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When spring arrives, the weather traditionally entices us outside to enjoy the warm breezes, feel the sun kissing our faces, and inhale the scent of rebirth. This year, however, we are more inclined to collectively retreat inside our homes, for the sake of health and safety. It’s hard, even now, weeks in, to wrap our heads around the requirements to self-isolate, and the magnitude by which this global virus will impact our quality of life.
And yet we Canadians are doing our best! One day at a time, together.
But it remains important to be informed. I, and the Urbaneer team, are available to support and guide you, and those you love, through these uncertain times. As a consistent Top Producer entering his 28th year in the buying and selling of Toronto real estate, you can rely on my credibility, experience, and capacity to navigate changing market dynamics. Although the circumstances are different, there are not many realtors working today who served clients coping with the collapse of the housing bubble in the early to mid 1990s when property values dropped upwards of 35% from their peak values in 1989. During that period of significant disruption, the skill of facilitation, negotiation, and closing were paramount.
Please do not hesitate to reach out.
Steve is at 416-845-9905 or steve@urbaneer.com
Our Dear Urbaneer blog this month is entitled, ‘How Can I Feel More Comfortable At Home During Self-Isolation & Covid-19?‘ In this March installment, I guide a client who, like most of us, is faced with living and working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Truly, in these troubling times, the concept of “home” and how we live in our spaces have been given a whole new context. As in all crises, there is the opportunity for growth and positive change; qualities like discipline, patience, and selflessness are all examples what we can discover about ourselves by enduring hardships. So, now, due to social distancing and attempting to flatten the COVID-19 curve, we have been handed a unique opportunity to improve ourselves, or, at the very least, to make the most of our time at home during self-isolation. There are a number of well-known and easy ways to create a sense of calm and sanctuary at home through design and décor, which can preserve mental health and boost productivity! Read more here.
Next, we share our March Homewatch News blog, ‘How To Decide Between Moving And Renovating‘. Unless you’ve found your ‘forever home’ – and sometimes even then – there will inevitably come a day when your property no longer meets your needs. While this is usually the time homeowners contact their realtor and begin scouting new options, with a lack of available stock, increasing housing prices, the new mortgage stress test, not to mention the prohibitive costs of moving (especially with Toronto’s double land transfer taxes), more and more homeowners are electing to renovate their spaces rather than move – 48 per cent, in fact, according to a CIBC poll! (This is a significant jump from 2016’s figure of 37 per cent.) There’s no question that resolving how to accommodate your property wishes, wants, and needs can be a challenge. It’s all about balancing your requirements in your current day, predetermining what you will need in the future while trying to build your real estate wealth strategically with minimal risk. It’s a complex issue to navigate, but we offer our guidance here.
The Urbaneer Team posts multiple blogs every week, where we share our love of all things real estate and Toronto! According to Urbaneer.com’s monthly analytics, our most read blog was ‘Canada’s Big Banks Respond To Covid19 Pandemic Panic‘. Over the years the advice and guidance from our go-to mortgage broker – Mortgage Jake – has been absolutely invaluable. Jake’s always informed on the latest (and promptly shares that information with his client base) including how the Canadian Big Banks and other mortgage lenders are restructuring their approach to lending and finance due to the Covid19 pandemic. (Over the past week we’ve received two crucial updates from him, which have been added as addendums to this blog.) In a similar vein, our blog entitled, ‘Canadian Real Estate Sees Interest Rate Cut & Mortgage Stress Test Change‘, was also well read, and contains Jake’s candid and practical read on the changes announced.
The second most popular post was ‘A Short History Of Toronto’s Fashion District And Art Deco Architecture‘. We’ve witnessed an enormous change in the 42 city neighbourhoods that comprise Urbaneer’s purview; ‘Shelter’ in Toronto continues to change and evolve, including our individual and communal sense of ‘place’, which is part of what makes this career so fascinating! One neighbourhood of particular interest to me is The Fashion District in Toronto, in part because Steve’s career began with the Adaptive Reuse Conversion of century warehouses in the area. For a succint retelling of it’s formation and evolution, read on!
And – for lovers of unique urban spaces – take a peek at all of the sensational slices of Toronto real estate that we’ve had the pleasure and privilege of selling over the years!
Browse the March 2020 E-Newsletter here!
We LOVE Toronto real estate!
Steven & The Urbaneer Team
Bosley Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage • (416) 322-8000
http://www.urbaneer.com • info@urbaneer.com
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*Love Canadian Housing? Check out Steve’s Student Mentorship site called Houseporn.ca which focuses on architecture, landscape, design, product and real estate in Canada!