If you live in the Westvale area of Kitchener Waterloo, your children may be going to a different high school next year. Sir John A MacDonald Secondary School (SJAM), Waterloo’s newest high school has already hit capacity. It has 1550 students. Currently, there are about 230 students from the Westvale neighborhood attending SJAM.

Building another high school or putting a major addition (25 classrooms) onto SJAM isn’t feasible with another local secondary school – Waterloo Kitchener Collegiate Institute (KCI) at only 72% capacity. In the short term, changing the catchment area for Westvale’s secondary students from SJAM to KCI seems like the best solution, however there are two issues:

1. Much of Waterloo’s residential housing growth is in SJAM’s catchment area. In ten years time more classrooms are going to be needed.
2. SJAM is the second highest ranked school in Waterloo Region. KCI is ranked ninth.

Another Waterloo Secondary School – Waterloo Collegiate Institute (WCI) is already over-capacity by about 200 students. WCI celebrated it’s 50 years last year amidst rumblings and rumors (from my kids) of its impending closure.

Sources: 1 2

Filed under: Around Kitchener Waterloo, general news, neighborhood update by Keith Marshall
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Waterloo city councilors last week decided on the final route of our upcoming LRT.

As the picture shows, we’ve decided to turn at the spur line instead of turning at the corner of King and Erb as originally proposed. This makes sense. It’s more of a natural turn. The only issue now is keeping pedestrians off the tracks as it cuts through the parking lot on the north side of the waterloo town square.

I lived in Taipei Taiwan during the most of the 90‘s. Vast stretches of the city were under construction as they installed the first six MRT lines. When the construction was over and the system opened, it quickly changed the way Taipei felt. We were instantly a cosmopolitain city, not a second rate Asian urban disaster.

Property values rose along the line by about 25%. I’d bet the same thing will happen in Kitchener Waterloo. If I was buying a home in Kitchener Waterloo in the next year to 18 months, I’d consider being within 500 meters of the LRT.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Keith Marshall
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In this video, I’m on my way up to the Moore’s clothing store in Waterloo. I’m picking up a couple of suits I bought.

I wear a suit to work everyday. Not only because I like wearing a suit, but also all my other clothes are shabby.

Filed under: About me, life of a realtor by Keith Marshall
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Are you trying to save money for a down payment? Do you know about the rule of 72?

The rule of 72 shows the effect of time and compounding. The rule of 72 says that your money will approximately double at a point of time determined by dividing 72 by the interest rate you earn. The rule of 72 illustrates the amazingly money can compound if you just give it enough time.

Your money will double in 36 years with 2% interest

72 divided by two equals 36

72 divided by four equals 18 years.

Your money will double in 18 years if the interest rate is 4%

72 divided by 6 equals 12 years

Your money will double in 12 years if the interest rate is 6%

72 divided by 8 = 9 years

72 divided by 12 = 6 years

With interest rates at historical lows, it’s probably better not to put your money in the bank and wait for it to double. Invest instead in real estate. Over the past decade and a half, house prices in Kitchener Waterloo have been growing at more than 6% per year on average. Applying the rule of 72 in reverse this means that house prices have doubled in about 12 years. (In many Kitchener Waterloo neighbourhoods house prices have actually doubled in about ten years)

Filed under: advice, Buying Real Estate, investing in real estate, neighborhood update, real estate by Keith Marshall
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In the first 10 months of 2011 compared to last year, Waterloo Region saw an increase of almost 2% in the number of residential units sold. In the first 10 months this year Cambridge saw a 6.6% increase over last year whereas Kitchener Waterloo saw a 2% decrease in the number of residential units sold.

October was a good month for KW with 470 residential units sold, up 5% compared to the same month last year. It seems that the market has been expanding and contracting all year. Houses in good shape priced right are selling within 45 days. Overpriced listings and those needing work are taking a lot longer to sell or aren’t selling at all.

In Kitchener Waterloo, the average price for all residential property sold in October was $304,379, up about 1% from a year earlier. Single detached homes sold for an average of $332,358 and was also up 1% compared to the same month last year.

What this all means is a stable housing market in Waterloo Region.

The outlook for Kitchener Waterloo real estate in 2012

According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, home sales and new home construction for Kitchener Cambridge Waterloo Census Metropolitan area will largely be unchanged next year compared to this year.

During 2011 the housing market stabilized and that will continue through 2012. The prediction is for home sales to slightly pick up early next year.

Prices have remained stable and mortgage rates are still historically low. First-time homebuyers who were largely absent from the market in 2010 will be more active. The report predicts that in the second half of next year, sales will slow down due to slower employment growth.

Although uncertainty in the global economy and the US economic recovery are negative factors influencing the real estate market in Canada, low mortgage rates and a healthy domestic economy are all continuing to fuel our healthy real estate market.

Filed under: Around Kitchener Waterloo, Buying Real Estate, home owners, interest rates, investing in real estate, real estate trends, Selling Real Estate, sold by Keith Marshall
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