Get the SoHo Lifestyle at the price you want...

It's been about a little over a month since we had our pre-view launch back at the end of April and 65% of the building has been sold! But there are still some great opportunities remaining to be a part of the SoHo lifestyle.

Imagine living in a building where every detail was planned with your comfort in mind - exterior SoHo Water Gardens area complete with a hot tub and lap pool, a fully-equipped gym with available personal trainers, a sauna to relax and unwind, a 23 person theatre to entertain family and guests and much more, all available at your finger tips. Let our 24 hour, hotel-trained concierge help you better enjoy downtown living by helping you set up dinner plans for a night out, arrange for pet-sitting services while you're out of town, or have your favourite wine brought up from the wine cellar after a long day at the office - SoHo offers it all.

While there are a few great suites remaining, they surely will not last long. Be sure to act now as prices are set to increase later this month.

Feel free to stop by the office to check out the model and discover all of what SoHo has to offer. Call the sales office today to arrange for a viewing or send us an email. We hope to see you soon.

SoHo Lisgar Sales Office
300 Lisgar Ave.
Ottawa, ON K2P 0E2
T: 613.798.7646
sales@soholisgar.com

For more information about SoHo or condominiums in Ottawa, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks for reading.

Taylor Bennett
Sales Representative
Bennett Pros
www.bennettpros.com
taylor@bennettpros.com

SoHo Lisgar - The Basic Details

Well, it's been awhile since my last blog - as some of you may know, I've been very busy with SoHo Parkway. With its huge success and record-breaking sales, it kept me quite busy. But now it's time to move on to our next site - SoHo Lisgar.

SoHo Lisgar is set to be launched to the public around April 2010 (no official launch date has been set yet) and will be located at 300 Lisgar St. (on Lisgar St., east of Bank St.). While no specifics have been confirmed for the building, you can expect the equivalent hotel-inspired specifications, features and amenties that are included in SoHo Parkway - professionally run gym, home threatre, hot tub, hotel-trained conceirge, etc... - if you are not familiar with SoHo Parkway, please visit www.sohoparkway.com for more details.

While none of the details about SoHo Lisgar have been released, here are some of the differences that you can expect:

- The Height: The height limits around 300 Lisgar are higher than on Parkdale, so you can expect SoHo Lisgar to be around 18-21 stories.
- The Size: Being on a larger lot, the building itself should be larger, thus containing more dwellings.
- The Design: All SoHo projects have a timeless design while still giving you the comforts of home, SoHo Lisgar will not be any different.

As SoHo Lisgar gets close to its April launch dates, more and more details about the building will be revealed, so please check back often for any updates.

For those of you who would like to be invited to the initial launch, please visit www.bennettpros.com and sign up for our Bennett VIP Club and you will not only be invited to the SoHo Lisgar launch, but any of our other new home project launches.

For more information about SoHo or condominiums in Ottawa, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks for reading.

Taylor Bennett
Sales Representative
Bennett Pros
www.bennettpros.com
taylor@bennettpros.com

Rare Opportunity, Limited Quantity!

There is a brand new development that I has just been brought to my attention - East Central. For those of you who are looking for a great property near downtown, close to the Queensway and minutes away from shopping and amenities, this is the opportunity you've been waiting for. These 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units are starting at $139,900 - which is almost unheard of in the city, let alone, this close to the downtown core. These properties include hardwood flooring in the living quarters, with ceramic tiles in the bathrooms and kitchens, spacious layouts, central A/C and much, much more. And for a limited time, the Vendor will be throwing in new appliances for free.

Located minutes away from the St. Laurent Shopping Centre, there are only 16 of these properties to pick from, so they won't last long. If you'd like to hear some more details and see some of the layouts, feel free to contact me and I would be more than happy to help.

Thanks for reading!

Taylor@bennettpros.com

New Development in Manor Park!!

Manor park is in the midst of getting a much needed make-over - and now you have a chance to be apart of this quiet, quaint and wonderful neighbourhood. Manor Park is located north on St. Laurent near Hemlock Rd. For those of you who may not be familiar with Manor Park, there are executive townhomes built by Domicile (appraised over $350,000), recently and beautifully renovated stacked townhomes and a 7 storey apartment building which was also recently renovated, all surrounded by NCC owned land. And now there's the chance to move into a brand new terrace townhome by Spring 2010.

In two weeks from now the first phase of Upper East Side is going to be launched. These homes will be over-sized townhomes with professionally designed kitchens and bathrooms, hardwood, private backyards, parking, and much more. There will not be too many of these properties available, and they won't last long. So if you are looking for a gorgeous 2 or 3 bedroom townhome, close to the Queensway and minutes away from the Byward Market and New Edinburgh, with direct access to bike and walking paths, this is the opportunity you've been looking for.

If you would like to take part in the openning weekend come on by the Sales Centre Saturday, June 13 between 12:00 and 5:00, or feel free to contact me for more information.

Taylor Bennett
Bennett Real Estate Professionals
Keller Williams Ottawa Realty
www.bennettpros.com
taylor@bennettpros.com

Property Ladder - One Step at a Time

Many of the first-time home buyers that I have dealt with have been surprised, and maybe even a little disappointed, to see what $200,000 can get them. While it’s true that $200,000 will seldom get you a downtown condo with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances, it’s important to know that $200,000 can still get you a very nice home – you just have to know where to look and you have to be patient.

If you’re shopping with that amount, here are the types of homes you can expect to find in your search – 2 and 3 bedroom townhomes east of Vanier, west of Westboro and south of Alta Vista, or a bachelor or 1 bedroom condo downtown or in the Byward Market. Some of you may look at those options and think to yourself “Those types of homes don’t interest me - I’ll just continue renting until I’ve saved enough money to buy what I really want”. In theory, that is a great idea, but in reality, if you keep putting off that first home purchase, chances are you’ll never end up buying that first home – the most important and hardest step to home-ownership is the first one – stop renting.

So, you’ve given your landlord your 2-month notice and you’ve started your home search but you haven’t fallen in-love with any of the properties that you’ve seen – you’re life in ruined, right? Wrong. For you first-time buyers out there, it’s important to keep in mind that you won’t be living in that first home for the rest of your life; in fact, the average Canadian lives in their first home for 3 years or so. In those 3 years, you want to make sure that your house is working for you. If you used an experienced Realtor to help you in choosing your home, you can reasonably expect your $200,000 home to be worth between $225,000 and $235,000* (or possibly more) after those 3 years.

Then you’re on to your second home and your house budget has increased by $25,000-35,000 and the types of homes you are able to afford include 3 to 4 bedroom townhomes in Kanata, Gloucester, Nepean, Orleans, Barrhaven, etc…, 2 to 3 bedroom townhomes in the downtown area, large one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments and even some small single family houses. In just 3 years, the type of home you can afford has drastically changed.

Again, let’s fast forward another 3 years, now your $230,000 house has now increase to over $265,000* and your house budget has increased yet again. And again, the types of homes you can afford start looking more and more like that dream home you’ve always imagined.

Using this example, in those 6 years that have past, your home equity value has increased by $65,000 – that’s like someone giving you over $10,000 every year, for free! So, for those of you who have decided to continue renting and wait until you’ve saved up enough money, would you be able to save over $10,000 each year?

If you have any questions on how to stop renting and start owning, please feel free to send me an email at: tbennett@kwottawa.ca or visit my team’s website at www.bennettpros.com

*Calculated using the average increase in property values in Ottawa of 6.15%

Open House - Near the Byward Market - Sunday, March 15, 2009

Feel free to drop by my open house this weekend in the Byward Market. I will be at 260 Besserer St. showing the PH03 unit. Come on by and take a look at this beautiful downtown condo, or just come on by to say hello.

See you Sunday!!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, or any of my other posts, please contact me at taylor@bennettpros.com

The Strength of the Canadian Economy

Unless you've been hibernating for the past 6 months, I'm sure you've all heard the bad news about the World-wide economy in the past few months - from the collapsing banks to businesses failing, from massive lay-offs to homes defaulting - it seems everyone is being effected by this global financial crunch. While this is no doubt a tragedy, I find that many Canadians are too quick to include us in the group of countries that are struggling. It's true that we have felt the pinch of the harder economic times, but that's to be expected when your biggest international trading partner gets wiped out, but Canada hasn't been hit nearly as hard as the majority of countries.
So, why are we so special? What is different exactly? What did we do that was so different from the US and Europe? I recently came across a very interesting article explaining how and why our economy is so strong. It's written by Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, and I think he does an excellent job in explaining the whole situation - enjoy!

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative -
NewsWeek Feb. 7, 2009 - World View

The legendary editor of The New Republic, Michael Kinsley, once held a "Boring Headline Contest" and decided that the winner was "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." Twenty-two years later, the magazine was rescued from its economic troubles by a Canadian media company, which should have taught us Americans to be a bit more humble. Now there is even more striking evidence of Canada's virtues. Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it's Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, Britain's 44th.
Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the 15th-largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the fifth-largest. It hasn't grown in size; the others have all shrunk.

So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense. Over the past 15 years, as the United States and Europe loosened regulations on their financial industries, the Canadians refused to follow suit, seeing the old rules as useful shock absorbers. Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1—compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1 and European banks at a frightening 61 to 1. Partly this reflects Canada's more risk-averse business culture, but it is also a product of old-fashioned rules on banking.
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Canada has also been shielded from the worst aspects of this crisis because its housing prices have not fluctuated as wildly as those in the United States. Home prices are down 25 percent in the United States, but only half as much in Canada. Why? Well, the Canadian tax code does not provide the massive incentive for overconsumption that the U.S. code does: interest on your mortgage isn't deductible up north. In addition, home loans in the United States are "non-recourse," which basically means that if you go belly up on a bad mortgage, it's mostly the bank's problem. In Canada, it's yours. Ah, but you've heard American politicians wax eloquent on the need for these expensive programs—interest deductibility alone costs the federal government $100 billion a year—because they allow the average Joe to fulfill the American Dream of owning a home. Sixty-eight percent of Americans own their own homes. And the rate of Canadian homeownership? It's 68.4 percent.

Canada has been remarkably responsible over the past decade or so. It has had 12 years of budget surpluses, and can now spend money to fuel a recovery from a strong position. The government has restructured the national pension system, placing it on a firm fiscal footing, unlike our own insolvent Social Security. Its health-care system is cheaper than America's by far (accounting for 9.7 percent of GDP, versus 15.2 percent here), and yet does better on all major indexes. Life expectancy in Canada is 81 years, versus 78 in the United States; "healthy life expectancy" is 72 years, versus 69. American car companies have moved so many jobs to Canada to take advantage of lower health-care costs that since 2004, Ontario and not Michigan has been North America's largest car-producing region.

I could go on. The U.S. currently has a brain-dead immigration system. We issue a small number of work visas and green cards, turning away from our shores thousands of talented students who want to stay and work here. Canada, by contrast, has no limit on the number of skilled migrants who can move to the country. They can apply on their own for a Canadian Skilled Worker Visa, which allows them to become perfectly legal "permanent residents" in Canada—no need for a sponsoring employer, or even a job. Visas are awarded based on education level, work experience, age and language abilities. If a prospective immigrant earns 67 points out of 100 total (holding a Ph.D. is worth 25 points, for instance), he or she can become a full-time, legal resident of Canada.

Companies are noticing. In 2007 Microsoft, frustrated by its inability to hire foreign graduate students in the United States, decided to open a research center in Vancouver. The company's announcement noted that it would staff the center with "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." So the brightest Chinese and Indian software engineers are attracted to the United States, trained by American universities, then thrown out of the country and picked up by Canada—where most of them will work, innovate and pay taxes for the rest of their lives.

If President Obama is looking for smart government, there is much he, and all of us, could learn from our quiet—OK, sometimes boring—neighbor to the north. Meanwhile, in the councils of the financial world, Canada is pushing for new rules for financial institutions that would reflect its approach. This strikes me as, well, a worthwhile Canadian initiative.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/183670


If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, or any of my other posts, please contact me at taylor@bennettrealestatepros.com