On this week's Hamilton edition of The Golfi Real Estate Show, Rob Golfi and CHML host Rick Zamperin talk about a real estate company allowing clients to purchase property using Bitcoin, Ontarians fleeing the province because of rising housing prices, Toronto investors might stop if the Vacant Home Tax comes into play, and a story about a client who left a lot of money on the table.
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The Golfi Team RE/MAX serves Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, and surrounding regions (See List of Service Areas below). Check out the Golfi TV YouTube Channel Videos. You will find videos related to the Real Estate Industry including new home listings. You will find industry tips and fun community features as well. Call 905-575-7700 for all your Real Estate Needs!
Thank you for watching. Please like, comment, and subscribe! And remember, Golfi Gets It Sold!
On this week's Hamilton edition of The Golfi Real Estate Show, Rob Golfi and CHML host Rick Zamperin talk about a real estate company allowing clients to purchase property using Bitcoin, Ontarians fleeing the province because of rising housing prices, Toronto investors might stop if the Vacant Home Tax comes into play, and a story about a client who left a lot of money on the table.
DON’T FORGET TO FOLLOW US FOR DAILY UPDATES AND SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL! :
Instagram: http://instagram.com/GolfiTeam
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobGolfi
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RobGolfi
Website: http://robgolfi.com
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The Golfi Team RE/MAX serves Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, and surrounding regions (See List of Service Areas below). Check out the Golfi TV YouTube Channel Videos. You will find videos related to the Real Estate Industry including new home listings. You will find industry tips and fun community features as well. Call 905-575-7700 for all your Real Estate Needs!
Thank you for watching. Please like, comment, and subscribe! And remember, Golfi Gets It Sold!
Good morning Hamilton. This is Rob with the Golfi team. Welcome to the Golfi real estate show Hamilton edition with host Rick Zambrano. Yes. Good morning. Once again for the hottest listings in Hamilton and Burlington, you want to go online to Rob Golfi.com that website again, Rob G O L F i.com and start packing cause your home is going to be sold.
And so quickly and safely call Hamilton and Burlington's number one, Remax team and volume and unit sales and not no five five seven five 7,700. That's not a five five seven five seven seven zero zero. They are dominating social media, find the on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The handle is at Rob golf.
If you have a question for the golf team or you would like us to discuss something in particular on a future program, similar email questions. At Rob Golfi.com is the email address. We have a host of topics today, including some Ontarians who were thinking, man, you know, I live in the GTA or live in the Hamilton area.
House prices are going up. I'm going to look to the East coast, to the Maritimes, to Atlantic Canada, and more and more Ontarians are selling their homes here. And heading out East, we'll dive into that topic in a couple of minutes. We'll talk about some Toronto real estate investors saying that if the city implements a vacant home tax, they're going to VanHoose and also get to a story about a woman who, as Rob will tell you left a lot of money.
On the table, but first off, we're going to get to, well, the first couple of weeks in February, which seems to be pretty active. Yeah. It's, you know, it's definitely up from last year. And, and we're, so we're in the groove, so we're back to a normal. Market, but it's actually a robust market. So basically, so I did the stats based on the first two weeks of February last year in the first two weeks of this year.
So in, in the Hamilton area, like the Hamilton and surrounding area in the, from the, from the first to the 15th, there was 359 homes that sold. This year, last year, it was 354, so there's not too much of a difference. So it was a half a percent more, in amount of home sold. But the average sale price is up 33% from last year in the first two weeks of the first two weeks of this year.
So last year, the average sale price was, seven sorry, 576,870. This is in the Hamilton surrounding areas. It's 766,702 33%. So I mean, the market's still strong. It's still moving. And, it, yeah, it's just rocking. And then when we go to Burlington, the market is up in unit numbers, 24%. So they actually are selling a lot more homes this year than they did last year in the first two weeks.
So last year, the average sale price in Burlington, is 822,747. First two weeks of this year, it's 1,000,050 $4,648. So we're up 28% in average sell price. In up 24% in unit numbers. So last year they sold 150, sorry, last year, this year they sold 150 homes in Burlington in the first two weeks of February.
Last year, they sold 121 Niagara Niagara has got the biggest increase, just because it's more affordable. And so in Niagara, in 2020, they sold 321 homes, in the first two weeks last year, this year 395 homes in the first two weeks. So they're up 23% and unit numbers, the amount of homes sold, but in the average sale price, Up 39%, right?
It's crazy. $484,376 was last year in the first two weeks of February. This year, the first two weeks of every 674,409 39% increase. Unbelievable. So the market's still being robust for February. And, you know, houses are selling and things are moving along. We're starting to get here's what's happening right now in the marketplace.
And this is people don't fall go for this. Now people are wanting to list higher then what the market is and they want to hold offers and they're not getting any. So we're starting to see that now. So people are getting, so let's say, let's say the last house in the neighborhood sold for, six 50. Okay.
That that was in competition and the house was listed at 500. So they got 150,000 over asking. So the, so the next buyer, the next story, the next seller that wants to put the house up for sale, they're putting in at 700 and then they want more. You gotta be careful. So they're pushing the market too far, which they're not getting it.
And, and, and it's going to hurt them. So, and there's a big disappointment. And cause they're hoping that somebody comes from Toronto, which they are coming from Toronto and giving them a ridiculous amount of money. It's not always gonna work that way. So, you got to go within, if you want more than what it's worth, you got to go within what the market is and then you'll probably get more.
But if you, if you surpass the market at listing your house, you're going to sit there for a long time. Yeah, a few numbers that stick out to me in terms of the average sell or sell price. In the first two weeks of February from 2020 to 2021 in Burlington, that average price went up more than $200,000 in Hamilton, that average price, and the first two weeks of February, 2020.
The 2021 went up $190,000. And then I'd wrote the same thing, 190 K year over year. And the other stat that really caught my attention is the average price right now. If you were to sell a home in Hamilton, you'd get, you know, an average of $766,000, obviously, depending on where you are, it's going to be higher or lower.
And I had read $674,000. That's only. Know, 102 K behind, or actually even less than that. It's 90 K behind catching up to Hamilton. I'd say Nagra in probably two to five years. You're going to see the prices. You know, they're going to start hitting close to Hamilton numbers. You'll you'll watch two to five years.
Just the migration that's going there is, is incredible. It's they're building like crazy. They can't keep up and, and it's still affordable. It's still affordable, but it is getting expensive. Like two years ago you could have bought Niagara super cheap. And but now it's getting a little pricey. It is, but, but still it's cheaper.
Then Hamilton cheaper than Burlington. And that's why the flow is still going towards, Niagara. And, and it's just going to continue on, like, I'm seeing houses selling a Niagara, like close to a million dollars. I would never think that they would ever get that. And, and they're getting it. And, just that, that just shows you the population is growing in Nagra and it's just going to keep going.
And it is prime picking for those retirees, especially those from the GTA who are selling their homes for at least a million dollars in many cases, if not more. And then looking at a home in Niagara, looking at the average price, being $760,000. You know, that's a lot of money that they could step into their bank account for retirement.
So like, if you look at, in the GTA, let's say their average sale price is a million, right. Or a million wine. Rick, the people that are moving this way, they're selling their houses for like the ones that are moving there are selling a link one and a half million to 1.8 million, maybe more. And they're coming towards Nagra.
Those are the ones that are, are cashing out big time. And, and you know, like if you sell like the ones that are selling for a million dollars, There. I'm not sure if they're moving this way or not, but it's the, it's the, a lot of the retirees, are buying, towards Niagara and the, and the millennials as a first time buyer, they're going well, you know what?
They're buying, they're buying obviously the lower scale where the. Townhouses are, and that they can afford. But, but, but the retirees coming from, from the GTA they're, they're, they're, they're coming in with, you know, selling their house for close to 2 million and buying a house for 800,000 and they've got, and most of these people have their house paid for.
So they got 1.2 million in their pocket, sitting there to do something else with. Crazy. You have a, a pretty wild story about a woman who left a lot of money on the table. Yes. I think I'm going to tell you in this market, you do not do not sell your house unless you, you know, like. This was a high end house.
And they did get an, an offer on it before it hit MLS. And it was pretty good offer. I think it was like 150,000 more than the asking price. So it seemed pretty good, but it was a high-end number when they accepted this offer. They got another offer, two hours or three hours later for a 200,000 on top of the offer, the price of that house that was sold.
Okay, so, and they didn't hit MLS. I'm going to tell you something, you put your house up for sale. It, it just depends on the price point. You do it. You're better than wait till it hits the open market. Do not sell privately. You're going to lose money. I'm going to tell you that, you know, don't, you know, like, like people always think, you know, I want to sell it privately and save money and commissions.
You are going to lose thousands and thousands of dollars if you sell it privately. So that's one. Number two, if a realtor says, Hey, listen, you know, we're going to get our contacts and try to get this sold before it hits the market. Number two big mistake. No, wait till it hits the market. That's the way we sell it.
We have people call us. We have a coming soon sign on the lawn and say, Hey, you can, you can look at that house with your clients when it hits. The market. We're not going to let you put an offering before it hits the market, because we know when it hits the market, you're going to get more money for it.
So that's, that's another point right there. So if somebody is trying to sell you the fact that, Hey, we're going to try to sell this before it hits the market. You're you're you're you're you're you're not going to get the top dollar that you should get, or, or you want, so people. People please do not take any offers until it hits the market.
For at least two to five days, you will have a big number in your pocket. You will be really happy at the outcome. So be very careful on, what you accept. And it's all about getting more eyeballs on your property. And if you do that, or if you asked that by going with, I'm sure that there's, you know, home sellers out there who are thinking, all right, I'm going to take the for sure thing.
And, and off they go. But as we just heard in this case, you know, a lot of money can be left on the table. That's for sure. You can listen to our show. Well, no problem. You can listen to our show through Spotify, iTunes, Google podcast, Stitcher, and many more. Just search for the Golfii real estate show in your favorite podcast platform and hit the follow button.
So you never miss an episode. Remember to go online to Rob Golfi.com. Call Hamilton and Burlington's number one Remax team in volume and unit sales at (905) 575-7700. And check them out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The handle is at Rob Golfi. When we come back many Toronto real estate investors say they're going to sell if a vacant.
Home taxes implemented. We'll get to that and a whole lot more still to come here on the Golfi real estate show Hamilton edition on 900. CHML. Welcome back. This is the Golfi real estate show Hamilton edition on 900. CHML Rick for an in studio on the line. Once again from one Mark. Linda is Rob Golfi sales representative with Remax is Guttman Realty.
The Gulf, the team you can call Hamilton and Burlington's number one Remax team, the Golfi team and volume and unit sales at nine Oh five. Five seven five 7,700 that's (905) 575-7700. Check them out. The handle is at Rob Golfi on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Rob Golfi.com is the website you want to go to.
If you were looking to sell your home or buy one in the Hamilton Burlington area, that's Rob G O L F i.com. And don't forget he gets it sold. They do so safely. And it's proven that the proof is in the pudding. They do so effectively as well. If you have a question for the golf team or a topic idea, you would like us to tackle on a future show, email questions@robGolfi.com.
Again, that's questions@robGolfi.com. In a matter of minutes, we'll talk about why many Ontarians are looking to sell their homes and then head East. But first. Vacant home tax. It sounds like a dirty word via Toronto. Regional real estate board has released a survey was conducted by Ipsos in the fall.
And it shows that more than half of investors so that they'll either sell or rent their unit. If a vacancy tax is implemented and apparently the city wants to do this to encourage homeowners to sell or rent their unoccupied homes. If they're not willing to do either owners will have to pay for the privilege.
Of an empty home. Now, when we do the math on this, the tax is going to start at 1% of assessed value, which is almost twice of the property tax rate. The full details won't be known until the second half of 2021. So there's still a lot to be digested here, but let me unveil some of the survey results from, obviously Torontonians who would be affected by this.
The most common investor response is that they would sell due to the vacant home tax. And it found that 40% of investors said that they would sell in the next year. That's up from 34% a year ago. And it also found that 28% of investors would find long-term tenants if a vacancy tax. Is implemented. So obviously the majority saying that listen to this vacancy taxes coming in were gone and just shy of 30% saying, well, we'll find some tenants to, I guess, avoid that tax.
This tax is going to do more harm than good.
They put the tax in before, because the market was good. Now, now the market's not good. And, and, and sometimes, you know, they're just going to drive the condo market down more that, and that's my opinion. They're going to, they're going to bring that down and it's going to hurt. And, and then people are going to be, you know, struggling, like, you know, so.
W when the government gets involved in too much of the stuff, it doesn't let, like there's going to be peaks and valleys when it comes to real estate. Always. So what they're doing is they're trying to control, so they're, they're, they're, they're manufacturing, a Valley where it's going to hurt the condo market.
In Toronto, which has already, you know, taken a little bit of a beating because of this pandemic, because people are, are leaving the downtown core and moving into outer, urban areas, to, to, to live. And so now they're, you know, they're going to push this on because you know, some, a lot of these condos they're struggling trying to get a tenant.
Now they're going to pay a tax because they can't get a, a tenant in there. So that's going to hurt the people that do want to rent it. The people that had their condos empty. They're going to be, they're going to be taxed. So they're going to say, you know what, this might not be worth keeping because you know, in 10 years the amount of money that I pay with taxes and, and the, and the other, vacancy tax, it's not worth it.
It's just basically breaking even, or they're gonna lose money in a ten-year period. So you're going to, you're going to see if, if they, if they go forward with this and they implement it, it's gonna drive the condo market down a bit, because there's going to be a lot of condos for sale. There will be a lot of condos for sale in the near future.
Go ahead. Sorry. Yeah. What is this supply and demand issue? Because if there's investors holding on the vacant properties, they're going to want to get rid of them, but that reduces the supply. Doesn't it. So there'll be, it'll be, it'll be a buyer's market and there'll be able to pick and choose what they want.
So, you know, so then now the next investor that wants to invest, he's gone. Well, wait a minute. Is it going to be easy for me to rent this? A condo if I buy it, because obviously there's a vacancy problem going on, in, in downtown Toronto. So, it just, it's just gonna, it's just gonna make a mess of things with the condo market, especially downtown Toronto.
All right. Let's shift gears. We heard throughout the pandemic that a lot of Ontarians are, you know, selling their homes and moving to cottage country. They're gonna, they're gonna make that their permanent, venue or, or place, because while there's a lot more space, it's away from the city, maybe they feel that they're a little bit safer.
Out in, in the booties, if you will. Interesting story coming out, in the last little while about, as we know the average price of a home in the GTA projected to surpass $1 million in 2021. And the average price here in Hamilton and Burlington was we were just off, you know, over $700,000 or at least close to that at Hamilton and Burlington over a million bucks because of all of that, some Ontarians are apparently.
Saying that listen, we're going to sell our homes here and we're going to move to the East coast. And Nova Scotia seems to be a popular landing, spot a realtors there, say the average house in the province or the average price that is, is about $400,000. One couple sold their home in Toronto and bought three in Nova Scotia, including two on the same street.
And the province has also set up a website to entice out-of-towners. To come live in Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia, however, not too comfortable with, you know, some of the bidding Wars that are going on, including some that are going a hundred K over asking as Ontario home buyers are now flooding into that province.
I would, I would assume that, Nova Scotians. But want to keep Ontarians out of their province for that simple fact, the price of the homes are now skyrocketed invasion of Ontarians into the Maritimes. Oh boy. You know, in what they're saying is these, these people from Ontario, when they're coming in, they're coming in aggressive.
So the local, the local, the local people that live there, they can't compete with the Ontarians. So, and they're not even used to dealing with multi, like, you know, 2015 offers. And so like, it's, it's just like the Toronto guys coming into Hamilton and Nagra, they, they beat out the local guy. That's trying to buy the same house.
Well, it's the same thing going to Nova Scotia. These Ontario's are going out there and I have a client that we have their house up for sale. They're moving to Nova Scotia. That's what they're doing. So, and I was surprised like he, he didn't seem the type of guy, you know, he wasn't, he wasn't born and raised there.
He just, you know, like he goes and travels there and visits there quite often. And he's thinking, you know what? This is where I think I want to retire. So people, people are looking for lifestyle more now, and that's why they're going on the East coast. And they want that slower, slower pace life, because I mean, we do live a fast paced life.
In, in Ontario, I mean, it's like, you gotta hustle and you gotta, you gotta, you gotta move and go, go, go to, to make a buck. But, but now people are saying they want to shift gears and gear down and just a, you know, goal at five, two miles an hour and just, just take it easy and yeah, and the prices super cheap out there.
And again, another migration of people going out to the East coast, it's going to drive the prices up in the Maritimes. That's very interesting because we were just talking about GTA retirees, going to Niagara. They can also go to the East coast because homes they're even cheaper than I agree now. Yeah.
And like, so I was surprised I was, I was totally surprised, like the, like, you know, there was an article in the paper, about that, but, but I do have a client, a client right now that. That is selling and it's just, it's, it's just amazing, but it is beautiful out there. I've been there. It is gorgeous.
I can see, I understand why people want to move out there. It's just, it's just such a different life and an easy life. And, and, and there was a couple, they moved out there. I guess three years ago, maybe more and they got a little business going and they own a couple of houses and they're enjoying life.
Like you would not believe. And, so there, there is. So, so, like I said, everybody's shifting around the, Canada. People are moving. Left right. You know, North, South, it just depends on what they want in life. And, and I think lifestyle is becoming more and more important. I think for a lot of people in the East coast is going to give you that lifestyle that, that you want.
And it is nice out there. Are there different rules in terms of real estate from province to province or are they pretty much the same? The in, I think it's pretty well much the same all across Canada. Like, like I couldn't go there and sell real estate, so I'd have to refer to, a local guy that, that, you know, whatever city or town that they want to move into.
But, but yeah, like, like we have a guy that, that, our phone systems for technology. He moved out to, I, I'm not sure where, on the, in the East coast, in the Maritimes, but when I talked to him and I think they're three hours ahead of us, but, when we have problems with our phone system, he comes in logs in, on, on the, on our computers and, and fixes our phone systems.
And he loves it. He's got the ocean right in front of his house. He's got no houses in front of him, but he could see the ocean and he's loving it. And he goes, and he said to me, he goes, Rob. He goes, I can work from my house and I can remotely work and deal with anything anywhere across the country, out of my house.
And I get, and I enjoy the life out here on the East coast and I got the ocean and I, you know, and it's just such a nice, nice place to live. He said so. And he showed me pictures. He was sending me pictures. This is when. When the pandemic first hit in March, April, and we had to work on our phone systems to have them forwarded to the, to the girls that were working at, at their home.
And, we, you know, we chatted a lot and he was sending me pictures and he was like, wow, I go, Holy smokes. And then, and I'm talking to like, literally he's working. Yeah at his place in the East coast. So, and that's, what's happening a lot with, people from downtown Toronto. They're leaving there and they're going where they want to live and because they can work out of their house.
And why would you want to work in a 500 square foot condo, downtown Toronto, where you can go anywhere in Canada and, and work in beautiful. The West coast, the mountains, or work in the East coast with the. The oceans and anything, you can go anywhere in Canada. That's the great thing about what's happening in this pandemic, which a pandemic is not great, but it's changing.
People's way of living and, and they're and they're going to do, they're doing it. They're there. They're moving. That's what they're doing. No doubt about it. Another change that might be on the horizon, or at least we'll see a little bit more of it. In Hamilton, Burlington and Ontario, and throughout Canada is modular real estate.
So what is that? Well, picture those shipping containers that you would see on a massive boat going overseas, those are being turned into modular buildings and they're popping up all over the world. Really. Homeowners can have a modular studio with a kitchen and bath ready in less than 12 weeks, depending on you know, where you are, the permit situation, all that kind of stuff.
But that, that modular home can be built, and, and installed in a matter of just a few months, giant containers is one of the companies behind this effort and it says it launched an entire division. Focused on creating sustainable real estate consisting of modular homes. They're prefabricated modular homes.
They, some of them, they can turn into unique swimming pools. They also built cannabis. First retail center made entirely out of shipping containers. They do caution that before you do begin making any plans to have your own modular home, or even maybe an addition in the backyard or a new home office connected to your home, find out whether this type of structure is allowed in your city or in your neighborhood.
So that's a good tip to be had, but modular homes, these, these small. Know, pre done, you can kind of stick them anywhere kind of homes. Do you see a future with this going forward? I do there there's one. I think there's one modular home that hit the, the newspapers. And it's, it's, just off of, Like, if you go up a, what is it?
The, on access and they've got like, they, they put the assembled, I don't know, like, like, like five modular pieces and they just put it together and we haven't, I haven't seen the inside, but you can see this on a Claremont access. And they just built, built this house out of, like modular homes.
But, but lot of people are getting into these modular homes, just like, like one or two containers. They put them together and they, and they. And they open it up inside. People just want easy lifestyle. They want it, they, you know, and especially with the cost of, you know, buying a house now. It just, it, it, you know, it's an easy way, just drop it there and just dry wallet and put whatever, connect to the sewers and, and you're set to go.
And it's probably not that expensive, but, but, are steel containers and, they're going to be durable. I mean, it, but yeah, like it's just affordable. Like that's what people are looking for. They just want simple, like the whole, the whole world now was just totally changed and, and, and people are, are definitely.
Looking for simpler ways. They don't want big as much, a lot of them. And they're, and they're just, you know, just want a simple life just to enjoy and, and not worry about too much about maintenance and cleaning and, and, anything else. But yeah, if they can, you'll see, you're gonna see more and more of these, these homes coming up everywhere.
I think so too. And now that I think of it, I think it's at the bottom of the jolly cut, not the Claremont, right. That's right. That's what I was telling you. Yeah. I was looking for it. Yeah. The first time I saw it, I thought, well, number one, that's different in number two, that's kind of cool because it sticks out.
It's not, it's not hideous at all. I mean, there's windows. It looks like it's really well done. And I know that the city of Hamilton in terms of their affordable housing crisis are looking at these modular homes to get homeless people off the streets and out of parks and out of tens and into these facilities.
So, yeah, I think these are going to pop up all over the place. Oh, for sure. It's going to be the most affordable way for the city of Hamilton to put these people in. And, I mean, they can, they can build these things inside a warehouse and just drop them in and just put them on a foundation and. And then just do the minor little, work, you know, with the steps going into the house and things like that.
It will, it, it is going to be a way of, of, you know, cities of, of putting maybe homeless people or just, you know, so that they have someplace to stay. And, there, you know, so that they're not freezing outside and Lincoln and cold winters, like we're going through right now, but, definitely a pretty awesome.
It would give new meaning to, I guess trailer parks. You could have a modular home that would be kind of fun to see and yeah. To get all those homeless people off the street. That is obviously the number one goal. When we come back buying a home with Bitcoin, can you really do that? Stay tuned. This is the Golfi real estate show Hamilton edition on 900.
CHML. Welcome back. This is the Golfi real estate show on 900. CHML. My name is Roxanne Brin. Once again, joined by Rob Golfi sales representative. With Remax discouragement Realty, the Gulf team, you can call Hamilton and Burlington's number one, Remax team and volume and unit sales at (905) 575-7700.
That's not Oh five, five, seven, five. Seven seven zero zero. Check out the Golfi team on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The handle is@robdolphyandonlinehottestlistingsinhamiltonandburlingtonoratrobdolphy.com. That's Rob G O L F i.com. So, news broke, I guess, about a week or two ago about Bitcoin. And Tesla getting together, Tesla saying that, listen, you can now buy a Tesla vehicle, or at least this is coming soon, by using Bitcoin.
And at last check, I think one Bitcoin was like $50,000, either Canadian or us either way. It's a lot of money for just one Bitcoin. So there's a company called BTC home.ca and it is, I guess, enabling buyers to pay with Bitcoin. And, buying homes with that. And I guess the way it works is, you know, the, the Bitcoins are, you know, I guess boiled down to the amount of whatever the, the, you know, today's dollars would be in a real estate transaction.
And considering the volatility, this company provides a rate freeze window for Bitcoin payments to complete. And so the seller, the listing agent, the brokerage, all get together and this sale is processed as a regular dollar denominated. Transaction. So while it may be paid, essentially by Bitcoin, it's being transferred into today's dollars.
Is this the wave of the future? We're going to see a lot of this coming up. I, I still think it's probably more than 10 years, but what, what this, what they're doing is if you're going to buy in Bitcoin, right? Like you break you're the person that's selling the house receives the money in Bitcoin.
Right. Which is on an online currency. So basically he has to move someplace else. Unless the next guy wants, like, it's not like he's got the cash in his hand to buy another house. Right? So usually if somebody sells their house, they're buying another house in most cases. So this will only work if, if a guy's got an abundance of money and he's buying the next house cash with his, whatever savings he's got or whatever money.
In in his bank account. So I, this is more of a, like a publicity thing. I think, yes. You know, I think this may be the future. I don't know, because I don't know too much about Bitcoin, but I know it's gone up quite a bit. And if you had, I think two years ago, or a year ago, if you had like, you know, $20,000 a Bitcoin, you probably are, you know, have like a, you know, half a million of Bitcoin.
Now that's how much it's gone up. So again, it's only if somebody is not rebuying another house, that's it. I don't, I think Tesla is doing it. You can buy with Bitcoin. It's just, I think it's just another Avenue. They know that it's going to be the future for, for online currency. That's going to be, probably in the next 10 years for sure.
And they're just getting ahead of it. Just trying to be the first to act on it. Considering that one, Bitcoin is about $50,000. You can basically buy a house in Hamilton for like 14 Bitcoin. No kidding. No kidding. I know. And it's hard. Like, like Rick, you got to understand it. Let's say you're you got your house up for sale.
And I want to buy it with Bitcoin. You're going to say that's fantastic, but what am I going to do with this Bitcoin? Like. I have to do I cash it out. Do I, you know what I mean? And what they're saying is they freeze it. So what happens is, so let's say your house is, let's say 500,000. I give you $500,000 a Bitcoin today, but the closing dates in three months from now.
So they, I think what they do is they freeze. The the, the Bitcoin, on the, on the sale. So if the Bitcoin drops in value before closing, you still get that Bitcoin amount, like you're not going to, so the guy that's buying it, it, it, whether it drops in value of the Bitcoin or goes up. It doesn't matter.
That's that's, what's, it's going to be, that's what you're getting. So, so the guy that is selling the guy that's receiving the Bitcoin, if the market goes up like crazy, he may end up getting more. I think I'm not, if I, if I, I'm not sure if I read that. Right. But when they say they put a freeze on it, they freeze it.
On the day, I guess when they, when they put the deal from, on the, on the purchase price of the, of the property, equals whatever value of the property as, so, so I don't know. I think this is, it is the future, but I don't think it's right now. Because, I, I wouldn't take Bitcoin for, for the sale of my house and because I have to, you know, I would have to buy another house and I need that money to buy another house.
Well, the next guy take Bitcoin, probably not. And it's just, it's just not there yet. But it, it probably will be, I'd say within 10 years from now, It'll be interesting to watch a don't forget. You can listen to our show online through Spotify, iTunes, Google podcasts, Stitcher, and many more. Just search for the Golfi real estate show in your favorite podcast platform and hit the follow button.
So you never miss an episode when we come back, we'll talk about, we already talked about the vacant home tax in Toronto. What about a luxury home tax in Toronto? What impact will that have on the market? That's coming up next year on the Gulf, the real estate show Hamilton edition on 900. CHML. Would have been one more go around here on the golf, the real estate show Hamilton addition on 900.
CHML. My name is Rick Quinn joined by Rob Dolphy sales representative with Remax who's carbon Realty, the golf team. You can find them online@robGolfi.com. That's Rob G O L F i.com. Check them out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The handle is at Rob Golfi and call Hamilton and Burlington's number one Remax team in volume and unit sales at nine Oh five.
Five seven five 7,700 that's (905) 575-7700. I have a question or topic idea for the golf team. Send them an email questions@robGolfi.com. That's questions@robGolfi.com. We talked earlier in the show about a vacant home checks that's being implemented, or at least proposed in Toronto. There's also the thought of a luxury tax.
In Toronto with proposed 1% increase on the existing municipal land transfer tax on homes, price $2 million or more. If approved the new tax rate would be three and a half percent of the final selling price and the city estimates that it would add nearly $19 million to the city's coffers. There was a quote in this article.
I think this is a remote read next blog, Christopher Alexander, the chief strategy officer and executive VP at Remax of Ontario, Atlantic Canada, who said quote and reality, $18 million is not going to go very far in terms of creating affordable housing and to developing more transit in Toronto. And he basically says, you know, city staff are going about this, the wrong way because home buyers in Toronto today are making decisions based on their current home needs.
If a family needs four bedrooms and a big backyard, it's near impossible to buy that in Toronto for less than $2 million. Yeah, it is. I don't know why they just keep taxing and taxing. Like in, in Toronto, the land transfer tax is double already. And they tried to bring that to, Hamilton and, and they, they kibosh that, like there was a lot of protesting about that.
So. Like, can you imagine, you know, you've got your house $500,000. Your land transfer tax right now is probably, I don't know, maybe four 40, $4,500. Can you imagine another tap? They double that it'll cost you $10,000. Like, so if you think about it, if you're going in at 5%, On a house that's $25,000 and the land transfer tax.
I don't know. It could be, you'd be surprised. Like what if it's 10,000, so, or maybe 15,000? It's a lot of money. I mean, like we're paying enough taxes, like, like, like Canadians work, so hard to pay taxes. We pay taxes on our houses, pay HST on products that we buy. We pay taxes on top of what, like, you know, W what we make and everything else is just, everything's just getting taxed and tax and tax.
It is tough in this country. For anybody to make it just because of the tax situation. Now they want it. They want to make it tougher for a first-time buyers or, well, this is a luxury tax, so they're just, you know, like, like the person he can afford it, let him afford it. Not don't penalize him for buying a luxury home, let him let him buy it.
But, but you know what? The government for $19 million, it's not going to change, Toronto, what problems they have. They're just. You know, and then it just, they're just going to continue, in a way and grabbing more and more and more until, you know, people are just going to stop and save, forget it.
We're out of here. They'll move more, more people move out out of the, out of the city. According to this Remax blog, it says city staff have indicated that increasing the cost of luxury home sales in Toronto could incentivize buyers and sellers to transact below the $2 million threshold, theoretically reducing prices.
I, I'm not sure if that's going to be the case because every home under 2 million is still going to be. It is. Yeah. So like, and it's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt the seller because the buyer is going to go, listen, I don't want to go over 2 million because I have to pay an extra whatever. And so, so you're going to see all the houses under 2 million sale.
Pretty good. And then it's going to be, and then it's going to hit a ceiling. Nobody's going to want to pay over 2 million. It's just going to change the market, how it's going. So it, I don't know, they just always get involved and change things and it it'll create a problem for something else. Whatever they, if they change something in the real estate industry, it's just going to create another problem.
And it always does that. If they just let things continue going on, normally as it should go, it'll it'll work itself out. Usually when governments get involved, something bad happens. We have to absolutely. You can go online for the hottest listings at Hamilton and Burlington. The website is Rob Golfi.com.
That's Rob G O L F i.com. Call Hamilton and Burlington's number one, Remax team and volume and unit sales at (905) 575-7700. And check them out on social media. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The handle is at Rob Golfi. If you have a question for the golf team, send them an email questions@robGolfi.com.
Rob, thanks again for another fantastic show. And thank you for listening to the golf, the real estate show Hamilton edition. We're back next Saturday at nine on 900. CHML.