Condos Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Scott and Emily Real Estate Group

Opportunity Knocks?

In life we spend so much time, effort and mental real estate chasing elusive “opportunities”. Some opportunities are relatively easy to identify and define - think of a career advancement or promotion, or an athlete getting called up to the big team. Other opportunities are much more elusive, or “unicorn like”. Think of hitting on the next big crypto project, or the Chess Club Captain scoring with the Prom Queen in high school. Without a doubt, however, the biggest “unicorn” [...]

May 10, 2022|Categories: Condos, Houses, My Two Cents|

“Runaway Train Never Going Back”

“Wrong way on a one-way track.” - The legendary Soul Asylum. One of the most surprising developments of the Pandemic has been the unstoppable price growth of GTA real estate. Imagine fire on a gasoline trail with some kerosene thrown in for good measure, and that’s how fast prices have gone up. With the benefit of hindsight we now know why and how we got here, but I can tell you that on the ground level this unprecedented price growth [...]

February 11, 2022|Categories: Condos, Houses, Lifestyle, My Two Cents, Real Estate Fails, Uncategorized|

The Letter To The Seller

In this entry I want to explore one of the more treacly, and in some instances controversial, practices in real estate. I’m referring, of course, to the good old letter to the seller from the hopeful buyer. These letters almost always are essentially the same (and I’ve read dozens of them). A nice couple gives a bit of background information about themselves and their jobs, rave about how much they love the house, and then conclude by saying how excited [...]

February 2, 2022|Categories: Condos, Houses, Lifestyle, My Two Cents|

The Zen Of The 2022 Buyer

“The best fighter is never angry.” - Lao Tzu “Do or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda 2021 wasn’t kind on many levels, and that was particularly evident if you were attempting to buy real estate in the GTA. It often resembled a piece of meat being dropped into a loaded piranha tank, a frothing stew of blood and guts. That’s what happens when you put 10 people in a bar with only a single beer available. It [...]

January 20, 2022|Categories: Condos, Houses, Lifestyle, My Two Cents|

Wake Me Up When September Ends

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 [...]

October 7, 2021|Categories: Condos, Houses, My Two Cents, Real Estate Fails|

The Dirtiest Words In Real Estate

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 [...]

September 22, 2021|Categories: Condos, Houses, My Two Cents, Real Estate Fails|

Reflections On In-Person Offer Presentations

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 [...]

August 10, 2021|Categories: Condos, Houses, My Two Cents, Uncategorized|

Death Of The Open House

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 [...]

July 14, 2021|Categories: Condos, Houses, Lifestyle, My Two Cents, Uncategorized|

Choose Wisely…

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 [...]

July 6, 2021|Categories: Condos, Houses, My Two Cents, Uncategorized|

Say What??

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. [...]

April 9, 2021|Categories: Condos, Houses, Lifestyle, My Two Cents, Real Estate Fails, Uncategorized|