My four minute present to you- Merry Christmas!

 I write because I  love communicating in words.Anthropology and all that goes with the human experience of us humans on earth is fascinating to me.Especially at Christmas and over the holidays to New Years. I reflect think, and wonder, what's going on with the other people on the planet during this time of year.

In North America especially Canada we have so much to be thankful for and to look forward to. I always consider  other people in this world regarding there status of health, happiness, homes, and economics. Are they OK?

I recently found my answer to those questions.The link http://www.flixxy.com/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes.htm says it in a nutshell. 

Pour yourself a festive drink, sit down and really listen and watch this video.

Trust me its the best spent four minute of your life. This is my Christmas present to you.

Merry Christmas!

Kim

When We Wish Upon A Star

This song was a hit when I was a kid.

Have you ever listened to the lyrics? To refresh your memory here they are:

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

Now you are saying to yourself, ok, this is out in left field where is the connection to Real Estate? Lets see where she goes with this and the connection.

Every person in North America has a dream, a secret longing, a wish when they grow up and that is to work hard and gather enough money together for a down payment for, wait for it... a HOME! Its the thing that says you've arrived, your're secure, right? Every economic engine, even oil is tied into the Real Estate industry. Our GDP counts on it. Not so in Switzerland by the way but that is another blog.

This dream, whether you wish upon a star, plus, plan and save for a home it will come true. It can and I am here to tell you people out there in blogosphere that you can't live at least in Canada inside an RRSP. If you have an RRSP great, but with our winters a home with a warm, safe roof over your head is necessary. I believe there are some folks that  are happy to rent, be perfectly happy and will even prosper financially without the status of owning a home. A home doesn't make the person, don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in that and understand the underlying reasons why some people prefer to rent, however a home, and owning a home is still the best investment on the planet, at least in Canada.

Trends go up and down. The trend is your friend so they say. Lots of opinions out there from chief economist to CEO's of corporations with many buzz words and double speak for us to listen to.In my opinion follow your common sense.

Here are my points to consider when Wishing Upon A Star to purchase a home:

-Save for a home that is within your means.Your mortgage should not be taking every bit of money you have so you can't go out once a month for a family treat or be able to keep your equity looking nice if something needs fixing. Think people first, money second. Saving the old fashion way of putting 10% of you pay every week away and budgeting for needs not wants still works regardless of the economic situation of the day. It takes discipline and a dash of patience mixed with faith.

-Purchase a home that gives you an ahaa feeling when you drive or walk up the street to the front door. If the neighbourhood gives you that feeling super but the feeling you get when you approach your house is the most important.
-Buy for your future plans depending where you are in life. For example I bought a three bedroom home so my daughters could have their own room and one for me.Now they are grown I turned one room into my office and the another became a guest bedroom.
-If you haven't already established a relationship with a lawyer, a banker, an insurance  broker, a mover before you start looking, I suggest you do because not only will they be on the look out for you but when you do find the right home. (this is the Fate is Kind part of the song), people are good and will come through for you when the time is right. This becomes Their Secret Longing of the song, because people who are partners with Realtor s in the Real Estate industry do want your business but more importantly they do want to see you happy. Its a normal human need to full fill that journey for their clients.
-Lastly, I believe that every person deserves a clean, safe, home to live in.. It Makes No Difference Who You Are. If you want to own a home, Realtor's like me can make it happen and navigate the other details. Just like the song says  No Request Is To Extreme if your heart desires a home, Dreams can come true.

Cheers,

Kim

Curb Appeal is one's interpretation

QUOTE
“It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.” Donald Trump

This quote by Donald Trump says it all for me. Since I draw as a hobby and have attended formal and informal art training being a REALTOR combines many of my skills and passions.

Curb Appeal is everything. Just the other day one of my clients fell in love with a property but... when the views looking out from the windows were compromised ( as I say, the optics were no picture postcards) and there was no hope of changing the views the property was off the list of a potential buy.

Now I realize the wording "from my standpoint" from Mr. Trump is open to interpretation by many in our industry.

Therefore I decided who could be a voice to poke fun of those interpretative qualities of a property that fall under"from my standpoint" because I don't know about you but I sure have had a few great and not so great curb appeals to talk about but I am not Mr. Donald Trump. I wanted to develop a creative solution to my dilemma so I utilized my artistic abilities and developed a fictitious cartoon character called Rhonda Realtor. The cartoon is called, wait for it...

Curb Appeal with Rhonda Realtor & Friends.

Rhonda and her wonderful interpretation of "from my point of view" can soon be viewed at RhondaRealtorsCurbappeal.blogspot.com. Syndication could be on the way but no hurry as far as Rhonda is concerned.

My long term objective, by creating the character Rhonda Realtor is that me/we will have a venue that can safely share "a point of view" regarding the various curb appeals in our industry and maybe the public too! Education can be fun through humour and visuals aids. I find laughter is the best medicine to bridge most of lifes issues. At least that philosophy has worked for me.

Got any fun stories to tell Rhonda, about your special Curb Appeal moment? Just let her know.Rhonda can turn it into a positive cartoon gag and make you laugh. I'll get Rhonda an email address once she learns the computer, she is too busy selling Real Estate and drawing. For now I am the contact.

Ok all you Realtor s and friends who like Real Estate or are in a related field take time to laugh it gives you that extra something to keep on keeping on.

Cheers

Kimmy

Kimmy.cookson@gmail.com
1 866 693 2259
www.cabinstocastles.ca

This needs to be said.

Five Reasons Why You Still Need a Real Estate Agent by Forbes.com Magazine

The proliferation of services that help homebuyers and sellers complete their own real estate transactions is relatively recent, and it may have you wondering whether using a real estate agent is becoming a relic of a bygone era. While doing the work yourself can save you the significant commission rates many real estate agents command, for many, flying solo may not be the way to go--and could end up being more costly than a realtor's commission in the long run. Buying or selling a home is a major financial (and emotional) undertaking. Find out why you shouldn't discard the notion of hiring an agent just yet.

1. Better Access/More Convenience

A real estate agent's full-time job is to act as a liaison between buyers and sellers. This means that he or she will have easy access to all other properties listed by other agents. Both the buyer's and seller's agent work full time as real estate agents and they know what needs to be done to get a deal together. For example, if you are looking to buy a home, a real estate agent will track down homes that meet your criteria, get in touch with sellers' agents and make appointments for you to view the homes. If you are buying on your own, you will have to play this telephone tag yourself. This may be especially difficult if you're shopping for homes that are for sale by owner.

Similarly, if you are looking to sell your home yourself, you will have to solicit calls from interested parties, answer questions and make appointments. Keep in mind that potential buyers are likely to move on if you tend to be busy or don't respond quickly enough. Alternatively, you may find yourself making an appointment and rushing home, only to find that no one shows up.

2. Negotiating Is Tricky Business

Many people don't like the idea of doing a real estate deal through an agent and feel that direct negotiation between buyers and sellers is more transparent and allows the parties to better look after their own best interests. This is probably true--assuming that both the buyer and seller in a given transaction are reasonable people who are able to get along. Unfortunately, this isn't always an easy relationship.

What if you, as a buyer, like a home but despise its wood-paneled walls, shag carpet and lurid orange kitchen? If you are working with an agent, you can express your contempt for the current owner's decorating skills and rant about how much it'll cost you to upgrade the home without insulting the owner. For all you know, the owner's late mother may have lovingly chosen the décor. Your real estate agent can convey your concerns to the sellers' agent. Acting as a messenger, the agent may be in a better position to negotiate a discount without ruffling the homeowner's feathers.

A real estate agent can also play the “bad guy” in a transaction, preventing the bad blood between a buyer and seller that can kill a deal. Keep in mind that a seller can reject a potential buyer's offer for any reason--including just because they hate his or her guts. An agent can help by speaking for you in tough transactions and smoothing things over to keep them from getting too personal. This can put you in a better position to get the house you want. The same is true for the seller, who can benefit from a hard-nosed real estate agent who will represent their interests without turning off potential buyers who want to niggle about the price.

3. Contracts Can Be Hard To Handle

If you decide to buy or sell a home, the offer to purchase contract is there to protect you and ensure that you are able to back out of the deal if certain conditions aren't met. For example, if you plan to buy a home with a mortgage but you fail to make financing one of the conditions of the sale--and you aren't approved for the mortgage--you can lose your deposit on the home and could even be sued by the seller for failing to fulfill your end of the contract.

An experienced real estate agent deals with the same contracts and conditions on a regular basis, and is familiar with which conditions should be used, when they can safely be removed and how to use the contract to protect you, whether you're buying or selling your home.

4. Real Estate Agents Can't Lie

Well, OK, actually they can. But because they are licensed professionals there are more repercussions if they do than for a private buyer or seller. If you are working with a licensed real estate agent under an agency agreement, (i.e., a conventional, full-service commission agreement in which the agent agrees to represent you), your agent will be bound by common law (in most states) to a fiduciary relationship. In other words, the agent is bound by license law to act in their clients' best interest (not his or her own).

In addition, most realtors rely on referrals and repeat business to build the kind of clientèle base they'll need to survive in the business. This means that doing what's best for their clients should be as important to them as any individual sale.

Finally, if you do find that your agent has gotten away with lying to you, you will have more avenues for recourse, such as through your agent's broker, professional association (such as the National Association Of Realtors) or possibly even in court if you can prove that your agent has failed to uphold his fiduciary duties.

When a buyer and seller work together directly, they can (and should) seek legal counsel, but because each is expected to act in his or her best interest, there isn't much you can do if you find out later that you've been duped about multiple offers or the home's condition. And having a lawyer on retainer any time you want to talk about potentially buying or selling a house could cost far more than an agent's commissions by the time the transaction is complete.

5. Not Everyone Can Save Money

Many people eschew using a real estate agent to save money, but keep in mind that it is unlikely that both the buyer and seller will reap the benefits of not having to pay commissions. For example, if you are selling your home on your own, you will price it based on the sale prices of other comparable properties in your area. Many of these properties will be sold with the help of an agent. This means that the seller gets the keep the percentage of the home's sale price that might otherwise be paid to the real estate agent.

However, buyers who are looking to purchase a home sold by owners may also believe they can save some money on the home by not having an agent involved. They might even expect it and make an offer accordingly. However, unless buyer and seller agree to split the savings, they can't both save the commission.

The Bottom Line

While there are certainly people who are qualified to sell their own homes, taking a quick look at the long list of frequently asked questions on most “for sale by owner” websites suggests the process isn't as simple as many people assume. And when you get into a difficult situation, it can really pay to have a professional on your side.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/25/why-you-need-real-estate-agent-personal-finance-commission.html?boxes=Homepagechannels

Feet on the Street still wins the day

I follow a few trade online sites which give inside information to people who are seriously in the online business.Everyone is in competition for the consumers sticky eyeballs on the internet, but guess what people, its not winning.

Recently on one of my feeds the results of a new survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Company, a reputable company which deals with lots of very large clients posted the latest results about internet usage and how people communicate to each other in their neighbourhoods.

Since Real Estate is all about location location location I wanted to share this with you.

By the way nothing is new under the sun as people are people are people and word of mouth still travels faster and is more sustainable in the world of Real Estate and the Real Estate market is local.

Here are the results which I don't find fascinating but something to keep in mind when looking for a house, you still must walk the property to obtain a real sense of the curb appeal of the neighbourhood.

46% of Americans talked face to face with neighbours in their community.
21% discussed community issues over the telephone - The telephone...imagine!
11% read a blog dealing with community issues: Community Blogs are particularly popular among residents or urban areas, as 17% of wired urbanites read local blogs.
9% exchanged emails with neighbours about community issues and 5% say they belong to a community email list.
4% communicated with neighbours via text messaging on cell phones.
4% joined social network site group connected to community issues
2% followed neighbours using Twitter.

I have been twittering back and forth (like the play on words) about what is really useful to people and what is not regarding the social scene of online in terms of the Real Estate industry. I haven't decided yet so here I am with you trying to figure it out and trying to create something useful for all of us. Something that is meaningful in our own back yards.

I wanted to create more then a blog but a community that offered insight and sharing of communication on a platform that integrated multimedia on one page. I am prepared to pay a monthly fee to obtain the server services and privacy to build this community of caring people who value their neighbourhoods.

I have even created a cartoon to poke fun of all of us. I call the Cartoon Curb Appeal with Rhonda Realtor.

Therefore I would like you to join my ning community at curbappeal.ning.com and share the best and the worst in your community regarding its look and feel. We can all learn and grow our communities to be a better place to live if we just start with our neighbourhood curb appeal. Whether you live in a cabin or a castle all homes are important to the look and feel of your neighbourhood.

There is a wonderful saying I have on my sketch/idea book. It reads
"An artist is a sketchbook with a hand attached to it". We could say the same about our neighbourhoods, they can be works or art but we are attached to it.

Love to hear from you.

Cheers
Kim

Reader's Digest names RE/MAX most trusted Real Estate Brand in Canada

Reader's Digest names RE/MAX 'Most Trusted Residential Real Estate Brand in Canada'

Mississauga, ON (May 3, 2010) -- Dedication, skill, and professionalism earned RE/MAX REALTORS the designation of Most Trusted Residential REALTOR in Canada by Reader’s Digest magazine. Reader’s Digest will unveil its “Most Trusted Brands” list in its May 2010 issue. The magazine commissioned independent third party Harris/Decima to conduct 1,500 online surveys among a random sample of its panel members from October 2 – 15, 2009.

“The results of the survey are proof positive that our sales associates are the best in the business,” says Michael Polzler, Executive Vice President, RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada. “We’ve built a solid reputation based on consistent results. RE/MAX associates sell one in every three homes in Canada and carry more professional designations than any other realtor in Canada. We’re specialists in all niches from residential, recreational, and commercial properties to luxury homes. Our focus has always been service excellence, which includes a serious emphasis on professional development and education. The status quo may work for some, but after almost 40 years in the business, we’re not content to rest on our laurels. “

Reader’s Digest looked at 28 different product categories -- ranging from cereal to residential real estate – and allowed consumers to select the brands that they trusted the most. RE/MAX joins leading brands such as RBC Royal Bank, TD Canada Trust, Air Canada, and Blackberry.

“Our commitment to the communities in which we live and work also runs deep,” says Polzler. “I think that’s something that has always set RE/MAX apart. We’ve been involved in charitable giving long before the terms ‘corporate philanthropy’ and ‘cause marketing’ were common. RE/MAX REALTORS participate in countless vital programs and causes each year that help the most vulnerable members of our society and strengthen the foundation of neigbhourhoods from coast to coast. Their enthusiasm, spirit and dedication to others never fails to inspire.”

Charitable giving is woven into the fabric of the RE/MAX organization. The company and its sales force has demonstrated a strong desire to give back, exceptionally active in both corporate and local charities. Close to $40 million has been raised in support of Children’s Miracle Network since 1992 – which funds research and development, outreach programs and upgrades to equipment and facilities at children’s hospitals and foundations across the country. The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation is also a cause close to the hearts of RE/MAX associates—one that RE/MAX continues to support through its popular Sold on a Cure Program and the annual Yard Sale for the Cure.

RE/MAX is Canada’s leading real estate organization with over 17,500 sales associates situated throughout its more than 680 independently-owned and operated offices across the country. The RE/MAX franchise network, now in its 37th year, is a global real estate system operating in 80 countries. Over 6,450 independently-owned offices engage over 92,000 member sales associates who lead the industry in professional designations, experience, and production, while providing real estate services in residential, commercial, referral, and asset management. For more information, visit: www.remax.ca.

Luxury Home Market is Up! Great news

This press release was taken directly from the head office of Re/max Canada. As a former Ontarian and have been living here for 20 years this coming Mother's day, I can honestly say, we do, not in a big way but sooner or later follow the trend.

The old saying goes, "the trend is your friend".

The Press Release:

Dramatic rebound characterizes Canada's luxury home segment in 2010

69 per cent of markets set records for best-ever first quarter sales

Mississauga, ON (April 26, 2010) - Luxury home sales soared in the first quarter of 2010 as affluent purchasers moved to take advantage of favourable market conditions across the country, according to a report released today by RE/MAX.

The RE/MAX Upper End 2010 Report, highlighting sales and trends in 13 major Canadian centres and five sub-markets, found that improved economic performance, increased personal wealth, immigration and foreign investment all contributed to a serious upswing in sales. Virtually all areas experienced double and triple-digit increases between January and March of this year over 2009 figures for the same period. Nine out of the 13 markets examined (69 per cent) shattered existing records - setting new all-time highs for first quarter activity in the upper end.

"Real estate continues to resonate with purchasers at every price point," says Michael Polzler, Executive Vice President, RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada. "With the top end of the market shifting into high gear, every segment of the residential real estate sector is now operating in tandem. Despite the upward momentum, there are still deals to be had - especially at the higher price points-a fact that is motivating buyers to act.

Downsizing to Right Sizing-The Right Renovations

Well the Canadian Real Estate Association stated in their press release today February 17th, 2010 that they are satisfied with the Bank of Canada announcement regarding the new banking rules for purchasing a home and obtaining a mortgage as an invest property that is not your primary residence.

Good, great, lets move on to the home owners who are downsizing and will have the cash to make a transaction or want to obtain the best price for their home. I coin the phrase my downsizers to right sizing but it really should be my Right Sizers who understand it is time to down size! To attract a buyer renovations are important to make your house show perfect, move in condition and to obtain that "ah ha" moment for any potential buyer walking through your front door.

According to the Appraisal Institute of Canada the following list of home renovations and the potential, not absolute but potential % gain of your costs into the project you will obtain back in your asking price of your home.

Top 4 payback potentials

Bathroom 75-100%
Kitchen 75-100%
Exterior Painting 50- 100%
Interior Painting 5-100%

Top 8 Average payback potentials

Furnace replacement 50 - 75%
Recreation room 50-75%
Flooring 5- -70%
Construction of a Garage 50-75%
Building a deck 25-75%
Central air conditioning 25 - 75%
Roof shingling replacement 25 - 75%

Lowest payback potentials

Landscaping 25-50%
Interlocking brick walkway 25-50%
Building a fence 25-50%
Installing a whirlpool tub 0-50%
Adding a swimming pool 0-25%

Zoomerang is a magazine dedicated to senior issues and appeals to Zoomers, a trendy word but if you are over 50 years of age and you are contemplating scaling down you are a Zoomer, therefore give me a call as I have the skills to assist you in making that downsize to right size move.

Chat later- Cabins2castles - Kim

Mortgage Mania - Yes or No?

It all boils down to one element in the deal, and that is money. Doesn't matter what part of the journey you're experiencing within the home purchasing or selling process the old saying goes "the man who makes the gold makes the rules" and that is your financial institution, or your lender. I take the time and ensure the people I show houses too have been pre - qualified and if they need help in the financial end, I navigate that too!

At the moment we are experiencing a rather fair to good market in Saint John and surrounding area with statistics to support the trend, which buy the way the trend is always your friend.

One of my fellow colleagues David Johnston from Johnston Mortgage Team is in the lending business. David's tag line is "I work for you not the lender" Everyone one needs a David in their corner when purchasing a residential or commercial property. David sent me an interesting article from his camp as to where the mortgage rates are speculated to go in terms of rate increase and % of dollars required as a down payment.

I am a bit of a knowledge junkie and have learned to discern to eat the meat and throw away the bones when reading economic reports from the experts.Sometimes the experts have conflicting opinions don't you agree? I add a dash of common sense when I need to translate it to the Saint John Real Estate Market. In my opinion based on history economic set -backs don't hit us as quickly in the Atlantic Provinces but they do eventually arrive. Traditionally as well our incomes are lower as well compared to other provinces so that effects our purchasing power.

Knowing the Government once the stimulus money has run out, the home improvement tax credits are now finished but the Government still has to create more liquidity to operate, to change the tide of past revenue losses.

Voila this could be there next big idea! Push the "ride the fencers" who are thinking of purchasing, selling or downsizing off the fence and tell them to purchase, sell, downsize now as the lending rate is going up and the required deposit is going up too. Good or bad once in motion we have to live with it.

Here is David's article. Look forward to your feedback...Kim

Johston Mortgage Team
johnston.d@mortgagecentre.com 849 8660 (Phylis, David's wife will answer the phone)

January 15, 2010
-Study-on-Rising-Mortgage-Rates Claims that Canadians are taking out risky variable-rate mortgages and borrowing more than they can afford “are not based on actual data” and “are misinformed.” That’s according to CAAMP, who issued this study of 40,000 mortgages from 2009: Revisiting The Canadian Mortgage Market…

Despite rising home prices, first-time mortgagors took out “far less” than they could afford last year, says CAAMP.

"The vast majority of Canadian mortgage borrowers are not taking on undue risks. They have factored rising interest rates in to their mortgage decisions," stated Jim Murphy, president and CEO of CAAMP.

CAAMP ran simulations to estimate what would happen if the Bank of Canada hiked rates 3% over two years (and fixed rates rose 1.25%).

It found that income gains should offset much or all of the increases in mortgage payments that most Canadian’s would experience.

"The bottom line from the simulations is that even though mortgage payments will probably rise for most borrowers, the increase in their incomes will more than offset the higher payments," said CAAMP chief economist Will Dunning. “All in all, the degree of risk from rising mortgage rates appears to be small and manageable,” he writes.

A key finding in the report was that 86% of Canadian home buyers took out fixed rates in 2009. Here’s a breakdown of the terms they selected:

* 5% chose 1- to 2-year terms
* 20% chose 3-year terms
* 5% chose 4-year terms
* 70% chose 5- to 10-year terms

Other notable findings from the study:

* 5%: Number of Canadian households who purchase a home each year.
* 50-60%: Number of those who are first-time home buyers.
* 0.03%: Percentage of first-time home buyers (compared to all home owners) that are “pushing the envelope” by getting mortgages they may not be able to afford.

CAAMP estimates these “at-risk” borrowers amount to 4,000 households out of 13,250,000 in Canada.
* 10%: Annual growth rate of mortgage debt in the last five years.

”This growth rate was far in excess of growth of incomes and therefore mortgage debt has become a growing burden for Canadian households,” CAAMP said.

CAAMP attributed this growth to rising home prices and increased home ownership. 70% of households now own homes, versus 63.6% in 1996.

* 5.425 million: Number of Canadian mortgage holders.
* 22.3%: Average GDS ratio of a home buyer in 2009

32% is the traditional GDS (gross debt service) maximum. This stat is a pleasant surprise. According to CAAMP’s findings, most Canadians appear to be under buying, not overbuying--as some critics charge.
* 32.8%: Average TDS (total debt service) ratio of a home buyer in 2009

Similar to GDS above, this is well below the standard. 40-42% is the typical TDS maximum.
* 0.44%: Current percentage of mortgage holders in arrears.

CAAMP says arrears averaged 0.50% in the 1990s. Mortgage arrears are highly correlated with Canada’s employment rate. Reduced hours/pay and separations/divorce are secondary factors. CAAMP says it “appear(s) most likely that the arrears rate is close to peaking.” Today’s
* Arrears around 0.42 %

Dunning closed the report by writing: “Virtually every Canadian who is in a position to buy a home and qualify for a mortgage is well-educated and capable of assessing what is in their best interests, of looking forward, and of anticipating threats to their financial well-being.”

Let’s keep it that way by advising homeowners to remain conservative.

_______________________________________________________

CAAMP Sidebar: More details on the study above:

* Data was collected from a CAAMP survey of its corporate members
* Sample size was 40,000 mortgages totaling $10 billion
* This represents about one-sixth of total mortgage activity for home purchases in Canada.
* The mortgages were all funded in 2009
* The data included purchases only. No renewals or refinances.
* The vast majority of mortgages in the data set are high-ratio and insured.

Knowledge is power when purchasing a home, call David as his tag line states "I work for you not the lender" put David to work, I am.


Chat later, Kim

Average price sets new record in 2009

SAINT JOHN -- January 25, 2010 -- The average price of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Saint John Real Estate Board rose to the highest annual level on record in 2009. Sales activity also posted a second consecutive year-over-year gain in December.
According to statistics provided by the Board, the average price for homes sold in December 2009 rose 14 per cent from year-ago levels to $178,037. This is the fourth consecutive double-digit price gain. By comparison, the average price for home sales in New Brunswick was up five per cent year-over-year to $148,559.
On an annual basis, the average price of all homes sold in Saint John was $171,027 in 2009. This is a new annual record, up eight per cent from 2008.
Residential sales numbered 97 units in December 2009, rising 20 per cent from year-ago levels. Provincial sales activity, by comparison, was up 15 per cent from a year earlier.
Home sales were up in the fourth quarter of 2009, but transactions in the first three quarters of the year were down from their respective periods in 2008. As a result, annual sales activity in Saint John declined eight per cent to 1,986 units in 2009. It was the third best year on record for home sales in Saint John, standing 12 per cent below the peak in 2007.
The total value of all home sales was $17.3 million in December 2009, rising 36 per cent from one year earlier. This is the highest dollar volume on record for the month of December. The dollar volume for all homes sold in 2009 was $339.7 million, down one per cent from 2008. The monthly dollar volume of residential sales in New Brunswick increased 21 per cent from the previous December.
Total sales in Saint John numbered 112 units in December, up six per cent year-over-year. The total value of these property sales was $19.5 million, an increase of 33 per cent from December 2008.
New listings on the Board’s MLS® System were up 14 per cent from one year earlier to 157 units in December. This is a record for the month. There were 1,030 active residential listings on the Board’s MLS® System at the end of December 2009. Although this is an increase of 16 per cent from one year ago, the pace of supply gains continues to slow as demand improves.
There were 10.6 months of inventory at the end of December, down slightly from December 2008 (11 months). The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
“Strong price gains continue to draw more sellers to the market,” said Peter Pappas, President of the Saint John Real Estate Board. “Activity improved steadily throughout 2009, and that momentum is likely to carry forward into the new year.”
The Saint John Real Estate Board is an association of about 340 REALTORS® that provides services to and sets standards for members. The Saint John Real Estate Board covers the southern part of New Brunswick to the U.S. border in St. Stephen, and includes the counties of St. John, Kings, Charlotte and portions of Queens County.

A Fresh Start that Fits

Its a new year for everyone, and everyone has the opportunity to make a fresh start to accomplish anything they desire. That's right anything. Change your mind and it will change your life if you want change says Wayne Dyer a international motivational speaker.
Here is the tricky part, YOU must make the choice and YOU must be motivated to make the decision to make the choices of change plus be authentic to your true self while in the process.

In the realm of home buying or home selling which is my arena, it isn't difficult to do.Really it isn't. Its all in the attitude and who you engage in helping you accomplish the dream of home ownership. If you are selling your home it is as equally as important to engage the right Real Estate Agent who is knowledgeable about the market. There are many professionals out there in our industry who really care, about your needs but the fit for YOU is what is important and being authentic and true to who best fits you is essential.

Selling or purchasing a home requires at least 26 - 30 people in other industries within the entire transaction from movers, to lawyers to painters to Home Inspectors they are all involved to move the experience along. The agent is the project coordinator of all these individuals in one way or another. Think of us, me as a consultant, the extended arm of you representing your best interest to make the dream come true.

So the next time you want to list your property or purchase a home interview the Realtor,and pay attention to how they fit into your philosophy regarding the experience of one of the most significant monetary assets in your life.Your castle,your home.

I look forward to being interviewed.

Gee Kim if you put it this way, everyone has a chance.