Here’s wishing all my clients and blog readers a very happy new year!  Best wishes in all personal and professional endeavours for 2010!

Cheers,

Lang

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to update you on a new listing I have in Lakelands Village, Brampton.

This home is a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom detached home on a quiet street.  The house has a large backyard and best of all, there are no houses behind.

The sellers have added hardwood floors on the main floor and on the second floor hallway.  The kitchen comes included with top of the line stainless steel appliances, and the adjoining family room is already wired for a home theatre system and comes with a gas fireplace.  The master bedroom ensuite bathroom features a whirlpool tub.

The basement, like most of the new homes in Lakelands, is still unfinished.  However, there is a rough-in bathroom and rough-in central vacuum system in place in case you wish to add these features later.  And of course, living in Lakelands means the convenience of highway 410, all the plazas and shops close by (including Trinity Mall), the new hospital, parks, and the lake in the middle of the village.

If you’re interested in seeing this property or any other real estate in Brampton, please contact me!

Here are the latest numbers for the real estate market in Brampton for December 2008.  Selling prices have dropped in line with the rest of the GTA.  The time it takes to sell an average home in Brampton has increased to just over 40 days.

December 2008

In December of 2008, Brampton had 1,748 active listings on the market, 530 of which were new listings. There were 22 recorded sales in this month. Here is the break down according to areas in Brampton.

W23 (Any area in Brampton west of Highway 410)

Overall
Average sale price: $310,308
Median sale price: $300,000
Average number of days it took to sell a property: 40 days
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 97% of asking price

Detached Homes
Number of properties sold: 79
Average sale price: $347,262
Median sale price: $335,000
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 97% of asking price

Semi-Detached Homes
Number of properties sold: 35
Average sale price: $260,997
Median sale price: $260,000
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 97% of asking price

Condo Apartment
Number of properties sold: 3
Average sale price: $207,333
Median sale price: $215,000
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 98% of asking price

Condo Townhouse
Number of properties sold: 8
Average sale price: $226,763
Median sale price: $224,750
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 97% of asking price

Attached/Row/Townhouse
Number of properties sold: 7
Average sale price: $279,414
Median sale price: $279,000
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 98% of asking price

W24 (Any area in Brampton east of Highway 410)

Overall
Average sale price: $319,302
Median sale price: $310,000
Average number of days it took to sell a property: 41 days
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 96% of asking price

Detached Homes
Number of properties sold: 47
Average sale price: $399,347
Median sale price: $387,000
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 96% of asking price

Semi-Detached Homes
Number of properties sold: 10
Average sale price: $292,040
Median sale price: $299,000
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 96% of asking price

Condo Apartment
Number of properties sold: 12
Average sale price: $152,843
Median sale price: $139,750
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 97% of asking price

Condo Townhouse
Number of properties sold: 8
Average sale price: $199,875
Median sale price: $206,000
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 94% of asking price

Attached/Row/Townhouse
Number of properties sold: 13
Average sale price: $278,031
Median sale price: $285,900
Average % of listing price a property sold for: 97% of asking price

Hi everyone!

Well, it looks like I stayed overseas a lot longer than I intended, but it’s great to be back home. Many apologies for my very extended hiatus from the site, but I am happy to announce that I am back and will be resuming my articles and real estate work.

Stay tuned!

Hey everyone. I just wanted to drop a quick note to all the Brampton Real Estate Blog readers out there who have been following my blog since it’s inception.  As you may have noticed, I haven’t been able to update the site regularly these last couple weeks.

I do have a legitimate excuse…. I got married!

I’m actually overseas in Asia right now, and won’t be back in Brampton for another 3 weeks.  In the interim, I will try to post a few articles to give you all something to read.  And of course, I am checking my emails daily so if you’d like to send me an email or leave a comment here after this post, please be my guest!

Regular articles will commence once again when I get back.  Thanks again for being a part of my real estate blog, and all the best!

Lang

The fine people over at BloggyAward have been kind enough to award me the Bloggy Gold Award for best blog of the month. They rated my site on visual aesthetics, user friendliness, reading enjoyment, and useful info. I am truly humbled that the Brampton Real Estate Blog stood out amongst the crowd of candidates. There are so many other fantastic sites that were in the running – I highly suggest you check them out if you’re looking for some great reads.

A special thanks to Noemi for her personal review of the site, and much gratitude to BloggyAward for their kind words!

Take a look around. In the U.S., the housing market is crumbling leaving some desperate home owners throwing their keys back at lenders while others are deliberately burning their houses down. Up here in Canada, the real estate market is still going strong and with recent reductions in interest rates, what does this all mean?

If there isn’t a better time than now to get more educated about mortgages, lending practices, and borrowing strategies, I don’t know when that would be. Enter MortgageFit.com.

Let’s face it, finding answers to all your questions is sometimes pretty frustrating. Either you’re given the runaround or the person isn’t qualified enough to give you an adequate response. MortgageFit boasts the world’s largest mortgage community and is comprised of knowledgeable members who can give you free mortgage advice as well as free online quotes. If you have a question on a particular topic, ask away in their discussion forum and rest assured one of their thousands of members will come to your aid. Need answers fast? The site also provides a myriad of articles and references that you can browse at your own convenience, as well as online calculators that help you quantify your needs.

What I like most about this site is that it’s powered by people. Take a quick look through their message board and you’ll find a community alive with questions, stories, and friendly chatter. If you need quick answers on mortgages, credit issues, debt, and other financial issues, I recommend checking out MortgageFit.

It’s come to my attention that my contact form isn’t working, and I’m not even quite sure how long it’s been out of commission. If you’ve tried contacting me in the last few weeks and I have not replied, allow me to apologize. I’m still trying to investigate the root of the problem, but in the meantime, if you need to email or contact me, please send your message to the following email.

Again, I apologize if you recently sent me a contact form and it got lost. If you feel this may be the case, please send it again. Many thanks!

Lang

I just wanted to drop a quick note to all the readers out there about a third site I am launching. In addition to BramptonBuyers.com that I have running to help people buy a home or condo in Brampton, I now also have it’s sister site BramptonSellers.com which will deal exclusively with people wanting to sell their home in Brampton.

BramptonSellers.com will feature articles, tips and tricks, and other seller-related information as well as Brampton-specific stats that will help sellers with the selling process. As the site is still under launch, I humbly ask for your patience until I can get everything running smoothly. In the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, take some time to explore this site and read other articles I have posted on life and real estate in Brampton.

Thanks for visiting!

Lang

One of the goals of this Brampton Real Estate blog is not only to focus on real estate news and articles about Brampton, but also to provide a larger scope of all things that pertain to Brampton. I’ve always wanted to launch an online directory that featured only Brampton businesses, charities, community notes, and resources.

An online Brampton directory will not only make it easier for you to find a particular link all in one place, but it also helps us all contribute back to the city by promoting business and events within the community. I have started a new section to this blog that will feature only links that lead back to Brampton. If you are interested in adding a link for your business, website, organization, charity, or anything else related to Brampton, please send me a comment here. This will of course cost you nothing – it is a free service I will be providing. I will post the directory as soon as I have a sizable number of links that I can offer.

The main focus of this blog will continue to be real estate in Brampton, helping people buy and sell homes, and providing real estate news. However, I strongly encourage you to either participate or reference this new online Brampton directory that will be up and running shortly. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to send them my way!

If you’ve recently purchased a home in Brampton and are new to the city, maybe you aren’t quite sure what days the trash is collected and what the guidelines are to garbage day. The map above indicates the different regions of Brampton and what days correspond to trash removal.

What do you put on on garbage day?

• Remember to put your garbage, full blue boxes and grey boxes out at the curb by 7 a.m. on your collection day, but not before 7 p.m. the night before.
• For ease of collection, please keep your blue box, grey box and garbage separate at the curb.
• For safety reasons, do not include hazardous waste (i.e. paint, propane cylinders or motor oil) with your garbage.

What about special items?

Bulky Items – Place at curb for collection on normal collection day. No arrangement for pick up necessary

Large Appliances - Picked up by appointment only. Call the Region of Peel at 905-791-9499 to arrange for pick up

Christmas Trees - NO PLASTIC BAGS and free of tinsel, ornaments and tree stands

Remember, properly disposing of your waste both helps the environment and keeps Brampton beautiful for everyone!

For more detailed information of Peel Waste policies, click here.

As luck would have it, I didn’t have to strain to be clever in coming up with an acronym for this new and wonderful blog, as Brampton Buyers Blog conveniently compacts itself into BBB. If you’re here and reading this, you’re probably wondering what this is all about.

In some shape or fashion, you’re interested in purchasing a home in Brampton. But curiousity got the best of you, and led you to the blogging portion of my website where perhaps you were looking for something a little outside of real estate. You may be glad to know that this blog will strive to cover as much as possible regarding the housing market in Brampton, but it will also boast more light-hearted, off-topic posts that may humour you, raise an eyebrow, or have you shaking your head in disbelief.

The whole point of me blogging will be to keep you returning to the BramptonBuyers.com. In delving a little bit into my life and getting to know me through my posts here, I would hope that sometime in the future when you do decide to take the leap and purchase a home in Brampton, you may think of me first as your man. Think of it as a way of us becoming friends, just not in the traditional fashion. You are welcome to comment on anything I write, as well as send me your thoughts and questions with the promise of a prompt reply.

So here’s to new acquaintances and a great relationship. Welcome to the blog, and I’ll be seeing you around.

Lang