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stouffvsle suntribune thursday march 8 2007 7 homebuyers eager to enter market studies by david fleischer staff writer one of the oldest investment rules in the book is you cant go wrong with real estate a pair of new studies suggest home owners are confident with their pur chases and are ready for more rbc royal banks 14th annual home ownership survey released tuesday shows a majority of those in the real estate market want to buy now rather than waiting to see what happens the nationwide study showed 59 percent of gta residents saying it made more sense to buy now not surprising since 63 per cent expect prices to rise over the next 12 months overall home buying intentions in the gta are on par with or higher than most other regions of the country royal bank vicepresident paul bimm said still a majority of residents are say ing nows the time to buy a feeling perhaps in part due to a concern of ris ing housing prices and interest rates ralph umansky president of con cordbased bestplan financial strate gies inc isnt surprised while renting is a viable option for many a lot of people still believe land and property are the way to go he noted for most people home ownership has been more of a necessity of life than an investment vehicle the rbc study showed 9 1 per cent of gta residents classifying a house or condominium as a good or very good investmentthey also believe the value of their houses has increased by 15 per cent in the past two years alone both statistics echoed another study remax released numbers last month touting a 264percent increase in aver age house values since 1981 but what really lies behind those numbers the 264 number is a national average and according to the study house val ues in the gta have actually increased more at a rate of 290 per cent while several media outlets reprint ed remaxs numbers at face value a closer look shows the math neither puts the numbers in context nor adjusts them for inflation the study says for example a house bought 25 years ago for 90203 would now be worth 351941 at first glance the 260000 in profit makes it look like a superb investment but as most longtime homeowners know the fact you can sell your house for that much does not necessarily mean you are far ahead for starters whether you are downsizing or upsiz- ing youre going to need a new home and its price has risen at the same rate for most people home ownership has been more of a necessity of life than an investment vehicle said michael polzler executive vicepresident and regional director of remax ontario- atlantic canada you need to be wary of studies based on averages especially over a long peri od of time mr umansky said there is no individual answer going back 20 years he said every investment comes with risks and every person is in a different situa tion though he added youve got to live somewhere there are good arguments for rental but a lot of people still believe buying land and property is the way to go theres always an argument to be made and it depends on individual circumstances the minimum wage recently rose to 8 an hour was 350 in 1981 between 1981 and 2007 there jas also been a steep decline in mortgage inter est rates from nearly 20 per cent to the current 5 per cent range according to statistics canada the consumer price index by which inflation is measured has gone up 221 per cent amortized over 25 years remaxs 264 per cent increase is shown to actual ly be 53 per cent compounded annual ly thats barely above inflation while that hardly makes for a poor investment mr umansky said other options such as gics increased in the 12 to 13 per cent range over the same term market downturns in the 1980s and 1990s make another one seem inevitable but mr umansky doesnt expect the next correction to be as severe as those daylight savings time ideal for checking smoke alarms clocks spring forward this sun day at 2 am and that means an early check on your smoke alarms according to the provinces fire mar shal even though the time change is about a month sooner than previ ous years its still a perfect time to check your alarm fire marshal patrick burke said it was more than a year ago when the fire code was changed to make smoke alarms mandatory on all levels and sleeping areas of your home a recent review of provincial data shows 79 per cent of homes that had fires had an alarm and less than half of these alarms were working the main reason behind this is batteries were taken out to stop nuisance alarms from cooking or steam however removing batteries and tampering with smoke alarms is illegal if you have a nuisance alarm go to wwwmakeitstopca or contact the fire department for advice alex karkheck newly remodelled were not just a meat deli m0n march 12 sat march 17 free soup with sandwich order mon sat thru the day every wednesday 112 pm all you can eat spaghetti lunch 599 your new favourite place to have breakfast and lunch x7 har fresh meats 6420 main st 9056404761 y know your 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