Market Report For Downtown Montreal Condos - July 2010

July’s condominium activity in Downtown Montreal was a little below average with the MLS® system recording 19 sales. With 232 properties active in this sector for the second month in a row suggesting a levelling out for the summer months, inventory shot up to12.2 over 8.3 months in June.

The average price on July sales was down at $409,844 comparing with May’s $510,028 and June’s $607,338 on a low and steady discount level of 7% off the average last asking prices.

Properties sold in July averaged a little higher 115 days on market compared with June’s 76 days. The hot summer days and vacationers spending time away from the city would certainly help account for this longer sales cycle.

Downtown Montreal in real estate territory terms is divided East and West using University Avenue as the North South line. I report on the West sector we refer to "Centre-Ouest"; "Ouest" meaning "West" in French.

Market Report For Downtown Montreal Condos - June 2010

Market activity for Downtown Montreal condominiums this June was average with the MLS® system recording 27 sales. 227 active properties in the market, 41 new condos came to market over 64, 51 and 64 for the 3 previous months suggesting a seasonal slowing down for the summer months. Inventory went down a touch from 9.5 to 8.3 months from May.

The average price on June sales was down at $510,028 from May’s $607,338 on a low discount level of 6% off the last asking price for 2010.

Properties sold in June averaged 76 days on market. This was lower than in May’s 107 days.

Downtown Montreal in real estate territory terms is divided East and West using University Avenue as the North South line. I report on the West sector we refer to "Centre-Ouest"; "Ouest" meaning "West" in French.

Market Report For Downtown Montreal Condos For April 2010

Our Real Estate Board reported April condo sales shot up over 40% to 41 sales versus the previous month's 29. For the first time this season, supply and new listings dipped somewhat perhaps indicating that the season has peaked for the spring and was supported by the lowest month inventory yet this year of 4.9 months for available property.

Average price smoothed out to $532,510 on 41 sales over March's average of $570,952 on 29 sales and this year's high average of $575,877 on 15 sales in January.

Discounting off the last asking price has stayed steady indicating as always that right-priced properties sell within normal parameters. something that the majority of clients learn from experience and not from their agent for many reasons, some the client's own doing and sometimes the agents.

Days on market were at their lowest at 79 days, versus the last 3 months average of 106 days, indicating good demand and likely the fever created by our new mortgage rates and new mortgage qualification conditions which came in to force in mid-April.

Market Report For Downtown Montreal Condos For February 2010

Downtown Montreal condo activity as reported in MLS in February 2010 saw a rise in active listings to 181 from 126 in December and 140 in January while sales actually decreased from 24 in November progressively to 14 in February.

New listings increased to 62, their highest in 8 months. Even though the number of average days properties stayed on market decreased to an 8 month low of 97 days, the current inventory is the highest it has been for the last 8 months at 12.9 months with an average price of $473,893.

Montreal's downtown area is split in to 2 sectors by MLS: the "Centre-Ouest" sector West of University Streetand "Centre" for the East side. Downtown is also noted by it's French equivalent of "centre-ville" and the area known as "Ville-Marie". I help clients principally in the Centre-Ouest sector of downtown Montreal.

When Rahim Moosa lost his job last October, he decided to sell the house he'd bought with his wife a year earlier. His lender, TD Canada Trust, said there would be an $8,000 penalty to break his five-year closed mortgage – an amount he found tolerable. "

By the time we sold in April 2009, TD Bank quoted us a doubled penalty of $18,000. Now, they are stating it will be approximately $25,000 upon closing in June," he says. Most mortgage contracts and renewal forms specify that clients seeking an early exit will pay either three months' interest or an interest rate differential (IRD), whichever is greater.

The IRD is calculated by taking the outstanding balance, multiplying it by the gap between your existing mortgage rate and the current rate for a term similar to what you have left, and multiplying by the number of months left to the end of your term. Mortgage rates have fallen steadily since last fall, making the IRD penalties grow bigger and bigger.

Once I got involved in Moosa's case, TD worked hard to cushion the blow. It sent him to a mortgage specialist, who suggested making a 15 per cent lump-sum prepayment using a line of credit that would be paid back at closing. Since TD hadn't told him about this option last October, Moosa asked for and received the right to make a 30 per cent prepayment to reduce the outstanding balance. The estimated penalty is now $11,000 to $14,000. "We won't know for sure what the exact penalty will be until the payments are made using the line of credit next week," Moosa says. He wonders why TD dragged its feet when told about his financial problems last fall. "Our branch representative should have advised us that we could pay a 15 per cent lump sum to reduce the penalty. "TD needs to have a better process in place, particularly when dealing with clients whose largest investment is in their hands."

Moosa's comments will be reviewed, Hechler said. "We could have moved more quickly to help and provided clearer information from the beginning." Kevin Plautz, also a TD mortgage customer, felt he received misleading information when he asked about breaking the deal to take advantage of lower rates. His financial adviser initially quoted a penalty of $2,100, based on three months' interest. Other TD staff he spoke to later did not challenge that figure. Only when he was ready to renegotiate did he learn there would be an IRD penalty of $5,900. "I wouldn't have bothered doing a renegotiation if I had just been told the correct penalty at the start or one of the many times I asked about it since then," he says TD agreed to reduce his IRD penalty to $4,000 after I escalated his complaint to the head office. "We have offered to substantially reduce the amount of Mr. Plautz's IRD penalty as a goodwill gesture in recognition of the confusion he experienced over the amount he was quoted," Hechler told me. While planning to take the offer, Plautz is leaving TD.

He's found another bank that will give him a lower interest rate and cover $225 of his $270 mortgage discharge fee. "I have a very bad taste in my mouth. I think I still prefer to move my business," he says. I'd like to hear from readers. Have you tried to renegotiate a mortgage amid falling interest rates? How did the lender respond and what penalty was charged? I'll publish comments in a future column.

As spring rolls into town, we visualize tulips and beautiful gardens beginning to bloom. Spring brings out the home owner who is looking to sell their most valued asset. Their property. As potential buyers come to view your home, you must make some adjustments to the homes exterior appearance.

As the interior scene is very important, so is the front lawn and other parts of the property that are exterior. These areas must be taken care of that have been overlooked since last season. If your entrance screams community trash and items that should be recycled, this does not give your home any curb appeal to potential home buyers.

 What home owners should do is clean up as much as they possibly can and if possible hire a gardner or landscaping company to complete the rest of the job. A simple tip can be using potted plants along their walkway or if possible try using artificial evergreen plants which can be taken to their new home when they leave.

 Light fixtures outside of a house should beturned on as this will allow the potential buyers to view the size and type of landscaping area their new home has to offer.