Part 2: Hiring your agent   Although many people think that they can easily use the internet to syndicate their property and hold an open house, maintain and dangle offers and ensure that the real estate agents commission price is avoided – it is simply strongly advised to AVOID self-representation at all times.   I am not telling you this because I am a real estate agent, I am telling you this as an individual who has a full-time job, family, personal life and... [read more]

Part 3: Setting your price   In the last blog entry I touched upon the subject of hiring an agent. Naturally the next step, with or without an agent, will be to realistically set a price on your home. Considering all other aspects of your home sale journey (marketing, staging, right agent, etc) pricing truly is the key and catalyst that will help everything else mold into place. The main step when setting up the price of your home is to do a comparable market analysis as potential... [read more]

  Part 4: Expecting your asking price and pricing tactics   Unlike going to a department store or the mall where prices are set, buying a house gives the buyer the ability to negotiate price and stipulations. As such, any intelligent buyer and their realtor will try their best to negotiate down your price or other details of the home sale to their advantage. The truth is that if you want to close the sale, you must play the game and do the dance that at times can seem like it... [read more]

 PART 5: Marketing and transparency   Did you know that 90% of home buyers searched online at some point during their home buying process? And that 100% of home buyers use the internet to research a specific home. And that the first step for 43% of home buyers is searching for online properties.* With staggering data like this, you would wonder why so many of these online listings are vague, poorly marketed, have little to no details about the property or neighbourhood and... [read more]

With the recent announcements made by the bank of Canada regarding the increase of interest rates, many home owners gearing up to put their home on the market are beginning to think that the future of their sale is looking bleak as buyers are no longer rushing to buy. The cause of the slowdown is that home buyer are using new tactics to bring home prices down. They think that if they all stop coming with money in hand, that the home owners will drop the prices.   In an effort to... [read more]