Inukshuk and me

If you visit our Houses for sale in Toronto website, you may notice our motto:"Guiding you home" and our logo - the inukshuk. Inukshuk is not only our logo - we based our whole business philosophy on it!

If you don't know what is an inukshuk(so it means you ar not Canadian! :)) - inukshuk (or inuksuk, plural inuksuit) is statue, made of few stones, resembling cross-like figure (inunnguaqs are human like, with two separate legs). The have been erected by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America, from Alaska to Greenland.

And in these days, they are erected by fans, tourist, artist, or just citizens on their gardens. You can find it in logos of many companies, institutions or persons. In a year, it will be world know - it was chosen as official logo for Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.



And why do we use it in Toronto Houses for sale company?

Because an Inuit word that literally translated means "stone man that points the way." Inukshuks are stone cairns that were erected by Inuit at prominent locations throughout the barrens to serve as guideposts or markers. They were also erected to help herd caribou during their annual migration towards where they could be more easily hunted by the ancient Inuit.

It resembles what we are doing - we are here to guide you safely and comfortably through the sale and/or purchase of your cherished asset, your home. We are not just here for today but for life. Our goal is to employ our combined experience and expertise to assist you to realize your housing dreams.

Canada is the first!

Many people are concerned about their banks in these days. I am dealing Toronto houses for sale so for me, a sound bank system is extremely important - real estate business and banks are very closely bounded.
Full of negative thoughts and dubitations, you should open World Economic Forum's survey The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009, because in chapter 8.07 (named The soundness of banks) you can find very interesting information. Canadian banks placed as the soundess in the world!
Around 10000 proffessionals were asked between the years 2007-2008 to evaluate banks in more than 130 countries. They should give 1 to 7 points (the more the sounder bank). Canada recieved average score 6.8 points and placed 1st! This is definitely nice information, which may fortify people's trust in our bank system - and positive thinking and trust is the main core for the banks.
You may think that business proffesionals had tendency to overvaluate banks in developed countries, but if you look at the results you will see it's not true. Germany placed 39th, USA 40th and UK even 44th, beaten by Botswana or Senegal for example.
The worst banks are in Algeria (3.9 points, last place), Libya (4.0), but also Argentina (4.2), or Russia (4.86 points, placed 107th).

Market in August

While waiting for results from September, why not to have a look on August?
As Market Watch reports, trend of falling sales continued also in August and sales drop reached -22% compared to the same month of 2007 and even -9% compared to August 2006. This drop results in active listings increase (+31%), but this news shouldn't be interpreted pessimistically - offer is now broader, but there is no uncontrolled inflow of properties - new listings were down -1% compared to the last year's number and average days on market reached still pleasant value of 35 days.
Price growth was below inflation (+1% overall, -1% for the City of Toronto, +2% for the rest) so that means your investments into the real estate are losing power, on the other hand it opens the market for the buyers, especially the first-time buyers, troubled by skyrocketing prices till now.
Generally, as a Toronto realtor I still can feel enough optimism on the market. Financial crisis in the USA has not influenced the market much till now and business remains fast-turning.