Regional Re-Opening & Stage 2

Jun 8, 2020 | COVID19, Government Relations | 1 comment

On June 8, Premier Ford announced that the Province will increase the social gathering limit from five to 10 people, and all places of worship will be allowed to open and operate at 30 per cent capacity, as of Friday, June 12 at 12:01 a.m. Physical distancing measures of 2 metres are still in effect.

Additionally, Premier Ford announced the Province’s regional reopening plan for Ontario. Most of the province will move into Stage 2 on Friday, June 12, with the exception of communities in the Golden Horseshoe (Halton Region, Hamilton, Niagara Region, Durham Region, York Region, Peel Region and Toronto), Haldimand-Norfolk and border communities in Windsor-Essex and Lambton.

What Can Open in Stage Two

For more information on places that can open in Stage 2, with limitations and physical distancing measures, please click the button below:

Business List

Ban on Commercial Evictions

Premier Ford also announced, as of June 3, that he has ordered legislation to ban all commercial evictions for those who qualify for the commercial rent relief program. The ban will last until August 31, 2020.

Independence in Senior Living

Jun 8, 2020 | Senior's Month | 0 comments

The natural effects of ageing can sometimes make independent living more complicated than it once was. While some barriers to independence in ageing are inevitable, it is essential to take the time to understand the importance of autonomy in senior living and look for ways to increase opportunities for independent living.

To access the resources for independence in senior living, please click the button below:

Senior Housing Resources

There are many options available that are focused on allowing for greater autonomy for seniors during the ageing process.

CMHC Announces Changes to Policy for Insured Mortgages

Jun 5, 2020 | Government Relations | 4 comments

In order to protect future home buyers and reduce risk, CMHC is changing its underwriting policies for insured mortgages.

Effective July 1, the following changes will apply for new applications for homeowner transactional and portfolio mortgage insurance:

  • Limiting the Gross/Total Debt Servicing (GDS/TDS) ratios to our standard requirements of 35/42;
  • Establish minimum credit score of 680 for at least one borrower; and
  • Non-traditional sources of down payment that increase indebtedness will no longer be treated as equity for insurance purposes.

Under the changes effective July 1, CMHC will also no longer treat non-traditional sources of down payment funding, such as a personal unsecured line of credit, as equity for insurance purposes. Additionally, the CMHC will be suspending refinancing for multi-unit mortgage insurance except when the funds are used for repairs or reinvestment in housing.

For more information, please click the button below:

CMHC

June is Senior’s Month

Jun 3, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

June is senior’s month!

At RAHB, we believe that seniors are both a vital member of the community and the real estate market. Over the next three weeks, we will be releasing information on resources that are available for seniors and their family. Each week, the resources will focus on a specific theme that seniors are primarily concerned with when looking to either stay in their home or search for other out of home options: independence, safety, and affordability.

Stay tuned for our first post on independence on Monday, June 8.

Happy Seniors Month!

RAHB REALTORS® RELEASE MAY 2020 MARKET STATISTICS

Jun 1, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 852 sales of residential properties located within the RAHB market area were processed through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System in May 2020. Sales are down 42.2 per cent over May 2019, and up 43.4 per cent over last month. The average price for residential properties was $655,418, which is up 10 per cent from May last year, and up 6.3 per cent from last month.

Follow the links below for:​

Burlington

Halidmand

Hamilton

Niagara North

 

RAHB REALTORS® release April 2020 market statistics

May 1, 2020 | Uncategorized | 2 comments

The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 482 sales of residential properties located within the RAHB market area were processed through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System in April 2020. Sales are down 63.4 per cent over April 2019 and 56 per cent over last month. The average price for residential properties was $614,412, which is up 4.3 per cent from April last year, but down 6.6 per cent from last month.

Follow the links below for:​

Burlington

Halidmand

Hamilton

Niagara North

 

Virtual Live Stream Tours – REALTOR.ca

Apr 21, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

It has come to RAHB’s attention that users are posting URLs for a pre-recorded walk through or a virtual tour, rather than a Virtual Live Stream Tour on REALTOR.ca.

You are reminded of the following:

  1. The posted URL only remains active in the time period you specified; and then disappears.
  2. Virtual Live Stream Tours are advertised on REALTOR.ca and intended as a real time walk through of the property, with the Listing Salesperson available to answer questions at that time of the Virtual Live Stream Tour.

Below is how your Virtual Live Stream Tour is advertised on REALTOR.ca:

Pre-recorded videos should only be placed under the “Virtual Tour URL” or “Additional Images URL” in Matrix as shown below:

If you will be hosting a Virtual Live Stream Tour, you may enter the date, time and URL under “Open Houses” in Matrix as shown below:

Should you have any questions, please contact the RAHB MLS® Help Desk at 905.667.4650 or support@rahb.ca.

City of Burlington’s Three-Month Work Plan and Financial Impacts of COVID-19

Apr 17, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

The Burlington City Council’s next meeting will be on Monday, April 20 at 9:30 a.m.

This council meeting will see Burlington senior staff providing an update about the financial impacts of COVID-19 and seek Council’s endorsement of a three-month strategy that prioritizes which City services will be provided through to the end of June 2020.

Financial impacts of COVID-19

A report detailing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the City of Burlington’s budget will be presented. This report will include:

  • Estimated revenue impacts of $7.6 million to June 30, 2020;
  • Estimated expenditure savings of $5.2 million to June 30, 2020;
  • Cash flow projections to June 30, 2020;
  • Future financial modelling to identify pressures, dependent on the length of the pandemic, and recovery scenarios.

Municipalities are required to approve a balanced budget; however, the City of Burlington can have a shortfall or surplus in a given year. A shortfall can be offset by:

  • Using reserve funds;
  • Increasing taxes in the next year; or
  • Reducing expenditures during the year of the anticipated shortfall. This is what Burlington is attempting to do to mitigate a shortfall at year-end.

Housing Call Out

Apr 17, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

The City of Hamilton has reached out to RAHB with an urgent need regarding housing for individuals and families currently in shelter and/or hotels. Please see below for a message from Paul Johnson, Director, Emergency Operations Centre at the City of Hamilton.

 

Dear Housing Partner,

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Hamilton is committed to supporting Hamiltonians and taking every precaution to keep our community as healthy and safe as possible.

As you may have noted during the City’s COVID-19 Virtual Town Hall on Wednesday night, keeping housing placements moving is one of ways we hope to accomplish this; connecting individuals who are at-risk and/or experiencing homelessness to support and appropriate resources, which includes permanent housing.

We need your help. The City is looking for private market rental units to fill an immediate need: to house individuals and families currently in shelter and/or hotels who could move in with minimal supports. For some people, we will be able to match them up with the Canada Ontario Housing Benefit that took effect April 1. We are asking landlords who have a vacant unit that is move-in ready to work with the City to create long term tenancies with financial support.

Working together on housing placements will achieve a number of goals:

  • Create more assured rental income with a longer-term tenant
  • Foster a sustainable investment
  • Provide additional supports for these new tenants
  • Contribute to the shared community goal of preventing the spread of COVID-19

Thanks to additional support from both the federal and provincial governments, we have an opportunity to provide financial supports in the long term to help facilitate housing plans.

If you have any available units for rent and/or would like additional information, please contact housing@hamilton.ca.

I want to thank you in advance for stepping in to help our community during this unprecedented crisis. We are all in this together.

Sincerely,

Paul Johnson

Please click the link to read Paul Johnson’s letter: Apr-17-20 – Housing Call Out

Hamilton Chamber of Commerce COVID-19 Business Impact Survey #1

Apr 17, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce is asking for Hamilton’s business community to provide feedback on the impact COVID-19 has had on their business, the effectiveness of existing programs and initiatives, and options or suggestions on policy, programs and initiatives that should be considered in the short term.

To participate in the survey, please click the button below:

Survey

CONNECT Update: Retiring CONNECT

Apr 8, 2020 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Just a reminder that RAHB received notice from TRREB stating that, on April 30, 2020, TRREB is retiring CONNECT.  

Following the receipt of TRREB’s notice, RAHB staff have been engaged in discussions with the remaining CONNECT member Boards and Associations to explore future collaboration and data sharing opportunities via IntraMatrix.

RAHB is committed and open to reciprocal data sharing with other Ontario Boards and Associations.  Currently, RAHB has data sharing agreements in place with ORTIS and the Ontario Collective. The Ontario Collective and ORTIS are in the final stages of merging their efforts and implementing a new Matrix system for all of their users. RAHB has been working with ORTIS/OC and Corelogic to test the updated data share, which will be launched with the newly merged system. Once testing has been completed, RAHB members will then have access to all ORTIS and Ontario Collective listings within Matrix.

New Appointment Type in ShowingTime: Virtual Showing

Apr 8, 2020 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly changed the way REALTORS® do business. Orders from local governments and recommendations from public health officials alike have inspired resourceful agents to seek new ways to serve their clients.

With the ever-changing environment, REALTORS® have been giving virtual showings to their clients using a variety of methods including group video conferencing tools, 360-degree views of the home and prerecorded video tours.

To help accommodate these new kinds of appointments, ShowingTime has added a new appointment type, Virtual Showing, for showing REALTORS® to use when requesting a showing. By selecting this option, the showing REALTOR® is indicating to the listing REALTOR® that their client would prefer a virtual showing of the property. The showing REALTOR® can also add a note for the listing REALTOR® indicating which streaming video technology they prefer to use for the showing (FaceTime, etc.).

Reference ShowingTime’s Virtual Showing Guide for help getting started and for more information on virtual showings, check out ShowingTime’s resource page.