Can't beat these testimonials!

Good morning everyone, we at the Bennett Pros take our jobs very seriously, and today we received some great testimonials from some of the members at Keller Williams.


“Keller Williams systems and models have been positively changing local markets and the transformation is evidenced by the incredible talent and leadership of Agents such as Marnie Bennett and the Bennett Real Estate Professionals.”
John Furber - Regional Director of Keller Williams Realty Canada


"It was our great pleasure to feature your exciting story in the May/June ‘”Out-front” Magazine Issue. Many thanks for sharing your experience-based wisdom, creativity, and positive energy with everyone!
Each paragraph of your article brought more “wows” as you dedication to five-star customer service shone through in extraordinary and inspiring innovative ways!
We love having you in our Keller Williams family and wish you the perfect blending of continued professional success with personal fulfillment!"
Mo Anderson - Vice Chairman, Keller Williams International Realty Inc


Marnie! I've thought about you a lot since meeting you. I was wowed by your real estate practice. You definitely have built one of the most impressive real estate businesses I've ever seen. Congratulations on that! I'd love to see your office sometime. Can't begin to express adequate kudos for all of your success!
Please stay in touch and let me know if there's ever anything I can do to help or support you!”
Mark Willis – CEO Keller Williams International Realty, Inc


Wow Marnie! Such a wonderful story! I cannot tell you how amazing this is and how much we all truly respect what you’ve accomplished. It’s a real honour to be in business with you! Onward....”
Gary Keller – Co-founder and Chairman of the Board – Keller Williams International Realty, Inc.


Would you want us representing you?


Have a great weekend everyone!

5 Mistakes Most First Time Home Buyers Make!

When it comes to purchasing your first home, everyone has an opinion on what you should or shouldn't do. Most first time home buyers make the same mistakes and learn from them very quickly after they close on their property. Don't forget these important things to consider when buying your next home or condo. 


1. The don’t ask enough questions of their lender and end up missing out on the best deal.

2. They don’t act quickly enough to make a decision and someone else buys the house or enter into multiple offer situation and end up over paying.

3. They don’t find the right agent who’s willing to help them through the homebuying process.

4. They don’t do enough to make their offer look appealing to a seller.

5. They don’t think about resale before they buy. The average first-time buyer only stays in a home for four years.


Contact me today and I'll make sure you don't make the same mistakes thousands have done before you.

Q West - A huge success!

Another successful evening for the Bennett Pros last night! With line-ups starting at 9am, excitement and anticipating built throughout the day! The night ended with 30 condos being sold in only 2hrs! With prices starting in the low $200', even a first time home buyer could afford to purchase a full upgraded unit in this lifestyle oriented condominium, offering all the amenities you except and even more. 


We still have a few fantastic units remaining and I invite to contact myself to receive more details on the hottest condominium in Westboro. 


Thanks to all that came out.


Stay tuned for more exciting launches to come in 2011!


Here is an article that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen this morning:


Condos sell fast at site of former convent
Thursday, December 9, 2010

By Sneh Duggal, Ottawa Citizen


OTTAWA -- More than 30 apartments were sold Wednesday night after the release of a condominium that is to be part of the controversial development at a former convent site.

At least a couple of hundred investors and home buyers turned up to inquire or get a stake in the 42 units that were part of the initial release of the condominium Ashcroft Homes plans to build at 108 Richmond Rd. The building is expected to be ready for occupancy by 2013.

"We've had a year of very intense public consultations. It's great when you finally launch the project and you get such a big reception," said David Choo, president of Ashcroft Homes. "We're launching it on a very cold December night in Ottawa and yet still we have such a large reception for the project. That's encouraging."

The condo will be part of the proposed Q West development near Richmond Road and Island Park Drive. Ashcroft bought the 2.2-hectare site from Les Soeurs de la Visitation, who were unable to maintain the aging building.

Ashcroft plans to build more than 600 units on the surrounding grounds.

Individuals wanting to purchase a suite in the building were required to put down a $1,000 deposit Wednesday evening.

About 60 per cent were first-time home buyers, 30 per cent were investors and 10 per cent were individuals wanting to downsize from their current residences, said Ashcroft consultant Marnie Bennett, of Bennett Real Estate Professionals. Some of the units are being sold fully furnished.

Bennett said about 28 people are still on the waiting list. She said she noticed a lot of young people at the launch and thinks it is because of the pricing.

The cheapest units were listed at about $217,000 and go up to about $500,000.

"It's really price-driven; in Westboro, that's incredible," she said.

Yan Li, 25, was looking to purchase his second property. While his first, a condo at Centrepointe, was bought as an investment, Li said he is undecided about whether he would do the same with one of the Ashcroft units.

"This one really appeals to me - if I do go through with it, it will be a toss up as to if it's a rental or whether I (move in)," he said.

Johanne Belisle, 53, and her husband John Martin, 64, put down a deposit for a two-bedroom apartment. They are buying the unit as an investment, but said they might eventually move in

.

"My husband is retired - eventually we'll probably look to downsize," Belisle said.

Bennett said the development is going to provide residents with a community-living experience, especially with a central courtyard. She said there is a plan to have an arts theatre, a restaurant and a spa in the former convent.

"We have a lot of green space, a heritage building - it's going to be very festive here," Bennett said. "It's a lifestyle that you're buying, it's not just a floor plan."

Ashcroft plans to release more of its units in January.

In recent months, some community members have voiced opposition to the development, stating that the proposed buildings are too high and that neighbours do not want a road to cut through the Byron Avenue linear park.

Li said he thinks Ottawa needs to build up, not out.

"I'm in support of the project, provided that no heritage site is demolished," he said.

Bennett said while change is often difficult for people to accept, she thinks more people will be on board with the project once they start to see it unfold.

The community went before the city's planning and environment committee on Nov. 16 to voice their concerns.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=3948853

Ottawa's fastest gaining neighbourhoods

Here's an article that appeared in the December 4th issue of the Ottawa Citizen, great facts to know!

Homes within the Greenbelt -- and especially in some key Ottawa neighbourhoods -- gained far more value in the past decade than their suburban and rural cousins, a City of Ottawa analysis reveals.

And the appreciation gap could widen further as city intensification policies and downsizing boomers bring more people into central Ottawa.

The downtown price surge, which Ottawa shares with many other North American cities, won't be a surprise to anyone who watches real estate ads.

But the City of Ottawa data, presented to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation conference last month, reveals both the extent of gains and which areas are hottest.

Across Ottawa, the value of the average home rose 92 per cent between 2000 and 2009, city planning official Court Curry told the conference. That increase pushed the average price to $321,267 from $167,246 -- well above the decade's cumulative inflation rate, which is pegged by the Bank of Canada at 21.6 per cent.

Some neighbourhoods far surpassed the average rise.

Westboro, the trendy Richmond Road district that is home to bike shops and bakeries, old houses and new condos, was the biggest winner, pushing up average prices by 164 per cent. The average price in Westboro jumped to $457,253 last year, from $173,414 in 2000.

Courtland Park-Rideau View, a neighbourhood south of Baseline Road and east of Fisher Avenue, was second with a 159-per-cent rise in values, taking the average price to $336,626 from $130,208.

Next was Chinatown-Little Italy-Mechanicsville (157 per cent) and two Westboro neighbours: Wellington Village (155 per cent) and Highland Park (129 per cent).

Even Vanier, a mixed commercial and residential district east of downtown that has earned its share of negative press, appreciated more than the Ottawa average, at 129 per cent.

So if these areas appreciated more than the average, which neighbourhoods came in below the 92-per-cent figure? Neither the city nor the Ottawa Real Estate Board, the source of the data, would say.

Given the close-to-the-bull's-eye positions of the big gainers, however, it's probably safe to assume that the slower areas are in the outer rings of the amalgamated city.

Curry was willing to predict which areas could show the biggest increases, residential and commercial, in the coming decade. These neighbourhoods line Ottawa's planned light rail transit (LRT) route, of which the first phase, from Tunney's Pasture through downtown to Blair Road, is expected to begin operating by 2019. The line will tunnel under central Ottawa and have 13 stations.

A projected annual ridership of 76 million, almost double the ridership on the current bus transitway, should spur "significant positive effect on the value of lands around stations," he told the conference.

Even before LRT construction starts in 2013, a boom in condominium projects, spurred by the city's housing intensification strategy, is encouraging young professionals, baby boomers who have consolidated their households, and others to live downtown.

Within two blocks of Rideau and Cumberland streets, for example, 1,200 housing units are under construction or completed and another 670 are planned, boosting the area population by 3,100.

"That's the equivalent of the town of Almonte," Curry said.

Some 2,100 units are under way or complete in the downtown-Centretown district, with another 2,000 units planned. In Westboro, 505 units have been added and another 1,110 are proposed.

Still another hot area is Little Italy by the Carling station for the O-Train, forerunner to Ottawa's LRT service. There, 725 new dwellings will accommodate as many as 1,200 incoming residents, while new office and retail space will provide up to 1,650 jobs.

"We really think that Little Italy and the whole Somerset (Street) area is a sleeper," Curry said.

The general rise in property values is good news for homeowners, less good for buyers -- especially first-timers facing increasingly high initial and monthly payments to get on the property ladder.

Ottawa broker Pierre de Varennes, however, suggests that wage hikes in the past decade have helped buyers keep pace with the price increases.

As well, with a six-decade record of steady but moderate increases in resale values, Ottawa remains the second least-expensive large Canadian city in which to buy a home, he noted in an interview. Montreal is the cheapest.

"From that perspective, Ottawa tends to be a relatively safe place to invest in home ownership, relative to some other Canadian cities," said de Varennes, who just completed a term as president of the Ottawa Real Estate Board.

"We're not vulnerable to the large swings as may be seen in, for example, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver."

As in other cities, he says, the downtown should continue to be desirable to older buyers who want to be in walking distance of shops -- especially if they have health problems that could limit their ability to drive in coming years. Others are simply tired of daily traffic jams.

"They're willing to pay a little more for convenience -- the time-savings. Certainly there are people who have moved in from the periphery, and that may allow them to go from two cars down to one, or three cars down to two."

For first-time buyers seeking a "starter" home, rising downtown prices could steer them to neighbourhoods outside the Greenbelt, where larger townhouses or even single-family homes are attainable.

More affluent first-timers, "especially if they're being helped by mom and dad," tend to gravitate to the downtown.

"They tend to be young professional people. They're not necessarily, in their first property, interested in mowing the lawn, that sort of thing, because they're focused on their career.

"They're looking to be closer to the nightlife, the activities, and be in a condo," said de Varennes.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Source: http://www.househunting.ca/ottawa/Golden+neighbourhoods/3927008/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

Renovations - Getting the best return on your investment!

Renovations - Getting the best return on your investment!

A question that comes up quite often when talking to our client is "we want to renovate our home but we want to know where our money is best spent to get the highest return". According to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, painting brings you the highest return which is also the less costly renovation you can do to your home.

Renovation            Average Cost       Resale Recovery

Paint                          $700                    200% plus

Add a Bathroom        $10,000                   96%

Add a Fireplace          $4,000                    94%

Kitchen (minor)         $8,500                    79%

Kitchen (major)        $24,000                   70%

Bathroom                  $7,500                      69%

Add a Skylight            $4,000                     68%

New Siding                $7,500                      67%

Add Insulation           $1,750                      65%

Addition                     $35,000                     62%

New Roof                     $4,600                      61%

Deck                             $6,000                      60%

Greenhouse                 $17,000                     56%

New Windows /Doors    $12,000                 55%

Add a Swimming Pool   $24,000                  39%
Source: National Association of the Remodeling Industry

It's important to remember when your doing renovations, keep it tasteful and neutral to satisfy all tastes. Also guide your renovations towards the potential target market that will be looking to purchase your home. Most of the time the budget is a major factor, so keep it within your spending limits and don't be the castle on the street.

Happy renovations!

New Home Outlook for 2011

In 2010, the Ottawa new home/condo market had a slight resurgence predicted to close the year at nearly 5,900 units, with the condo market owning a 24% share of the new construction in the City of Ottawa. Which is a significant increase compared to last year, where the condo market only had 19% share of the new homes division.

With the trends in Ottawa starting to lean towards multiple unit structures, we can expect town homes and condos to earn an even bigger market share of the new homes development in 2011. According to CMHC, the strong activity in the re-sale market in Q1 and Q2 of 2010, increasing mortgages rates projected for 2011 and along with higher housing prices, the demand for single-detached homes will be reduced for 2011. CMHC predicts that single construction will continue to fade in the next several years to the point where singles will only represent 4 out of every 10 homes in Ottawa.

With the average home increasing in value of approximately 6.27% a year, many potential buyers are looking for more affordable housing, leading them directly to the condominium market. Also increasing the demand for condo are the growing number of empty nesters who are slowly but surely making the shift from the large single to the care-free condo as well as young urban professionals who are looking for housing to be within proximity of all the happening things that Ottawa has to offer.

According to the City of Ottawa Official Plan, the main objective is to ‘‘grow in, not out’’. Thus utilizing existing infrastructure to develop higher-density residential housing units. Meaning developers will continue to use infill projects to conform to the Official Plan. CMHC predicts that the downtown core will continue to outpace other regions in the city since it can support high density developments. Which will in fact help to attract urban professionals with high incomes.

These days buyers are looking for housing to compliment there lifestyle that are in proximity of cultural amenities, restaurants, shops and public transportation, and these buyers are no longer buying simply based on square footage. To learn more about the Ottawa condo market, please contact the Bennett Real Estate Professionals today!

Steps from the Canal - Elgin Street and the Glebe

Let me register you today for this new condo development starting from approximately $235k near the Canal and Elgin coming in October. Amenities will include a roof top terrace with views of the Canal, fitness center, party room, outdoor garden area.

This building will be mixed use, likely 6 stories with ground floor commercial including a coffee shop. Units will be ranging between 650 sqft to over 1000 sq.ft. Great location, walking distance to Elgin and the Byward Market, as well as great Queensway access. Great builder and great specs