Jan Feb 2011 Newsletter

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HomeHunt with Bruce Johnson

! January/February 2011 ! TheHomeHunt.com ! Vol. XV, Issue I

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HomeHunt

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with Bruce Johnson

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OHNSO SALES N REPRE SENTA RE/MA TIVE X of W asaga B each I n c ., B rokera ge PHON E (705) TOLL 429-45 FREE 00 (8 88) 74 1- 8 8 8 8

January/February 2011

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2011 Market Report

RESIDENTIAL VALUES EXPECTED TO CLIMB IN 2011 Mississauga, ON -­‐-­‐ Although improved economic fundamentals will have a positive impact on Canadian housing markets moving forward, the forecast for residential real estate sales remains static in most major centres in 2011, according to a report recently released by RE/MAX. The RE/MAX Housing Market Outlook 2011, examining trends and developments in 26 major centres across the country, found that home-­‐ buying activity in 2010 fell short of 2009 levels. Housing values, however, continued to climb, with virtually all areas reporting an upswing in average price, ranging from just under one per cent to 15 per cent this year.

“Never before have we

experienced a run up that was as strong or lasted as long.”

Lower inventory levels in many markets offset the effects of diminished demand, propping-­‐up price in almost every instance. Kitchener-­‐Waterloo, Quebec City, and St. John’s saw the greatest increases in average price this year, while Eastern Canadian markets including Hamilton-­‐Burlington, Sudbury, Windsor, Moncton and Prince Edward Island were the only markets that bucked the downward trending in home sales in 2010.

By year-­‐end, approximately 441,000 homes are expected to change hands nationally, a Wive per cent decline from the 465,251 sales reported in 2009.

Housing values are forecast to continue to climb,

up an estimated seven per cent to $340,000, compared with $320,333 one year earlier.

“In terms of resale housing activity, what many are talking about as the new normal is actually a return to the traditional real estate cycle,” says Michael Polzler, Executive Vice President, Regional Director, RE/ MAX Ontario-­‐Atlantic Canada.

“The past decade was truly unprecedented—never before have we experienced a run up that was as strong or lasted as long. As we have digressed from the typical pattern, people have forgotten what the usual healthy cycle looks like, but all the hallmarks are there.

Ample inventory levels, steady demand, and moderate growth, both in terms of sales and prices, will characterize the market in 2011. While the pace may appear lackluster in comparison to what we’ve grown accustomed to, it underscores the principles of real estate 101: The market is cyclical. All boats rise and fall with the tide.”

“We can expect to see more normal, balanced market conditions, with buyers maintaining a slight edge.”

Greater stability is expected to characterize the markets in 2011, with Canadian housing sales predicted to mirror 2010 levels at 441,000 next year, while average price is forecast to escalate three per cent to $350,000 by year-­‐end 2011. “

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

Your Window on Wasaga Beach & Collingwood Real Estate

2011 MARKET REPORT

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Looking forward, we see steady improvement in provincial and local economies—which will bode well for housing markets across the board,” says Elton Ash, Regional Executive Vice President, RE/ MAX of Western Canada. “The relentless drive in the market reminiscent of years past will be gone and instead, we can expect to see more normal, balanced market conditions, with buyers maintaining a slight edge.”

“Immigration will remain a serious force stimulating demand.”

MARKET OUTLOOK FOR 2011

The upper-­‐end of the market continues to be a strong indication of the overall health of Canada’s housing sector. Typically the Wirst segment to soften in a downturn, luxury homes posted record sales activity in 2010, and demand is expected to remain solid in 2011. Strong sales in the high-­‐end will continue to prop up average prices.

Markets in British Columbia are forecast to lead the country in terms of percentage increases in sales activity next year, with Greater Vancouver expected to climb 10 per cent, followed by Victoria at eight per cent and Kelowna at six per cent. After a prolonged period of economic hardship, Windsor is once again on track for growth, with residential home sales predicted to climb Wive per cent.

Almost all markets are reporting an anticipated increase in housing values next year, with St. John’s in Newfoundland-­‐Labrador in front with an estimated eight per cent hike in average price in 2011.

“Overall gains will be more muted—a welcome reprieve for purchasers.”

“Low interest rates and improving consumer conWidence levels should stimulate home-­‐ buying activity at all price points next year,” says Sylvain Dansereau, Executive Vice President, RE/ MAX Quebec. “Overall gains will be more muted—a welcome reprieve for purchasers. 2011 will be a year that will see more widespread recovery across a broader array of economic sectors, setting the stage for a better 2012.”

In the meantime, a number of factors will continue to support sustained sales and price growth in the months and years ahead. Land scarcity, intensiWication, urban renewal, inWill and renovation will continue to drive up values— regardless of supply and demand—in major metropolitan areas.

The Canadian housing stock is everevolving, particularly in the central core of each city.

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With average price pushing closer to or well past the $300,000 mark in the vast majority of major centres, and affordability of single-­‐family homes diminishing, the demand for attainable product will rise in tandem, bolstering the growing condominium segment in the years ahead.

Immigration will remain a serious force stimulating demand, particularly given the penchant for homeownership among today’s new Canadians.

While the formation of new households used to take an average of Wive years, a growing number of newcomers arrive skilled, Winancially secure, and ready to make their home-­‐ buying moves. It is estimated that Canada will average 250,000 new immigrants annually.

In the year ahead, federal, provincial and local stimulus in the form of continued infrastructure spending and capital projects will be a considerable boon to economic stability and employment, providing consumers the conWidence to move forward with real estate purchases.

Volatility in the money markets will continue to drive buyers to the tangibility of home ownership, both as a reliable long-­‐term investment and a form of shelter, particularly given low vacancy rates and a lack of new rental construction in a number of major centres. ~

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

Your Window on Wasaga Beach & Collingwood Real Estate

THE BIG PICTURE

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“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” ~Maya Angelou

me Ho

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Bruce Johnson Photo ©

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

FEATURED PROPERTIES

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The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

INVESTOR’S REPORT

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This Month’s Featured Guest: Andrew Brennan Real Estate Investor Q: I’d like to invest in Real Estate... but not on my own.

What can I do?

Looking for an investment opportunity with great returns and low risk? Want the benefits of investing in real estate without the hassles of dealing with tenant issues, repairs and maintenance? Unsure how or where to get started with investing in real estate? Too busy to commit the time required for finding the right cash flowing property?

The First Step By selecting the right real estate agent and an experienced joint venture partner, you can achieve investing success without the risk involved in other investment strategies.

Bruce Johnson brings years of success and experience to real estate investing. As an investor himself, he understands the opportunities to achieve great results.

For me, Bruce was the driving force that encouraged me to invest in real estate and take control of my financial future.

Without his patience and customer service commitment for a new investor, I would not be on the path to wealth and financial independence.

Joint Venture Agreement Joint ventures are a common occurrence in real estate investing today. New and veteran investors use this approach to strengthen their investment portfolio by leveraging other people’s talents and resources to get amazing results. The success of the joint venture occurs when two or more parties bring different skills or resources together to achieve results that couldn’t be obtained individually.

A popular structure for a joint venture agreement is when one party (known as the equity partner) contributes the financial resources required for the property acquisition in the form of the down payment, closings costs and repair

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

Your Window on Wasaga Beach & Collingwood Real Estate

INVESTOR’S REPORT

funds. The other party (known as the managing party) commits resources such as their time managing and repairing the property along with their experience in real estate investing.

Using this type of structure, both parties benefit from the cash flow and mortgage principle reduction while the property is being held. Upon the sale of the property, the equity partner’s original investment is returned to him/her then the remaining profits would be shared equally.

How Safe Is My Money?

New equity investors within joint ventures often wonder how safe their financial investment is. Steps are taken to ensure your money is not at risk. A signed joint venture agreement is used and reviewed by a lawyer to establish the terms and conditions of the venture.

Common terms used include a dual signature bank account being required to manage the financial expenses of operating the property, length of the joint venture, cash flow payments, and disposing of the property.

The equity investor will also get financial updates. Depending on the property and the financial transactions against it, updates are provided by the managing partner every one to three months.

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Great Time To Get Started Now is a great time to take advantage of today’s historically low interest rates. The opportunity for cash flow has never been better. A $50,000 investment in a property could return 20% in cash flow annually.

Factor in mortgage reduction that occurs with your regular monthly payment and the return could be as high as 25%. Make repairs on the property to force appreciation and the return on investment drastically jumps to much higher amounts by taking advantage of refinancing the property.

After refinancing and paying back a portion of the original investment funds, the annual return can be in excess of 100%. Use borrowed money from a line of credit to invest and the return on investment is infinite!

It’s not hard to see why real estate investing has created so much wealth and independence for thousands of people and why joint ventures are used to create win-win situations for everyone.

If you are interested in exploring the possibility of being an equity partner within a joint venture and building your financial wealth and independence you can contact me at 705-429-6446.

Click here to email Andrew Brennan The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

Bruce Johnson ~ The Home Hunt

MARY’S STAGING REPORT

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Focus on Feng Shui UNSEEN FORCES FORM THE FIRST IMPRESSION Have you ever walked into someone’s home or office for the first 9me and suddenly felt inpa9ent or irritable? Have you ever felt prematurely exhausted shopping in a warehouse store like Costco or Home Depot? Or, worse yet, have you ever goCen angry for no apparent reason shortly aDer entering your own house? If so, you’re sensi9ve to the force of life or energy field that the Chinese call Ch’I, and you’re normal.

In feng shui (“fung shway”), the Chinese art and science of placement, these nega9ve reac9ons

could have been avoided by good design and can be remedied by both actual and metaphorical means.

A common cliché in the staging training world is “it only takes a second to make a first impression” but as a student of feng shui for over a decade now, I intui9vely associate that first impression to either good or bad feng shui.

Buyers will similarly step into your house and within moments be affected by a sense of flow and harmony – or lack of thereof – in your home.

cha·os –noun 1. a state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack of organization or order.

2. any confused, disorderly mass: a chaos of meaningless phrases.

3. Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome; at this time of year, describes the result of an imbalance between time spent cooking, eating, unwrapping gifts…and the resulting necessity to clean up

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

MARY’S STAGING REPORT

When I enter a house for a staging consulta9on, I mentally overlay a tool called the bagua over the physical floor plan of the house. The bagua is a map dis9lled from the I Ching or Chinese Book of Changes where different sec9ons correspond to different categories such as pictured here: In this system, the map is intended to be used over the land, one's home, office or desk to find areas lacking good chi, and to show where nega9ve or missing spaces may need a remedy or enhancement.

If your inten9on is to sell your house for the highest purchase price and the shortest amount of 9me, you will want to pay special aCen9on to two areas: the Wealth & Prosperity sector at the rear leD and the Helpful People and Travel sector at the front right because these are the two most important areas for sellers to ac9vate.

If a seller’s home is in CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) then a systema9c aCack on the detritus of life should start in these areas because cluCer is the clearest indicator of stagnant energy around! This is an admiCedly simple approach to an incredibly complex and ancient science but it was

the bagua that made feng shui accessible to prac99oners of the West.

I always make sure the For Sale sign goes in the Helpful People sector of a seller’s front yard and usually suggest a rich-­‐ toned wind chime, bird feeders or seasonal flags for the rear leD corner of the yard and then, aDer the homeowner has space-­‐cleared the key areas, make addi9onal sugges9ons for colour, placement of furniture and art with good feng shui in mind. ~

List Your Home With Bruce And Receive...

Click!

Feng shui –inspired changes are made to make a home’s occupants feel more energized, crea9ve, tranquil, loving and “at home,” thus spilling off into other aspects of life. Rela9onships can change for the beCer, business can improve, and health issues can stabilize. And if the inten9on is to sell your house, feng shui can help.

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FREE HOME STAGING

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

WASAGA BEACH HAPPENINGS

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Map of Wasaga Beach 1. Click here for Things To Do in Wasaga Beach!

2. Click here for Things To Do in Clearview!

3. Click here for Things To Do in Balm Beach!

W hy ee d N u o Y to e v o To M a! g a s a W click here!

For a go od time,

cal o L y a d 4 1 e nd Weather Tr

Cur rent Weath er

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

COLLINGWOOD & BLUE MOUNTAIN HAPPENINGS

ingwo o d l l o C f o p a M

W hy Yo u Nee d To

1. Click here for Things To Do in Collingwoo d!

2. Click here for Things To Do in Blue Mountain!

3. Click here for Things

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Mo ve to Co lling wo o

d!

To Do in Thornbur y!

ks R c e dn

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F

Re

w! o n S of t e e F Two oto h p r fo k c i l C

Blue Mtn Ski Report

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

JOKES & CONTEST HOME HEATING

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CANADIAN WINTER

We purchased an old home in Northern New York State from two elderly sisters. Winter was fast approaching and I was concerned about the house's lack of insulation. "If they could live here all those years, so can we!" my husband confidently declared.

An elderly woman lived on a small farm in Canada, just yards away from the North Dakota border.

One November night the temperature plunged to below zero and we woke up to find interior walls covered with frost. My husband called the sisters to ask how they had kept the house warm. After a rather brief conversation, he hung up.

One day, her son came into her room holding a letter. "I just got some news, Mom," he said. "The government has come to an agreement with the people in North Dakota. They’ve decided that our land is really part of the United States. We have the right to approve or disapprove of the agreement.

What do you think?"

"For the past 30 years," he muttered, "they've gone to Florida for the winter."

Their land had been the subject of a minor dispute between the United States and Canada for years.

The widowed woman lived on the farm with her son and three grandchildren.

"What do I think?" his mother said. "Sign it! Call them right now and tell them we accept! I don’t think I can stand another Canadian winter!"

tes t! n o C t n u H e m o H The Who To Win:

Lives

The first person to email Bruce wins everlasting

Here?

glory... and a $50 gift certificate to fud grill in Edenvale! Good luck, Home Hunters! You must be a member of our Facebook business page so click here to visit the page and hit the “Like” button: “Who Lives Here?” Contest

Click Here! !

Big Hint

Congratulations to last month’s speedy winner: Miriam Devonport Miriam won lattes with the Johnsons and free passes to the movies!

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

THE BONUS BIG PICTURE

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“Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.” ~ Author Unknown a

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ic aR t s Co

Bruce Johnson Photo ©

The Home Hunt: 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226 | www.TheHomeHunt.com

ASSORTED INFORMATION

BRUCE’S VIDEO OF THE MONTH!

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEO CHANNE L

BY CLICKING HE RE!

HomeHunt

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CLICK HERE FOR OF S N O I T I D E T S A P T THE HOME HUN

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HomeHunt with Bruce Johnson

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RE/MAX OF WA SA GA BE AC H INC .

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Mary Johnson

Bruce Johnson

RE/MAX of Wasaga Beach Inc., Brokerage 1263 Mosley Street, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5 | 705-429-4500 x226