This market summary includes data for Collingwood, Blue Mountains, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Grey Highlands and Meaford.

Single Family Residential
New Listings: 53 (52, 52, 70)
Average List Price: $423,175
Range of List Prices: $99,900 – $1,895,000
Number of Sales: 17 (9, 19, 13)
Range of Sale Prices: $156,000 – $1,375,000

Condominiums
New Listings: 15 (12, 21, 17)
Average List Price: $267,119
Range of List Prices: $139,990 – $469,000
Number of Sales: 5 (2, 3, 10)
Range of Sale Prices: $116,000 – $1,055,000

Vacant Land
New Listings: 9 (14, 26, 31)
Number of Sales: 4 (1, 3, 4)
Range of sale prices: $250,000

Price Changes (up or down): 26

Yummy! Here I am eating a Gummy Bear Apple.

I love chocolate.  I mean, I LOVE chocolate.  Doesn’t everyone?  If you are a bit of a connoisseur, you know that not all chocolates are equal. 

There’s the grocery store aisle chocolate that’s really just strange candy stuff wrapped in silly packages.  It’s exactly like the little mini bars you find at Halloween.  In my view, this stuff will do in a pinch when you are in a crisis of chocolate depravation or something like that.  Then there is the fancier stuff you find in the drug stores.  Not bad but it sometimes gets boring after the 4th piece or so.

Then there are things like imported chocolates, gourmet truffles or other such mouth-watering, handmade pieces of heaven.  Now we’re talking.  This is the level where I lose all sense of reality.  Yes, I have actually dreamt of drowning in a giant copper kettle filled with melted Belgian chocolate.

One of the best places for chocoholic connoisseurs to satisfy their needs is at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory located in the Village at Blue.  This tiny shop was one of the first to locate in the Village back in 2002 and ten years later, it is still one of the most successful chocolate shops in the country!

Rocky Mountain is part of a national franchise with over 50 locations.  You’ve seen them in malls; you know, the places with the crazy huge caramel apples covered in marshmallows or other goodies?  (I do believe the nutritional value of the apple cancels out any caloric issues you may have so don’t worry.  They are surely almost calorie free, right?)

In 2005, the local operation was purchased by Claus Fleischmann who had relocated his family to this area looking for the active and healthy lifestyle found in our community.  I recently asked him why his chocolate is so darn good and he said, “ 80% of the products we sell are made fresh daily right on site.  They are unique and over-the-top creations you can’t find anywhere else and we use only the highest quality ingredients without cutting any corners.”  He’s right.  Clusters, bombs, truffles, chocolate covered blueberries, sponge toffee, fudge, candy apples …. just try to resist.  It can’t be done.

If you are looking for a special Valentines gift for that special someone or perhaps a unique house warming or hostess gift or, simply a treat for yourself, it’s well worth a visit to the store.  The shop is located in the centre of the Village beside the Firehall Pizza Company and is open Sunday to Thursday from 10 am to 7 pm; until 9 pm on Friday and Saturday evenings.

In a continuation of the momentum that started in September last year, January proved to be another strong month for our local real estate market with sales up significantly compared to a year ago.

The Georgian Triangle area includes the communities of Clearview, Collingwood, Blue Mountain, Wasaga Beach, Grey Highlands, Meaford and surrounding areas such as Tiny, Springwater and Mulmur Townships to an extent.

Here are the highlights for our January real estate market:

NEW LISTINGS:  509 properties were listed for sale compared to 468 last year; a 4% increase.. There are currently 1829 active listings for sale on the Georgian Triangle MLS® system

JANUARY SALES:
-    There were 104 sales in January 2012 compared to 81 in 2011; an increase of 37%
-    The 104 sales break down as follows:

87 residential units (23 were condos)
2 farms
13 vacant land sales
2 commercial

-    The most active RESIDENTIAL price ranges were as follows:

$150,000 – $249,999 (31 sales)
$250,000 – $349,999 (21 sales)
$350,000 – 499,999 (17 sales
There were 8 sales over $500,000 including 4 sales over $1 million.

BREAKDOWN OF THE SIX KEY AREAS  (Figures in brackets are from January 2011.)

NOTE:  These statistics are compiled using data from the MLS® system of the Georgian Triangle Association of REALTORS®

This quarter’s Mortgage Market Update is a good news/bad news story.

I’m an optimist at heart so let’s start with the good news. Barring a global and systemic financial meltdown, our mortgage rates will probably stay at their current rock-bottom levels for an extended period of anywhere from one to five years.

The bad news is that these ultra-low rates will be the by-product of a massive global deleveraging process, which will be as necessary as it will be painful to the world’s most indebted economies. While Canada will not be at the epicentre of this debt purge and while we are somewhat uniquely positioned to endure the coming downturn (more on that later), we will not be immune from the negative effects that deleveraging will have on global economic growth.

Read more… 

David Larock is an independent full-time mortgage planner and industry insider. Visit his blog  for many more interesting articles and some great mortgage advice.

Planners Update 2011

Planners Part 3 – Town of Collingwood – Trevor Houghton – Senior Planner

Trevor started his presentation by going over the various communication tools that the Planning Department is taking advantage of: their website, Facebook – where you can see applications, public notices, meetings, etc.) ; Developments map and subdivisions map. He noted that they have undertaken a population growth study, a directive from the province, in 2011 to determine what lands are needed to achieve 33,400 people and 13,500 jobs by the year 2031. Collingwood is 1 of 5 urban nodes in Simcoe County, and must achieve 40% intensification target or 50 residents/jobs per hectare.

DEVELOPMENTS

Balmoral Village – Harbour St. at Highway 26, currently going through approval process.
Total of 290 units: Commercial space, a rec-centre, 20 singles, 24 semi-detached, 36 townhomes, 210 apartment units, 120 suite retirement home and a 96 bed long-term care facility.

Duke of Connaught – 125 Napier Street
An addition will be added to the rear of the building to make a fourplex plus 2 units in the original building. 2 lots to be severed to the north and 2 lots to be severed to the south for Single Family Residences

Admiral Collingwood – Corner Hume and Hurontario Streets
OP and zoning amendments are Town of Collingwood initiated (not developer-initiated). Assaff has applied to the town for amendments, Strandholdt has not. Differences since the mediated settlement: height, density, and omission of Section 37 bonusing. Cannot bring forward development application unless Heritage Plan is amended.

Shopper’s Drugmart – 18,000 sq.ft. building on First Street opening first week of January 2012

Esso Gas Station – First at Cedar Streets, with new corner store, coffee shop, drive-through, car wash

Wyldewood – Cranberry Trail East and Highway 26 W. – Now under construction 

 
 Related Posts:

Part 1:  Meaford
Part 2: Town of Blue Mountains

Single Family Residential
New Listings: 52 (52, 70, 45)
Average List Price: $477,652
Range of List Prices: $89,900 – $1,950,000
Number of Sales: 9 (19, 13, 9)
Range of Sale Prices: $145,000 – $850,000

Condominiums
New Listings: 12 (21, 17, 32)
Average List Price: $273,104
Range of List Prices: $104,000 – $669,000
Number of Sales: 2 (3, 10, 3)
Range of Sale Prices: $175,000 – $220,000

Vacant Land
New Listings: 14 (26, 31, 15)
Number of Sales: 1 (3, 4, 1)
Range of sale prices: $426,000

Price Changes (up or down): 38

Notables this week:
*1 vacant land listing sold above it’s list price

A status certificate is like a disclosure statement.  It reveals important information that any condo buyer would want to know such as details about the condominium corporation’s financial status, reserve fund studies, whether or not condo fee payments are up to-date, any pending lawsuits or legal claims against the corporation or, any pending or contemplated special assessments or rule changes.

When buying a resale condominium, your offer should always include a condition upon you receiving and reviewing the Status Certificate and its attachments so you can ensure that you are satisfied that the condo is suitable for you with no surprises planned. The common practice in this area is that the buyer, often through their REALTOR®, orders and pays for the status certificate (more on that in a moment).  The Condominium Corporation, usually through their property manager, then has a maximum of 10 days to issue the documents. Most buyers ask that the package be delivered directly to their lawyer for review and comment before conditions are removed.

The Condominium Act in Ontario clearly states that there is a maximum fee of $100.00 INCLUDING taxes that can be charged so, this is what you should be paying. CAUTION:  I recently came across a situation here in Collingwood where the Property Management company attempted to charge my client $115.00.  When challenged on the legality of that, they did back down and agreed to only charge the legal fee of $100.00.  (Yes, I’m still pretty angry about their initial attempts!)

Related Posts

What Is a Condominium

Toronto Star:  Neighbours Suing Neighbours:  Potentially Precedent Setting Lawsuit Regarding Wind Turbines 
Now this is going to be interesting to watch unfold.  I say three cheers for John Wiggins suing WPD.  Not so sure about suing the neighbours though.  

The Enterprise Bulletin:  Rally Planned To Support Admiral Development 
So let me get this straight.  A (likely large) group of citizens are going to rally to essentially send a message that says to the Town council, “we support you in spending hundreds of thousands  of our tax dollars to break and bend rules for a private business interest.   Hooray!”  How odd.

The Blue Mountains Courier Herald:  Telfer Comes Back With New Ideas for Thornbury Village 
This one has been pretty controversial as citizens debate how the village should grow.  

The Meaford Express:  Meaford Proposes Heritage District Now 
Yay Meaford.  Wish you’d thought of this BEFORE the Harbour Moose got demolished.

Single Family Residential
New Listings: 52 (70, 45, 12)
Average List Price: $420,596
Range of List Prices: $90,000 – $2,495,000
Number of Sales: 19 (13, 9, 13)
Range of Sale Prices: $113,000 – $1,010,000

Condominiums
New Listings: 21 (17, 32, 5)
Average List Price: $293,648
Range of List Prices: $119,500 – $1,195,000
Number of Sales: 3 (10, 3, 3)
Range of Sale Prices: $122,500 – $410,000

Vacant Land
New Listings: 26 (31, 15, 1)
Number of Sales: 3 (4, 1, 1)
Range of sale prices: $50,000 – $285,000

Price Changes (up or down): 17

Notables this week:
*1 single family residential listing sold at it’s list price