Marg Scheben-Edey - Collingwood, Ontario

Handling the sale of an estate property or, a house for which you are the executor or trustee, can be stressful for many people. Unlike a usual sale of a family home by the owner, a trustee or executor is often accountable to a larger number of people and has many more tasks to attend to.

In my experience, trustees or executors often live outside of the area and are trying to deal with matters on a long distance basis. This can be tricky and have a good team is essential. Lawyers, appraisers, movers, handypersons and the like are so important and a REALTOR® is often the person who pulls it all together.

Some of the typical tasks an executor or trustee may encounter are having to inventory and distribute household effects, changing locks, arranging for an appraisal of the property, finding a real estate salesperson, arranging for lawn care or snow removal, consulting with auctioneers, reuse centres or charities, preparing the house for sale, arranging for cleaning, repairs, packers and movers, finding property documents, canceling newspapers, changing utilities and notifying insurers. For someone residing outside of the area, where do they begin?

One of the first steps should be to find a REALTOR® who will work with you in putting together the team and detailing the arrangements with you. An experienced agent with local contacts can be invaluable. Take the time to seek recommendations and then interview at least three salespeople to find the right fit for you. Taking the time to do this correctly at the outset will save you far more time down the line and will give you peace of mind.

Do you have aluminum wiring in your home?

This is an issue that comes up from time to time in home inspections and, it can be a concern for home buyers. Some home insurers will not insure a house with this type of wiring claiming it is a fire hazard.

It is estimated that there are over 450,000 homes in Canada that are wired with aluminum wiring. It was commonly used from 1965 to 1977. But is it really a problem?

According to most home inspectors I've talked to, the issue is not the wiring itself but rather, it is the connections that cause the problem. Wiring made of aluminum heats and cools causing it to expand and contract which in turn can cause connections to come loose. A live wire dangling in a wall is not a good idea!

It's not always possible to determine if you have aluminum wiring without a professional examining the wiring at the panel but, you may be able to tell if there are cables exposed either between the open floor joists, in the basement, up in the attic, or at the service panel. If the wiring is aluminum and was
manufactured before May 1977, the outer covering of the cable will be marked, at least every 12
inches, with the word ALUMINUM, or an abbreviation, ALUM, or AL. If the cable was
manufactured after May 1977, the marking may be either ALUMINUM ACM, ALUM ACM, or ALACM.

Other indicators of a potential problem might include:

• · unusually warm or warped outlets and switch cover plates
• · smoke or sparks coming from receptacles and switches
• · strange odors in the area of receptacles and switches
• · untraceable problems with plug-in lights and appliances
• · periodic flickering of lights
• · discolouring of the wall receptacle
• · arcing or sparking

If aluminum wiring is present, the good news is that it does not need to be torn out or replaced as solutions are available at a reasonable cost. Have a qualified electrician with experience in this area go through the house to determine the best remedies. The City of Halifax has one of the better websites I've read explaining the issue and solutions.

We have certainly seen a number of houses in South Georgian Bay that have aluminum wiring and there are even whole neighbourhoods where the houses were originally built with it. Yet another good reason all home buyers should have a home inspection!

When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

According to the 2001 Census, almost 15% of the Collingwood population identified themselves as being Anglican. Locally, that congregation is served by All Saints' Anglican Church located on Elgin Street opposite St. Mary's Catholic Church downtown.

This church is said to be one of the most beautiful historic churches in Ontario and, it stands as one of the most significant early buildings in Collingwood. I've often noticed people painting pictures or taking photographs of the adjoining former manse which is seen in galleries or books across the country.

The church was erected in 1858 and expanded in 1876. From the history section of their website, "Over its long history, the church has been enhanced by a number of memorials, including magnificent stained glass windows, white oak organ case and marble font as well as unique brass pulpit and lectern, a beautiful and distinctive altar and a dramatic relief carving of "The Last Supper"."

There is a terrific profile on the Heritage Collingwood site about the rectory building that includes a detailed history and beautiful photographs. Next time you pass these buildings, I'd really recommend taking some time to really notice how special they are.

When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

The boom is over.
That's old news by now and the question is, how far will the market fall and for how long? While none of us knows the answer to that, it's important to monitor the trends closely.

I've been reading lots of year-end wrap-ups of various different markets but, in my opinion, a full year is far too broad a time frame for monitoring emerging trends. For example, in our market, prices over the year fell around 2% but that does not take into account upticks early in the year and declines in the last quarter. So, because I'm a glutton for punishment. I took some time to break out and compare our local Georgian Triangle data for the last three months (Q4) for 2008. The data clearly shows that we have firmly entered a rapid and deep negative cycle in the market with declining sales and prices. The flip side to this is that we know from past experience, it can just as quickly and steeply turn the other way.

As the charts here show, listing inventory is still increasing and prices are softening which would suggest we are not anywhere close to reaching the bottom of this cycle. But, just as we can't always be eternally optimistic, we should also be careful about jumping on the doom and gloom bandwagon. I know that here, we are dealing with activity in the market both in offers and in showing properties to prospective buyers.

Since the media tends to overstate doom and gloom, it was surprising to read the editorial entitled "Gloom and doom can be overstated" that appeared in the Toronto Star on January 4th. In it, they point out that while the forecasts are gloomy, they are also not as bad as what we experienced in the recessions of the early 1980s or 1990s.

The five major banks forecast that Canada's gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink in 2009 but not as steeply as in those previous recessions. At the same time, the unemployment rate is not expected to climb as high; even in "have-not" Ontario.

They also remind us that, unlike the past, this time both the Federal and Ontario governments entered this recession in a surplus position giving them more room to stimulate the economy by investing in infrastructure and other measures that should leave us better poised as a nation when we come out of this downturn. There are also advantages to lower prices, interest rates and oil prices that will benefit this province with its heavy reliance on manufacturing. When we move back into positive growth, we should be "stronger than ever" as McGuinty was quoted as saying.

Keep the faith. This won't last forever.

Related Post:

2008 Year End Real Estate Report for the Georgian Triangle

When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

After reviewing, crunching, tabulating and charting, I finally have a report to share on the 2008 Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board performance. The Georgian Triangle area traditionally includes Collingwood, Blue Mountain, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Grey Highlands and Meaford however, the data in some cases captures a wider area that includes towns on the edges of our typical trading area.

It's a tough undertaking to provide you with the fairest and most unbiased data because as Mark Twain once said, "Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable." The outcomes change depending on the data used and variables like areas, types of properties, time frames and values all change the picture. For this reason, I've used a variety of approaches and have provided data that you can interpret as you wish.

Three Important Points to Ponder:

• 1. Our MLS® system uses average sale prices rather than median prices. Neither is an exact science but when used comparatively, it gives us a general sense of trends only. For example, the absence or presence of very low or very high-end sales can dramatically alter averages within small sampling groups. In recent months, both TD and National Bank-Teranet have developed new way to measure house price indexes and the results showed dramatically different results from traditional measurements. What they did show is that house prices have not declined as much as believed in Canada.
• 2. 2008 data is being compared only to 2007. You should note that 2007 was a record sales year that represented the market peak.
• 3. The data on these charts is cumulative for the year and does not show trends. For example, most of the decline in prices occurred in the final quarter of 2008. That signals a new trend is underway. (December and 3rd quarter only data to follow in a post coming to you soon.)

Nonetheless, we have what we have. Here are some data charts:

Summary

• Total sales activity has declined since May (not just the final quarter as believed)
• The total number of listings increased in every month of 2008 except for March
• The sales to listing ratio is firmly into the Buyer's market zone. This ratio is measured by dividing the number of properties sold by the number listed. A ratio of under 40% suggests a Buyers market, 40-50% is a more balanced market and over 50% is typically considered to be a Sellers market.
• The 12 month average sale price for single family residential units in the major communities of the Georgian Triangle is down about 7.5% although Collingwood is actually up slightly. If you exclude sales under $100,000 and over $1 million, the pictures changes substantially with the average sale price in 2008 down just 1.9% over 2007 using the same parameters. In this case, the average sale prices are actually up in both Collingwood and Wasaga Beach.
• The average sale price of condos in the Georgian Triangle was up marginally for the year.
• There were 1634 active listings (all types) on the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board MLS® at years end.

All in all, this is not as gloomy a picture as the media has portrayed. There has been more of a decline in the number of sales rather than price although, the trend is that prices are clearly moderating now. Stay tuned for the 3rd quarter report examining this trend closer.

All MLS® data and/or statistics obtained from the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board.