1) Low education.

2) Smoking

3) Physical Inactivity

4) Depression

5) High Blood Pressure

6) Diabetes

7) Obesity

#2-#7 we know are bad habits, or conditions to have.  For the most part they are habits and conditions well within our ability to control and influence.

#1, low education…..well not everyone has had the opportunity to acquire higher education, but the main thrust of this risk factor is that it is important to engage your mind in problem solving activities.  That is why social interaction, reading, puzzle solving, game playing (such as Bridge) are very important, and that is also why brain numbing activities which are very passive (like watching TV – they don’t call it the “idiot box” for nothing!) are not good activities to occupy the majority of your time.

So keep fit people. Watch those calories – get off the couch and MOVE – join some clubs and have fun.

Happy 2010!

But first!!! before undertaking any renovations, homeowners must first have an energy audit of their home performed by a licensed service organization. The evaluation report provides customized recommendations for renovations to improve the energy efficiency of the home.  Once the renovations have been completed, a second audit must be undertaken with 18 months of the first one to determine the change in the home’s energy efficiency. 

To be eligible for federal grants, homeowners must have booked a pre-retrofit audit BEFORE March 31, 2010 and have the post-retrofit audit completed by March 31, 2011 or within 18 months of the date of the pre-retrofit evaluation (whichever comes first)  Homeowners who booked a pre-retrofit audit AFTER March 31, 2010 can only access grants from the provincial government, but must also complete their post-retrofit audit completed by March 31, 2011.

For more information of this, please visit:

http://www.mel.gov.on.ca/en/energy/conservation/ohesp2/

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/grants.cfm?attr=0

District N11 (Markham/Unionville) we had 21 new listings come onto the market. In this same time frame there were 11 sales reported.
There were also 6 more sales reported that would have been in the previous weeks stats, bringing the sales (Nov. 29 to Dec. 5th) from 19 sales to an adjusted 24.

In District N12 (Whitchurch/Stouffville), we had again, 7 new listings and 5 sales reported. There were also 3 more sales reported from the previous week (Nov.29th to Dec.5th) adjusting sales from 7 to 10.

The market appears to be fairly robust for this time of year, although the sales are showing a decline heading into the weeks before Chrismas.

This will be my final Statistics post for this year – and I’ll be back in the new year to inform you about the market activity over the Christmas holidays.

Merry Christmas everyone! And all the best to you and yours in the coming 2011. I think we’re going to have another terrific year in real estate!

In N11 there has been 20 new listings come onto the market
In N12 there has been 7 new listings.

In N11 there were 19 Sales reported within this time frame – and another 10 sales reported for the week previous (Nov.22-28) This now brings the sales for the week of Nov. 22-28th up from 14 (as reported in my last week blog) to 24. Pretty healthy sales figures for this time of year.
In N12 there were 7 Sales reported within this time frame – and another 3 for the week previous bringing the previous week’s sales up from 3 to 6.

BOTH listings and sales activities are up in Stouffville (N12) this past week
BOTH listings and sales activities are down (very slightly) in N11 this past week

That’s the “lay of the land” in this portion of York Region.

NEW Listings in N11 for the week: 21
SOLD listings reported same time frame: 14
Days on Market: Average 15

NEW Listings in N12 for the week: 4
SOLD listings reported same time frame: 3
Days on Market: Average 26

Now a word of caution: statistics are wonderful things, but before you bet your $$ on the outcome, keep in mind that previously unreported stats do keep coming in, so they can change:
N11 has 5 more SALES reported this week (that belong in, but were not reported from previous week) That changes the total sales in N11 from Nov 15th-21st to 31 instead of 26.
N12 has 4 more SALES reported this week (that belong in, but were not reported from previous week) That changes the total sales in N12 from Nov. 15th-21st to 9 instead of 5

OK, so in N11 from November 15th to November 21st, the number of new listings which came on the market in those 7 days is 23.
The number of sales reported in the same time frame is 26
The Days on the Market for these 26 homes that sold, are all over the map. They range from 168 days down to 3.

Now, in N12 from the same time period, the number of new listings which came on the market in those 7 days were 7
The number of sales reported in the same time frame is 5
The average days on the market is 19

As you can see the balance between new listings and sales is pretty well balanced with N11 having slightly more sales. I will keep track of this trend because if it continues, then that means prices will be rising.

My thoughts are based on an article I read in the Toronto Star, Saturday, July 31, 2010 Business Section.

1. This gentleman, Dawson Pereira , says “I didn’t realize that I was breaking any rules. I was just offering people an alternative”. Really. Well if he has opened this discount brokerage service, then I am assuming he must be a Broker, and if he is placing his listings on the Toronto Real Estate Board, then he must be a member of the Board. The Board (like any membership Board) has rules and regulations they require their members to adhere to. And he doesn’t know the rules. Hummm – just who you would like to represent your interests.

2. He is supposed to be running a business and if he charges 1 cent to list your property, how is he supposed to make a living? Well, actually he charges you $600. (up front) to list your home and if it sells within 10 days, he refunds the difference minus a penny. Now would it be a stretch to assume he suggests a listing price that is probably over market value just to increase his odds that it will not sell within 10 days? Even keeping $600 – oh make that $599.99 – how would he make a living? I guess he’s relying upon numbers and a very gullible, uneducated public.

3. He was, apparently, placing the homeowners personal contact information in the public section of the listing as opposed to the “broker’s only” section which would be available only to the Real Estate Salespeople. But, then I forgot…..he didn’t realize he was breaking the rules….. So of course, when the TREB officials notified him he was in contravention of the rules, he responds by declaring “They basically want everyone to contact an agent first so they can make their commission, but that doesn’t save the consumer anything”. Hello Mr. Pereira….an agent must be contacted because this listing is on the TREB MLS system. You know…the system run by agents – for agents – to conduct business in an ethical, accurate and secure environment. If a member of the public contacts the homeowner about his listing, how does the homeowner know who he is dealing with. If the homeowner wants to play by casual and loose rules (or no rules at all) then he has a multitude of options available to him, but the TREB MLS system (and the CREA national website) is not one of them. The homeowners contact information is available to the buyer’s agent and at least then, the homeowner is assured that he is dealing with a professional representative of the buyer. Yes, he will pay a commission, (negotiated) but if he is mislead, deceived or cheated he has legal recourse against that agent who is insured with E&O insurance. That’s why there are rules. You don’t work by the rules, there are consequences.
If a homeowner wants to handle all transactions personally with no real estate agents involved, there are a multitude of sites he can sign up with.

4. Personally, I think CREA should shut down the public site. It belongs to CREA – not to the public – and it is becoming quite apparent that the public thinks they have a right to it. It was made available to benefit the public, to inform them and help them look for available property and to expose their property to the greater public that was not always touched by print marketing. Maybe we should just let real estate salespeople do the searching for property – that’s our job anyway.