Living in an Older City is “Healthier”, claims new study

News Source: http://www.applymortgageonline.ca/

Older cities are generally healthier than many newer cities because compact street networks promote more walking and biking, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Connecticut.

The study’s co-authors looked at 24 medium-sized California cities with populations between 30,000 and just over 100,000, examining street network density, connectivity, and configuration. They studied how street design correlates with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and asthma rates collected by the California Health Interview Survey since 2003.

The report concluded that more intersections in a city leads to a reduction in obesity at the neighborhood level, as well as a reduction of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease at the city level. The study also found a correlation between wider streets with more lanes and increased obesity and diabetes rates.

“Over the course of the 20th century, we did a great job of engineering utilitarian active transportation out of our daily lives,” said Wesley Marshall, study co-author and assistant professor of engineering at CU Denver.

“While they were well-intentioned design decisions, they effectively forced people to make an effort to seek out exercise and we are now seeing the health implications of these designs.” Researchers also looked at each city’s “food environment,” and found that more fast food restaurants were associated with higher diabetes rates and more convenience-type stores correlated with higher obesity and diabetes rates. “While it is possible to lead an active, healthy lifestyle in most any type of neighborhood,” Marshall said. “Our findings suggest that people living in more compact cities do tend to have better health outcomes.

” Additionally, the study found that the presence of a “big box” store tends to be indicative of poor walkability in a neighborhood, and was associated with a 13.7 percent rise in obesity rates and a 24.9 percent increase in diabetes rates.

“Taken together, these findings suggest a need to radically re-think how we design and build the streets and street networks that form the backbone of our cities, towns, and villages,” said Norman Garrick, co-author and associate professor of engineering at the University of Connecticut. “This research is one more in a long line that demonstrates the myriad advantages of fostering walkable places.”

That Flipped Home Might Be Far From Perfect

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It is easy to look at a flipped home through rose-tinted spectacles, and to assume it is ready to move into and that there won’t be any major pitfalls. Unfortunately this might not be the case, as most property flippers or contractors will be anxious to shift the house as quickly as possible so they can move onto their next project. As a result, work can often be rushed and below standards you’d typically like to see in your own home.  An article in aol.com has highlighted the major things to look out for when buying a flipped property, to help avoid any nasty surprises once you move in.

One thing many of us are guilty of is getting caught up in the excitement of buying somewhere new. It can be very easy to focus on nice shiny new appliances, or marble or granite countertops, and to not pay attention to the overall quality of the work. A properly refurbished home will be nicely finished. Signs that this  isn’t the case can  include moldings that aren’t properly lined up, gaps in between the wall and countertops, poorly finished tiling and light switch plates that don’t quite fit properly. Often the cabinets in the kitchen won’t quite shut properly. Even though these seem like minor cosmetic issues, they could indicate more important jobs haven’t been carried out properly, and it is well worth paying closer attention to other areas that could be more expensive to rectify. This might include water heaters gas lines or the electrics panel. It is easy for potential buyers to assume a home that has been newly renovated is new enough not to require an inspection, but this could be a costly assumption to make. An inspector can make sure all work was up to code and can check the general standard of the work.

It is worth getting an inspection even if the work has already been signed off by the city as they will only have been interested in the health and safety aspect. A home inspector will check every part of the house, ensuring it is perfect. It is even more important to make sure the contractor obtained all the relevant permits, and that they were all signed off. You should receive copies of all the final permits, or otherwise you should be able to find them online. Failing to check these details could mean you end up being liable for illegal or poor quality work.

Although work on flipped homes is often carried out to a good standard, it is worth carrying out your due diligence to make sure you don’t get caught out.

A Beginner's Guide To Buying A Home

Article Source: http://bestmortgagebrokers.net/

If real estate is a new thing for you, you need to learn a few things before considering buying anything. The following information will help you to be able to tackle any real estate endeavor that should arise.

Take the time to investigate the inspector for your potential property. You should make sure that they are certified, work for a reputable company and if possible are with an inspector association that is non-profit. If not, their credentials may be supplied by a non-reputable organization that supplies them for nothing more than a fee.

Even if you are buying a home or commercial property, consider hiring a real estate appraiser to get an appraisal of the property. Appraisers are independent third parties who assess value and don't make a commission off of the price; they will provide you with evidence for their valuation. If you buy the property, you will also need to know what the assessed value is, so why wait?

First-time home buyers should consider not only the home they're looking at, but also the neighborhood. What are the schools in your new neighborhood like? How convenient are shopping and entertainment sites? Questions like this are important to ask so you can establish or maintain a lifestyle that works for you.

Don't be caught off guard by hidden fees. Ask your Realtor upfront for an estimate of what the closing costs will be. Items like commissions, attorney fees and home owner association fees should be disclosed upfront. Review the settlement and all the terms before you are ready to close.

As you are now aware after reading the tips from above, purchasing real estate may be a scary process in the beginning, but after applying common sense and getting educated you can quickly get up to speed. Follow our tips and you're sure to become wise to the ways of the real estate market.

Five-year mortgages holding firm, but just wait

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Five-year fixed mortgage rates tend to roughly track the yields on five-year government of Canada bonds, because those influence the cost of the funds that the banks obtain to lend out. Yields on five-year government of Canada bonds have fallen. They ended last year at 1.95 per cent, and this week were below 1.50 per cent.

“If you went back to the start of the year, there was an absolute consensus that bond yields were going to head higher,” explains Toronto-Dominion Bank chief economist Craig Alexander. “Not dramatically, but there was an absolute consensus that bond yields would be increasing through the course of 2014. So, one of the big surprises this year has been the drop in bond yields.”

Canadian bond yields tend to mirror those in the U.S. because the market views the securities as alternatives to one another.

“One of the things that happened at the start of this year was, initially, there were some concerns about emerging markets and the angst over the slowdown in China,” Mr. Alexander adds. “But then we started to get very weak economic data out of the United States, and there was news that the U.S. economy outright contracted, and you saw broad-based scaling back of expectations about global growth. So, while some of the fears about emerging markets diminished, it happened at the same time that people found something new to worry about.”

So, a more negative outlook for economic growth in the U.S. and elsewhere turned into good news for Canadian home buyers.

But Mr. Alexander thinks the U.S. economy is on pace to grow faster than most other advanced countries in the second half of this year. “As a consequence, I think that the rally in bonds that we’ve had since the start of the year is likely to be reversed, from an economic fundamentals point of view it’s only a matter of time. The thing that economists are notoriously bad at is timing.”

In other words, economists are still expecting five-year fixed mortgage rates to creep up, they just don’t know exactly when. Mr. Alexander now expects five-year bond yields to creep back up to about 1.95 – where they were at the end of 2013 – by the end of this year. He then sees them rising by about 90 basis points next year, largely during the second half of the year.

Focus On These Tips For Credit Improvement

Article Source: http://bestmortgagebrokers.net/

If you have issues with your credit, you may feel trapped by your low credit score. Digging yourself out from the credit problem can feel like a daunting task, but it is possible. Read through the following article for tips on how to repair your credit, and you will find simple methods to pull yourself back up.

Keep all of your credit card accounts open, provided there are no fees to do so, in order to keep your credit score up. Closing a credit card account may hurt you in the end, so if your credit score is fragile and you need to build it up, keep your accounts open, particularly if they have a balance currently.

Buy a car and make your monthly payments on time to improve your credit score. Your credit score will be checked when you apply for a car loan. But if you build up a good score with a cheap car, a few years later you could easily apply for a new loan and get a better car.

If a company tells you they can create a new credit file for you, run the other way. Creating a second credit file is illegal because it involves creating a new identity for you. If any company offers you this, you should, stop doing business with them even if they just offer it as an option. Otherwise, you would be working with a company that engages in illegal practices.

If you know that you are going to be late on a payment or that the balances have gotten away from you, contact the business and see if you can set up an arrangement. It is much easier to keep a company from reporting something to your credit report than it is to have it fixed later.

As the article stated at the beginning, credit issues can feel like you are trapped in the rubble. Applying the advice given in the article helps you learn how to quickly release yourself from your credit struggle, and give you the tools you need to move up and out of disrepair.

CANADIAN RENOVATION SPENDING WILL STAY STRONG FOR YEARS

News Source: http://www.canadianmortgageupdates.ca/

If you're getting your house ready to sell, chances are good that you'll be spending some money to fix it up and make it more attractive to buyers. If you just bought a house, you're likely going to spend some money to decorate it and change a few things that you don't like. When the resale housing market is booming, so is Canada's renovation industry.

Residential renovation in Canada employs 454,000 people making $24 billion in wages, says the Canadian Home Builders' Association. Renovation provides $60.6 billion in investment value annually, the "largest single wealth-builder for a majority of families," says the association.

Two recent reports suggest that while residential renovation is poised to slow down during the next few years due to higher interest rates and a more stable real estate market, spending will still continue to increase. Scotiabank economist Adrienne Warren says two per cent growth in inflation-adjusted expenditures is likely. TD Economics expects growth to be closer to three to five per cent this year and in 2014, followed by a "modest" dip in 2015.

"That said, the $45 billion in total renovation activity expected in that year will still be more than double its level of a decade ago," says TD Economics.

The TD paper, written by economist Diana Petramala, says during the 1900s, home renovations accounted for about 25 per cent of total residential investment but now that share is almost 40 per cent.

These numbers do not include regular maintenance and repair. Renovation, as defined by Statistics Canada, includes structural additions to properties; alterations such as remodelling rooms, adding or replacing doors and windows, renovating exterior walls and upgrading insulation; and installation or replacement of equipment such as a heating system, roof or carpet.

The numbers also do not include work done in the "underground economy", where jobs are paid for in cash to avoid paying taxes.

"Over the last 10 years, a number of economic factors have contributed to the strength in renovation spending, including a robust labour market, strong income gains and an aging housing stock," says Petramala. "The average home in Canada was built in the 1970 to 1980 period and was likely due for some upgrading. Still, the most important factors have been the availability and the falling costs of credit as well as a record-setting decade in the resale housing market."

She says the "wealth effect associated with robust home price gains" has also become an important driver in renovation growth. "Increases in home valuations makes households feel wealthier and more willing to go out and spend. Studies show that for every $1 increase in wealth due to home price appreciation, households go out and spend an additional nickel - some of which ends in renovations."

But Warren's report says Canadians are now being more careful about increasing debt, despite continuing low borrowing costs. While large renovation jobs are often financed through mortgage financing or consumer lending, both of those credit categories are now growing at the slowest pace in more than a decade, she says.

"Canada's housing stock has expanded by more than 15 per cent (or about two million units) over the past decade, mirroring strong growth in household formation," says Warren. "A record high homeownership rate of almost 70 per cent is supportive of renovation spending, with owners more likely to undertake upgrades compared with renters and landlords. An aging population and government rebates should continue to support demand for accessibility and energy efficiency related upgrades and retrofits."

Another Scotiabank study found that two-thirds of homeowners say they are likely to consider making their home more energy efficient by incorporating "green" home renovations. Fifty-two per cent of those surveyed say that green renovation choices will lower the operating cost of their home in the long run.

The TD report says that retail spending at building material and supply stores has stagnated since 2007, while renovation-oriented wholesalers have enjoyed above-average growth of three to four per cent. "This trend would suggest that more and more households have been turning to contractors for work rather than doing it themselves," says Petramala.

In the Toronto area, a massive new home improvement mall is under construction that will bring together 400 home improvement retailers under one roof, on more than 320,000 square feet of space spanning 21 acres. The developers of the Improve Canada site say they are bringing together three key concepts - using a mall as a traffic magnet; grouping competitive suppliers together and concentrating only on home improvement retailers; and offering a permanent home show environment. The developers say the retail space is 90 per cent sold. The building is scheduled to open in 2014.

Looking ahead, Petramala says that although all the spending on renovation has left Canada's housing stock "in the best condition in decades," the sector is "likely to remain a bright spot amid a slowing housing sector and declining new home construction."

sector and declining new home construction."

Housing Market Had Major Correction, Nobody Noticed: Royal LePage

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What if Canada had a housing market correction and no one noticed? That’s what real estate expert Phil Soper says has played out over the past year: the sharpest decline in home sales since the Great Recession. “Canada experienced a significant housing market correction over the last four quarters that most in the nation missed entirely," Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage, said in the company’s third-quarter report. "Many regions experienced dramatic slowdowns in the number of homes trading hands, but news of double-digit unit sales declines went largely unnoticed, over-shadowed by a macabre fascination with the prospect of a U.S.-style home price collapse, which of course never transpired.” Until recently, Toronto and a number of other major markets experienced a sales slump, but little to no decline in prices. The number of homes for sale also dropped during that time as sellers also stepped aside, keeping pricing stable. “That’s not uncommon for corrections, if you look back over the decades it’s actually really rare to see house prices on a national basis decline,” Soper said. “What made this past correction particularly interesting and frustrating for people in the industry was there was so much focus on the prospect of a crash in Canadian home prices that all eyes seemed to be focused on that.” Home price appreciation did fall below the long-term average of five per cent, Soper said, but that doesn’t grab headlines the same way an outright decline would. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says some 325,180 homes have changed owners so far this year, about three per cent less than during the same period of 2012. CREA’s 2013 forecast pegs sales at 449,000, their lowest levels since 2010 CIBC economist Benjamin Tal agrees that there has been a marked slowdown in activity, but he would call it “an adjustment” rather than a correction. “The main reason why people did not notice it is due to the fact that prices did not go down. As far as the market goes a correction is only when prices go down,” he said. “The main reason why prices did not go down is that alongside the softness in demand we have seen a notable softness in supply of units for sale, so with both demand and supply softening, prices did not go down.” The correction over the past year was fairly major, with most parts of the country experiencing double digit declines at some point, Soper said. But, he added, unlike other industries people tend to focus on prices rather than unit sales in the housing market. “When it comes to houses, because 70 per cent of Canadian families own one, the focus is on price and so it is very, very hard to get the conversation off price.” But that focus could have unintended consequences on the market because rising prices could mask a major correction, signalling the sector is stronger than it actually is and prompting unnecessary mortgage rule changes to calm the market, Soper said. During the third quarter, sales volumes surged and the average year-over-year price increased 3.7 per cent to $418,686 for standard two-storey homes, the Royal Lepage report notes. Buyers returned to the market after sitting on the sidelines for more than a year, partially due to the impact of tighter mortgage rules that left some delaying home purchases to save up larger down payments. In many cities the number of properties on the market fell short of demand, resulting in a steady rise in prices for the first time this year, the report said. Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton all posted double digit sales increases in August, signalling that the market is once again heating up. “Our over-heated real estate market of 2011 and early 2012 drove some to the sidelines. Home price appreciation ground to a halt for a year – a necessary breather and predictable market response," Soper said in the report. The real estate firm expects momentum in the market to continue into the spring of 2014, driven by pent-up demand, increasing consumer confidence and low interest rates. Soper predicts a more robust Canadian economy and an “era of renewed prosperity” ahead, good news for the consumer-oriented real estate sector. But some economists from Canada and around the world are still predicting a harder landing for Canada, pointing to indications including high consumer debt loads, low wage growth and the record number of jobs dependent on the real estate sector as trouble signs for the economy.