Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News

July 18 2018

Wednesday July 18 2018. In this week’s Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: raining real estate, prefabricated homes, bank hikes rates, white-boxing, metal roofing, sales activity, nap lounging, sleepless in Waterloo

It’s raining homes

I got caught in the rain twice on Monday. That was nice. I got nearly soaked even under an umbrella, it was coming down so hard. But it was a warm wet rain. It seems like a long, long time since we had any significant rain, a summer rain, thunderstorms.

It’s raining home sales it seems. I’m now waiting for the summer slowdown. It seems to me that everything is happening late this year, including the traditional summer slowdown.

Pre-fabulous

When I was a boy, my father worked for a prefabricated homes outfit out of Woodstock. In those days, Alcan would build bungalows and then ship them in two pieces for assembly in many Ontario communities. It didn’t last that long. Maybe we weren’t ready for it back then.

Last week a prefab home out of Goderich was put together on Mansion Street. I must go by and have a look.

Taking that to the bank

The Bank of Canada hiked the overnight rate 25 basis points to 1.50 per cent, the fourth increase in the last 12 months. The Bank noted that the housing market seemed to be stabilizing, and would be able to weather the hike. Some economists agreed with the sentiment, while others argued that there is still cause for concern.

To stage or to white-box, that is the question

White-boxing is the exact opposite of staging a home to enhance its appeal. Instead of using furniture and accessories to sell the space, it presents a blank canvas, without the aesthetic choices in place, and allows the buyer to dream up layouts and floor design.

The pros and cons of metal roofing

In terms of style and utility, metal roofing gives any other material a run for its money, but does it suit your home (and budget)? Here are the best and worst things about metal roofing.

June marked the first “substantive” increase in home sales this year

More than 60 per cent of all local housing markets in the country reported increased sales activity in June compared with May, but activity was below year-ago levels in about two thirds of Canadian regions, said CREA.

Need a nap? Go to a nap lounge!

Mattress company Casper opened The Dreamery in Manhattan’s SoHo neighbourhood. For $25, you get a 45 minute session in one of the nap pods. You can even borrow a pair of pyjamas for your snooze.

Sleepless in Waterloo

They say that rust never sleeps. Money never sleeps. I guess the real estate market never sleeps either. There is always something going on. New listings. New sales. It’s hard for me to take time away, knowing that there is an opportunity out there. It is only at this time of year where I sometimes wish I had a “regular job”, one where I could put down the phone, clean off my desk and go away for two weeks. But really, do those jobs still exist? I don’t think so.

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