Jeff Gingerich - Blog - Jeff Gingerich

Recent Blog Posts by Jeff Gingerich
Homeowners With Trees Have It "Made In The Shade" With the recent record-breaking heat wave in Waterloo Region behind us, our thoughts turn to how to cope with such humid weather. The common answer for most is central air conditioning and, for some, swimming pools. However, with Ontario recently implementing time-of-use pricing, these alternatives are becoming increasingly costly. One time-tested solution for dealing ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on July 26, 2011		More
Does $2 A Litre Gas Affect Your Housing Choice? Just finished reading a thought provoking book by Canadian economist Jeff Rubin called Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller. The book makes a number of predictions including $200/barrel oil, $2/litre gas in Canada($7/gallon in the U.S.), escalating food prices, and the return of some manufacturing jobs as shipping costs rise. The book is well-researched and written ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on February 28, 2011		More
Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate 2010 Review Residential real estate sales in Kitchener Waterloo remained robust in 2010 with 4794 MLS sales. This represented a slight decrease over 2009 sales of 4913. Sales activity was particularly strong in the early months of 2010. Buyers and sellers scrambled to beat the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax on July 1st. Spring market activity was further heightened by ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on January 5, 2011		More
Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Sales Forecast 2010 Forecasting the weather or anything else is always tricky and residential real estate sales in Kitchener-Waterloo are no exception. My predictions for 2009 were for a buyer's market by spring, MLS sales of 3725 properties and declining prices of 10-15%. As detailed in my previous post, thankfully none of this came to pass due to government stimulus and low interest rates. An ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on January 4, 2010		More
Is Kitchener-Waterloo in a Housing Bubble? There has been a great deal of talk in the mainstream media recently surrounding the possibility that Canada is in a housing bubble. First, what is a housing bubble? According to Answers.com, a housing bubble is "a run-up in prices fuelled by demand, speculation, and a belief that recent history is an infallible forecast of the future." It begins with an increase in demand ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on January 2, 2010		More
What a Difference a Year Makes Today's post deals with the challenges of buying a home in a seller's market. First, let's look at a bit of recent history. In November of 2008, fear and uncertainty were in the air. Overextended sellers were anxious to unload their properties at a discount. Buyers, following years of a seller's market, were finally in control. Unfortunately for buyers, ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on November 28, 2009		More
Kitchener-Waterloo Power of Sale Report November 2009 The local improvement in economic conditions appears to have led to fewer Power of Sale properties in October. Active listings under Power of Sale as of November 15th totalled 11 versus 12 in mid-October. Of these, 10 are in Kitchener and 1 in Waterloo. Properties bought under Power of Sale in October declined to 10 versus 17 in September. Of note, there ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on November 17, 2009		More
Kitchener-Waterloo Market Update September 2009 The Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board reports 375 sales in K-W for September 2009 which represents a 15% decline over the 441 sales reported in September 2008. Of note, the end of $0 down and 40 year amortization program was rapidly approaching in September 2008 and sales were artificially high as a result. The median price for September 2009 sales in K-W was a September record ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on October 4, 2009		More
Kitchener-Waterloo Power of Sale Report September 2009 As of September 15, 2009 there were 11 active listings under Power of Sale in K-W. This represents a significant decline over the 19 in mid-August. Of note, all 11 were in Kitchener. As expected, the active market resulted in the sale of 16 Power of Sale properties in August versus 9 in July. The low level of homes for sale will continue to mean Power ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on September 18, 2009		More
Where Do We Go From Here? Real estate sales have defied expert predictions as evidenced by Vancouver sales rocketing ahead 117% year-over-year http://tinyurl.com/lmpz9g However, markets are local in nature so let's look at the Kitchener-Waterloo market year-to-date and where the market is heading in the months to come. Year-to-date MLS sales to the end of August '09 totalled 3422 ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on September 16, 2009		More
August 2009 Market Update The Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board has released August 2009 sales data. In K-W, there were 482 sales matching a record set in 2007. The average price declined from August 2008 by slightly more than $10 000 and the median price dipped to $237,200 versus $242,000 in August 2008. Condominium sales were up 67% over August 2008 as record interest rates improved ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on September 3, 2009		More
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous With the real estate market having improved considerably since May, I thought it time to revisit the topic of million dollar home sales reported through MLS in Kitchener-Waterloo. Year-to-date, there have been 2 sales including the one pictured above. It has over 8000 sq ft of living space and sits on 1.5 acres in scenic Hidden Valley. There are currently 18 active listings ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on August 31, 2009		More
Kitchener-Waterloo Power of Sale Report August, 2009 Beginning today, I'll report mid-month on the MLS power of sale activity in Kitchener-Waterloo. We can use this information as one indicator of the health of the local market. As of August 15, 2009, there are 19 active MLS listings under power of sale in the Twin Cities. Of note, 18 are in Kitchener and 1 in Waterloo. July saw 488 residential ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on August 16, 2009		More
Let's Tell It Like It Is I get irritated when I see Realtors make misrepresentations in advertising. Unfortunately, they appear all too often and the reason is a lack of accountability. Gone are the days when the broker manager had to approve your ad copy before it saw the light of day. Today, I read about a great new listing that included among the features "backs on greenbelt". For many, this ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on August 10, 2009		More
Kitchener-Waterloo Sales Continue To Surprise Residential real estate in June 2009 provided a bit of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy economy. Kitchener-Waterloo shows approx. 569 sales through the Multiple Listing Service which surpassed June 2008's total of 564. Of note, 75% of sales were under $300 000 and new construction accounted for only 6% of the totals. The average days on the market ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on July 3, 2009		More
Recession Proof Your Housing In my last post, we looked at the consequences of higher interest rates upon the renewal of your mortgage. Here are 10 tips designed to protect you from becoming overextended financially in this event. 1. Don't buy too much home. Avoid the temptation to overspend based on what you qualify for. Downsize your expectations and upgrade when you have more equity. Remember ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on July 3, 2009		More
I'm Just Saying... As Realtors, we are certainly thankful for the resurgent real estate market Canada-wide. Low interest rates have been instrumental in increasing affordability to entice first-time buyers into the market. Real estate is local so let's look at a typical scenario in Kitchener-Waterloo. A couple buy a detached home for $250 000 with 5% down and get a 4% mortgage with a 5 year ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on June 25, 2009		More
Irrational Exuberance? The Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board reports 527 residential sales in K-W for May 2009 representing a 9% increase over May 2008 sales. The average price declined year-over-year by 1.4% to $261,628. Right about now you're probably thinking "What about the Recession?" This increase in sales is being driven by low interest rates resulting in increased affordability. ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on June 9, 2009		More
It's Caveat Emptor When Buying Privately Caveat emptor comes from Latin and embodies the principle of "let the buyer beware". When I think back to the tough times in real estate in the early '90's, I remember a number of new clients forced to sell who had bought a private sale during the good times in 1989-90. An analysis of their situation often revealed a number of issues. In many cases, they had overpaid ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on June 5, 2009		More
If I Had a Million Dollars In a sign of the times, million dollar residential sales in Kitchener-Waterloo are becoming increasingly rare. Currently there are 21 homes for sale in K-W with an asking price exceeding 1 million dollars. It certainly looks like a strong buyer's market as this price bracket has produced only 1 sale through the MLS this year. In 2008, the Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on May 26, 2009		More
A Tale of 2 Markets Residential sales in Kitchener-Waterloo for the first 2 weeks of May show a 15% increase over the same period in May 2008. Of note, out of 257 sales recorded by the Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board, 199 were under $300 000. The supply of homes in this price range is shrinking rapidly due to high activity from first-time buyers. Average days on ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on May 21, 2009		More
Who's Minding the Fort? Home security was the topic this morning at an education seminar offered by the Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board. Kitchener-Waterloo Realtors in attendance were provided with excellent information from Divisional Inspector Doug Sheppard of the Waterloo Region Police Service. He indicated most break-ins are committed by males under 25 and the 3 things they're typically ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on May 5, 2009		More
Chicken Little There's an old fable about a chicken who thinks the sky is falling because he got hit in the head with a falling acorn. The moral of this fable is to have courage and not to be a "chicken". This "disaster is imminent" message is a common theme in the media today. It appears the residents of Waterloo Region know better. In what can best be described as a stable market, ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on April 3, 2009		More
The Pride of Waterloo Waterloo's top employer Research in Motion(RIM) defied analyst's expectations today in announcing fiscal 4th quarter profits easily eclipsed last year's results. RIM now has 25 million subscribers and is growing market share in the midst of a sluggish global economy. These results are a huge positive for the local economy and for Wateroo Region real estate. For the full ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on April 2, 2009		More
Wild Horses There is an emerging trend for city folk to become town and country folk. The reasons for this trend are many and varied. For some, it comes down to price - more house and land for less money and lower property taxes. For others, they want to escape - the houses that are too close together, the noise, traffic, air pollution, litter and crime. Others see their ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on March 30, 2009		More

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