Kinnear's Komments
Volume 10 Issue 1
By Referral Only™
April 2002
On my own again in a hectic market!
This year seems to be flying by and I must apologize for not getting this newsletter out earlier
With all the media coverage of the market since the beginning of this year, I won't reiterate it all again. Suffice to say that there have been more multiple offers than ever before, and some pretty wild sale prices. If you bought a year ago, you invested wisely.
At this point it seems the market is slightly less frantic than it was perhaps a month ago. That is not to say that there still aren't many many buyers out there, just that I think buyers are not willing to go way over asking price unless they LOVE it. I feel the media has exaggerated some facts, or simply focused on the anomalies in the real estate market, instead of the general goings on.
2001 brought many changes, and significant growth in my life. It also marked the 5th year (in 6) that I received the President's Gold award. As an extra bonus, it means that I proudly earned the Royal LePage Award of Excellence for my first time.
Your ongoing support & business is truly appreciated. I love my job & my clients. I consider myself very fortunate to have this exciting career. I must admit it is pretty hectic without my Mom being around to carry some of the load! That old saying about appreciating people when they are gone sure applies here!
Chit Chat Column
Obituary
Pat Bird, close friend and colleague of Brenda's and myself died April 4, 2002, she was 55.
Wedding Bells!
Sincere congratulations to:
Kate Jamieson & Fraser Bertram who got engaged in Venice in March
New Baby to Welcome
Ivan Popovic-Laine was born Dec. 7, 2001 at 7 lbs 11 oz. and was welcomed by an excited big brother Alec. And parents Natalija & Dari
Why Refinancing May Make Sense
Right Now: Excerpts from Calum Ross
With interest rates as low as they are today, you may be able to save thousands by breaking your existing mortgage and renewing at today's attractive rates.
Reality dictates that many people have leveraged themselves with lots of debt (not necessarily a bad thing). Your home and existing mortgage may be the best form of budget restructuring that you have available to you today.
When you look at the mortgage refinancing decision, don't simply look at your mortgage alone. Before you discount the advantage of the equity in your home, take the time to carefully write down all of your current debt obligations and rank them from highest interest to lowest. Once you have totaled all your debts, then take the time to write your minimum payments beside them. With the two columns side by side, total them up.
Now that we have these totals, it is time to look at the costs of breaking the mortgage. Refer to your original mortgage commitment to determine which penalty you will have to incur.
With the new lower interest rate, each payment that you make will have a bigger impact on the principal amount repaid.
Only consolidate the debt that is carrying a higher rate of interest than the new mortgage rate will be. Since a mortgage is usually the lowest interest debt that you carry, this will often mean that all of your debts become a part of your mortgage.
With any luck your refinancing decision will not only save you a lot of interest, but also convert multiple monthly payments into one low monthly payment. With all this extra cash flow you will now have the money to do all the other things you want to do (like catch up on your RRSPs for example). The huge gulf between today's short-term and long-term rates would seem to suggest going short when it comes to renewing your mortgage. From a number of lenders interviewed, none advised locking in for five years. Preference for a variable-rate mortgage because the rates are so low. Use the savings to pay down your principal.
Online Resources for home buyers and sellers
While there is no substitute for one-to-one professional advice from a qualified Real Estate Specialist, the Internet can certainly make the process more comfortable.
Look up www.JulieKinnear.com.
Along the bottom of the home page you will see a toolbar which will enable you to:
These are a few of the many options that are available on my site that will make your transition of buying or selling your house much easier.
The reason why birds can fly and we can’t is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.
James Barrie
Neighbourhood Corner
Downtown Condo Market
The Downtown Condo Market (C-1) was extremely active in the 1st quarter of 2002, with 415 apartment sales recorded, up 55% from the same three-month period last year. The average price remained stable at $250,330. However, the median price rose 11% to $227,011 over 2001's $204,000 figure.
Downtown Core
Downtown Toronto (C-1) got the year off on the right foot, with 108 sales of condominium apartments, up 71% from the 63 condo sales recorded in January 2001. The median price also rose, to $219,750, up 10% from the $200,000 recorded during the same month last year.
In addition, there were 8 townhouse sales in C-1; the median price for these was $222,000, identical to the January 2001 figure.
