Prudential Convention in Las Vegas

I am away right now and heard a very dynamic speaker this morning with an incredible story. Perhaps you have heard his story. His name is Dick Hoyt and he runs marathons and triathalons with his son, Rick, who has cerebral palsey. Next month, they will do their 27th Boston Marathon and 1,000th competition.

There was hardly a dry eye in the house. Just an incredible bond between father and son.

Here is a youtube video I found with their story.

Watch Out for Mortgage Penalties

With mortgage rates at near all time lows, it is very important in these times to pay attention to early payout penalties before a seller puts their home on the market. Lately, we have been finding that newer mortgages have some things in the fine print that need to be watched.

It is common knowledge that lenders charge an early payout fee (penalty) when the mortgage is paid out prior to maturity. The two most common penalties are:
- a three month interest penalty
- a differential rate for the balance of the term between the higher rate of the paid out mortgage and the current rate
- almost always the penalty is the higher of the two.

With the present low rates, the penalty could be much higher. We heard of one recently where the penalty to pay out was $ 27,000! Today, five or ten thousand is not uncommon.

It is very important to do this research before a property is listed. This falls into the list of things that, if there is a surprise, it is a lot better to find out earlier than later.

You Kind of Had to be There

Home inspections have become an every day occurrence for real estate agents over the past ten years. For sure, that is a good thing. Real estate agents and buyers themselves usually can't be expected to be an expert on such things as electrical, plumbing and building code issues. Inspectors have come to be an integral part of the transactions.

For some real estate agents, they don't see the value of being present at an inspection. It takes a long time... there are lots of telephone calls and clients needs to attend to... there are only so many hours in a day and it is just a matter of where spending your time is of the most value. These agents also sometimes don't necessarily encourage their buyers to be present either. They'll make a superficial lockbox appearance and slide out.

Being present or not doesn't change the facts about the house, but it can affect how the problems are perceived.

The inspector wants to be thorough, and wants to do a good job for his client, and certainly has to be concerned about his liability should something not be addressed. But the problems must be kept in context. Every real estate agent will tell you about home inspector's statements that have sent red flags up when taken the wrong way or improperly explained. To me, two simple questions need to be asked to these statements: How much would it cost to fix the problem? and What would be a reasonable expectation on how long before this problem needs to be fixed?

Things can be addressed much easier when the buyer and the agent are present and can be shown the issues at hand. A meeting later in the day with a visual of a printed sheet just don't cut it. For liability purposes, an inspector will use words like "may" and "possibly" a lot. I understand why they do it... they're just being careful. That's what the buyer hired them to do, but it certainly can be taken to an extreme. A five year old roof or furnace "may" need to be replaced some day. An accurate statement that needs to be explained further. If you're not there, it may lose something in the translation.

Home inspectors have their limitations, too. They work hard to keep up to date on issues, building codes, and rough estimates on repair costs. But truly, they can't be expected to give an accurate estimate on repair or replacement costs on a particular matter. Sometimes the buyer needs to take the inspector's advice and get an accurate estimate from a tradesman on what the costs to fix the problem will be.

Remember, knowledge is power. The real estate agent can often add another angle to a home inspection issue. If you weren't there and didn't see the issue, it's a little hard to add a credible fix to the problem.

You kinda had to be there.

Our 2008 Award Winners

Congratulations to all our Award Winners, who excelled in production over the past year. All will be recognized at our annual Awards Breakfast held on Thursday, March 26th at the Charcoal Steak House.

Chairman's Circle, Gold Award

Jose Bairos

Scott and Lisa Hube

Mike Milovick

Li Li


President's Circle Award

Nina Deeb

Dorinda Orser Team


Leading Edge Society

Christian Krieger

Mary McMurran

Nino Orasanin

Kazem Zardkanlou

Eric Klimstra


Honour Society


Ken Bisson

Paul Dawson

Rena Miller

Janet Good

Tamara Martin

Jade Ho

Lucy Schito

David Kivell

Marie Miller/Jerry Jarman

Sachin Naphade

Debbie van der Schans


Rookie of the Year


Amanda Maxwell, Cambridge

Debbie van der Schans, Kitchener



Fifteen Year Legend Award

Jose Bairos

Finally Some Goods About the Economy

I know we all talk about how the press always puts the bad news on the front page and seems to make an effort of spreading bad news. With the way the economy has been for the past six months, I think they are in their glory. But, surpising enough, the last two days has brought news that it appears that the recession has "bottomed out".
This Canadian Press article which appeared in The Record today shows several signs in the United States that things are going in the right direction.
Time passes quickly. Many economists predicted that fourth quarter in 2008 and first quarter 2009 would be the worst. Guess what! That quarter will be over in a couple weeks!
Around our two offices, things seem to be picking up like a traditional spring market. Agents are busy with buyers and sellers. I read recently on an American real estate blog I follow that things appear on an upswing in many areas there as well after a two year slump.
Let's hope it keeps going.

Moving On Up

I ran across this photo several times in the past week and I really don't know its source. It certainly falls in the category of "often thought but seldom spoken."

A couple people have commented this past week that I have been slacking off on the blog, which I will acknowledge and apologize sincerely. I have been extremely busy and had a week of holidays in there, too. We're back on track now.

February 2009 MLS Statistics

Here are the monthly statistics for February, 2009.

	K-W This Month	K-W Last Year	Cambridge This Month	Cambridge Last Year
Avg. Sale Price	$ 246,846	$260,055	$245,689	$249,699
Percentage Change	-5.1%		-1.6%
Properties Sold	369	494	154	218
New Listings/Sales Ratio	49.0%	62.0%	35.2%	58.1%
Properties For Sale Now	2019	1768	953	684