Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Eid, Yule, Kwanzaa and Seasons Greetings Hamilton Real Estate Investors!
The Hamilton Basket Brigade – Christmas Edition was a success: 200 families is bigger than any other brigade in Ontario and it was our smoothest yet. A great cap off to an award-winning 2015.
You know that feeling when you’ve finished a big task? Something really important to your business or career, like a chapter in your book or your first tenant moved into your first investment property. And you’re happy even if you don’t accomplish anything else that day? Because YOU’VE WON THE DAY!
Same thing applies to this Christmas. This past Saturday, almost 100 of our closest friends donated and/or volunteered to make Christmas a little bit easier for 200 families, including over 500 children, by providing them Christmas dinner, and some toys and shoes.
The joy and beautiful energy from Saturday is hard to explain so I’ll let our friend and volunteer, Stephanie, describe her experience:
Here is a time lapse video of our volunteers packing boxes with groceries:
Finally, Maria and I had our own delivery to a refugee family with four young boys who had been living in a refugee camp for several years. They arrived in Canada, the greatest country in the world, only three weeks ago. We brought them a ton of food, chocolates, and a DVD set of Star Wars 🙂
Aside from charity work, we saw the new Star Wars on Monday and I loved it. Will see it again next week! 🙂
Life, business, fitness/health, and my family are great. 2015 has been a successful, award winning year and I can’t ask for anything more, hence, I feel like we’ve won Christmas.Â
If you know anyone who wants to give back to the Hamilton community that has been so good to us investors please let me know. We do this all again for Easter 2016. Website is registered but not ready so here’s our FB page for now:Â https://www.facebook.com/groups/HamiltonBasketBrigade/
Ottawa’s New Down Payment Rules Aren’t Necessarily A Bad Thing
“Effective February 15, 2016, the minimum down payment for new insured mortgages will increase from five per cent to 10 per cent for the portion of any house price that is above $500,000â€
For the full article please click here http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/samantha-brookes/down-payment-rules_b_8817960.html
First-time home buyers in particular will find it a little more difficult to dig up the extra amount needed for whatever costs more than half a million; other segments may have to wait a little longer to save up enough of a down payment, though the good news on that front — and what the government ultimately wants — is that those people will have more equity in their homes and hopefully a more manageable mortgage.
Minister Morneau claims his goal is to create an environment that protects people from buying homes and getting in over their heads. The reality, however, is that it is another attempt by the government to slow the red-hot housing market down and circumvent a collapse in prices, which is not necessarily a bad thing as it creates a more sustainable market for the future.
My thoughts are these changes were foreseeable and a good thing, the hotter markets need some balance. Â The new rule changes will have minimal affect on what us Hamilton real estate investors do since downpayments are 20% for investment properties, we invest at price points below the neighbourhood averages, and we invest in areas well below the $500,000 price point. Below are the average prices for neighbourhoods in Hamilton.
However, due to reduced affordability of the hot market that is the GTA and Hamilton’s neighbour Burlington, the ripple effect will cause home buyers to seek affordability in Hamilton and immediate areas west of the GTA such as Brantford, Grimsby, Stoney Creek and St. Catharines (areas we service as well and seeing increase demand for).
Thanks for reading and happy Hamilton real estate investing, everyone!
Erwin |Â MrHamilton.ca
