After looking at the basics of selling in the first two posts on marketing luxury homes, it's time to consider some specific actions. We know that the single most important tool today is the internet. When a property is listed in the Multiple Listing Service, it automatically appears on the public REALTOR.ca site which is one of the most heavily visited websites in Canada. Listings will also usually appear on the Brokerage website and agents personal website if they have one. In most cases, all of these three places will have the same information but, it's just not enough for a luxury home. One of the very best tools I have used this year is to build a website specifically for the home. It allows me to really tell the story and all of the wonderful things a potential buyer should know. ... 10/27/2008

If you are thinking of looking at property for sale in Collingwood, then you know how important location can be.  Living close to a park or near the waterfront will add a big premium to the price tag but for some, it may be well worth it. One of the nicest parks in Collingwood surely must be Sunset Point located on the waterfront. In addition to a rocky beach, the park features beautiful trails, lots of parking, a canteen, washrooms, large expanses of grassland, picnic tables and terrific views over Georgian Bay.  There is also a marvelous playground called the EnviroPark.  It's a miniature Collingwood including play equipment depicting a water treatment plant, water tower, general store, town hall, industry, agriculture land and harbour. The Parks goal is to educate how to use water wi... 10/14/2008

the market the market the market people seem to really be "in the know" right now as to where the market is ... if they say that real estate is always a good investment is a safe place for your money or anything like that ... they're right!! Things change that is the only constant and right now there are more listings than ever for a number of reasons. - rates - oil - stock market - american crash The bottom line for me - keep on moving forward - our appraisers are not over valueing nor are our banks and lending institutions over lending.  Confidence in the future of real estate is what I promote in my business - how about you are you buying or selling?  Even if you are not my best advise is that you too adopt a positive future outlook for OUR real estate market!!! jjk 09/24/2008

It may not be a subjective or thorough study however, Relocate- Canada has named Collingwood, Ontario as one of Canada's Top 20 places to live.   It's the second time of late that we've been recognized in this fashion so certainly someone is out there spreading our little secret! Here's what they had to say about our fair town: "Located on the Nottawasaga Bay, at the southern shore of the beautiful Georgian Bay, and at the base of the Blue Mountain, Collingwood, Ontario is known as an all year destination.  Collingwood is easily reached by Highways 24 and 26 and is only a ninety minute drive from Toronto. There are many events throughout the year.  Many festivals, including one of the world's largest Elvis festivals, bring visitors to Collingwood in search of a good time.  Hiking, golfi... 09/23/2008

Recently, our family has had a very direct experience with our local medical system and I know that many people considering a move into the area often ask about the local conditions for health care. The area has a wide range of services that includes expanding and new medical centres, labs, a new family health network, walk-in clinics, specialists and a full range of natural health practioners such as chiropractors, acupuncturists, naturopaths and more. The South Georgian Bay area is serviced by a small 30 bed hospital in Meaford and by the larger 72 bed, Collingwood General and Marine Hospital; the latter spot where we've sort of camped out of late. A few weeks ago, without any warning signs whatsoever, my mother went into congestive heart failure. My mom suffered a serious stroke almo... 09/04/2008

The Collingwood area has been noted for it's community spirit on more than one occasion.  I recall when we hosted the Special Olympics World Winter Games in 1997, Eunice Kennedy Shriver said that she had never before witnessed a small community such as ours bring forth so many volunteers; so many that some had to be turned away.  Whether it is volunteering for an organization, raising funds for the hospital, hosting special events such as Titz n Glitz or working with service clubs in town, the citizens of Collingwood have got spirit! Evidence of that remarkable quality is very evident at the moment while the townsfolk band together to support local musician, Drew Wright, in his bid to become the next Canadian Idol.  It is impossible to go anywhere in town today and not see this communit... 07/13/2008

Someone sent me an article today from a new real estate magazine directed at home buyers and investors.  They have written a feature article entitled "10 Best Places To Invest In Canada" and, rounding out the top ten is none other than Collingwood. I notice that Collingwood is the only town on the list (the rest are cities) and, it's the only one listed that is not home (yet) to a university. According to the magazine, they formed their list based on how the market is performing, potential return on investment, current infrastructure and future development plans.  Most of the article quotes a local Broker who is the president of our real estate board.  To be fair, as a friend pointed out to me today, it is therefore a single source article aside from the statistics they've gathered. Non... 07/09/2008

Currently, the County of Simcoe is looking for public input on its proposed growth strategy.  The idea behind it is to have a "Made In Simcoe" plan to comply with the Province's Places To Grow legislation.  Basically, it looks at how much growth we should have, where it should be located and what we need to do to accommodate that growth in a sustainable way.  As you can imagine, that is a mammoth undertaking.  What this process does is make us focus on growth issues in our own unique area here in South Georgian Bay.  Did you know that there are over 6200 residential units proposed or approved for development in Collingwood alone?  In addition, there are several other industrial, commercial and other types of development planned.According to the last census, Collingwood had about 8100 ho... 05/08/2008

A quick check on Google reveals that, simply put, a cyclotron is a particle accelerator that changes directions and speed and then ultimately, collisions may create entirely different secondary particles.  What does this have to do with real estate you ask?  Well nothing really except that we've had a large number of artists of all kinds move into the South Georgian Bay area in recent years and that trend is continuing.  For that reason, I try to keep my eyes and ears open to what's new or interesting in our arts community.So, about the cyclotron.  The always interesting and creative, Harry Posner of the Zencha Tea Bar will be hosting an event called Cyclotron II on Tuesday, May 13th at the Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts Centre located at 163 Hurontario Street next to the Gayety ... 05/04/2008

For a long time, we really didn't have very many attractive housing options for retirement living in the area.  Sure, we have a plethora of condominium units but most were designed for vacation lifestyles rather than full-time living in a community geared to the needs of retirees.  All of that has changed in recent years and fabulous options now exist.A couple of weeks ago, Chris and I went over and took a tour of Raglan Village which is an adult community in- town Collingwood that opened earlier this year.  It offers three types of housing choices including rental townhomes, condominium apartments and, a retirement home offering different levels of assistance.The property is set-up as a Village with all of these housing styles in a contained area.  All residents of the Village automati... 05/02/2008

The school with the deepest roots in the Collingwood community would surely have to be Admiral Collingwood Elementary School.  Most of the "locals" I have met over the last couple of decades attended that very school and everyone has a story to tell.The first school sat at the corner of Hume and Hurontario Street and was originally built in the 1920's as the Collingwood Collegiate Institute (CCI) High School.  In 1958, a new school was built for CCI farther south down Hurontario Street at which point the original school became home to Collingwood's Senior Public School for Grade 7 and 8 students.  In the early 1980's, the school changed again into a full elementary school serving Kindergarten to Grade 8.  In the late 1990's and early 2000's, discussions were held about closing the schoo... 04/28/2008

I don't get to eat out that often but when I do, I want to have a great experience, great food and great service.  I LOVE food (just look at my picture and all those chins), wine and good company too so having a restaurant like the First Street Bistro in town is pure heaven to me.After spending over two decades in Alberta, owners Andi and Nancy Furrer decided they wanted to relocate back to Ontario primarily as family was in this part of the country.  That's when we met and from the first real estate search phone calls and emails, we became fast friends which continues to this day.  When I asked Nancy why they chose Collingwood over every other town in Ontario she said, "Collingwood's location beside the Escarpment, on Georgian Bay allowed us to continue to enjoy our outdoor pursuits, w... 04/16/2008

Do you remember riding the escalator in the middle of Woolworth's in Collingwood?  Today in its place, you'll find the Admiral Building which is home to a flagship LCBO along with other shops and services.  In the 18 plus years that I've been practicing real estate, just about everything has changed.Back then, we typed offers using carbon paper for copies and white-out to make corrections.  Our daily MLS® data came from paper spewed out from a little ticker-type box.  We'd copy, cut and paste listings and pop them in the mail to be received a week or so later by our out-of-area clients.  Actually, we didn't really have Buyer clients in those days.  Our job was to almost always represent Sellers since Buyer Agency was unheard of.  Offers were usually presented in person as we drove hours... 04/03/2008

04/01/2008

I've just spent the last hour or so scratching my head over economic theories.  The rules I was taught says that when supply exceeds demand, prices go down and when demand exceeds supply, prices go up.  Nope.  Not so.  Not true.  Not in our area anyway.The first quarter of 2008 is already complete (where in the heck did that time go?) and the stats are in.  Here are some highlights from the residential market data taken from our Georgian Triangle (Ontario) Real Estate Board Multiple Listings System (MLS®) data:ListingsThe number of residential listings in the Georgian Triangle areas as a whole is up 32% from last month with 252 new listings registered.  This is down 12% from March 2007.SalesThe number of residential sales in March was up 15% over the previous month with 98 properties so... 04/01/2008

South Georgian Bay is home to many condominium communities and some of the more established ones are located on the western edge of Collingwood.  While there are literally thousands of new ones planned or already underway, some of the old projects are still tried and true offering buyers great value for their dollar.   One such development is Rupert's Landing which was built by Rupert Bronsdon between 1986 and 1989.  It's situated on 18 acres of waterfront with a total of 207 units:  156 town home styled units and 51 apartment units in "the tower."  The town homes are one and two level summer and ski condo designs although in recent years, more and more people have been moving into these units as full-time, permanent residents. One of the things I find interesting about Rupert's is that... 03/29/2008

 In Part 1, we looked at the general considerations you might want to think about before deciding if you are ready to build your own home.  Here, we'll look at some of the land and site preparation considerations and costs. First you need to find a suitable piece of vacant land which might be in-town or may be in the country.  Once you have that general idea and have selected a potential location, there are, as a minimum, many questions you need to find answers for such as:  What is the zoning on the property and what are the zoning provisions?  These are things like what uses are permitted, what are the required set back allowances, maximum or minimum frontages, buildings, etc.  This is very important!Are building permits readily available?Is the property under the jurisdiction of othe... 03/26/2008

Last Monday, Garth Turner's new book, Greater Fool:  The Troubled Future of Real Estate, came out in bookstores across Canada.  It got him some pretty good media coverage which is not a bad thing for a politician potentially facing an election this year.  Way to go Garth!This former business editor and infomercial guy has a penchant for making predictions but so far, he's almost always been wrong.  Like in 1987 when he predicted a real estate recession was at hand.  Interestingly, in an article in last weeks Toronto Star, it says,"... try to find a respected Canadian economist who buys into Turner's pessimism.  People at the University of Toronto's economics department, the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and University of British Columbia's Centre for Urban... 03/22/2008

Some days I feel like the Georgian Triangle is the most expensive area in the province and on other days, not so much.  It varies depending on whom I'm dealing with that day and what it is that I'm viewing, appraising, listing or looking for.  Is there a way to really know how real estate in the Collingwood and Blue Mountain areas compare to other places?Last week, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released their "Housing Now" report   which provided a picture of the residential housing market in Ontario.  As a bit of statistics junky, I've always found this particular report to be of value to me in my role as both a REALTOR® and a Market Value Appraiser (MVA). When looking at our real estate board MLS® statistics for the local Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board, I get use... 02/18/2008

There is a magical place in Collingwood and it's one of the towns best kept secrets.It's called the Magic of Children Art Gallery and as far as we know, it is the only child centered art gallery in Ontario.  Founded by a local artist, the Magic of Children started with shows over 14 years ago.   I can remember when my own children had their artwork displayed in a "Magic" show in the library over a decade ago.  Seeing their art on public display encourages the creativity in children and promotes self esteem.  Can you imagine how a young person might feel to see their very own works framed and hung in a gallery?Last year, a local business family, the Saunders, donated second floor space above their retail store to the Magic of Children organization so they could establish an art gallery. ... 02/14/2008