February 6 2019 Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News

toothpick

Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News 

February 6 2019

Wednesday February 6 2019. In this week’s Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: January in review, local blog recommended reading, hoarders, home selling true facts, facebook, we’re #3, data on affordability, toothpicks…

January surprise

Well, turns out the market is a lot hotter than the weather, warmer than a warm slipper and better than I felt it was. The January stats are in and prices, inventory and the number of sales are all up (see story below). And for me, although I thought I spent most of January listening to Baroque music and drinking coffee, I managed to list and conditionally sell a nice place and see at least one client everyday for many of the past 25 days. I guess I’m busier than I though. Maybe I’m just working smarter, not harder, eh?

10 great January 2019 stories from Waterloo EDC blog

There was tons of exciting news in Waterloo over the last month. That made choosing just 10 stories a challenge, but they did it anyway:

January sales up!

  • There were 307 residential sales in January, an increase of 14.6 per cent compared to January 2018. The number of units sold last month were up nearly 15 per cent compared to the previous ten-year average for January.
  • Total residential sales in January included 189 detached (up 26 per cent), and 80 condominium units (up 19.4 per cent). 
  • The average sale price of all residential properties sold in January increased 5.3 per cent to $484,076 compared to January 2018. The median price of all residential properties sold last month increased 5.3 per cent to $455,000.
  • 585 residential properties were listed in K-W and area last month, an increase of 25.5per cent compared to January of 2018. The number of active residential listings on the KWAR’s MLS® System to the end of January totalled 810, which is 11.4 per cent more than January of last year, but still well below the previous ten-year average of 1,189 listings for January.
  • The average days it took to sell a home in January was 26 days, which is 5 days less than the amount of time it took in January 2018.

The hard, disgusting reality of growing up with a hoarder

One of the very first houses I ever helped a buyer with in Kitchener-Waterloo was a hoarder’s house. It was amazing! With the popularity of Maria Kondo and the minimalist movement, I thought it would be fun to look at a life lived in a hoarder’s house. 

Home selling true facts

It’s not rocket surgery, or brain science. It’s easy as pie, selling a house is. You just have to do most things right. There are things that you cannot control, like competing listings entering the market, an economic shock to the economy… sometimes luck deals you a bad hand but we all know in our heart of hearts many of these irrefutable truths in real estate home selling. 

Fifteen years of Facebook

On October 19 2007, I joined Facebook. I suppose I was a little late to the game. It was already 3 and 1/2 years old by then. We joined in droves. We left in droves. It was a blip. It changed. It was like meeting an old friend that you had lost touch with and realizing that you really didn’t have that much in common with them anymore, except nostalgia. At the beginning, it was friends and family. At the end it was politics and arguments. Here is 15 defining moments on Facebook. 

Overall best countries ranking

Here are the Best Countries in 2019 measured by global performance on a variety of metrics.

  1. Switzerland
  2. Japan
  3. Canada
  4. Germany
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Sweden

Top 5 least affordable cities for real estate

No real surprises here, but lots of great data in this 15th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, rating middle-income housing affordability in Australia, Canada, China (Hong Kong), Ireland, New Zealand,  Singapore, United Kingdom and United States 

Toothpicks

I visited the new Chinese supermarket T&T. It was just before Chinese New Year and the place was packed. But then, I think it is always packed. Every time I drive by, I notice that the parking lot is a heck of a lot fuller than it used to be. 

I bought some toothpicks.

My wife hates it when I leave the toothpicks in my club sandwiches. 

“You’re going to poke yourself in the eye”, she says. 

But I like the way the toothpicks preserve the integrity of the sandwich, keeping the four triangles together as they are meant to be kept. 

I like chewing on the toothpicks after lunch too. 

When I was growing up we only had the flat toothpicks back then, not the fancy cocktail toothpicks with the colourful cellophane like we have today. And not the bamboo ones that come from Asia. 

I know. I know. I’m a simple man with simple needs. But progress can reveal itself in even the smallest thing, like a toothpick.

Visit KW Home Hub if you are interested in: 

Polar vortexes, rent, supply and demand.

Read last week’s KWREN here 

If you like the Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News, tell a friend. 

And don’t forget about Keith Marshall, where this story all began!

Written By
More from Keith
A few things to be considered before you buy
A recent survey by TD Canada Trust polled over a thousand women and...
Read More
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *