Property assessment freeze

After a biting report from Ombundsman Andre Marin, Ontario government announced a two-year freeze on the property tax assessment. Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) has until 2009 to overhaul its system of evaluating properties.

Mr. Marin found the present MPAC system "aloof, mysterious and clouded in secrecy". It has been obvious to property owners for years now that the present system is not only unfair, but also unpredictable, inaccurate, and not backed up by solid market data.

Yes, Toronto is a very large city, and it cannot be compared to a small place like Victoria, BC. I have witnessed, however, an approach to property tax assessment that is being used for a long time in Victoria. Every property is visited there, once a year, by a trained appraiser, who looks at the improvements and notes any changes, and on a base of this visit a market value is established.

Whether Victoria uses a computer program to arrive at property values, or relies on the appraisers' opinion, backed by a current sale prices in the immediate neighbourhood - the way Realtors estimate correct listing and selling prices for properties, I don't know.

Yesterday's announcement may aim to appease Ontario taxpayers and remove the property tax issue from the 2007 election, but whatever the real reason, any improvement to this far from perfect system will be certainly welcome.

Façade improvement program in Toronto

Owners of businesses in Roncesvalles Village have still a chance to receive funding to improve the appearance of their properties. Roncesvalles Village has been selected to be a part of Toronto's Façade Improvement Program.

Improvements to the storefronts that are eligible for funding include brick cleaning, restoration, doors, signage, wheelchair accessibility, windows, lighting and masonry. The grants range from $2,500 to $12,000, and cover half of the cost of eligible improvement, with the other half being borne by the property owner.

The deadline for applications is July 31, 2006. For more information or to obtain an application form contact Michael Saunders at 416.392.1005

Busy June in Toronto real estate

Real estate market in Toronto doesn't show signs of slowing down. An average of 300 homes per day changed hands in the first half of this month. There is a good supply of properties available for sale, and with the mortgage rates still very low the demand is steady.

In the Kingsway 28 homes are available for sale, with an average price of $878,139, ranging from $474,500 to $2,150,000. Five properties had their asking price reduced, and one is sold conditionally.

In Bloor West Village 33 available homes have an average price of $514,282 (from $289,000 to $1,549,000). Ten of these listings are reduced. Five homes are conditionally sold.

In Sunnylea 11 properties average $649,882 in asking price, ranging from $529,000 to $799,500. Three of the listings had their price reduced.

In Swansea 26 homes are listed at an average of $965,757 ($449,900 to $2,695,000). One listing has been extended, eight reduced, one sold conditionally.

In Roncesvalles Village and High Park south of Bloor 30 homes are listed at an average asking price of $615,803, ranging from $314,999 to $1,197,000. One deal fell through, four listings have been reduced, and two homes are conditionally sold.

In prime Riverdale 31 listings average $558,510 in asking price ($329,000 to $1,100,000). Seven are reduced and three sold conditionally.

In prime Beaches 36 properties are available for sale at an average asking price of $767,820, ranging from $329,900 to $2,500,000. Six had their price reduced, and one has been sold conditionally.

In Rosedale 23 properties range in price from $779,000 to $4,395,000, with an average asking price of $2,393,217. Two listings have been extended and eight had their asking price reduced.

In Leaside 30 homes are listed at an average of $785,937 asking, ranging from $359,000 to $1,295,000. Four of these listings had their price reduced, one property is sold conditionally.

The average price for a home in the Toronto Area at mid-month was $358,648, up four per cent from the end of June 2005. The median stood at $303,000, also up four per cent from the $292,000 seen a year ago. Average time on the market for each sale remained very low at 32 days.

Six weeks of Buyer Registry Service

Today TREB's new Buyer Registry Service is six weeks old. An excellent idea and extremely useful service, it allows Realtors to register their buyers under Buyer Agency contract into a system similar to the MLS system for the properties.

The advantages are obvious for the buyers and for the sellers. Realtors taking a listing can immediately search for agents with registered buyers looking for the type of property they are about to market. That gives them an idea of the number of potential buyers seeking this type of property, and allows them to adjust the marketing accordingly, and contact Realtors who come up in the reverse search, even before the listing appears on the system.

On the other hand, Realtors with registered buyers may be informed ahead of time that the property matching their buyers' requirements is becoming available.

Of course this is just a beginning, I hope. The system is, at present, very simple. In an effort not to compromise anyone's privacy, and, perhaps, to make it easy and quick to implement, very little information finds its way into the database. The only criteria that can be entered at present in the reverse search are the MLS districts, property class ("residential freehold" or "condo & other"), property type, and price. The system does not accept price range, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, parking, and other criteria that are so important to the prospective buyers.

The code is available, since all these criteria are used in the Stratus MLS system. I sure hope the BRS will be gradually enhanced, as the time passes and it proves its worth.

Another possible enhancement would allow to e-mail agents with prospective buyers. Every Realtor belonging to Toronto Real Estate Board has an e-mail address. By making it possible to send an e-mail straight from the result list it would spare time and inconvenience of trying to contact the other party by phone. At this moment the system returns only a Realtor list, which can be printed out but contains no hypertext.

I hope that in the near future we will see the following enhancements to the BRS:

• more criteria allowed to be entered into the database
• possibility to e-mail Realtors from the system

While waiting for the enhancements, we should all use the system, because the more Realtors use it, the richer and more valuable tool it becomes to all.

Roncesvalles real estate market conditions

Only seven homes were reported sold in Roncesvalles Village so far this month: two attached, one semi-detached and one detached. The average selling price was $499,857, ranging from $348,500 for a small vinyl-sided detached home to $630,000 for a 2-storey detached brick residence with a double garage and private drive. The average listing to selling price ratio was 101.9%. That ratio ranged from 98 to 109%. The properties took, on average, 12 days to sell, with a minimum of 6, and maximum of 26 days.

The number of reported sales is considerably smaller than what we have seen in April. Although there are still three more days left, it is unlikely that the final results will come close to last month's numbers.

In April fourteen homes were sold in the area, three attached, three semi-detached, seven detached and one store with apartments on Roncesvalles. The average selling price was $536,621, ranging from $315,500 for a small semi being sold as estate sale to $820,000 for a beautifully restored and renovated Victorian residence. The average listing to selling price ratio was 109%, ranging from 98% for a detached three-unit home to 137% for the above-mentioned semi, which was considerably underpriced for the location.

Sixteen homes are available for sale in Roncesvalles Village. Two of them are sold conditionally, and one was conditionally sold but the sale did not firm up. The listing prices range from $314,999 for a small detached home on one of the less popular streets to $685,000 for a seven-unit home in the lower Village.

Termites in the spring

Spring is termite-breeding season. Although these pests spend majority of their lifes underground, at this time of year they grow wings, swarm, and mate, establishing new colonies. You will know the swarming has occured if you find thousands of half-inch long wings on the basement or patio floor. The creatures fly out from an existing colony, land, their wings fall off, and, after finding a mate, they dig a new cell in the ground and start a new colony.

A natural homeowner's reaction would be one of panic. When such evidence of termites' presence is discovered inside the house or near its foundation, that may signal a problem. Termites, however, damage wood very slowly, so there is time to interview termite control companies, get estimates, and only then make a decision on the company and treatment that should be used.

There are choices of treatments to rid the house of termites. In 'barrier' treatment, chemicals are injected into the ground around the perimeter, to prevent termites from getting into the house. Another treatment uses poisons which are not noticed by termites. When the insects walk over the chemical, it gets on their bodies, and is spread within the colony by grooming. In some cases a bait stations are placed in the soil around the house. These stations contain pieces of wood. The stations are checked monthly, and if termite activity is found, the bait is replaced with poison. Again, the poison is acting slowly, and termites share it with the rest of the colony. Whole colony is usually destroyed within a couple of months.

It is advisable to employ a company that will provide follow-up and guarantees more treatments if the original treatment fails to rid the house of pests. One of the best known termite-control companies in Toronto is Aetna. Their phone number is 416-469-4111.

Real estate and grow houses

For a number of years now the real estate industry has been aware of a problem with "grow houses". Hard to spot from outside, a marihuana-growing operation can cause significant damage to the house.

If such house were cleaned up, repaired where damage was clearly visible, and freshened with a coat of paint, it could be sold to an unsuspecting buyer. The damage to the structure could, however, render such house suitable only for complete tear-down.

Growing of illegal drugs involves heat and very high humidity. In such conditions rot and mould develop. Under freshly painted surface the process continues, and such house is not only unsafe, but also unhealthy.

Recent initiative by Councillor Mike Del Grande, reported in The Globe and Mail on May 6, which will be debated at the City Council in the nearest future, would make a history of a house's criminal past registered on title. A title search, which is performed in every real estate transaction, would then reveal such criminal past.

Although under Ontario law known defects must be disclosed to the potential buyers, not every owner would disclose such fact. A typical home inspection may also fail to discover a grow-op which has been cosmetically renovated. Registering such history on the property title would provide more security for prospective buyers.