October 2012 NDG Market Report Homes This October MLS® reported 12 home sales in Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG). The sale prices ranged from $320,000 for one of the war time detached houses on St. Ignatius to $980,000 for an attached townhouse on Decarie beside Villa Maria metro. 6 contracts expired this October and 19 new homes came to market bringing the active homes on market to 52, down from 55 last month. Average home sale prices were up this month to $584,500 and homes stayed on market for 40 days (DOM) on average, lowering the absorption rate for property inventory to 4.3 months, more near the average for this year. In line with the fast turnover of inventory, discounting followed at only 2% off the last asking price on average. Prices and sales delays on market reported above will c... 11/18/2012

Woodpecking His Way Through NDG, Montreal Without A Care Walking over to a meeting with my client on Brillon avenue in Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG) this morning and I hear this knocking noise closeby. I looked up and all around with no luck. Something caught my gaze down near the ground and there was this woodpecker going at it on a rotten tree trunk. I was amazed how confident this bird was and how large it was. It stood more than a foor tall. I slowly stepped my way closer to him and only when I was 3 feet away did he feel I was too close.   He did not fly away, rather chose to move around the trunk to the backside out of my view. Well, I would have non of that and walked around to the other side. He studied me, likely sizing me up, and decided to walk, slowly, to another part of the tru... 12/06/2011

Market Report For July 2011 In NDG, Quebec   Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG) experienced an average month in July. 10 homes and 13 condos were sold compared with 11 homes and 13 condos last month. Rising prices on Montreal Island have increased the availability of condos in NDG. Condos sales had risen significantly in 2004 and again since 2008 with a peak of 302 sales in 2009. Average sales values for homes of $477,800 this month being purchased at 97% of the asking value indicates high demand in this sector. Inventory levels support at a low 2.3 months. Days sold was high at 55 days over 27, 37 and 35 in April, May, and June respectively. Condos take longer to sell in NDG averaging 105 days this July. The spring rush month was February and again in April at 41 and 56 days. The market is hold... 08/03/2011

"Faulty Towers".....Funny,       Faulty Decks.........Dangerous ! Faulty Towers was a hilarious British comedy. it was a sit-com staring one of the founding members of 'Monty Pythons Flying Circus'. Faulty decks though that's a different kind of story, and if you are unlucky it's appearing on a balcony or deck near you. Take a look at the example below and remember just because it's been there for a while doesn't mean that it always will be (there). At 'A" you can see the short remnant of the original cantilevered beam built into the original floor framing of this building.  The joists of the current construction are sistered onto either side. This is nailed with 4" common nails, not galvanized. "B" Is the top end of the diagonal brace, a 4 by 4 bracketed by the sistered joists mentione... 05/23/2011

  Buying a home, even new, is like buying a used car. In a factory, so the legend goes, if your car is made on a hung-over Monday morning or a weekend-anticipating sloppy Friday, it might come out less than par. But it is still quality tested and within acceptable standards. So you don’t typically ”inspect” at new car at the point of purchase. You are well advised to do so for a used car. Housing should be treated the same way, even new homes. You all understand the sense of having a ‘used’ home inspected, similar to a used car. But houses are not factory built. There’s more that a few hung-over Monday mornings occurring during the build period.  And it’s not even the same guys doing the same design or having the same training level each time. Mistakes are made, errors occur and things ... 04/18/2011

Here is something you should know : Asbestos components are not limited to PAST installations . Read the lettering on the pipe. It says the same thing in both french and English. "Asbestose cement do not dry cut" This is a warning for the installers. Now look at the date above that; '13.05.09' The punctuation is in french format but it means this product was fabricated May 13 th, 2009. I inspected this multi unit condo building in June of 2010. This piping is running overhead in the ceiling of the common basement parking area. So as the X Files say "It's out there"! This I posted as a comment to Dale Ganfield's excellent collaborative post Asbestos Exposure Prevention: Tips and Valuable Information This is a good concise article with clear understandable advise. (N.B. I'd tried to re-bl... 02/05/2011

QST / TVQ (Quebec Sales Tax) increase effective January 1, 2011 Are you ready for the increase in the Quebec Sales Tax ("QST") on January 1, 2011?  QST is known in French as Taxe de vente du Québec ("TVQ"). The QST rate will be increasing from 7.5% to 8.5%.  Since QST is charged on top of the 5% federal goods and services tax ("GST'), the effective QST rate will be 8.925%. According, the combined effective GST and QST rate in Quebec effective January 1, 2011 will be 13.925%. These sales tax rates will apply all goods and services where GST and QST are currently charged. Transition rules may apply on some transactions. Also, it was proposed in the 2010 Quebec provincial budget that the QST rate be increased on January 1, 2012 by 1% from 8.5% to 9.5%.  This proposal has not yet passed int... 11/28/2010

With more than 10,000 real estate brokers (formerly called agents) in the greater Montreal area, choosing someone to represent you in the sale or purchase of a home is a little like shopping for cereal at a grocery store in the U.S.: the choices are endless.  If you make the wrong choice of cereal, you dump out the box and move on. If you make the wrong choice of real estate broker, the stakes are much higher.  So how do you choose? Clearly, experience, market knowledge and reputation are important factors.  These are no-brainers, right? So are professionalism, likeability and stability.  Can you relate to your broker?  Do they represent you well?  Do they remain calm or get hot-headed in discussions? Then there's service orientation and availability.  When you contact your broker, how ... 09/21/2010

The Marshmallow Test For Real Estate Brokers If there are more agents, does the feedback quality the listing agent receives diminish during agent caravans? Most of us, when put on the spot in public or amongst strangers, will not stand up and risk a true opinion if it might be seen as critical or negative. Most then will not be totally honest not wanting to place their reputations on the line for criticism by colleagues. But that is not our main problem doing a caravan, is it? If we know we will get a more reliable opinion about our new listing asking each agent alone then...why is it so hard for us to wait to ask our burning questions? The Marshmallow Test-- The children in this test explain it well.   09/03/2010

Market Report For Downtown Montreal Condos - July 2010 July’s condominium activity in Downtown Montreal was a little below average with the MLS® system recording 19 sales. With 232 properties active in this sector for the second month in a row suggesting a levelling out for the summer months, inventory shot up to12.2 over 8.3 months in June. The average price on July sales was down at $409,844 comparing with May’s $510,028 and June’s $607,338 on a low and steady discount level of 7% off the average last asking prices. Properties sold in July averaged a little higher 115 days on market compared with June’s 76 days. The hot summer days and vacationers spending time away from the city would certainly help account for this longer sales cycle. Downtown Montreal in real estate territory terms... 08/31/2010

Market Report For Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG) Montreal - July 2010 July home sales in NDG on the MLS® system were posted at 6 sales averaging $492,167 down from $541,026 in June. Not to worry though as this is peak summer vacation period in Montreal. Discount levels held steady at 96% as they did in June. This level is insignificant based on so few sales though may be considered okay with the market slowing down in summer. Inventory shot up slightly to 4.8 months supply on the 29 homes available for sale over the 6 properties sold for the month due to low sales for the month. The strength of this sector is shown by few expired listings which were 2 and 3 last month. Condo sales held steady this month at 17 and 18 in May though the average sale did rise to $398,721 from $281,036 in June. D... 08/31/2010

Live In Montreal And Avoid Traffic Can you believe that Bejing drivers have endured a nine-day, 100 kilometre-long traffic jam on a highway leading into Beijing?The jam, caused by roadworks, are not expected to finish for another month, the state news agency said. photo credit: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/08/23/drivers-trapped-for-nine-days-in-chinese-traffic-jam/#ixzz0xR7kj4h5 MontrealIn Montreal, Quebec, our city island has its' downtown on the South East part of the island and by using one of a few major express ways, can be accessed from most any Montreal region, on or off island, within 20 minutes without traffic. In traffic or construction, 45 minutes to an hour is more the norm. Add in a winter storm and you could hit 1.5 hours.           But 9 days!!!!!! And thanks to our ... 08/23/2010

Real Estate Advisory in Montreal? I was speaking with investors this weekend about their properties while visiting friends in the Laurentians north of Montreal. A newbie asked me if he should buy a 6 unit property in a town near his cottage. Yikes! I asked him how he plans to deal with trouble when he is back in Montreal 3.5 hours away from the property. He pondered the question and said, "I hadn’t thought about that." Hard criteria If you are thinking about buying such a property, then perhaps one of your hard criteria should be, "do I know one of the renters personally". At least, this way you can try to incentive them to keep a watchful eye on the other tenants when you are not there. What's at stake? One of the conversations we had this weekend included a story about a renter who ba... 08/22/2010

Pondering Real Estate In Montreal Once in awhile, you read something that gets you wondering. Today I read Terry Chenier's blog post about the sentence Osama's cook received from the military. He then mentioned an "oxymoron" he thought explained the decision. And I wondered....is "real estate" the opposite of an oxymoron?What do you call the opposite of an oxymoron?oxymoron- a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.” the opposite is: tautology- needless repetition of an idea, esp. in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in “widow woman.” Distinguishing "Real" from "Estate" When I took my real estate law courses, we le... 08/17/2010

Promises In Residential Real Estate I continuously see Brokers (formerly known as Agents here in Quebec) promoting "Sold" listings along with their photos left at doorsteps. All implying but never specifiying directly that they sold the home. I hear how Listing Bokers "sold" X numbers of homes, or X number of dollars for which they won prizes and awards; more palatable claims. Some Listing Brokers place newspaper ads and other media out there with active listings and snuggled in beside them are those "sold" listings again. And often, along with a number stating how many homes they sold or what their placement is in the horse race within their office, within Quebec or Montreal or volumes of last year, month, etc.   What does this have to do with how well they treat their clients transact... 08/10/2010

Market Report For Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG) Montreal - June 2010 June home sales in NDG on the MLS® system were posted at 19 sales averaging $541,026, down from May’s $580,000. Discount levels were up slightly at 96% over May’s 98% which is insignificant based on so few sales though may be considered okay with the market slowing down for summer and supported by the rise in days on market to 49 days from 27 in May. Inventory was down to 1.7 months supply on the 33 homes available for sale over the 19 properties sold for the month. And given this being our busiest season in a robust sector, expired listings remained low at 3 versus 2 last month. Condo sales went down this month from 24 in May to 18 this June as did the average sale from $316,771 to $281,036 while the days on market droppe... 07/07/2010

Market Report For Downtown Montreal Condos - June 2010 Market activity for Downtown Montreal condominiums this June was average with the MLS® system recording 27 sales. 227 active properties in the market, 41 new condos came to market over 64, 51 and 64 for the 3 previous months suggesting a seasonal slowing down for the summer months. Inventory went down a touch from 9.5 to 8.3 months from May. The average price on June sales was down at $510,028 from May’s $607,338 on a low discount level of 6% off the last asking price for 2010. Properties sold in June averaged 76 days on market. This was lower than in May’s 107 days. Downtown Montreal in real estate territory terms is divided East and West using University Avenue as the North South line. I report on the West sector we refer to "Cent... 07/07/2010

Market Report For Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG) Montreal For May 2010 NDG is a popular sector for families looking for a family home in a setting close to the downtown core of Montreal. While it is a semi-suburban area, with the trappings including walking distance to all services,  the streets are still not suburbia in that most are traffic prone and so the kiddies playing hockey, hopscotch and the like in the street are unlikely. If there is any failing to this sector, this is the one I notice most. However, city facilities and parks abound compensating for this lacking in my view. May 2010 saw fair activity on the MLS® system with 15 sales at an average price of $588,400. The popularity of the sector has seen average prices steadily increase year over year from $451,367 in 2007, $468,624... 07/06/2010

Market Report for Downtown Montreal Condos For May 2010 Downtown Montreal condominium market activity in May 2010 was normal but not impressive. MLS® recorded 24 sales which were close to the median for the last 12 months. With 227 properties in the market and 64 new condos put up for sale the inventory went up to 9.5 months from 4.9 in April. The average price for these sales was $607,338 was the second highest in the last 12 months while maintaining an average discount level of 95% off the last asking price for the last 4 months. The time properties stayed on the market in May was 107 days. This was higher than the previous month of April at 79 days though I would say that was a peculiarly low month considering the last 6 months of 2009 averaged 152 days. 07/06/2010

  Canadian Housing Market Cooling Down It can be helpful to look outside one’s market to gauge how your city and province are viewed by those who might be potential buyers from afar or to sellers who will move away from our province.  Presently, Canada home sales activity in Canada set no record in April while new listings climbed (The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) recent statistics). I continually use local statistics to inform my clients how market conditions will affect sales prices and sales delays based on outside and local market states, the economy and current inventory levels. This puts in to perspective the strategy, approach and expectations we should have when buying or selling. I know it reduces my client stress and increases level-headed decision-making. Residenti... 06/09/2010