Toronto Real Estate Blog
5 things a real estate agent won’t tell you
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca May 13, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Here are five important things to know before agreeing to anything with a real estate professional. By: Mark Weisleder, Toronto Real Estate Lawyer Most people use a real estate professional when buying or selling a home in Toronto, [...]
View Details »First Time Buyers Looking For Love At First Sight
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca May 3, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent First time buyers in Toronto, Vaughan and Thornhill fall in love with their homes, at first sight. Looking for a perfect home can be an emotional roller-coaster, but a new study suggests finding the right property often comes [...]
View Details »April 2013 Newsletter | Toronto & Vaughan Real Estate
April 2013 New in Toronto & Vaughan Did you know? – 76% of 20-29 year old Vaughan residents still live with parents, well above the national average of 42.3% – Landlords in Ontario can raise a Tenants rent as high as they see fit; rent control doesn’t apply to dwellings occupied after November 1, 1991. APRIL [...]
View Details »Top 5 Most Expensive Condos in Toronto For Sale
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca April 12, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent The most expensive condos in Toronto for sale are the true definition of “castles in the sky”. Check into the most exclusive condos in Toronto and the GTA. The luxury condo market in Toronto real estate is one [...]
View Details »Toronto’s best real estate pockets
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca April 11. 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Where are Toronto’s best real estate hot spots? Toronto’s capricious spring real estate market has lots of people feeling perplexed. Sales have been tumbling for months in a row but prices have held on or continued to climb. [...]
View Details »First time buyers budget for $300K homes
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca April 10, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent The average first time buyer in Canada is 29 years old and expects to be able to put down a down payment of $48,000 on $300,000 home, according to a recent poll by the Bank of Montreal. But [...]
View Details »Will Toronto be home to a wave of billboard homes?
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca April 10, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Hey Toronto, Would you live in a billboard house? Hmmmmm – is billboard housing the future of city living?! Probably not (most definitely not). But the idea is pretty cool. The Billboard House The Billboard [...]
View Details »When do you have to move out of a rental unit in Ontario?
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca April 9, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent A look at when you need to move out of a rental unit. Hotels typically let you check in by 3 p.m. and ask you to check out by noon. This gives staff time to make the room [...]
View Details »TORONTO & GTA – HOUSING STATS: MARCH 2013
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca February 5, 2012 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent March 2013 housing statistics for the Toronto Real Estate Board Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 7,765 transactions through the TorontoMLS system in March 2013 – down 17 per cent compared to 9,385 transactions in March 2012. While the year-over-year dip in [...]
View Details »When Is The Best Time To Sell My House?
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca April 4, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Wondering when the best time to sell your house is? The question: I live in Toronto and I’m thinking of selling my house. I keep hearing the market is down but maybe it’ll come back up; that if I [...]
View Details »Toronto Real Estate Market Well-Balanced: BMO
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca April 4, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Toronto Real Estate Market is steady TORONTO, ONTARIO - The March home sales figures for the Toronto Real Estate Market’s home sales are very much in line with the softer trend seen over the prior six months, according to [...]
View Details »Let’s help feed the hungry right here in Toronto
Help the fight against hunger and WIN! Donate below by April 26th, 2013 to be entered into a draw for a chance to win TWO PREMIUM FLOOR SEATS ($200 value) to an inspirational night with world renowned author, motivational speaker, meditation master and alternative medicine guru, Mr. Deepak Chopra. An Evening with DEEPAK CHOPRA Tuesday April [...]
View Details »Best Places to Live in Canada 2013
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca March 30, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent In it’s 8th annual best places to live report, MoneySense magazine goes in depth to tell us which Canadian communities rank highest for overall quality of life. The report looks as such factors as income, employment, affordability, culture, [...]
View Details »Mortgage News Update | Toronto & Vaughan Real Estate
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca March 22, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent A quick update on the latest mortgage news and trends Our good friends and colleagues at MortgageJake update us on the latest mortgage news. This week saw two dramatic moves by Jim Flaherty that directly impact us in the housing [...]
View Details »Tips for Buying a Home with your Spouse or Partner
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca MArch 21, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Advice for couples looking to purchase a home together Congratulations! You’ve found love and now you’re searching for the perfect place to call home together. You are smart and savvy, and know that buying a house is always a momentous [...]
View Details »Toronto & GTA Real Estate Market Stats Infographic | February 2013
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca March 13, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent GTA home sales down 15% in February with prices climbing by 2% Greater Toronto Area (GTA) REALTORS® reported 5,759 sales through the TorontoMLS system in February 2013 – a decline of 15 per cent in comparison to February [...]
View Details »Top 10 Most Expensive Homes in Toronto for Sale
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca March 12, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Check into the most exclusive and certainly most expensive homes in Toronto and the GTA. With all the talk of an overheated Toronto real estate market, one particular segment that doesn’t seem to be letting up is Toronto’s [...]
View Details »Is it Better to Buy a Home First or Sell my Current one?
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca March 11, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent The age-old question, should I buy or first sell my home? If you already own a home, one of the first decisions you’ll face when you prepare for a move to your next home will be whether to [...]
View Details »Furnishing a small condo with space saving furniture
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca March 7, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent The fine art of furnishing a small condo with space saving furniture If you’re a condo buyer who wants a piece of Toronto’s increasingly pricey property market, chances are you’ll be purchasing a place that’s well under 1,000 [...]
View Details »10 Home Maintenance Tips for Spring
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca March 6, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent A certified home inspector shares 10 home maintenance tips for spring. Home maintenance in the spring is vitally important for the health and longevity of your home. Often times small repairs can turn into major reno’s because a [...]
View Details »How affordable are Toronto home prices really?
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca February 28, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent With home prices in a state of limbo, how affordable is Toronto and the GTA’s real estate market really? Two of Canada’s biggest banks released reports this week examining the affordability of homes across the country, and Toronto didn’t come [...]
View Details »Top 100 Canadian Neighbourhoods | 2013 Investment Guide
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca January 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Top 100 Canadian Neighbourhoods The Top 100 Canadian Neighbourhoods investment guide is now available from the folks over at Canadian Real Estate Wealth. In their annual report on the top Canadian neighbourhoods to invest in for 2013, there are [...]
View Details »10 Things You Didn’t Know About Toronto
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca February 10, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Toronto: some fun things you didn’t know about our world class city. Toronto was originally called the ‘Town of York’ until 1834. The Toronto Zoo is the third largest in the world and is home to more than 5000 animals. [...]
View Details »TORONTO & GTA – HOUSING STATS: JANUARY 2013
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca February 5, 2012 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent January 2013 housing statistics for the Toronto Real Estate Board Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 4,375 transactions through the TorontoMLS system in January 2013. This number represented a slight decline compared to 4,432 transactions reported in January 2012. [...]
View Details »5 advantages to buying a home in the dead of winter
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca February 4, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Buying a home in the winter has been the investors best kept secret, until now. In the past 12 years, the Toronto and Vaughan real estate markets have been known for their highly competitive nature, often times creating [...]
View Details »Toronto’s first luxury prefab home sells for $1.5million
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca January 31, 2013 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Are prefabricated homes Toronto’s future? How Many people can say their home was built in just 2 days? The new owners of Toronto’s first luxury prefab home can! Sold for $1.525,000 after 274 days on the market (it [...]
View Details »January 2013 Newsletter
January 2013 Happy New Year! Have you been keeping your resolutions? New in Toronto & Vaughan Toronto Real Estate market will stay strong in 2013! Growth expected at 1% Many economists predicted Toronto’s real estate market would crash in 2012, with prices falling by up to 25%. I didn’t see that prediction coming true and [...]
View Details »Tips for Single Homebuyers
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca January 7, 2012 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Single homebuyers face different challenges than couples… In life, there are just a few things that are as exciting or nerve-racking as hunting for a home. To lessen the emotional impact, it’s important to clearly set out an [...]
View Details »Toronto’s real estate market will stay strong in 2013
Follow @TopTorontoAgent Dec 21, 2012 6 good indicators of why the GTA real estate market will remain strong in 2013 Many economists predicted Toronto’s real estate market to crash this year, with prices falling by up to 25 per cent. I didn’t see that prediction coming true and it didn’t. Nor do I believe it [...]
View Details »Difference between buying and renting in Toronto
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca December 18, 2012 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Rent or Buy? The age old question. Toronto, Vaughan and the GTA are currently enjoying a healthy rental market with vacancy rates hovering around 1%. This high demand for rental properties has driven up rental rates upwards of [...]
View Details »December 2012 Newsletter
December 2012 Happy Holidays from our families to yours! 2013, here we come! New in Toronto & Vaughan It’s snowing money in downtown Toronto! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Who needs snow in Toronto when we’ve been blessed with an abundance of falling condo prices! Christmas arrived early this year for condo buyers in [...]
View Details »It’s snowing money in Downtown Toronto!
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca December 16, 2012 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Who needs the snow in Toronto when we’ve been blessed with an abundance of falling condo prices! Christmas arrived early this year for condo buyers in Toronto looking to [...]
View Details »[infographic] 5 Things you didn’t know about the Mortgage Market
Follow @TopTorontoAgent Our friends at ratehub.ca have put together this excellent infographic on Canada’s mortgage market. If you have any questions about Canadian mortgages or any real estate related questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. START YOUR JOURNEY HERE OR CONTACT ILAN NOW FOR A MORE PERSONALISED SEARCH EXPERIENCE! Ilan Joseph is a Real Estate [...]
View Details »Canadian home affordability rises
Follow @TopTorontoAgent December 10, 2012 Royal Bank says the cost of home ownership became more affordable in the most recent quarter due to a modest decline in home prices and gains in Canadian household incomes. RBC’s affordability index for a detached bungalow stood at 42 per cent of income nationally in the second quarter. That [...]
View Details »Before buying a Toronto condo; 6 important tips
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca December 10, 2012 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent Condo living in Toronto has it’s perks: easy access to public transit, endless shopping, the walkability to work, no need for a lawnmower or snow shovel and of course, the gorgeous views! The birds-eye view of [...]
View Details »Summary of TorontoMLS Sales and Average Price – November 1 – 30
Follow @TopTorontoAgent GTA REALTORS® Release Monthly Resale Housing Figures Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 5,793 sales in November 2012 – down by 16 per cent compared to November 2011. “Transactions have been down on a year-over-year basis since June, after being up substantially in the last half of 2011 and the first half of 2012. [...]
View Details »How to Succeed in Toronto and Vaughan Real Estate Investing
By Ilan Joseph, Broker, ABR®, e-PRO®, AMP® | TopTorontoAgent.ca December 16, 2012 | © All rights reserved Follow @TopTorontoAgent To become a successful Toronto or Vaughan real estate investor requires that you find a good real estate property to invest in. Appraising and finding the true value in Toronto and Vaughan properties is essential to your investment success. [...]
View Details »Toronto Condo prices taking a hit (infographics)
Follow @TopTorontoAgent Related Article: Hello Buyers Market! If you’ve been following recent real estate news for Toronto, Vaughan and the GTA, you may have heard that our condo market is experiencing a slowdown. To help illustrate these changes, here are some Toronto Real Estate charts that clearly paints the markets picture. It takes almost twice as long [...]
View Details »Bank of Canada maintains overnight rate target at 1 per cent
Follow @TopTorontoAgent Ottawa, Ontario – The Bank of Canada announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 1/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 3/4 per cent. The global economy has unfolded broadly as the Bank projected in its July Monetary [...]
View Details »November 2012 Newsletter
November 2012 New in Toronto & Vaughan Hello Buyers Market! The past few weeks have seen the real estate market here in the GTA really turn around. From a burning hot sellers market during the first half of 2012 to a steady transitioning through a balanced market towards what now looks like the beginning of [...]
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