Staging a country home – before and after shots!

I spent yesterday staging a home in the country for sale — not finished yet, and of course I always forget to take before pictures but the homeowner took a few, so here goes! (I will try to do better when I finish up next weekend).

The living room bothered me — that shelf really had no purpose and I don’t like a shelf that close to the top of a sofa. We took it down and I hung up some art. The photograph the homeowner took doesn’t really show the transformation — we never take our own photographs head on this way — but you will see there’s a new floor rug, different cushions and a new piece of art. The blue lamp on the side table is also mine. Not shown: the re-accessorized built-in. (That white side table went down to the basement along with the pole lamp.)

Before we got to this point, I had the homeowners swap the sectional that was in in this room (way too big: you’ll see it down in the basement now) with this one.

The recreation room in the basement is HUGE – 35′ long. This large sectional (which was previously in the living room, and was really too big for that room) looked pretty lonesome in all this space, but there’s a bulkhead along the wall, so no real way to hang art above it.

I opted instead to hang art on the adjacent wall and add a large clock, plus a rug and new cushions. The two lamps came from other parts of the house — one from the principal bedroom and one from the living room. A room like this is too big to furnish completely for staging but the opposite wall is now a children’s play area (not shown).

Finally (and only because these are all the photos the homeowner took), we have the principal bedroom. It had no bedding on it when I arrived, because the homeowner thought I’d bring sheets and took everything off. (I don’t change the sheets in a home where people are living: my staging supplies have to be kept in pristine condition. The bedding I bring is only out when the home is being shown and can’t be used by the homeowners).

So their sheets and pillows went back on along with a white duvet. I added the other accessories and art. I also replaced those side tables with larger ones that have some detail. The two that were there are now in a basement bedroom–instead of side tables, that bedroom had a tiny wooden stool and a natural wood table. The natural wood table is now in the basement next to the charcoal grey sectional and the stool is in the play area. I added two new lamps as well, instead of the big pole lamp, which is now in the basement beside the charcoal grey sectional.

This was probably my favourite room transformation in this house — I also did another bedroom, the laundry room, dining room, and bathrooms, but the principal bedroom is now very serene and quite lovely! This home is stunning — I’ll share the listing once it’s ready to go!

My Year in Review!

Looking back over this year, it was a little crazy. I got back to boxing (I finally achieved Level 5) and feel like I have mostly recovered from my Moderna vaccine injury after 2 1/2 years. I have only minor recurrent brain fog from time to time although I still have peripheral neuropathy and probably always will.

I couldn’t write or draw or paint for a couple of years, because of it, and even writing SHADOW PLAY was a struggle because of ongoing issue with word selection. I’d have to look up the spelling of common words and would frequently get common sayings wrong (close, but not correct), but I think I’m past that now. Sure hope so!

When SHADOW PLAY was turned down by my previous Big Five publisher although they thought it was a really good book (but didn’t think it would be a bestseller), I decided to create ReBound Press, and published it myself. It has been a wild learning curve! On the plus side, SHADOW PLAY got a full page review in the Arts and Entertainment section of the Ottawa Citizen, a two page spread in Luxe Magazine and was featured in 55 Plus magazine as well, so it’s getting some nice buzz. It’s also getting the highest rankings of any of my books on Goodreads — 4.94/5 so far.

For those of you wondering, my net profits after all my costs (typesetting, artwork, printing editing etc.) will be about $4,500, and I have roughly $ 2,500 in inventory (unsold books). Definitely not enough to live on, so I have to grow this business if I plan to continue doing this as I ease into retirement without a pension, but at least I’m on the right side of the ledger. Many self-published authors aren’t.

I would have done better financially, but I decided put HUNGRY GHOSTS back in print as well. That cost me a bundle not just to reprint it, but because I missed some typesetting errors and had to toss out an entire print run at my expense (don’t ask how much that cost — in terms of lost inventory, it was thousands). Unfortunately, I had shipped out a bunch of them to readers before I realized the mistake, so I got dinged both for re-shipping the replacements as well as re-printing the books I had to throw out. That hurt for sure. 

Due to a printing error, I gave another case of books to the Centretown Community Health Centre so Julia Huckle could arrange to distribute them to precariously housed and isolated people who might like to read a new book they can’t afford to buy. I hope they enjoy them!

On the positive side, back in June, I was awarded the OLIP Welcoming Ottawa Ambassador award for the work I did finding host families for Ukrainian refugees (I placed about 200 Ukrainians with host families). That meant a lot. My friends, Bruce Mayo and Sandra West, got the same award — ironically, they got theirs for being a host family to a young Ukrainian lawyer who I had placed with them!

I also did 23 pet portraits to raise money for Niall Harbison’s dog rescue in Thailand to pay for Tina’s surgery — she was an incredibly special retriever found in a terrible state. It broke my heart when she passed away this year, but a lot of people were moved by her plight and touched by her gentle, loving spirit. I was able to raise around $ 2,500, with people paying whatever they felt was reasonable for the portraits and sending the money directly to Niall. Here’s a sample!

With the help of my friend, Tim Stahl, who arranged a GoFundMe, I was also able to help my friend Pete. Pete found out he was terminally ill in June and because he had given his notice earlier in the year before he found out he had terminal lung cancer, he had to vacate his rental unit by July 1. He was penniless, in debt, and about to be homeless when I found out about his situation. I knew I had to do something to help and started doing more pet portraits; then Tim got hold of me and offered to set up a GoFundMe even though he’d never met Pete.

We raised over $10,000! I’m endlessly grateful to everyone who helped this good man. It meant the world to him to have that support in his final days.

Pete left me all his art supplies and I promised him I will continue to do pet portraits to raise funds for good causes so he can pay it forward even after his death. I dedicated SHADOW PLAY to him, and I’m glad he was able to know that before he passed away–he thought it was “awesome.”

I also organized my annual sock drive, “Sock it to Christmas!” this year, and with Greg MacEachern’s and Eric Kalbfleisch’s help (Barry Larocque from my office also helped to deliver bins), we were able to collect just under 1,000 pairs of new winter socks for the shelters and for the Parkdale Food Centre’s Soup and Socks Program! As always, the Royal LePage Team realtors were incredibly generous — we had six bins out this year in our various offices and will do the same next year. And Greg managed to collect 210 pairs of socks all on his own! Amazing!

Finally, despite all the chaos, I achieved the Royal LePage President’s Gold Award this year (top 20% of individuals in Ontario when it comes to gross commissions), which was a pleasant surprise. It was a challenging year in real estate (in pretty much everything, for most folks) so I started off the year not thinking I’d hit any awards levels at all. Thanks to my wonderful clients — enjoyed working with each and every one of you.

My goals for 2024 are to create two Indie Awards, one for mystery authors like me, whose books were previously shortlisted and won some awards, but who no longer qualify for any Canadian awards because either we’re self-published or our books aren’t available in regular Canadian retail channels. The other will be for jacket cover design artwork. These will be called the Tobys, and I am working on what the award will look like. I’m hoping to find a corporate sponsor in the new year to cover costs. If anyone knows anyone who might be interested, give them a nudge!

Every single one of my achievements, except for boxing, is something I could not have achieved without the help of my community– you supported Ukrainians, bought my books, contributed to my fundraisers, and donated socks. So heading into the New Year, I want to thank you all for your support! Here’s to 2024! I hope mine is a little less frantic and that ReBound Press continues to grow and that readers continue to enjoy SHADOW PLAY!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

President’s Gold Award, 2023!

Not going to lie, this was a tough year with a lot of challenges. But I’m happy to learn that I was awarded the Royal LePage President’s Gold Award this year — I honestly didn’t think I would hit any of the awards level this year.

“Congratulations Peggy, you have won the President’s Gold Award, based on GCI.
Top 20% of all individuals in Ontario, GCI
Top 25% of all agents in Ontario, GCI.”

I’m not sure that I understand the difference between an “individual” winning this award and an “agent” winning this award,” but my guess is that some people work on teams. I don’t. I do it all on my own :-). Anyway, very nice news to get as we head into the New Year!

TRESA – The New Trust in Real Estate Services Act

So, we have new legislation in place in Ontario that governs realtors and how transactions can be handled. The biggest change is that in a multiple offer situation, the seller now has the right to decide (without the buyer’s consent) to disclose any or all parts of an offer or even something from one offer and something else from another offer, to other interested buyers at seller’s sole discretion. So they can release information, for example, about the highest price in an offer they’ve received, but not necessarily that it’s a conditional offer. Or they can release a closing date, or the amount of a deposit from one, and something entirely different about another. It’s entirely up to them and they can decide at any point in the process to either do this or to change their mind and not continue it, even if they’ve already started disclosing.

I suspect most sellers won’t use this new power, because it doesn’t really favour them — blind bidding has always favoured sellers because buyers are forced to bid without knowing what price they are competing against. If you’re the seller’s agent presenting offers to the seller, it’s not uncommon to see a cluster of offers at around what you think is fair market value and then an outlier– someone who really, really wants the property and pays a lot more than the other bidders. The seller won’t likely want to disclose the highest offer in that situation; it’s not going to help them. But they might want to in a situation where two offers are fairly close, and they want to see if one party is willing to pay more in order not to lose out.

We had some discussion at the office about whether a buyer who puts in a high offer might want to include a clause saying that if the seller discloses any information about their offer, their offer will be null and void. The problem is, of course, that the seller has not accepted the buyer’s offer, so there is no privity of contract binding the seller to that term. On the other hand, if the seller wants to disclose that information anyway, and are prepared to take the chance on losing that offer if it turns out that clause is considered valid, then they have to disclose to other buyers that they now have one fewer offer than they had to disclose. Do they have to disclose it’s the highest offer that dropped out? No one really knows.

My concern about this change is that it puts control in the hands of the seller, who will act in their own interest, and gives no control at all to the buyer. And yet in multiple offer situations, it’s the buyer who wants (and arguably needs) more information about what they’re competing against in order to feel treated fairly by the process.

A lot of agents think we should all include the “disclose it and lose it” clause in all our offers as a way of hampering the seller’s ability to disclose details of an offer to other buyers. Others think that it’s going to be quite a balancing act for the seller, particularly if there are two or more close offers and one offer has that clause and the other doesn’t–consensus seemed to be that you could release the price in the one that didn’t have the clause but the other buyer with the same price won’t know you didn’t disclose theirs after they had expressly said not to, so it could get messy.

I would say that all of this has to roll out on the ground before we will know how to advise our sellers and our buyers, and luckily the market is slow right now, so we’re not seeing a lot of multiple offers, but but I think it has the potential when the market picks up to create some real problems. Our general consensus was that while we want to have a full and frank discussion with our sellers if we think there may be multiple offers, we may want to hold off on getting instructions on this stuff until we know if we do, and have a bit more information about the content of those offers.

Also, the same duty of confidentiality about personal information remains — a seller can’t disclose to another buyer your name or any identifying details.

Other changes in the legislation will do away with the idea that if two agents in the same brokerage are acting on opposite sides of a transaction, that creates a multiple representation situation — it treats them now as if they come from different brokerages.

And there is a new 12 page Guide that realtors are required to send to clients or prospective clients before they offer services (we may need to get that signed and acknowledged as part of our paperwork). It really emphasizes the importance of a buyer or seller not acting on their own, as they are now considered completely unrepresented — in the past, they were called “Customers” instead of “Clients,” which was confusing, I think. This is a good change, although I think a shorter Guide would make it more likely that people will read it — 12 pages is a lot!

Other than that, we are still figuring out some new forms we’ll have to use. In a multiple representation situation in the future, we’ll have a new document that will have to be completed by the parties so that it’s clear who is acting for who and what their duties are. Many of the revised forms need further tweaks: one, for example, has the section that is to be completed to confirm there is NOT a multiple representation situation right under a Boldface heading for Multiple Representation, so it’s going to get missed for sure.

And there are new forms for Seller Directions on this question of what to disclose during multiple offers. Just remember that once signed, these are instructions that the agent has to follow, but that these can be replaced or revoked at any time by new instructions from the seller. So when you go into a multiple offer situation as a buyer, just be aware that the price you offer (and closing date and conditions) may or may not be disclosed by the seller to other buyers at any point in time and that other than including a clause in your offer that says your offer will be null and void if they disclose any part of it (which may or may not be valid), you can’t control that disclosure from happening.

New Legislation for Realtors and a New Venture for Me!

I haven’t posted about real estate for a while because a) I’ve been trying to figure out where this market is headed and b) I created a publishing imprint in the late summer called ReBound Press! I’ll tell you about that first, and then I’ll discuss one of the changes to the Ontario legislation that governs realtors that kicked in on December 1st. Most of the changes are backroom stuff that won’t change the way you buy or sell your home, but there is a major change with respect to offer presentation that I’ll get to shortly.

But first, ReBound Press! Many of you know I’m a mystery author — my debut novel, THE BEGGAR’S OPERA was shortlisted for a UK Debut Dagger Award which led to it being published around the world (Netherlands, Norway, Germany, the UK, Israel and the Czech Republic) as well as in the US and Canada, thanks to a two book deal with Penguin Canada. It won the Giller Prize Reader’s Choice Award and was nominated for a bunch of others. The next three books in the Inspector Ramirez series (set in Cuba) were also shortlisted for a number of awards and readers loved them — the series received critical acclaim.

The last two books, HUNGRY GHOSTS and UMBRELLA MAN, were published by Simon and Schuster Canada, and both hit #7 on the national bestseller list within a week of their release. The problem was not enough readers bought them for Simon and Schuster Canada to keep them in print and I was getting busier with real estate, where it was actually possible to earn a living, unlike from writing, so I stopped writing for seven years.

Last fall, though, I got an idea for a book based on the LRT scandal in Ottawa and wrote a fifth novel called SHADOW PLAY. Simon and Schuster read it and gave me a lengthy response about all the things they loved about it (they thought it was a really good book) but they declined to publish it because they didn’t think it would be a bestseller, based on my past track record of sales.

And because I couldn’t change that record, I decided to create ReBound Press and publish it myself. (Ironically, SHADOW PLAY sold enough copies that if Simon and Schuster had picked it up, it would have hit the national bestseller list. But that’s based on volume and velocity within any given week, so don’t get too excited!)

I only sell online through reboundpress.com because bookstores generally want a 45-50% discount from the list price and I can’t afford that. As a very small publisher, I’m dealing with much smaller economies of scale than a big publisher, and given the cost of distribution and the right of booksellers to return unsold books at publisher’s cost, I thought I would try a new model.

So far, it’s doing well and readers love the new book — it has a 4.93/5 rating on Goodreads, which is incredible! I also reprinted HUNGRY GHOSTS (they gave me my reversionary rights back to it and UMBRELLA MAN.) I hope to have UMBRELLA MAN back in print early next year.

Here are the covers for HUNGRY GHOSTS and UMBRELLA MAN: I’ve been working with a wonderful graphic designer in Alberta named Terry Smith. You can check out reboundpress.com for more details about the books, reviews etc. and how to order them if you are interested!

Now that I have things on that front under control, I can take some time to tell you about the legislative change in the new TRESA legislation that could have the most potential impact on the real estate market.

In a multiple offer situation, the seller now has the right to decide (without buyer’s consent) to disclose any or all parts of an offer or even something from one offer and something else from another offer, to other interested buyers at seller’s sole discretion. So they can release information, for example, about the highest price in an offer they’ve received, but not necessarily that it’s a conditional offer. Or they can release a closing date, or the amount of a deposit from one, and something entirely different about another. It’s entirely up to them and they can decide at any point in the process to either do this or to change their mind and not continue it, even if they’ve already started disclosing.

We had some discussion today at the office about whether a buyer who puts in a high offer might want to include a clause saying that if the seller discloses any information about their offer, their offer will be null and void.

The problem is, of course, that the seller has not accepted the buyer’s offer, so there is no privity of contract binding the seller to that term. On the other hand, if the seller wants to disclose that information anyway, and are prepared to take the chance on losing that offer if it turns out that clause is considered valid, then they have to disclose to other buyers that they now have one fewer offer than they had to disclose. Do they have to disclose it’s that highest offer that dropped out? No one really knows.

My concern about this change is that it puts control in the hands of the seller, who will act in their own interest, and gives no control at all to the buyer. And yet in multiple offer situations, it’s the buyer who wants (and arguably needs) more information about what they’re competing against in order to feel treated fairly by the process.

A lot of agents think we should all include the “disclose it and lose it” clause in all our offers as a way of hampering the seller’s ability to disclose details of an offer to other buyers. Others think that it’s going to be quite a balancing act, particularly if there are two or more close offers and one has that clause and the other doesn’t–consensus seemed to be that you could release the price in the one that didn’t have the clause but the other buyer with the same price won’t know you didn’t disclose theirs after they had expressly said not to, so it could get messy.

I would say that all of this has to roll out on the ground before we will know how to advise our sellers and our buyers, and luckily the market is slow right now, so we’re not seeing a lot of multiple offers, but but I think it has the potential when the market picks up to create some real problems.

A final point? The same duty of confidentiality about personal information remains — a seller can’t disclose to another buyer your name or any identifying details.

Now go buy some books, LOL!

Sock it to Christmas! sock bin locations!

Below are the locations of our sock bins for donations to Sock it to Christmas! Last year we collected over 1,600 pairs of brand new winter socks. The men’s socks go to Good Shepherds and The Mission; women’s and children’s socks go to the Parkdale Food Centre’s Soup and Socks Program! We plan to pull the bins on the December 16 weekend, so we can sort the socks into sizes and drop them off where needed. Help us give the gift of warmth this Christmas! Our drop off bin locations are as follows:

Royal LePage Team, 1723 Carling Avenue (near Broadview)

Royal LePage Team, 3101 Strandherd Drive, Barrhaven

Royal LePage Team, 5510 Manotick Main Street, Manotick

Royal LePage Team, 48 Bridge Street, Manotick

Royal LePage Team,  484 Hazeldean Road (corner of Castlefrank)

Royal LePage Team,  6081 Hazeldean Drive (just off Stittsville Main)

Royal LePage Team 555 Legget Drive, Kanata, Unit 101 (Kanata North)

(I will be dropping a bin off in Carleton Place at the Royal LePage Team office at 24 Lansdowne Ave, right across from the Dollarama, this afternoon!)

Do I really need a home inspection?

“I love this house. It’s immaculate. Everything in it has been upgraded. Other buyers are interested in it too and I don’t want to lose it. Do I really need a home inspection?”

Yes, you do. A million times, yes. Unless you have a wallet full of cash and a tolerance for the unexpected.

Let me give you three recent examples of where a home inspection proved to be invaluable. In example #1, the home was absolutely lovely and extremely well-maintained. The buyers had a chat outside about whether they should have a home inspection or not but finally decided to go a conditional offer, and their offer was accepted.

The home inspector found vermiculite in the attic. It turned out that the owners had had the vermiculite tested and found out it was positive for asbestos but had been told by their contractor not to worry about it.

Given the buyers’ concern about asbestos, they could have walked away but decided to proceed with a price reduction; they will take care of the necessary work themselves. Had we not had a home inspection, they might not have found out about the asbestos until after they moved in, or even worse, if they were trying to sell down the road and a prospective buyer discovered it. That home inspection paid for itself and then some.

In example two, the seller had not disclosed previous flooding. Once again, it was the home inspector who found signs of it when he found a disconnected sump pump and effluorescence in the basement.

In example three, the home inspector noticed that a new support beam in the basement had not been installed properly. It turned out the sellers were aware of structural sagging and hired a structural engineer to advise them on how to fix the problem, but then did a DIY job (incorrectly) rather than hiring a professional to install the new beam and getting sign off from the engineer. The home inspector found other similar sloppy work throughout the house. Again, this was a lovely home and beautifully presented. The buyers walked. They were out of pocket for the home inspection but they felt they had saved thousands by having one done. And later on, I found them their dream house.

Sellers are supposed to disclose latent defects: these are ones that could not easily be discovered by a home inspection and are only known to the seller. A positive test for asbestos, an engineer’s report, previous flooding: these are things that only the seller knows.

In each case, the sellers may not have been fully aware of the importance of each of these issues to prospective buyers. They may have felt that they weren’t a big deal. But since they weren’t disclosed, without a home inspection, the buyers might not have found out about them until it was too late.

Easements and Right of Ways – Beware!

Well, I just had an interesting experience. I was looking at making an offer on a row unit which is the middle unit of three. It is fully fenced and backs right on NCC bike paths. The NCC metal fence runs along the back yard of this unit and it doesn’t have a gate.

There is a gate in the back yard fence between this unit and the one beside it, which usually connotes an easement or right of way, permitting the middle unit reasonable access.

This could mean the middle unit owner bringing around a lawn mower from time to time, for example, that is stored in a garage or shed at the front of the house, or letting trades have access for their materials, equipment and ladders when installing new roofing or siding or windows. Landscaping would be another reasonable access, as it is impossible to bring wheelbarrows of sand or heavy materials through a property.

Anyway, I did up the offer and I checked the legal description of  this property and the two on either side of it. No easements or right of ways appeared in the legal descriptions, which meant that access rested on goodwill of the adjacent owner (s).

I contacted the listing agent who said that the neighbour owned both adjacent units and was a pretty genial  guy, but that wasn’t much of a guarantee. I thought I should go take a look at the back of the property from the vantage point of the NCC path behind it before I went any further.  From the back of the property, while standing on the bike path, I could see that the gate in the fence was actually blocked on the neighbour’s side. There was a thick electrical or gas cable that ran along the top of the entire fence, but which was, impossible to see from the back yard of the unit I was interested in. . And it was also obvious that there were no rear entry points whatsoever at any point along the bike path that would allow access to the back yard.

So I tracked down the neighbour and asked if he would be comfortable with trades using his yard to gain access for needed work. He was very polite but also very definite that he would  not give permission for access. He said he did not trust the trades to be respectful of his property and said that he was putting down a new driveway and didn’t want them using it. In fact, he is actually planning to block off the gate in the shared fence to make it clear there is no implied consent to its use. Super nice guy, yes, but under no legal obligation without a registered right of way or easement on that property to let anyone cross his property, and he knows it.

So, the person who buys this property is going to have a problem when it comes time to tear out the deck, or replace the windows or roof, or even do some of the repairs to the siding that are needed , because they don’t have access to the back yard except through the front door. The front entrance to this unit is very tiny, so forget being able to bring even a ladder through, much less siding, or stone dust, or new windows in. I’m afraid the new owner will be trapped.

I wonder how many prospective buyers think to check into things like that when they get caught up in multiple offer situations? A home inspection might have disclosed the issue with access, but most home inspectors don’t talk to the neighbours to find out what kind of goodwill they’ll extend when repairs might be needed, nor do most buyers.

I should note that even with a registered easement, if a neighbour doesn’t want to allow access, it can be a problem. I have also seen several row units where the access gates have been blocked off by neighbours. Unless you want to spend your money on lawyer’s, get ready for problems.

Do your due diligence and ask your realtor put a clause in the offer giving your time to determine whether access is going to be an issue,  if you’re not sure. A property that can’t be repaired easily because of access issues is going to be a nightmare.

Director’s Platinum!

So I guess this makes it official! This is the kind of award you can’t possibly get unless you have wonderful clients who trust you with their business. So a huge thank you to all of mine last year (and to all the past clients who referred them to me) — this one’s for you!

What does affordability mean and what’s affordable in Ottawa?

I was asked by a Twitter pal to discuss what’s affordable for someone making an income of $60-70K a year.

Okay, so affordability in this context is going to mean what a buyer can qualify to buy, i.e. what the lender considers they are able to afford. I was hoping to get a breakdown of specific numbers from a mortgage broker pal but he’s off on a cruise so I talked to York Polk, another mortgage broker I work with from time to time, and he says the rough rule of thumb is that you can afford four times your gross income. That assumes no major debts or other obligations, but it’s a guideline.

Let’s start with $60,000 a year. Using this rule of thumb, you might be able to afford a $ 240,000 home, depending on your debt load. That would put you in a condo, because other than mobile homes (there is one listed in Stittsville currently at $ 239,900), there is nothing freehold in that price range in Ottawa and hasn’t been for years. And currently, there is not a single condo priced in the $230- $240K range in Ottawa — there is one in Pembroke listed at $ 239,900.00 on Matheson with condo fees of $ 425/month. So if you earn $60K a year, Ottawa is pretty much unaffordable right now.

Let’s look at a gross income of $ 65,000 a year, which pushes you up to $ 260K according to this rough guide.

You are still looking at a condo. There are five currently on the market: let’s look at one bedrooms first. (I won’t give specific addresses: if there is any particular unit you’re interested in and you don’t have a realtor, you can contact me and I can provide more information. If you are working with a realtor, and have a signed buyer representation agreement, please don’t: I am unable to respond to your questions under our legislation as you already have representation, and would have to redirect you to your agent.)

There is a one bedroom on McArthur listed at $ 259,900 with condo fees of $ 522/month. Lovely renovated unit with one underground parking. Nice balcony view.

There is a 1 BR/1 BA unit on Ellesmere Road, listed at $ 248K with condo fees of $ 427/month that include heat and hydro. There is underground parking.

There is a one bedroom in a low rise building on Brittany listed at $249,900, ground floor unit, the condo fees are low at $218/month but there is no parking (there are lots of transit stops nearby, though).

In terms of two bedroom units, there is a 2 BR/1 BA on Ohio Street, in Billings Bridge, priced at $245K with condo fees of $ 542/month and one parking spot. The flooring has been torn up and it needs some work for sure.

There is a 2 BR/2BA unit in a high rise building on Brittany listed at $ 259,900. The condo fees of $627/month include heat and hydro and there is underground parking. Nice layout – needs updates.

And finally, there’s an updated unit on Jasmine Crescent listed at $249,900 – 2 BR/1 BA, condo fees of $ 597 a month include heat and hydro. There is one surfaced parking space and a locker.

Your realtor can tell you about these areas, walkability, safety etc. Some of these units are priced on the low end because there are special assessments: these are charges above and beyond condo fees imposed on owners due to unexpected repairs. Again, talk to your realtor. They can also inform you about amenities in some of these buildings – usually, the more amenities, the higher the condo fees. One thing all these units have in common, at this price, are shared laundries.

So, at 65K in gross income, there are some options, but slim pickings. What about at $70K a year, which qualifies you for a property of up to $280K, again, assuming you don’t have any significant debts?

There are twelve units listed for sale in Ottawa in this price range. All but two are in the same buildings referred to above, and vary from one to two bedroom units so I’m not going to go over each one. The other two are on Arrowsmith.

But there is a 3 BR/2 BA stacked unit on Fenerty in Katimavik priced at $279,900. . There one surfaced parking spot . The condo fees are high: $711/month. But it does have in suite laundry, and it looks quite nice.

So, as you can see, if you earn $60-70K in Ottawa, there are only 17 units that you might be able to afford listed currently. That’s in a city of a million. Many of these could use some updating: one needs all new flooring because it’s just exposed concrete currently.

On top of that are the special assessments in several as I mentioned. Some areas are safer than others; again, best to talk to a realtor. There’s no point buying a unit that you can’t sell later on because the area is not considered safe. Nor do you want to buy a unit in a poorly managed building. Special assessments can be a one-off charge because of unexpected costs due to the pandemic or they can be part of an ongoing problem, again, talk to your realtor.

I’m not sure what the federal and provincial governments can do to make housing more affordable for buyers in these income ranges. We have limited supply and tremendous demand, and that’s certainly a big part of it, but the high interest rates also make it hard for buyers to qualify: they have to qualify for financing at 2 points above the contract rate the bank is offering, even though it looks like interest rates have peaked and may be coming down. Many simply can’t meet that threshold.

All we can do, I guess, is hope that those interest rates come down quickly, because I don’t see any new buildings on the horizon that would accommodate these particular buyers. It’s no wonder that young first time buyers are considering moving to other provinces where homes are more affordable, and that’s our loss. The US allows buyers to write off their mortgage costs against income. Maybe that’s something the federal or provincial government can consider, because there’s something wrong when people who are working hard and making a reasonably good income are priced right out of the market.