Avoid The Media Hype

by Darrin DeRoches November 21 - 27, 2013

As the year is coming to an end the experts are starting to make their predictions for the Canadian Real Estate Market. We are being warned to raise our interest rates from a European council based in Paris who believes our market will no sustain its present strong increases. They then go on to predict our market will increase from 2 to 3 per cent in the coming years?  Are they really looking to help themselves by asking us to raise our rates?  Then you read about this “bubble” coming in the market.  A “bubble” happens when there is too much inventory on the market and not enough buyers and it will finally burst and the market is flood with lower priced inventory to try to right itself. You read about the Toronto and Vancouver markets where they are building condos at a high rate and many are sitting empty. I myself was in Toronto this weekend and everywhere you look a new condo is popping up. All these glass towers may become Toronto’s problem in the future but they are more concerned about the glass pipe right now.      So how do you know what is real and what is just media hype? Stop believing what everyone is writing. But of course you are reading my article right now so what makes me right?  I look past all the media hype and the company slogans. I am involved in real estate in market daily. I speak with real estate agents, brokers, banks, lawyers and credit councilors weekly.  These people are dealing with the market and these are the real indicators.  This time of the year is slow for real estate, so you start to look ahead in to the New Year and figure out what is going to happen.  It has been a strong year for real estate and Hamilton is moving at a good pace. There are investors coming to town.  Companies are relocating. A good amount of “Toronto buyers” are buying in Hamilton. The new GO Station is coming next year and sure it will have some impact but not as strong as “all day” trains. All this “growth” shows a strong movement in the coming years.     Hamilton’s real estate market has been moving upward for the last fifteen plus years. We have kept up with the pace of the market but lately we are now on top of this growth. I would not say that Hamilton’s real estate market is “hot” or the “next best thing” but who wants to be that? Warren Buffet invests in strong, steady and robust companies and that is what Hamilton is right now. Ambitious City is what is being thrown around right now but I believe strong and steady will always win. Throw in a little ambition and you have a great future in the market within a great city!  Lastly, Oskee Wee Wee — Tiger Cats — bring home the cup!  It would be great way to finish the year at being # 1. V     Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at sold@uniquerealty.ca.