Since the onset of the pandemic, our homes have played a key role in keeping us safe and healthy.  As a result, many homeowners have decided to renovate their homes to improve the quality of their lives and not necessarily add value to their homes but wouldn’t it be nice to renovate and also eventually get a return on your renovation costs? Since the start of COVID-19, many hom...Read More

Why has Barrie become so attractive to both investors and homeowners in the last several years?   Barrie is located north of Toronto, on Lake Simcoe, and is a community that has seen dramatic population growth.  Barrie is seen as a bedroom community for Toronto as more and more people move north now that GO transit has expanded its trains to Barrie making it easy access in and out o...Read More

  Is 2021 the right time to sell and or buy a home? There is no doubt that it is currently a great time to sell as we are in a seller’s market. However, the right time ultimately depends on your personal circumstances such as your personal life circumstances, timing, and your finances.      It is no secret that the housing market has remained very strong...Read More

  We are starting to hear rumblings that the housing market is finally cooling off after 4 months of reduced sales volumes compared to 2020.  If you recall we did not have a spring market in 2020 due to the pandemic and as a result, the spring market got pushed out into the summer and fall months in 2020.  It is not unexpected for us to experience a cooling down of the housing mark...Read More

  When looking for a dream home it is easy to get lost in the excitement and falling in love with the look and feel of a home.  However, buying a home is an expensive purchase, and being on the lookout for expensive repairs is critical.  Many people think that serious home defects are easy to spot but the truth is that often the most costly and serious problems can only be detected...Read More

Have you heard of glamping?  “Glamping” is short for glamorous camping and has become very popular over the past decade.   If your camping essentials include such things as a real mattress, running water, and an actual toilet, glamping may be the best camping compromise.  Of course, during the pandemic, we still want to create cherishable memories with family and f...Read More

  After the frenzied activity of the first 3 months of 2021 in the Greater Toronto Area  (GTA) housing market, the number of sales has decreased for the third month.  June sales were up by 28.5% compared to June 2020 but lower than May 2021 suggesting that the recent demand surge may have settled down a bit ...for now.   While year-over-year sales activity is up home sales act...Read More

The pandemic has made us all realize that our homes are so critical to our mental and physical health.  As a result, our indoor and outdoor spaces have become much more important in the past year.  Outdoor spaces offer an extension of our interior living space and a safer place to spend time with family and friends during the pandemic. Now that the weather is warmer we are all thinking ...Read More

  After the frenzied activity of the first 3 months of 2021 in the Greater Toronto Area  (GTA) housing market, the number of sales has decreased for the second month.  Despite a decrease in sales in May 2021, we had 11,951 sales which are dramatically up from May 2020 just after the onset of the pandemic.  Though monthly property sales fell below the May 2016 record sales of 1...Read More

You finally found your dream home and you are planning to make an offer but may have questions on what the difference is between a deposit and a down payment.  I frequently have clients ask this question.  Deposits and down payments are two very different things to consider when deciding to buy a property, although both require savings.  They occur at different stages during the buy...Read More