Halifax Real Estate Blog

The Bagogloo Team wants to thank their clients, colleagues and friends for a fantastic 2011! Merry Christmas!

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If you have questions, or want advice on Buying or Selling a home, get in touch with The Bagogloo Team of RE/MAX nova by email at info@halifaxmetrohomes.com or call 902-830-9006.

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Already Optimistic Predictions for the Nova Scotia Economy Continue to Improve

We’ve already felt the boost this November in real estate in the Halifax-Dartmouth area, and you certainly can’t miss the optimism in the air, ever since we learned that indeed the Ships WILL Start Here! But this week the TD Bank has announced even more promising news, predicting that Nova Scotia could well be the fourth-best-performing economy in Canada by 2013 with many “ripple-down” positive effects for the rest of the province, and more. John Demont with the Chronicle Herald has the report.

Halifax’s $25-billion naval shipyard contract will single-handedly transform Nova Scotia’s underperforming economy into one of the strongest in Canada by 2013, a TD Bank Group economist predicts.

Talk about a turnaround: this year, before the Halifax Shipyard contract begins to have an impact, Nova Scotia’s economy is slated to grow by a modest 1.4 per cent.

The bank had been expecting the economy to limp along during the next two years. But since the awarding of the shipyard contract, TD is far more optimistic about Nova Scotia’s prospects. So much so that its economics department has taken the unusual step of updating its prognosis for the provincial economy.

“This contract has the potential to offer a better standard of living and more long-term stability for the province,” TD economist Sonya Gulati said Monday.

She added that the contract could help slow the exodus out of Nova Scotia by “making people do a double take as to whether or not they have to leave.”

Gulati predicts the provincial economy will grow by 2.6 per cent in 2013, which is 0.5 per cent more than originally expected.

By the bank’s reckoning, that should leave Nova Scotia — previously dead last in terms of expected GDP growth in 2013 — tied with Newfoundland and Labrador as the fourth-best-performing economy in the land. (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario are expected to lead the country.)

Halifax Regional Municipality, which is forecast to grow by 3.2 per cent in 2013, will do even better than the province.

The shipbuilding job bonanza is already slowly starting. The Irving family-owned Halifax Shipyard has received 2,000 applications since the contract was awarded on Oct. 19.

So far, the yard has hired 50 people, most of them electricians. But at peak, Irving spokeswoman Mary Keith says, 1,000 of the 2,700 people expected to be working at the shipyard should be in white-collar sectors like IT, engineering and finance.

Those numbers don’t surprise TD’s Gulati. She expects the impact of the shipyard contract to ripple through most sectors of the Nova Scotia economy. Under the federal government’s Industrial and Regional Benefits policy for procurement contracts, a substantial amount of the work must go to small- and medium-sized enterprises, which make up the lion’s share of the provincial economy.

She also thinks benefits will spread far beyond the boundaries of the Halifax region. The reason: some 70 per cent of Nova Scotia’s manufacturing companies are located outside Halifax. The same is true of roughly 40 per cent of the province’s research and development, engineering and technical consulting firms.

That’s music to the ears of Bert Lewis, business development manager of Mulgrave Machine Works Ltd. in Mulgrave.

“Our expectation is that there will be such a volume of work that one yard will not be able to handle it,” said Lewis, whose custom metal fabrication company hopes to design and fabricate pressure vessels and tanks for the shipyard contract.

“We are ready, willing and able to support that initiative and look forward to being part of it.”

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If you have questions, or want advice on Buying or Selling a home, get in touch with The Bagogloo Team of RE/MAX nova by email at info@halifaxmetrohomes.com or call 902-830-9006.

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What does the shipbuilding announcement mean for the housing market?

As everyone now knows, Halifax's Irving Shipbuilding has won the competition for the combat vessel procurement, and our region will stand to benefit from up to $25 Billion in spending related to that contract.

The project will likely have positive impacts in all of the City, Province and Region, with forecasts from the Provincial Government predicting thousands of jobs created, millions in tax revenues among other economic spinoffs

For residents of HRM, the project will mean growth in our housing market, and an influx of people to the HRM. There have already been public appeals from James Irving (Irving Shipbuilding) and others for Maritimers who had travelled West looking for work in the trades to come home. Whether it's workers returning to Halifax after having left or new migrants to the city, we will almost certainly see increased levels of net in-migration to HRM, and this trend should continue for much of the contract’s life (up to 30 years). The Chronicle Herald's Paul MacLeod writes today that Irving has said their shipyard workforce will increase over the life of the contract from 1100 to 2700, with an average workforce of 2400 to 2500 - this is in addition to the workforce that will inevitably be needed for shipyard renovations and expansion, and all the spinoff job creation in the supply chain, infrastructure, construction (residential and commercial) etc... So, we'll have more people and more skilled labour.

What does that mean for housing?  At first, not much. It will take at least a year for the "umbrella agreement" between Irving and the Federal Government to be negotiated, and until that's done little is really known about specifications required for either the ships or the yard itself. Once that hurdle has been cleared, construction and upgrades will commence at the yard and no doubt hiring will begin as the ramp-up to production begins. Initially, we will see more demand for housing all over HRM as trades people begin to move home or relocate here to be part of the project.  There is not one specific area of HRM likely to benefit more than others, as the increase in home buyers will likely be made up of people with varying backgrounds, levels of experience, and purchasing power. Over time, as the project unfolds, the first-time homebuyer segment should see larger increases in demand, which will put upward price pressure on the whole housing market in HRM. Expect to see an increase in housing starts for both single family and multi-family new home construction, and overall an increase in buying activity within the housing market as a whole. Throughout this, average prices should rise year after year on a more aggressive pace than what we've seen since 2007.

Although we'd all like this project to make an instant difference economically, it's important to realize that it will take time to ramp up production and spending, and then trickle down through the city's economy.  Although consumer confidence will undoubtedly see a boost right away, it will take time for demand effects to be seen within the HRM housing markets, and it may be up to three full years before real growth effects are felt by buyers and sellers. In the short term, resale sales should begin to rise first, followed later by an increase in new home construction.

This means that now is an excellent time to buy a home, either as a residence or for investment – given that we are poised to see increases in demand for most types of residential homes, as well as a gradual bump in average prices, now is the time to get in before these changes work their way through the markets. Take those factors into consideration along with historically-low mortgage rates and you have an almost unique opportunity to buy before what we all expect to be several good years in the HRM property market.

There's no doubt this announcement is a boon to our area, and will have a far-reaching impact on our whole region - the sum total of which has yet to be seen or quantified. We look forward to helping all of our clients navigate the coming changes smoothly and while taking best advantage of them, provide the best value possible and professional, expert service.

Some of the information contained in this blog post consists of forward-looking statements and should not be relied upon as professional advice. For more detailed analysis or help with specific questions, call The Bagogloo Team at 902-830-9006 or email info@halifaxmetrohomes.com.

 

The Bagogloo Team

October 20, 2011

Furnishing & Décor Stores are Targeting College Students This Year – Great Opportunity for Bargain Hunters too

It’s that time of year again! Back to school usually calls to mind shopping trips for clothes, shoes, pencils & paper but this year retailers are seeing an even bigger opportunity – furniture and décor. Stores like Home Outfitters and Bed Bath & Beyond are recognizing that college kids moving into dorm rooms for the first time are starting from scratch and are catering to them with affordable, coordinating  items as well checklists and plans for everything they might need. What a great opportunity for bargain hunters as well! The Washington Post covers the phenomenon in their article from August 19^th

As soon as Amanda Zuckerman graduated from Potomac’s Winston Churchill High School in 2009, she began another rite of passage: shopping for her college dorm room.

Long gone, it seems, are the days of grabbing milk crates and grandma’s extra quilt and making do. Students prepared to spend $100,000 on an undergraduate degree increasingly are willing to invest in transforming the dorm into something closer to a first apartment.

It’s a shift retailers have seized on as an opportunity to launch a relationship that could well track over years and decades — from throw pillows to an apartment-size sofa to a full sectional for the den.

It’s also a design challenge: how to make creative and economical use of a 12-by-12 space that will be used for studying, eating, spacing out and sleeping. For Zuckerman and her mother, it had to be showstopper. They decided on a neutral palette of gray, tan and black with pops of lime green and headed to New York to shop. They were quickly frustrated that they could not find everything they needed in one spot.

“We went from store to store, taking a pillow from Urban Outfitters and another from Bed, Bath and Beyond” and hoping they would look stylish on the same bed, Zuckerman said. “There was nothing in one place.” They searched all summer and staged their purchases on the dining room table. Then they saw their ideas come together in Zuckerman’s room at Washington University in St. Louis.

“They called it ‘the hotel,’ and people from other buildings were coming over and saying, ‘I heard about this dorm room. I wanted to see it,’ ” said her mother, Karen Zuckerman, who runs a design and advertising agency based in Rockville. “That’s what we wanted.”

The experience inspired Zuckerman to launch an online boutique this summer called Dormify. The site carries bedding in regular and extra-long twin sizes, posters and wall decals, all designed by the mother-daughter duo, plus accessories like throw pillows and frames from designers like Blissliving Home and Jonathan Adler. Their target audience: College women (and their hovering parents) who have a sense of style and a larger-than-average decorating budget. This is the crowd that shops for jeans at Abercrombie & Fitch, asks for designer sunglasses for birthdays, reads Vogue and watches interior-design shows on cable.

“I am the target audience,” said Amanda Zuckerman, now 20 and entering her junior year. “I want my dorm room to look like an apartment. I don’t want to feel like I’m in a gross dorm room.”

The Zuckermans aren’t the only ones eyeing these college consumers. This year, Crate and Barrel opened its first Washington CB2 store, which sells affordable furniture aimed at apartment and loft dwellers. Last year, Pottery Barn pulled together pieces from its main line and a line of teen furnishings into an online PB Dorm site that features $35 bath caddies and $189 monogrammed beanbag chairs. Going off to college has always been a major consumer event, and this year students are expected to spend $33.8 billion during the back-to-school season on electronics, clothing and supplies, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s an expected average of $96.94 on dorm furnishings, a significant increase from last year’s average of $80.06. And these retailers aren’t just offering students merchandise to buy — they are providing shopping checklists and advising students on how to make their dorm room their own. These companies aren’t just selling extra-long sheets, they are selling a lifestyle and hoping to recruit lifelong customers.

CB2 provides free in-store room design help. PB Dorm has a photo gallery of “dorm room inspirations” and a “design your own bed” interactive feature that allows students to experiment with color and pattern combinations. And Dormify has a crew of 50 college-aged “style advisers” who blog about their decorating experiences, do-it-yourself projects and getting along with roommates.

“People who have style have style, no matter what their budget,” said Cynthia Bell, a rising senior at Seton Hall University in New Jersey who interned in Washington this summer. Each year, Bell has carefully decorated her room, often using fashion photos ripped from Elle and Vogue magazines, but has yet to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars doing so. But, she concedes, “if Anthropologie had a college line, I would cry to my parents until they bought me everything.”

Just like retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart have long marketed dorm sets that contain nearly everything a college student might need in one box or bag, Dormify has put together matching collections with funky names. There’s the “punk princess collection” featuring black, white and hot pink bedding, pillows and wall art for $427.68. The “red romance collection” costs $622.07.

Zuckerman thought these collections would be the site’s bestsellers, since they easily give a student a pulled-together look without the store-to-store search. Instead, she’s seeing more sales of single sheet sets or accessories. In many cases, dorm rooms look like mini apartments, and students are investing in pieces they can use beyond their college years. New residence halls are often apartment-style and feature in-house gyms, music studios or gaming rooms.

“Why live in a cookie-cutter interior when for a few dollars more you can have something different?” said Herbert Brito, dean of the School of Building Arts at the Savannah College of Art and Design. “College students are always desiring to make an individual statement, and this is an easy way to do that.” Some parents are willing to splurge on dorm stuff, especially when their children first go to school, because it’s a way for them to visually be a part of this new lifestyle. This is especially true for students moving far away, who will be able to return home only a few times a year.

“Especially for incoming students, you are coming into a strange place. To me, to have anything that reminds me of home is comforting,” said Max Meadows, 20, a rising junior at the College of William and Mary from Upstate New York. Last year, Meadows had a single room and decorated it with flags from countries he has visited and added a bookcase of his favorite books. “It’s comforting to have,” he said. And for mothers and daughters who have bonded over the years during shopping trips, putting together a collection of things to take to college can be a fun project.

“Whatever it will take to make their children comfortable, they will do it,” Karen Zuckerman said. “When they walk into their room everyday — even if they have had a fight with a friend or they are feeling homesick — they have this room that they love and feel good in.”

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If you have questions, or want advice on Buying or Selling a home, get in touch with The Bagogloo Team of RE/MAX nova by email at info@halifaxmetrohomes.com or call 902-830-9006.

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Happy Hour with The Bagogloo Team - Friday June 24, 2011 at The Halifax Club

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If you have questions, or want advice on Buying or Selling a home, get in touch with The Bagogloo Team of RE/MAX nova by email at info@halifaxmetrohomes.com or call 902-830-9006.

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2011 Canada Winter Games - February 11-27, 2011

From February 11 – 27, 2011 Halifax will be hosting its first Canada Winter Games!

The Country’s best young athletes will be competing in more than 20 sports at a variety of venues around the city and nearby ski hills. Halifax will be playing host to numerous visitors, including athletes and their families to sports fans, media and VIPs. Join in the excitement! For more information please visit http://www.canadagames2011.ca/.

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If you have questions, or want advice on Buying or Selling a home, get in touch with The Bagogloo Team of RE/MAX nova by email at info@halifaxmetrohomes.com or call 902-830-9006.

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Halifax Club Happy Hour Tonight! Sponsored by The Bagogloo Team - RE/MAX nova

The Bagogloo Team - RE/MAX nova is proud to be one of the sponsors the Happy Hour at the Halifax Club - tonight at 5pm. If you're in the Halifax area, join us for great music, great food and great friends.

With music by Ryan MacGrath and Gypsophilia - it's going to be a great way to cap off the week.

For details or to RSVP, please contact Stacie at 423-8460, ext. 3 or send an email to stacie.carrier@halifaxclub.ns.ca

Here's a video of Ryan MacGrath - and (below) Gypsophilia... see them both tonight at the Halifax Club!

 
 

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The Bagogloo Team on Facebook

RE/MAX is Back at the 2010 Halifax Spring Ideal Home Show - The Big One!

The 2010 Spring Ideal Home Show at Exhibition Park in Halifax is ready to go next weekend, March 26th - 28th. This is the Big One!

From the Home Show web site:

"The Ideal Home Show Leads the Way in Size, Content and Audience.

With over 30 years of great shows, this event has solidified itself in the market as “THE” annual event for the home building and renovating market. Exhibition Park is the venue for some of Nova Scotia’s leading suppliers of building products, kitchen and bathrooms, Décor, Heating Supplies, Furniture, entertainment and the list goes on…"

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Admission: $8.00 for adults, $6.00 for seniors and students.
Children under 10 are free when accompanied by an adult.

Show Hours
Friday, Mar. 26, 2010
10:00am - 9:00pm

Saturday, Mar. 27, 2010
10:00am - 8:00pm

Sunday, Mar. 28, 2010
10:00am - 5:00pm

Exhibition Park
Halifax, N.S.
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RE/MAX is Back at the Home Show!

Are YOU Fit to Buy? What about Fit to Sell? Let RE/MAX Show You How!

RE/MAX is excited to be back at at the Home Show, and we’ll be showcasing our “Fit to Buy” program by offering visitors a chance to sit down, sample some Jackson-Triggs and Inniskillin wine while browsing some of the Kitchenaid appliances from Sears that visitors will have a chance to win!

Visit www.fittobuy.ca  or www.fittosell.ca for all the details! Dairy Farmers of Canada will be partnering in this booth so visitors can sample some of the finest cheese on the market and will go quite nicely with the wine!

 

 

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The Bagogloo Team on Facebook

Buying a Property in 2010 Seminar - Thursday, March 4th

Our Team would like to extend an invitation to our past clients, friends, and associates to a complimentary event we're hosting March 4th at The Hampton Inn in Dartmouth Crossing - Buying a Property in 2010

 

This Seminar will feature a discussion and short presentation from Andrew and Louis Wolfson, (Real Estate Lawyers from Wolfson, Schelew, Zatzman), Mark Hurley (Mortgage Broker from Mortgage Intelligence), Sam Lorefice (Property Inspector, SafeGuard Home Inspection) and our Team covering important information about Buying a property in today's evolving market conditions.

Topics discussed will include:

• Closing Costs
• Mortgage Rates and Financing options
• New Financing Rules from the Federal Government, taking effect April 2010
• Buying a First Home in The Current Evolving Market Conditions
• Buying an Investment Property
• Legal Pitfalls You Can Encounter When Buying Or Selling Real Estate
• The Role of a Property Inspector in Protecting Your Investment
• Q&A Period

Please pass this invitation along to any family members, friends, colleagues, or neighbours who are considering making a purchase in the next year or two - this is a terrific opportunity for consumers to gain crucial insight with no obligation.

Seating is Limited so don't delay!

RSVP on Facebook  

Or call 468-2394

Or send us an email info@halifaxmetrohomes.com

 

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The Bagogloo Team on Facebook

Halifax Threads of Life Walk in Point Pleasant Park a Great Success

Thomas had the pleasure of participating in a great community event on Sunday May 3^rd in Point Pleasant Park.

The Threads of Life 5k Walk was a great success: 190 walkers raised approximately $11,000 in their first walk, in addition to money raised by sponsors and online donations.

Threads of Life is a support organization for families affected by workplace life-altering injuries and occupational disease, and provides assistance for families along their journey of healing.

Read more about Threads of Life Halifax

Thomas with Paul Pettipas, CEO of The Nova Scotia Home Builders Association (left) and Peter Briand, Owner of Econo Renovations (centre)

 

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The Bagogloo Team on Facebook