By Warren McNeil 

Here are board statistics for the Kitchener-Waterloo real estate board. Please note that the information here is only based on residential real estate. If you would like a more detailed report, please contact Melanie or Warren.  

April 2008 – June 2008

(Single-Family All Categories (Condo, Towns, Semis, Singles), All Areas)

April 2008 – June 2008 (Single-Family Detached, All Areas)

Unit Sales and Average Price from 2000 – May 31 2008 (All Residential Listings)

All information deemed to be accurate and based on monthly statistics of the Multiple Listing Service gathered by the Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate board.

Thanks for reading!

By Warren McNeil

I decided to be the team captain of TEAM REMAX in K-W again. Last year we raised over $9000. We’re hoping to raise more this year.

Here are some photos from last years race.
http://picasaweb.google.com/warren.mcneil/RunForTheCureTEAMREMAX

The race is taking place on Sunday Oct 5th this year at Bingeman Park. Please join us on TEAM RE/MAX. If you want to participate on our team, let me know and I will sign you up. If you wish you could also sponser me.

To register online, go to https://www.cibcrunforthecure.com/html/registration_start.asp. You will need to specify that the team to join is TEAM RE/MAX for Kitchener-Waterloo.

If you would like to sponsor me, go to https://www.cibcrunforthecure.com/html/personal_page.asp?track=2726054&languageid=1 

All the details about the run are as follows:

Final Registration/Donation Drop-off   
Time: 8:00 am
Location: Embassy Room, Bingemans  
           
Opening Ceremonies 
Time: 9:15 am
Location: Bingemans     
                         
Warm Up
Time: 9:45 am
Location: Bingemans             
                                                            
Start of Run
Time: 10:00 am – Runners
          10:10 am – Walkers
Location: Bingemans               
                                                          
Awards Celebration 
Time: 11:25 am
Location: Bingemans    

Thanks for your support!

By Warren McNeil

Take a look at the recent Globe and Mail article entitled, Ottawa tightens mortgage rules to avoid ‘bubble’

It may come to no surprise to you that this has happened. This is measure that the government is putting into place to prevent a similar situation to the US housing crisis. Originally the intent was to help people who might not be able to afford 5% downpayment or lower monthly payment due to longer amoritization. They kaybashed this because it could lead to our very own little crisis here. I am glad they are taking this step. It is a protection that is necessary for us right now because of the economy. With the higher prices of gas people are already extended as far as they can go. Now if only we could do something about these high gas prices and high interest credit cards. I think the one side-effect to this new change is that our balanced market is going to be even more balanced. People who don’t have 5% to put down on a house will just have to wait a little longer.

People can still get 0% down and 40 year mortgages till Oct 15th. You might want to get into a lender soon to secure your finances if you plan on buying a house this year.

Thanks for reading!

By Warren McNeil

From time to time, I come across many useful websites. Some sites are used for searching for real estate information while others are tools for searching for a new home. Here is a list of links that I frequent.

Maybe I’ll sort these into categories someday…

• www.clickthathouse.com – This could very well be one of the finest websites on the Internet
• www.mls.ca or now www.realtor.ca - MLS database of homes in Canada
• www.reco.on.ca – Real Estate Council of Ontario
• https://www.wects.ca/ - School finder. Very useful
• www.crea.ca – Canadian Real Estate Association
• www.theglobeandmail.com/realestate/ - Not for Kitchener-Waterloo area but at least there is lots of good info
• http://transitea.region.waterloo.on.ca/ - Waterloo Region Rapid Transit initiative
• www.remax.ca – Remax Canada
• www.remax-oa.com/ - Remax Ontario Atlantic
• www.remax.com – Remax North America
• List to be continued…..

This list will definitely grow as time goes on.

Thanks for reading!