On this week's Niagara edition of The Golfi Real Estate Show, Rob Golfi and iHeart radio host Tim Dennis talk about how the market is cooling but remains hot, the challenges of families co-purchasing homes and living together, if anything is happening to big cities as people leave for the suburbs, and landlords "renovicting" tenants so they can sell their property during a hot market.
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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 Sol
On this week's Niagara edition of The Golfi Real Estate Show, Rob Golfi and iHeart radio host Tim Dennis talk about how the market is cooling but remains hot, the challenges of families co-purchasing homes and living together, if anything is happening to big cities as people leave for the suburbs, and landlords "renovicting" tenants so they can sell their property during a hot market.
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 Sol
Good morning, Niagara. This is Rob Golfi with the Golfi Team. Welcome to the Golfi real estate show Niagara edition with host Tim Dennis we're into the, almost the last week of April for 2021 seems like a long time. But let's, let's begin the program this morning talking about April so far and what's been happening in and across Niagara since we spoke last, Robert.
So Niagara is, is really all performing, all other areas in the golden horseshoe. And it is I, you know, I don't know what it is. I think it is the most affordable area that if anybody wants to be in, you know, close to a Queenie and And everything, but we're finding a lot of people from the GTA are still coming this way.
There's a lot of buyers in, but they're being very low, a little more selective coming out to to, to Niagara. And so, so for instance, I had my parents' house up for sale. So we talked about that and so we put it up for sale. We held offers. And we held offers. We ended up having probably 65 showings.
Let's say we had 11 offers. Lebanon offers now. Before the showings before that we, the whole, the date that we're going to hold off still, you know, I got the odd agent that called me. Would you take a preemptive offer? Meaning will I take an offer before that date? And I said, send it in, bring it in, bring it in.
And I said, well, look at it. And nobody knows nothing good really happened from it. Right. Cause they were trying to. You know, there, they were coming in. We were asking for 99, nine from my parents' house. We had one came in at five 50 and we said, you know, well, we'll take the chance and wait. And then, you know what?
You take a risk from waiting, right? You take a risk and the house is worth. Ideally the house is worth probably five 55 and a quarter to five 50. Like if there was no frenzy going on in this market, So, so we get the 11 offers and we had so we, we sorted them out with my parents. And so I said to my parents, they're all excited and everything, you know, all that kind of stuff.
And I I'm, I'm, I'm working it like I'm working any other deals, keeping any emotions out of it. And so the highest the one person, one person came in at five 50, no conditions. I get a phone call. A phone call, Rob, my clients are willing to go up to five 90. I'm like, Whoa, that's a big jump. 40,000. They didn't want to take the chance of losing it.
So they said, let's just do it. Let's let's let's go. I thought they were gonna go up to 600, but they came in at five 90. So they came in at five 90 cash, no conditions, a couple. This couple was from. North York retired. They're moving down here to, you know, probably retire and, and they're already retired, but they're just moving to Niagara Niagara falls to, you know, enjoy cash out and have some money in the bank plus pay their house for cash.
So we get like, you know, 50% of the showings are from the GTA agents. And it's hard to tell how many, you know, where people are from, but there was one agent, a local agent. And I, and he sent a, a letter with the offer. Now his offer was 580,000 with a condition of finance on it. And th th the agent's name is Dan.
I said, Dan, you know what I mean? Like, I, I go, like, he got you. Can't, you're not gonna, you're never gonna win with a condition of financing. Like, is your guy willing to remove that? I says, I'm willing to, you know, like I read this letter. I don't know if it's, I don't know if you want me to read this letter, if it, if we have time to do that.
Well, we got some time. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm interested to hear what he said. Okay. So, so his client wrote a letter for my parents. To read. And I said, you know, and, and I like the local guys, like, like push for the local agent, trying to get the deal with them because you know, they're local, right. It's just like shopping local.
So anyway, he sends this letter, I'm going to read this out to you. My name, my name is Rob and I'm a 29 year old. Currently. I currently work at the currently work as a general manager at the Corso Italian restaurant at the Hilton falsy hotel. Like many others. I had the opportunity to take a walk through your home and instantly felt a connection.
It immediately reminded me of walking into my no-no and known as home from the photos on the walls, the crosses and the rosaries above the beds, near Italian dictionary Bible on the coffee tables, the garden in the backyard and the kitchen in the basement. I can sense the amount of love and memories made in this home and the values that were instilled upon you and your family with your Italian background, much like my upbringing as a child, I find myself faking sick from school and calling no-no to pick me up to just spend time there mostly because I knew I was, I w I would be fed fed and she wouldn't ask questions.
I spent summers at their home with my older sister and younger cousins watching. Price the price is right with no-no picking up ch picking cherries from the tree in the backyard, learning how to cut the grass and mostly finding ways to get in. Get it, get us in trouble. Be being led to be chased around the home by no-no with his wooden, with his wooden spoon and the rake and a shovel or a slipper all out of love.
Of course my no-no no-no no, not a no-no we're hardworking people immigrating to Canada, not speaking a word of English and raising three girls. And six grandkids, the values and lessons I've learned in life are largely in part of my Italian background and upbringing. I understand this home has been a big part of yours and your family's life and how difficult it will be to part ways to part ways with the value in this home and memories made here are beyond any value that I can offer you.
What I can do to, what I can do is promise you that your home will always be cared for. And your memories will be, will not be forgotten. The driveway will always be watered and the garden will always be full. Your home will always be. The one that stands out on the Crescent and this will always be your home.
Oh. And you will always be given fresh bundle of tomatoes for when you visit. This is a huge step for me, as I am taking the next step in my life and moving out of my parents' home, my hopes one day will be to raise a family in your home and create our own memories and where I can teach my children, the lessons and values on which I raised I was raised on and also leave.
The lawnmower running outside my son's window after a late night of partying. And so what I, what happened was after going over the river, back in the old days, I'd be watching TV downstairs, you know, in and out of sleep and just hanging. And my dad would ask me to cut the lawn. I said, yeah, yeah, I'll get to it.
I'll get to, I get to it. Then my dad just get the lawn mower current start the engine and just leave it parked by the window. So right away I got up because if that lawnmower ran out of gas, I'd be in big trouble. So, but first I need to find a nice girl with money as an owner would say, thank you for your time and the opportunity to go through the home.
I truly hope you find the right person. You're your home goes to the right person that you can trust to care for it as all once as you all once have sincerely Rob. Now, he, that was a great letter. It was a fantastic letter. It's the way to do it. Because I tried to sway. Try to make that deal happen with him.
So as a realtor, or if you're a buyer out there, that's what you gotta do. You gotta get a letter because the, the, the agent will push to, to that agents deal to come together, if they can do it. But he only has so much power that, that you can do. So he came in with a finance condition and and I said, I, I, and, and here's, here's the, here's the demographics of this whole thing now.
Obviously he's, if he's going in financing, he's probably going in with five to 10% down. Okay. Now the other couple were retired. Chances are they're paying cash for the house. Now we have 590,000. The one scary thing about going with the first time buyer is that what if the appraisal, it comes in at five 50.
And he paid five 80 or five 90 for it. He's going to have to come up with another 40, $50,000 to make up the difference. So, and if he doesn't have it, then we got a problem on closing. I knew the other couple, the older couple would, it wouldn't be a problem cause they're not even going to the bank. There, you know, they cashed out on their house in North York.
So there's, there's those aspects of it. Right. But I really wanted this guy to have this house. I really did. My, my mom was in tears when she was reading it. I'm like, so, and I, in my, if my parents wanted to have this guy to have it and they were willing to take less money and take the risks. I would've said no problem.
Let's go for it. Cause I knew the agent very well. I wanted him to have the deal, but it just didn't work out that way. But these, those kinds of personalizations really make a difference in this market where the, you know, the least little thing can kind of make a difference. It does like, like if you're a buyer out there right now and you're frustrated in getting a house.
I mean, if you're close, if you're close to what the next best offer is that agent, like, if he hands that letter to his client, the seller they're, they're gonna, they gonna want to deal with that, that they want that buyer to have it. Yep. So everybody write a nice heartwarming felt. Let letter put a picture of you and your, your spouse and your kids on there, or just yourself.
Just put a picture of something and get that letter. And I mean, it may take 10 times, but put the letter you know, on every offer that you put in. If you didn't get that, that, that one go to the neck, when you do the next deal. But the letter show the people who you are because people always, especially if somebody has been living there for, for a long time.
Like, I mean, my parents lived there for 50, I don't know, 57 years. That's a long time time. That's let me ask century. There's a lot of memories there. So there's memories there from my parents when they moved in his memories of us kids growing up there there's memories of the grandkids growing up there.
Like there's so there's layers to generations of, of kids like my kids, they, you know, they remember they go there, they go there. And we had like, you know, Easter and Thanksgiving and Christmas and every occasion, birthdays and backyard party backyard, you know father's day mother's day. Like there's so much memories there that people, even if somebody lived there for five years, but people want to know who's going in there.
They always want to know where are these people from? What do they do? You know, what's what's there. So let me, let me ask you this. You, you were talking about how many offers did you get. Well, we got 11 offers. And how many showings did you have? We probably had about 60, 60 showings. She said now transport me back in the Wayback machine to 2019 before the pandemic, before everything that's happened over the past year on an average home like that in Niagara falls.
How many showings would you have had and how many offers would you have just to give people an indication of how different this is? So it depends on, on how aggressively you priced it. So let's just say we would have probably had about 30 showings, 20 showings, and we probably would've got one offer at a time.
Wow. Yeah. So now, like, I mean, but I even said to my parents, I said, do you know if we listed this house six weeks earlier? I, I have no doubt that they would have received over 600,000 for their house. No doubt at all. So, and that's why I was in a rush with my parents. I said, we've got to get this thing going because the market's cooling off a bit.
It's leveling it's, it's it. You know, people are being more selective on putting offers. They're not going in aggressive, like a hundred. 20,000 150,200,000. They're not doing that. They're being very, very cautious in their offers now. And and and I, I knew that, so that's why I said we got to get things going.
So we got the photography done, we got the stage and got everything done. And and I, and I listed it on a, on a, I think it was a Wednesday. Because remember how I say it in this market listed on the Wednesday held offers the Monday we had all the Toronto agents come through, we had it on the Toronto real estate board.
We had an hour, the local Hamilton nag or real estate board. And guess what, you know, 60, 65 showings, 11 offers. And and we got 590,000. Now I personally, like, I'm not saying it's, it's, it's not worth it, but it's just, you know, what, if somebody wanted it. They're going to have to, they have to step up to the plate and these people got it by 10,000.
I think it was 10,000. More so obviously, as you say, the market may be cooling a little bit, but that doesn't mean it. Isn't still hot. It's like taking an element on a stove and turning it, you know, just, just a wee bit down. It's down a little bit, but it's still bloody hot, right? Absolutely correct.
That's a great analogy of it. The way the market is going. And now, now we'll the next house on the street sell for that? It's hard to tell. You have to price it aggressively and see what the market will do. Now, if another house on the street comes up for sale my, my parents did a lot to this house, so it And they, they added a garage, a nice big porch of the brand and everything on there.
So the next house on the street, if I listed it, I don't know if I would list it at 500. I probably would list up four. Four 80 and hold offers and chances are they, it depends on the week. Every week is different. So you gotta be, you know, you gotta be, you gotta be careful and, and you just don't know what the week's going to be like markets change every week.
So you just gotta play the game and see how it works. But but I mean, there's still a bit of that market that you can take advantage of right now, if you go for it. All right. When we come back on the Golfi real estate show, the sec, this week, we're going to talk a little bit about how you can buy a house and not just have your family living in it, but other families too.
And the, the the challenges that, that may bring that's when we come right back on the golf, the real estate show. It's the golf, the real estate show. And of course, Rob Golfi is here. Well, the, a billboard near you or a bus side or a bus stop, or the radio, you, you see Rob everywhere, but there's a reason for that.
It's because you know, the more eyes you have on your home, the better deal that you can make. And that's what this is all about. So let's, let's talk about some things going on in the real estate world, which you may never think of. People are saying I can't afford to get in at the ground floor anymore.
It's too expensive to get in. So some families are actually cope, purchasing homes and living together. Now I read about this story initially a few years ago when it started to happen in California, but now it's happening here. Tell me a little bit about what you know of these families getting together to buy homes.
So two families, they're very good friends. One one family, I think has two children, two little children. And another family I think has one child and expecting I think another one. So they knew that they couldn't afford to buy a house in Toronto themselves. So over time, I guess they were, you know hanging out playing cards, you know, visiting each other and enjoying each other's company as, as couples, I guess the idea came up that they co purchase a house that they both can live in.
And then hopefully they build some equity and then they could go separate ways down the road. To me. I mean, I'm like shocked. That's like, like two families living in one house. And it is I don't know if I would do that. I could see two buddies. I could see two girlfriends. Like there's only one individual person.
Like, you know, you've got like just two people in a house, like, you know, but now when you got families, you got like, you got like, I dunno, like six people living in a house, sharing a house. There's a little different dynamic when you've got a family involved. Absolutely. I, I, you know, you know what, I don't think I would ever attempt to do that.
That is a recipe for disaster, in my opinion. I mean, it's, it's tough enough to move in with a friend. And I mean, you can try that out with a friend when you're renting and if you don't like it and it's like, you know, like if you're like the odd couple and you can manage it, that's fine. But, but, but if you got a two families, you're going to really know.
About each other really well, because there's, you know, like what about fights with your spouse and, you know, discipline with your kids. And one family may not like how they discipline their kids in one way. There's so many variables there that, that they're going to lose their friendship because of this.
You think so they must've had the conversation beforehand and wow. I mean, it was a semi too, which means that there wasn't, you know, an enormous amount of room. This is not a, you know, a 3,500 square foot ranch. This is a semi. It is it's. It's semi it's a semi. So over here at Chavez in early September, Adam found a listing for a five bedroom, two and a half.
Two and a half bath semi in Mount Dennis, the place, the place looked promising, both the couples packed up their kids and drove to see it on September, located on a quiet street the two and a half story house. Those had a Brown brick, exterior covered porch and everything else. Now on the main floor, there was a living room with a fireplace, a dining room.
Kitchen powder room and, and a mudroom. Second floor had two bedrooms, a full bathroom, and another full kitchen on a top floor. There was a bedroom and a loft, and there was an additional full bathroom in the bedroom, in the back. Now, now over here as I'm reading the sleeping arrangements. Now listen to this.
Okay. The sleeping arrangements might take some getting used to Adam, Emily, and, and Blakely, and lemme Lennon sleep in the bedrooms on the second floor. Okay. Okay. And use the kitchen on the main floor. Now, there is a kitchen on the second floor also. So now they, so they're sleeping on the second floor, but going on the main floor for their kitchen now Blakely and sleep on the bed.
So Blakely gets her own room while Lennon stays in her parents. And Adam uses the mudroom off the kitchen as an office. So the, the, like there's two kitchens in this place. So th there, there it's a mismatch. This is like, I don't even like, I'm trying to confuse, I need it. I need a diagram with blue and red trying to figure, okay.
The kids, two of the kids sleep here, the parents sleep there and they're using this it's I, I, I like to interview these guys after they've been there probably for a good year and see where they're at. Do they all have dinner at the same time? Is it like we have dinner at the same time and eat dinner together?
Over here. It says friends and family members were surprised about the, the living situation, but the dailies and the trust trucks, trap houses have been enjoying themselves thus far. They all sit down for dinner at 6:00 PM every day, bringing their own food Blakely and Lennon keeps Sullivan in an entertained, which makes things a bit easier on the parents.
So I think the kids. Sleep together, like in diff like in their own beds, but in, in the bedrooms. So I don't know. So they got I mean, I don't know. I got, I need, I need, I need, I need a diagram. Is this different families? Is this the only one you know of like this, this is the only one I know of, but I wouldn't doubt that there's.
Quite a few families like this. I know there's quite a few friends that sh you know, buy a house together. They share it. And and, and they'll live there for a bit. And then they go their separate ways after five years and they build equity. One of my son's friends just just did that. And they bought a house.
They built some equity, the one guy you know, and and th one of them moving this girlfriend's place themselves. So they sold the house. So any bolt each bought. Their own place after. So now, so it's a great, it is good to do, but, but you may have to live through some, some you know, tough situations with friendships living together.
And I don't know. I, I just, I think if it was a duplex, like a duplex to two separate entrances, like two. Like, yeah, Dubai is divided, but the duplexes were too expensive for them to afford. But if there's two self-contained units, absolutely I would do it. Absolutely. And sometimes they have granny flats in the basement and that kind of thing, but I mean, not that they're legal in every spot, but I mean, at least there is a separate kitchen for each family, et cetera, et cetera.
Tell me this. The this is, these are families that have bought together. Have you come across. Situations where roommates who have been renting together decide that they want to pool their resources and buy a home. Have you ever run into that? Where just the individuals are just let's let's buy a house together.
We're just going to live as roommates. I would think that's a little bit more common than families. Absolutely. That's happening a lot and young couples that are. You know moving in together, they're buying houses together, even though they're not married, but the, you know, the relationship is pretty strong.
It looks like they're going to go that way. Most young couples today, they don't, they don't get married until they decide to have their they're planning on having a family. And that's when and that, and that's when they, you know, get married, but a lot of couples are buying in you know, you know first time, first time couples and also buddies like buddies and girlfriends, and they're all you know, saying, Hey, listen, we can't afford to, I can't afford to buy a house myself.
Let's buy it together. And they get a creep, you know, and there's there's rules, right? There's always one of the. Like let's say two people are getting together to buy a house. One doesn't care about the en what the other one may. It just depends on, it depends on the thing, but if there's an en-suite and the other one, doesn't like, you know, like, there's that issue, right?
Like who gets it? Like, do you pay more money for the living quarters or, or not? Like, there's, there's so many things, but, but if you go online and it'll, it'll, it'll give you you know, how to, how to cope. You know how to go live with somebody partnering up with them, buying a house, like what, what do you do?
Like who gets the bigger bedroom who gets the living, which living room, family room, you know what I mean? Like, cause there's, there's all different things and you've got to set those rules up before. Is it difficult for the agents when they, when they look at an offer and they're three separate names on it, or four separate names on it.
Does it make it any different for you that no. No, it's no, it's, it's it's all, it's all good. The only thing is it's just that the agent, if he's experienced enough, he should know, you know, What foreseeable things that could happen. So he should be able to say, you know what, this may not be the right house because you guys are gonna butt heads on this.
But it, you know what I mean? Like, but it just, it just depends, guys. I think we'll be a little easier to live with. And probably girls, I don't know it, or maybe girls are easy to live with. It's, it's hard to tell until they move in together. But, but then there's the dynamics. Of when, let, let, let's say it's two guys living together and the one guy's got a girlfriend and all of a sudden, now she's staying over there overnight all the time.
Now does that, is that something that, should he be paying more money because now they're gonna be using more electricity she's wearing how smart, you know what I mean? Like, there's that, you know, now there's two, two people living in that one bedroom versus the one and the other person's got just himself, like, like you have to create those dynamics.
Hey, listen, if you've got a girlfriend and she's coming here to live. Or, or, you know, then we have to change the dynamics, change the, you know, how much you pay and all that kind of stuff. So you gotta, you have to, there's so much involved lawyers know about this. It's always good to have an agreement and, and it's, and then if, if, if friendships break up and they have to sell, it's like a divorce.
Yep. You know what I mean? It's like worse and like, who gets, you know, like somebody wants to buy the other one out and the other one says no way we're selling the house. And yeah, you had enough when you're renting, let alone, if you own together, because that's, it's not easy to divorce in a situation like that.
Right? Yeah, no kidding. It's just, it's too many, you know, too many things, bad things are said against each other. It just, it's not an easy, easy thing to do, but, but. But very successful. I mean, there's more success than there is failures. I th I'm pretty sure that most people that do move in together as friends they probably lived together at one time or another or, you know what I mean?
So, so they can handle that. Like, it just depends, like, you know, you get one really neat. Freak and the other guy, you know, like God, couple like disaster, you know, or you can get OCD person versus a, you know, a guy that doesn't care. Like it's, it could drive the OCD person insane. You know, you're listening to the, the Golfi real estate show this week.
Rob Golfi is here. I'm Tim, Dennis. There was a national story today. And it's it's, it was a national story about real estate that you and I have been talking about for months. Why it's suddenly hit the headlines across the country is, is talking about how people from the big cities are fleeing the big cities to the suburbs, to buy homes that are more affordable and give themselves more room.
You and I have talked about this a lot over the past few months on this show, but. The question I have is as they're moving to the suburbs and more and more Torontonians and Vancouverites and people in Montreal, et cetera, et cetera, moving out. What's that doing to the prices in the big cities? Are they, are they dropping significantly?
Will it get to the point where it's actually more reasonable to buy in a big city? Or is that ever going to happen? I don't think it's ever gonna happen. Cause I truly feel that the immigration is just going to boom next year. I mean, it, it it's, it's, it's cooling just like you said, you know, he turned, you know, he got the stove on, on high and now you're just turning it down just a little bit.
It's just cooling, but it's still going. It's not, it is still going. And you know, prices are still strong. There there's a lot of opinions are coming out right now because of it. And but in the big cities, they're, they're strong and they're, and they're getting stronger in the, in the smaller cities, like look at Fort Erie in Welland.
I mean, I never imagined that they'd get the kind of money they're getting now. Like, and it's just, I just can't believe the money that they're getting for their houses. They're like, I, I used to cringe when I go, you know, like, you know, this guy is going to want, you know, 350,000 for his house. And meanwhile, it's only worth 300, but now these guys are getting 600,000 for their house.
Why gets amazing. So it just, it has changed, changed. And you know, I, I think it'll still be strong. And even if there's a little bit of of an adjustment on price, it's not going to be that much of adjustment. It's not, and it's going to continue. Like, I mean we're, we're a G seven or G eight country and.
And we're probably one of the best we are real estate is probably the best in the world. Compared to other countries inflation, like our real estate inflation is, is probably outperformed any other GA country in the world. Which is, I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. But it's, you know what, I don't know, you know, Canada is a country that is one, it's probably one of the top countries that people want to move to.
And I think they feel that they're gonna, you know, there've been a couple of polls that have said just that in the past couple of weeks, listen, you can listen to this show, anytime any of the previous episodes of the Golfi real estate show, just. To look up golfing real estate show on whatever podcast platform you listen to, whether it's Spotify or iTunes or Google podcast, or what happened and listen to all kinds of different issues.
And and you can ask a question of Rob anytime. Bye. Just going to the Golfi Rob Golfi.com. Ask a question and who knows next week we could be answering yours. We're going to come back in a moment with more of the Golfi real estate show and some problems for some. Renters during this market what problems might those be for those of you who are renters or, and, or landlords for that matter?
That's when we come right back, the Golfi real estate show for this week is on and Rob Golfi is here. And Rob, of course, one of the top agents in this entire country, I'm Tim, Dennis, we're just talking about issues in and around the business right across the golden horseshoe. Let's start with a story that.
Kind of dovetails with what we were talking about before the break, people who move from Toronto to find a different kind of life in the suburbs, maybe a little bit more room, maybe a little bit more affordable home, et cetera, et cetera. You've got a story of somebody who did that, but it didn't quite work out the way that she wanted.
No. So this lady from Toronto sold her house in March of last year. So that was kind of like the beginning of COVID. Right? So in that, in the market last year, I mean, it was still good, but I mean, she sold and what her plan was to, to move in with her parents for a bit, and then look for a house. Well, guess what?
A year over a year goes by a year, goes by and. Housing has gone up like 25%. Her, her goal is to sell her house, which she did move in with her parents and give time to buy a house every time every month went by, it just kept going up and up and up. She, she couldn't, it was almost a point where she couldn't afford to buy.
And she went to like the smaller cities or, you know, like the outskirts of Toronto and. She should've bought right away. Cause then if you buy, if you sell it in this market, you buy in this market, you don't sell in this market and say, Hey, I'll buy in a year from now or six months from now. You don't do that.
Cause then you're going to cause you're out of the game. You're, you're not on the playing field anymore. You got to, if you're selling, you've got to buy right away. If you're, if you don't plan on it, the only people that, that are. Should be selling right now and not buying our people that are retiring going into a retirement home or whatever, but do not sell.
And then just say, Oh, I'll wait till the market. See how it goes. Yeah. You know, but the market just went up like crazy, like almost 25, 30%. So, so this lady basically sold low. And now she has to buy high. She has to pay is basically almost pay a double what she was going to pay before she should've bought right away.
When she when she sold her house in Toronto, that's the, that's the classic jump out of a plane without a parachute. Yeah. Yeah. So, so she's paying the price for that. So now her retirement right now is not going to be as good. She's going to be really watching her pennies. And you know, like she's like, you know, she did well selling the house, but, and she would have done even better buying in, in, in the outskirts of Toronto.
Because at that time, what the prices were now, she did buy her net worth would be a lot greater today, but, but now. She has to use up all our equity, all the money that she sold and to find something half decent. And it's been tough. She was hoping to put some money aside and buy and, and she could have done that if she did buy right away.
So be careful if you're, if you're selling your house and you're buying, make sure you sell, buy right away. Don't just don't wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Because it's going to cost you. It will. Okay. So you've got, you've got some people, so you've got some sitting in Toronto or Brampton or someplace like that, and they're, they're wanting to move right at this point and across the golden horseshoe, where would you say is the most, well, the best deal?
Where can they get the best deal for a home? If they're leaving the big smoke, looking to Southern Ontario someplace to go to what's. What's your suggestion right now, Rob? I, I think big Niagara falls is probably the hottest market in for, for value Niagara falls. It's I don't know what it is. It's outperforming all other markets that, or just an agro region in general, it's outperforming anywhere in the golden horseshoe does that because it remains relatively affordable.
Compared to what it is in Toronto and Oakville and et cetera, et cetera. And, and that could be it. That could be it because Niagara is outperforming three, like if, if I had to like going based on the first 20 days of March versus the first 20 days of April Niagara is three is up 3% month over month.
Other parts of the golden horseshoe. Are down either two, three or 4%. So, yeah. So yeah, so that means if Niagara is up, let's say Niagara is up 3% and Burlington is down 4%. That's a, that's almost, what would you say? A 7% difference. Yup. Yup. So, so that, and it is because affordability, it is everybody's coming this way.
Like this, these people that bought my parents' house, they're from North York, they're sold their place. And you know what I mean? Like, and they're a nice, they're a nice couple, you know, and you could tell they're going to, they're going to take care of the house and and they loved the garden in the back and that's what they're gonna do.
They're gonna plant a garden back there and. And, and, and enjoy it, but when but the thing is, yeah, Niagara and it's going to, it's going to continue for a long time. It will continue. And so, so we're gonna, you're gonna see Niagara, just, you know, doing very well for the next, you know, five to 10 years.
Let's, let's talk about another issue. That's come up through all of this. Which might not on the surface jumped to the top of the news, which is people who are renting, you're renting a home and your landlord sends you a note and says, well I got some plans for this place, so we, you have to leave.
Is that happening a lot right now, because I'm sure landlords are thinking I can get a little bit of money for this place right now, more than I've ever been able to get to before. But in order to do that, I've got to kick people out. What's what's going on there. Yeah, that's happening a lot right now.
Renters are scrambling out there. It's not cheap for them. It's like, so landlords that own houses what they're doing is they're telling their tenants, listen, I'm selling the place. I'm going to give you 60 days. Notice re legally, they shouldn't be giving 60 days notice until they actually have a sold, like they actually have an offer.
But yeah. And, and so in a lot of these renters, they they've been in these houses for five years. Two, even two, three years now, rent has changed significantly in the last year. And so some people are looking at some people will have been in their houses for 10 years and they're paying really low rent.
And now for them to look for someplace rent, rent is going to be 500 to a thousand dollars more. And so think about this. You're used to paying a certain amount. You got a certain lifestyle, it makes certain amount of money. And now you're being told you have to find it another place to live, and it's going to cost you 500 to a thousand dollars more.
That hurts. That hurts the pocketbook. Yep. Yeah. So I mean, th the thing about that is, is, I mean, they're not doing any what do you call it? Evictions right now with the landlord tenant act, the because of the pandemic. Yeah, because of the pandemic some landlords are saying, Hey, I'm renovating.
So I want, they can, you know, they're trying to get, you know, higher rents for that. The one thing, if you're a renter right now, and you think you're going to be there for another two to five years, see, see if he'll sign a lease, go, just say, listen, I, I want to make sure I'm not. Yeah. Should I be kicked out of here?
Can I sign a lease? And because I don't, I cause cause they know rent is going to be tough now for a landlord. If he doesn't, if he thinks he loves his tenant, he's going to keep them for a while. And it secures the tenant sign, a five-year lease. Can't kick them out. And if he wants to, if the, if, if the landlord, if the tenant leaves less than five years, the landlord's not going to care because he'll find somebody else and you'll get more money.
So all you renters out there, sign a five-year lease. You're locked in, but if you leave in two years, Believe me, he'll be happy because he's going to get more money, even though you break the lease. And, but at least a secures you as a renter, like I had one of my tenants, there were worried, worried, and I said, I said to them, look, I'm not going to, I'm not selling, I'm not selling my this property so you don't have to worry about it.
And they came from another property. We're the landlord sold it. And that's how I picked up these guys. And these guys they're going to be there for, they've been there for three years now and they asked me, will you sign a yeah. I said, listen, you know, and we signed an extended two year lease. They were thrilled.
They know that they're not going to be kicked out for at least two years. Well, I'm not going to kick them out anyway, but, but as a renter, get the landlord to sign. Elise so that if you've been there 10 years, chances are you're going to be there another five. They can't send you a note right now and say your rent's going up.
Carolyn, no, there's been a rent freeze for 2021, but I, I'm not sure. W for 2022 I think, you know there probably will be everybody's rent will increase, but they only can increase it. Maybe sometimes 1%. One and a half percent. It's not much, but I, as an investor that owns it, sometimes what happens is they don't increase the rents.
They just, they're happy that the tenants paying the rent, they're happy. They're taking care of the place. They say, Hey, as long as you pay your rent, I'm happy. I've got a tenant right now that, that, that he, he pays $1,200 a month in a semi. And I can get $1,800 there. That's that's a big difference. I can get 18 and that if I sold that property that could affect the sale price.
That's why a lot of landlords get rid of these tenants sometimes because of the sale price and buyers that are buying it, investors, they say, Hey, I'll buy your property, but you're going to have to get rid of that tenant. So that happens a lot. So, and then they'll just, you know, rerent it, they're not supposed to.
But that's what's happening. So investors are very, you know what I mean? Like they, they, they like they're buying it to, to make money, right. So they want to make sure the rent is covering and they want to make sure that the appreciation happens on the hub. Is there a big interest for apartment buildings right now for even small apartment buildings?
There is, there is they, they go fast. They don't even, they only, when they hit the market, they're pretty gone pretty quick. It just, but it all depends on the cap rate. Now the cap rate is based on your net. Income. Right? So let's say you got a hundred thousand dollars gross rent coming in, but your, your expenses to run that apartment buildings 30,000.
So that means you've got $70,000 net. Now you divide that number into the price that you want to sell for now. Investors usually like to buy, you know, four and a half, 5%. If you get 7.7% cap rate. Yeah, that's fantastic. And that's where they usually want to want to buy it. Yeah. So when you're looking at sometimes duplexes triplexes, or, you know, six plexes and stuff like that, you work the numbers and sometimes it just depends.
You might get some guy that will pay you more money and they're banking on the appreciation of the market to make money versus the rental income. But you gotta be very careful with that. Like you're better off just having your money in the bank. If you're not gonna make any money. On the like what the rental income.
So. But like I said, you know what I mean? If you're an apartment building, you're fine because any investor buys it, they're going to keep you there. But if you're in a, like a, like a single family home or a duplex, I w I, I, if you're a renter in listening right now, go to your landlord, say, Hey, listen, I, you know, we, we plan on raising our family here.
I've got my kids going to this school to this high school or grade or elementary school. Can we sign a five-year. Agreement and I'll promise to pay my rent on time every month. If you promise not to kick me out in five years now, I that's what I would do if I was a tenant right now and the landlords, some landlords will be no problem.
You know, I'm glad I don't have to worry about looking for a tenant. And, and that's the way to do it. Was there anything in the federal budget that affected the real estate business this past week? You know what? I didn't get to read up on that. There was something on the On on the budget there.
And I didn't get a chance to read up on that, that people were kind of expecting, they might do something to try and cool the real estate market. And none of that, really? No, none that I know. They, I know they, they, they upped the stress test. And that, that, that will cool it a little bit. They're just making it difficult for the first-time buyers.
And then, and they won't be able to compete against the older generation. So now the first time buyers are just, they just made it tougher for them. And it's sad that they did that and they should get rid of that. If you've got some questions for Rob Golfi for next week, show Robert what's the best Avenue for them.
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Thank you.