The Collingwood – Blue Mountain Real Estate Blog

So you want to buy a house in Collingwood with a basement apartment that you can rent out.  The income will help pay the mortgage and carry costs.  Easy plan, right?  Not so fast. Recently, I attended an excellent seminar put on by Collingwood planning officials that pointed out the considerations that buyers, renovators and [...]

Driven by the threat of higher interest rates down the road, first-time buyers are contributing to strong upward momentum in residential housing markets across the country, according to a report released in early April by RE/MAX. The RE/MAX First-Time Buyers Report,  highlighting trends and developments in nineteen major Canadian centres, found that low interest rates [...]

The Mountaincroft new home development in Collingwood is now into its third year and so, I thought I’d check in on the progress of this new home community. Mountaincroft is a venture between developer Grandview Homes and Builder, Brownco who are both currently involved in three projects that include Bear Creek Hollow in Barrie and Forest [...]

There are little renovations and then there are big ones.  This was a BIG one. This wonderful century home in Thornbury was sold last year to a family with vision and I am marvelously impressed by their skill and creativity!  Have a look at these before and after shots: Side Entry Before Side Entry After Front [...]

For many reasons such as lifestyle, demographics and affordability, condominiums are increasingly becoming the home of choice for many buyers today.  I know that in the last year, I too have shown and sold more condos than any other type of property so I thought a quick review of the statistics would be interesting. In [...]

Are you allowed to rent out your home or cottage to visitors on a short term basis in a residentially zoned area?  The answer is no.  Should you be allowed to?  That appears to be a matter of opinion. The issue is making the news here in the Georgian Triangle over two particular cases: one [...]

When people look at potential homes to buy, they often stand for some time trying to envision how their furniture may fit into the space.  After making a home purchase, I find that almost everyone begins the process of dreaming what their new-to-them home could look like. Today, there are all kinds of sites online [...]

Guest post by Dave Larock If you are a new immigrant to Canada – welcome! As a former world traveller, I know how daunting it can be to get settled in a new country, and if purchasing a new home is high on your list of priorities, today’s post should help familiarize you with what’s [...]

Here is a summary of programs designed to help buyers achieve their goal of homeownership. ONTARIO’S LAND TRANSFER TAX REFUND FOR FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS Land Transfer Tax (LTT) is applicable to all transfers of land in Ontario.  First-time homebuyers may be eligible for a refund of all or part of that tax under this program. For [...]

First, Happy New Year.  Hopefully 2011 will kind and gentle to you.  My year has started off with some lucky luck.  It would appear that my predictions for 2010 were pretty well bang on.  Yay! Here we are with a whole new year ahead and the best way to make sense of it is to look back.  [...]