Macdonald Realty

I’ve spent the day reviewing some of the news coming into my email over the past two weeks or so. It looks like we are heading for recovery and with sales up and listings down, we can once again look forward to a healthy housing market. Here is a summary of a few of the articles coming my way:   As you scroll through the articles below you will find:   1. Today’s Market News 2. Economy s ...

The great rate debate The homebuyer's dilemma: short-term or long? Helen Morris, National Post When finances are tight, it's good to plan ahead and have a clear idea of what your future expenditures will be. One of the standard ways to plan a budget is to base your monthly expenditures on your mortgage payment and fit other expenses around that. A fixed-rate mortgage gives you set monthly ...

Construction of new homes has surged by a surprising eight per cent in June, prompting analysts to say the housing market in Canada has turned the corner and begun recovering.   The annual pace of housing starts rose to 140,700 units in June from 130,300 in May, with the increase in activity spread across different types of buildings, said the national housing agency, Canada Mortgage and Ho ...

By THE CANADIAN PRESS Thu. Jun 18 - 12:58 PM OTTAWA — Canada has become a nation of home owners, according to the Bank of Nova Scotia. A new Scotiabank report says a record 68.4 per cent of Canadian households owned their homes in 2006 and the number edged up even further in 2007. That is a significant increase from the 63.6 per cent that owned their own homes a decade earlier. As well, ...

Both the buyer & seller should understand that the brokerages providing agency services to the buyer and seller do not provide legal or other expert advice in matters beyong the common standard of care in the real estate industry. The parties have been advised to seek independent legal advice prior to executing this contract of purchase and sale.   The buyer needs to understand the signific ...

Get off the home owning fence Globe and MailI've had the same rent-versus-own discussion with a close friend of mine for years. Every now and then she'll see a new statistic from the Canadian Real Estate Association about where prices are headed and rethink the decision she made just months before. My advice to her today is: it's time to get off the fence. Although mortgage rates rose last we ...

It's time to keep an eye on fixed rates, as the bond yields and spreads on 5 year fixed are pointing to a potential rise in rates.May 25th Market News:U.S. confidence data drives sharp loonie rally -TSX rallies as BMO tops estimates-Oil hits six-month high on consumer confidence§ TSX+216.40 to 10,285.90 climbed to their highest closing level since October on a big jump in U.S. consumer confid ...

Recently,all the newspapers and media headlines are way more postive with "Things are getting better", "Canada's economy might have bottomed out already. If not, it will likely do so within months", etc. It's harder and harder to resist being optimistic about the economy. The gain of more than 35,000 jobs in Canada last month was contrary to all forecasts. Remember economists back in December ...

Toronto Star David Olive BUSINESS COLUMNIST Barack Obama, contemplating sweeping reforms to the U.S. financial system, cited Canada as a model worth emulating in an interview published yesterday. "You know, I've looked at the evidence so far that indicates that other countries that have not seen some of the problems in their financial markets that we have nevertheless don't separate between ...

  In the last several years, some significant changes in both the real estate and home loan sides of the housing industry have had an impact on real estate transactions. The issue I would like to bring to your attention today could go further and affect the way you do business. The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), which becomes effective May 1, 2009, governs the way in which appraisals ...