Toronto Real Estate Newsletter November 2020

Vol. 33, Issue 6, November 2020


Julie's Scoop

Howdy!

How are you? We hope you are safe and well. If you enjoy a good dump of snow out of the blue then you must be in heaven! Lots to look forward to this winter!

As we all heard, Toronto has been ordered back into the “grey” lockdown category. I am very hopeful that this will help drive the numbers down and allow for a healthier and more optimistic Christmas. Now that we are more aware of what this virus is vs the first lockdown, we can make the changes without the fear. And of course we are all used to working remotely, video teaching, virtual cocktail parties, masks, outdoor visits etc. Here’s hoping everyone will act accordingly and do their part to stop the spread. Thankfully real estate is considered an essential service so sales will carry on with safety protocols. It is truly a beacon of hope that individuals and families can continue to move forward with their lives and plans in regards to their housing needs.

Covid style birthday party - a nice walk in Sunnybrook Park with the dogs!

The market has continued to be quite healthy and robust. Pretty crazy stats in the Market Watch Section. We have so many success stories to share of clients making exciting changes in their lives. As you can see from the What They Got Section the condo market is still moving, albeit slower with more inventory to choose from. The investor market is also a bit up and down. There continues to be bidding wars on some properties. The still record low interest rates are also helping keep the market stable.

One of the interesting trends that has arisen from the pandemic is the desire for a swimming pool. Pools are popular! Pools are in demand. There is a waiting list to have a pool built. Our team can vouch for this phenomenon. We have clients building them, and specifically buying new homes with them and so on. Check out the pics from our new listing in Leaside - which includes a gorgeous salt water pool! If you know anyone looking, we’re happy to help!

124 Leacrest - with a beautiful pool

You might have seen on our social media that shopping local is what we are focusing on right now, especially with the lockdown. Please share your ideas with us as well to keep that theme alive and support the businesses here in town. Our latest Krazy Kontest prize was a gift certificate for Rowe Farms. Another example of shopping local.

Personal updates - Holly has been very busy improving the exterior of her new home in High Park/Junction.


Holly's front porch floor

Mary, Murphy & I were extremely saddened to say goodbye to our darling dog Mickey after 14 adventurous years.


Mickey or Moo Moo

Brenda continues to feel better these days and as you will read in the Favourite Things section, the US election has been quite the topic and distraction. Jay is loving Mary’s cooking and long walks on the Humber. Jen is loving having her escape in Belfountain with Nessy, Sherman, Nellie and becoming more handy!


Jen Palacios & Elena Palacios-Wong In Belfountain

Our family is so grateful for technology that allows us to feel close to my brother Alec’s family in Austria. With 3 young boys it is a lively household and the babies are growing up fast! Last year at this time Brenda & I were visiting the Christmas Markets in Vienna plus Alec & Lucia and the boys in Kittsee & Bratislava to celebrate the Christening of my godson / nephew Julian. What a difference a year makes in travel plans!


Big brother Constantin helping Julian in the play castle

Stay safe! Keep your distance, wear your masks and be sure to keep washing your hands!

guiding you home™,
Julie

P.S. If you haven’t checked out the interest rates - see the Mortgage Section further on in the newsletter - it’s amazing! Might be a good time to even renegotiate longer term mortgages at these new rates - feel free to reach out to Jason Friesen for more information.

P.P.S. If you are needing trusted real estate advice from our team, (who prides itself in guiding and protecting our peeps), please reach out today!


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…

What you did not know

Holly has multiple talents singing and acting! Holly has been working with her vocal coach and friend Ryan Luchuck on some music videos/scripts that are very cool as part of Ryan’s social distance - sing workshop. Very impressive, even the lighting, editing and filming. Check Holly out in the very current version of Fever and In a House.

Babies!

Congratulations to Lucia and Alec who welcomed their third son Alexander Aurélien on 1st of October.

Congratulations to Sophie Guilbault and Ali Husain who welcomed their newborn son, Raphael, in October.

Congratulations to Caleigh McInnes and Dan Minkin who welcomed baby Eli into the world on October 12.

Wedding Bells!

Congratulations to Stefanie Buszynski and Jonathan Sawatsky got hitched at the end of September.

Shop Local!

In case you haven’t heard - The One of a Kind Sale has gone virtual. Be sure to check it out at: www.oneofakindshow.com

Another idea this year might be to spread holiday cheer by buying gift cards to a favourite local restaurant for your friends and family gifts - perfect to use for take out!

St Joe’s Hospital has been a life saver for our family this year and they have a really fabulous creative fundraiser - just in time for gift giving and also falls under the Shop Local theme. Green Thumbs Up for St. Joe’s are selling holiday greens, poinsettias, wreaths and centrepieces. This fundraiser provides a safe curbside location to pick up (Nordstrom at Sherway Gardens). Orders need to be place no later than Nov 26th @ 5 pm. Please take a moment now to order – www.stjoesgtu.ca All the products are grown in Ontario!

 
 

Krazy Kontest Winners…Kongratulations!

Kongratulations to our September’s Krazy Kontest winner Lisa Au - hope your gift card to Staples came just in time for all your needed work from home / school supplies!

Kongratulations to our October Winner Madhu Mohan - no doubt your gift card to Uber Eats helped with a night of ordering in!

November's Krazy Kontest Winner was Tanya Johansen - enjoy your gift certificate to any Rowe Farms!

Market Watch ~ October 2020 Stats from TRREB

Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) were up again year-over-year for the fourth month in a row. Our Members made 10,563 sales as reported through the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board’s MLS® System in October 2020. This was up by 25.1 per cent compared to 8,445 transactions in October 2019.

Sales and new listings reached record levels for the month of October. However, year-over-year growth rates for sales and new listings diverged in some market segments. In the detached market segment, the pace of annual sales growth far outstripped growth in new listings. Conversely, the condominium apartment market segment experienced more than double the new listings compared to October 2019, whereas sales were only up by 2.2 per cent over the same period.

Lisa Patel said: “Competition between buyers of single-family homes, and particularly detached houses, remained strong last month and continued to support double-digit annual rates of price growth in many GTA neighbourhoods. In contrast, condo buyers have benefitted from much more choice compared to last year. Pre-COVID polling had already pointed to an increase in investor selling in 2020. The pandemic only added to this trend with a stall in economic growth and a halt to tourism impacting cashflows for many investors.”


The MLS® HPI Composite Benchmark was up by 10.8 per cent on a year-over-year basis in October 2020. The average selling price for all home types combined was $968,318 – up by 13.7 per cent compared to $851,877 in October 2019.

TRREB’s Chief Market Analyst, Jason Mercer said: “Year-to-date home sales through October were above last year’s level. The economic recovery in some sectors coupled with low borrowing costs has kept home purchases top-of-mind for many GTA residents. With this being said, we have not accounted for all of the pent-up demand that resulted from the spring downturn. Expect record or near-record home sales for the remainder of 2020.”

 
 

Sales & Average Price by Major Home Type in the TORONTO 416 area for October 2020


 Mortgage Rates

Feeling like Giving Back?

Fred Victor Charitable Organization

 

Fred Victor is a social service charitable organization that fosters long-lasting and positive change in the lives of homeless and low-income people living across Toronto. As one of the leading homelessness charities in Toronto, they have extensive experience providing and managing affordable housing, transitional housing, and emergency shelters – as well as offering other support services and referrals for people experiencing homelessness.

If you are in the position to pay it forward, please, donate to one of you favourite charities during this special time of year.

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!

 
 
 

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!


Keep an eye out for our upcoming listings!

This Month’s Featured Properties

~ 124 Leacrest Road | Leaside

South Leaside! Stylish Open Concept Custom Build with POOL!

Warms you up just thinking about the salt water pool & your own outdoor oasis on a cold wintery day!

Stylish, Extra Wide Open Concept Custom Build Offers A Growing Family An Exceptional Quality Of Life!

• Quiet Street. 3800 Sq Ft (Incl. Lower Level) Was Made For A Covid friendly Lifestyle, You Don't Need To Go Anywhere To Have It All!
• Soaring Ceilings
• 2 Private Offices
• Home Gym
• Steps To Hiking, Running, Mountain Bike Trails.
• Walk To Shops & Superb Schools.

~ 75 Wynford Heights Crescent #801 | North York

Bright and Spacious 2 Bedroom Condo in Luxurious 75 Wynford Heights Crescent!

• Bright & Spacious 2 Bedroom Condo in a Luxurious Building.
• Hello, empty-nesters! This is your opportunity to downsize into an attractive condo with a superior floor plan, and generous-size principal rooms to place your most prized furniture pieces!
• 2 parking.

~ 155 Dalhousie Street #501 | Central Toronto - Downtown

Gorgeous 1760 SF West Facing Corner Loft in the Iconic Merchandise Building!

• Gorgeous 1760 SF Rare Corner Loft in the Iconic Merchandise Building!
• Super sleek renovations - Incredible Chef’s kitchen!
• Ultra-spacious 2 bedroom, 2 full baths with a superior floor plan and view.
• Overlooks Ryerson Urban Farm Right Across = Greenery right in front of your windows and such a bonus in Downtown Toronto!
• This is ideal for moving up into so much more space, or easily downsizing from a house/townhome!
 

 
 

What They Got - More of our happy buyers & sellers!

A continuing column of the Julie Kinnear Team's sales...

 
 
 
 

3 Everson Dr. #150 ~ North York

Sold for asking price

1190 Dundas St E Toronto #811 ~ Leslieville

Sold over asking price - JKT listing

 
 
 
 
 
 

15 Bruyeres Mews #108 ~ Downtown

Sold just under asking price (represented buyer)

170 Sudbury St. #509 ~ Queen West

Sold just under asking price (represented buyer)

 
 
 
 
 

241A Lambton Avenue ~ Rockcliffe

Sold just under asking price (represented buyer)

5233 Dundas Street West #518 ~ Etobicoke

Sold just under asking price (represented buyer)


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.

Featured video

Julie & Murphy are in the holiday spirit and they want to shop local. Watch the video and please share your ideas with us! We would love to hear them and get inspired.

Watch more of our videos on our Youtube channel!


The JKT - A few of our Favourite Things:

   

Jen

  • Canine15 - a great supplement for older dogs. Since I started giving it to Nessy, a 15 1/2 year old lab/sheppard x, she has had a renewed spring in her step. She is even on the website under testimonials!
  • YouTube How-To videos - I have managed to do numerous fix-it projects around the house after watching a YouTube video.

Holly

  • Carpenter James Ingram of Deckster Decks - he's passionate about what he does, he's smart, and does beautiful work. It took me awhile to find him. I'm glad I was patient!
  • Blackstar Aluminum - I experienced top-notch customer service from beginning to end, and the work is outstanding.
  • Apple Airpods Pro - yes those little cordless earphone come in the Pro series -  it was a bit of an indulgence but worth it!

Jay

  • The People’s Pint Brewery on Cawthra Avenue in the Junction Triangle - They offer many different tastes of fine brews. My personal favourite is Timelord IPA – it is a taste redolent of the fine IPA’s I enjoyed on the West Coast of BC. They have outside social-distancing seating on the weekends. Definitely worth a visit!

Julie

  • Suetables - Shop local! A wonderful Canadian jewellery store (you can find stores on Yonge St & Roncesvalles Ave. in T-dot. Just recently received a beautiful bracelet gift from there and love it!
  • Wine Away - its amazing how it can remove stains :)
    All natural / biodegradable. Very covid friendly!
  • The Bike Nook - ordered this from our local Canadian Tire store. So easy to park my bike upright to save space with no need to install anything in the wall, moves around easily.

Brenda

  • As a long time political junkie the most excitement of the past few months has been observing the US election campaign. Since I don’t watch TV I followed it online through the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN, The Atlantic magazine, Vanity Fair and my favourite of all The Bulwark Newsletter and podcasts. Lots of thrills and surprises throughout.
  • To distract from post-election stress I have been reading one of my favourite authors Louise Penny. Her new Inspector Gamache mystery All the Devils Are Here is set in Paris instead of Quebec. A thrilling read, a fabulous series.

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