Rental Fraud Alert - be Careful!

Please be very careful if you are thinking of renting a property through Craigslist or Kijiji. There are some fraudsters out there preying on people who are thinking of renting. If it seems just too good to be true, it likely is.

One method of checking if the property you are thinking of renting is too inexpensive is to email an agent and ask them to either look up the address on the MLS or to give their opinion of rental value. This is one method of checking.

Please read this press release from the Toronto Real Estate Board below.

All the best,
Mark



October 27, 2008 -- A Member, who recently placed a house rental advertisement on Kijiji and Craigslist, has reported that an individual re-issued the same advertisement with his contact information in an attempt to fraudulently collect rental deposits.

The individual advised prospective tenants that he had been transferred to Nigeria on business and as such, the house would be available for rent for four years. He offered to rent the house for a considerably lesser amount than that which the owner had advertised. At least two prospective tenants in the Brampton area were nearly drawn into this scam.

Members are reminded that such occurrences can also be reported to PhoneBusters, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre managed on a tripartite basis by the Ontario Provincial Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Competition Bureau Canada.
PhoneBusters can be reached at 1-888-495-8501 or info@phonebusters.com


For more information please contact A. Mark Argentino

A. Mark Argentino, Broker, P.Eng.,
Specializing in Residential & Investment Real Estate
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage
2691 Credit Valley Road, Suite 101, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 7A1

BUS. 905-828-3434
FAX. 905-828-2829
E-MAIL: mark@mississauga4sale.com
Website: Mississauga4Sale.com

blogger labels

I've figured out that my blogger labels continue to give errors in my google webmaster tools under sitemaps and broken links. the reason is that labels with spaces are not indexed properly, I knew this from a long time ago, but overlooked this with blogger, hense all y problems. the only rational solution is to rename all my labels and put dashes or underscores, I chose dashes, since they are easier to insert!

such as

moving-relocation,national-prices,power-of-sale,property-tax-sales,property-taxes,real-estate-humour,real-estate-market,real-estate-strategies

these all have dashes and seem to work better!





For more information please contact A. Mark Argentino

A. Mark Argentino, Broker, P.Eng.,
Specializing in Residential & Investment Real Estate
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage
2691 Credit Valley Road, Suite 101, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 7A1

BUS. 905-828-3434
FAX. 905-828-2829
E-MAIL: mark@mississauga4sale.com
Website: Mississauga4Sale.com

test of the new blogger labels

this is a test of the new labels for my blogger

For more information please contact A. Mark Argentino

A. Mark Argentino, Broker, P.Eng.,
Specializing in Residential & Investment Real Estate
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage
2691 Credit Valley Road, Suite 101, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 7A1

BUS. 905-828-3434
FAX. 905-828-2829
E-MAIL: mark@mississauga4sale.com
Website: Mississauga4Sale.com

Existing Home Sales Scotia Report

Existing Home Sales

— The jump in September existing home sales — up 5.5% m/m — was a surprise. Excluding condos, the increase was even greater, coming in at 6.2%

m/m, the largest since early 2002. The glut of unsold, single-family homes decreased by 6.0%, lowering months supply to 9.4. Adding multi-unit dwellings, the month’s supply rises to 9.9, still high by historical standards.

Home values and prices continue to trend lower; both the median and average price of single family homes fell by over $10,000 last month.

Read more about:

• Interest Rates
• Power of Sale Properties
• Price Trends
• or Search the MLS and more at my website

Thank you for reading my blog and if there is anything else I can help you with please don't hesitate to contact me,

Mark

A. Mark Argentino
P. Eng. Broker
Specializing in Residential & Investment Real Estate

Thinking of Selling? Best Mortgage Rates Current Home Prices Search MLS
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc.

Providing Full-Time Professional Real Estate Services since 1987
( BUS 905-828-3434
›mark@mississauga4sale.com
8 Website : Mississauga4Sale.com

• Thinking of selling in the next 3 to 6 months? Would you like a Complimentary & Quick Over-The-Net Home Evaluation ?
• On-Line Real Estate Newsletter sign up
• See seasonal housing patterns

blogger labels, last set

For more information please contact A. Mark Argentino

A. Mark Argentino, Broker, P.Eng.,
Specializing in Residential & Investment Real Estate
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage
2691 Credit Valley Road, Suite 101, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 7A1

BUS. 905-828-3434
FAX. 905-828-2829
E-MAIL: mark@mississauga4sale.com
Website: Mississauga4Sale.com

fourth set of blogger labels

For more information please contact A. Mark Argentino

A. Mark Argentino, Broker, P.Eng.,
Specializing in Residential & Investment Real Estate
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage
2691 Credit Valley Road, Suite 101, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 7A1

BUS. 905-828-3434
FAX. 905-828-2829
E-MAIL: mark@mississauga4sale.com
Website: Mississauga4Sale.com

blogger labels to create new blogger labels for future posts

this post is necessary to create more of my new blogger labels

For more information please contact A. Mark Argentino

A. Mark Argentino, Broker, P.Eng.,
Specializing in Residential & Investment Real Estate
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage
2691 Credit Valley Road, Suite 101, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 7A1

BUS. 905-828-3434
FAX. 905-828-2829
E-MAIL: mark@mississauga4sale.com
Website: Mississauga4Sale.com

Embracing Change- we live in amazing times

This link below presents astonishing facts about the age that we currently live in.

We certainly live in an incredible world and are blessed to be experiencing this exponential growth in technology.

I cannot imagine what our children will be doing at midnight when they are 50 years old, probably just 'thinking and looking' and the mouse will move and pages will scroll across the screen and maybe the screen will be projected on feather light glasses that they wear when they want to experience some entertainment.

What will we do with all that computing power and all that information, it just boggles the mind.

As the video tells us, the amount of technical information is doubling every 2 years, that means that 50% of what we learn today will be outdated in 2 years, that is almost too difficult to comprehend.


This is the link to the video:

http://release.theplatform.com/content.select?pid=x7aVOMrlfkkijQwcLllwk6WjB5JE0zrF

Enjoy!

Mark

http://www.mississauga4sale.com/

Nigerian Advance Fee Fraudsters and Who's among us map of my blog visitors

You may have noticed that I have a small graphic in the right coloumn of my blog that shows a map of the world with red markers showing the location of people that have visited my blog only. The graphic is courtesy of a company called Who's Among Us They provide this graphic free of charge.

I put this graphic on my blog becuase I think it's neat to look at.

I noticed this today that one of my visitors sticks out like a sore thumb and that person is from Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria You may have heard of the Nigerian Scammers and the fact is that a large majority of Advance Fee Fraudsters come from Lagos Nigeria.

I would imagine that I will be receiving a few more of those "offers you can't refuse" to help those poor people transfer out many millions of dollars in cash from a recent inheritance, car crash settlement or something similar and where I receive a paltry 10 to 20% of the net proceeds.

To receive 20% of the bank transfer, all I have to do is help them transfter $40million (that's about $8million to you!) is give them all of your banking information, date of birth, SIN and my first born and we are in business together.

If you want a laugh, browse to http://www.scambusters.org/NigerianFee.html or just search google for nigerian 419 scammers and you will have many hours of hilarious reading.

This is another good link: http://www.419eater.com/html/letters.htm or you can see the trophy room http://www.419eater.com/html/hall_of_shame.htm if you just want to see what the goal is of many of people here in North America and UK who call themselves scambaiters. It's a hoot to read and see.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have worked with a few people over the recent past who recently came to Canada from Nigeria. They were a pleasure to work with and I've become friends with one family. But, if the hit to my blog was from a scammer, I just picture him (because it's rarely a woman scammer) sitting in an internet cafe in Lagos and typing out those 419'r letters and searching sucker real estate agents like me and the thousands of others here in North America, trolling for new blood to send their fraudulent schemes and email letters to.

I've read that thousands of people here in North America have falled for this fruadulent scheme. We live in a very polarized and odd world and the internet has allowed odd things to flourish that never would have worked so well 10 years ago!

Enjoy!
Mark


For more information please contact A. Mark Argentino

A. Mark Argentino, Broker, P.Eng.,
Specializing in Residential & Investment Real Estate
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage
2691 Credit Valley Road, Suite 101, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 7A1

BUS. 905-828-3434
FAX. 905-828-2829
E-MAIL: mark@mississauga4sale.com
Website: Mississauga4Sale.com

Mortgage Rate Update Bank of Canada Rate Reduction

The Bank of Canada reduced the prime rate again yesterday October 21st to 2.25% Canadian banks quickly followed and reduced their bank prime rates to 4.00%

The Bank of Canada reduced its main interest rate by a quarter of a point, less than economists predicted, saying it will probably need to act again to fend off the effects of a credit crisis and global recession.

Bank of Canada Governor trimmed the target rate for overnight loans between commercial banks to 2.25 percent, the lowest since October 2004. Canada's six biggest banks passed the relief on to customers by lowering their prime rates to 4 percent. Canada's dollar fell to the lowest in more than three years as traders bet on more reductions in the central bank's benchmark.

WHAT IS THE BANK PRIME RATE ?

As of October 22, 2008 the Bank Prime Rate was

4.00%

Bank Prime means "best," and this is the rate that banks charge their absolute best customers for loans. Changes in the prime rate influence changes in other rates, including variable interest rate mortgages. This prime rate rate fluctuates based on economic conditions. Some mortgage companies offer interest rates starting at Less than Prime Rate as an incentive to borrow from them! These are known as "SUB PRIME" Mortgages and we know what happened in the US when too many sub-prime mortgages were given out in the mid 2000's Read more about Sub-Prime Mortgages

For example, see the
Royal Bank Prime Rates
Bank of Canada Prime rates found here

These are the current posted and some 'best' rates

NATIONAL MORTGAGE RATES
Term	Posted Rates*	Best Rates achievable
6 Month	6.20%	6.20%
1 Year	6.35%	4.35%
2 Year	6.70%	5.35%
3 Year	7.05%	5.49%
4 Year	7.04%	5.70%
5 Year	7.20%	5.65%
7 Year	7.65%	6.20%
10 Year	8.00%	6.40%
Variable Rate		4.15%
Prime Rate		4.00%
* last updated: Oct 21, 2008

Thank you,
Mark