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Real estate: Hack your home search with these Centris features – Montreal Gazette

Published

5 years ago

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Here are four ways to find more of what you’re looking for in your online property search.


The skyline of Montreal.

Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette

Working with a realtor is the best way to ensure you learn about new listings as soon as they hit the market — and offers even more ways to search for particular types of properties — but I’ve always liked to do my own searching as well.

Realtors will create a narrow search based on the specific criteria you identify, but I like to comparison shop. I often find that the data in the listing doesn’t tell the full story of a property. For example, some three-bedroom homes have a fourth room in the basement that could be easily converted to another bedroom — yet these won’t appear in my search listings if I’ve said I only want to buy a four-bedroom property.

If you’re having trouble finding a home in your price range, looking in adjacent neighbourhoods is also an option you really need to do with a manual search using the map view on Centris.

If you’re searching on your computer, you can draw a squiggly circle to define your search, rather than seeing everything from a neighbourhood. This is useful if you’re interested in some parts of a municipality but not others, or if your search radius depends more on proximity to work, school or other important places than postal code.

Here are four more ways you can hack your home search:

Find a walkable neighbourhood

Living in a place where you can easily walk over to a coffee shop, grocery store or other services is not only a great way to reduce your carbon footprint, but also to improve your overall health.

Researchers have found that adults who live in walkable communities are slimmer than those who live in pedestrian-unfriendly areas, and have lower risk of diseases like diabetes. Walkable places also reduce feelings of isolation for those who live alone, as they are more likely to run into friends and neighbours if they live in a place where people regularly walk for pleasure or spend time at local haunts.

Centris offers two tools to find properties in walkable areas:

The first is the “lifestyle” search filter, where you can select “pedestrian-friendly” or “transit-friendly” as a must-have, or toggle options to find homes near the services that matter to you, such as grocery stores, schools, daycares, shopping or restaurants.

Every listing also includes a little blue icon with a WalkScore (walkscore.com) rating. Click on it to find detailed information on nearby transit stops and services, bike infrastructure and how long it takes to get to the places that matter to you by car, bus, bike or on foot.

Find foreclosures

This one’s a new feature launched just this month. With prices climbing in Montreal, investors and buyers on a budget can use this feature to try to find properties selling below market value to fix and flip or rent out. A note of caution: While these deals may seem sweet, there are fewer protections for the buyer when going this route, and many of these properties are in poor repair. It’s a good idea to work with an experienced realtor, and set aside a fat savings cushion in case the home has more maintenance issues than you realized.

See only newer (or vintage!) homes

If you’re hoping to buy a property that has a modern aesthetic, or really don’t want the headache and expense of having to renovate a property, you may want to limit your search to only newer homes. On the other hand, if you love the look and romance of a century home, you’ll want to toggle the option to see only historic homes on Centris. You’ll find both these options within the “building features” section of the search filters.

Get price and sales data for your specific area

If you’ve been out of the market for a while, you may be experiencing some sticker shock when you see what homes are listed for these days. To get a sense of what a “good” price is for homes in your neighbourhood at current market rates, it can be helpful to look at the median price for the area (think of it as the halfway point: half the homes sold for less and half sold for more).

The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers releases regular property market updates for Montreal, but when you break it down into local markets you can see that prices have climbed much more quickly in some areas than others.

You can find stats by region (South Shore, West Island, or the Island of Montreal) or municipality (Beaconsfield, Hampstead, Lachine or Westmount, for example) on Centris in the Tools menu.

There, you’ll find a summary of what’s happening in each local market, including the number of currently active listings, median price and average number of days to sell, as well as how those numbers are trending.

This is useful both if you’re thinking of selling your home (you can get an idea of how hot your local market is, and how much prices have gone up or down in the past year.

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Greater Toronto home sales jump in October after Bank of Canada rate cuts: board

Published

1 week ago

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November 6, 2024

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TORONTO – The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales in October surged as buyers continued moving off the sidelines amid lower interest rates.

The board said 6,658 homes changed hands last month in the Greater Toronto Area, up 44.4 per cent compared with 4,611 in the same month last year. Sales were up 14 per cent from September on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The average selling price was up 1.1 per cent compared with a year earlier at $1,135,215. The composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 3.3 per cent year-over-year.

“While we are still early in the Bank of Canada’s rate cutting cycle, it definitely does appear that an increasing number of buyers moved off the sidelines and back into the marketplace in October,” said TRREB president Jennifer Pearce in a news release.

“The positive affordability picture brought about by lower borrowing costs and relatively flat home prices prompted this improvement in market activity.”

The Bank of Canada has slashed its key interest rate four times since June, including a half-percentage point cut on Oct. 23. The rate now stands at 3.75 per cent, down from the high of five per cent that deterred many would-be buyers from the housing market.

New listings last month totalled 15,328, up 4.3 per cent from a year earlier.

In the City of Toronto, there were 2,509 sales last month, a 37.6 per cent jump from October 2023. Throughout the rest of the GTA, home sales rose 48.9 per cent to 4,149.

The sales uptick is encouraging, said Cameron Forbes, general manager and broker for Re/Max Realtron Realty Inc., who added the figures for October were stronger than he anticipated.

“I thought they’d be up for sure, but not necessarily that much,” said Forbes.

“Obviously, the 50 basis points was certainly a great move in the right direction. I just thought it would take more to get things going.”

He said it shows confidence in the market is returning faster than expected, especially among existing homeowners looking for a new property.

“The average consumer who’s employed and may have been able to get some increases in their wages over the last little bit to make up some ground with inflation, I think they’re confident, so they’re looking in the market.

“The conditions are nice because you’ve got a little more time, you’ve got more choice, you’ve got fewer other buyers to compete against.”

All property types saw more sales in October compared with a year ago throughout the GTA.

Townhouses led the surge with 56.8 per cent more sales, followed by detached homes at 46.6 per cent and semi-detached homes at 44 per cent. There were 33.4 per cent more condos that changed hands year-over-year.

“Market conditions did tighten in October, but there is still a lot of inventory and therefore choice for homebuyers,” said TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer.

“This choice will keep home price growth moderate over the next few months. However, as inventory is absorbed and home construction continues to lag population growth, selling price growth will accelerate, likely as we move through the spring of 2025.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Homelessness: Tiny home village to open next week in Halifax suburb

Published

3 weeks ago

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October 24, 2024

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HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.

Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.

Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.

The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.

Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.

They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.

The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

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Here are some facts about British Columbia’s housing market

Published

4 weeks ago

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October 17, 2024

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Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.

Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.

Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500

Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438

Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103

Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359

Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent

How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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