10 questions for the builder of your energy efficient home

Do you want to know if your new home is energy-efficient? Here are some questions to ask your builder:
1. How do I know your homes are truly energy efficient?
2. Since all builders must meet the requirements of the building code, what makes your homes different from other builders' homes?
3. How do your building techniques reflect the latest developments in housing technology?
4. What steps do you take to improve the energy efficiency of the homes you build?
5. Can you predict what my energy costs will be?
6. What makes your homes more environmentally friendly than others?
7. Do you participate in the Government's energy efficiency initiatives for new homes?
8. Do you affix a government-backed energy label to your home?
9. Do independent, licensed professionals inspect the energy efficiency of your homes?
10. Do you build homes that receive an EnerGuide rating of 83 or higher or its equivalent?
If you aren't getting the answers you want, then you better think twice about your builder.

Dilemma of having friend/relatives as realtors! Confused?!

Do you feel blindfolded by your realtor friend?

Buying a home where your family can live happily ever after and which meets your basic needs is something that every homebuyer dreams of. In buying a home a homebuyer is assisted, for no cost, by a professional in real estate industry.  The homebuyer feels confident that his agent will provide him with the most professional service and ensure the followings:

1. Understand their needs
2. Subject home is as per their needs and wants
3. The price is right and the offered price is a fair market value
4. Home has potential to appreciate in near future
5. The demographics suit them
6. The appliances and home systems are in good order

Sometimes, a homebuyer loses the right of free expression and end up buying a home under undue influence of his/her friend or relative who happened to be a real estate agent. In certain communities the fear of turning away their friends and relatives is so strong that either the buyers backout of buying a home because they had 3-4 relatives/friends who are realtors or they end up annoying a few of them at the cost of their own freedom of choice and expression. A sense of being blindfolded.

What to do?

Actually the decision is all upon you. Over the period of my real estate practice, I got the following responses from some of the people I interviewed:

For those who go with their friends/relatives:

1. Our friend/relative understands us well. We are comfortable with him
2. We are afraid of social remifications if we don't buy through our relative/friend
3. Our friend is very professional, he discusses everything in details and shows his strategy
4. Our friend/relative ensures the personal information is not rumoured in the family circle
5. The relative was my spouse's brother/sister/mom/dad
6. He was with a reputed Real Estate Company like RE/MAX and we were sure of his professional ethics

For those who don't want to go with their friends/relatives:

1. We don't want to discuss our financials with close relatives
2. If we use one friend/relative as our agent, others will get angry
3. We will lose right to criticise or argue during offer
4. Bad experience as our relative pushed us to buy a home we never wanted in the first place. So we quit him
5. Relative/friend is a part-timer agent. We don't get to see many homes when we want to
6. We want to keep business and friendship/relationship separate
7. He worked in a no name brokerage with no backhand support. We couldn't trust him.

So to sum up, the decision is all yours. As long as your relative or friend shows professionalism and treats you and your information in the most ethical way, it is good to go with him.  BUSINESS SHOULD STRICTLY BE BUSINESS & NOT A FAVOR TO ANYONE. It is you who are going to commit for 25 years to pay. 

The video on RE/MAX's youtube channel is a nice watch in this context. Click here to see it.

Should you find yourself in need of some information or discussing your homebuying plans, please feel free to call me at 647-333-2273 or my office 416-232-9000 or email me at dealswithpaul@gmail.com.

Do you have a real estate purchase story to tell? You can send it to me at dealswithpaul@gmail.com.

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Disclaimer: The above article is an original text based on Paul Cheema's experience with prospects. Your agreement or disagreement is a matter of sole discretion. Not intended to solicit clients already under other brokerage contracts.

Should you rent or own a home?

First time home buyers are always skeptical and afraid of getting into a long term commitment to buy a home. For most renting is the best option as they know it is a fixed amount they pay each month and then forget about the utilities and other home ownership related costs like utilities, property taxes, landscaping, maintenance, and the like.

But is renting really a better alternative? There are no wrong answers to this question. The tenants may have some issues with their credit, job, and other personal stuff for not going to be a home owner.
There are a couple of problems which come with a tenacy. The ones that I could some up are as below:

1. The safety of your family: How well do you know your landlords? You gave all your information when you rented a home, but did you think about getting homeowners information? No, Most of us don't do that for the fear of rejection. Checking up with neighbours is not a bad thought though.
2. Interference in your life-style: The landlords seem to dictate how you should be living in their basements or homes at all the times. Exceptions are always there. You find unable to host even little parties as this may be considered as noisey by the landlord and then getting an eviction notice or harrassment.
3. Stalking: When you come back from work, you always find as if someone has been through your entire living area, a personal domain and it is a freaky feeling.
4. Instability of life: Though signed tenacies are valid for one year, but under certain circumstances the leases can be terminated. A change in your residence may change your kids' schools, your daily commute expense, and so many inter-related things.

 The following table sums up the equity realization by a home owner vis-a-vis money loss by a tenant.

Particulars	Renting	Break-up (Buying)	Buying	Remarks
Purchase price	n/a		370000	The mortgage calculations are based on full price as CMHC Insurance nullifies the down payment to a greater extent.
Down Payment	n/a		18500	5%
Monthly Mortgage Payment		1790
Monthly Utilities		300
Taxes		329
Total Monthly payments	800		2419	@3.30:% roi, 5 YRS, On $370,000
Rent increase	3.1%		n/a
Total payments in 5 years	51000		107,400
Recaptured Principal	n/a		52538
Effective expenses	51000		54862
Property appreciation @ 4% per year	n/a	14,800
Value of property after 5 years		74,000	444,000
Net return in 60 months	Nil		126,538	This is your gain in 5 years.

Should you have a credit problem and can support mortgage payment only after one year, Rent-To-Own program could very well suit you. To know more on how it works you can call me by using my contact form available here.
Your comments are most welcome.

Disclaimer: Not intended to solicit clients already under brokerage contracts. The information projected herein has been provided only for the sake of research and  no representation of any kind is implied. The user of this information is advised to seek independent legal advice (ILA) before acting thereon. The information is intended only for research purpose. The numbers or data projected herein may change with market conditions beyond the control of sales representative and brokerage.

Bank of Canada - Overnight rate remains unchanged

Today was a scheduled BoC "Rate Review Day." The news is, BoC left the Key Lending Rate flat. This is in stark contrast to 6 weeks ago - where the rhetoric was "rates are going up, and soon."
But since then, the ongoing economic turmoil in Europe and weaker than expected U.S. employment numbers, have added up to renewed Global uncertainty. So what began as a quiet whisper, just days ago, is now a growing opinion that the BoC may even trim the Key Rate - down.
The other side of the coin - low mortgage rates continue to be a plus for homeowners, homebuyers, and sellers too. And according to reports from the Big Five and BoC - Consumer debt is beginning to correct too.
On another note, OSFI is about to announce a major set of guidelines for Federally Regulated Lenders that will affect mortgage lending and reach renewals too. Some of the ideas they have floated in public have raised eyebrows - more to come as the facts become known.
The next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is 17 July 2012. A full update of the Bank’s outlook for the economy and inflation, including risks to the projection, will be published in the MPR on 18 July 2012.

Webinar for First Time Home Buyers

Join this Webinar, Enrich your knowledge and make the right decision

Paul Cheema* would love to share his professional knowledge with the first time  home buyers and discuss the Canadian Federal and Provincial rebates and programs with them in this Webinar. The participation is purely FREE and you can register online.The event details are as follows:

Event date: June 16, 2012 from 4 -6 PM

Professional presenters:

1. Paul Cheema - Dos and Donts while buying your first new home
2. Ajay Duggal, Barristor and Solicitors, Duggal and Dhaliwal LLP, Brampton - to answer your legal questions on closing and how it works
3. Sunny Dhingra, Mortgage Manager with Royal Bank of Canada to answer your mortgage related questions
4. Sanjeev Saupaya, Certified Home Inspector, Smartchoice(R) Home Inspections

The agenda of the webinar will  be as follows;

• Why buy a home?
• Should you rent or buy?
• Common mistakes and cautions
• Should you buy from seller directly? What's at risk?
• Can you afford to omit home inspection?
• What legalities are involved in a home purchase?
• How does mortgage works for first time buyers?
• Options for Newcomers to Canada.
• Q/A session

This is going to be one of the kind webinar that was never heard before.  We would like to involve our audience in an highly interactive session and share pure  knowledge. No purchase is necessary. Please REGISTER now! You will be happy that you did join this webinar.
You can also join by scanning the QR code below:

Scan this Code with your smartphone to Automatically directed to webinar registration page .

What does Walk Score mean for a First Time Home Buyer

Walking is good for  health and savings

While I was showing homes  to my young couple clients, they asked me to get them a home with the lowest walk score. Heard this first time?! What is this walk score anyways? Most of us don’t know about it but believe me it is becoming a new concept in home buying or renting. Walk score is emerging as a new trend in the minds of people when they plan to buy/rent their first home. As you would have guessed, a walk score is a measure of closeness of many facilities close to your place of residence.  The walk score is measured over a scale of 0-100 with 100 being the best. A walkshed is defined as a distance from your place of living to the amenities like school, hospital, shopping centre/mall, arena, library, restaurants and eateries etc. A walkshed is believed to be less than 1 mile from your place of residence.

Walking is just a personal option. But, if Americans, as an example,  trade their cars for walking for at least 30 minutes each day, they might be able to reduce the carbon foot print by more than 58 million metric tonnes and 24 billion litres of gas. Isn’t that amazing? The world would be a better place to live in and enjoy.

All those amenities that lie within 1 mile (1.6 Kilometers) of distance are given the higher score while those beyond this are given zero scores. The culminating total of all such amenities together makes the walk score. A score of 90-100 could be termed as walker’s paradise where a resident doesn’t need a car to commute and meet daily needs.

Walk score is measured using  Google™ API and it has some limitations as well. The walk score doesn’t know about the topography of an area, might miss on a few amenities or places of interest like a newly opened Starbucks® or Tim Hortons® or a supermarket. You can always add these to the API to improve the score.  Walk score is only tells you how easy it is to live without a car.

Most of the newcomers to Canada  have difficulty getting a driver’s license which may take at least 8 months or more. Many newcomers can’t  buy a car for some time and want to save on commute expenses.

If you are a newcomer to Brampton, Mississauga or Greater Toronto Area, let me find you either a rental or a resale home with the highest walk score. You can save a lot of money and keep fit at the same time.

Sources
•Carter, Matt. "Gas prices pique interest in Walk Score." Inman News. 2008. http://www.inman.com/news/2008/06/25/gas-prices-pique-interest-in-walk-score
•Complete the Streets. http://www.completestreets.org/
•Forrest, Brady. "Neighborhood Leader Boards on Walkscore." O'Reilly Radar. 2008. http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/06/neighborhood-leader-boards-on.html
•"Frequently Asked Questions." The Walking Site. http://www.thewalkingsite.com/faq.html
•"Frequently Asked Questions." Walkable Communities, Inc. http://www.walkable.org/faqs.html
•­Slater, Dashka. "Walk the Walk." The Green Issue. The New York Times. 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20Act-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin
•Smart Growth. http://www.smartgrowth.org/
•Steffen, Alex. "WalkScore and the Great Neighborhood Book." WorldChanging. 2007. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007055.html
•Walk Score. http://www.walkscore.com
•"Walking for fitness: How to trim your waistline, improve your health." Mayo Clinic. 2006. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/walking/HQ01612
•"Walkscore.com." Environmental Building News. BuildingGreen.com. 2008. http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm?fileName=170319a.xml
•Weil, Richard. "Walking." MedicineNet. http://www.medicinenet.com/walking/article.htm

How to make sure you Really are in multiple offer situation? This could be a trap! Home Buyers, Beware!

Bidding war at Multiple offers

 I am in real estate for about 5 years now and have seen a lot of very interesting situations. The most significant of all is the multiple offer situation. The buyer likes a home and so does many others. The result; more than one offer on a property and all buyers and their agents pitting against each other, bidding war on and guess who's smiling? Definitely the seller and his listing agent. :-) This makes sense if you as a buyer are at the site and you see lots of car parked, whispers of other buyers with their agents or most secretive talks inside the cars. Even the most talkative and loudest person is speaking that is barely audible. Lol! In nutshell, no body wants the other buyer or his agent to get a wind of what he/she is offering and this makes perfect sane sense. My advise to all my buyer clients is to walk away from such situation. Why?  Well the only winner in this case is one and one only and that is the SELLER. All others lose! The one who gets the so called 'winning bid' and the others who can't make it. The winning bid buyer paid more than he should have from his hard earned money and in my personal opinion he did lose his many hard working hours, sacrifices of his family in making letting him spare time, away from his family and children and here in one go, he goes $5-20,000 over asking price. Not only this he is refrained from doing the most important diligence measure; the home inspection let alone putting him to risk of mortgage refusal and ultimately landing him trouble far serious than just getting the house.

The above scenario definitely tells you that there were more than one offer as you were witnessing all this activity. But now let me take you to a far more serious problem in buying a home.  Consider the following scene.

The home is listed for a while, say 60-90 days and suddenly you discover it, like it and ask your agent to put an offer. Then suddenly you hear from the listing agent that he has another offer on the property and the seller wants all the offers by fax/e-mail/any other means except physical presentation. Now what will you do? I advise a word of caution here.  Even if your agent suggests you to remove those important interest securing clauses like home inspection, mortgage, & re-visits to the property before closing, apart from offering a higher price, simply say NO or if you have a real interest in the house and it serves your long-term purpose, ask to be protected against the so called 'multiple offer' situation. Ask your agent to write a clause in the offer, if you agree on removing above conditions and pay more price than you were initially ready to pay, that would make sure that there indeed was another offer. The clause should give you a right to re-negotiate the offer is the listing agent couldn't prove existence of another offer/offers and keep your interest not just safe but I would say the safest.  I use this clause in such situation for all my  buyers that I heard from one of the training session at a convention and eventually fine tuned it for specific use. 

Many times such multiple offer scenes have been found to have been crafted and staged cleverly and it is not uncommon to fall for them. In summing up I would advise you:

1. Don't get attached emotionally to any property 
2. Walk away from multiple offer situation and look for another home. Maybe you find another great deal without making a big hole in your pocket
3. Ask your agent to take steps in the offer that leave no doubt about existence of another offer
4. Don't ever remove home inspection. Well if you are offer the highest price, what issue does the seller would have in allowing you to do the home inspection?! If not for 5 days, write the condition for 1 day. Most of the agents can provide a home inspector in as less as 2 hours and maximum of 24 hours and you will have the home inspection report at the site itself and finally
5. BEWARE! BEWARE!! & BEWARE!!!

Hope you buy a home and stay happy thereafter! For great resources don't forget to visit my website at www.quicksellnbuy.com.   Should you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post them.

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