REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington Provides $19,290 in Support of Five Local Shelter Related Charities

Jun 17, 2021 | REALTORS Care® | 0 comments

Ontario REALTORS® Donate $1 million to Shelter-Based Charities as Pandemic Continues to Challenge Shelters and Food Banks

As the third wave of the pandemic continues to put pressure on the province’s already stretched shelter system, the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington is supporting five shelter-based charities in our local community by providing $19,290 in funding to assist with service continuity. The five shelter-based charities that received funding are Halton Women’s Place, Salvation Army Hamilton Booth Centre,  The Bridge Hamilton, Wesley Urban Ministries, and YWCA Hamilton. This funding is part of the Ontario Real Estate Association’s (OREA) larger donation of $520,000 to Ontario shelters and food banks, which is on top of the $480,000 donation made one year ago. The funds will be distributed through the Ontario REALTORS Care® Foundation to nearly 100 shelters and food banks across Ontario.

“The impacts of COVID-19 continue to be felt around the world, including in our local communities with vulnerable populations being disproportionately affected,” says RAHB President Donna Bacher. “In our RAHB market area, we have witnessed first-hand the tremendous work and obstacles these five charities have had to overcome during the pandemic. Our hope is that this donation will have a direct impact on our community and assist in each charity’s pandemic recovery plan.”

All charities receiving funding are listed on RealHeart.ca, a recently launched initiative with a mission to support Ontario REALTORS® in their work to build stronger communities across Ontario. In 2020 alone, the Foundation raised more than $1.1 million for shelter-based organizations. Today’s donation is part of OREA’s and ORCF’s longstanding commitment to helping families in need of emergency and permanent housing.

“The impact of this pandemic on our local communities has been devastating,” says President of the Ontario REALTORS Care® Foundation Heather Arnott. “We hope this donation will help our community organizations continue the incredibly important work they do to help those going through tough times. I’d like to thank the OREA Board of Directors for their continued support of the Foundation and for their work in responding to the current COVID crisis. This funding is consistent with the socially responsible leadership that OREA, its 37 Member Boards and its REALTOR® Members provide to the Ontario communities they serve.”

Pictured is Anuja Varghese from YWCA Hamilton

To make a donation to the Ontario REALTORS Care® Foundation, go to www.RealtorsCareOntario.ca.

Press Release

RAHB REALTORS® RELEASE MAY 2021 MARKET STATISTICS

Jun 17, 2021 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

*This post has been updated since being uploaded on June 2, 2021. The Stats Map for the Entire RAHB Market Area, Burlington Area Map, Haldimand Area Map, Hamilton Area Map, and Niagara North Area Map have been updated. Apologies for any inconvenience.*

The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 1,811 sales of residential properties located within the RAHB market area through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System in May 2021. While sales were down five per cent since last month, they were up 90 per cent since May 2020. New listings were down 14 per cent since last month and up 73 per cent as of last May. The average price for residential properties was $843,468 which was down one per cent from last month and up 29 per cent from May 2020. The inventory available at the end of the month was 0.6 per cent lower than last month.

*The news release will be posted to www.rahb.ca/market-stats/ on Thursday, June 3.*

Follow the links below for:​ 

Burlington

Haldimand 

Hamilton

Niagara North

RAHB REALTORS® RELEASE APRIL 2021 MARKET STATISTICS

May 3, 2021 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

RAHB REALTORS® RELEASE APRIL 2021 MARKET STATISTICS

The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 1,906 sales of residential properties located within the RAHB market area through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System in April 2021. While sales were down eight per cent since last month, they were up 245 per cent since April 2020. New listings were down three per cent since last month and up 191 per cent as of last April. The average price for residential properties was $855,455 which was down two per cent from last month and up 39 per cent from April 2020. The inventory available at the end of the month was 23 per cent higher than last month.

*The news release will be posted to www.rahb.ca/market-stats/ on Tuesday, May 4.*

Follow the links below for:​

Burlington

Haldimand

Hamilton

Niagara North

More REALTORS® Can Now Access the Canada Emergency Business Account

Dec 2, 2020 | Government Relations | 0 comments

On October 26, 2020, Federal Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, announced that the CEBA would be available to businesses that have been operating out of a non-business account through their financial institution.

The CEBA program provides interest-free loans of up to $40,000 to small businesses that have experienced a loss in revenue due to COVID-19. Repaying the balance of the loan on or before December 31, 2022, will result in loan forgiveness of 25 per cent (up to $10,000).

Eligible businesses include those who had a total payroll between $20,000 and $1.5 million in 2019, as well as sole proprietors receiving business income directly and family-owned corporations remunerating in the form of dividends. Businesses must also have an active Canada Revenue Agency business number with an effective date of registration on or prior to March 1, 2020.

If you are currently operating a small real estate business through a personal account with your financial institution and meet the above outlined eligibility requirements, you may now open a business account with your financial institution.

Once you have successfully opened a business account, you can apply for CEBA by contacting your financial institution. The deadline to apply is December 31st, 2020.

If you are wondering if the CEBA program is right for your business, the Government has created a pre-screening tool to provide business owners with an indication of their eligibility.

The Government has also created a CEBA Call Centre, which can be reached at 1-888-324-4201 between Monday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Canada’s 2020 Fall Economic Statement

Dec 2, 2020 | Government Relations | 0 comments

On December 1, the Government of Canada released their 2020 Fall Economic Statement which included some good news for Ontario home owners, buyers, sellers, and REALTORS®.

The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive

The government is expanding the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive to enhance eligibility in Toronto.

To help people in Toronto buy a house, the federal government is expanding the program to be available to eligible buyers to purchase a home up to 4.5 times their household income, an increase from the current limit of 4 times household income.

Additionally, the eligible buyer’s income threshold is being raised from $120,000 to $150,000 for Toronto. These changes will come into effect in the spring of 2021.

Home Energy Retrofits and Assessments

The government is proposing to provide $2.6 billion over 7 years, starting in 2020-21, to Natural Resources Canada to help homeowners improve their home energy efficiency by providing up to 700,000 grants of up to $5,000 to help homeowners make energy-efficient improvements to their homes.

Additional information on home energy efficiency grants will be provided in a future announcement, and eligibility for these grants will be retroactive to December 1, 2020.

The government also recognizes that homeowners and landlords need to be able to access simple and affordable financing to make deeper home energy retrofits. Over the coming months, the government will outline details of a low-cost loan program that integrates and builds on available energy audits and grants, and which can be easily accessed by Canadians.

Extending the Application Deadline for CEBA

The government is extending the application deadline for the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) to March 31, 2021.

CEBA provides an interest-free loan to small businesses of up to $40,000, with up to $10,000 being forgivable if the loan is paid back by December 31, 2022. The CEBA program will also soon be expanded, allowing eligible businesses to access an additional interest-free $20,000 loan where it is needed.

To read the full Fall Economic Statement, please click the button below:

Canada’s 2020 Fall Economic Statement

RAHB REALTORS® RELEASE NOVEMBER MARKET STATISTICS

Dec 1, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 1,233 sales of residential properties located within the RAHB market area were processed through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System in November 2020. Sales were down 24.12 per cent over last month, but up 17 per cent over November of last year. New listings were down 28.98 per cent over October 2020 and up 16.3 per cent over last November. The average price for residential properties was $722,317, which was up 0.11 per cent from last month and up 21.2 per cent from November 2019. The number of active listings available at the end of the month was 40.8 per cent lower compared to the previous year.

*The news release will be posted to www.rahb.ca/market-stats/ on Wednesday, December 2.*

Follow the links below for:​

Burlington

Halidmand

Hamilton

Niagara North

 

RAHB COVID-19 Update for November 14, 2020 – Red Zones & Open Houses

Nov 14, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

As of Monday, November 16 at 12:01 a.m., Hamilton and Burlington (Halton) will be moving into the COVID-19 Red Zone (Control), as is outlined in the Province’s newly updated COVID-19 Response Framework.

As per the Framework, the Government of Ontario has officially prohibited the hosting of in-person open houses in these Red Zone areas. Real estate brokerages, brokers and salespeople must cease hosting and attending open houses in Hamilton and Burlington. Members can continue to submit virtual open houses through Matrix.

The (in-person) Open Houses feature in Matrix will be disabled for all RAHB areas as of 12:01 a.m. on Monday, November 16, as we are unable to limit by geographic regions at this time. RAHB will continue to work with Corelogic to separate out the various RAHB areas. Members can continue to submit virtual open houses for all RAHB areas through Matrix.

To view the Framework and level by region, please click the below button.

Ontario COVID-19 Response Framework

*Please Note – Although in-person open houses are still permitted in Haldimand (Yellow Zone) and Niagara (Orange Zone), RAHB and OREA strongly urge Members to use virtual means to show properties.

While, under normal circumstances, in-person open houses would be an effective tool for marketing a home, there are many options available to view properties which pose less health and safety risk to Members and clients. We will continue to advise Members against hosting in-person open houses until the pandemic is under better control in Ontario.

For further information, please visit the OREA website by clicking the button below.

OREA Information on Framework and Open Houses

 

For resources on hosting a virtual open house /  live stream, please click the below button:

Virtual Open Houses/ Live Streams

BrokerBay is Coming to RAHB!

Nov 10, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

 

 

 

We have BIG NEWS to share!  RAHB is very excited to announce that we are partnering with BrokerBay to make their full brokerage / agent ecosystem available to all Members as a value-added core service through the RAHB MLS® in early 2021. As a result of adding this unique and highly popular enhancement to RAHB’s suite of MLS® services, ShowingTime will be discontinued as of February 5, 2021.

In the below video BrokerBay’s Co-founder Costa Ntoukas gives an overview of his company’s new partnership with RAHB.

For more information about BrokerBay’s advanced, user-friendly features, functions and benefits, please visit www.brokerbay.ca.

Additional information will be provided to RAHB Members in the coming weeks – including how to sign up, what training is available, and how existing BrokerBay contracts with brokerages will be transitioned.  So, please stay tuned!

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact sales@brokerbay.ca.

Thank you for your support as we continue to increase value-added member services that empower you – the RAHB REALTOR® – to succeed.

RAHB REALTORS® RELEASE OCTOBER 2020 MARKET STATISTICS

Nov 2, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

*Please note* Some Burlington documents below have been updated as of November 5. An error was discovered showing Burlington sales at 376; however, the sales number should have been 374. This error has been corrected.

The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 1,615 sales of residential properties located within the RAHB market area were processed through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System in October 2020. Sales were down 7.6 per cent over last month and up 23.7 per cent over October of last year. New listings were down 12.8 per cent over September 2020 and up 5.5 per cent over last October. The average price for residential properties was $721,523, which was up 0.02 per cent from last month and up 19.8 per cent from October 2019. The number of active listings available at the end of the month was 39.8 per cent lower compared to the previous year.

*The news release will be posted to www.rahb.ca/market-stats/ on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.*

Follow the links below for:​

Burlington

Halidmand

Hamilton

Niagara North

 

Social Media Posts: First-Time Home Buyers’ Month 2020

Oct 28, 2020 | FTHB Month | 0 comments

RAHB is recognizing November as First-Time Home Buyers’ Month, and has developed several resources – such as social media graphics and messaging – that Members can share on their social media accounts. RAHB will send e-mails to Members each Sunday that include easily sharable content for First-Time Home Buyers’ Month that may be beneficial to your clients, potential clients and the general public.

These e-mails will have social share buttons that will post automatically to your Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn accounts when clicked. There will also be the option to share via e-mail.

Here you will find graphics and captions that are to be shared on social media. The e-mail dates and topics are as follows:

Please note that there is not the option to share via Instagram directly through the e-mails. Below are social media posts that can be used for Instagram.

You can automatically download all the graphics by clicking the button below:

All Social Media Graphics

The Week of November 8: What is the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive?

How to share on social media:

To share the resource, please download the social media graphic by clicking on it and then right clicking and select “save image as” to download the graphic to your computer.

Below the graphic is a sample social media message. Please cut and paste the messages directly into your social media channel, and post the accompanying graphic.

Please copy the below message and paste it to your social media channel – and include the graphic.

For Social Media:

November is First-Time Home Buyers’ Month! Check out the #RAHB website for a podcast & resources on the FTHB Incentive #RealEstate #FTHB2020 #HamOnt #Burlington #Haldimand #Niagara #REALTORS https://www.rahb.ca/fthb-first-time-home-buyer-incentive/

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Week of November 15: The First Meeting (With a Mortgage Specialist)

How to share on social media:

To share the resource, please download the social media graphic by clicking on it and then right clicking and select “save image as” to download the graphic to your computer.

Below the graphic is a sample social media message. Please cut and paste the messages directly into your social media channel, and post the accompanying graphic.

Please copy the below message and paste it to your social media channel – and include the graphic.

For Social Media:

November is First-Time Home Buyers’ Month! What do you do at the first meeting with a mortgage specialist? #RAHB has info & resources to prepare #RealEstate #FTHB2020 #HamOnt #Burlington #Haldimand #Niagara #REALTORS https://www.rahb.ca/the-first-meeting/

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Week of November 22: Essential Key Terms for First-Time Home Buyers

How to share on social media:

To share the resource, please download the social media graphic by clicking on it and then right clicking and select “save image as” to download the graphic to your computer.

Below the graphic is a sample social media message. Please cut and paste the messages directly into your social media channel, and post the accompanying graphic.

Please copy the below message and paste it to your social media channel – and include the graphic.

For Social Media:

November is First-Time Home Buyers’ Month! There are essential key terms every FTHB must know. For a list, visit the #RAHB website #RealEstate #FTHB2020 #HamOnt #Burlington #Haldimand #Niagara #REALTORS https://www.rahb.ca/key-terms-to-know-and-understand/

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Have Your Voice Heard – Residential Zoning Project

Oct 19, 2020 | Government Relations | 0 comments

The City of Hamilton’s Comprehensive Zoning By-law No. 05-200 came into effect on May 25, 2005, and is being implemented in stages. This Zoning By-law applies to the entire City of Hamilton and is replacing the Zoning By-laws of the former municipalities.

The final phase of this project – Residential Zoning Project — is focused on residential zones in the urban area.

For more information on Zoning Bylaw No. 05-200, please click the button below:

Zoning Bylaw No. 05-200

The City of Hamilton is now asking for your input on the Residential Zoning Project through the Engage Hamilton portal. To view the Engage Hamilton Residential Zoning Project webpage, please click the button below:

Residential Zoning Project

There are four key dates associated with the Residential Zoning Project:

  • Secondary Dwelling Unit Surveys Open (October 19)
  • Secondary Dwelling Unit Surveys Close (November 16)
  • Virtual Town Hall # 1 (November 12) – Registration details to come
  • Virtual Town Hall # 2 (November 16) – Registration details to come

The two surveys — Urban and Rural Secondary Dwelling Units — can be found by clicking the buttons below:

Urban Secondary Dwelling Units (SDU) Survey
Rural Secondary Dwelling Units (SDU) Survey

Please note, to participate in the two surveys, you must have an Engage Hamilton account. To register for an Engage Hamilton account, please click the button below:

Engage Hamilton Registration

RAHB/ITSO Issues Resolved – October 9, 2020

Oct 9, 2020 | Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology | 0 comments

RAHB is pleased to advise you that many of the issues reported by RAHB Members as a result of the ORTIS and the Ontario Collective (OC) cutover to the new ITSO system have been resolved as follows:

 

  • Missing photos for ITSO listings have been backfilled and photos are now available to view on reports.
  • ITSO status changes are now available to view on the Matrix reports. Previously, status changes such as conditional or firm sale information were missing on RAHB reports.
  • ITSO listings are now only displaying Total Square Footage (above grade only) on RAHB reports.
  • Commercial Listings from ORTIS and OC will now display if Sub-Property Type of (Industrial, investment, office, retail, sale of business or store) is selected.
  • Data is being mapped incorrectly from ITSO to RAHB’s “Type” and “Property Sub-Type” fields. This issue is primarily affecting ITSO listings, which would normally be searchable with a Type of Townhouse/Row House. Corelogic is aware of this issue and is currently working on updating these listings. We will provide an update regarding the status of this issue early next week.

 

CoreLogic is continuing to work on a few outstanding items; however, RAHB expects those to be resolved shortly, and will provide you an update at that time.

 

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding.