Rules for Homebuyers Lee QuaileBroker of Record Admitting failure and backtracking is difficult enough for most people, but when’s the last time you heard of a government-affiliated agency tapping out and issuing a public statement outlining their mistakes? It’s a rare occurrence! But that’s exactly what happened earlier this week when Canada’s federal housing agency (CMHC) came...
Here’s the Latest Lee QuaileBroker of Record A few weeks ago, I posted a short article which outlined word of proposed changes to Canada’s mortgage stress-test. In short, our financial sector is beginning to take steps towards shoring up our market against potential hikes in interest rates over the medium term. This is particularly crucial now, as we’re in the midst of a very hot...
Lee QuaileBroker of Record Inflation and real estate aren’t two things we often see mentioned in the same sentence. Our notice of the effects of inflation is usually limited to everyday purchases – food, clothing, gas or other household items. After all, it makes sense you’d take note when your weekend grocery run ends up costing you significantly more over time, since it’s...
Lee Quaile Broker of Record Sometimes extraordinary things can start to feel routine if they happen often enough – a phenomenon many of us in the real estate business might be beginning to experience for ourselves. Ever since the pandemic bit down on us last spring, housing prices have soared in defiance of all initial expectations here in Waterloo-Wellington. The latest report released by KWAR...
Presenting our Award Winners for 2020! Lee QuaileBroker of Record After the dramatic ups and downs of the past year, I wanted to take a step away from my typical style of content this week to recognize the achievements of some of my friends and colleagues here at Chestnut Park West. 2020 started out by being anything but certain – I’m sure we can all remember what we were doing almost...
Lee Quaile Broker of Record These are far from the easiest of times to be operating in our market as a home buyer – we get it. The past few months have seen staggering increases in average sale prices across all types of housing in Waterloo-Wellington which have seemingly been pricing ever more people right out of the market, and dashing dreams of homeownership for prospective first-time...
Lee Quaile Broker of Record Earlier this week over the course of my daily rummaging online, I came across an article published by Millionacres (part of the Motley Fool’s investment network) which outlined a basic starting point for anyone in the United States who might be interested in investing in Canadian real estate. Of course, foreign investment in Canadian real estate is nothing new - nor...
Lee Quaile Broker of Record A Cautionary Tale. My final post this week is going to be a bit of a departure from my usual analysis. Instead, I’d like to bring a real-life event to your attention – something which occurred just this past week at my own brokerage, and it’s a situation that highlights just how valuable proper representation in the real estate world can be. I know many...
Lee Quaile Broker of Record Several years back, I published an article on my blog titled “The Expanding Small(er) Markets of Southwestern Ontario”, in which I did my best to counter a prevailing narrative at the time that small towns in Ontario were slowly dying out. While it’s true that population growth in ‘census metropolitan areas’ (as Statistics Canada refers to larger urban...
Lee Quaile Broker of Record It need hardly be said again that 2020 was a year unlike all others. Expectations being defied and norms being cast aside were common threads which seemed to run through each aspect of the year, since our lives changed dramatically last spring with the onset of an ongoing emergency in our province, country, and the entire world. Every industry was forced to...