April Stats and Spring Update aka....RAIN!

April KW Stats-click here

Spring has been anything but sunny for most of us. April showers seems to have just brought May showers! The spring market got off to a bit of a slower start, largely due to the rain, Federal election, and yes, even William and Kate seemed to distract buyers and sellers.

Although the market has been a tad slower it's still plugging along and certainly I've been busy with market evaluations, listing, and buyers looking for their next property. L&D purchased their first home and looking forward to moving their company out of the city. C&R moved into their new home this month and are enjoying being together as a famiy again after a tranfer to our city. Uptown Waterloo has been anything BUT slow and with a carefully thought out strategy using pricing, timing, an open house and advertising I was able to sell my listing in Uptown Waterloo for over list price with multiple offers. Many a buyer are disappointed they missed out on that cutie of a house!


A couple of conversations this weekend (one out on the deck enjoying the sun we finally had!!!) made me aware of the need to put out a few reminders to everyone.
First, Grading. Proper grading is the number one thing you can do to your properties to avoid water problems. Each spring get some top soil and put it around the perimiter of your home to ensure you have a grade that will take water away from your foundation. Clean out your eaves and downspouts, making sure they are extended away from the foundation of your home. These things alone can help you avoid a wet basement. If the water stays close to your foundation it's only a matter of time before it finds a place to seep in. No foundation is without cracks and even the smallest of crack can become a problem if the water is heading in that direction. A dear friend said, "you should put that on your blog"! So, here it is! :)

The next thing I wanted to remind people is that if you're thinking of moving call me sooner rather than later! Don't worry about bothering me when you're not quite ready! All too often people wait, not realizing there are many things that I can help with that will make things easier later in the process. It may be that you need a market evaluatioin so you have an accurate idea of what your home may be worth. Sometimes I can help you make the right renovation choices months beforehand which may help you make the best choices for resale. And sometimes it's a matter of making sure all your ducks in order so you'll be ready. Let me help with those ducks. I order them all the time! It's my job. It's never to early or a waste of time to meet with me to discuss your future plans.

Thanks to A&T, D&B, and H&M for the great referrals this Spring! I certainly appreciate you trusing me to refer to your friends!

If you or someone you know have any real estate needs, please don't hesitate to contact me!
Thanks!
Krista

Renovations for the Future

Here's an article I recently wrote for the University Downs Neighbourhood Association Newsletter. Enjoy!

Renovations for the Future

As a Realtor© people often ask my advice on their renovation decisions. Recently a friend asked my advice on whether or not to renovate her main bathroom from a shower/tub combination to only a shower. The quick answer would be “NOOOOOOO” since most people would want a shower and a tub in their main bathroom. But this question is not as simple as it sounds.

How does one know what to consider when making future renovation choices? Should you use the lovely green ceramic tile you love, but others may not? Or should you keep everything boring neutrals?

Here are some renovation tips.

1) Keep big ticket items neutral. Items like carpets, countertops although fun to match with your own personal style really are better neutral. Not just for future buyers, but also for 5 years down the road when you don’t enjoy teal green quite as much as you used to. If you want to get that shot of colour to personalize your home use paint and accessories which are much easier and cheaper to change as time passes and styles change.

2) Consider future buyers. If you’re thinking of selling in the next few years be sure to take those future buyers into consideration. Neutrals may be boring to you, but not to the majority so stick with them if you think there’s a chance you’ll want to be appealing to buyers in the not so distant future.

3) Consider your own personal needs. If you’re making renovations in your “forever home” then make decisions in a way that makes you happy! The need to think of resale value diminishes. It’s hard to predict what buyers 30 years down the road will be looking for and realistically some of those renovations may be ready to be redone again in 30 years! For my friend, a beautiful tile and glass shower better fits the needs of her family. Since she’s living in her “forever home” I told her to go for it and not worry about resale value. Who knows, maybe 30 years down the road bath tubs will be passé!

3) Don’t let your renovation “to do” list get too long. Homes in the University Downs neighbourhood are not new anymore. Plug away at keeping things updated or before you know it you’ll have a home in need of major updates that may just become too daunting for your budget or your family handyperson.

4) Pick one room at a time for the biggest impact. Instead of doing little jobs in numerous rooms, pick one room and get it to a point where you can enjoy it. A few years back we did this to our living room. We made a budget and put most of the money into bamboo flooring, a cream shag carpet, custom bookshelves, and a new sofa. Some inexpensive Costco chairs, and some family artwork made with the kids, framed and hung on the wall finished the look. It quickly became our favourite room, feeling like it was the one room that was “finished”.

5) Don’t wait until just before the sign goes on the lawn! So many times I see my clients do many pesky little renovation jobs in order to sell their house. Things that bothered them the entire time they’ve lived in the home finally get done, only to be enjoyed by the new owners! Recently my husband and I decided that time was just not allowing us to finish off some of those pesky jobs in our own house. We called up a wonderful “jack-of-all-trades” I know, and put him to work. We’re now enjoying the trim finally put up the basement, the neutral countertop in the main bathroom (good-bye baby blue!), and the caulking redone around our patio door. Well worth the money spent!

If you’re thinking of doing home renovations and want some tips don’t hesitate to email me at krista@jonkerteam.com . I know wonderful tradespeople I can refer to you and help you avoid the risk of the yellow pages. Whether you’re thinking of selling 6 months or 60 years from now I’m happy to be of help to you

Babies, Renos, Decks and Swimming Pools

The title pretty much sums up the last few weeks for me.

I had the pleasure of catching up with a few clients recently. H&R moved into their new digs in December and now welcomed Baby H to their family. I very much enjoyed an afternoon snuggling with Baby H and catching up with his lovely mommy. One of the joys of this job for sure! :) I met Mom and Dad at an open house 4 years ago, helped them purchase their first home and then more recently helped them sell that one and purchase the next one which has plenty of room for Baby H and whichever siblings come down the road. :)

B&S moved into their new home in Jan (also 2nd time clients) and will be welcoming their new baby girl into their new home anytime now. I quite enjoyed the baby shower for S at another client's home. Thanks M for hosting! Can't wait to hear when little one arrives!

Last week I also got to catch up with clients W&K and Z&C. Cool experience to go back to a dated home, with the old owners and see how the new owners have spruced things up. Z&C have done a fantastic job refacing the kitchen cabinets, putting in new flooring, and renovating the bathroom to include a beautiful soaker tub. Great to catch up with you all!

Yesterday I finished up the last of my courses for this registration period. This month I celebrate 4 years as a Realtor (5 1/2 in the business). It's flown by! So cool to have previous clients returning and sending more and more referrals my way. Thank you!!!

The course I took yesterday highlighted some of the concerns around decks and swimming pools. Key things to note.....permits, permits, permits. Much easier to get before you start building that deck than afterwards. If you build a deck without a permit you can be fined so always better to check with the city before building. Swimming pools offer so much fun for family and friends, but be sure if you have one, to check out some of the various safety mechanisms for keeping little ones out.

This month I'll be continuing to work with clients P&P, L&D, C&H, K, and K&D on finding them the perfect home. If you have a home you're thinking of selling please let me know! It may just be the perfect match with one of my buyers!

It's never too early to have me come by to do an evaluation on your home. Better to know how sellable your property is and for what price before you start looking! Give me a call anytime!

Don't forget to search my name for my real estate page on Facebook. Click "LIKE" and be kept up to date on a variety of Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate news.
Thanks for reading!
Krista

March Stats from KW Association of Realtors

Here the latest stats from the Kitchener Waterloo Association of Realtors, previously known as the Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Board.


KW MARCH STATS

Looks like the market continutes to be strong and stable. Not as nutty as last year (ok, so NUTTY isn`t an official term!), so the number of sales is down, but the prices continue to increase in comparison to last year at the same time.

These numbers are indicators, but individual homes should be evaluated by a Realtor (ahem...preferrably me!) to give you a true sense of the value of your home.

If you`re thinking of selling or just curious about the value of your home, pop me an email!

Kitchener Green Housing Incentive Program

This morning I had the pleasure of listening to a great seminar put on by CREW (Community Renewable Energy Waterloo) and the City of Kitchener discussing the benefits of the KGHIP (Kitchener Green Housing Incentive Program).

It's an incentive program designed to encourage builders and consumers to build high performance green homes.

Builders may be interested as a great program they can offer consumers as a way to get paid for making greener choices. Consumers are recognizing the importance of being greener and many will chose greener choices over other choices, even when it costs more.

Basically the City of Kitchener will pay you to build your new home as a LEED home. LEED is a third party company that will assess the home you've built and give you ratings based on it's eco-friendliness. The City of Kitchener then gives you cash incentives based on those ratings.

Note that an Energy Star home is not included in the incentive program since after 2012 every home built will HAVE to be a minimum of an Energy Star Home. That's good news for our environment!

If you're thinking of building a new home in Kitchener, it's worth asking about the KGHIP.

Essentially for approximately a coffee a day you can get PAID to build an Energystar home. If you were to give that coffee a day back to the builder you could build a LEED home for free. If you were willing to give up a coffee or two a day that would be about the cost of building a LEED Platinum home.

Great job, Kitchener! Our environment thanks you for putting this as a priority! If you're building a new home in Kitchener, why WOULDN'T you take advantage of this program?

Any questions at all pop me an email! krista@jonkerteam.com

Here are a few websites you may find interesting:

LEED
CREW
CITY OF KITCHENER KGHIP

Reference from happy buyers

Buyers sent me this glowing reference.....I love working with great people!

"When we decided to relocate from Ottawa to Kitchener-Waterloo, we asked our selling agent to refer us to a high-calibre agent in the KW area. After doing some research, she introduced us to Krista. Even though we were still preparing our home in Ottawa for market, Krista made a point of communicating frequently with us, and met with my husband to understand what type of home we were looking for. Krista set us up with an MLS alert and was very responsive (and patient!) as we changed our minds over and over about our requirements. When we travelled to KW on a house-buying trip, Krista had all the bases covered for us, right down to ensuring our kids were entertained while we were out viewing homes. Krista sourced a wide range of properties for us to view and, as we were unfamiliar with the area, provided us with candid advice on various neighbourhoods, locations, schools and amenities. Once we found the right property for us, Krista worked quickly and under difficult circumstances to ensure that our offer was accepted. She helped us organize a home inspection and kept on top of all the details. We are now waiting for our closing date to move in, and Krista is continuing to offer support to help make our move a successful one. Working with Krista was a very pleasant and positive experience. She is always friendly, receptive, responsive and ready to help. We highly recommend her to anyone relocating to the KW area." C&R, Stittsville, ON

January and February Stats

Here is the market update for the first part of 2011. Decreased number of sales, but prices staying pretty steady. Last February was significantly higher than normal, this February more "normal".
http://www.kwreb.on.ca/january-home-sales-return-to-normal-levels-in-kitchener-waterloo/
http://www.kwreb.on.ca/Stats/February_2011_Media_Release.pdf

One thing the stats don't always show are the overall climate. This last month there were quite a few multiple offer situations in KW. There seems to be more buyers out there than listings indicating a slight seller's market. If that continues, that can sometimes drive prices up a bit more. Sometimes the spring listings will catch up and it will even out a bit.

This month I've been keeping busy with market evaluations for clients looking to sell in the near or not so near future. Some looking to downsize, and some looking to upsize. I was also able to help C&R secure a new home for their family. After a few attempts we were able to find them an underpriced home on a beautiful greenspace lot and we were even able to avoid multiple offers! Worth the wait!

The sun is shining today and melting the snow. Gives me opportunity to remind you to take a walk around your property and be sure the melting snow is heading in a direction away from your house. Noone wants to discover the cracks in their foundation the hard way, with water in the basement!

Enjoy the sun!