Andrew's Real Estate Blog

Word of mouth marketing.

2008-06-25T22:34:26Z

Word of mouth marketing has been a major part of every REALTOR's® business plan, we just tend to call it referrals. I belong to a "word of mouth marketing" group called BzzAgent. Originally I had joined with the hopes of getting free stuff, but I have found that I also enjoy being exposed to new products and being able to give my input on those products.

The latest campaign is for a book about "word of mouth marketing" written by David Balter who is also the founder and CEO of BzzAgent. It is an interesting analysis of what makes word of mouth marketing so effective, if done right, and what characteristics a good word of mouth campaign has. You can download a copy from one of many blogs or buy a copy from amazon.com.

Although it won't supply you with a step by step plan to create a successful word of mouth campaign there are a lot of good lessons to be learned about how we use word of mouth marketing, whether we know it or not. Just about every day we all give our opinions and critiques, on products and services, out to just about anyone who is interested and/or willing to listen. The question is, what are you doing to be the one people are talking about?

Toronto Real Estate Cooling Off in Perspective

2008-06-17T01:55:50Z

Lately we have been hearing a lot about how the Toronto real estate markets are cooling off. Some would promote the hype that the end has come and that the years of "wow what a great year for real estate" are over. After all we are down over 12.5% in sales to date at the end of May 2008 when compared to the end of May 2007. The number of active listings at the end of May were up over 56% (this statistic although true does not accurately represent the listing activity in the month of may just how many listings were active at the end of may and as such may be misleading without considering the number of new, expired, terminated, suspended and sold listings for the month), fixed mortgage rates are rising, Toronto has an extra land transfer tax, the Canadian dollar, gas prices........

Well lets face it 2007 went beyond most peoples expectations, but how is 2008 doing in a historical perspective. I am not talking about compared to 30 years ago when 20,000 home sales might have seemed great but just compared to the last few years that have been recognized as really good years for the real estate markets. 2004, 2005 and 2006 were by all accounts great years setting records for prices and sales volumes. Never before had the Toronto MLS® registered over 80,000 sales in a single year and here were three consecutive years in excess of 83,000 sales. 2005 saw 35,814 sales by the end of May. At the end of May in 2008 it was 35,309 only 1.4% behind 2005. In may 2006 there were 9,434 homes sold on the Toronto MLS® system compared to the 9,411 in May 2008. Average sales prices are up 4% in may 2008 over May 2007 and our inventory of homes is hovering around 3 months worth.

It is true that the markets are cooling down relative to 2007 93,000 plus sales and homes are likely to take a little longer to sell. However, we are still on the Seller's Market and Balanced Market boarder with a fairly strong demand for homes. Home Buyers in the Toronto area are taking a little more time to make choices and they are getting a little more picky about the home finishes. However, multiple offers are not unheard of and waiting on a home you like is still a good way to miss out on owning it. Even with the Bank of Canada's decision to not cut lending rates and the resulting increase in fixed mortgage rates has not caused the markets to collapse (but that will be another posting).

For buying or selling a home, now is as good a time as ever, well 10 years ago might have been better but we are not likely to see prices at that level anytime in the "foreseeable future" and probably not ever. Prices are still rising and likely to continue, just not with double digit increases.

Blogging my time away! oh the horror.....

2008-06-17T00:45:56Z

Here I sit and type, check facts and compose my thoughts and insights on the Toronto real estate markets. I barely register the time flying by and the sleep that I am missing. Finally, I have reached an end, a point to break until the next post that may cover similar content but from a different view or focusing on another aspect of real estate for the benefit of anyone who cares to read it. a quick spell check and all is as it should be.

Quickly, I choose where I want it to be distributed; professionals, consumers and a group or two. Not so much as to be spam but enough to maybe get a little notice. It is done... Submit.

"Please sign In"...... The Horror.... The Horror. Quick, back, maybe it's cached... "page not found" :-(

Active rain please add a draft feature with an auto-save, or let the system recognize that, when I am typing (although slowly or just too word), I am active and logged in. I seem to have been away from my blog long enough that I have forgotten the golden rule of "Copy" before submitting... just in case.

So, I start over again, shorter, not so eloquent, just informative. I really do need to get to sleep.

Back to blogging.

2008-06-11T18:42:48Z

I have to admit that I am embarrassed when I look at the last time that I posted on my blogs. The excuses have ranged from not enough time to health issues, but no more! Time for a new start and to try and catch up on all of the news, tips and statistics that are relevant to Richmond Hill Real Estate, Aurora and the rest of York Region, Ontario. My new motto, as stolen from a speaker at a seminar that I was at today, is "Just did it".

You can expect to see more updates on Toronto area's cooling but strong real estate markets, tips on buying and selling, mortgage rates and information (I now also provide Toronto area mortgage services as a Mortgage One Solutions Inc, Mortgage Specialist) and any other insights that I can think of.

Back on the blogging waggon and it feels good to have "just did it" and start thinking about the next to do item.

New Buyer's "Home Buying" Tax Will Hit Sellers Too

2007-03-25T07:42:40Z

A proposed land transfer tax, by the City of Toronto, will undermine affordability and property values.

With the passing of the City of Toronto Act, that gives Toronto more powers to govern the city, many new proposals have been tabled to generate income for the city to cover the costs of services. One one of these is a land transfer tax of around 0.5% of the purchase price on all properties in Toronto. This may seem quite reasonable, except that we already pay the Ontario government a land transfer tax on a graduated scale from 0.5% to 2% with the average home being just over 1%.

Affordable housing has been a big issue in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) for a long time and this tax will only make things worse. The average Toronto home ($380,000 in 2006) will have an extra cost of $1,900 in up front expense that can not be rolled into a mortgage.

Many people are looking at this tax as a buyer's tax. They say that it will burden the home buyer with extra costs. However, the home seller, and the Toronto real estate markets, are likely to get hit even harder by this tax.

Most first time home buyers are stretching their budget to find a house that they like and can afford. Some are using 100% mortgage programs with the majority taking on mortgages for 95% of the homes value. Even with a 95% mortgage they are often pressing their savings to make a 5% down payment and cover their closing costs. So adding an extra $1,500 (on a $300,000 home/Condo) will drastically effect their buying power.

Leveraging is one of the great wonders of commerce that allow us to acquire stuff, including homes. A 95% mortgage is effectively a 20 times leverage of our down payment. With this in mind if the buyer has to remove $1,500 from their down payment then they decrease their affordable purchase price by $30,000!!! (This is one of the main reasons that it is critical that sellers pay for the buyer's real estate agent as well.) This huge drop in affordability will cause the property values in Toronto to drop as much as 10% ($30,000 from $300,000) as buyers are still going to be looking to get a similar home for their money.

This may kick many home buyers out of the market, or at least delay their entering into the market, which would cause a decrease in sales and higher competition on the selling side. The Toronto real estate market could find itself swinging to a buyer's market rapidly and prices could drop even more than 10% before affordability and buyer confidence are both re-established.

On top of this, it is believed that every resale home generates $27,000 in spin off spending (on average and according to a study commissioned by the Toronto Real Estate Board) on things like decorating, renovations, new appliance and even just stocking up on household supplies from local stores. All of this spending boosts the Toronto economy and generates taxes. So this new tax will not only decrease property values, without increasing housing affordability, but it will also decrease the taxes that are generated in spin off purchases due to fewer sales.

Higher price homes will also be affected as it will take longer for people to save up equity to move to the "next step" home and many people may just stick it out in their smaller home or move out of the city. Homes in Richmond Hill and surrounding areas will seem much more attractive and affordable as they will not have the extra tax burden.

So what can you do? Send an email to Mayor Miller, here, to let him know that you do not approve of this tax. Also, contact your local councilors and let them know. You can find your councilor's contact information at the City's Councillors web page.

Real Estate Market Watch for February 2007

2007-03-08T08:32:19Z

The Toronto Real Estate Board has published the statistics for home sales activity in February 2007. This means that I will be posting my analysis of Aurora, Richmond Hill and Newmarket in the next day or so. TREB is calling this the 2nd best February ever in terms of sales volume, and my preliminary review of York Region is that most areas have had a great month with sales to listings ratios back up to near "seller market" values.

I will add links here to each analysis once they are posted so that the information is readily accessible and organized for you.

If you have any questions about the York Region Real Estate markets please feel free to call me at 416-278-2335 (my direct line).

Yahoo - Who Knew?

2007-03-08T07:59:02Z

Well I have been confounded by Yahoo again. For some reason nothing that I do to promote my sites on Yahoo ever seem to work. In the early days, when I had little success with the big G, I had a trickle of traffic that cam through Yahoo. However, I have never managed to get added to their directory even after a year and a half of submitting my sites (not on a regular basis and not through a service that might be considered spam). For some Reason I can be number one in Google and off the top 5 pages on Yahoo.

So you may understand my shock to find this result on Yahoo under the term "Real Estate Market Aurora Ontario". I was following the referral links to my York Region Real Estate Blog which is found at the number 6 position on this list. Having my blog on the list is not odd, because it does address the markets in Aurora, Ontario. What is odd is the first two links.

Both of these links are mine, except that they were experiments that I had started on my ISPs free site and never did anything to promote them. I had originally started the pages while playing with the idea of creating custom forms and frame them into my websites, but I ended up trashing the idea as I would lose a lot of the other features that P2 has in respect to "prospects" (sms, stats, email template, drip campaign etc...).

The top one only has a title and and a statement that the site is no longer in use. I am not sure why I even changed it to have that message, but it was probably so that if someone happen to get lost and find it they would not be waiting for me to contact them when I was not connecting to it.

I did a little checking and it also does fairly well in "Real Estate Aurora Ontario" and "Real Estate Aurora" (from the "Canadian sites"). So I am baffled, but it seems I am going to have to reopen that site at least to direct people to one of my working sites, and to update the contact information on the "index" page.

Does anyone have any insights as how an un-marketed site like this could rank at all let alone be 1 and 2? Especially when there are several other sites below that would be much more relevant and Google doesn't even have it Cached! I don't know if I should be happy for the opportunity or disappointed in Yahoo's algorithms

Getting that "Warm Fuzzy"

2007-03-06T10:15:28Z

Recently, on LinkedIn, a question was posed asking people what phrases we would search if we were looking to move into a particular area. While posting my answer, and looking at Google trends and the sites that came up at the top of the rankings, I was reminded of a discussion on the P2A's blog forum (RELiberation) about secret agents and stealth websites.

I was reminded of this topic because as I went through a couple of the top sites I noticed that soon sites drew me in and others had an untrustworthy feeling to them that is hard to describe. Since we usually have between 5 to 20 seconds to grab the attention, of the average web surfer, this got me wondering about what makes a site sticky. For me it seems that I the sites need to feel open and friendly with promises of great service, although not stated in a way that beats it over my head. My wife would call it a "warm Fuzzy" which was the term she had used as an engineer for providing clients with a sense of "she's on the ball and is going to make everything work out just the way we want". For her it came with anticipating the questions and knowing the answers before the question was asked. There will always be some questions that you cannot anticipate but on the whole your client get a warm fuzzy when you alleviate there concerns and ensure their complete confidence in you, to do what needs to be done to reach their goal.

With this in mind I went looking to figure out what generates that warm fuzzy in a website, for me, that would put me in the mood to fill out forms and press that ever important submit button.

The first site that I looked made me want to hit the back button within about 2 seconds, and I could not understand why. So, instead of hitting the back button I sat back and looked at the screen and tried to figure out what made me feel uncomfortable. After a few minutes I was reminded of the posts on stealth sites, as there were no pictures of the person or people that owned the site. There contact information was there but not a single smiling face, not even a stock picture of someone enjoying themselves. With that realization I also noticed that the colours, Black and Gold although I do not think that it was a Century 21 agent, were stark and somewhat depressing. The site had no life to it at all. The layout way easy enough to navigate but I could not connect with the service or the product offered.

So, here I am posing the question to the AR community, what gives you a "warm fuzzy" when you visit a website? What is it that makes you want to continue and submit a request? Or what makes you feel uncomfortable or unwelcome on a site?

After all it may just be my personality type that needs to connect like this.

P.S.

While you are thinking about these questions, I would love to know how you feel when you visit my main website at http://www.andrewhodgerealtor.com/

Is it too busy, confusing or not engaging? I get a fair amount of traffic, but I always want to try and increase the conversion ratio, and your feed back would be appreciated. Let me know if you would like my opinion of your site. I am more than willing to provide my honest opinion.

The Humberlands homes for sale | Richmond Hill, ON

2007-03-03T21:25:55Z

The Humberlands is a great neighbourhood in the north west corner of Richmond Hill. This neighbourhood is very conveniently located with a short drive to the 400 or the 404 (highways if you are not familiar with the area.) as well as shopping. It has a Catholic and a public elementary school on Red Cardinal Dr. and is also serviced by a second public elementary school located at Coon's Rd and Humberland Dr.

The neighbourhood has a trail that runs in a circle around the central part of The Humberlands which is about 1 kilometer around and connects three different parks including one with tennis courts, a basketball court and a "water park" fountain for kids, and parent, to run through in the summer.

Construction started in The Humberlands in 1998 give or take 1 year. I moved into the area in 1999 and there were a few homes on Amarylis, Sunridge and Silverdart at the time. Currently there is one area that is still waiting to be built, on the east side of Red Cardinal Tr. just south of Bloomington.

As of March 3rd, 2007, there are 21 homes for sale in The Humberlands. There are 2 townhouses priced between $299,000 and $320,000, 2 semi detached homes asking $329,900 and $344,900 and there are 17 detached homes for sale between $399,000 and $778,000. At the top end of this price range you can get a home that is around 3500sqft with a 3 car garage and on an extra deep 65 foot lot.

If you would like more specific information about The Humberlands please feel free to call me on my direct line (416-278-2335) or if you would like to receive a list of available Humberlands homes for sale you can visit my Richmond Hill Real Estate site and file in the home search form. Please include a valid phone number and email address as I do confirm requests before sending listings and I cannot send you listings if the email address does not work.

If you are currently living in The Humberlands and you want to know what your home is worth you can also get a free Humberlands home evaluation.

I respect your privacy and will only contact you in order to confirm your request and to assist you with your real estate. I will never provide your contact information to any other person or organization without your expressed permission, in writing. (This does exclude any support staff that I employ and situations where required under the appropriate laws of my location in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.)

I look forward to talking with you and providing you with the information you need to make the right real estate choices for your particular situation and help you buy or sell your future homes if that is what suits you best.

Andrew Hodge - real estate sales representative
Right At home Realty Inc. - real estate brokerage
Office 416-391-3232
Direct line 416-278-2335
http://www.andrewhodgerealtor.com/
http://www.yourareahometeam.ca/
York Region Real Estate Blog

Not intended to solicit clients currently under contract.

Macleod's Landing Homes - Available

2007-03-03T12:24:34Z

If you have been considering moving into the Macleod's Landing development in the North end of Richmond Hill, Ontario, there are a lot of choices available. Located in the N05 district of the Toronto MLS® system, in the Oak Ridges area of Richmond Hill, you can can find 38 available homes on the MLS® system.

6 of these homes are rentals ranging in price from $1,680 to $3,500 per month plus utilities. Of the homes for sale 9 are freehold townhouses priced between $319,900 and $389,000. The remaining Macleod's Landing homes that are currently up for sale are freehold detached homes priced between $399,900 and $788,000.

These numbers are from March 3rd 2007, in the morning, and may change at any time. For up to date information on the area or for information on specific homes or housing types please call me on my direct line at 416-278-2335 or visit my real estate website and request information on Richmond Hill Homes with Macleod's landing in the "wish list" area.

Macleod's Landing is still under construction, however it is already a great area to live and there is a new school already in the Yonge and Jefferson Sdrd section and one of the two new school in the King's Hill section is currently being built. There are several parks currently built and the trails between all three sections of the development are accessible, although it will be easier, and less mucky, to access when construction is finished.

For a description of where Macleod's landing is located please see my York Region Real Estate Blog on Macleod's Landing.

Been a long time....

2007-03-03T08:18:58Z

Well I'm back. It has been too long between blogs here on active rain so I am making a post Chinese New Year resolution (welcome to the year of the Golden Pig) to post on a more regular basis here on RA and on my York Region Real Estate Blog. Besides the usual statistics and area analysis I am planning on doing some neighbourhood descriptions and other area related posts. I am hoping that I do not lose my muse again too soon and I am interested in knowing what you do to get inspired. Where do you look for topics to write about and how much time do you put into research and preparation before you post?

I find that the posting takes a small fraction of the time relative to the preparation, except on posts like this that are more on-the-fly. I would love to know how you get information and if you manage to combine prospecting with information gathering? I was thinking of doing a little door knocking in some areas and asking people about their experiences in the neighbourhood (and getting permission to post about it). What other ways can you think of to generate relevant topics and leads (or at least brand building) at the same time?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ranking does count

2007-02-09T11:04:23Z

A few days ago I saw o blog (I beleive it was here on AR) discussing the benefits of ranking and there were a few comments saying that anything in the top 20 if fine. Well I want to give you my view on this with some very recent findings from my site.

At the beginning of 2007 I had the lucky fortune to get shuffled to number 3 for the search term "MLS.ca" on Google.ca. I found that in one week I would get between 150 to 225 hits from that term alone. Then as Google continued with its shuffle my site dropped to oblivion for a week or two and received nothing on that term. I just went and looked and I am back in the top 20 at position 15, but still page 2, and I have received only 10 hits from that term in the last week.

That is a drop of 93%-97% for 12 spots. I believe that on the higher search terms this is far more dramatic than the lower volume search terms since the lower volume search term people are looking for very specific bits of information and will read the attached blurb more than they will on a higher volume generic term.

That said the conversion rate for visitors to leads should be significantly higher for the lower volume specific terms. So do not discount the "long tail" but still strive for the high traffic terms, as higher traffic volume on your site can effect the ranking of your site.

This is just the most recent and obvious case that I have observed. Since Google seems to be in the process of another update it would be interesting to see if anyone else has noticed any specific fluctuations in the recent past, and what they were?

Ontario Tenancy Laws Changed on Jan 31, 2007

2007-02-06T22:31:57Z

The Tenant Protection Act has been replaced by the Residential Tenancy Act as of January 31st 2007. This means that anyone who is a landlord, wants to be a landlord or who is a renter should get a copy of the new law and learn what has changed. (the link above is to a copy that is supposed to be kept up to date by the government)

Some of the major changes make evicting tenants, that damage the property, quicker and more easily. They have also decreased the interest that is earned on the "Last Months rent" from 6% per year to that of the Consumer price index.

There are also supposed to be improvements in the filing process with the Ontario Housing Tribunal which has been renamed the "Landlord and and Tenant Board".

Some of these changes seem to be a reaction to the higher publicity cases of tenants that abused the old rules to get free rent, because they knew the rules better than the landlords did and they would use the rules to stay rent free while the landlord could take months or years (if not handled correctly) to get the tenant evicted.

This new law seems to be leaning towards the Landlords which is in contrast to the past couple of laws that were more interested in protecting the tenant. It will be interesting to see if this new Act will be balanced or if it needs to be replaced in the near future for being too supportive of landlords over tenant rights.

Richmond Hill Real Estate Statistics for January 2007

2007-02-06T22:12:26Z

Well the month zoomed by and the number of sales reported on the Toronto Real Estate Board's MLS system topped all recorded January home sales numbers with a total of 5,173 home sold through the system. For Richmond Hill this meant an increase of sales in the South end (N03), stable sales numbers in the Central Richmond Hill District (N04) and a decrease in home sales in the North Richmond Hill district (N05).

The increase in sales in the South end was dominated by detached homes causing the average sale price to jump 17.7% over Jan 2006. Average home sale prices for N04 and N05 increased 9,2% and 6.9% respectively.

For more details on Richmond Hill, Ontario, home sales in January 2007 check out my websites blog, or for more general information on Richmond Hill and York Region real estate visit my York Region Real Estate Blog

Web Portals- Marketing boon or bash?

2007-02-05T11:01:25Z

It seems that every day I receive a new email from a real estate directory or free listing site that is claiming to be exactly what I need to improve my websites traffic flow and supply all of the clients that I could ever want (well that is a slight exaggeration). An now the Point2 system has renamed its Point2Home site the NLS or National Listing Service. So who is really benefiting from all of these websites? Is it the agents? The consumer? or just the site operators?

I was once told by a broker in my area that "the worst thing to happen to the real estate industry, in Canada, was the opening of MLS.ca". At first I was pretty sure that he was full of "it", of something, and grumbling about how it had effected his business, which was not making any effort to build an online presence. That was probably part of it but I keep thinking that we are building ourselves a large trap by using these sites.

The public is starting to believe that they can get all of the information that they need, to find or sell a home, online. Unfortunately, much of the information that they get is too general to be useful in all circumstance and often outdated. I recently had a client that liked to surf for homes trying to see if they could find a home, that I had not sent them, that was right for their needs. In mid January 2007 they sent me 10 homes that they wanted to see that I had not sent them, mostly found on REALTOR.com. Shocked that I had missed any appropriate homes I immediately pulled up the listings to see how I had missed them. Sometimes there is incomplete, or incorrect, information that causes an appropriate listing to be left out of a search even though I do not use most of the factors that I find are the "usual suspects" for these anomalies.

I though that this might have been the case, though I was perturbed by the number and worried there was a larger problem. So, I quickly opened the listings and found that every single one of them had sold. Not just last week or even last month. Most of the homes had sold and even closed last June (2006). Six months ago and they though my clients had thought that they had found the perfect homes. when they had first found the homes they must have been wondering what I had been doing not sending them these homes, and if I was in there place so would I. Yet, the homes that I did send were the current best homes and they did buy one (still pending closing), but they may have missed out on the home I was not able to prove to them that I was providing them with all of the appropriate homes and not just homes that "I" wanted to sell.

REALTORS® lose out with when they use most of the directories because the directories are usually getting paid by using a pay per click advertising network or they offer a lead generating program where they will sell REALTORS® client leads when ever a consumer fills out requests for information on their sites. They also usually ask for a reciprocal link from each agents site making it so that they often out rank many agents on the Search engine results. This means that REALTOR® websites get fewer hits, were consumers could actually get answers, and the directories get more hits and any requests for information that the consumer has will have to wait until an agent buys the lead and sends the information that is requested. This is time consuming and the agent that you end up with is the one who pays not necessarily the one who works hardest to promote their service or the interests of their clients.

Unfortunately, we are now in a situation where if you do not link with these sites you can be out ranked by those agents that are willing to either link or pay for inclusion on the sites. The only way to really combat these parasite sites is to band together and use quality link trading with other REALTORS® to try and out rank them enough that they can not make a living through leads and PPC.

As for the Public "MLS®" sites, the general public needs to be educated that they are only marketing sites and not the best way for a serious home buyer to find a home or for a home seller to set do market research for pricing. These public sites do not usually have any sold information and if they do then they are only hurting the industry in the area that they cover. The NLS is another case of marketing that I hope does not turn into too much of a parasite on the industry. They do sell "neighbourhoods" to agents for more than they are currently worth but is that were it will end? The system has fewer controls over quality of information than MLS.ca and it is limited to agents on the Point2 system, but is that going to be enough for them in the long run.

Sometimes I worry about whether the real estate industry is going to shoot itself in the foot with its over exuberance to market widely and with all of the cost cutting that takes place in an effort to stay afloat. Soon it may be a case that no agents can afford to stay in the business unless they are so over worked that they are more prone to mistakes. After all how many deals can one agent negotiate, track and close in a day, week or year? How many homes can one agent show to clients each day, week or year? And how many clients each agent realistically find and help when there are hundreds if not thousands of other agents also looking for the same client? And finally, how low can an agent go on commissions and truly survive in the long run, with only that reasonable number of clients?

But then again, that is another story

Hobby Horse Farm with Luxury Bungalow

2006-12-23T15:22:03Z

This tranquil home in the rolling hills of New Tecumseth has so much to offer. Just a short walk from "The Club in Bond Head" this 10 plus acre property boasts a completely renovated three bedroom bungalow that is loaded with quality extras.

Granite counters and "Canac" custom cabinets in the kitchen, great room and master ensuite spa are some of the great features; plus there are three large bedrooms, an open concept living area and Cork floors through out. There are so many great feature it is hard to keep track of them all.

The property also has 4 paddocks, a barn with 6 horse stalls, a newly seeded hay field, a drive shed, Pond and over $65,000 worth of equipment that was new in 2005.

For more information or a showing, call me at 416-278-2335 or visit the listing on my site for the Hobby Horse farm for sale

If you are looking for a farm and this is not to your liking please call me or contact me through the website above to find out what other farms are available in York Region and the Norther districts of the Toronto Real Estate Boards MLS system.

This is currently an exclusive listing but it is offering commissions to co-operating brokers that bring the right buyer for this home. Have your agent call me for details

Toronto Real Estate Board releases mid October market update

2006-10-19T13:27:33Z

The real estate markets continue to steam ahead, with the Toronto Real Estate Board keeping a positive view of the future. They report that there have been 3007 homes sold in the fist half of October up from September's first half sales of 2,913 and only slightly lower than October 2005's 3012 home sold in the first half.

In the report they also talk about a few areas that have experienced large increases in sales volume, while leaving it unsaid that if there are several areas with high increases and the over all change is minimal, then there must be some areas that have seen significant reductions in sales volume as well. These fluctuations may just be the signs of normal fluctuations due solely to the number of buyers that have just decided to take the plunge or it could be evidence of a more long term slow down in the Toronto Market.

The biggest concern with all statistics is that they tend to reflect the view that the compiler wants them to promote. Real estate boards always want to promote a healthy market because it makes real estate a more attractive industry, more agents equals more revenue for the board and all, unfortunately this also leads to miss informed sellers and buyers. Sellers that continue to push the price envelope are going to experience longer listing times and a higher rate of expired listings.

Currently, Buyers seem to be becoming more suspect of the statistics and are expecting more for their money. This is creating a rift between what sellers want and what buyers want. If this rift gets too large we could see a larger correction.

I am still hoping that the two groups will adjust their expectations and meet in the middle so that we can continue to experience a healthy real estate market that does not erode from the bottom up.

Here is the mid October market update

Richmond Hill, Ontario, Real Estate Statistics for September 2006 (N03 district)

2006-10-15T17:39:03Z

Alright, I am a little behind with this but I have been having a heck of a time figuring a work around for some issues that I have been having with Tables and pictures created of the tables that turn out as a big black blob. Since I have finally figured out the problem with the picture issue I will use them, and work on the tables later.

The Richmond Hill, Ontario, real estate markets have been exceptionally hot for the last few year and they now look like they are cooling off. Now, I am not predicting a crash or even a decrease in prices, since last year, but the market has definitely shifted to a balanced market and almost into the buyer's market category. What will happen in the future will be dependant on how today's sellers decide that they want to react to the changes, or if they persist with prices that are 5%- 10% higher than last years prices. If there is not a shift by sellers to come into line with what the market is able to hold then there could be larger market adjustments in the not so distant future.

The N03 district on the Toronto MLS® system covers the South end of Richmond Hill, Ontario, from Hwy 407 North to Major Mackenzie Dr, between Hwy 404 and Dufferin and also includes a few neighbourhoods in Markham and Vaughan.

In September 2006 there was an increase in the number of active listings on the Toronto MLS® system in the N03 district. With an increase in listings of over 8% and a decrease in sold homes by close to 15% the overall average Sales to listings ratio dropped by 5%.

One would think that there would be a shift in the buying patterns towards the more affordable Townhouses, Condo Townhouses and Condo Apartments. However, there has actually been a decrease in sales of those types of properties in Richmond Hill's N03 district

Detached homes still had reasonable sales volumes the number of listings is up 83% from November last year and the number of Sales is only up around 43%. If this trend continues then there could be some bigger issues in the near future.

It is even more important now to set the right price on your home when selling your home in Richmond Hill. An accurate Richmond Hill, Ontario, home evaluation is essential and your agent should not hold back when discussing issues that could effect your homes sale.

SPAM, SPAM filters and the Internet business

2006-10-06T15:31:54Z

To start off, I hate Spam. Except if it is fresh from the can and grilled over an open fire 100 miles from any civilization. But I digress. Each day I receive about 150 - 200 spam messages in my email, which are automatically stuffed into a file in my Gmail account and deleted after 30 days. I like the Gmail approach because it gives me lots of time to scan through to make sure that I have not missed a desired email from a client or service that I wanted to hear from.

Recently the number of spam messages has decreased significantly. I get around 25- 50 per day now which I put down to the fact that I never respond to them. I have also been rather busy with clients and did not notice a new message that I was getting everyday, in my spam folder. It turns out that I have not been getting fewer messages, only that my real estate board has implemented a new spam filter that holds spam for 15 days and send a message each day with a list of that days intercepted messages.

So, my boards spam filter was being filtered out as spam. At first I though this was rather funny, however it now means that I have to check more often and in multiple location to see if a Client is trying to contact me and being flagged as spam for whatever reason.

I think that this is the biggest problem the spam messages have created for all businesses that use email in any part of their business. If we use a filter then we may miss an important message and if we do not use a filter you can spend hours sifting through all of the #$%& messages trying to find anything of value.

I guess the question of the day is - How do you deal with SPAM? and is there anything that can be done to clean up the Internet and decrease the number of pill shops, MLM systems, investment quacks and other undesirable companies that pollute the Internet with their rubbish?

Pictures and blogs

2006-10-04T09:04:18Z

Alright, I have been trying to incorporate some pictures into my blog, unsuccessfully. I just cannot seem to find appropriate pictures quickly that are appropriate for the variety of topics that I tend to cover. So I am calling out to all active Rainers, or general public, for comments as to where you source your pictures.

Where do you get them? Do they cost? and What do you look for in a post-worthy picture?

REALTOR® PR is low for a reason.

2006-10-04T08:57:30Z

Another Person(s) gets the shaft thanks to a lousy real estate agent and the agent gets a slap on the wrist. This incident happened in 2003, so it was before REBBA 2002 came to be law.

We often wonder why the general public has a less than pretty picture of REALTORS® and then I read a story about an agent that got a slap on the wrist, which amounts almost to a referral fee for costing someone Thousands of dollars, and it all becomes clear.

The story goes that the agent listed a home and sold it to a client of his/hers, without getting any permission or acknowledgement for the dual representation from either client. Then 3 days after closing the buyer lists the home for over twice the purchase price, with the same agent, and it sells 3 days later, to two people who are also clients of the same agent. Once again, there were no acknowledgements for the dual representation.

Now, either the first seller sold for an excessively low price based on the agent’s recommendation or the second buyers bought the home for far more than it was worth. In either case he took one of them, or both parties, for a ride that cost them dearly, probably in the hundreds of thousands based on the average prices in Ontario. What was the penalty for this agent’s actions? $3000! That’s it. He probably made more on one of the four ends that he made in this transaction. It is so small it is laughable. That is more of a congratulatory pat on the back than a penalty.

Personally, this kind of blatant abuse of the ethics codes is tantamount to fraud and should carry at least a penalty that will make the agent think twice. Yes, his/her name may be published on the RECO disciplinary list, but who ever looks at those? Not many. If it was in a small town then the local residents may know what happened and stop using his/her services but if it was in Toronto only a few people would know and most people who were told would probably forget the name before they could tell anyone else. This is just one more reason why REALTORS® still have PR issues.

I have high hopes that REBBA 2002 will result in some changes. The Real Estate Business Broker Act 2002 (REBBA 2002) became a Canadian Federal Law at the end of March 2006, supposedly beefing up the power and bite of the previous industry rules and regulations. It provides the ability to sentence offending agents to up to $50,000 in fines and up to two years in jail and brokerages can be fined up to $250,000. RECO has always had the right to revoke licenses but they only seem to do this in extreme cases, of which this did not seem to qualify for.

As several Rainers have been posting about the PR issues that REALTORS® are still facing, I think it is safe to say that until we can make unethical behaviour unprofitable we will always be seen with a level of disdain or scepticism. Bring on the maximum fines or make them bigger, our industry should be doing more to deter these kinds of incidents.

Christmas Party Without Family? No Thank You.

2006-10-03T20:50:58Z

I have never been a huge fan of office parties as they always seem so forced. In past careers I spent 5 days a week or more working beside my co-workers and as much as I liked them I did not like the idea of being pressured into spending more time with co-workers than I needed to.

I thought about this because my new brokerage just sent message that some of the agents wanted to have a Christmas party and they wanted to know if there was enough interest from all of the agents to make the planning efforts worth while. The catch was that it would cost around $40 and it was only for the agents not family or friends. O.K. I can understand the friends, but families and partners? I don't even know have the majority of the agents at the office. To me it is more of a virtual office, since I work from home, so it would only be a networking event with agents who are competing for clients in the same area. Maybe it is just me, but isn't it a little daft to try and get referrals from someone who covers the same area as you do.

Let me bring my family and I would probably go as a relaxing night out, but Christmas is a family event and without them it would just not be enjoyable.

What would you do if your company had this policy? or does it already?

Sorry for getting a few seasons ahead, after all Thanksgiving (Canadian) is only this coming weekend.

Who me? a Lawyer?

2006-09-28T00:22:49Z

As much as I am fascinated by some of the intricacies and minutia of contract wording and structure I would never try and equate myself or any Realtor® with being a Lawyer. Which is why I was shocked to learn that in Ontario we almost had to be licensed by the Upper Canada Law Association under a new bill that was proposed in October 2005. Under the proposed Bill 14, Access to Justice Act, 2005, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board, we and I mean Ontario Realtors® would have been considered to be providing “Legal Services” and would therefore be regulated by the Upper Canada Law Association.

I for one had not heard a peep about this until today. Luckily the boards and the various governing bodies have been lobbying for amendments to keep Realtors® out of this particular law-to-be. Thank you red tape and government efficiency. It was supposedly pointed out that the real estate industry is already heavily regulated and does not need to have another governing body over seeing our activities.

I guess that the only good thing that would have come out of being regulated by the UCLA would be that discount brokers would have to change their advertising campaigns, and far more part time Realtors® would leave the industry, because they just couldn’t afford to keep going or justifying the extra fees for the off chance of a commission. This would create a much better environment for the serious full time Realtors® to grow their businesses.

Still being regulated by the same governing body as Lawyers just doesn’t leave enough separation between the two industries for my liking. I have some great clauses that leave little room for interpretation, but if it comes to something new I am one of the first people to run to my lawyer for advice on how to phrase my client’s needs.® would have been considered to b

Quick Reminder - Why I don't work in an corporate office job

2006-09-27T23:50:55Z

As much as Real Estate has many ups and downs and can go from invigorating to frustrating and back in a matter of hours, I will still count my blessings. As a little reminder of some of the other employment options that are available, here is a little ditty complements of the Jack FM newsletter (92.5 Jack FM - Radio station in the Toronto Area).

I hope it brings a smile to your face as it did mine :-D

Real Estate Ups and Downs - Never give up

2006-09-26T15:43:55Z

To get a little more serious than my last post. This past weekend was another one of those great roller coaster rides that we call working as a Realtor®. I had some great clients come in from out of country to look at homes. We were going to look at 5 homes. As we went from one to the next, and on, there was a general opinion that the homes they were seeing were not quite right for them. As we headed for the fifth home I was feeling that it was a bit of a long shot as I had been through it before and, although it was a lovely home, it was a little smaller than they seemed to lean towards and a good portion of the property was covered by a pond and wetlands.

But as they say "it ain't over until the fat lady sings" so I put on the positive face and started the showing. They loved it! Yes it was a little small, and the doorway into the third bedroom is only 5 feet tall, but the loved the surrounding scenery and the home is very well taken care of. We walked the property for a good hour discussing were the horse paddock would go and the training ring and where the local riding trails might be.

However, because they are not Canadian residents they could not get a pre-approved mortgage without a particular property in mind, so we were going to have to reconvene after the mortgage broker went through the approval process. They had also wanted to drive to downtown Toronto, where the husband will be working, to make sure it was roughly 45 minutes. This was Sunday night and they chose to drive down Hwy 400 across Hwy 401 and Down the DVP even after being told several times about better routes to travel. After all we were just outside of Nobleton and going down the 427 would have been much better. For those that do not know Toronto, Hwy 401 between Hwy 400 and Hwy 404/DVP tends to travel at a snails pace at the best of times. Going down the 400 is usually not too bad except that, being a Sunday night, the cottage traffic was in full force. The end result was it took them over 90 minutes to get downtown, and the bubble surrounding that home just burst.

Thankfully they were also in town for Monday so we went to look at a few more homes in a slightly higher price range and the first one we went into is perfect if a little large ( alright, so the price went up significantly). The only issue now is the mortgage. Except that when I contacted the town regarding the Zoning, they say that there are restrictions on the use of the property, in terms of the horses. Nothing commercial, only personal use. Since the wife wants to train horses and sell them once they are trained this property may not be suitable even though the property already has enough stables for the number of horses that she is hoping to have.

So the roller coaster goes on. It is bound to have a happy ending soon as long as I keep moving forward. I would have preferred to check the zoning first, but the town was a little slow and it was a last minute choice along with the increase in price range. No matter if it is the rejection of cold calling or door knocking or the frustration of showing homes for 6+ months only to have someone decide that they are really not as motivated as they though, you have to just keep on moving forward and never give up.