Best Beaches in Ontario right here in Grand Bend

Grand Bend has some of the best beaches in Ontario, if not Canada. This is from the Southwestern Ontario Tourism Association telling everyone how great our beaches are. Just follow the link to see all the wonderful attractions on Lake Huron.

http://bestbeachesontario.com/beaches/best-beach

Phantom real estate bids are enough of a problem that Ontario is cracking down this July

Starting July 1, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) will be enforcing new rules that place strict criteria on what constitutes a bid on a residential property. The goal is to crack down on the elusive phantom bid, which some homebuyers suspect occur in bidding wars, but are unable to prove. This involves sales agents hinting to prospective buyers there are other bids as a way to coax them to bid higher. "They say, 'We're expecting another offer. I do have another offer. You may want to go back to your client and make sure this is their best offer'," says Joseph Richer, registrar of RECO. "They are suggesting there might be competing offers when there may or may not be."

With the new rules, "You cannot suggest or even imply that you have an offer unless you have one in writing, signed sealed and ready to be delivered," said Richer, while adding there have been very few formal complaints about phantom bidding over the years.

The current rule is clear that no offer is valid until it is signed. The new rules will force brokerages to keep an offer, or an equivalent summary (basically, a list of buyers and contact info with name of broker, date and time), on record for one year.

 

Market Continues Strong in May

The local housing market continued strong in May 2015, with total sales up 6.8% over the previous year. "In fact, May 2015 is the best May on record since 2007," says Carl Vandergoot, President of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS®. He adds, "We can thank job growth, stable mortgage rates and affordable home prices for what is turning out to be a very robust market in our area." 861 detached homes and 194 condos sold last month, when a total of 1,055 homes exchanged hands.

Listings were down 3.7% and inventory – active listings end of period – were also down 2.7%. "Our supply of listings is still good and we would still characterize our market as balanced," says Vandergoot. "But, if supply continues to tighten up, we might find ourselves moving into a sellers market. My advice to any potential sellers sitting on the fence would be to take advantage of the current situation and list."

As of May 31, the average price for a detached home Year-to-Date stood at $281,564, up 4.1%, while the average price for a condo over the same period stood at $189,832, up 3.8%. Year-to-Date the average price of all homes sold through LSTAR's MLS® stood at $263,785, up 3.8%.

Our sales to date here in Grand Bend are up 75% over last year! So we are expecting 2015 to be a banner year for cottage country. There is a good selection of listings available right now and this is a great time to list as well, as the early summer season is usually the most active for sales.