2019 Canadian Housing Market Need-to-Know Stats
While there have been plenty of predictions about where the Canadian housing market might be headed in the new year, it’s important to take stock of where activity levels stand today. Without the proper context, even the best forecasts from industry experts can be difficult to fully grasp. With this in mind, Livabl has collected stats about the market, covering everything from the slowly warming Toronto housing market to new homes sales numbers, luxury home prices, and more. Read on for 8-need-to-know stats about the Canadian housing market heading into 2019. 1. The Toronto housing market has been posting month-over-month sales and prices gains, in what experts are saying is a sign that the city has finally adjusted to stricter mortgage qualification rules that came [...]
Revera Opens $67 Million Retirement Home
Senior living owner-operator firm Revera and a number of dignitaries recently marked the opening of Green Falls Landing, Regina’s newest retirement community worth $67 million. The community consists of 222 suites comprised of 73 seniors apartments, 95 independent living suites, 27 memory care suites and 27 assisted living suites. The community is spread over seven acres and has an open concept design. “It is very exciting to welcome Green Falls Landing to Regina. We know there is a substantial need in our city for supportive living that allows seniors to age in their home, and an investment of this scale demonstrates a real commitment to the community,” Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said in a statement. Amenities include a theatre, outdoor putting green, salon and spa, [...]
Top 5 DIY Myths
If hours upon hours of HGTV binge-watching has taught us anything, it's that pretty much anything can be DIY'd. New deck? Go for it. Updated bathroom? You could have the walk-in shower of your dreams in a weekend's time. What's more, those TV pros make it look so easy. So if you have a big renovation on the horizon, we can understand the temptation to ditch the general contractor and tackle the job yourself. And on the one hand, we don't want to squash your ambition. Believe in yourself and anything's possible, right? But on the other hand, overblown ambition—fueled by more than a few myths about what it really takes to DIY a home renovation—can lead to an expensive disaster. Have you caught yourself [...]
For Sale by Owner
It’s been a common misconception that you can sell absolutely anything on your own. Selling a home on your own, or even buying without representation is not the wisest of choices. In today’s day and age, with our advanced social media sites, we are influenced by the simplicity of various “do it yourself” platforms. It can often prove to be a challenge to not consider following the step-by-step tutorials that these companies provide. Something as simple as surfing on You Tube and Google makes us confident that we can do anything, and ,within seconds of searching we are given readily available information with procedures and encouraging taglines that force us to consider this route. Our culture seems to thrive on independence and resourcefulness. Realistically, who [...]
Foundations
Buying a home can be very enjoyable and satisfying, given the opportunity to create inviting spaces. However, gaping cracks or bowing deflection in the foundation wall can come as unsightly surprises when you are looking at your next big investment. This less appealing aspect of shopping for a home in Regina is especially important to understand as these problems arise from our soil conditions. The backstory for the environmental issues that caused our soil to be in the form of a gumbo like clay goes back more than 11,000 years ago. Glacial Lake Regina encompassed Regina and a large portion of Southern Saskatchewan. Sodium bentonite, a component that triggers the soil to take on water and expand, is one of the factors to this issue. [...]
How to Sell a Home With Your Ex
At the time of a divorce, parties who are parting ways are facing the task of coming to the conclusion to their Separation Agreement. When the conclusion is that the family home will be sold, sometimes this means they then need to sell the home together. The finish line to an often long and difficult process gets that much further away. There is a lot involved in selling a home with someone else, and if that is with the person that you are freshly out of a relationship with, many hitches can arise. While you might feel inclined to rush getting the finishing touches on your agreement, it might be good for you and your lawyer to take some extra time ironing out the details [...]
My Real Estate Market Update
This month’s article is a summary of the Saskatchewan Real Estate Market Conditions to keep readers informed, and to help gain awareness of the contributing factors that impact our market. One factor that has proven to be a common denominator is new home starts. The production of new, multi-family projects, along with single family homes truly is a “numbers game,” which plays a major role in our market conditions. The basic economics of supply and demand should be taken into account for any real estate market at any time. Over-production can easily trigger an imbalance in listing to sales ratios, regardless of the overall market conditions. Any form of mass real estate production will always be a gamble depending on the current need for that [...]
Home Maintenance Winter Checklist
As the lengthy winter months in Saskatchewan approach us, it is important to remember to protect your most valuable asset: your home. Christmas shopping, kids Christmas concerts, holiday parties and planning hot vacations will take away much more time than you would think and are definitely the more favorable things to do this winter season, so its in your best interest to get ahead on the housekeeping items. Preparation now will save you time later and help to avoid the last minute panic of winterizing your patio furniture, yard equipment and most importantly your home. Neglecting to take winter home maintenance to heart can cost you lofty repair bills for issues such as: ice damming which can roof leaks and ruined shingles due to improper [...]
Regina Development New Neighbourhoods
Regina has new proposed and approved developments under-way. Forward thinking and innovative ideas have been put into action in order to enrich Regina Living and provide even more options to Regina residents. Here is some information on the variety of new areas to keep in mind for the near future if you are planning to move. These new developments could work for you regardless of which end of town is in your favour! Skywood Skywood is an approved development, located in the northwest end of Regina, situated north of Diefenbaker Drive and adjacent to McCarthy Boulevard. This area is said to be “Premier Living in Regina’s North West” and is spearheaded by Geiger Homes Ltd. The approved development will house 1560 residents once complete, and [...]
Summer Market 2016 Updates and Incentives
As we enter the summer months I am happy to share the warm news surrounding not only the beautiful weather we have had, but also the up-sweep of our promising real estate market, rates and incentives! Sales have shown a climb of 16% this May, proving to be the highest ranking months of 2016 thus far, as we compare the 330 sales closed in May of 2015 to this years’ month of May, which recorded 384 ends. Regina’s average sale price in May was up 2% at $326,656, when looking at the numbers in comparison to last year. A 2% increase in average sale prices is not an extreme climb; but overall the various market indicators are favourable. Additionally, we have encountered a 6% increase [...]