227 SWANSTON AVE Peterborough OPEN HOUSE Saturday 2-4 September 1st

Well maintained brick 1 3/4 storey home in East City! This home features formal living room with brick fireplace, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a brand new never used kitchen featuring self closing doors and drawers. This home also is complete with a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom in-law suite in the basement. Windows, roof, high efficiency gas furnace, electrical circuit breakers are all in very good condition. Walk-out to 16` x 10` deck. Very private park-like back yard. Walking distance to parks and easy access to the beautiful East City.

The 10 worst home improvements made for resale!

I get asked all the time what are the best improvements I can make on my home and get the best bang for my buck. It is an easy answer really. Kitchen and Bathroom. Most people know that answer before I even give it.

An interesting question came up the other day was what is the worst ideas for improvements of my house before listing.

Here is my top 10 list.

1. Broadloom through out the home. When buyers are looking at a house that has broadloom the first question is what is under the broadloom. Broadloom is now perceived as a dirt collector. Hardwood is what buyers are looking for. If your home has hardwood and is in rough shape do not cover it up, consider refinishing them or replacing with hardwood.
2. Indoor hot tubs and saunas. This was once the way to go to be stylish. Now it is viewed as expensive energy guzzlers. Hot tubs indoors make the house smell and create mold if not vented properly.
3. Built in surround sound systems. This may be great for you to have but buyers will see no extra value in this system. This also includes home theatres. Nice to have but no extra value.
4. Coloured sinks, toilets and tubs. The 70s are not back in fashion when it comes to the purple toilet. White, white and white are your choices. If the buyer sees a coloured fixture the first thought is I will need to replace that!
5. Wallpaper. Do not put up wallpaper, I repeat do not put up wallpaper. Remove your current wallpaper. Everyone hates having to peel wallpaper and that is a job that a buyer will look at with disgust.
6. Cheap laminate or peel and stick tiles. It just looks cheap and completely fake. Spend a few extra bucks and do the job correctly. I am not saying all laminate looks bad but the cheap stuff is horrible.
7. Swimming Pool. An always lively debate. To some buyers a pool is very important but to most they can live without one or do not want one all together. They can be expensive to operate and in the eyes of buyers with young children they are viewed as dangerous.
8. Pricey appliances. The appliances will not sell the house. It is nice to have pricey appliances but good clean working appliances will do the trick.
9. Colourful paint jobs. It has been said again and again that anyone redecorating or making home improvements for resale purposes should stick to a neutral palate for maximising appeal, yet some still insist on breaking out the hot orange with green trim. (you know who you are!)
10. Making a three bedroom home to a two bedroom home. Many sellers think that a huge master bedroom at the expense of the small third bedroom is a good idea. Wrong. No matter how spacious your newly enlarged master bedroom is the demand for a two bedroom home is much less then a three bedroom home. This in turn commands considerably lower prices.

July report letter

July’s statistics have been very encouraging for the real estate market in our area. We are still in a very balanced market between Buyers and Sellers. According to Peterborough and Kawarthas Association of Realtors, July has seen a decrease of listings from 2011 of 12% but number of sales in 2012 have remained consistent with 2011. Year to date we are up in 2012 by 4% from 2011 for sales. This has been consistent across the nation. According to statistics released today by The  Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national resale housing activity remained stable from June to July 2012.

“Recent changes to mortgage regulations were widely expected to temper sales and prices in Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver, and the data released today confirms that,” said Wayne Moen, CREA President. “Even so, sales and price trends can be very different from one market to the next, and run counter to national trends. Buyers and sellers should talk to their REALTOR® to  understand how the housing market is shaping up in their area.”

“Some first-time home buyers may have difficulty qualifying for mortgage financing due to shortened amortization periods included in recent changes to mortgage regulations,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist “As the lynchpin of the housing market, lower first-time buying activity will have knock-on effects over the rest of the market. It will likely take more time for move-up buyers to sell their current home.”

On another note, the Peterborough Lakes have once again reached the MSL finals. If you want huge bang for your entertainment buck, I highly recommend catching a game in the finals. A warning to you, you may get hooked on lacrosse!