:: 10 Quick Lessons on what marriage/relationships can teach us about being a good Realtor ::

Get Them Aroused — Steve Job is great at this. The minute he says “Oh… and one more thing”, you can see all the Apple fan boys with their jaws on the floor. Tease them a little, don’t give them everything at once. People love Steve Jobs because he rules at getting people aroused. Clients will love you if you know how to do this.

“They” Are Always Right — This lesson goes back as far as the beginning of man kind. Even if they are not always right, you have to make it seem like they are right. If you say that your clients are smart, then they will tell you that you’re smart. If you say that your clients are stupid, well then maybe there’s something wrong with what you have to offer.

Don’t Lie— If there’s one thing you don’t want to do is to lie. Once a liar, always a liar; that’s how they will see you. If you want them to trust you, you have to offer honesty.

Never Be Late — Each minute a client waits at your office or in front of a listing for you is time they will devote solely to judging your competence and worthiness of their loyalty to you.  Be prompt on returning those emails and phone calls too. You wont look over anxious as much as diligent and respectful of your clients value to your business.

Deliver Your Promises — If you say you’re going to do something, you better do it. Many people suffer from “not delivering” or “not following through”. It is very important to do what you say and say what you do, you can always over deliver, but never under deliver… regardless, you MUST deliver!

Say What You Mean, & Mean What You Say — Many companies fail at this. They say something, but they mean something else. If you want your reputation maintained, you better say EXACTLY what you mean… and mean it when you say it. They always remember.

Don’t Compare — Never compare other clients/women, at least not out loud. Keep those thoughts to yourself as their is no safe way to deliver them.

Communicate Regularly & Effectively — Listen to what they have to say, offer them what they want and need, not what you think they might want or need. Be open to suggestions, don’t be a dictator all the time.

Their Friends Are Your Friends — Marketing cannot get any better than a simple word of mouth. Everything you do with them, their friends will know, and the friends of their friends will know. Try to keep it positive most of the time, because negative PR is the last thing you want.

When to talk, when not to talk — Someone told me once, there’s only two lessons you need to know in order for someone to like you: Know when to talk, and know when to shut up. Again, experience will come in really handy for these situations.

:: Only 143 more days to launch and counting ::

:: Get your snow off my lawn!! ::

Where I live, about an hour north of Toronto, we have had a near record total of seven feet of snow since the first storm on December 1st (the night I returned from Cancun and dug my car out from under 2 feet of snow in a Hawaiian shirt, still covered in sunblock) I am growing confused by the conflict between what I see out my window and the reports of global warming I keep hearing on the news. We had another foot and a half come down on the weekend.

 Someone sent me this picture and it deserves a good caption. Can anyone help me out here?

:: Realtors or CNN -Who is better at calling a Presidential Election ::

Even though I am north of the 49th parallel I am like most Canadians interested in the political affairs of the United States, even more so than most having spent the early part of my life in California where I was born.

I don't recall a presidential election being so close this late in the game or having such dynamic contenders or such interest and anticipation being in the air.

Active Rain is a true cross section of the whole country and a collection of many well versed, knowledgeable professionals coming from all walks of life. I don't think Gallup could find a better selection to poll.

Here is a poll for all Active Rain members....

• What effect will a new President in the White House have over the US economy in the next four years and what will they need to do to bring about needed changes?

• Who is going to be the next President of the United States?

I look forward to reading your ideas and thoughts.

:: Barrie home investing and flipping tips ::

Find an old tired house with multiple layers of separating and peeling wallpaper, simulated wood paneling in the basement, some rusty orange coloured carpeting with a relief pattern in it and a burn mark in the shape of an iron just for character. Throw in a few cracked window panes a matching turquoise tub toilet and sink, peeling roofing shingles, a leaning wood fence and a driveway that has worn itself into two parallel trenches separated by a long stretch of crabgrass and you have what many emerging investor/house flippers would call “opportunity for profit”.

This home is the star of dozens of cable TV shows. The ones where in the first scene some slick entrepreneur in Ray Bans and a pair of unscathed designer work boots struts up from his scotch guarded SUV, Blackberry permanently attached to the side of his head and turn his crew loose to strip, replace and polish the dog on the street house. After some on screen personality conflicts between him and a couple members of the crew, the unmasking of a few unanticipated flaws and a couple Jack Bower like deadline countdowns for theatrical effect, the house is now transformed into a gem that has buyers lining up to submit their offers. As the credits roll, flipper king announces his lovely profit which is equal or better than the average working Joe`s annual salary. Who wouldn’t be tempted by this kind of opportunity?

Unfortunately, would be fix and flippers can be easily seduced by the promise of quick and easy cash. You need also to be prepared to put in some skin and sweat and even take a hit financially if things don’t happen in Hollywood script like fashion. Here are a few common mistakes, hurdles and tips for those who want to try house flipping for themselves.

Understand the reality of this method of earning

While adding value to property can create wealth, it is no ‘get rich quick’ scheme. It still requires time, dedication and effort. The results that you ultimately achieve will reflect on your commitment to these three areas.

Do your Homework before making a financial commitment to any property

90 % of your time is going to be spent on locating and purchasing the property itself. In this instance, your preparation will be research, viewing, negotiating and more research.

Do the work yourself or pay a professional?

Anything you do yourself saves money right? This train of thought is fraught with danger on two levels. Firstly, if the level of workmanship is substandard then this can and will affect your resale price. If you’re no good at it yourself, pay someone who is to do it. Figure out what you are worth per hour to the project (estimated time invested divided into estimated net return) If that figure comes in at $55 per hour and you spend two days painting (my painter works for $13 per hour), where is your true savings?

Have access to the funds to back you

No real value in a potential $50,000 profit if you can’t pay the bills to get there. Have the cash or a substantial line of credit to cover you in unforeseen scenarios that might increase project costs, length of time to sell and additional work needed. Don’t quit your day job after one successful flip. After you see a pattern of success and evidence that this is an ongoing venture that is both enjoyable and profitable - that is the time to consider if a permanent career shift has merits.

Plan your Exit Strategy

Occasionally, despite your research and planning, the property just does not want to sell in the current market. External influences are beyond your control and will pop up from time to time. Have an exit strategy and you’ll be fine. Don’t take on a project if you cannot afford any unforeseen holding costs. Secondly, there is often financial advantage to holding a good property. If the market doesn’t agree with you at that particular time, then rent it out for twelve months or so.

Check your emotions at the curb

Don’t ever let yourself be ruled by your emotions when buying. You must always allow for buying, selling and closing costs. Where possible, your purchase price must be sufficiently below market value to at least allow for these costs. Even better, the price should be low enough to allow for closing costs plus rehabbing costs.

The following formula will allow you to assess the real purchase cost of a particular home that you may have in mind. Starting with the final selling price, work backwards and deduct selling costs, profit margin, renovation costs and costs associated with buying. This final figure should indicate what you can safely offer for the property. If it looks like a totally unreasonable offer amount either for you or the seller then keep on looking.

How often have you walked into a home and been totally horrified by the décor? Yet this is another common mistake made by renovators. They let their emotions get in the way and decide what is good for them is good for everyone else. Keep It Simple and focus on the “wow” factor. It is no coincidence that a home sells quicker and for a higher price when it possesses strong buyer appeal. You’re here to make money, not win a home decorating award. Give the market what it wants, not what you think it wants!

Don’t over do your renovation

The great temptation of renovating is to do too much. While the “wow” factor is critical, you must keep your emotions out of the equation and strictly adhere to your budget. Nothing goes exactly to plan when renovating, so don’t panic if you exceed your budget by small amounts. Allow for a buffer to cover any surprises (usually 10 to 15 per cent). Always have your costs estimated accurately prior to purchasing a property. Have a building inspection done and make your offer to purchase conditional upon its findings. This will enable you to discover any unforeseen surprises and possibly renegotiate the price should the inspection uncover any major defects - or even walk away.

Understand things can and often do go wrong in the course of buying revamping then selling a home. A little planning goes a long way and can soon put you in the category of the profitable real estate investors in your target market.

:: Hotel proposal is a good but still a half baked vision for Downtown Barrie ::

With a proposed Hotel and convention center providing the perfect catalyst, Barrie could begin to evolve its downtown into a thriving lakeside entertainment and shopping district and become a magnate for unique and stylish boutiques, galleries, craft and antique shops, great markets, cafes and fashionable restaurants where for lease signs, tattoo parlours and pawn shops currently dot its landscape. 

There is opportunity for revenue growth that will encourage new cutting edge architecture in hand with the revamping of Barrie’s historic downtown architecture to its past splendor. Dunlop and its neighbouring streets can evolve into vibrant and exciting pedestrian friendly streets that will lure residents and visitors to our core. 

Yes Barrie has an official plan for its future that intends for much of what I described to take place. Kind of a “build it and they will come “philosophy behind it all which leaves much to chance. 

The proposed downtown Hotel and convention centre is an “about time” great idea that will attract attention and new revenue to downtown and keep millions of dollars in convention spending from going down the highway to the GTA because we don’t have venues at present with the capacity to hold events bigger than a few hundred people. But this is just one part of what could and should be taking place to provide the foundation for a revitalized down town. 

Literally Millions of tourist dollars travel across Lake Simcoe between the Trent and Severn Rivers each year. The upper echelon of North American Society move across our lake in a steady stream from May to October on yachts that are pretty much six and even seven figure floating 5-star hotel suites. Very few of them or any Boaters/cottagers on Lake Simcoe will make the side trip to Barrie because they know the chances of finding temporary or overnight (transient) docking are slim to none and the only semblance of a dining experience apparent when scanning downtown from the lake is Hooters or Burger King. 

Barrie take note: The Big Bay Point Resort project is going to introduce hundreds of new boating enthusiasts to Lake Simcoe just a fifteen to twenty minute boat ride from downtown Barrie. Along with thousands of existing waterfront property owners, most will take the occasional afternoon or evening cruise past Barrie’s down town, few will think to or have the option to tie up and spend a few hours enjoying Barrie’s down town shopping and dining. 

A couple years ago I tried to shake up our last City Council on the idea of expanding Barrie’s downtown marina, especially the public docking facilities into a world class marina facility capable of attracting nautical clientèle from all of Lake Simcoe and the Trent Severn to come and experience Barrie. I got no reply from anyone on Council to my emailed suggestion. A short time later I had the chance to speak with then mayor Rob Hamilton about the idea. He told me Barrie’s marina facilities are adequate. I suggested to him we should make that our official slogan, “Barrie, striving to be adequate”, I got a blank stare in response and he kindly excused himself from our conversation. 

The road to adequacy is littered with safe minimalist planning and half baked ideas. If adequate is all Barrie will ever be then we don’t deserve the privilege of being located on one of the best and busiest waterfronts in Ontario. Hopefully the advent of a downtown hotel and convention centre will stimulate the adrenaline of City Council and our Mayor and allow them to see this is the perfect time and opportunity to venture beyond adequacy. 

Part of the approval for a Hotel and convention facility that will enjoy and benefit from having the most prime and convenient commercial proximity to our lakefront and marina has to be that they make a direct and ongoing financial investment in our public marina facilities allowing Barrie to build a world class Marina with a generous supply of transient boat slips that will help to make Barrie stand out the way it should.

:: Future Growth Plans for Barrie and The Golden Horseshoe ::

 In June of 2006 the Province of Ontario released a 25 year plan for the direction of future growth for the Greater Golden Horseshoe region which takes in the Barrie area and designates Barrie as a vital component of the plan.

The programs objective is to over see and influence growth and development through official planning and strategic investment by the Province in key areas. The focus is on bolstering communities and revitalizing downtown areas of cities within the region and seeing that residential growth happens in a fashion that best serves future needs while protecting agricultural and green space lands. Click on the link below to view the official Places to Grow Plan.

PLACES TO GROW 

:: Barrie Student Banished for sporting Blue Hair ::

The hope when we send our children to school is that along with academic knowledge they will pick up some vital lessons to prepare them for adult life. The lessons learned this past week by the students of St. Catherine of Siena School in Barrie could be that political correctness supersedes expression of community or team passion and pride and that you can justify any action, how ever far reaching, so long as you attempt to affiliate peoples worst fears with it, (just ask George W. Bush about that)

Thirteen year old Adam Zussino who showed up for class last week with his hair dyed blue as his expression of support for his Barrie Colts PeeWee A Hockey team in their playoff efforts learned quickly that attempting to stand apart from the masses, regardless of how noble your intentions, is often a road paved with resistance from those who are unable to understand or appreciate your enthusiasm.

A 13 year old boy joining a gang and turning to a life of crime as a result of dying his hair blue for his local hockey team seems like a very big stretch of logic, but that was exactly the fear association that justified the orders to him by his school not to return until his hair look like the rest of the students once again. I am reminded of a quote by Nietzsche: "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music".

Ironically, once the warmer weather returns, support will likely be granted by many of our schools to hold fund raisers in which swarms of students take over busy intersections to promote student car washes. I have more concern for those unsupervised students being hit by cars than of Adam Zussino leaving school and quitting organized hockey to join with the homeys in the hood.

The school board and this principal have yet to retract their position, however, given the media attention on TV, by Don Cherry and in many Ontario news papers, the lesson they may demonstrate to our impressionable students in the coming week might be; it is ok to reverse your position on something if you think there is even a slight chance to save face with the people of your community.

See stories in Toronto Sun >>Don Cherry's reaction  Saturday's story

:: Fear of Commitment leads to Weak Relationships ::

This post is directed at the many thousands of people who will
be retaining the services of a Realtor to purchase a house this year.

Get a Buyer Agency Agreement Signed at the earliest opportunity!

What is the benefit to a buyer?

Well consider this. Suppose you walked into a busy TV store and like the dozens of others that day, when asked "Can I help you?" You reply "I'm just looking thanks"

The sales person will offer a few words on what you are looking at, become distracted by the next person to walk in the door and leave you to figure out the difference between digital ready and high def all by your self.

Imagine if you told that same sales rep who asks if you need help "Yes I want to know everything you can tell me about your Plasma TVs, and before I leave I am going to buy one and I am going to buy it from you".

That sales rep is going to trip over him or herself to provide you service and not likely even notice the other customers coming into the store. He/she is going to give you the information you need to make an informed decision and likely be more receptive when you try to negotiate the price that you want to pay.

In Real Estate, agents deal daily with inquiries from potential home buyers by email, by telephone, from people walking into the office or coming into an open house. The good agents treat everyone as a potential client even though most have a contact manager list as long as their arm of potential buyers with question marks beside their name that they cant bring them self to remove from the list, just in-case.

The reality is many buyers will jump around from agent to agent until they are ready to make an offer on a property. Most agents will try to divide their time and efforts evenly amongst the more recent of "potential buyers" on the list.

If you are serious - don't hide it - use it

If you find an agent who has earned your trust why not tell them you want to sign an agency agreement and work exclusively with them?

You have effectively told the Realtor "I am serious about buying and any time effort and expense you commit to me should eventually result in a home purchase".

You have just separated yourself from 99.9% of the other people who are vying for time with a Realtor and he/she is going to go out of their way to accommodate your needs, your schedule, and provide you all the information you need to make an informed decision and insure a smooth and rewarding purchase.

By blending with the masses and not forming a good business relationship with one Realtor or by waiting until you think you have found a home you want to put an offer on to settle on a Realtor, you only deny yourself the benefit of the knowledge, resources and input of having a professional on your team who may end up saving you thousands of dollars.

 Someone who knows the ropes and the neighborhood, who can provide you with timely information on market conditions, all listings and their sales history and often give you a heads up on homes that are not even listed yet.

Buying a home is the biggest financial decision in most peoples lives. Make a sound business decision and commit to using the services of one Realtor from the start of your home buying journey.

:: County of Simcoe Offering down Payments to some First Time Home Buyers ::

The County of Simcoe's Social Housing Department is taking part in the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program's (AHP) Homeownership Program as a way of providing down payment assistance to moderate income individuals and families giving them the opportunity to move from rental accommodation to homeownership. 

The AHP has committed $1.026 million to the County of Simcoe.

The Homeownership component of the AHP provides up to 5 per cent in down-payment assistance to 118 households to aid them in purchasing a new house at or below $208,000.

To see if you qualify and to obtain an online application form click the link below:

  Affordable Housing - Homeownership Loan