June 2010 Newsletter

June 2010 Newsletter In this Issue:  How is the Toronto Real Estate Market Doing?  How is the US Residential Market Doing.  What do Sellers Get for the Commission they pay to Sell their Property?  When you obtain a mortgage do you buy Life insurance at the same time? Kaceey Team are Business and Real Estate Sales Representatives with over 30 years of experience in Mergers & Acquisitions ($1m+), Residential & Commercial Listings, Multiplexes and Long-term Care Facilities, with an area focus on the GTA. You may access past issues at www.kaceeyteam.ca. If you would like to be removed please reply and type “unsubscribe” in the subject line. How is the Toronto Real Estate Market Doing? Things have changed over the past month. Listings have increased significantly with the bloom of spring. This is great for buyers as they now have more choice. However, prices have not moderated very much. The great houses are still commanding bidding wars, the good ones are getting what they are asking and the not so good ones are being negotiated down or not receiving any offers at all. Buyers are not in the driver’s seat yet but those who have their financing in place will find their search much easier and less stressful. The increase in interest rates should not have more than a physiological effect on buyers as the mortgage rates will still be lower than any time in the last 40 years. How the US Residential Market is Doing. * U.S. home values fell 3.8 percent year-over-year, and declined 1 percent quarter-over-quarter, marking the 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines. Home values declined year-over-year in 106 of the 135 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) tracked by Zillow. * Home values in several large California markets have stabilized significantly, and show tentative signs of reaching a bottom. * Negative equity remains high with 23.3 percent of all single family homes with mortgages underwater, up from 21.4 percent in fourth quarter. * Foreclosures reached a new peak in March, with more than one out of every thousand homes (0.11 percent) being foreclosed. Great time to consider buying a home or condo there now, the deals are incredible. What do Sellers Get for the Commission they pay to Sell their Property? It is a difficult question for most agents to answer and we can only speak for what we do to earn our stipend for the effort, time and money we put into selling or arranging a purchase of a home (explained later). There are a few basics though. First and foremost is that the Commission is split equally between the Buyer Agent’s Brokerage and the Seller Agent’s Brokerage. Each brokerage takes an amount for the services it provides to the agents and the rest goes to the each agent. When you see 2.5% commission to the Co-operating Brokerage that is the buyer Brokerage’s commission if and only when the home changes hands. The next point is that there is no commission to anyone if the house doesn’t sell no matter how much effort, time and money goes into the listing. Not many professions work on an “only if” basis. Not all Agents offer the same services but here is what we offer and it has proven to be successful in moving homes quickly and for the best price possible: 1. We know from experience that staging works. It provides the first impression when a potential buyer walks into a home and creates the invitation to “look at me seriously”. We pay for the Home Stager to look at the house and make recommendations on how to make it more appealing. 2. Floor plans give a potential purchaser a perspective on the home and how things will fit for them. We provide a professional floor plan as part of our listing service. 3. A picture is worth a thousand words and we ensure that all our photos are done professionally and colour corrected and cropped for maximum appeal. 4. We also absorb the cost for the photos to be converted to a virtual tour so prospective purchasers can have a better visual of the inside and outside of the house. 5. Local agents have the opportunity to visit the home so they can bring the benefits to the attention of their interested buyers before the general public gets a chance to visit. 6. Your listing along with photos and a virtual tour are uploaded to MLS where over 50,000 agents can see the benefits of the home and it will be available on Realtor.ca where the public can find it. We also ensure it is uploaded on kaceeyteam.ca, our Team website, where it will be prominent; on Homeward.info, our corporate site; on Facebook, on MergerNetwork; on ActiveRain and approximately 25 Homeward agent’s sites. 7. And, we do an open house every weekend until the house is sold. 8. Of course, we saved the best for last… The most important benefit of all is over 30 years of Real Estate and business experience Kaceey Team brings to each and every transaction. Our comprehensive and extensive knowledge and practical experience in Real Estate contract and property law as well as years of negotiating skills are all combined to ensure you get the highest price possible for probably one of your largest monetary transactions. Contact any of the Team and we will make a comprehensive presentation of all our services. KenC@kaceeyteam.ca, ErinS@kaceeyteam.ca, GaryW@kaceeyteam.ca JosieM@kaceeyteam.ca When you obtain a mortgage do you buy Life insurance at the same time? You may want to consider the alternative to buying life insurance from your mortgage provider. There are a few reasons why it is better and less expensive to purchase term insurance. 1. Usually the rate is two or three times higher than term insurance. Unless you have health issues, you should get a quote from your mortgage provider and a life insurance company. You will be surprised at the difference. 2. Your term policy is portable. Regardless of who your mortgage is with you do not have to reapply or change your term policy. 3. You have level coverage for the term of the policy. With mortgage based insurance the amount reduces as your mortgage reduces. With term coverage, your amount stays the same and doesn’t go down. This is especially useful if you are making accelerated payments. If you are in the market for mortgage insurance feel free to contact either JoAnne McCrindle at 416-414-8423 or Kevin Forbes at 416-894-0422 for rates on term insurance Visit us at any of these Social Media sites: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=info&id=692880483#!/group.php?gid=121904397827919 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=13905914&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro Active Rain: http://activerain.com/kencampbell56 Merger Network: http://www.mergernetwork.com/sellerHome/ Leslieville, Danforth, Riverdale, Beaches, Woodbine Corridor, Greenwood-Coxwell, Ken Campbell, Real Estate Sales Representative Residential, Commercial, Investment Real Estate Homeward, Brokerage 1858 Queen St. E., Toronto, ON M4L 1H1 416-466-2090 F: 416-693-4284, Direct phone: 416-553-6376, kencampbell56@gmail.com, http://www.kaceeyteam.ca