London-St. Thomas Market Continues at a Healthy Pace

The London and St Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR) announced that home sales in the London-St. Thomas area continued at a healthy pace in August, with 892 homes exchanging hands.

"Compared to August 2016, which holds an unprecedented record, the August 2017 numbers represent a slight decrease in homes sales activity. However, if you look at the historical data, last month turns out to be the best August for our REALTOR® Members since 2005," said Jim Smith, 2017 LSTAR President. "Overall, 2017 remains an incredible year for real estate across London and St. Thomas and we expect sales activity to stay fairly strong for the remainder of 2017."

"With real estate impacting so many areas of our community, such as contractors, trades, home stores and small businesses, it plays a significant role to building the local economy," Smith said. "LSTAR REALTORS® are passionate about delivering the best experience to consumers and I want to stress it's a great time to get in touch with a REALTOR® who can support all your real estate needs in this robust marketplace."

Getting Top Dollar for your Seller: 5 Best Places to Renovate

Where do you get your best return on your investment when renovating or updating. Here are the 5 best to get the best bang for your buck, according to a recent Pillar to Post ad.

1) Flooring... remove outdated carpets and replace with laminates, hardwood or ceramic tiles. Non carpeted flooring is more positive, easier to clean and helps with allergies.

2) Fixtures and Hardware... Items such as door knobs, handles on doors and closets, entrance doors, bathroom and lighting fixtures and light switches. These are easy to replace and fairly inexpensive.

3)Bathrooms.... Without a doubt any money you spend on upgrading a bathroom will be worth the effort. Like new tile and grout for floors and showers, faucets and hardware, paint and cabinets.

4)Kitchen... This is the most valuable room in the house and if you can only do one room this is the one! Like new faucets, cabinet door hardware, upgrade to new appliances, new lighting, backsplash to help jazz up the appearance and cabinets if needed.

5)Add an Income Suite.... Depending on the location, income suites could add 150% of equity into the home. You would receive extra income and help pay off the mortgage.