New York Dodged a Bullet…Financially

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Though it may be bitter-sweet, New Yorkers will fortunately not be subject to an even further ‘worst-case-scenario’ in terms of dealing with the aftermath of the notorious Frankenstorm, better known as Hurricane Sandy. According to a recent CNN article insurance claims for hurricane Sandy actually have an up-side…sort of.

Let’s face it, nobody likes paying insurance deductibles, but in this case the deductibles due by New York residents could be far worse, whether you can believe that or not. Typically, hurricane insurance deductibles are weighted as an amount variant between 1% and 5% of your entire property’s value. So, if you had a residence worth $300,000, and you had to pay a %5 deductible, there goes $15,000 of your hard-earned dollars just to get the insurance company involved. However, since Hurricane Sandy did not sustain 74mph winds long enough to be considered a Class 1 hurricane, the above framework doesn’t apply, and instead regular deductibles (generally between $500-$1,000) are all that will be required of New Yorkers.

The situation isn’t great, but (despite the obvious damages and destruction) the outcome, in this sense, could be even worse.

Our thoughts and hearts go out to the Hurricane Sandy victims.

 

image courtesy of david_shankbone

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Home Renovation – Real Estate’s Booster Shot

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We’ve said it before, so we won’t drone on about it , but we have to start somewhere. Housing has been in an obviously crippled state as of late, and in the spirit of exploring methods to instill stability, let us examine a theory that may in fact aid market recovery: home renovations.

The housing slump has forced many of those who were planning on selling their homes to stay put as a result of prices taking a nosedive. However, this may be a blessing in disguise. Why? Because if homeowners decided to use this time to their advantage and put more money into their homes, there may in fact be a chance that markets may begin to raise in average price. Reason being, is that these homeowners, instead of sitting on the time that’s been given to them before they can sell their home, should invest some time and effort into renovating and remodeling their current homes before finding a new one to increase the market value of their home.

If done on a large scale, markets could raise in appraised value thanks to some due diligence. If all the house values in a particular area are rising due to come renovation projects, then they will collaboratively raise the appraised value of all their properties…Just something to chew on.

 

For more real estate environmental updates stay tuned to the blog and check us out on Twitter @enviromint

image courtesy of eye of einstein

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Weather Insurance – The Untapped Resource

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Considering that the past year has been the warmest year on record in many portions of the world as a result of climate change, property investors and insurance brokers alike should be using this key indicator to promote what may be an overlooked area of consideration – weather and natural disaster insurance.

Homeowners in the UK are already receiving forewarning regarding these types of insurance due to homeowners making weather and storm-related claims that are being rejected as a result of their lacking maintenance of their properties, as opposed to suffering extensive storm damage.

Climate change wears a cape of natural disaster – in other words, things are only going to get worse from here until climate stability is established worldwide. Examples of speculated natural disasters caused by climate change are the “two tropical storms, Alberto and Beryl, formed before the start of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, the first such occurrence since 1908.”  Another indicator of this phenomenon is the “12 natural disasters in the United States that each caused more than 1 billion in damage, ranging from wildfires in the Southwest to a blizzard in the Northeast.” Yes, that is correct, 12 natural disasters in only one year.

So now that all the key indicators are in place, we’re gonna go out on a limb and say that over the next few yours as our climate situation gets progressively worse, do yourselves a favour and look into weather and natural disaster insurance. At this point these events are unpredictable and unpreventable, and nobody likes being unprepared, so this is our fair warning that these insurance policies, though they may not seem to be of immediate importance, they very well could be.

Share your thoughts with us in the comments below or on Twitter @enviromint.

 

image courtesy of http://www.arteyfotografia.com.ar/18613/fotos/419503/

 

 

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Thanks Again – RLPNSC

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Last weekend we were lucky to take part in an amazing weekend conference for the Royal LePage National Sales Conference. Upon our return – in typical fashion – we were bombarded with extra work, and only just got a moment to catch our breath.

That being said, we’d love to extend a thanks to those of you we were lucky enough to meet and talk with. We had a wonderful time and hope to have the opportunity to return next year, so hopefully see you next year!

For those of you who still have questions for ourselves or our associates EstateVue (with whom we shared a booth) please reach the following contacts via e-mail.

EnviroMint – Eric Joseph – eric.joseph@enviromint.co

EstateVue – Cory Alexander – cory@estatevue.com

Follow us on Twitter for more real estate and environmental news.

 

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The Market’s Flip-Flops

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It seems the market analysis of the current North American real estate situation isn’t in agreement with anyone in particular. One day we’re hearing that everything’s doing better, but with some digging you can scratch beneath the hopefuls and figure out what’s really going on. The issue being that it appears nobody wants to accept what’s probably coming next.

As we discussed in a previous article – Are We There Yet? The Long Road To Recovery – the Canadian market is (according to some) going to experience another dip wherein housing value losses up for 7.8% may occur. Well, as it turns out, these predictions are being proven more and more accurate. For example, the Globe an Mail just published an article declaring a softening of the Canadian market – an indicator that the worst is yet to come. Part of the speculated reasoning behind the slowing growth of the Canadian market is the tightening of mortgage restrictions over the past year (another issue we talked about in our article Buyers Beware) in combination with low employment rates.

Another contributing factor we’re speculating could be the same as that of economist Dean Baker’s speculation for the economy and the real estate market’s suffrage in the US – over-production of housing during the bubble. Now, this reasoning seems feasible to apply to the Canadian market as well, as the lack of growth in the market and slumping sales could indicate and over-stock of properties which are in turn doing nothing positive for the market. It may have been productive to commence the construction of new properties now, or even after the next market tip to encourage more affordable housing (if these places were constructed with economic and real estate rehabilitation in mind) but at the moment it’s not looking like any of these places will be filled up quickly.

It seems as though the market’s at a current stale-mate with itself. On the one hand we have the sellers who are holding on to their properties for dear life, and on the other hand we have buyers who want to do nothing but pillage the market. It seems like to move forward the sellers need to cut their losses immediately before the market dumps again, or we’re never going to recover.

let us know your thoughts and ideas on how we can stimulate the market into a state of recovery in the comments below, or on Twitter.

 

image courtesy of Steve A Johnson

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Are We There Yet? The Long Road to Recovery

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Unfortunately, no, we aren’t even close.

BC, and quite possibly the rest of Canada, are presumably about to experience what economists are calling a double-dip recession, meaning that housing prices are going to drop once again, and this time in a very aggressive way. Despite being thought to have stabilized, the Canadian housing market is in fact quite vulnerable at the moment, and though prices have been “bottoming out” it appears the barrel goes even deeper than most expected. How much could values potentially drop? Vancouver Sun reports that they could drop as much as another 7.8% lower than the already frighteningly low prices we see today.

Now, this isn’t to say that every house in BC will depreciate this much, however we can already see the market slowing down quite a bit, which is a pretty good indicator of this theory coming true. For example, home sales in Vancouver are a whopping 30% down from this time last year, and August’s sales were 21.4% down from July…unsettling would be an understatement at this point.

Experts are divided on whether or not the housing market will actually take the 7.8% dive, but one thing is for certain – the seller’s market isn’t looking hot. If you were thinking about listing in the near future, it might not be a bad idea to sit on your property for a little longer and try to do some value-added home improvement projects to pass the time. We aren’t there yet…but hopefully we will be soon.

For more real estate and environmental news be sure to follow us on Twitter and to check the blog regularly.

image courtesy of breahn

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We’re Going To RLPNSC!

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And what a mouthful of an acronym that is. The Royal LePage National Sales Conference (RLPNSC) is taking place in Vancouver, BC in just under a month and we can’t wait to see you there. We’ll be accompanied by our associates EstateVue to bring you a fully-rounded and detailed real estate solution covering all of your bases that’s guaranteed to leave you beaming with excitement.

To mention a few of our services and what to expect to learn about from us, here’s a list…because who doesn’t like a nice list, right?!

    • Accounting Solutions
    • Document Management Software
    • Business Management Software
    • Transaction Management Software
    • Real Estate Back Office Solutions
    • Paperless Office Solutions
    • Marketing
    • Technology
    • IDX
    • Premium websites
    • Mobile Friendly Websites
    • iPhone and Android Apps
    • SEO
    • Print and Digital Advertising
    • Graphic Design
    • Social Media
    • Content Creation

Pay us a visit at #RLPNSC to learn more about what you’re missing out on – we promise it’ll be worth it. Just look for the orange and green! We’ll be there all weekend from the 20th to the 22nd, so take your time and cruise over when you get a chance. Photos of our t-shirts and other materials are coming soon, so stay tuned to Twitter and the Blog for future updates.

 

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Boomerang Benefits

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The boomerang generation – a title freely used to describe most people who were born in the late 80’s and early 90’s, who are now in their 20’s, have gone to college or university, then moved straight back home. One of the main causes of this ‘boomerang generation’ phenomenon are the lack of available jobs in combination with the lack of affordable housing to these young people, who generally go broke from paying for school to get a degree that didn’t even earn them a job after-all…it’s a vicious cycle to say the least.

How do we break this cycle that’s causing such a distinct divide in the availability of social opportunities for our children? By sticking out our hands and helping our kids off the ground. It’s not really their fault they can’t afford a house or a car or their education…our generation sort of made it that way. We’re the ones with all the jobs and houses, so it’s no wonder there isn’t any room to share with our kids, unless we initiate their launch into the spectrum of social and financial responsibility.

Most of these boomerang victims are working enough to afford to pay rent, so instead of letting them continue to walk down the never-ending path of dissipating rent money, why not fork out for a down-payment for their first home? It sounds crazy, and it sounds like a lot of money, we get that, but when you look objectively at what it is – an investment – then there’s no need to panic. Position your family into a more financially stable and achievable situation by securely investing your money (especially with the market barely starting to recover from being bottomed-out), while pushing your kid into the real world by putting their name on the deed to a house and initiating the responsibility of mortgage payments to benefit their credit rating and social standing. After all, if you left it up to them to come up with a down-payment, let’s face it, they’re just going to hang around and wait for their inheritance, and nobody likes the sound of that.

A way to take this step even further would be to make the same investment if your “kid” is going to school abroad. Regardless of where they’re going, this same secure investment can be made to benefit both of your finances. They’ll be guaranteed a stable place to live throughout the course of their schooling while you make a secure investment.  The reason this is a secure window of time for the property’s value to raise to achieve profit on the re-sale once they return home from school with a pristine degree in their hands, is that their schooling can take anywhere from 4 to 10 years (or more) to complete, depending on the degree. Considering the current market prices, don’t think too much about it and just make the investment! The market’s about as close to bottoming out as it’s going to get, so the time’s never been better to take advantage of the next few years of growth and cash in, and to give your kid a fighting chance at entering ‘the real world’.

For more real estate and environmental news, be sure to check out the rest of our Blog and follow us on Twitter.

 

image courtesy of jollyjump

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Home Improvement Breakdown

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Every once in a while we run into some houses that have been personalized, adjusted, tailored, or whatever else you’d like to call it, just a little bit too much to the owner’s liking. In fact, most of these “little changes” become a pretty “big deal” when you’re trying to sell your property. This is why we’re here today to inform those of you who weren’t already aware that, when making adjustments to your home, you seriously need to draw the line at some point. This is a perfect example of what happens when you don’t draw the line:

OR

 

We get it if you want to paint the bathroom, put in a new oven, maybe even put a swimming pool in the back yard, and that’s all totally fine. However, when you start painting the Bat signal (yes, the photo is real) on the bottom of your new swimming pool to entertain your kid, you should really stop and ask yourself two things:

1) What on Earth am I spending this money for?

2) Who’s ever going to buy this?

These are two fail-safe tips to hopefully prevent you from making the same mistakes these Bat-crazy homeowners have made. At the end of the day, your home improvement projects need to be reasonable and tasteful to appeal to the general public, while also hopefully improving the re-sale value of your property instead of degrading it. If you desperately need to customize your house to the theme of your favourite comic book hero, or whatever else, then decorate it or hang a picture up instead of mutilating your home. This isn’t like getting a tattoo where you’re the only person who will ever have it and that’s that. It’s a property. You’re eventually going to sell it, and when you do, you need to make sure you haven’t destroyed it to the point where nobody’s going to buy it…otherwise you might was well put your money in a blender and feed it to your cat. **No cats were harmed during the writing of this blog post

Maybe it’s all the Batman frenzy that’s been happening lately that’s led these homes to be Bat-themed…but this has to stop. Do what’s best for your property, give your head a shake, and remind yourself you’re a grown up (as much as that may suck to admit). If all fails, just think of those sweet $$’s you’re missing out on by impeding the resale value of your property all for some novelty “improvements”. We promise you’ll thank us later…now please start painting over your Iron Man mural.

For more real estate and environmental news, check out the rest of our Blog or follow us on Twitter.
images coutresy of Zillow and UberReview

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The Problem With Change

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People have a problem with change. No need to gasp, this isn’t exactly a new concept – and frankly, to some extent, fearing change isn’t a big deal. If the change you don’t like is relative to your obsessive-compulsive resembling schedule, daily routine, or something personal that doesn’t affect those around you, then we can probably let that slide. The real problem is people who fear change and exercise their fear in situations where they impede progress or conflict with those around them. Look at climate change for example. We talk about this quite often – people are in denial about the concept of climate change because they fear the changes they may need to make to either a) prevent the issue from growing, or b) the changes they’ll need to make once their lives have been affected by climate change as a result of global negligence of the issue and its preventative measures.

But today we aren’t actually directly talking about climate change. We’re talking about how the fear of change directly impedes progress – the fear of change derived from stubbornness, “old-school” mentalities, and people being straight-up stuck in their ways. Getting to the point of all this, here’s the opening portion of a C|Net article we read that sparked the creation of this post:

“Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and his wife were trying to find a nice San Francisco neighborhood for their young family to call home. A year and half ago, they found what they were looking for, a 6,300-square-foot lot occupied by an early 1900s home that they now want to demolish to make way for a new house.”

Now, this article goes on to explain the intentions of Williams’ need for demolishing this early 1900’s home – to re-build the home as a zero net energy home.  His plans for the home include solar panels, a green roof, and sun-friendly glass. If you ask us, the demolition of this beautiful, yet very old home, is  not that big of a deal considering that its replacement would have less impact on the environment. This is where we come full-circle to the issue of change. Before Williams even submitted his plans for this newly purchased home, over 240 complaint were filed by surrounding neighbours.

This is exactly what we’re talking about where people, in the same instance as global warming, want things to stay the same for personal benefits rather than supporting the greater good of society or the environment. The sad part is how ill-informed the people submitting these complaints are, especially when looking at exemplary quotes like “TEAR DOWN is NEEDLESS, WASTEFUL, POLLUTION, DISRESPECTFUL,” which was written on a hand-written flyer and passed around by some long time residents of the neighbourhood to every house around; hence the overflow of complaints. It seems really unfair that based on personal opinion, stubbornness, and inconvenience, that one of the most progressively and sustainable houses the area is yet to encounter, is receiving so much negative attention and having unnecessary “road blocks” created for the project.

The moral of this story is that fear of change is detrimental to the social and environmental progression that we need to save our planet from a climate disaster. If people want to tear down archaic houses and place a new, socially and economically friendly property on its foundation, why not support it? We need to change our ways and progressively work toward a greener future, and yes, that will involve replacing a lot of buildings for ones that aren’t going to be detrimental to the environment. It’s just the way it has to be…

Tell us what you think about demolishing for the purpose of responsible re-construction, or any other feedback on Twitter.

image credit:  CNET

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