vancouver and the way he treated his clients, the ethics he stood for and his loyal clientele that he will be a great asset for the JKT. I am glad that he and Brenda moved back to Toronto. It is exciting to work with Jay as he's also my stepfather :).
The team was busy wrapping up a strong real estate Fall season and we are glad to hear the positive forecasts for the upcoming year. Once again we happily worked alongside some of our Inukshuk club members at the Daily Bread Food Bank prepping for their big Christmas banquet dinner for many of their full time volunteers and their families.
Volunteering at the Daily Bread Food Bank
We also managed to fit in one of our favourite traditions - which is courtesy of Claire on our team - the Second City Holiday comedy show. So many laughs, it stays with you, and brings a lot of joy. We highly recommend it!!
Team night out!
Holly had a very exciting move over the holidays, as she is now happily ensconced in her new fabulous investment property. You may have seen some of the videos & favourite things Holly has posted over the past few months sharing some of her experiences around prepping her previous home for sale, moving, and going through some of the financial hoops as she is once again all too familiar with the ups and downs of selling a home and buying a new one. Valuable lessons Holly will be sharing with our clientele!
On a personal note, my Mother Brenda and I travelled to Vienna/Kittsee/Bratislava in November to visit my brother Alec (he of the hosting and running our exceptional website fame), Lucia and their two young boys and couldn't miss the Vienna Christmas Markets. They live in Kittsee, Austria which is a beautiful village about 35 minutes east of Vienna and about 20 minutes west of Bratislava Slovakia. It was wonderful spending time with Constantin (4 years old) and meeting the extremely happy Julian (3 months) for the first time. What a great honour it has been to be asked to be Julian's Godmother and that we were able to be at the christening at the St Martin's Cathedral (built in the 15th century) in Bratislava. So moving!
Julie & Brenda visiting Vienna
As this is the start of a new year and a new decade, it is an opportunity to reflect on the past, on the present and on the future. Thank you for your love, your trust and your continued enthusiasm and support of our JKTeam, and allowing us to be your guides, and partners in some of the biggest moments of your lives. We look forward to a fantastic year ahead with you!
guiding you home™,
Julie
P.S. Wishing you and your loved ones much joy, good health and prosperity in 2020.
Our clients are looking for the best quality information about deciding on best schools and neighbourhoods - that is why we've partnered with a SchoolQ providing invaluable resources! Visit schoolQ.ca/juliekinnearteam & let us know what you think!
Quote of the Day:
Chit Chat...
- Did you get a chance to see the December Spotlight on our entrepreneurial client Pete Lilly of Sweet Pete's Bike Shops? Awesome story and where Julie spend lots of time with her love of cycling too!
- Krazy Kontest Winner... The December winner was Debbie Kinoshita. Kongrats and enjoy your gift card!
Market Watch ~ December and Annual 2019 Stats Stats
January 7, 2020 - Toronto Real Estate Board President Michael Collins reported that December 2019 residential sales reported through TREB's MLS® System by GTA REALTORS® were up by 17.4% year-over-year. Total sales for 2019 amounted to 87,825 – up by 12.6% compared to the decade low 78,015 sales reported in 2018. On an annual basis, 2019 sales were in line with the median annual sales result for the past decade.
"We certainly saw a recovery in sales activity in 2019, particularly in the second half of the year. As anticipated, many home buyers who were initially on the sidelines moved back into the market place starting in the spring. Buyer confidence was buoyed by a strong regional economy and declining contract mortgage rates over the course of the year," said Mr. Collins.
While sales were up in 2019, the number of new listings entered into TREB's MLS® System was down by 2.4% year-over-year. For the past decade, annual new listings have been largely in a holding pattern between 150,000 and 160,000, despite the upward trend in home prices over the same period.
"Over the last ten years, TREB has been drawing attention to the housing supply issue in the GTA. Increasingly, policy makers, research groups of varying scope and other interested parties have acknowledged that the lack of a diverse supply of ownership and rental housing continues to hamper housing affordability in the GTA. Taking 2019 as an example, we experienced a strong sales increase up against a decline in supply. Tighter market conditions translated into accelerating price growth. Expect further acceleration in 2020 if there is no relief on the supply front," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Chief Market Analyst.
The MLS® Home Price Index Composite Benchmark was up by 7.3% on a year-over-year basis in December 2019. From June 2019 onward, the annual growth rate in the MLS® HPI Composite Benchmark accelerated. The average selling price in December 2019 was $837,788 – up almost 12% year-over-year. For calendar year 2019, the average selling price was $819,319 – up by 4% compared to $787,856 in 2018.
Feeling like Giving Back? Pretty in Pink – St. Joe’s Movie Night!
The JKT is honoured to sponsor St. Joe's movie night! Please support this great cause and purchase tickets.
Girls Night Out! Bring a friend, sip some wine and debate Duckie vs Blane all while supporting the fight against breast cancer. Purchase tickets inside the venue for a chance to win amazing prizes. Proceeds from the event support The Geoffrey H. Wood Centre of Excellence in Breast Cancer Screening and Treatment at St. Joseph's Health Centre.
Pretty in Pink is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy film about love and high school social cliques. The film's soundtrack is considered one of the best in modern cinema and features artists such as Psychedelic Furs, New Order and The Smiths.
Details:
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Revue Cinema
Doors open at 7pm, screening begins at 8pm
More info at https://supportstjoes.ca/events/pretty-in-pink-movie-night/
The Julie Kinnear Team's GEMs (Genuine Evidence of Merit)
A company's success is strongly impacted by the customer reviews and for those of us in real estate, Google reviews and Facebook reviews create the biggest impact. We are asking for your help to go online and add your input and we will happily donate to a charity of your choice for your efforts!
You can do it on Google Maps here (it's very very important that you write a comment as well in addition to the rating), or you can also leave the same review on JKT's Facebook page here by clicking on "Yes" next to the "Do you recommend the JKT?" It's true, 5* reviews are almost as precious as a referral nowadays!
"We loved working with Lisa Taliano, she is really exceptional! She listens so well and she captured a sense of what we were hoping to find almost immediately. She actually enjoys looking at houses and always wanted to hear exactly what we did and didn't like so we could fine-tune our search. The house we ended up buying we found from her email of listings. While we were tempted by previous houses, Lisa’s patience allowed us to feel comfortable waiting for the perfect house and we couldn’t believe our luck when we found it. Lisa really shines when it comes to making an offer and we were so happy to get the first and only house we bid on.
In the meantime, even before we had bid on a house, Lisa had the team working on the marketing of our house. The floor plan was ready and we had met with the home stager and already done most of the recommended work, which allowed us to have our house listed within a week of buying. The market moves so fast but we were prepared! The marketing on our house was incredible—stunning staging, photography, and brochures, plus a walk through video by Lisa.
We had offers immediately and secured the price we needed without any time to worry. In the meantime, Lisa had also set us up with a hard-working mortgage broker and so we felt we were in good hands from start to finish. I’m not sure how buying and selling a home can be stress free but this is as close as it gets! It’s a great feeling knowing you can trust your agent. Lisa is such a conscientious person and it’s clear that she loves her work. On top of it all we had the support of the fantastic Julie Kinnear Team, so many thanks to all!"
- Claire and Bradley
Interested in new build condos and townhouses? We have access to pre-public sales of new developments. Be sure to get in touch to take advantage of this leg up!
What They Got - More of our happy buyers & sellers!
A continuing column of the Julie Kinnear Team's sales...
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15 Pebble Bywy #64 ~ Hillcrest Village Sold Under Asking |
1250 King St W #31 ~ South Parkdale List Price: $650,000 Sold Over Asking |
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504 Willard Avenue ~ Bloor West Village Sold Over Asking |
125 Meadowvale Drive ~ Etobicoke Sold Over Asking |
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27 Aziel Street ~ Junction Sold Over Asking |
274 Pacific Avenue ~ High Park Sold Under Asking |
Did You Know? We have a large number of awesome trusted realtors in different towns and communities across Ontario, Canada and Internationally. Just get in touch so we can introduce you.
Our Purpose
Our purpose is for you to be so outrageously happy with the service we provide that you gladly refer us to your friends and family before you've even bought or sold with us.
The JKT's Featured Furry Friend – Mickey (Julie & Mary’s Dog)!
Murphy & his big sister Mickey (the white one!)
Our little white girl was named after Mary's Mom's dog growing up. We thought she was a cockapoo like our other dog at the time Bella, but it turned out she is a Shih-poo. How do you love these nicknames? A cross between a Shih Tzu & Poodle. Mickey, or as she is affectionately referred to as MooMoo, is 13 and a champ. In fact the vet recently said that she is so fit & heart healthy that she is ready to run a marathon. And for many of you who know our little cutey, that is pretty amazing news, as Mick has had numerous orthopaedic surgeries - 2 ACL's, & back surgery, not to mention her other very traumatic yet emergent issues over the years.
One of Mickey's strengths is her ability to recover and carry on like nothing has happened. She is fiercely independent on her walks, preferring to sniff to her hearts content and then have to run long and far to catch up to the rest of us. She is very devoted to Mary especially (and me) and extremely food driven. Drives us crazy how she can practically tell time, as she noses us to be fed right at the clock of 8am and 5pm! Mickey was the younger brattier sister to Bella for 5 years, and now is the older mature sister to her bestie Murphy for the past 8 years, who gives it right back to her, the way Mick used to when she was the baby.
The JKT - A few of our Favourite Things:
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Claire
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Jen
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Holly
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Lisa
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Brenda
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Jay
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Julie
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