Toronto Real Estate and Neighbourhoods Blog | Move Smartly

New Delayed Closing and Occupancy Warranty: What You Need to Know

Carl Minicucci in Home Buying Tips, Condo Buying Tips, Legal

In the market and planning the purchase of a new freehold home or condominium in the next few months?  If so, you will find the upcoming two-part blog posts of particular interest.  I will highlight and discuss the expected pending changes to delayed closing and occupancy provisions of the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act. 

Overview

In March of this year, Tarion Warranty Corporation (the Government approved private corporation responsible for administering the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act), announced a change effective July 1, 2008, to Ontario purchasers of new freehold homes or condominiums.

These changes to the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act and Regulations have stemmed from growing concerns and frustrations from the public and media over the lack of clarity and transparent disclosure facing Home Buyers.

Beware if You're Purchasing a New Home or Condo to Flip

Bob Aaron in Legal, Home Selling Tips, Toronto Real Estate News

Ed. Note.  We are pleased to welcome Bob Aaron, a Toronto real estate law expert, to Move Smartly.  A leading practitioner in the legal profession, Bob is an elected director of the Law Society of Upper Canada.  Each week, Bob shares his popular Toronto Star column articles with the readers of Move Smartly.

A recently discovered policy of the Tarion Warranty Corp. could have an enormous impact on the thousands of buyers of new homes and condominiums who resell the properties without moving in.

The policy was brought to my attention by Vidas Augaitis, a colleague who practises real estate law in Collingwood.

In April 2005, two of his clients, whom I will call Deb and Chris, bought a new house in Wasaga Beach from Pinevalley Developments Corp. On closing, the buyers received a Certificate of Completion and Inspection and a warranty certificate from Tarion confirming that the house was enrolled under the warranty program.

When they closed the transaction with the builder, Deb and Chris intended to sell their existing home and move into the new one. For various reasons, they changed their minds and eventually decided to sell the new house. The resale closed on July 24, 2007.

In January of this year, Deb and Chris received a visit from a senior investigator with Tarion's enforcement department. He told them that they should have registered the house with Tarion when they resold the property, since he believed it had not been occupied during the period of their ownership. The Tarion representative pointed out that anyone who sells a new home in Ontario without registering it with Tarion is liable to a fine of up to $25,000 or a term of imprisonment of up to one year, or both.

As Seen on TV: Beware of Guaranteed Real Estate Sales Programs

Carl in Home Buying, Home Selling Tips, Real Estate Trends

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to show you the greatest Real Estate brokerage offer ever made…all your investment and cashflow worries chopped to extinction without ever shedding a tear."

You have to hand it to the Real Estate brokerage industry for coming up with new, innovative and creative marketing gimmicks ideas.  There is simply no shortage of them.  If the trend continues, it won’t be long before we start seeing the debut of some local Realtors on late night television sharing valuable infomercial space with the likes of Ron Popeil and company.

One of my favourite gadgets to hit the real estate airwaves is the Guaranteed Real Estate Sales Program (GRESP), not to be confused with the Showtime Rotisserie or Pocket Fisherman.

The usual tagline reads something like this:

We will sell your house, or XYZ Realty will buy it! We Guarantee a Sale, Guarantee a Closing Date and best of all we Guarantee Market Value!

If you are worried about the sale of your home, don't be!  XYZ Realty has a program to relieve a seller's concerns about the sale and closing of their home. Think of it as an insurance policy or safety net against unforeseeable market changes that could effect how much and when you must sell your home. When you accept an offer from XYZ Realty, you are guaranteed that your house is sold and a closing date set in place. You are also given plenty of time to market your home and accept higher offers before closing with XYZ Realty, assuring you receive fair market value.

But wait, there’s more...

Another Reason Why People Don’t Trust Real Estate Agents

John in Home Buying, Home Selling Tips

Multiple Representation (also referred to as Dual Agency) can occur when one agent represents both the buyer and the seller in a real estate transaction. Wondering how one person can effectively protect the rights of two people with such opposite interests? You’re not alone. It’s an obvious conflict of interest that the real estate industry has been able to keep legal.

Ethical issues aside, the other problem with multiple representation has to do with the “double-dip”, or as one real estate agent calls it the “2-1-0”: Getting paid Twice, for One transaction, and serving Zero parties. When the listing agent represents both the buyer and the seller in a transaction they typically “double-end” the deal receiving double the commission.

A home buyer I met recently told me about an experience she had with a Toronto real estate agent double-ending a deal.

For Sale by Owner Poses the Same Security Risks as Those Facing Realtors

Rachel in Real Estate Trends

The recent, tragic death of B.C. realtor Lindsay Buziak highlights the security risks that face those in the real estate industry.  My heart goes out to her family. As I was reading the ongoing coverage in the Globe and Mail, and other news sites, I noticed that other realtors had posted their own suggestions for methods of protecting themselves, but as I looked at RECO, TREB and VREB, I could not find anything relating to agent safety tips.  I certainly hope that this is part of their internal site offering, but it does make me wonder, what kind of access to resources do homeowners who are selling without an agent have?

Trouble Selling Your Home? Unable to Find a Home to Buy? Double-Check the MLS Listing...

John in Home Buying

Real estate agents have a saying; a well-listed property is half-sold. The term ‘well-listed’ refers to the information the listing agent entered into the MLS database about the property. A well-listed property has all relevant information about the house correctly entered into the MLS. It also has photos and a description that accurately represents the property being sold. The idea behind the well-listed property is that the MLS listing should give the HomeBuyer a clear picture of the home before even visiting it.

Last month, I came across a couple of properties that were poorly listed and as a result, had been sitting on the market for some time. One particular house listing was sent to me by a client after she found it on MLS.ca. I was curious to see why I didn’t come across this house as I was also researching the same area.

After looking at the listing in a little more detail, I realized that the home did not have a parking spot. When most buyer agents search for home for their clients, they typically filter their search based on their clients’ needs. If a HomeBuyer says they would love a 4-bedroom home, but can live with a 3-bedroom, most agents would likely search for homes with at least 3 bedrooms in the area their client is interested in, filtering out all of the two bedroom homes. Similarly, if the HomeBuyer indicates that they need a parking spot for their car, agents are going to search for homes with at least one parking spot.

In the case of the listing my client found, an opportune call I placed to the listing agent revealed that the house did in fact have a parking spot. The listing agent incorrectly listed the home as having no parking, and as a result, agents who were looking for a home with at least one parking spot in that area probably had no idea this house was on the market.

Realosophy Launch

Welcome to realosophy.com!  We hope that you are as excited as we are about our new Toronto HomeBuyer’s website.

We are a group of young consumers and professionals who once wondered why HomeBuying wasn’t more fun, open and easy to understand.  Then we decided to do something about it—something we call Realosophy.