We Take Our Health Care System for Granted

  I've been negligent over the past couple of weeks in my postings, busy with a hectic real estate related scheduled and preoccupied with a caring for an elderly mother now hospitalized in Collingwood's General and Marine (G&M) Hospital.  Sooner or later many of us will be caught in the cross-fire of caring for our parents while still with kid's on the payroll and I am getting first hand experience as to what this means.     
  Fortunately we have a health care system that is (a) accessible and (b) is largely paid for by our tax system.  In 1991 my then 14 month old son had open heart surgery resulting in a 3 week stay at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. The cost to me? A few hundred dollars in accommodation expenses for my wife's stay in Toronto close to the hospital. Anywhere else other than Canada and I would have mortgaged everything I owned to pay what was probably a $250K tab. A recent stay two week stay in the G&M for my mother cost $45 for the ambulance ride to get there likewise a two week stay at a rehab facility in Penetang for her physical therapy cost $60 for the television rental the rest of which was paid for by tax dollars.
  We as Canadians truly take our health care system and its related costs for granted.  I lived in the U.S. for four years from 1992 to 1996 and despite having a company benefit plan, routinely had to pay out of pocket for deductibles or expenses not covered by our plan which amounted to a few thousand dollars every year.  Because it seemingly costs us nothing out of pocket, we as Canadians have lost sight of the fact that a 15 or 20 minute trip to see our Doctor is probably a $400 or $500 visit.  It's not just the Doctor's time you are taking it's all his other overhead and expenses for rent, heat, hydro, staffing, supplies etc. that need to be covered.
  I gain a keen perspective and appreciation for our system every day while visiting the G&M Hospital to visit my mother.  We are truly fortunate to have a facility with such caring staff in our community.  With an aging population and a significant influx of retirees migrating into the area, I can't help but think about the added pressure it will place on our hospital and medical community as a whole.  Amongst other priorities, the $1 billion being spent on security for the G20 Summit could clearly be better utilized, ensuring that our current and future medical needs are met.  

Pricing Your Property To Sell

Notwithstanding the fact that area real estate sales are up 65% in terms of units for the first quarter of 2010 indicating a strong demand, pricing your property to be in the market and not just on the market is key to achieving a sale.
For five consecutive years (2005 to 2009) the annual number of "expired" listings in the MLS® system of the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board have exceeded the number of properties that have sold. That to me is a very telling number indicating that sellers and their REALTORS® are failing to price properties reflective of their current market value.
Factors that do not have a bearing on the value of your home are what you paid, what you may have spent on renovations/upgrades, what you owe, what you need to net out to purchase your next home and so on. The most fundamental factor that does serve to establish the value of your property is what have other properties similar to yours sold for?
When contemplating the sale of your home, condo or other property, it is absolutely imperative that the REALTOR(S)® you interview prepares a "Comparable Market Analysis" (CMA). I an increasingly competitive market, it's no longer effective for a REALTOR® to simply walk through a property shooting from the hip to throw out a price. Your response should be "show me!"
Not only will a well prepared CMA help to establish an accurate List Price for your home, it can also be used to illustrate and counsel a potential buyer(s) as to the property's value and what a credible offer price should be. Today's buyers are fearful of paying too much and with a good inventory of properties on the market they don't have to. Furthermore, thanks to the Internet, buyers today are much better educated and informed. They know what is on the market, how long it has been listed and they are readily able to compare various listings to one another quickly establishing a sense of which ones are over-priced.
Just as over-pricing is an issue, so is under-pricing a property. I recently secured a listing which another competing agent had priced $35K to $40K below my price, a difference of almost 20%. Their price represented little more than the "assessed" value which in many cases is still well below market value. Within three days the home in question received two offers and sold for in excess of 98% of the asking price.
Pricing is indeed everything and some good research and effort going in by the REALTOR® you are working with whether it is for a sale or purchase, will make the whole real estate selling/buying process more successful and less stressful for everyone involved.

It's Full Steam Ahead at the Shipyards

With all of the construction activity going on around the area including the reconstruction of Hurontario Street, the completion of First Street, exterior finishes to the new library, the revitalization of Heritage Park to name a few, none is a more welcome site than the Shipyards. After languishing as a weed infested "no man's land" for the better part of two decades, this much anticipated re-development of the former Collingwood shipbuilding site is really taking shape. Sales/interest in the project is obviously good given the number of units currently under construction.
In my opinion, the highlight of the development will be the waterside promenade that starts at the foot of Hurontario Street and follows along the former side-launch basin out into the harbour. This is sure to be a major draw to both residents and tourists alike creating a waterfront atmosphere that will inject some excitement into our downtown core.
If there is anything about this project that is a bit of a letdown it's the architecture. I've heard many comments about how uninspiring the buildings look on the outside with nothing to differentiate them from any run-of-the-mill condo development you might see in Mississauga or throughout the GTA. This is one of the common shortcomings that we often see throughout the area where both builders and in some cases individual homeowners build the wrong thing resulting in a product that lacks the characteristics buyers are looking for and can be difficult to sell. This is not an "urban" environment and many buyers looking to the area expect if not demand something different to match the lifestyle change they are making by coming here in the first place. In this day-and-age of computer aided design, a little human imagination could be expended to create something truly different and unique. In the case of the Shipyards, something perhaps with a bit of a nautical touch would remind us of the former role this property played in the history of Collingwood.
I do not profess to be an architectural guru but I often read the comments of Christopher Hume the architectural critic for the Toronto Star. Mr. Hume has been to and spoken in Collingwood, perhaps at some point we may here his comments further regarding this particular project.
There are currently 5 MLS® listed Shipyards units for sale and at least one unit with a private for sale sign. No doubt some of the early buyers are looking to flip their properties for a profit others may have just had a change of heart. Whatever your take, this will be a very successful development and a welcomed re-birth of Collingwood's long neglected waterfront.