Georgian Life VIEW FROM BLUE Article Jan 2011

Welcome to the inaugural issue of THE VIEW FROM BLUE concentrating on real estate issues in the Georgian Triangle. REALTORS® in our area are proud members of GTREB, the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board, a board that consists of over 365 members. The geographical area served by GTREB includes Clearview Township, Wasaga Beach, Collingwood, The Blue Mountains, Grey Highlands and Municipality of Meaford.

The REALTORS® in our area take on many roles. We are negotiators, marketers, property managers, fundraisers, mediators, and from time to time, we actually sell real estate! There is so much more to working in this profession, especially when your "farm" area is a four season resort. Buying vacation properties, rural acreage on the Niagara Escarpment, waterfront homes and seasonal rentals are just a few of the topics you rely on us for our expertise. These are areas out-of-town colleagues may not have experience with. It always amazes me when we get calls from an out of area REALTOR® who wants to represent their own client, but has no knowledge of our locale, fair market prices, comparable sales, the by-laws, how to do water tests, where the local landfill sites are, but they insist they can counsel their clients with "everything" they will need to know. Would you ask your family doctor to perform specialized surgery? Buying a property is the single largest investment most people will make in their lifetime. You need to entrust this transaction to a professional, someone who is an expert in their field, someone who lives in the area.

Real estate in the Georgian Triangle has been booming over the past few years. At time of writing, there has been a 4% increase in total number of sales over the same period last year. Expired listings were down 5% and there were over 5170 closed sales year to date. The number of properties sold in virtually every price range has increased over the previous year, with the exception of those in the $150,000-$249,000 range which decreased 3.9%. So when you hear that real estate in resort areas are on the decline, here's a little fact you can retort with. Properties in the Georgian Triangle that sold for over $1 million increased 41.06%