Low value on appraisals, real estate FOMO, how to get your finances in order, affordable housing, and Old Lake Shore Road. That's this Week in Housing.

1) Low Appraisals

What happens on an appraised value when it comes up short? Especially with the market changing right now. If an appraisal does come lower than your purchase price, what do you have to do?

But if the appraisal does come in low, do you have the money to make up the difference? What happens if the offers firm and it's not conditional upon financing? Just a couple of things you ask yourself. And I think when the market's constantly changing like it is right now, it's really good to be up on this information.

If this happens, what can you do? You can try to renegotiate the purchase price with the seller. If they are willing to lower the price, it may bring it more in line with the appraised value. If the seller is not willing to negotiate, you can try to get a second opinion from another appraiser. Usually there will not be a big difference between the two, but sometimes, two different appraisers will have different opinions on the value of a property.

2) Real Estate FOMO

What is real estate FOMO? It's the fear of missing out. There was recently a Great article for Money Sense Magazine, giving caution over real estate FOMO and making sure, especially as a young first time homebuyer you're not falling into that FOMO trap of real estate. Make sure you're working with professionals, talk to realtor, talk to your mortgage advisor, talk to your lawyer, and make sure you're getting proper information.

So, you shouldn't jump into something because the fear of missing out. Fear is a negative. Instead, do your homework. How much is it going to cost me waiting another 1 year to buy, or 5 years. Do some calculations. If the numbers make sense, and buying or selling can help you meet your goals then go for it.

Yes, by waiting, there is a higher likelihood you will be missing out. Taking action is a good thing. But make sure you buy doing it properly and just really educating yourself on the whole position.

3) Getting Your Finances in Order

Another great one from this week was how to get your finances in order before buying a home, from the OttawaSun.com. The article does a really good job of giving you some good information to help you get ready, like having that steady income, and there are some tips on maybe improving your credit score and for helping save up for the down payment. And there's a lot of great other information there will put about down payments maybe you know, when to start saving.

Lambton County has the down payment assistance program where you can use your RRSPs. there's also a lot of great incentives for first time homebuyers to get into homeownership. And, you know, maybe it's just buying staying outside of your area until you can't afford.

4) Affordable Housing

This is a topic this could be a hot topic for the next month as we have a provincial election coming up and the soaring cost of living affordability. And I think that's going to be on the top of the mind of all Ontario voters, but whose job is it for affordable housing?

And is the way they look at it now actually good for affordable housing or are they using it just to get votes? Many people we meet and talk with say politicians have been doing the same act over and over again for affordable housing. And most of time they villainize the real estate profession, and investors for making money and they tax them.

Is it working or is it not working? They want to tax home flippers more. Well, that just stops home flippers from selling the home so they'll just rent them. How does that impact inventory? Should you be penalized for selling an income property with capital gains tax?

Maybe instead they have to work on how to cut down red tape so we can get developments faster. And how do we make it less to build and to get permits? The fees in most municipalities are absolutely crazy on how much it costs to even get a permit before you dig a hole in the ground.

What is the answer for affordable housing. I don't think it's just taxing the crap out of anyone that wants to buy and sell real estate and just taxing more and more. I think they have to come up with a plan because really they've been going out the same way for a long time. Nothing's changed. It's really it's the definition of insanity, expecting a different result.

5) Old Lake Shore Road

Council has been discussing action to take on Old Lake Shore Road, and how to deal with the problems it faces. A large stretch of the land between the cull drain and Mike Weir Park collapsed in 1973 during a big storm. All these owners back in '73 have encroached on it and built structures on it. A lot of them thought they owned and had no idea. So who gets ownership on it? Should the city go after it or leave it be?

Should they spend the money on the legal costs to recoup it and then put in a walkway? I think there should be fair rights to everyone, but who's entitled to this. Is the cost worth the burden of it? Blackburn News did a great article on this topic.

6) Past Week Real Estate Stats

Let's do a quick recap now from 2021 versus this week. In 2021, there were 65 sales for this last week, 23 homes came off the market.. that's a lot of homes that come off the market. But what was interesting was last week we had we had 44 new listings, 44 sales and had 7 come off the market.

It was very interesting, because for the last couple weeks we've seen more listings and sales. Now we're back levelling back out so was that just a blip in the market and we're going to see things heat up again? Maybe prices keep going are we're going to see them level up, love some hear feedback on that.

References:

1. https://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/2022/05/what-happens-when-appraisal-values-come-up-sho
2. https://www.moneysense.ca/spend/real-estate/real-estate-fomo/
3. https://ottawasun.com/moneywise-pro/borrowing-money/how-to-get-your-finances-in-order-before-buying-a-home
4. https://www.thestar.com/business/2022/05/08/soaring-cost-of-living-eroding-affordability-top-of-mind-for-ontario-voters.html
5. https://blackburnnews.com/sarnia/sarnia-news/2022/05/09/council-asked-reaffirm-ownership-along-stretch-old-lakeshore-road/?fbclid=IwAR3cSA_3Nv7JDIT-VdVQz1fJXr7eOcQftukHAiNUS7KXcAV6Jmz9fAw49MM