The Year That Was - Lake of Bays & Huntsville 2010 Waterfront Review

Sales activity in 2010 on Lake of Bays and the Huntsville Lakes saw a decline in the number of sales posted from the prior year.  In large part, inventory was the problem with fewer new, realistically priced  listings being introduced into the market.  Sellers that continued to ignore realistic pricing strategy found buyers would not engage in the offer process. It is not clear that the Lake of Bays and Huntsville waterfront market has fully recovered from 2008 although certainly an improvement. 
If we look at all recreational properties reported sold in the area covered by the Muskoka Haliburton Association of Realtors, we see a solid 6% increase over 2009 (813 properties reported sold versus 768) and a whopping 44% improvement over 2008 reported sales of 566 recreational properties.
Sellers must come to terms with pricing reality in 2011 in order to ensure sales. Although heading to a balanced market, market updraft is not expected in 2011. It is widely thought that rates will rise in the latter half of 2011 and this is expected to encourage early year sales.
“Trends in the housing market continue to be driven by the lingering after-effects of the recession,” said Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services.  “Canadians realize that interest rates are unsustainably low and that homes will become effectively more expensive when mortgage rates return to normal levels."
We look forward to a balanced recreational market in Lake of Bays and Huntsville. If Seller's price their properties fairly, we are sure to see successful transactions follow.  I have many buyers who remain optimistic in their search for waterfront properties in beautiful North Muskoka.


Data in the following chart was taken wholly from information supplied by the Muskoka and Haliburton Association of Realtors and represents properties on the MLS system. No private or exclusive sale data is included.

Sales  ALL Waterfront in Huntsville and Lake of Bays District 2008 - 2010
Year	Total # Sales	Average Selling Price
2008	189	$412,010
2009	199	$429,822
2010	215	$422,556

*All waterfront - rivers, lakes, private lakes located within the Huntsville and Lake of Bays District. All information based on MLS statistics and provided in full by Muskoka-Haliburton Association of Realtors.  (Exclusive/private sales not included)


RECORD BREAKING SALE ON LAKE OF BAYS 

The first cottage sale to break the $3 million dollar mark on Lake of Bays occurred in the fall of 2010. The landmark property located on Osborne Point Road was listed at $3.6 million and sold by business partners, Jay Richardson and Stephen Leonard. Known as waterfront authorities in Lake of Bays, Jay and Stephen have cataloged an extensive list of properties on Lake of Bays with current market values in excess of $3 Million. This recent sale will herald the way for Sellers of such waterfront properties to achieve the higher values their waterfront properties should command.       

November Sales Stats Lake of Bays & the week that was

November Statistics for Waterfront Sales on Lake of Bays  

(data provided in whole by Muskoka Haliburton Association of Realtors)

Year	Number of Sales	Average List Price	Average Sale Price	Avg. # Days on Market
2010	4	$1,023,000	$897,250	184
2009	4	$770,750	$718,125	159
2008	4	$826,975	$728,625	121

Four waterfront sales were reported on Lake of Bays in November. Interesting to note, that number of sales on the lake in the month of November is identical to the past 3 years. Clearly this year the high end was where the market showed strength although listings, on average, remained on the market almost one full month longer than prior year listing time period.  

Some Happenings this Week 

On Monday, Family Place Restaurant owners Dino and Bessie Georgas held a wonderful charity buffet lunch with all proceeds raised going to the Salvation Army Food Bank in Huntsville. Dino and Bessie donate the food and staff the restaurant. I was to get to the restaurant about 12:30 and grab a table for us. Luckily as I came in, a booth was just being vacated and I quickly claimed it.  There were lineups from time to time waiting for tables and the restaurant was packed I am happy to report. Dino manned the tasty buffet table laden with his famous Family Place pizzas and chicken, roast beef, pasta, salads, and fabulous homemade cream pies, while Bessie and staff happily ensured all the customers had beverages and were being well looked after. 

There was no charge for lunch - you pick up an envelope on your way out and put what you want to donate. Everyone is generous for this wonderful charity event benefiting the food bank in Huntsville.  When all was done, $11,000 was raised for the Food Bank. A merrier Christmas for those so in need.

G-8 

On Wednesday, the speaker at the Rotary Club of Huntsville's meeting was Joseph Klein, the general manager for Deerhurst Resort. Deerhurst was home to the G-8 summit in Huntsville this summer.  A very entertaining talk with lots of candid photos and anecdotes of the world leaders at the G-8 including the process from the day the G-8 in Huntsville was announced  to the take down and ready for business again afterward. Hats off to Joseph and his great team at Deerhurst. We are so proud of this beautiful resort.

Restaurant Rant

Thursday evening we took a friend to see the Nylons concert at the Algonquin Theatre in Huntsville. We stopped at Mill on Main for a drink and appetizer before the concert because it was convenient to the theatre. I thought maybe it was just me but none of the group wanted to head back there after the show - we decided to go elsewhere. I know I am considered particular when it comes to food and restaurants - I like my hot food to be hot and have some semblance of flavour and then to be served by a friendly wait person. As a friend once asked - "Are you the new food critic for the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Times?" I laughingly replied no, not yet, I'm still a full time real estate agent.  I do eat out a lot with friends and clients and I am perhaps spoiled by many very good restaurants in Huntsville, Lake of Bays and Bracebridge such as Tall Trees (consistently good every time - thank you Randy), Eclipse at Deerhurst (Rory Golden is a wonderful chef), Wabora ( I LOVE WABORA), 155 (at 155 Manitoba Street) and Thai Bo in Bracebridge. Pub on the Docks is always good pub fare and Muskoka on the Rocks and Moose Delaney's have great wings. 

If you have comments either agreeing or not necessarily so....with my restaurant rants, please feel free to comment.

New Mayor Township of Lake of Bays

Bob Young, Mayor Township of Lake of Bays
on election night (before he knew the
township was half a million in the red)

Welcome to mayor Bob Young and the council. Bob is a great guy - approachable, honest and thoughtful. (and Gill, his partner is wonderful). I  know Bob will be an excellent mediator and public trust manager. His business experience with large corporations will prove invaluable in managing the Township.  Sworn in on Dec. 7th, just after the last council announced they "missed" a $422,000 shortfall. This is in addition to the already known $157,740 cumulative 2009 deficit. In a municipality that has an overall 6 million dollar budget, a shortfall of half a million dollars should have been very conspicuous.  Mayor Young now has to figure out what happened, put in place a procedure to ensure it doesn't happen again and how the shortfall will be made up - and of course we, the taxpayers have a pretty good idea how that will be done. 

Confused about HST?

A new survey from Ipsos Reid commissioned by the Ontario Real Estate Association says over half of Ontarians have the wrong idea about this tax. It seems that the majority mistakenly believe that HST applies to the full purchase of a resale cottage or home. That misconception is sure not helping the housing market nor the Ontario economy, with Buyers thinking the cost of a resale is actually thousands of dollars higher than it actually is. OREA is requesting the Ontario government launch a public awareness campaign to educate taxpayers and end the confusion.

HST HIGHLIGHTS

• ·        Purchasers of newly constructed homes under $400,000 are not subject to the tax. Buyers of new homes valued between $400,000 and $500,000 could claim a proportional rebate on the provincial portion of the HST up to a maximum of $24,000.
• ·        HST is not applicable to the sale of a re-sale home or cottage
• ·        Real estate commissions paid by the Seller are subject to the 13% HST
• ·        Lawyer's fees are also subject to the 13% HST
• ·        Moving company fees and home staging fees are also subject to the harmonized sales tax.

First Snowfall in Lake of Bays and Santa cancelled his parade

Of course I knew it was coming - after that wonderful fabulous long lazy summer and warm sunny fantastic fall it had to happen. And happen it did! I was driving from Huntsville to my office in Dwight yesterday around noon after doing a live radio on Hunters Bay Radio. My dear friend Kareen Burns has a show called K on the Bay on Fridays and had asked me to be a guest to discuss all things Rotary -she forbid me to mention real estate :( The snow was falling gently in Huntsville as I pulled out of the Hunters Bay station parking lot. The 15 minute drive to Dwight had changing weather conditions - I left Huntsville with a skiff of snow on the ground and arrived in Dwight with lots of the white stuff. When Simone and I left at 4:00 on Friday we had about a foot of snow and it was coming down hard. 
At 5:00 Tanya sent a text that the Huntsville Santa parade scheduled for 7:00 pm and sponsored by Rotary had been canceled due to .....snow - yes snow - What No Santa??? Due to snow???  I am Canadian. I live in the near North with fierce weather in the winter and someone that lives in the North Pole won't come because of a foot of snow..... Obviously times have changed. Santa will now check the temp - nothing too cold please and of course not too warm and the snow - not snowing too hard - perhaps a light flake on cue. Well, too bad for Huntsville to make this silly call. Hopefully Toronto will welcome Santa even if there is snow on the ground.  
This morning it had really snowed in Lake of Bays. We seemed to get hit much harder than Bracebridge or Huntsville. The plow trucks were out and the shovels were working and neighbours were helping each other dig out. By the time I arrived at the office my very reliable plow truck operator, Chip, had plowed the lot. Simone had arrived early and  shoveled the steps and the porch. The sun came out and it was a postcard perfect day in Dwight, on Lake of Bays. The snow quickly melted off the porch with the rays of the sun. 
Luckily, I was at the office all day with the power on - but at my home on South Portage Road, I awoke to no Power and Hydro tells me the crew will be there by 8:00 pm tonight. Thank goodness for my powerful, automatic Generator. Everyone in cottage country should invest in a great generator. It is a matter of flushing the toilets and making a cup of tea. When the power is out in Lake of Bays it is sometimes out for 6 to 12 hours so the simple things become a necessity. If Santa had braved "the storm" last night even without power, I could have given him a glass of Merlot....oh I mean a cold glass of milk.

Beautiful Quilt of Hope

This beautiful handmade quilt took eight months to complete. Made by master Quilter, Carol McLean, the quilt was donated to my Royal LePage office in Dwight, Ontario to raise funds on behalf of the Shelter Foundation with all funds raised going to the Chrysalis Shelter in Huntsville in the name of Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. The quilt is currently on display at the Canada Summit Centre in Huntsville. On February 14th, 2011 a draw will take place at the Royal LePage office in Dwight with one lucky person winning this beautiful quilt. Funds from the tickets will go to Chrysalis House Shelter in Huntsville....Helping restore hope for women and children in our community. Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. Email, text or call to get a ticket.

Yummmmmm

Cam and I had a great time in Baysville and saw lots of friends and clients when we visited Lynn and John Murden at their annual open house. Lynn is the owner and chief cook for this fabulous product line of homemade Jams, Jellies, Toppings, Marinades, Maple syrup goodies infused with liquors... - yummm!! Savour Muskoka chefs were there with wonderful samplings and our new Lake of Bays Brewery in Baysville was sampling their brews. Admittance was by food or $$$ donation to the animal shelter in Huntsville and Bracebridge. The Bracebridge Shelter has a special place in my heart as that is where Maggie, my wonderful Jack Russell mix and Dwight office Diva found me 2 1/2 years ago :) It was a great time and I came home with a fabulous basket of goodies for Christmas giving and a lovely giclee print, for a client, by Lynn's husband John Murden a very talented and well known area artist.

Driving back around the

lake on Hwy 117 we passed pristine Grandview Lake where I have a very nice interior decorators cottage for sale. She has done a beautiful job on the re

novations, decorating and furnishings. As winter sets in we will remove it from the market and some lucky Buyer will see this and fall in love with it next Spring. It is absolutely turnkey and gorgeous!

Of course, I had to stop in Dorset to visit Robinson's General Store and to see the Bigwin Steamship in its bright blue shrink-wrap for the winter. Apparently there will be 3 bubblers on Lake of Bays at the Dorset narrows, but the snowmobilers will still run the narrows in front of the Fiery Grill ...they are a brave (I didn't say silly, even if I think so) group.

Welcome

Some say starting a blog is easy.....but I would not agree with that. I have found every excuse under the sun not to start. Shannan Boothby, my web person finally asked me on Friday - "Jay, how long can we say coming soon...Jay's Blog?" So, I made up my mind that I would not leave my office in downtown Dwight on this dull and dreary November evening until the blog was at least under way. I will ask the readers to understand I am new at the blog stuff and I promise I will try to make it interesting and current. Hopefully, my blog will reflect who I am - personality warts and all. I think there are enough expert opinions on everything under the sun but especially real estate, if you are not a realtor yourself - your brother, sister, aunt, second cousin twice removed or the Air Canada pilot that is taking the real estate course on the side for his early retirement, has an expert opinion on cottage real estate! Therefore, I will try to keep my blog easy to read, fun and won't get up on the real estate soapbox too often I hope. From time to time I will comment and keep you current on the waterfront market on Lake of Bays and in North Muskoka from my perspective as an experienced Broker that specializes in the sale of waterfront cottages. I invite you to leave comments and pose questions. I will do my best to respond to all questions and comments in a timely manner. Those of you that are seasoned bloggers - I welcome any suggestions or help you can give me in the hopes of having a blog people enjoy visiting.