As Ottawa’s housing market continues to break records, local broker Danny Dawson has hit a number of his own real estate milestones that are worth celebrating.
After having discovered his love of real estate and real estate investing at a fairly young age – purchasing his first home at the age of 20 – Dawson’s career has been on a steady growth trajectory.
Earlier this year, Dawson was named one of Royal LePage’s Top 35 Under 35, a national award recognizing the firm’s highest-performing young professionals in the industry. In a similar vein, Dawson also received a Red Diamond Award, which recognizes the top two per cent of Royal LePage realtors for the sales year.
While honoured by the recognition, Dawson says it’s not the accolades that drive him, but his passion for the industry that pushes him to think bigger.
“When I first started out, I went to the office every day at 7 a.m., committed to making calls and growing my business,” he says. “Slowly, it all fell into place, but there’s always room to grow.”
Today, Dawson works with an expanding team, committed to helping clients navigate the buying and selling process of residential and commercial properties – on both sides of the Ottawa River.
In 2021, Dawson acquired his Quebec real estate license, a move he says “was one the biggest jumps” in his career.
As a dual-licensed broker in Ontario and Quebec – a rarity in the real estate world – Dawson says he has a fresh perspective on the market that allows him to offer an unbiased opinion to clients.
“At the Dawson Team, we see no provincial border. The National Capital Region is just that, a region that people want to call home,” says Dawson. “Being an interprovincial Realtor licensed in both Quebec and Ontario, my team and I are able to service any client that comes our way and guide them through the challenges or fears they may have while relocating or deciding between provinces.”
209 Old Chelsea, Residential and Commercial property in the heart of Old Chelsea village with a double lot. Rare opportunity to have a business on Old Chelsea Road or develop a new building.
An eye to the future
Working in both provinces has also given Dawson a leg-up in the luxury sales market – an area he is eager to pursue.
185 Laurier, unit 1902. Gatineau’s most exclusive penthouse with wrap around balcony, 1,000sqft private terrace. Incredible views of the Ottawa River, Parliament buildings and the Gatineau Hills.
To further broaden his real estate portfolio, Dawson is partnering with a high-end custom home builder to develop multi-million-dollar estates on undeveloped lots, with construction slated to begin in 2022.
“It’s an interesting business proposition that we don’t see often and it’s really a win-win-win scenario for everyone involved,” says Dawson. “The landowner gets more by selling a lot with a home on it, the homebuilder gains an exclusive contract and my team offers that market expertise to help make the sales. It’s just about finding the right partners and connecting people together.”
Over the last seven years, Dawson has also become an expert on real estate investing and has proven results converting his own properties into multi-unit investments, using the BRRR (buy-renovate-rent-refinace) strategy to help him grow his personal portfolio – skills he also uses to help clients make informed BRRR decisions.
As Dawson continues to reach new levels of success in his career – whether through selling homes or his own real estate investment properties – he looks at every experience as an opportunity to hone his craft and learn lessons that help him provide top-tier service to his clients.
“Whether you’re buying, selling or investing, you need someone to represent your best interests, give you good advice and guide you through the process,” says Dawson. “I do my best to create that honest relationship with my clients and I would say that has been the biggest contributor to my overall success.”
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
