Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News
October 3 2018
Wednesday October 3 2018. In this week’s Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: new allegations, affordable Waterloo, fast-selling markets, house flipping, 30 painting tips, IT and real estate growth, USMCA, airbnb insurance, anonymous realtor reviews
More allegations against a local Realtor
I keep promising myself that I will not pay any attention to American politics, but the comedy and the drama is just too good to ignore. How can a person not be drawn in by Trump getting laughed at at the UN or his most recent rambling nonsensical press conference? At the other end of the spectrum, how can we look away from the allegations of how the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation played out.
But enough about that. I want to talk about allegations.
There are a two schools of thought about this:
- Innocent until proven guilty
- Where there is smoke, there’s fire.
Serious allegations these days are leading to more allegations coming forward. Let’s call it the me too movement. A local real estate agent was in the news again last week with more allegations against him. No matter which school of thought you are in, we are constantly reminded of him if you drive around town like I do. He spent so much money on those bus advertisements!
Affordable in Waterloo
A recent study of 28 major real estate markets across Ontario compared the required income needed to purchase a home to the actual median household income in each region and found Waterloo to be in the top five. Here’s the story and infographic.
Southern Ontario hosts Canada’s fastest-selling markets
The country’s hottest housing markets in terms of sales activity are in Ontario’s major markets outside of Toronto. There isn’t one reason; it’s a combination of reasons.
“Guess what Mom? I’m going to make a ton of money flipping houses!”
Chris and I went to one of those home-flipping seminars last year. We were just curious. After 90 minutes of hard-selling, fast-talking, fist-pumping rhetoric, they had a 15 minute break… and we ran out of there like our hair was on fire! I’m not kidding!
I recently met someone who spent $7,000 on a home-flipping website, over and above the $8,000 they spent on the program. Sometimes I move from sad to angry when I hear those stories, because I know someone just got ripped off.
30 tips from professional painters
It’s a small world, the old joke goes, but I wouldn’t want to paint it. Painting is the most important thing to do before listing your home for sale. Everyone thinks they can paint and truth is, they can if they follow these 30 tips from the pros.
Does the IT sector drive real estate growth?
My favourite Toronto real estate blogger looks at real estate in San Francisco and Toronto in terms of how it has been affected by tech jobs. I think KW would be part of this trend too.
Here’s one way the new USMCA deal will affect the Canadian housing market
For months, BoC governor Stephen Poloz has said that uncertainty around NAFTA negotiations was a factor in being cautious about additional rate hikes. Now, the bank will likely move forward with rate hikes at a faster pace.
Airbnb home insurance
I was surprised after an insurance claim last summer that my insurance company, from which I had “rental insurance” did not insure airbnbs as they claim that they are short-term rentals. Most Canadian insurance companies do not insure short term rentals. Surprise! I was able to easily find an insurance company though.
Anonymous comments and reviews
The internet is always evolving and real estate agents as a whole are often ahead of the general public when it comes to adopting new technology. I claim this because if you are a school teacher or a factory worker (remember them?) you likely did not have a first or second generation blackberry. You simply did not have a ‘need’ for one whereas Realtors often grab any advantage they can over our colleagues.
As an early adopter of most things internet related (I started my first blog in 1999!) I’ve long been frustrated with anonymous comments because I do not think they are genuine. Further to that, I am now dismayed with the rise of anonymous and paid realtor reviews. They are disingenuous and will lead people to distrust information that they find online.
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