Real eState
Ottawa real estate in the age of COVID-19: Bidding wars still, but a reckoning is near – TheChronicleHerald.ca
By rights, Ottawa’s real estate industry should be flat on its back. It’s a sector that relies heavily on buyers with secure jobs, direct personal contact and confidence in the future.
Yet, despite all the pernicious effects of social distancing, including lost jobs, shrinking wages and disappearing revenues in core parts of the economy, the past week has been anything but quiet.
“In the last seven days, we’ve seen 576 new listings, 119 of them in the past 24 hours,” says Bill Meyer, owner of HomeTeamOttawa, a real estate firm that markets services under the Remax Hallmark Realty banner. “We are still in this period of pent up demand.”
Indeed, the COVID-19 virus smacked into Ottawa’s real estate industry just as it was scaling rarely seen peaks. Residential resale prices had soared 20 per cent year over year in January and February, the highest such gains in nearly four decades. Residential properties last month sold for a record average $564,000, while condos fetched nearly $350,000.
Even so, momentum will carry the sector only so far. A reckoning is coming and there’s a whiff of desperation in the air.
“We aren’t doing open houses anymore,” Meyer says, “but this market is strong because some people still have to sell. They’re changing jobs or they’ve already bought a house and need to sell to pay for it.”
It could be a much different picture once all these urgent sales clear the market. “This could all come to a screeching halt,” Meyers observes. “I can’t imagine people listing their homes in this (COVID-19) environment unless they have to.”
Certainly working conditions have changed. The firm’s 15 agents and staff are working out of their homes. Meyers goes to the office for a couple of hours each morning and evening, when he is the only one there, and catches up with colleagues by phone or email.
Like many other real estate firms, Meyer’s company has stringent protocols in place. Agents still arrange showings, but there can be no overlap of potential buyers. Hand sanitizers or wipes must be available, and all inside doors must be kept open so no one has to touch surfaces.
Meyer on Tuesday arranged an estate sale in which all papers were signed electronically.
It’s a similar scene at Paul Rushforth Real Estate, an agency with 13 realtors. “We’ve closed our offices, but our front desk is still taking queries from home,” Rushforth says. “We’re not doing open houses, and showings (of houses) are just one person at a time.”
Rushforth says he has been surprised by the briskness of sales activity this past week, but can see underlying weakness. As with Meyer, many of his company’s new listings are from people who absolutely need the cash after buying another house earlier and fully expecting to pay for it by selling their existing home into a hot market.
So far prices are holding up, but Rushforth notes some telling patterns. “We’re still seeing bidding wars for properties,” he says, “including more than half our ten most recent deals.” But he notes that a property that might have attracted 10 bids early in March now gets just two or three. This, in turn, means sellers are not getting as much over their initial asking price. “This week we listed a property for $699,000 and it sold for $708,000,” Rushforth explains, “Two weeks ago, it would have got $770,000.”
John King, the broker manager for Engel & Völkers Ottawa Central, says he also notices the start of a shift. On Thursday evening, he fielded six offers for a property at 480 Brennan Ave., in the Hampton Park district. It sold almost immediately for $747,000, more than $100,000 over the original listing price.
On Friday, though, he was somewhat surprised to discover there were still no requests for showings for two new listings in the highly popular district of Westboro. “It’s day by day now,” King says.
For the moment, Engel & Völkers is keeping its Ottawa offices open with a skeleton staff. “There’s just one employee per floor,” King says, adding he is also making greater use of video by doing tours of his listings through Facebook. If people like what they see virtually, they can sign up for a showing in person, “one group at a time.”
The difference between what was and what will be in Ottawa’s real estate market promises to be stark.
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Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
Real eState
Former HGTV star from Los Gatos sentenced in $10M real estate fraud case – CBS San Francisco
LOS GATOS – A Los Gatos man who starred in a real estate reality show was sentenced to jail and ordered to pay back nearly $10 million to his victims after being convicted of real estate fraud, prosecutors said Tuesday.
According to Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office, 58-year-old Charles “Todd” Hill received a four-year sentence. Hill starred in the HGTV show “Flip It to Win It“, which featured teams buying dilapidated homes and fixing them, before selling them for a profit.
The show aired in 2014.
Prosecutors said Hill was convicted in Sep. 2023 after admitting to grand theft with aggravated white-collar enhancements for committing real estate and financial fraud against 11 victims. Hill was indicted in 2019 following an investigation by the DA’s office.
“Some see the huge amount of money in Silicon Valley real estate as a business opportunity,” Rosen said in a statement. “Others, unfortunately, see it as a criminal opportunity – and we will hold those people strictly accountable.”
According to the DA’s office, Hill engaged in “multiple fraud schemes”, with some scams dating back before the HGTV show.
Prosecutors said in one instance, he diverted construction money for his personal use. In another, Hill created a Ponzi scheme by taking money intended to buy homes from an investor and spending it on a lavish lifestyle instead. He hid the theft by creating false balance sheets and used fraudulent information to obtain loans, according to prosecutors.
In a third case, prosecutors said an investor who provided $250,000 to remodel a home toured the property, only finding it to be a “burnt down shell” with no work performed.
Hill had used the money on a rented apartment in San Francisco along with spending on hotels, vacations and luxury cars, prosecutors said.
In addition to jail time, Hill was ordered to pay back $9,402,678.43 in restitution and serve 10 years probation. Hill has been remanded into custody, the DA’s office announced.
Real eState
Unlocking success in real estate with Glenn Zdrill – paNOW
Since Zdrill is well versed in all aspects of the real estate industry, you’ll have answers to questions before you even think to ask them – like, “How does mortgage loan insurance work?” or “How much will I need for closing costs?”
“Closing costs typically range from 1.5 to four per cent of the home’s purchase price and include things like legal and administrative fees, your home inspection, appraisal fees and more. So, you need to budget for this. Its my job to make sure you’re asking all of the right questions and I’m giving you the information you need to make informed decisions.”
As a licensed realtor with RE/MAX P.A. Realty, Zdrill has the option to show any property on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database. He prides himself on understanding the market and current trends including property prices and the community.
“Prince Albert continues to have a lot of things happening with the construction of the new hospital, swimming pool and rinks. When I got into real estate over a year ago, I believed Prince Albert was a community on the verge of a boom and we’re starting to see that come to fruition.”
Selling or buying a home involves a multitude of moving parts, from negotiations to closing procedures and Zdrill is committed to helping his clients navigate the complexities with confidence.
Contact Glenn Zdrill through the RE/MAX P.A. Realty office at 2370 – Second Ave. W or give him a call at 306-961-5767.
*Please note, this article is not intended to solicit any properties already listed for sale.
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**This content was created by paNOW’s commercial content division.
Real eState
Ontario regulator freezes assets of unlicensed builder
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The extraordinary measures Ontario’s new homes regulator is taking to deal with a Toronto builder with a history of sanctions highlight the challenge posed by unlicensed builders.
On March 19, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) froze the assets of Albion Building Consultant Inc. Court documents said that an investigation found evidence that the company took money for as many as 53 separate homes in Toronto it did not have the proper licences to build or sell.
The number of homes allegedly illegally built by Albion is several times larger than previously believed, which the HCRA said prompted it to invoke rarely used powers.
The freezing of assets was not punitive, but “to hold any purchaser funds in trust … to prohibit [Albion] from transferring any assets [and] to preserve the deposits for the benefit of homebuyers,” said Wendy Moir, the HCRA’s chief executive officer and registrar.
Ontario’s new home regulations are split between two delegated authorities, HCRA and Tarion. HCRA, which was launched in 2021, licenses builders and polices their conduct. Tarion approves the number of homes a builder can enroll in its home warranty program, an insurance pool that protects new home deposits and serves as a backstop for builder defect complaints.
If homes are built or sold without licences, they cannot be enrolled in the Tarion program, limiting the buyers’ recourse in the event of defaults by the builder.
“The HCRA is taking appropriate action to protect the public and send a clear message to the industry that those who act unlawfully or unethically will be held accountable,” said Ms. Moir.
The principals of Albion – Zamal Hossain and his wife Farida Haque – have already been convicted four times for regulatory offences related to 16 homes built without licences between 2016 and 2022. But in a search warrant application the HCRA filed on Feb. 20 with the Ontario Court of Justice, the agency outlines dozens of other new-build homes Albion is alleged to have sold or constructed. Those allegations have yet to be proven in court.
The warrant is only the second one the relatively new agency has served. It allowed investigators to comb through Albion’s office at 3028 Danforth Ave. in Toronto for any records of contracts and agreements with buyers about the homes, contracts with trades and subtrades, contact information for the new home purchasers and any correspondence between Albion and purchasers about the new homes.
“We got a lot of information from them – a van full of documents,” said Ms. Moir. “We have hundreds of documents to go through,” she said. “This is one of our largest investigations.”
Albion’s business has been to tear down a single detached home, split the lot and then construct two new homes on the old site. The HCRA warrant suggests the majority of the 53 suspected unlicensed homes are lot-splits located mainly in Scarborough. It’s unclear as yet how many homes the company actually completed.
In the past, Tarion extended a licence to build homes to Mr. Hossain and Albion, but limited the number of new homes he was allowed to enroll into its insurance program.
The evidence HCRA submitted for the search warrant suggests that the actual number of unlicensed homes built by Albion was several times higher than Mr. Hossain admitted.
Mr. Hossain didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story, but in 2023 he offered this comment to The Globe on his previous convictions: “Yes I broke the law. I did the house without the Tarion [new home warranty]. … I didn’t murder anybody.”
According to Ms. Moir, there’s no clear tally of how many unlicensed builders there are in the province. She notes that it is not illegal to build your own home without a licence. But if you hire a contractor to do it, they must be licensed.
“We’ve seen an 80-per-cent increase in illegal building complaints since last year,” she said. “I don’t think it’s more illegal building, we think it’s more awareness.”
Neil Rodgers, Interim CEO of the Ontario Home Builders Association, said the Albion case puts a spotlight on the need for regulatory fixes to tackle illegal vending where an unlicensed builder takes deposits to build homes they aren’t entitled to sell or build.
“There has to be a pro-active regulatory regime,” said Mr. Rodgers. “There needs to be a system put in place that allows for what I’m going to call early warning tracking, whereby purchasers or their agents or their solicitors could register their agreements of purchase and sale with HCRA or Tarion. If there’s a pattern that’s emerging it gives the regulator an opportunity to intervene much faster.”
Mr. Rodgers likens this requirement on buyers to share details of their agreement of purchase and sale’s with HCRA or another agency as similar to mailing a warranty card for an electronic appliance, and says he’s calling on the province for consultations on changes to the requirements.
Karen Somerville of the consumer lobby group Canadians for Properly Built Homes (CPBH) doesn’t agree the burden should be on consumers to identify unlicensed builders, and points to a different screening where there’s already been pilot programs in the past: construction permitting.
“CPBH proposes that the municipality has the responsibility to notify HCRA given the information available in the building permit application,” Ms. Somerville said. “This would result in government organizations working together using information they already have to identify unlicensed builders.”
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