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Jody Lavoie Real Estate Broker Royal LePage Team 11-2900 Woodroffe Ave. Nepean, ON, K2J 4G3
Office: 613-825-7653 Fax: 613 825 8762
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Ottawa Market Update - March 2009
Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 1,162 residential properties in March through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® system compared with 1,084 in March 2008, an increase of 7.2 per cent. There were 788 sales in February 2009. Of those sales, 250 were in the condominium property class, while 912 were in the residential property class... Read More... Courtesy of the Ottawa Real Estate Board
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Harmonized Tax Gets Mixed Reviews in Ontario
The Ontario government's move to harmonize the federal and provincial sales tax into a single 13% HST will drive more business offshore and create a new underground economy, predicts an Ontario lawyer. Cyndee Todgham Cherniak, a trade and tax lawyer at Lang Michener in Toronto, said the move is nothing more than a "cash grab" by the McGuinty government... Read More... Courtesy of the Financial Post
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Will the Sales Tax Kill Sales?
It's touted as friendly to hard-hit Bay Street, but the new 13 per cent single sales tax coming to Ontario has some business groups worried it will scare customers away. Thousands of enterprises that don't now collect the provincial sales tax will soon find themselves plucking more money from customers' pockets when the new levy takes effect July 1, 2010... Read More... Courtesy of The Star
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Women Want Security And A Place Of Their Own, Home Ownership Poll Finds
What do women want? When the question relates to real estate, the answer is threefold: security, a backyard, and a place to call their own. Those are the findings of the TD Canada Trust Women and Home Ownership Poll, now in its second year. Forty-three per cent of the 1,000 women polled said financial security was their number one reason for buying, followed by having a backyard or garden (35 per cent) and having a quiet, private space to themselves (34 per cent)... Read More... Courtesy of CityNews
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New Tarion Office to Hear Complaints
New homebuyers dissatisfied with their interaction with Tarion Warranty Corp., Ontario's new home building industry regulator, now have another avenue to try. Tarion has created a New Home Buyer Ombudperson Office and named Ian Darling to the post. "It is important that homeowners feel that Tarion is accessible," said Howard Bogach, president and CEO... Read More... Courtesy of The Star
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Planners Propose Gradual Increase in Urban Redevelopment
Ottawa’s planners are proposing a gradual increase in the amount of urban redevelopment in the city because they say a wholesale move from single-family homes in the suburbs is not realistic. The planners say the city will become a somewhat more densely developed community between now and 2031... Read More... Courtesy of The Ottawa Citizen
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Ottawa, Banks to Take Action to Rescue Mortgages
Ottawa, banks take action to rescue mortgages - As the recession deepens, Canada's big banks and its federal mortgage insurer are moving to head off a rise in defaults by homeowners. Ottawa is launching a campaign to urge the cash-strapped to approach their banks for mortgage relief, as the banks adopt more flexible practices aimed at preventing borrowers from falling behind on payments... Read More... Courtesy of The Globe and Mail
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City of Ottawa Proposes Phasing in Intensification Targets
City staff launched the start of public consultations on Ottawa's new official plan with a briefing outlining how they intend to meet their target of averaging 40 per cent of all new homes built through intensification over the next two decades. The target will be phased in, climbing to 44 per cent, or 2,065 units, by the end of the planning horizon in 2031. Intensification will be achieved through infill and redevelopment projects and is targeted to occur in 10 per cent of the city... Read More... Courtesy of The Ottawa Business Journal
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Government Open to Delaying Mandatory Home Energy Audits: McNeely
A controversial plan that would force Ontario homeowners to conduct a $300 home energy audit before they sell their house or condo could be postponed, a local MPP said Tuesday. Ottawa-Orleans Liberal Phil McNeely, who is also the parliamentary assistant to the energy minister, said it was always the intention to phase in the Clean Energy Act... Read More... Courtesy of The Ottawa Business Journal
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Hydro Ottawa Raises Rates as it Wraps up Smart Meter Blitz
Ottawa residents will see their hydro bill increase by about 2.4 per cent this spring. The Ontario Energy Board approved Hydro Ottawa’s distribution rates on March 16, which included a monthly increase of 54 cents per household to cover the cost of the province’s Smart Meter project... Read More... Courtesy of The Real Estate News Exchange
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Ottawa Shopping Mall Getting $130 Million Facelift
Ottawa's fourth-largest shopping centre is planning a 250,000-square-foot expansion, according to documents filed with the city, which will give Bayshore a larger leasable area than either the Rideau Centre or Place D'Orleans. The mall itself would gain between 140,000 and 150,000 square feet of shopping and concourse space to the east and allow Zellers to consolidate its retail operations on a single floor... Read More... Courtesy of the Ottawa Business Journal
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Tax Harmonization Would Hurt New Home Buyers: Homebuilders
The proposed harmonization of the federal GST and provincial sales tax would add more than $17,000 in taxes on the purchase of new homes in Ottawa, according to the city's homebuilding industry. Currently, housing is not directly subject to the PST, but builders pay an average of two per cent in provincial sales taxes that are included in the price of each new home... Read More... Courtesy of The Ottawa Business Journal
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Mortgage Penalty can be a Shocker
As interest rates fall to record lows, you may want to break your mortgage and negotiate a lower rate. But the penalty charges can be prohibitive if you're in the early years of a long-term mortgage at a fixed rate. Take Marilyn, who recently sold her house because she couldn't afford to keep it. She had a $308,000 mortgage, with three years left on a five-year term at 5.74 per cent... Read More... Courtesy of The Toronto Star
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Hunt Club Extension Stalls
Work on the proposed Hunt Club Extension may not get rolling for a while yet, as questions continue about what funding roles the municipal and provincial governments should play. The roadwork project came to the forefront again last month, when inquiries prompted city staff to explain it "was not on the current list."... Read More... Courtesy of the Ottawa Business Journal
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The Home Depot gives Canadians More Reasons to Renovate
Home Depot is initiating a consumer targeted program to encourage home renovation. Consumers simply need to spend between $1,000 and $10,000 on any HRTC eligible products to receive up to $1,000 back in The Home Depot gift cards, when using The Home Depot credit card. Choose from two convenient payment terms: six months deferred or 24 months equal payments. Consumers can easily track their HRTC eligible purchases... Read More... Courtesy of Canada News Wire
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Energy Costs on the Rise, Time to Warm Up
It's cool in Wayne Morrow's Moore Park home - about 18, maybe 20 degrees. He keeps his thermostat low, a practice that no doubt keeps his heating bills in line. According to Enbridge Gas Distribution, the price of gas for home heating has gone up 40 to 50 per cent in the past year. And people who live in houses constructed before 1980 may have even more to worry about. Lots of these homes were constructed with little effective insulation... Read More... Courtesy of The Globe and Mail
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Spend and Thou Shall Receive: The $1350 Home Reno Tax Credit Solution
The Home Renovation Tax Credit plan is part of the federal government's aim to inject $3-billion to stimulate the economy. It has met with a lot of enthusiasm -- but also with a lot of questions. The plan seems simple enough at first glance: Spend up to $10,000 on renovations and construction on the family home, and you get a tax credit of 15 per cent back, up to a maximum of $1,350. It's a credit, so it reduces the amount of federal tax you have to pay; it doesn't mean you get a cheque for $1,350. The plan will be administered by the Canada Revenue Agency... Read More... Courtesy of The Vancouver Sun
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'Certified Rental Building' Program Launched in Ottawa
Canada's first "certified rental building program" administered by the industry itself kicked off in Ottawa recently, with the program has already appearing to attract the attention of local landlords. Initially launched in Toronto last June by the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario, the program is meant to be a "quality assurance program" for customers, explained FRPO director of certification Ted Whitehead... Read More... Courtesy of the Ottawa Business Journal
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