Real Estate Curve

Whether you live in a climate where people typically have “ Florida ” rooms attached to their houses or in the more northern areas, a house is always more appealing when there is more daylight in the home. As the song says, “let the sun shine” in!

Enlarging a window in a strategic area can make a huge difference to light levels in your home. Almost everyone finds that bringing the “outside in” makes a home more appealing. Look at your home, or prospective home, and see if there is a place where you can install a sliding glass door. Creating a patio, deck or garden area outside the doors very effectively brings the outside in.

Skylights make an enormous difference in light levels and can be installed in any room without loss of privacy. Increasing the light levels in your home will also help plants to thrive and the plants in turn will help the air quality of your home.  

You have decided that you are going to build your own home, a home that will be just perfect for your needs and desires. Once you find a lot or acreage that you wish to build on, there are a few things to check out before you purchase. Check that local zoning laws will permit the type of structure(s) you plan to build. Some areas can have severely restrictive building regulations. You may be restricted in the size, design, number and location of any building(s) you put on your property. You also may be restricted in the type of building materials you can use. Make sure that any activity you plan, whether it is a home based business or just keeping a few chickens, is permissible within the zoning laws.  If the land you buy is not serviced you will need to factor in the cost of bringing in utility services. The lack of a water supply can make the most beautiful home site useless. It is important that you ascertain that you will be able to access a reliable source of water. If you will not be connecting to a sewage system you must make sure that the local Health department will approve the installation of a septic system.

Finally, it is important that you find out from your Realtor® how you can check with the local planning boards to find out if there are any plans or applications to develop the area. You could buy and build on your own quiet little corner of Eden and find yourself a few years later living on the edge of a huge and noisy mall! Probably not what you had in mind!

The ideal listing is freshly painted, with beautiful wood floors or handsome carpet, and is outfitted with an up-to-date kitchen and bathroom. Does this describe your home? If not and you’ve decided it’s time to sell, your Realtor® can give you some suggestions. If it’s going to take more than a bout of spring cleaning to get your home ready for market, you may want to consult with both a Realtor® and a home improvement contractor. Realtors® know what colors and styles buyers are currently favoring, and can sometimes offer cost-effective solutions to specific problems. The contractor can provide an estimate and framework for putting your plan into action. Having looked at repairing and refurbishing your home, you may decide that the price-in dollars or disruption-is simply too much.

In this case you may want to sell your home as a “fixer-upper”, having consulted with your Realtor® to determine what you can expect to get for an “as is” sale of your home.

Many people think that the selling price of their home is firmly established when the amount they are willing to accept equals the amount the buyer is willing to pay. Seems simple: you sell, the other guy buys, both of you are happy. But there is another element in the drama of determining the selling price of a home.

 Mortgage lenders can hire an appraiser to give an independent opinion on the value of a property. If the appraised value is less than the selling price, the Realtor® who is selling on your behalf has the opportunity to defend your price. The agent can identify similar homes, which have sold for the same price, or establish comparable prices for homes in your neighborhood.

 If the Realtors® appeal is not successful, both buyer and seller may have to enter into careful negotiations to make the sale work. The seller may be asked to reduce the price or the buyer is required to increase the down payment  

At the time you list your home for sale you will be asked to disclose, in writing, any defects that you are aware of. If temptation whispers in your ear and tells you not to be honest - don’t listen!

None of us wants any more stress in our lives. Being dishonest about the condition of your home will open the door to avoidable and unwelcome problems.

Being less than honest about the condition of your house can not only leave you open to legal action from the purchaser, but may also cause you to lose potential buyers. Most buyers will have an inspection done of your home before closing the deal.

If the inspection turns up defects that you must have known about, the buyer may then view you as dishonest. The buyer will then tend to wonder if there are other defects that have been concealed or may just be annoyed because he feels he has not been honestly dealt with.

In either case, the buyer will most likely choose to exercise his right to cancel the deal due to the inspection failing.
A purchaser, who is made aware in advance of any defects, will be more motivated to continue to try and strike a deal. Remember that people are different and a defect that may seem large to you may be minor to a prospective purchaser. An ailing senior with limited funds will view replacing a toilet in an entirely different way than a young healthy plumber! If there are things on the disclosure list that you are unsure of, ask your Realtor® to go through the list with you.

If the wood floor in the dining room is rotten in the middle and you plop a rug and the big table over it - and you don’t tell your listing Realtor® - the next big table you look over may be in a courtroom!

When your Realtor® asks you for a list of any defects that’s in your house, they are not just using fair business practices; they are also obeying the law. No longer is it “buyer beware” in our country. There are laws in place specifically governing the disclosure of defects by the seller of a home.

Your Realtor® will ask you for written and signed disclosure of any defects. Failing to do this, can not only result in the loss of a sale if the buyer discovers the defect before the deal is closed, it can also leave you open to litigation.

The buyer may sue you when the defect is discovered and the court will not be sympathetic to you. Claiming ignorance is not likely to be any more effective than telling the Police Officer who is writing you a ticket that you didn’t know what the speed limit was!

Almost all litigation relating to real estate involves buyers suing sellers for undisclosed structural problems. And, when it comes to leaking roofs, plumbing disasters, heating problems, dry rot, and flooding basements—the courts usually reject the “let the buyer beware” argument.

Putting a “quirky” or flawed property up for sale may be okay if you and the Realtor® give buyers full information on the house’s defects. But, even if you have had a structural inspection and sold your home “as is”, you may not be in the clear.

You are legally obliged to disclose all defects in the property you sell. Courts are very unsympathetic to people who have lived in seriously flawed homes and sold them to others without full disclosure.

No one can guarantee that you will make money by investing in real estate, but many people have found and continue to find it a solid way to establish an investment income that will appreciate in value over the long term and often pay off annually in substantial tax savings.

If you feel that it’s for you, getting the right advice at the outset is important. An investment councilor can help you set up a business plan that is realistic and achievable. Similarly, sound advice from a good Realtor® will help you make the right purchase. They know the factors that affect how well a property will rent, how much it will cost to maintain and how this will affect profitability.

Their advice doesn’t guarantee a profitable investment, but is sure to be based on a solid knowledge of the market, how it has performed, locally, in the past and their best estimate of its potential.

In the bad old days the expression “buyer beware” was commonly used. There was very little protection to be had once money had changed hands. If a buyer found that he had purchased shoddy material or even if he found that he had been deliberately misled there was little recourse.

Now we live in an era where the manufacturers and sellers of goods are expected, to a greater degree than ever before, to warrant their goods. There is now recourse to the courts.

Home sellers similarly are now expected to warrant what they sell. It is no longer “buyer beware”. Once you have disclosed any known defects on your listing, you still may be concerned that something unexpected may go wrong either while you are showing your home or after the new owners move in. In order to protect yourself from unforeseen events (such as a hot water tank suddenly springing a leak), you can choose to purchase home warranty protection.

This protection is merely a form of insurance. As with insurance, the price and the deductible will vary according to the plan you choose. It is common to have the warranty run from the time of listing your home until about a year after the sale.

Ask your Realtor® for the names of companies in this area who provide home warranty protection.

When you purchase property in most Canadian provinces can add Land Transfer Taxes or Property Purchase Tax to your list of cost that are required at the time of your closing.

Unless you live in Alberta, Saskatchewan, or rural Nova Scotia, these taxes are more and more becoming the norm and not the exception.

These taxes, levied on properties that are changing hands, are the responsibility of the purchaser. Depending on where you live, taxes can range from a half a per cent to two per cent of the total value of the property.

Some of the provinces have taxation systems that can prove complicated. If you purchase a property for $260,000 in Ontario, for example, .5 per cent is charged on the first $55,000, 1 per cent is charged on $55,000 - $250,000, while the $250,000 - $400,000 range is taxed at 1.5 per cent. Your total tax bill? $2,375.00.

The following chart illustrates the taxes as charged by the different provinces.

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Property Purchase Tax Up to $200,000 X 1 % of total property value From $200,000 up X 2 % of total property value

MANITOBA
Land Transfer Tax Up to $30,000 N/A From $30,000 to $90,000 X .5 % of total property value From $90,000 to $150,000 X 1 % of total property value From $150,000 up X 1.5 % of total property value

ONTARIO
Land Transfer Tax Up to $55,000 X .5 % of total property value From $55,000 to $250,000 X 1 % of total property value From $250,000 to $400,000 X 1.5 % of total property value From $400,000 up X 2 % of total property value

QUEBEC
Transfer Tax Up to $50,000 X .5 % of total property value From $50,000 to $250,000 X 1 % of total property value From $250,000 up X 1.5 % of total property value

NOVA SCOTIA
Land Transfer Tax Halifax Metro 1.5 per cent on total property value Outside Halifax County Check with local municipality.

If you are planning to relocate to a new city, one of the first people you should contact is your local Real Estate Agent.

Through their referral system they will find a reputable Realtor® in your new area, who can find a home that fits your needs, lifestyle and budget and can certainly provide you with a wealth of information regarding your new town.

The Realtor® not only knows about properties available he or she can let you know about what community services are available to you as well as information about shopping and transportation. They can tell you what schools and churches are in town, what recreational activities are available, and can provide information about art and cultural events in your new neighborhood.

When you decide to make your move, make sure to talk with a local professional,who will find the Realtor® who will likely be your first new friend in your exciting new venture!

If you think that once you sell your house that all is said and done then think again. Say, for instance, you sell it to your child or transfer the title of your home outside the open market, then the business deal might be named “not at arm’s length”.

Tax consequences may occur with such a transaction so be sure to talk to a tax attorney or accountant before continuing with this plan of action. You might lose positive property tax treatment by transferring the home to your child, may have to pay a gift tax; just two of many situations which may arise. Therefore, children should consider inheriting the real estate, but this decision should be thought about in consideration with the complete framework of your estate and tax planning.

For further information contact an experienced professional who is informative in dealing with such questions.

“I’m no artist, but I know what I like!” This is a commonly heard remark reflecting the fact that the ability to send a message to others by what you allow them to see is skill we don’t all have.

You want the inside of your home to say something about you and your family to visitors. You know what you wish to say, but may be unsure how to say it. If so, you need an interior decorator.

Finding the right one is important in creating the look you wants in your home, at a price that is within your budget. Firms that do this work often exhibit different styles, either on their own premises or publicly elsewhere. The place where you buy your furniture may be able to recommend several, or have a particular one available at little or no cost to assist you.

Whoever you get should be a good listener, with the skill to hear what you want to say and the ability to help you say it.

The presence of Radon gas has been identified as being a factor in a number of diseases. Homeowners and environmentalists worry about it because it occurs naturally and randomly in homes across the country and is undetectable without special testing.

Environment Canada and the EPA in the U.S. are sources of information on Radon gas and can be consulted if you want your home tested by a local firm equipped to do it.

If the gas is found by such a test its removal is usually straightforward and fairly inexpensive. If you are selling a home in an area where it is known to be a problem, testing for it in advance of listing the property is a good idea to preclude it as an issue in any offer you receive.

As a buyer, including the test as a contingency in the offer would be prudent.

Water problems can vary from minor annoyances that are not essential to repair, to substantial and expensive headaches.

If you have an unfinished concrete basement that gets a bit damp in a corner during bad rains, you may just choose to ignore it. If there is nothing to rot or spoil and it creates no mold problems then there is no harm in just living with it. If you have a water problem that can create rot, damage or molds, it is essential to deal with it.

Someone purchasing the home may, not as easily accept when it comes time to buy or sell, any minor problem that an owner has comfortably lived with. As a seller or as buyer try to ascertain what is causing the problem.

If it is simply a matter of cleaning gutters, unplugging perimeter drains or a bit of flashing repair, an owner might as well deal with it before listing the house. Buyers may see the dampness as a sign of more serious problems and exclude your house from further consideration.

As a buyer, if you are satisfied that the water problem is minor, don’t drop the house from consideration if it is otherwise desirable.