Richard Potter: July 2012 Archives

July 24, 2012 - The average sale price for residential properties in Kingston and the surrounding area has risen by 16 per cent between January 1, 2008 and January 1, 2012, according to the first report on residential sale price trends published by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

The average sale price for residential properties in Ontario has risen by 17 per cent during the same time.

NOTE: The blogging of this article should in NO WAY indicate that I agree with anything or anyone at MPAC. I personally think their assessments are inaccurate, and they are incompetent. But that's a blog post for another day. I suggest you Google fight MPAC Assessment and see what comes up.

The full report is here:

http://www.mpac.on.ca/media_centre/news_releases_kingston.asp

It has been eleven years since Ontario's Condominium Act, 1998 came into force. In that time, the condominium market has changed dramatically in both size and complexity. The Ontario government recognizes that a comprehensive review is necessary to modernize the Act so it reflects the current and future needs of owners, residents and other stakeholders in the condominium community.

On June 8, 2012, the government announced that the Ministry of Consumer Services will launch a review of the Act through a public consultation to identify a comprehensive set of issues and long-term solutions.

The consultation involves working in a new way, through an innovative public engagement approach, with people from the condominium community.

The goals of the review are to:

• engage and work directly with all condominium stakeholders, including condominium owners and residents
• build on findings and advice from a broad range of individuals and organizations that have been studying the issues in the condominium sector
• find long-term solutions that will work for everyone in the years to come

More information can be found here:

http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/condo_review.aspx

Councillors decided last night, in less than seven minutes, to move ahead with a public meeting to discuss the opening of a privatized casino in Kingston.

This is how the process will unfold in the weeks ahead:

• the public meeting will be held in Memorial Hall on Aug. 8;

• the information from the meeting will confirm whether or not Kingstonians support a casino within its city limits; and

• if they do, the Kingston Economic Development Corporation will receive enquiries from private gaming facility operators.

Kingston Whig Standard article here:

http://www.thewhig.com/2012/07/19/politics-green-light-on-casino-talks

The city council casino debate ended abruptly in the early hours of Wednesday morning with the mayor and one city councillor yelling allegations at one another.

Tuesday's meeting will be resumed Thursday night in the city council chambers at 7 p.m. and start off with the casino issue.

Looks like this is going to an interesting debate... Read all the gory details in this Kingston Whig Standard article:

http://www.thewhig.com/2012/07/18/casino-debate-boils-over

This question will be answered by the process of a motion coming before city council on Tuesday, July 17/2012. If that motion passes, city staff will be directed to hold a public meeting to gauge public response and acquire public input on the matter.

Kingston Whig Standard article here:

http://www.thewhig.com/2012/07/15/just-gauging-casino-interest-mayor

RE/MAX has launched a one-stop source for most residential and commercial real estate, no matter where you live or are looking to buy, it provides access to hundreds of thousands of listings in countries around the world:

Not really Kingston related, but relevant to our Market. Prior to 2008, Firstline Mortgages was a very popular and competitive choice for clients. It was the Mortgage Broker brand of CIBC, and offered lower rates than CIBC, which was always kind of interesting. Of course, a few other major banks did the same thing. See the Globe & Mail link below:

This article has come very good advice concerning "Non-Resident" sellers of property in Canada and the tax implications that could delay or void a sale. The article is referring to offshore condo investors, which is not so much a large issue here in Kingston. We do run into this in the Recreation/Cottage property market, and mostly with our American friends.