To buy now ? or wait till the fall.........

[AKS]

Below is a post that was done by someone at Garth Turner blog, I don't know
how much it can be trusted though, here it is( I just copied and pasted it here):

My brother just rented his second house to a RE agent and his wife who sold their home a couple of months ago and now choose to rent. I couldn’t believe it and I asked him was he sure and he said 100% yes. It’s seems that now is not the good time as I head more and mroe stories about bankers and now RE agents selling their homes and going to rent. What do they know that we don’t?

They're probably taking their gains and cashing out. Whether the market will go up or down, no one can predict. But if you're earning, it's best to take your chips off the table and not risk to gain more for a possibility of losing your gains.

 

[AnnetteMeetsJane]

$7-10k for rewiring knob and tube, $2k for plumbing,

You rent, I guess. Those are pretty optimistic estimates - depends on the size of the job and how you want it done, but our rewire was 17k 3 years ago and we could have paid more. Just changing a service board is 1K.
I would really love to know the name of your plumer though! Our end of the city's water supply upgrade was a couple of K, if I remember correctly... Moving a kitchen sink 4 feet and plumbing in a dishwasher next to it was about 1-1.2k last winter.

 

[confused5o1]

At the end of the day Toronto is the immigration Mecca
there will always be someone looking

Apparantly Toronto is also the umployment mecca of Canada too

 

[simuls]

Apparantly Toronto is also the umployment mecca of Canada too

This recession has been very interesting in that none of my friends - and they are in fields as diverse as marketing, journalism, psychiatry, web development and retail - have lost jobs and several of them have gotten even better jobs and/or promotions. Toronto (and Ontario) are in the midst of a change moving away from manufacturing to more informational and creative industries - the recession is just accelerating this change. While losing jobs sucks, hopefully those people will re-invest in themselves and get a new job in this new economy.

 

[urbandreamer]

^Interestingly, all my friends have lost their jobs in media, architecture, advertising and law.

 

[Eug]

^Interestingly, all my friends have lost their jobs in media, architecture, advertising and law.

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. The down market has hit some hard.

That said, 90% are still gainfully employed. If we're talking anecdotes, every single one of my colleagues, friends, and neighbours (that I know) are still employed, although one had to switch to another place to stay employed.

 

[urbandreamer]

Is real estate slowing down again?

The reason I wonder is several houses that I pass by daily have been on the market for 2+ months. Yeah, they could be overpriced, but they're in a trendy neighbourhood (the Junction.)

So, maybe some 'hoods are slowing down while others keep on ticking?

 

[AnnetteMeetsJane]

Everything is still selling, often with multiple offers, in BWV. Asking prices seem high, but they still go within days...

 

[urbandreamer]

The homes I'm referring to are around the intersection of Medland Crescent and Hillsview Av--both look decent to me, but both have been on the market for months. What's the matter with them?

Here they are on MLS:

#1: MLS# W1669891 $700,000--overpriced imho at 35 Hillsview Av. (I'd bid max of $540k on this property.)

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=8529889

#2: MLS# W1666553 $579,000--overpriced for this corner lot at 65 Medland Crescent. (I'd bid max $450k.)

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=8515925

 

[AnnetteMeetsJane]

Isn't there a development seeking approval for that area? If my memory serves me, it attracted the usual outrage because it involves cutting down all the trees or something...

 

[patrick]

I'm getting the sense that things are picking up in Toronto. I just spoke to a friend who graduated engineering at U of T this Spring. Very few students in the class were employed at commencement, but most of them have just recently picked up jobs. I'm not really willing to make a prediction, but you should also consider what you'd lose if prices go up and stay up. Your ideal house might be permanently priced out of your reach.

 

[lordmandeep]

I think prices will really increase by the start of March at the rate of what thing are going at.

 

[urbandreamer]

35 Hillsview sold: where's my commission?

I reckon my highlighting this house on UT made it sell this past weekend. So the agent responsible, give me your commission!