current trends in the economy as reported by RBC

These are the current trends in the economy as reported by RBC today. Not the greatest news, but there is hope in the future.

Economy falters badly

• GDP dropped 0.7% in November following a 0.1% drop in October. The big decline is consistent with our current forecast of an annualized 2.5% decline in the fourth quarter overall. This is expected to mark the first of two quarters of declines and thus flag that the Canadian economy has fallen into recession.
  
• Employment fell by a record-smashing 129,000 in January and the unemployment rate jumped to 7.2%. The decline was concentrated in full-time jobs (-113,900) and hit Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia the hardest.
  
• With new motor vehicle sales tumbling and gasoline prices coming down rapidly, nominal retail sales fell by 2.4% in November, their biggest one-month decline since January 1998, thus painting a weak picture of the Canadian economy.
  
• Housing starts fell 10.9% in January to an annualized 153,500 from 172,200 in December. Urban singles plunged 20.2%, while the multiples component dropped 12.2%. This weakness is increasingly a reflection of the macroeconomic impact of the credit tightening on employment growth.
  
• The merchandise trade balance posted a deficit of C$0.5 billion in December, the first since March 1976. Exports fell C$3.8 billion (9.7%) — the largest monthly decline since October 1982 — but imports fell by C$2.2 billion (5.7%), which tempered the deterioration in the trade balance.
  
• Consumer prices fell 0.7% in December and the year-over-year rate slipped to 1.2% from 2% in November. Canada's inflation rate averaged 2.3% in 2008 — the fastest increase since 2003. RBC forecasts that Canada's inflation rate will dip into negative territory mid-year and average just 0.5% this year

I hope this finds you Happy and Healthy!

All the Best!

Mark

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

Thinking of Selling? Best Mortgage Rates Current Home Prices Search MLS Newsletter
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc.
Providing Full-Time Professional Real Estate Services since 1987
( BUS 905-828-3434
2 FAX 905-828-2829 ÈCELL 416-520-1577
› E-MAIL : mailto:mark@mississauga4sale.com?subject=Mississauga
Website : Mississauga4Sale.com

• Thinking of selling your home in the next 3 to 6 months? Would you like a Complimentary & Quick Over-The-Net Home Evaluation ?
• Power of Sales and Foreclosures
• If you have not already signed up to receive my monthly real estate newsletter, you may do so here: On-Line Real Estate Newsletter sign up
• See seasonal housing patterns
• Would you like me to send you a 2009 Calendar?

Canada's economy slips badly - Bank of Canada to ease more

More information as deemed from RBC about what the bank of Canada will do in the future, interesting statements!
Mark

Canada’s economy slips badly — Bank of Canada to ease more

• The sizeable 0.7% decline in November GDP highlighted that Canada’s economy faltered badly in the fourth quarter consistent
  with our call for an annualized 3.1% decline in the quarter. We are now also looking for a hefty 2.8% drop in first-quarter GDP,
  almost double the 1.5% decline we had previously expected.
• The bleak near-term outlook supported the Bank’s decision to cut the overnight rate by 50 basis points to 1.00% in mid-January
  and early 2009 data confirmed that the recession is building momentum.
• January’s employment report showing a massive 129,000 job loss and a spike in the unemployment rate to 7.2% put the icing on
  the cake for the case for the Bank of Canada to cut the policy rate. The beleaguered manufacturing sector bore the brunt of the
  weakness and cut 100,900 positions. We now look for the Bank to ease the policy rate to just 0.5% in March.

I hope this finds you Happy and Healthy!

All the Best!

Mark

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

Thinking of Selling? Best Mortgage Rates Current Home Prices Search MLS Newsletter
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc.
Providing Full-Time Professional Real Estate Services since 1987
( BUS 905-828-3434
2 FAX 905-828-2829 ÈCELL 416-520-1577
› E-MAIL : mailto:mark@mississauga4sale.com?subject=Mississauga
Website : Mississauga4Sale.com

• Thinking of selling your home in the next 3 to 6 months? Would you like a Complimentary & Quick Over-The-Net Home Evaluation ?
• Power of Sales and Foreclosures
• If you have not already signed up to receive my monthly real estate newsletter, you may do so here: On-Line Real Estate Newsletter sign up
• See seasonal housing patterns
• Would you like me to send you a 2009 Calendar?

Mississauga and Toronto Residents are blessed to have the CN Tower

This was a very interesting article about the CN Tower that was forwarded to me from a friend. I thought I would share it with you as millions of people from Mississauga and Toronto drive by the CN Tower and probably don't give it a moments thought anymore.



It's a fabulous achievement in engineering and construction and should always be looked upon as a great achievement for the GTA.



Enjoy!

Mark





THE WORLD'S TALLEST STRUCTURES



The reason for them dates back to what was probably emerging man's first intelligent perception - that the sun gives life. Through the entire span of known and unknown history, man has been driven by a primal urge to reach ever higher for the sky above. We build upward, reaching for the heavens when erecting a place to worship or building monuments to our prophets or, more recently, celebrating our mastery over the environment.



Man's upward reach has been limited by the materials he has available and the techniques he uses to manipulate them. Thus, the oldest surviving tall structures in the world are the pyramids of the Pharaohs of Egypt, who were revered as gods, or at least prophets on speaking terms with the gods. How these edifices were built remains a mystery locked forever in the past, but one thing seems clear: the Pharaohs played a stupendous status game, each one trying to build higher than the other as proof of his greater importance. (Much the same game, in fact, as several Canadian banks have played in downtown Toronto; each one is trying to top the other with a taller skyscraper.) At the time of its completion, each of the buildings and structures illustrated above was the tallest in the world.




THE BUILDING OF A LANDMARK



Building the tallest tower in the world produced unique construction and engineering problems, revolutionary solutions and a seemingly inexhaustible list of "the most..the biggest...the highest...the first..." But perhaps the most significant "first" was the technique devised to actually put up the concrete section of the tower. A 400-ton mould of the structure was built of wood and steel and in a round-the-clock operation, concrete mixed on the site was poured inside the mould as it moved, slowly but continuously, skyward. The tapering shape of the tower was created by reducing the size of the mould as it moved upwards. Tower construction began in the fall of 1972 when a drill rig trundled onto the John Street site and bored 300 feet down into the gray Dundas shale that supports most of Toronto. In February 1973, the earth moving behemoths of the modern construction industry arrived. More than 62,000 tons of earth and rock were removed in digging the main, 50-foot deep hole. Then, 18,000 tons of concrete and 500 tons of reinforcing steel were used to build the 22-foot thick foundation.



SKY POD



The seven-story building 1,100 feet above ground houses the microwave equipment on the lower floor, while the next three floors are open to the public, including an enclosed observation deck, a partially opened one, and the revolving restaurant. The top three floors are devoted to television transmitters, FM transmitters and, on the seventh floor, the monstrous pieces of mechanical equipment needed to power everything.











THE REVOLVING RESTAURANT



The 420-seat revolving restaurant is the world's tallest, with a diameter of 150 feet (the one at Australia square in Sydney, which is in second place, has a diameter of 122 feet) and that part of the floor that rotates has a top speed of eight feet a minute. That's so fast you might get indigestion, so it is slowed to five feet a minute for dinner, which means you can orbit the 450-foot circumference in 90 minutes. The 16-foot-wide moving platform runs on bearings so precisely designed that it is driven by one 2 hp electric motor, with a second as a spare. And if both break down, two strong men can push it.



COMMUNICATIONS



Originally, there were supposed to be a cluster of three separate antennas on top of the concrete tower. Had this plan been adopted, it is possible that the total height of the structure would not have topped that of the 1,761.89-foot-high Ostankino Tower in Moscow. Ultimately, however, communications engineers decided the most efficient design was one which stacked one kind of antenna atop another to make a single antenna 350 feet high. That slender five-sided needle atop the concrete shaft has finally rid the Toronto area of the worst television and FM-radio reception of any North American city. One part of the problem was that the fairly flat countryside is dotted with high-rise apartments and offices, so TV sets usually received two signals: a strong one from the transmitters and a weaker one "bounced" from those high-rise buildings. It was this "bounce" that caused TV screen ghosting.



ELEVATORS



Four elevators zip up the sides of the tower at 1,200 feet per minute, which means you go higher quicker than when taking off in a jet plane. Each elevator has a glass wall. Each elevator could hold 22 people, but the elevators are never quite full, partly because not everyone could see and partly because passengers might feel too confined. The speed was determined by an elaborate formula for "acceleration realization threshold" (the speed at which you know you're moving), so that it's fast enough to be fun and not too fast to be frightening or to cause heart attacks, nausea or fainting fits. However, it gives just about everyone an attack of Otitis-media, or ear popping, because of pressure changes. To alleviate this, swallow at least five times in the 70-second trip.



The tower also has a stairway, used in an emergency. A physically fit person would take 20 minutes to get down the 2,570 stairs in the hexagonal core, and at least 40 minutes to climb up. When the stairway - the world's tallest made of concrete - was finished, one construction worker shucked his clothes and "streaked" the tower from top to bottom. Yet another tower record.



LIGHTNING



Lightning strikes the tower between 150 and 200 times a year, which means it is also the world's tallest free-standing lightning rod. Lightning conductors atop the tower are linked to three copper strips that run down the tower and are grounded to forty-two rods, each 20 feet long and buried 20 feet below ground.The stairs, elevator rails, window frames, sewage, water pipes and anything else that could attract lightning are linked to the copper strips. ICING Anywhere ice is likely to form - at any change in the tower contour line, or places like the roof edges of the Sky Pod - has been ice-proofed, either with heated de-icing cables or sheathed in shiny plastic to which ice cannot cling. The fiberglass surface and the shape of the transmission mast means that ice will never build up to a dangerous thickness and fall to the ground in chunks but will, instead, slide off and break itself into powder-like snow almost as soon as it's formed.



FIREPROOFING



Don't expect to get a steak flambéed at table side at the revolving restaurant. The fire department has forbidden open flame cooking up in the tower. In fact, the planners and the fire marshal have gone to extraordinary lengths to make the tower fireproof. Each steel floor has a coating of a fire-resistant mineral fibre, and all furnishings are as fireproof as any furniture can be. The main kitchens, where open-flame cooking is permitted, are in the basement. Also located there are the emergency fire pumps than can each squirt water to the top of the tower at the rate of 500 gallons a minute. A sprinkler system is located everywhere. Since electrical transformers have been known to explode into flames, the seven installed in the tower are immersed in a non-flammable fluid instead of the customary oil.











STABILITY



Unlike a jumbo jet that moves mostly through the upper "smooth" layers of air and is grounded in bad weather, the CN Tower must survive turbulent, treacherous winds and was built to withstand twice as strong a wind as Toronto will ever see. Weather records show 114 mph as the top wind speed in the last century. The tower was built to withstand a wind of 160 mph. At 110 mph, a wind exerts 60 pounds of pressure where it hits windows in the accommodation pod. At the sides, it exerts a 60-pound negative pressure. So experts designed windows that can withstand 120 pounds of either kind of stress. The outside pane is three-eighths of an inch thick tempered glass, the inside pane is half an inch thick. The main concrete tower - 53,000 cubic yards of concrete "tied" together with 80 miles of steel cable - would only wobble 10 inches from side to side, and the movement would be so slow you wouldn't even notice a change in the level of the champagne in your glass (that is, presuming you'd been stupid enough to go out to dinner in such weather in the first place).



TOWER ATTRACTIONS



CN Tower Limited decided it was vital that the $52 million tower be an ultimate tourist attraction in order to ensure it was self-supporting financially, as well as structurally. The tower has become a North American landmark and a tourist attraction unrivaled in Ontario, perhaps even Canada, other than Niagara Falls. At the base of the tower, past the gardens and the fountains and pools, is a unique shop specializing in CN Tower souvenirs and Canadiana which, at one time, included the souvenir medals and medals used for keychains and necklaces struck by Interbranch International Mint. The elevator ride is in itself super-spectacular. Short of piloting a jet fighter, there's nowhere else in the world you can climb so high so fast, and the main observation decks in the Sky Pod are so high you have the uncanny feeling you're looking down on the world from a plane. On those decks are six telescopes with 20.1 zoom lenses, which means that by operating the controls you can magnify what you see with the naked eye from 10 to 200 times. But for many, the greatest attraction is the view from The Space Deck observation platform. There's nothing further up but the antenna and the sky. The observation deck has floor-to-ceiling windows that lean outwards so that you feel as though you are perched on the edge of..well, nothing.



IF ANYONE ASKS



The tower weighs 130,000 tons, which is twice as heavy as the world's biggest luxury liner and about the same weight as 23,214 large elephants.



Fifty-three thousand cubic yards of concrete were poured to build the tower - and that's enough to build a concrete curb along the 401 from Toronto to Kingston, 150 miles away.



The tower has the longest concrete staircase in the world. It has 2,570 steps.



Even the lower observation platforms are so high that you can see south to Rochester, New York and the far shore of Lake Simcoe to the north.



You can also see the eternal cloud of spray that looms over Niagara Falls.



The elevators up to the Sky Pod are capable of carrying 30,000 people a day, or 10,950,000 a year, counting Sundays and Christmas Day. At that rate, however, the place gets a bit crowded.



Between the Sky Pod and the uppermost observation platform there is a special shuttle elevator.



It takes you up to the 1,450 foot level, which makes it the highest elevator ride in the world.



There is a fee charged to take the elevator to the observation decks, except when you are going up to the revolving restaurant for dinner and you have made an advance reservation.



The CN Tower's souvenir shop ran out of the souvenir medals ordered from Interbranch International Mint at least 20 years ago.

Many people are talking about mortgage refinancing

Hello and I hope you are enjoying your day

Mortgage refinancing is a hot topic at the water cooler these days. Most mortgage holders in a fixed rate mortgage have been comparing their contract rate to the current interest rates.

In many cases, borrowers would benefit by renegotiating their current mortgage. The interest saving with the lower rate is often significantly greater than the penalty charged for an early payout.

I know brokers who would be happy to 'do the math' and determine whether it makes sense to renegotiate a mortgage. Lender rules regarding penalties vary; the only way to know the payout penalty is by directly contacting the lender for this figure.

Some lenders may offer relief regarding the penalty if the mortgage remains with them, others won't. Also, beware of the 'Blend & Extend' rates, they usually have the penalty fee worked into the new rate calculation.

Yesterday's Globe and Mail had an interesting article regarding mortgage renegotiations. This is a link to Rob Carrick's article, The Art of Mortgage Renegotiation.

see here

Happy Friday the 13th! Enjoy your looooonnnnnggggg weekend !

I hope this finds you Happy and Healthy!

All the Best!

Mark

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

Thinking of Selling? Best Mortgage Rates Current Home Prices Search MLS Newsletter
RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc.
Providing Full-Time Professional Real Estate Services since 1987
( BUS 905-828-3434
2 FAX 905-828-2829 ÈCELL 416-520-1577
› E-MAIL : mailto:mark@mississauga4sale.com?subject=Mississauga
Website : Mississauga4Sale.com

• Thinking of selling your home in the next 3 to 6 months? Would you like a Complimentary & Quick Over-The-Net Home Evaluation ?
• Power of Sales and Foreclosures
• If you have not already signed up to receive my monthly real estate newsletter, you may do so here: On-Line Real Estate Newsletter sign up
• See seasonal housing patterns
• Would you like me to send you a 2009 Calendar?

Current Mortgage Interest Rates

See the table below to view the most current mortgage interest rates in the GTA and Mississauga

Rates are holding steady for about the past two weeks, next Bank of Canada Rate announcement is early March, stay tuned!

All the best,
Mark

TERM	POSTED	"BEST" RATES*
6 Month	5.2%	5%
1 Year	5%	3.89%
2 Year	5.75%	4.34%
3 Year	5.75%	3.75%
4 Year	5.69%	4.19%
5 Year	5.79%	4.22%
7 Year	7%	5.9%
10 Year	7.35%	6.05%
Variable Rate		3.75%
Prime Rate		3%

* Rates may vary and are subject to change without notice.
Rates Last Updated: Thursday, February 12, 2009

RBC speculating Bank of Canada will drop rate to .5% - unprecedented!

RBC made some interesting comments regarding the Bank of Canada a few days back. They expect the Bank of Canada to drop their prime rate to .5% in March, wow, that would be unprecedented!

See the article below.

I hope this finds you happy and healthy,
Mark


Bank of Canada —Now what?

The bleak near-term outlook supported the Bank’s decision to cut the overnight rate by 50 basis points to 1.00% in mid-January and early 2009 data confirmed that the recession is building momentum.

With the surprising large drop in employment and corresponding jump in the unemployment rate, we now look for the Bank to ease the policy rate to just 0.5% in March.

With so much bad news already embedded in the Bank’s forecast, it would take signs of a more severe global contraction, another financial market hiccup or a failure of the government’s fiscal stimulus package to produce results before we would look for the Bank to lower the policy rate to zero or resort to more unconventional policy measures.

Unfortunately, none of these factors can be ruled out!

The Bank of Canada lowered the policy rate

RBS is reporting that 2010 will be the year of recovery, let's hope!

The Bank of Canada lowered the policy rate to 1% and issued a dire near-term outlook alongside a relatively upbeat forecast for 2010.

• Recent economic data have been bleak, raising the risk of a severe recession that is likely to see the Bank ease again.

Still, fiscal stimulus and easy monetary policy will likely yield a recovery in the second half of the year.

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

TREB membership statistics- plenty of competition!

See the figures below showing that the number of registered sales people is up with TREB, but nearly 2000 people! That's more realtors competing for less sales, makes for a very competitive marketplace for sellers and buyers. Plenty of choice!

All the best,

Mark

Total Membership:

December 2007 = 26,861

December 2008 = 28,673

Days on Market up in GTA real estate marketplace

The table below shows the current state of the market at a glance.

It shows the days that it takes for a property to sell in the GTA is up significantly compared to last year. January of 2008 showed that it took on average 36 days to sell your property. January of 2009 it was 49 days, this is a significant increase and shows how the market has slowed since last year.





As well, the table below shows that the number of active listings is up by about 29% meaning there is much more choice in the marketplace in Toronto and the GTA.





With the number of sales down about 47% for year over year, this all equates to a buyers market.





With interest rates at historic lows, this all means it's a great time to buy real estate and buyers should be buying!





I wish you all the best,


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

Should you do renovations on a fixer upper or sell as is?

I received this question today and thought I would post my answer here.

In a market such as the one we are experiencing now, I would suggest that you don't spend too much money at all on renovations.

Quick and inexpensive cosmetic fix ups are fine, but don't spend too much, you just won't get it back.

Pricing is everything in our marketplace.

When you have unfinished floors or stairs, I think you should put down the flooring and try to finish hardwood stairs.

Paint is not the end of the world, many will repaint once they move in.

With regards to the heaps of dirt or debris in your back yard, let's pray for more snow! :-)) Just kidding, and backyards are not deal breakers.

We will probably have another few weeks of harsh winter, but in my 21 years of real estate experience, one of the best times of the year to list your home for sale is just before or just after March break. People seem to begin their house search at that time and you may benefit by this.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

I hope this finds you happy and healthy!

Thank you,

Mark