Move your Family and your Business to York Region

I love living in York Region, and most of my family and friends are here too, mostly in Newmarket, Aurora, Richmond Hill, and Vaughan. Newmarket is the centre of York Region, and my home.

If you're the kind of person who likes to see numbers, here are some impressive numbers for you to consider.

York Region has about 1.1 million residents. It’s the third largest municipality in Ontario and sixth largest in Canada. York Region is big; it covers 1,762 square kilometres from Lake Simcoe in the north to the city of Toronto in the south

The York Region Administrative Centre, on Yonge Steet in Newmarket

Here are some more facts about York Region from Invest in York, the region's business attraction program.

• 1st in population growth among Canada’s largest municipalities

• 42,000 Local Businesses - Ontario’s second largest business centre after the City of Toronto

• 528,000 Local Jobs - 0.8 million jobs projected by 2030

• 14 Fortune 100 Corporations have operations in York Region

• 3,700 ICT Firms - Canada’s second largest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry cluster

• 70 Employers with over 500 employees; 20 ¬firms with over $0.5 billion in revenue; 98% of businesses are Small-Medium size Enterprises (SMEs)

• 3rd largest residential construction market in Canada after Vancouver and Toronto

• 140M North American consumers within a day’s drive (500 mile radius)

The numbers add up nicely, don't they? So, come on! Give me a call and we'll work together to move your family and your business to York Region.

Choose Newmarket for your Family and Business

If you’re considering moving to Newmarket, good thinking!

I moved up here from Toronto in 1996 and I love it. It’s been a perfect place to raise a family, to do business, and to enjoy life.

Take a look at the Wikipedia page for Newmarket. There is a ton of good information about our town, and lots of great reasons to make it your home. You can follow this link. 

Here are some simple facts from that page:

“According to the 2011 census, the town's population was 79,978. The York Region Planning Department projects a population of 98,000 by 2026. Newmarket's population density is just over 2000 inhabitants per square kilometer, ranking it third in Ontario and 33rd in Canada. 

English is the mother tongue of 77.4% of Newmarket residents, according to the 2011 Census. Italian is the mother tongue for 1.8% of the population, followed by French at 1.4%, and Russian and Spanish, each at 1.3%.

In 2005, the average household income in Newmarket was $96,680.00, far exceeding the provincial average for the same year of $77,967.00”

Check out that bottom line!

If you’re thinking of starting a business, start it here. Newmarket is not only a perfect place to raise a family, but also a great place to do business. People from all over the region come to Newmarket to shop at the Upper Canada Mall, along Yonge Street, on Historic Main Street and all around town. Highway 404 conveniently brings people up into town at Mulock, Davis Drive and Green Lane. 

Although many Newmarket residents commute to jobs in Toronto, something I did for a number of years as well, there are lots of jobs right here. And, the town is growing and improving constantly.  

Here’s what Wikipedia says about our economy:

“Newmarket features a diverse and growing economy based largely in the business services and knowledge industries, and the administrative, manufacturing and retail sectors.

The following are some of the Town's major public sector employers:

• Southlake Regional Health Centre

• Regional Municipality of York

• Town of Newmarket

• York Regional Police

• Royal Canadian Mounted Police Headquarters

• Ontario Court of Justice

• York Region District School Board

• York Catholic District School Board

• Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority

• The following are some of the town's major private sector employers:

• Allied International Credit

• Flextronics

• TS Tech Canada Inc.

• Effem Foods

• CeDe Candy

• Exco Technologies

• Magna International

• Snap-On Tools

• Cintas

Notwithstanding these major employers, a large percentage of Newmarket's population commutes to Toronto for employment.”

Helping You get What You Want

What kind of house do you want? Sounds like an easy question, but it's not.
You might think you want a brick house, but then you'll see an amazing stucco house with a pool and a great family room, perfect kitchen and a real laundry room, and you'll decide that a brick exterior is not that important after all.
You might think you want a detached house, but there's nothing decent in your budget.
"You can't always get what you want."

Unfortunately, the reality is that your bottom line and the market determine what kind of house you get.

Fortunately, you can get a good idea of what's on the market from the comfort of your home, and you can call me up and we can find something suitable together.

Take a look at my website. There's a great tool right on the home page. You can search for available homes very easily. Type in Newmarket, for example, and click on Homes under Type in the red bar, and then click on Map in black. Houses will appear on the map, all around Newmarket and just outside of Newmarket too. Click on a picture and you'll get more info. You can name a price range too.

Give it a try!  Find out what kind of house you can get, because, if you try, sometimes, "you get what you need."

Brrrr... It's so HOT

Yup! The lakes are frozen solid and ice-fishing is in full swing here in Ontario! Hockey talk is also going strong these days and many of us have skis, snow-shoes and skates ready for action :) In this wonderfully frigid wonderland that we live in, the real estate market is also really HOT these days!

You see, people who want to move by April, need to list their homes in mid to late January, giving themselves plenty of time to sell and then shop for their next place of residence.

So, keep your sticks on the ice and make sure you have warm undergarments and extra mitts for that day outdoors; but don't forget to contact your Friendly Realtor (ME!!!) to Talk Real Estate!

Interest Rates

Surprise!!! Surprise!!!  The interest rates remain untouched today but "they" still warn us about future rises!

Going back to 2010, "they" said the economy was too weak for a rate hike and the cold dark days of 2009 were still fresh in our memories. Too many folks had lost their jobs, closed their businesses and gone bankrupt in 2009.

However, as if by MAGIC, and after having a sunny and warm February, "they" decided to hike the rates anyway!

All those promises of not touching the rates until the Third Quarter simply went out the window in an instant. The results were quietly catastrophic!

More businesses suffered and fewer people found jobs. The weakening of the US Dollar resulted in the strengthening of the CDN Dollar which didn't help our manufacturing sector at all. The real estate market did not cool off as "they" had predicted either!

This year "they" seem to be smarter and are keeping their hands off the interest rates in hopes of stimulating the economy for real.

Having a Majority Government must have helped this decision if you ask me.

People are still buying and selling homes in the GTA, York, Peel, and Durham Regions and although activity level has gone down somewhat, home prices have not gone down.

I am no expert in financial matters, but I have learned not to listen to "them".

Just like the Weatherman, "they" can be wrong everyday without fear of losing their jobs!

So do what is best for YOUR family: If a move will help the quality of life for you, then just do it, and in my humble opinion, interest rates cannot go up that much in the near future (:-D