I always advise my buyer clients that purchasing a property isn’t easy. The reality is that it’s hard, damn hard. Imagine trying to hammer in a nail with a limp fettuccine noodle and multiply that by 100, and that’s how hard it can be. So when my wife and I personally entered the buyer pool earlier this year to find a cottage for our family, we did so with a mix of excitement and anxiety as we knew full well [...]
The Market Watch stats have come in for the GTA for the month of September, and like the titular Green Day song it’s an emotional roller coaster, and ultimately a tear jerker. The stats are insane, difficult to comprehend and to my eyes deeply concerning. Allow me to present the meatiest morsels: Active listings DOWN 49.4% vs September of last year. New listings DOWN 34% vs September of last year. Average sale price UP 18.3% vs September of last year [...]
In a perfect, utopian society everything would move forward smoothly. People would do what they are supposed to do, and say what they are supposed to say. Pandemics would be relegated to the history books, and kumbaya would be sung around campfires across the world. Manly men could even admit they like 90 Day Fiance and the awesomeness that is Big Ed, without fear of extreme derision and scorn... Governments would deliver on their promises to provide affordable housing AND [...]
It’s Election time and the ridiculous political statements about “fixing” the housing market are flying. Politicians, and articles like this, always miss the point. 1) They always focus on the DEMAND side and not SUPPLY. Real estate is a free market, and when demand far outstrips supply prices rise dramatically. That’s Simple economics, like a kid with a lemonade stand. If a problem is perceived, the only solution is to increase supply. 2) There is nothing to fix. Toronto (and [...]
I am writing this as a companion piece to my previous entry, “The Death Of The Open House”. Initially I was going to title this entry “The Death Of The In-Person Offer Presentation”, but then I thought writing about death too much might get depressing. Also, the open house blog seemed to strike a nerve and a couple of unexpected things happened. The first was that several people responded to it, which in and of itself was surprising because it [...]
I am posting this blog on July 15th, in the year 2021, coming right at ya from my dining room table / office / virtual classroom. The date is relevant because tomorrow, July 16th, we will be entering Stage 3 in Ontario at long last. In the real estate world, social media has been ablaze with emotional and gushing posts from several agents about how they have been yearning to hold open houses again, and what a burden it has [...]
The scenario I am about to describe plays out all the time. You have finally decided it’s time to sell your beloved family home. You are ready to make that next move, whatever it might be, and you know the market is very strong. You are excited for this life change. In extremely hot markets there can be a tendency for some people to think houses “sell themselves”. You know, throw a sign up on a lawn, take some pictures [...]
Can anybody really believe we are more than a year into this pandemic, and things seem worse than ever before? With another lockdown in effect, schools and restaurants closed yet again, and vaccines rolling out at a glacial pace things seem grim, real grim. Like Armie Hammer’s current career grim. There have been many daily rituals that have kept me going over the past year, one of which is making sure I laugh out loud a few times a day. [...]
I find it fascinating to grab a beer with the veteran agents in our office, the agents 25 plus years in. They often speak wistfully of the “good old days”. That glorious time (for them) before computers when new listings were literally sheets in a book, fax machines were revolutionary and deals got done in bars with handshakes. With sadness they speak of this time, as they struggle to understand the direction our industry (and society) is heading in. I [...]
If nothing else 2020 has been consistent. Much like warm beer, cold french fries and wet hockey equipment 2020 has been a consistent drag, providing humankind with repeated blows to the nether regions. 2020 has also been a huge bummer for celebrity deaths, taking beloved icons like Alex Trebek, Sean Connery, Eddie Van Halen and the dude who played Deebo in Friday. But what 2020 has ultimately proved unequivocally is that the Toronto real estate market remains an unstoppable force. [...]