About Grey County, ON

I once listed a house for sale in Collingwood where a suspected murder had taken place. I consulted with two lawyers about disclosure requirements and got two answers: one was to follow the instructions of my client and the second was more of a question: would want or need to know this and, then make my decision from there. I'll tell you what happened later.

In an interesting seminar that I attended earlier this year, the instructor neatly categorized property stigmas into three categories:

1. Pure Stigma where a property has been psychologically impacted by a suspected or actual event such as haunted homes or, properties where a murder, suicide or death occurred
2. Physical Stigma where a physical problem has affected the property such as UFFI, mold, asbestos, lead-based paint or oil tanks and,
3. Neighbourhood stigmas when the house is located in an area known for a high crime rate or in a neighbourhood where a suspected or known criminal resides.

REALTORS® have a duty to discover and disclose facts about a property that could affect a purchaser's decision to buy a property. Our Standards of Practice lay-out our obligation to discover facts and to the avoid error, misrepresentation or concealment of those facts. We can also not exaggerate or advise on matters outside the scope of our real estate license or, break rules of privacy and confidentiality. It's a tricky area, especially in Ontario where rules of disclosure of stigmatized properties are not clearly spelled out in any legislation.

The question comes down to, what is a fact? If a house contained lead-based paint and it was removed, it is a fact and there is no question it should be disclosed. But is a haunted house a fact?

My own policy is to always disclose all known stigmas and to let the potential buyers decide if it matters to them or not. For Sellers, I doubt they'd like to endure the pain and expense of a lawsuit where a judge can decide if it matters or not. For buyers, it is important to ask the questions and, to deal with a local REALTOR® who knows about local issues, stigmas and their effect on property values. By discovering and factually disclosing pertinent stigmas, I sleep well at night knowing the right thing has been done. My reputation relies on it and so do my clients.

About the house I mentioned. We did disclose the stigma and the house sold. Sadly, there were two suicides and a fire in the house in later years. Maybe the house was cursed. Maybe not. No matter what, I have always been thankful that the buyers were fully informed.

My favourite photographic contributor is at it again. E.H. Scott, a client of mine who lives atop the Niagara Escarpment to the south of Collingwood, sent these two photos he took on March 27th. The first was taken at 20:53 in the middle of Earth Hour and, the second at 21:45, after Earth Hour had finished. You can clearly see that after Earth Hour, the glow in the sky from Collingwood - Blue Mountain is much greater.

According to the president of Collus (our local utility provider), Collingwood's consumption dropped 5.6% compared to 9% last year. This could be due to a number of factors since the same trend was seen across Ontario. For example, it was cold that day. It could also be due to lower consumption patterns become a norm on a regular basis thereby lessening the impact of of turning things off or down during Earth Hour.

I had a most interesting chat with Collingwood's Mayor, Chris Carrier, yesterday about the many cutting-edge and exciting new opportunites that are emerging around environmental opportunities for municipalities, home owners and builders. Things like energy cooperatives, geothermal or solar installations for entire developments, use of land-fill methane to fuel generators and trucks... there is a great deal of innovation out there and exciting times ahead. Ontario's new Green Energy Act has certainly accelerated this trend to a surprising degree.

As an Accredited Green Broker™, keeping on top of "green" trends is a passion for me. If you are thinking of buying a new-to-you home, let's talk about how you can minimize that second price tag of utility and comfort costs.

Even with the new proposed regulations surrounding their installations, the debate about wind turbines continue to rage in Ontario and certainly here in the Blue Mountain area.

A recent column by Bob Aaron in the Toronto Star caught my attention as he described the case of a taxpayer who challenged the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) in September, 2008. (How did we miss that!?) This case set a landmark precedent attaching a dollar value to potential impacts of industrial wind installations on surrounding land owners.

A fellow by the name of Paul Thompson of Amaranth Township in the Shelburne area, appealed the assessed value of his home on the basis that it was located opposite a hydro substation that served an area wind farm. His appeal was not actually based on the existence of the turbines but rather, on the noise produced by the substation. He entered evidence that showed it emitted noise at a decibel level exceeding the normally acceptable range.

In its ruling, the board member wrote that, "The Board finds that the constant hum alleged by Mr. Thompson does exist and significantly reduces the current value of the subject property." They also said, "Having heard this nuisance, apparently sanctioned by the Municipality, the Board accepts Mr. Thompson's testimony that the stigma of noise contamination has a negative impact on the value and marketability of the property, and that after learning of the hum, prospective purchasers will quickly lose interest in purchasing the property. The Board is satisfied that a very substantial reduction is warranted."

The Board cut Mr. Thompsons assessed value of his property in half from $255,000 to $127,000. What I find troubling about this case is that the number was not quantified and I read no evidence to suggest what the new property value should be. Does this mean that a property affected by noise is impacted by $127,000 in that location? Is that the new number? If the house were originally valued at $150,000 or at $750,000, how would the value have changed?

Only time will answer the question as the free market adjusts for new conditions emerging in a new world.
The map featured here comes from the Canadian Wind Energy Association website which lists on the site, all of the current wind farm operations in Canada.

Craigleith Station

Re Opened in September of 2008 as the Craigleith Heritage Depot

The Station originally built in the 1870's has been lovingly restored by the Town of Blue Mountain staff, and many volunteers. It is now a museum containing a lot of local history and information. The old rail line is now a bike / walking path that runs from Collingwood to Thornbury and beyond.

A great day trip destination You can read more about it here at mycollingwood or here from the railroad guy

There are many exhibits of the fossils found in the black shale of the area including braciopods, graptolites, and cephalopods as well as local history and information.

Collingwood, Blue Mountain and Area Real Estate Prices Rising Again

First, a disclaimer: Statistics can be dangerous things if they are not carefully and accurately assessed. For example, our MLS® system uses average sale prices rather than median sale 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.

Now having said that, I think we have a fairly safe picture emerging. I've taken a look at the average sale prices of residential properties in six areas including Blue Mountain, Clearview, Collingwood, Grey Highlands, Meaford and Wasaga Beach. Using the MLS® data provided for those areas by the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board, here's what I found:

• The 12-month average residential sale price at the end of December 2009 was $298,150
• This was 2.6% higher than at the end of December 2008 but 4.9% below December's 2007 record high
• The highest average sale price continues to be in the Blue Mountains which ended the year at $453,258 while the lowest was in Clearview Township with a 12 month average ending at $$251,213.
• The average sale price of a condominium in 2009 was $216,697 which was up 3.4% over 2008 and up 6% from 2007.

Last year, a new way of measuring price changes was developed that showed results that could be quite different from traditional measurements. The Teranet-National Bank House Price Index uses a house pairing methodology which I think is a more reliable indicator of market change than using average sale prices. The index shows that as of October 2009, average residential sale prices in Toronto were up by 2.3% over the same period in the previous year.

Given that our market is substantially impacted by the GTA market, we tend to follow similar trends. The index showing a 2.3% increase as of October combined with our 12 month average price having climbed 2.6%, I think it is fairly safe to say that prices in the Georgian Triangle rose between 2-3% in the last year compared to 2008 but are still slightly below the record highs of 2007.

As always, there were certain pockets of activity where values climbed more than in others. One example would be in the Heritage Corners development near Blue Mountain where prices for a 3 bedroom unit climbed by over 10% in a three month period this past summer and fall. In Lighthouse Point, not a single unit with two or more bedrooms is currently for sale under $330,000; a situation not seen in many years. On the other hand, there were certain subdivisions where virtually nothing sold all year despite a strong supply of inventory.

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