Lou Piriano

NEW!!!! Do Your Own Brain Surgery. Kit includes all surgical equipment and Mirror

Lou Piriano — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:00:00 GMT

OK . Selling you house yourself is not exactly like preforming brain surgery on yourself but....there are some interesting similarities.

Take the mirror part...its almost as tough to see your head doing self surgery as it is seeing your real estate situation. We are not objective about our own house and must be so in order to see it like buyers will.

Then there are the surgical tools. Precise instruments used in a professional way to save the most important asset you have...your head.

Realtors have exclusive professional tools which can be used to enhance and maybe save your most important financial asset...your property.

A good Realtor will more than pay for their fees. Those who post a listing on a web site to sell privately soon find its not a job for the faint hearted. Furthermore they don't know what they don't know. Trust me, it can be downright scary. How so? Call me and be prepared for a long conversation.

Nothing Down!

Lou Piriano — Tue, 10 May 2011 00:27:00 GMT

Contrary to popular belief you can still by a house with nothing down. In fact, there is a down payment but since the bank supplies it, effectively its nothing down to the buyer. By agreeing to a higher interest rate for five years, the buyer pays back the down payment to the bank.

HST- Harmonized Sales Tax Crashing the Market???

Lou Piriano — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:56:00 GMT

Notice how they try to make this tax sound palatable. It's 'HARMONIZED". Sounds musical, lyrical downright soothing. The truth is it will make home ownership more expensive especially in the area of utilities.

That said, there is no end to the strength of this market. Not now, not in the future. Sure, we have ups and downs but the ups outnumber the downs and are more sustained. Mortgage rates are ridiculously low.

When I started in real estate in 1973 rates hit 10% and are now as low as 1.9% (variable rate). Whats up with that?

Employment is strong and the rumour is "Thery're not making any more land". Therefore scarcity and higher prices should prevail.

Want cheap property...buy in the USA. At least for now. My guess is that prices there are heading north too.

Because you acted, the government lost.

Lou Piriano — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:32:00 GMT

The Ontario government was going to impose a Mandatory Energy Audit on the over 400,000 home sales each year in Ontario and guess who would pay for it. You the homeowner.

This could have resulted in the homeowner having to shell our thousands for real or perceived energy deficiencies and would certainly have been tough on older homes (and older occupants, some of whom could not afford to upgrade to sell) .

There is nothing wrong with an energy audit if the buyer wants to do and pay for one. Its that MANDATORY part we object to.

Because the Ontario Realtors lobbied to get the word out, thousands of you emailed your MPP and this part of the act was scrapped.

Now, if we can only do the same with the proposed HST (hamonized sales tax) Commission fees now attact GST and if the goverment of Ontario Harmonizes the PST it will add another 8%. We are trying but we need everyone's help.

What a time to Buy! Take Advantage of the Banks for a Change!

Lou Piriano — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:25:00 GMT

This is how the rich people got rich. Buy low , sell high. I can arrange 5 year fixed rate mortgages at 3.59%.

This is the lowest by far I have ever seen in 36 years in real estate and mortgage brokerage. Some say what goes down must come up. Maybe sooner rather than later.

In almost 4 decades I have seen rates as high as 21%. There is very little room between 3.59% and 0% but a whole lot of room to 21%. ( No one seems to think its going that high.)

The point is , why take chances, get while its good! It helps that prices are a bit off their highs too. Demand is incredibly strong all things considered. There is no US style meltdown because there was not US style sub prime lending. Real Estate, still the place to be. No stock market like swings. Just a solid investment over time.