Resale Homes
Resale Homes
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Southdale
Address: 67 Dayton Dr
Asking Price: $279,900
Sold Price: $285,000
Taxes: $4,093
Square Footage: 1,915
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 3
Lot size: 50 x 100
Listing Agent: James Born, Newman Greenberg & Assoc. 784-3555
Crescentwood
Address: 1047 Jessie Ave.
Asking Price: $179,900
Sold Price: $179,000
Taxes: $2,213.45
Square Footage: 765
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1.5
Lot Size: 38 x 120
Listing Agent: Gord Sharpe, Maximum Realty Ltd., 296-7653
Offered at...
Crescentwood
Address: 1104-323 Wellington Cres
Asking Price: $374,900
Taxes: $4,070
Condo Fees: $688/month
Square Footage: 1,460
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Lot size: N/A
Listing Agent: Monica Newman/James Born, Newman Greenberg & Assoc., 784-3555
Resale Homes
A dark cloud hangs over U.S. homeowners
MIAMI -- Al Ray is so strapped for cash, the only time he eats out is on Wednesday or Sunday, when the local McDonald's sells hamburgers for 49 cents.Ray lost his engineering job last November, and has been working as a high school tutor, scratching out about $1,000 a month -- if he's lucky. He struggled to make his $1,400 monthly mortgage payment and $330 monthly homeowners' association fee until May, when he stopped paying.
Ray, 44, is looking for work and renting out a room in his two-bedroom condo in Davie, Fla., for $500, but his monthly income doesn't match his expenses and he's facing foreclosure.
"I barely have money to survive," he said.
Ray is one of more than 7.5 million people -- almost 15 per cent of American homeowners with a mortgage -- who are spending half of their income or more on housing costs, according to 2007 data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That is up from nearly 7.1 million the year before.
Traditionally, the government and most lenders consider a homeowner spending 30 per cent or more of their income on housing costs to be financially burdened. But that definition now covers almost 38 per cent of American homeowners with a mortgage -- 19 million of them.
Though home prices have fallen this year, in the most expensive markets where home prices tripled during the boom many working families still cannot afford to buy a home.
"We had a bubble," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. "This is a case where we absolutely want the market to adjust."
The data underscore the serious affordability problems in the U.S. and highlight how the slightest financial problem -- from a lost job to higher gas prices or insurance premiums -- can put a family behind on their mortgages and into the realm of foreclosure.
When home prices fell in the early 1990s, borrowers had more equity in their homes, and were able to escape foreclosure. But now, an estimated 10 million homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to Moody's economy.com.
More than four million homeowners were at least one month behind on their loans at the end of June, and almost 500,000 had started the foreclosure process, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Cascading foreclosures over the past two years created a domino effect in the lending industry, undermining investor confidence and forcing the Bush administration to announce the greatest rescue package and market intervention since the Great Depression.
And yet, the deal will not help Dolly Hanna, 51, and her husband, who bought five homes in the San Francisco area over the past 20 years, and were enjoying life during the housing boom by renting them out.
But her husband's overtime at his mechanic's job was cut, and the Hannas now find themselves overextended at a loss of $15,000 per month and trying two sell two of the homes.
With four children, Hanna had been a stay-at-home mom, but Monday she started a job in real estate. They are seeking a renter for two upstairs bedrooms in their primary residence for $1,200.
Getting a loan during the boom was easy, Hanna knows. Too easy.
"All you had to do was massage the information enough to fit it into their round hole, and they gave us a mortgage," Hanna said.
In San Francisco, more than one out of five homeowners with a mortgage spends half or more of their income on housing.
That's also true in 13 more of the largest 100 metro areas analyzed by the Associated Press. Other places include California metro areas of Stockton, Los Angeles, Riverside, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, San Francisco, and San Diego. Also in the top 10 are the Fort Myers, Sarasota and Orlando metro areas in Florida, and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island.
But the most cost-burdened homeowners in the country live the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach metro area: 58 per cent of homeowners spending 30 per cent of their income on housing costs, and 29 per cent spending half of their income or more on housing.
Though prices here are dropping, the high cost of land, construction, insurance and property taxes makes living in South Florida too expensive for some.
"Certainly, we hear about people leaving South Florida and going into Atlanta where they can get into a house for less money," Suzanne Weiss, associate director for real estate with Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida.
To help with the affordable housing stock, Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida joined forces with a construction company to build homes for low- to moderate-income residents that include energy-efficient appliances and hurricane-resistant windows.
Other cities and states are also taking action.
In Illinois, a network of 15 non-profit housing groups gives free advice to struggling homeowners seeking to avoid foreclosure amid rising mortgage payments.
In New England, an affordable housing program funded by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston awards grants and low-interest loans to communities to encourage affordable-housing initiatives for very low- to moderate-income households.
And in Las Vegas, the Nevada Fair Housing Center is helping Rita Harvey renegotiate her mortgage from $2,700 to around $1,800 per month.
Harvey, 64, lives on about $3,300 a month in social security and disability payments for herself and her four disabled grandchildren. She nearly lost her home this summer after her adjustable rate mortgage payment jumped.
"I did not understand that in two years, this would adjust out of control," she said. "Nobody deserves what I've had to go through."
-- The Associated Press
Resale Homes
Buyers facing tighter rules
Selling houses like cars just isn't going to cut it anymore. The days of zero down and extended amortizations are soon to be history thanks to the absolute disaster that has hit the U.S. subprime mortgage market.As of Oct. 15, the federal government is making big changes to mortgage rules in an effort to protect and strengthen the Canadian economy and try to prevent the housing bubble from bursting as it has south of the border.
In early July, the federal government cracked down on mortgage rules by announcing it will no longer guarantee 40-year mortgages. The longest amortization available has been reduced to 35 years. The government is also eliminating the no-money-down mortgage concept by implementing a requirement that homebuyers must have a minimum down payment of at least five per cent of the value of a home.
When the federal finance department made the announcement this summer, most of the major banks jumped on the bandwagon and have already discontinued offering those products. Although there are still some lenders offering zero down and 40-year amortizations, that will come to an end on Oct. 15, when the new mortgage rules officially take effect.
The new limits will only affect new, government-backed mortgages and Canadians who already have a mortgage won't be affected. Still, many mortgage experts are predicting this will have a significant impact on the housing market.
"It's going to hinder a lot of people from getting into the market for a year or two," says Wayne McConnell of A+ Financial, who has been in the mortgage brokerage business for the last 15 years.
With the rising price of houses in Winnipeg and elsewhere across the country, McConnell says many people took advantage of no-down-payment mortgage. He says a lot of young professionals who were just starting out with student loans and other first-time buyers were able to buy a home with that option.
"The only way they got into the market was zero per cent down," he notes. "If they had to put five per cent down, that would leave them out of the market for at least another year."
That's exactly what new buyers will have to do as of Oct. 15 -- put at least five per cent down in order to qualify for a government-backed mortgage. On a $230,000 house, that means they would have to come up with at least $11,500 as a down payment.
While eliminating the zero per cent down payment and decreasing the maximum amortization to 35 years are going to have an impact on the market, McConnell says there is another change that will hit people even harder.
That change is all about credit ratings. The government has established a credit score floor of 620. That means, as of Oct. 15, potential homebuyers will have to have a beacon score of at least 620. That's considered to be good credit, McConnell notes.
And that's what can impact people the most, McConnell notes, as there are many factors that can lead to a lower beacon score or credit rating. If you have paid any account over 30 days late or you are near or over your credit limit, that can bring down your beacon score. The number of inquiries or credit checks you've had in a given time period can also reduce your rating.
"This will impact a ton of people," says McConnell. "This could disqualify 10 to 15 per cent of buyers -- that's substantial."
So why is the Canadian government doing this? It's heeding the warning signs coming from down south. In the U.S., overzealous lenders such as banks and financial companies lent money to high-risk borrowers at low rates and created a housing bubble that eventually burst. The bubble burst when those same borrowers renewed their mortgages at higher interest rates and couldn't afford to repay them.
According to figures compiled by the Canadian Bankers Association, defaults of bank mortgages here in Canada are well below one per cent -- very low compared to the U.S. The American rate of mortgage default is now at about nine per cent and climbing. While Canadian lenders are more conservative than their U.S. counterparts, the federal government is being cautious by making changes our mortgage requirements.
"All of this is a true reflection of what is going on down south," says McConnell.
Yet at a major mortgage broker convention in Edmonton last week, he says the buzz was that the Canadian government has overreacted a bit by imposing the changes.
"Maybe tighten the 40-year amortization and zero per cent down," McConnell concedes. "But the beacon score of 620 is just going to stifle our economy."
Regardless of public opinion on policy, the mortgage changes are looming as the deadline fast approaches. Buyers not only have to buy a house before that date, they must take possession by Oct. 15 in order to avoid being affected by the changes.
"A lot of our clients are pre-approved, but the clock is ticking," McConnell notes. "A lot of people are frantically out there looking to get into the market before Oct. 15."
tbryksa@mts.net
Resale Homes
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River HeightsAddress: 254 Ash St.
Asking Price: $199,900
Sold Price: $229,000
Taxes: $3,228.22
Square Footage: 1,053
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Lot Size: 40 x 120
Listing Agent: Greg Hamilton, Sutton Grouo - Kilkenny Real Estate, 475-9130
Fort Rouge
Address: 799 Lorette Ave.
Asking Price: $122,900
Sold Price: $135,000
Taxes: $1,268.41
Square Footage: 1,118
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Lot Size: n/a
Listing Agents: Marnie and Laura Ross, Newman Greenberg & Associates, 784-3555
Riverview
Address: 326 Morley Avenue
List Price: $119,900
Sold Price: $119,900
Taxes: $1,431.59
Square Footage: 1,120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Lot Size: n/a
Listing Agents: Marnie and Laura Ross, Newman Greenberg & Associates, 784-3555
Downtown
Address: 508- 340 Waterfront Drive
Asking Price: $350,900
Sold Price: $350,900
Taxes: n/a
Square Footage: 1,193
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Listing Agent: Sheldon Zamick, Sutton Group Kilkenny, 291-8403
Tuxedo
Address: 117 - 140 Portsmouth Blvd.
Asking Price: $169,900
Sold Price: $169,500
Taxes: $2,143.00
Square Footage: 1,018
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Listing Agent: Vijay Guliani, Realty Plus Inc., 897-0800
Offered At...
Tuxedo
Address: 402 Park Blvd. N
Asking Price: $725,000
Taxes: $5,954.21
Square Footage: 2,268
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 3
Lot Size: 75 x 130
Listing Agent: Greg Hamilton, Sutton Group - Kilkenny Real Estate, 475-9130
Resale Homes
Springfield retreat built with great attention to detail and quality
When George Oost and his family moved to Manitoba from southern Ontario in 2004 to enjoy Manitoba's wide-open spaces, they wanted their new home to reflect the beauty of its surroundings.Given the lot they chose -- a mature, five-acre piece of land off Deacon Road in the R.M. of Springfield (off Garven Road five minutes from the North Perimeter) -- that could have proven to be a daunting task. That is, if it weren't for the fact that George is an accomplished renovator and home builder -- and then some.
"George built pretty much everything you see here himself, even some of the furniture," says realtor Marnie Ross of Newman, Greenberg and Associates, who is marketing the 2,743 sq. ft. cab-over style home with her sister, Laura (see www.rosssisters.com for more information). "The craftsmanship and attention to detail in this home is incredible."
Oost -- who co-designed the home with his wife -- says the main goal was to design a home that not only looked good, but was highly functional.
"We designed the home (built in 2005) to be very functional with little in the way of wasted floor space," he says. "The first example of that is the front door foyer. I was adamant that it would be laid out so that it service the both the garage and front entrance area. Once I got the functional part figured out, it was then a matter of making it look good. I put in a multi-coloured slate floor because it looked great, and hid the dirt."
As much as the Oosts wanted the home to be livable, they also wanted it to stand the test of time. With that in mind, George went with an R20 ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) foundation, two-by-six construction with foam insulation and a silent floor system beneath the three-and-a-half-inch plank oak hardwoods.
"I built the home to my standards -- I never say, 'this is good enough'. I always build with the highest quality in mind. It takes a little more time and effort, but it's always worth it in the long run," he says.
That commitment to quality and detail is evident throughout the sprawling home: the great room/kitchen area is decidedly open-concept, with the great room featuring a soaring vaulted ceiling (which extends into the kitchen), a huge window to allow natural light to flow in and fill the space -- and a rustic, cultured stone fireplace.
At the other end of the room is an island kitchen with custom dark maple cabinetry, solid corian edge counter tops, under-cabinet lighting and stainless sink under a large, low-silled window that provides a picturesque view of the yard out back.
"There's also a door that leads to a covered deck out back," says Ross. "It's a great place to eat or just sit and relax with all the mature trees and countryside stretching away in front of you."
George concurs.
"We wanted it to be our cottage. The deck is just an extension of the kitchen. We spend a lot of time out there enjoying it. It's just so quiet and scenic," he says.
Another surprise can be found off the kitchen through an innocuous-looking doorway. Instead of a storage room or main floor laundry, you find a stairway that leads up to -- of all things -- a large loft.
"It's used as an office right now, but could be a bedroom, guest room, or even be converted into a master bedroom," she says. "With windows at either end, it's so bright. It's a spectacular, private space."
The attention to detail -- and surprises -- continue throughout the home: a slate floor in the master bedroom's ensuite; crown mouldings in every room, along with eight-and-a-half-inch baseboards -- and more oak flooring that is rock solid underfoot.
"I think having trim like crown moulding in every room, plus the high baseboards adds understated style to the home -- I didn't want it to look bare and stark. Sure, you want the home to be sensible and functional, but you want it to be beautiful, too," adds Oost.
With four rooms and all kinds of storage downstairs, space is once again abundant. However, it's the rec room area that makes you do a double take due to a highly unique feature: a coffered ceiling.
"I just didn't want the rec room to be square and plain, so I put in the coffered ceiling to take advantage of the height and increase the feeling of space," he says. "The recessed lighting looks nice, too."
The final -- and very pleasant -- surprise, says Ross, is the 80-foot by 40-foot workshop that Oost built in 2006.
"It's the big story," she says. "It's great for car and woodworking enthusiasts; it has an R20 insulation value and is all metal lined. It has its own separate service, and is a mechanic or woodworker's dream."
Ross says now that the Oosts' are downsizing, it's time for someone else to enjoy a well-built home in a beautiful location.
"This home was built with great attention to detail and quality," she says. "Whoever gets it will be very lucky, because it's a gem in every way."
lewys@mts.net
Resale Homes
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North Kildonan
Address: 365 Douglas Ave.
Asking Price: $159,900
Sold Price: $185,000
Taxes: $2,471
Square Footage: 1,080
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 1
Lot Size: Pie-shaped
Listing Agents: Geoff and Regan Archambault, Century 21 Advanced Realty, 997-1761
North Kildonan
Address: 285 Glenway Ave.
Asking Price: $144,900
Sold Price: $145,000
Taxes: $1,465
Square Footage: 1,150
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 1
Lot Size: 43 x 115
Listing Agents: Geoff & Regan Archambault, Century 21 Advanced Realty, 997-1761
River Heights
Address: 411 Campbell St.
Asking Price: $289,900
Sold Price: $285,000
Taxes: $3,088.69
Square Footage: 1,265
Bedroom: 3
Bathroom: 2
Lot Size: 40 X 120
Listing Agent: Arlene Johnson, RE/MAX Executives Realty, 987-9800
Downtown
Address: 508-340 Waterfront Drive
Asking Price: $350,900
Sold Price: $350,900
Taxes: n/a
Square Footage: 1,193
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Listing Agent: Sheldon Zamick, Sutton Group Kilkenny, 291-8403
St. James
Address: 292 Berry St
Asking Price: $159,900
Sold Price: $163,000
Taxes: $1,733
Square Footage: 1,280
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 1.5
Lot Size: 34 x 130
Listing Agent: James Born, Newman Greenberg & Assoc., 784-3555
Offered at...
Southdale
Address: 67 Dayton Dr.
Asking Price: $279,900
Taxes: $4,093
Square Footage: 1,915
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 3
Lot Size: 50 x 105
Listing Agent: James Born, Newman Greenberg & Assoc, 784-3555
North Kildonan
Address: 671 McIvor Avenue
Asking Price: $419,900
Taxes: $4,728.32
Square Footage: 2,580
Bedroom: 3
Bathroom: 3.5
Lot Size: 109 X 199
Listing Agent: Arlene Johnson, RE/MAX Executives Realty, 987-9800
