Move Smartly: The Podcast

Right now, Toronto is seeing a massive shift in housing zoning policies both at the municipal and provincial level. Today’s guest, land use and environment lawyer, Phil Pothen, talks to Urmi about these developments and his analysis of potential impacts. 

Phil Pothen, J.D., M.L.A., leads policy research and advocacy regarding land-use planning, natural heritage, habitat protection, and transportation as head of the Ontario Environment Program at Environmental Defence. 

We discuss the latest City of Toronto staff proposal to allow multiplexes to built in Toronto’s so-called ‘Yellow belt’ which currently only allows detached and semi-detached homes, how the Ontario government’s “Build More Homes Faster” Act (Bill 23) is opening more of the Greenbelt to development and more. 

Follow Phil on Twitter: @pothen 

Environmental Defense website: https://environmentaldefence.ca/

Link to City of Toronto Chief Planner - Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods: Multiplex Study: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.PH3.16

Link to Build Homes Faster Act (Bill 23): https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002423/ontario-taking-bold-action-to-build-more-homes

You can also watch this interview on our Move Smartly YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/movesmartly

Follow us and send us your questions and feedback via Twitter @MoveSmartly, Instagram @move.smartly, or email: [email protected] 

And if you find this show useful, please rate and, even better, leave us a written review on Apple podcasts, so that more people can benefit from this information. It’s very much appreciated!

Hi, Urmi Desai, editor of Move Smartly, and lead contributor, John Pasalis of Realosophy Realty, are back with our monthly consumer Q&A, ‘‘The Situation.’ 

In some parts of Toronto, home prices are now holding, but that doesn’t mean the recent rapid price drops we’ve seen across the GTA haven’t caught out some new home buyers.

This month, John responds to home buyers who fear they’ve bought pre-construction and re-sale homes at the peak, and now worry about the financial hardships they face if banks are unwilling to appraise at their bought value for mortgage approvals and wonder what their best options are.

Email us about your own real estate situation to be addressed in a future episode at: [email protected] 

You can watch this show on our MoveSmartly YouTube channel, follow us on Twitter @MoveSmartly for news or reach out to the show over email at [email protected].

In this live online session, John presents his April Toronto Area Real Estate Market Report, sharing the latest data, highlighting the key market insights and answering viewers Qs along the way! 

Once again, Move Smartly mortgage expert and broker, David Larock, joins to explain why the Bank of Canada has decided to hold on rates for the second time since the latest rate hike and what they are likely to do next.

You can participate live or rewatch previous sessions on our Move Smartly YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/movesmartly

Sign up for John’s monthly report/update email list: https://www.movesmartly.com/monthly-public-webinar

To book a Home Buyer/Seller Consultation with John Pasalis and Realosophy Realty about your more detailed questions: https://www.movesmartly.com/meetjohn

To send John your own question, email [email protected] 

Follow us and send us your questions and feedback via Twitter @MoveSmartly, Instagram @move.smartly, or email: [email protected] 

It’s finally April, and once again, time for our real estate roundtable! 

As usual, I talk to John and Steve about all things residential real estate in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, and beyond. 

Since April is often the cruelest month, full of fools and false springs, it seems fitting that our talk turns to an unexpected bump in real estate market competition - including bidding wars - amidst continuing low historical levels of sales, surprise interest rate drops - amidst continuing economic uncertainty - and more.

You can also watch this episode on our MoveSmartly YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/movesmartly

Feedback or Questions? Connect with us on Twitter: 

@MoveSmartly

@JohnPasalis

@SteveSaretsky

Reach out to the show over email at [email protected]

A lot has changed in just one month! Two major banks have failed, bond markets are expecting interest rates to drop this year and the federal government is helping to save the housing market. John's guest today is going to help us unpack all of these latest economic trends. Robert Kavcic is Senior Economist and Director Economics at Bank of Montreal and specializes in analyzing real estate trends. You can also watch this interview on our Move Smartly YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/movesmartly   Follow John on Twitter @JohnPasalis or email at: [email protected] Follow us and send us your questions and feedback on this show via Twitter @MoveSmartly, Instagram @move.smartly, or email: [email protected] And if you find our show useful, please rate and write us a review on Apple podcasts - it’s very much appreciated!

With so many financial headlines dominating the news, my guest today is the perfect person to make sense of all the data. Rob McLister is an interest rate analyst, mortgage planner and contributing writer for The Globe and Mail. A former equities trader and finance graduate at the University of Michigan, Rob dissects mortgage rates and writes about issues impacting mortgage consumers. 

Subscribe to Rob’s newsletter: https://www.mortgagelogic.news

Follow Rob on Twitter: @RobMcLister

You can also watch this interview on our Move Smartly YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/movesmartly

Follow us and send us your questions and feedback via Twitter @MoveSmartly, Instagram @move.smartly, or email: [email protected] 

And if you find our show useful, please rate and write us a review on Apple podcasts - it’s very much appreciated!

This month, John presents the highlights of his most recent monthly Move Smartly Toronto Area Real Estate Market report for March 2023 and answers viewer questions about his top stories this month, including why data trends actually matter to what's happening on the ground in Toronto for home buyers and sellers.

John also speaks to David Larock, our Move Smartly mortgage expert, to explain what a bank collapse in the US and global knock-on effects mean for our mortgages in Canada and whether high interest rates are resulting in the distressed home sellers we'd expect to see.

Plus, Realosophy Sales Representative Peter Karlos, joins John to describe the challenges his renter and landlord clients are seeing right now as Toronto rents reach new highs.

You can participate live or rewatch previous sessions on our Move Smartly YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/movesmartly

Sign up for John’s monthly report/update email list: https://www.movesmartly.com/monthly-public-webinar

To book a Home Buyer/Seller Consultation with John Pasalis and Realosophy Realty about your more detailed questions: https://www.movesmartly.com/meetjohn

To send John your own question, email [email protected] 

Follow us and send us your questions and feedback via Twitter @MoveSmartly, Instagram @move.smartly, or email: [email protected]

It’s March so it’s time for another Toronto-Van City Real Estate Roundtable with Urmi, John and Steve!

This month, we talk about whether our current market rebound is just a bull trap, who is actually buying at these high interest rates and where the distressed sellers are. Also given that we’re seeing housing booms now busting around the world, is it unfair to suggest that Canadian policy makers could have really prevented the same happening here? 

You can also watch this episode on our MoveSmartly YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/movesmartly

Feedback or Questions? Connect with us on Twitter: 

@MoveSmartly

@JohnPasalis

@SteveSaretsky

Reach out to the show over email at [email protected]

If you find this show useful, please leave us a five-star rating or, even better, a positive written review so that more people can benefit from this information. It’s very much appreciated!

For today’s episode, we’re back with our monthly consumer Q&A ‘The Situation’, but this time we’re doing something a bit different. 

Instead of the usual in-depth review of specific real estate questions that consumers have across the GTA, I ask my co-host, John Pasalis, President and Broker at Realosophy Realty, to respond to some of the bigger questions that consumers have asked us, including some pointed questions about whether John might be missing some key factors in his market assessments, including the impact of the decline of the baby boomer age group, and whether factors like jobs and income levels are being overlooked as potential risks to the market. 

We’ll be returning to our usual format responding to your specific questions about your buying, selling, investing and renting decisions in Toronto so email us about your own real estate situations to be addressed in a future episode at [email protected] 

You can watch this show on our MoveSmartly YouTube channel, follow us on Twitter @MoveSmartly for news or reach out to the show over email at [email protected]

This week, John talks to Sam and Evan Presvelos, of the law firm Presvelos Law LLP, a firm that represents many parties in real estate disputes which arise due to home buying and selling transactions that run into issues.

Topics covered included the importance of how the agreement of purchase and sale is drafted, insufficient financing that puts buyer deposits at risk, misrepresented or misunderstood zoning permissions, rights and easements, why home surveys are not always readily available and what your agents should be looking out for, the limits of title insurance and more. 

Email John at: [email protected] 

You can watch this interview on our Move Smartly YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/movesmartly

Follow us and send us your questions and feedback via Twitter @MoveSmartly, Instagram @move.smartly, or email: [email protected]