About Grey County, ON

Many people who own secondary properties in vacation country like to rent them out from time to time to cover overhead costs associated with owning such a property.  That may get a little more difficult soon.

The Town of the Blue Mountains has been discussing the issue of short term rentals for some time now and earlier this year, they enacted an interim control by-law to allow some time for the study of this matter.

This week, a staff report came out with recommendations governing the licensing of short term accommodations and, from what I read, it will be VERY tricky to get approvals in most residential zones if this is approved.  I'm not saying that I disagree with the direction.  If you own a home in a residential area, you want your investment to be protected from commercial uses that may impact your enjoyment.  That's certainly a fair thing to expect.

If you are considering the purchase of a recreational property with the intention of renting it out, you need to read the staff report.  and the Interim Control By-Law.  Longer term rentals shouldn't be a problem so owners may need to rethink their ownership investment strategies.

Just a few years ago, it was pretty rare to see a home sold for over a million dollars in South Georgian Bay. Today, there are 1-2 luxury home sales each month and we're starting to see homes topping two and three million dollars. One property in the area is listed for far more.

Luxury homes often take more than a year to sell even in a strong market. Currently in our area, there are 34 residential properties for sale ranging in price from $1,000,000 to $9,985,000. In the last six months, there have been 8 sales so, at the current rate, there is better than a two year supply of "inventory" of high-end homes not including the vast number of custom and new homes available as well.

As a REALTOR®, taking a listing for a high-end homes requires careful thought. Yes, commissions on luxury homes are substantial but so are the costs and demands plus, money invested is never recouped if the house does NOT sell during the listing period. Imagine listing 5 homes, spending thousands on marketing each one and none sell.

I recently listed a luxury home that is one of the finest crafted homes in the area. Since this type of offering is growing in our marketplace, I think it could be useful to look at some of the considerations involved in marketing upper-tier properties.

The first step is to work with the Sellers in establishing an asking price. Comparing size, number of bedrooms and such is not nearly enough since not all homes are created equal. I've been in homes over a million dollars where the interior finishes were no better than those found in a $200,000 subdivision home. Seriously. Pricing means knowing the intricacies of comparable properties in regard to neighbourhood, design, workmanship and quality of materials in the home. It's critical to know the competition, to know the neighbourhoods and to understand the potential buyer profile.

Coming Soon: Marketing A Luxury Home

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!

My first real estate advisor was my Dad. He used to say that when you buy a home, make sure it's one that "first your foes lived in, then your friends and then you." The idea was that a new house has deficiencies that can cause frustrations while subsequent owners add to and perfect a home.

I admit these lessons coloured my viewpoint. While sometimes a new home is suitable for certain buyers, I generally think a resale home offers less risk and more benefit in most cases.

A few years ago, I had a client who insisted on buying one of the first 3 homes to be built in a brand new subdivision. I cautioned her that there was a risk in doing so. What if the developer sold off the land to someone else who had an entirely different vision for her neighbourhood? What if their work crews were terrible? Did they have a TARION track record? Well sure enough, she bought the house. The builder went belly up, the land is for sale and the deficiencies have never been corrected.

More recently, I've been working with some super folks looking to buy a luxury condo in the area for rest and relaxation from their busy lives. They became intrigued with a new development and picked what they thought would be a perfect site. It overlooks a quiet meadow with a fabulous view of Blue Mountain where the sunsets would be magnificent. It's quiet and peaceful but they'd have to pay a significant "lot premium" to acquire that end unit spot.

What the builder's salesperson didn't tell them is that a new road is planned to run right beside the unit and then, the meadow will be a construction zone for years to come as hundreds of homes are planned for that land. Their view of the mountain will likely be impacted by the new condo's to be built right behind them. Not only that but the builder is a year behind schedule and existing owners are screaming foul over unaddressed deficiencies. After I heard about their plan to buy, I got the plans for the area which I was able to show them. That purchase is now on hold.

When it comes to buying new, buyer beware. Model homes often have thousands and thousands of dollars of enticing upgrades and slick presentations that make the fantasy exceedingly powerful. In many cases, you as a buyer are on your own and unrepresented in negotiations. Take your time, think, ask and seek outside advice before signing on the dotted line.

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!

With spring fast approaching, we're getting more enquiries again from people who are looking for vacant land on which to build their new home now or at some point down the road. After 19 years in this business, I've seen both winners and the losers in the building game. There are those who built something that subsequently had a higher resale value within a few years and, there are those who have far more into their dream home than they'll get out for a very long time. The difference between winning or losing at the building game is made up of a number of different factors:

· location

· the property

· the design

· the quality of construction

· the quality of the finishes

You'll notice, I didn't say, the price. The cost is derived from all of these other factors and an expensive but well designed and built home in the right location with suitable finishes will produce a better return than a moderately priced and poorly build home in a terrible location.

Here are some questions would-be-home-builders should ask themselves and in later posts, we'll talk about site preparation costs and then, construction costs.

In my experience, many people think they can buy a lot and then build their dream home at a reduced price or, that they can put up a pre-fabricated home within an unrealistically low budget. "My uncle is an electrician and my brother is a carpenter so we have contacts in the family." How many times I've heard that! Before you make a decision to build, let's consider a few things:

· Did you know that the most expensive part of building a house is in the materials and not in the labour?

· Did you know that, according to a study done by Mattamy Homes (Canada's largest home builder), there are 91 steps involved after the site work is completed? It starts with staking out the site and ends with paving the driveway. Do you have 91 friends, relatives or skill sets that will allow you to actually save money?

· Tradespeople are really, really busy. Wait, good tradespeople are really, really busy up here and some are already booked out for the year. If you want a good excavator, plumber, electrician, carpenter and such, you need to be patient and, you need to be prepared that you'll pay for the quality. You also best have very good project management skills and be able to co-ordinate the trades. If one doesn't show up and the others therefore get held up, can you jump in and drive the backhoe or, will you pay the extra fees in having the trades come back another day?

If you are still satisfied and comfortable at this point, then it's time to consider the costs of the land and site preparation. Watch for a post on this next week.

Would you like to have instant access to MLS® listings of properties for sale in the Collingwood - Blue Mountain areas?

Chances are that many of the people reading this will answer yes. Statistics show that most people who visit a real estate blog or website for the first time are mainly interested in one thing: information on area listings. If you are one of those people, then I have some good news for you.

You can easily surf around MLS® listings on your own by visiting Canada's MLS® listing web portal at www.mls.ca or by visiting my website portal to area listings. It's useful but really, the information is a bit limited and it can be somewhat tedious to wade through everything just to see what is new.

There is a better option. You can now have your very own private website where you can view, save and manage details of property listings that that match your chosen criteria. I just love this and think you will too. It's a new feature of our MLS® software and all you need to do is register with a few details so I can set it up for you. After that, you manage the site yourself. You'll get up to the minute and instant access to listing details including the property address, photos, price, size, taxes and more for each listing that generally matches the criteria you choose. You can unsubscribe from the program at any time.

It's free, it's easy and there are no catches. I promise. Give it a try!