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Barrie and Area home sales off to a healthy start in January

02-24-12
Mike Montague


Barrie real estate statistics

Residential property sales recorded through the MLS® System of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc. posted a solid year-over-year gain in January 2012.

Home sales numbered 218 units in January, rising 11 per cent compared to the same month in 2011.

Within the City of Barrie, sales activity was up by less than the overall trend for the region. The City of Barrie saw 142 residential sales in January, up eight per cent from one year earlier.

“Home sales held more or less steady for the seventh straight month, and also stood well above demand in the same month last year,” said Walter Doret, President of the Barrie and District Association of REALTORS®. “While demand has been stable in recent months, supply has been trending down. That has resulted in a tighter market, which is keeping the upward pressure on prices.”

The average price for all homes sold via the Association’s MLS® System in January 2012 was $288,549, up five per cent from levels in January 2011.

The average price figure for homes sold just within the City of Barrie was $278,234. This was a seven per cent increase compared to the same month in 2011.

The Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® cautions that over a period of time, the use of average price information can be useful in establishing trends, but it does not indicate actual prices in widely divergent areas or account for price differentials between geographical areas.

The dollar value of all home sales in January 2012 was $62.9 million, up 16 per cent from year-ago levels.

New residential listings were down three per cent from a year earlier to 560 units in January 2012.

Active residential listings on the Association’s MLS® System numbered 1,246 units at the end of January 2012. This was down five per cent from the overall supply at the end of January 2011.

There were 4.6 months of inventory at the end of January 2012 on a seasonally adjusted basis, down slightly from 4.7 months in December 2011. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.

Sales of all property types in the Barrie region numbered 227 units in January, up 10 per cent compared to January 2011. The total value of all properties sold in January 2012 was $68 million, up 22 per cent on a year-over-year basis .


The Barrie and District Association of REALTORS® Inc. covers a geographical area that includes the City of Barrie and part or all of the surrounding townships, including Springwater, Oro-Medonte, Innisfil, Essa, Bradford-West Gwillimbury and Clearview..

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It is Time for Barrie to think Big

02-14-12
Mike Montague

I was at the new Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls over the weekend. An impressive facility. Over 1600 people from across the province were there for the PCPO annual general meeting, keeping the tills of hotels, restaurants and other merchants ringing over the weekend in this city of under 85,000 that is otherwise comatose at this time of year.

As I watched people filtering into the Centre Saturday morning on foot from the various walking distance away hotels I couldn't help thinking how well such a facility would work in Barrie Ontario. We are within an hour of the GTA, home to millions of people and Canada's economic engine. We are almost 2 hours closer to the nearest international airport. Kempenfelt Bay may not hold the distinction of being one of the top 7 natural wonders of the world but it is awe inspiring none the less and as far as outdoor activities go, the region has far more to offer than standing around watching water fall over a cliff. Barrie Convention Centre

Barrie is now on the radar with major Canadian Banks as a choice location for its data centres.

Having this dinstinction now we should be boldly promoting Barrie’s prime potential as a future convention destination to our leading financial institutions who have both the means and track record for establishing large scale convention/arts centres. I think most of us can think of a few in town Barrie locations that could accomodate a full scale convention centre. In addition to hosting conventions and the arts, what better location can you name in Ontario to host boat, cottage, sports or home shows? The spin off business would be significant for Barrie.

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11 good tips that will help to sell your home faster

01-26-12
Mike Montague

Barrie homes

There is nothing new on this list that hasn't been emphasized in a number of earlier blog posts but good advice is always worthy of restating. Here are 11 tips to help you sell your home faster:

    1. Curb appeal – Keep falling leaves and dead shrubs out of the yard! You don’t want a potential buyer’s first vision of your home to be negative (“look how much work it’s going to be to keep up this yard”).
    2. Front door – At the very least, make sure it’s clean. You may want to replace or paint the front door as this is your potential buyer’s first up close look at the property. Make sure storm doors are clean and that all locks and door handles are tight and functioning. A loose or broken lock gives the wrong impression from the get-go.
    3. Light – Make sure you home looks spacious and light. If you have darker areas in the house, buy additional lamps for those spaces. Put in full wattage bulbs (check the tag on the lamp neck for maximum allowable wattage) and make sure all bulbs in the house work. When the house is being shown, have ALL lights on, even closet lights and the one over the stove. Light and bright makes your home much more desirable.
    4. Windows – Open drapes and blinds to let in as much natural light as possible. Take down all worn, torn or broken blinds or drapes. Bare windows look far better than windows with torn or dirty treatments. And make sure windows are clean. Clean windows let in more light, improve the view on the other side, and make the rest of the house feel cleaner.
    5. De-personalize – You want buyers to see themselves and their family living in the house. It’s important to take down family photos, trophies, collectibles, anything that makes them see this as your home, not theirs.
    6. Smell / fragrance / odor? – This will be the first thing prospects notice when they walk in. You certainly don’t want the house to smell musty or like last night’s dinner. Scrub well and you may want to consider lemon scented cleaning products and/or burn vanilla scented candles.
    7. Clutter – No. None. Clean out, throw away and store everything that you can. Now’s the time to get rid of things you don’t want, but don’t replace them! Much better to have your home look open and spacious. You don’t want it to feel crowded or your buyer gets the impression that there won’t be enough space for their things. If you have a lot and can’t get rid of the excess, rent a storage building and take out more than you think you should. You may find you actually enjoy the extra space.
    8. Bathrooms – Remove everything you use – yes, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrushes and combs, razor, shampoo, bar soaps, make-up, everything out of the shower and off the vanities. The bathroom should be so clean it sparkles. Hang a new shower curtain – clear or white – and leave it open so the bathroom looks larger. Make sure all light bulbs are working and the highest wattage possible. No one likes a dingy or dirty bathroom.. It’s best to install new toilet seats (very inexpensive) and, if necessary, new faucets and shower-heads. Clean all grout. Great grout cleaners can be found at home improvement stores.
    9. Kitchen – Remove everything from counter-tops to make the space look as large as possible. Scrub all appliances until they shine. Take everything off the refrigerator – notes, photos, magnets, everything. Make sure cabinets and doors are free from fingerprints. Dated hardware? You can really spruce up your cabinets by replacing the knobs. Check out Habitat for Humanity stores for great deals on cabinet hardware.
    10. Bedrooms – Neat, clean, beds made, and eliminate clutter. Removing an extra nightstand or dresser may do wonders for increasing the visual space of the room.
    11. Closets – In every room of the house, clean out closets by throwing out or passing on anything not still being used. Make closets look as large as possible by leaving at least 30% of the space vacant. If necessary, pack up and store what you don’t need now. When buyers open doors, you want them to see plenty of closet space in the home.




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Merger of the past and the future of the Allandale Train Station is finally here

01-16-12
Mike Montague
Friday I was invited to meet with City staff at the Allandale Train Station. Myself and a few local Realtors were given a tour of the three conjoined buildings that make up this under restoration historic Barrie landmark. We were invited to share our thoughts on what, from a Realtor's perspective would be some of the better and more likely uses for these facilities.Allendale Train Station

I had previously toured part of the north most brick building with Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman in January of last year on a similarly cold day. At that time the task of restoring the integrity of the foundation was well underway and virtually all of the exterior was hiden from street view by scaffolding and tarpaulins.

Over the course of the past year the exteriors of the three buildings have been given a complete ground up face-lift including the restoring of original exterior colours and the installation of a Terracotta roof to replace the tired green asphalt shingle roof that had adorned it for the past half century. Most if not all living Barrie residents would be too young to have had the opportunity to view the Station in its former glory until now.

Reminders of its history take the form of old hand stenciled painted station signs previously hidden under a century's worth of paint layers on the timber bulkheads above the covered platform areas that announced "Allandale Station" to those arriving or passing through along with plaster column moldings stamped with the GTR logo of the Grand Trunk Railway which later became the Canadian National Railway (CNR). The general manager of the Grand Trunk Railway who oversaw the station's construction, Charles Melville Hays, died just a few years later on the maiden voyage of the Titanic on April 15th, 1912.

Barrie OntarioBetween the south and central building is the covered station platform that I see as being a seasonal patio onto itself or perhaps as a feature of the center building. The centre building sports 20ft plus ceilings that round seamlessly onto the walls. The exterior windows on ether side light up the interior and standing at the centre of this great hall one can envision a 5 star dining experience people would travel from afar to partake in. You must stand in this space to appreciate this in the full sense.

The north most Brick building would in my estimation be ideally suited for the offices of a company who wants their name to be synonymous with Barrie. Without doubt there isn't another building in Barrie that has as many eyes deliberately gazing upon it over the course of a day.

Grand marble front steps have been added to the north building entranceway to enhance the character of the interiors which have fireplaces (originally as the only heating source) at each corner of the main and upper levels and ceilings rising up over ten feet in each of the rooms on both levels.

The south end building consists of a main area and a smaller area that finishes in a windowed half circle where a century ago people would have kept a watch out for the giant steam plumes of the arriving trains. The tower which has been replaced to its original specifications serves as a giant skylight from within the interior. I can see how a cafe/coffeehouse in conjunction with a news and book stand such as one can find at an international airport would do a thriving business from this location serving the GO commuters, tourists, the local population and visitors to the south side of our bay. This could become an informal meeting place where I would be proud to meet with clients onBarrie Mayor Jeff Lehman and Mike Montague their arrival to Barrie.

There is still work left to do to complete the existing building phase of the Allandale Train Station project but for the first time I could clearly envision the end results on Friday.

Beyond what is taking place here I can see the value pride and efforts of this restoration spilling over to the South Essa road and Bradford street commercial areas.




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Time for the City of Barrie to take action on growing rental issue

01-07-12
Mike Montague
Rental housing has traditionally been built in Ontario when there is financial incentive to do so. When there isn't, demand continues to increase but availability shrinks. If you go back to the 60's and early 70's there were allot of new apartment buildings going up all over Ontario. At that time there were Barrie income propertymany tax incentives and capitol cost write-offs along with assistance programs from CMHC for developer/landlords that disappeared around 1972 and when they did, apartment construction levels nose dived and have never recovered.

As rental demands in the seventies climbed as a result of little new construction and a growing population, so did the rents landlords could command. This created financial pressures on individual renters but is to be expected in an industry whose existence rises and falls with supply-and-demand and return-on-investment. Rather than revive those government incentives to encourage new building and accommodate the increasing demand for rental housing, the government of the day decided to implement rent control regulations.

The net effect of that over time has been a further decrease in new rental construction and unit availability as purchase and operating costs climbed at greater rates than could be compensated through the annual rent increases the government would allow. Landlords increasingly began converting rental buildings to condos and rental homes when sold off were more likely to become owner occupied as ROI numbers diminished.

At the municipal level, a window opened up for just a couple years in the early nineties under the NDP government that allowed second suites to be created in Ontario homes. The power to allow second suites was passed back to the municipalities in 1994 and Barrie has not granted permits for second suites in existing homes since that time. A grandfathering clause allowed second suites that were registered during that short time to continue . Most of those exist in older areas of Barrie as more than half the residential areas in Barrie today did not exist yet in 94.

One topic our municipal council would rather avoid but is forced to face again and again is whether to allow second suites in residential homes. A number of homeowners do not want to see them allowed for fear of their neighbourhoods deteriorating as a worst case result. Abiding by the wish of those constituents is the safe road politically for a Councillor or Mayor to stay on.

At the same time the number of unregistered second suites in Barrie grows and is many times greater than the number of registered ones. The combination of a rising population and strained economy will insure these numbers continue to escalate with time.

The City is obligated to respond if a complaint is lodged about a suspected illegal apartment in Barrie but there is no "illegal apartment squad" working out of city hall trying to shut them all down. If such an undertaking were ever to occur, the reality the City is well aware of is that there would suddenly be many thousands of new homeless people and hundreds if not thousands of people who currently rely on a second suite income who would be forced to sell.

If the City were to step off of the safe path of least resistance and face the reality head on by finding a manageable solution whereby qualifying property owners in Barrie could provide second suites that comply with current fire and safety regulations, far more good than grief would come if it.

There would be less of a gray market housing economy and fewer people living in apartments that don't meet with building code/safety requirements in Barrie. Instead the city would begin to generate much needed revenue which benefits us all. As suites were registered they would be required to meet with fire and safety regulations which benefits us all and saves on City resources.

As demand and availability of rentals in Barrie stabilized so too would rents. Increased competition and availability tends to keep market values in check.

A larger segment of the population, particularly young families starting out would find themselves in the financial position of being able to purchase a home if they knew they could offset the month to month costs by renting out an upper level or basement suite.

That in itself stimulates the local economy. If a family renting locally today purchased a home and added a legal second suite this would create a vacancy when they move and another in the home they buy.

The Mayor and Council are vying to have Laurentian University come to Barrie. Many of the 2500 - 3000 students and up to 300 faculty are going to require rental accommodations. If the city wants a university, they are going to have to show in a very significant way that they are willing to make the tough but responsible decisions that will allow it to meet the increased housing demands that come along with it.

Something else that we won't be able to ignore for much longer is a population that is aging faster than we are creating living spaces suited to accommodate them. Seniors housing is sparse and costs two, three or more times what an apartment in a home costs.

Many people have the space and the desire to create an independent in-law suite for a parent, family member or a senior age family friend rather than have them go into retirement homes. This is a convenience the City of Barrie should be allowing not denying families living in the community.

Barrie needs to look to the future. It isn't an all or nothing scenario. There are ways to moderate the number of units so we don't ever see the worst case scenarios that some existing home owners fear. To do nothing wont serve the growing demand and is only going to fuel the growing gray market apartment economy in Barrie while our community as a whole suffers for it.
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