Lee Quaile Broker of Record A couple of weeks back I pushed out a post on how the student housing market here in Waterloo has been faring in the midst of an unprecedented past 12 months. The full article is available for review here, but the Coles Notes version is that we’ve been performing much better than was expected initially. Even in the worst of the pandemic, more university...

Lee Quaile Broker of Record Keeping within the borders of Waterloo Region for this week’s community profile, we’ll be looking at Elmira, Ontario. Set only 20 minutes north of Uptown Waterloo (and an even shorter drive from the attractions of St. Jacob’s and the amenities of King and Northfield in Waterloo) is this cozy community of a little more than 12,000 people. Key to Elmira’s charm is...

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...

Lee Quaile Broker of Record Over the past several weeks, I’ve outlined the case for optimism regarding the student housing market in Waterloo on a couple of occasions, most thoroughly here. What seemed to be a particularly vulnerable sector amid the initial uncertainty of last year has since demonstrated an impressive knack for resiliency, with vacancy rates staying low and property...

Lee Quaile Broker of Record Today, I’ll be picking up where I left off with the next part in a continuing series of community profiles – highlighting some of the smaller towns and cities which surround the major real estate markets of Southwestern Ontario.  Since kicking things off a few weeks ago, we’ve visited three destinations, each of which is less than 40 minutes’ driving time of...

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 For this week’s final post, we’re moving a little farther away from Waterloo Region and our previous community profile on New Hamburg.  Perth County is our immediate neighbour to the west and composes one of Chestnut Park West’s five territories of operation.  Situated in the southern portion of Perth, you’ll find the county seat of Stratford, Ontario...

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 As temperatures are beginning to edge back above the freezing mark and our days are getting longer, we’re finally in the home stretch of this year’s long pandemic winter.  While it hasn’t been an easy season for many of us, perhaps for no group is this truer than those folks who have been trying to get a foot in the door of the local housing...