buyers: How are we supposed to know? - 06/15/09 06:16 AM
There's a lot of things in business, including real estate, people feel they have to take on faith. But time and again we're told to measure, measure, measure when choosing what, where and how to spend our marketing and capital investment money. Which is a truth not to be trifled with. But if you can't get a good measure on the value of something, does that necessarily mean you don't do it?
One of the things Christine and I have enjoyed doing tremendously, since starting in the real estate, are public seminars for buyers and sellers. They don't always attract big … (24 comments)

buyers: Buyers be warned - you DON'T have to call the name on the sign!! - 09/11/06 02:02 PM
It still surprises me a bit that buyers of real estate often think they HAVE to call the listing agent if they are interested in a property for sale. Really, this couldn't be more wrong - well, at least here in Ontario - as any liscenesed real estate broker of sales rep can sell you ANY listed property. In fact, they can usually manage For Sale By Owner properties quite well when required to do so.
But the real question is... why? Why would a buyer find an agent to do all the research for them on what's available on the market? … (3 comments)

buyers: To dip or not to dip... that is the question. Isn't it?!? - 09/11/06 04:54 AM
If you are a first time buyer, you may be getting advice to dip into your RRSPs in order to help you with a down-payment. But those are your retirement savings! And besides, you have to pay them back anyway - how does doing this make any sense!?!
Well, it does, but it takes some mental gymnastics to see how sometimes. First off, you are still borrowing the money because you do have to pay it back... to yourself. But you are borrowing it at 0% interest and no bank, credit union or other mortgage source will be offering you anything near … (1 comments)

buyers: Is it a buyer's or a seller's market? - 08/22/06 04:11 PM
The question I get a lot these days is "has this finally become a buyer's market?" to which I invariably answer... "Well, yes, sort of... but not really. It's hard to say."
 Now if this sounds a little inexact or confusing, well, then you understood me perfectly. The fact is, it certainly isn't the seller's market it once was, but it isn't exactly a buyer's market either. In fact, right about now there is as close to a balance between the two parties (in a broad sense) as you'll ever likely see. So - what to do then? If you're a buyer, … (2 comments)