Toronto Real Estate » International Real Estate

RealEstate.com Sold For Truckload Of Money

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:06:13 +0000

Money at Hand by Don Hankins

While people such as realtors tend to stick to traditional brick & mortar investments, there are certainly some intangible assets that can bring you a fortune later if you acquire them at the right time. For example, consider Internet domains. Believe it or not, realestate.com was just sold for a stunning $8.25 million USD.

It was bought by Market Leader, a provider of online marketing and technology solutions for real estate professionals, from LENDINGTREE, LLC, a mortgage company. Actually, the purchase included a bundle of related real estate domains, as well as a network of some 250 brokerage companies. The surprising fact is that Market Leader is not a major player in the industry, trading at only a $53 million dollar market cap. However, it has been on a roll recently: earlier this year, it acquired a mobile software-as-a-service lead generation platform kwkly and a real estate marketing suite company SharperAgent. Market Leader reported a 43% revenue increase in Q2 — an astonishing number in the dismal world of the US real estate market.

Still, some experts believe the domain alone was worth at least $25 million. The domain ranked #4 of the most expensive domain name ever. You do not have to guess which domain was the most expensive ever…

The World’s Oldest Buildings

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:20:20 +0000

Ruins by Shandchem

Are you familiar with the three oldest buildings in the world? There are unsurprisingly disputes about this issue. It is extremely hard to be sure about the exact age of a building, and it is possible that some very old buildings remain to be discovered. Nonetheless, here are three buildings that belong among the oldest in the world, even though we can not say conclusively that they are the oldest. We can almost certainly state that neither the pyramids nor Stonehenge are the oldest, even if this is a common belief.

Megalithic Temples of Malta by tpholland

The Megalithic Temples of Malta

The beautiful Megalithic Temples of Malta are recognized as the very oldest human-made structures in the world. They consist of a number of prehistoric monuments built from 4000 to 2500 BC. However, they were only discovered about two centuries ago. The temples’ unique architecture, as well as their amazing preservation, definitely contributed to the fact that seven of the temples are actually UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is amazing to see what people were capable of so many centuries ago, isn‘t it?

Knap of Howar by Treesiepopsicles

Knap of Howar

The Knap of Howar, a site consisting of two interconnected houses, is very likely the oldest preserved stone house in north-west Europe. It was built in the early Neolithic period and it is located on the west shore of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland. It is believed that this place was occupied by farmers for about nine centuries (from approximately 3700 to 2800 BC) and, like the aforementioned temples, it is amazingly well preserved. It was uncovered only a few decades ago, in the 1930s.

Newgrange by Patrick

Newgrange

One of the oldest buildings in the world is located in Ireland, in County Meath, which is approximately a kilometre north of the River Boyn. The huge, kidney-shaped prehistoric monument called Newgrange was built during the Neolithic period, more than 5,000 years ago, in about 3200 BC. Antiquarians and archaeologists started to study Newgrange in the 17th century, and it was classified as a passage tomb, but it is almost impossible to know for sure what its function was. In any case, this site attracts many tourists nowadays. You might want to pay a visit, too, if you find yourself in Ireland!

Fort York by jofo2005

Toronto's Oldest

There are some very old buildings in Toronto as well, but as you know, their age is nowhere near that of the oldest buildings in the world. Fort York, built in 1793, is considered to be the oldest building in Toronto. With Fort York, the settlement of modern Toronto began. It is a well known fact that the Battle of York reached its peak at Fort York in 1813. The site was used for military purposes until it was opened as a museum in 1934. You can find the biggest collection of original War of 1812 buildings there, and the high number of visitors proves this place is definitely worth seeing for yourself.

Movies Set in Toronto

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:00:50 +0000

Movie Night by Ginny

It‘s movie time again! This time, I‘m going to talk about movies that were not only shot but also set in Toronto. Their number is much lower than those that were only filmed here, but some are definitely worth seeing. The following films are not Canadian productions, however, so they have made our city better known internationally.

Owning Mahowny

Owning Mahowny Poster

This 2003 movie, based on a real-life story, deals with the unpleasant topic of gambling addiction. Its biggest star is multiple academy award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. The plot is centred around a Toronto employee of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, who, thanks to his lies, has taken millions from the bank and its clients to support his gambling addiction.

Owning Mahowny was a box office success and generally received positive reviews. According to Rotten Tomatoes, 72 per cent of the audience thinks the movie is good, and 78 per cent of the approved Tomatometer critics share that opinion. The film has similar ratings on IMDb (International Movie database), where it received seven out of ten points. Owning Mahowny is definitely worth seeing — especially because gambling addiction is an all too serious problem.

The Sentinel

The Sentinel Poster

Big names, not so great reviews. That is how we can characterize the 2006 action thriller. With stars like the charismatic Michael Douglas, the charming Kiefer Sutherland, and the beautiful Eva Longoria, this movie seemed destined for greatness. The overall reviews were not very favourable, though — not even by Torontonians. On IMDb, with 25,460 votes, the movie scored six points out of ten, which isn‘t too pitiful, but on Rotten Tomatoes, it did more poorly. Approximately 46 per cent of the audience liked it, and only 33 per cent of the approved Tomatometer critics thought the movie was good.

The film is based on a novel by former Secret Service Agent Gerald Petievich, and it deals with the betrayal of a US Secret Service agent protecting the US president. Toronto plays and important role here, as one of the key parts of the movie — an assassination attempt on the president, takes place at a G8 conference in the city. However, in spite of being set partly in Toronto, the Sentinel was actually filmed mostly in Washington, D.C. and Kleinburg, Ontario.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World Poster

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

This 2010 film is based on a graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, and unlike the last movie we mentioned, it has gotten fairly positive reviews. So far, 83,278 IMDb users voted on the movie, and it got 7.7 points out of ten. Furthermore, on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie was reviewed positively by about 83 per cent of the audience and 81 per cent of the approved Tomatometer critics. The same source considers the film to be “fast, funny and inventive.”

Wondering what it’s about? Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the fascinating story of a young Canadian guitarist living in Toronto (Scott Pilgrim) who becomes infatuated with an American delivery girl, Ramona Flowers. To get the girl, he has to fight will seven of her evil exes who want to kill him. The film is not only set in Toronto, but it was also filmed in our city.

Canada and International Housing Markets

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:17:59 +0000

The world’s housing markets are showing signs of recovery.
photo by "pah"

The world’s housing markets are showing signs of recovery. The numbers differ from country to country and some are more optimistic than other. In most countries, it’s still much cheaper to rent a house than to buy one of equal size and quality. This is a consequence of a low rent price and a high mortgage rate.

What’s going on around the world?

United States

In some parts of the United States, yearly rents are at 3% of the purchase price whereas the mortgage rates are at 6% making it twice as expansive to borrow the money as to borrow the house. Although the US housing market began to turn positive 6 months ago it still faces many problems. The worst case scenario predicts a 10% price fall in house pricing. What may save the situation is the number of first-time buyers which has increased significantly. Currently, three out of five home sales are now to first-time buyers compared with one in five in a typical market.

Europe

House prices across Britain have gone into reverse for the past few months, in October of this year they rose by 1.2% making it the fourth consecutive month in which prices had increased. The surprisingly quick recovery of house prices is mainly due to low interest rates and lack of supply. Many wonder whether the recovery will continue in winter when the housing market usually slows. The construction spending for the 2012 Olympics give a big hope for the continual recovery.

On the other hand, Ireland is suffering its worst recession in recent history which affecting the house prices greatly. The prices fell an unbelievable 24% compared to February of 2007. When other countries started showing the signs of recovery in August of this year, Ireland saw the worst monthly price fall ever. The increased supply of rental houses, rent decline, the unemployment rate of 13% (expected to rise to 15% in 2010) are just some of the very worrying facts that keep the housing market from recovering.

Unfortunately, Spain is in a similar position as Ireland. The number of unsold properties in Spain now exceeds 1.5 million. But despite this huge pool of inventory, realtors report a price decline of just 14.5% since the peak in July of 2007. The unemployment rate of 19.7% stands at one of the highest rates in Europe and is expected to exceed 21% in 2010. The future does not look very bright for this country’s market but realtors keep hoping that low interest rates will attract more people to homeownership.

Asia

The house prices in China started falling in September 2008 but have already seen price increase in Q2 of this year. This is mainly due to increased government spending and the economy which even in these times saw a staggering 7.1% GDP growth during the first half of 2009.

Winners

Some countries completely avoided the housing market crisis and have easily sailed through the global recession. Israel, Switzerland, Indonesia and Norway have all seen increases in house prices at a slower rate in the first and second quarter of this year. Leading the worldwide statistics is Israel where the average price of houses rose 8.40% year-on-year to end-Q2 2009.

Where does Canada fit in?

Toronto

Canada places somewhere in the middle when it comes to the statistics of the housing market recovery numbers. Home sales began rising in February 2009 and resale house prices started recovering in May 2009. While prices of existing houses are rising, the newly built ones were seeing a declining state till September of this year when a 0.5% rise has been reported showing that the house market is finally strengthening. According to reports from different provinces, Newfoundland registered the biggest price rises (12.7%), followed by British Columbia (11.7%), Manitoba (10.8%) and New Brunswick (8.5%).

All provinces recorded healthy price increases except for Alberta, which experienced a mere 0.2% price rise over the period. The reason Alberta’s house prices did not see a noticeable increase is the canceling of oil and gas exploration projects, poor economy in this region and strong rental market.

Even though the Canadian economy has been dragged down by the US (largest trading partner), the housing prices and sales levels have begun to stabilize. Economic recovery in Canada is expected to be slow and fragile but the housing market is expected to continue to rise for the rest of 2009 and fully recover in 2010. Whether this recovery will be sustained is the big question.

Are we nuts?

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:41:15 +0000

Real Businesses Have Curves by Kevin Dooley

Business journalist Garth Turner has been calling to vultch the USA real estate market in several of his articles as have many other economic advisors. The US real estate market definitely offers a multitude of excellent bargains, but are the arguments for this always bullet proof?

Garth returned to this topic in his latest article. He compares Toronto real estate market and Jacksonville (Florida) market, coming to conclusion: “People in Toronto and Vancouver are as nuts as those in Jacksonville and Phoenix. But the outcome is radically different. In the north, danger. In the south, opportunity."

However, I do not doubt there is an opportunity on the Florida real estate market. But Garth admits he uses “his populist, commonsense, sometimes kick-in-the-pants style of writing,” and I believe this is the case.

First, he is comparing the incomparable. Toronto is the main business centre of Canada, three times bigger than Jacksonville, which can’t get rid of the ‘leisure Florida’ label so easily, even though it’s the biggest city in the state. Buyers looking for properties in Toronto will hardly be from the same group as buyers searching for homes in Jacksonville.

And he continues: “In Canada, as witnessed by today’s CREA numbers, another kind of delusion – an urban myth that real estate values will rise continuously and, despite stagnant incomes, rising unemployment, economic uncertainty and the inevitability of higher taxes and interest rates – people who do not buy today will forever be locked out. Buy now, or never.”

Of course most people can remember better economic times, but again, it’s completely different from the situation in the Florida and the USA! While our real estate market drop lasted for only a few months, the American one has lasted two years and rebound is still uncertain. No investment in this world has 100% risk free appreciation, but there are solid grounds for investments into Canadian real estate. Average property values in Canada grew by 366% in the last 30 years, while inflation reached 156% during the same period. There have only been three real estate recessions in that period and the last one was the shortest.

Jacksonville unemployment rate is higher than in Toronto. Is it economic uncertainty? Compare the latest news from Ontario and Florida, or just the general GDP prognosis for Canada and the USA. Is it the inevitability of higher taxes? Compare the Canadian budget deficit versus the American one. Is it higher interest rates? Both FED and BoC have a 0.25% interest rate.

Prices in Toronto and other places around Canada are rising quite fast because of pent up demand, which has been waiting since last autumn, however, it will calm down within a few months. In the USA you can also find good incentives to buy now as well – its $8,000 tax credit, which will last only another 45 days (while Canadian incentives don’t have exact end date). And still, even with this incentive, the Florida real estate market is waist deep in mud.

People who pay for houses and condominiums in Toronto are not nuts. They know the situation in Toronto is much calmer and safer than somewhere in Florida, no matter how many degrees of Celsius or Fahrenheit there are. And they are not alone – experts prefer to invest into Canadian real estate rather than the American market.

US real estate market offers great opportunities. But with the struggling economy, serious fiscal problems and millions of foreclosed properties, it won’t be such a gold mine in the next few years as Garth Turner and some others are trying to convey.