Is a Bank Foreclosure on its way?
Feb 20 News
One of the saddest things to hear as a realtor is that someone is losing their home to the bank. What a gut wrenching experience it must be for these families. I have seen so many good people get into trouble when they start doing renovations that they ultimately cannot pay for. Alternatively, some home owners get themselves into credit debt from buying through a "don't pay untill" payment plan. If you find yourself in that situation, the worst thing you can do is to do nothing, or not answer the phone when the bank calls you. The best way to deal with a missed mortgage payment is to call your bank as soon as possible and see what alternatives are available to you. Banks do not want to take your home back so make sure you call and do not let the problem get bigger and out of hand. If there is no reasonable expectation that you will be able to continue to meet the mortgage payments then you need to contact a local realtor. Be honest with your realtor that you need to sell sooner rather than later and price your home accordingly. If your home is taken over by the bank, there are expensive fees that may eat up any equity that you have built up in your home, so...act fast as the longer you wait the worse it will become for you. The link below is a great article on Foreclosure:
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More than one reason to keep condo fees low
Feb 19 Selling your home
Think that your condo fees only affect your monthly bank account? Think again! When your condominium apartment or townhome complex has higher than average monthly maintenance fees, it makes a negative impact on the sale price of your apartment or townhome. Condo boards should find savings where they can and do the best they can to keep these costs reasonable. The following link is to a Toronto Star article on this very subject:
TD Housing Outlook Report
Feb 18 Press Release
In general Canada's real estate market is healthy and is predicted to generally remain stable or make gains. The Alberta market may see as much as a 10% decrease in their average sale price over the next year in response to the major decrease in the price of crude oil. To read the full report from TD bank, click below:
Toronto Dominion Bank - Economics/Special/Regional Housing Feb 2015
Invest in Hamilton Now...while you still can!
Feb 17 Press Release
Read this article from Canadian Real Estate Wealth where they are predicting some 13,000 new jobs to the Hamilton area. This is great news for owners of real estate. If real estate investing in Hamilton is on your radar, the time has never been better. Click to read the full article: Investing in Hamilton Real Estate
In the square CONSUMER EVENT
Feb 12 Home Improvement
I know that when I was contemplating having a new kitchen intalled in my home, I did not know where to start. I hired an Interior Decorator to help with the initial colour selections, door styles, counters and then worked very closely with the kitchen designer at Home Depot. If you are interested in attending this even on Thursday, February 19th, let me know and I will reserve you a spot. Feel free to bring a friend along. The following is the link for Event Flyer for Kitchen Presentation. Happy kitchen planning!
Cameron Nolan is a long-time resident of Hamilton and a leading residential and commercial real estate broker in the area. His radio show Real Estate Made Simple can be heard on the first Saturday of every month on AM 900 CHML.