List Price Mayhem

As a seller, choosing the right list price (also referred to as your pricing strategy) is probably the single most important factor in determining how much your home will sell for and how quickly it will sell. But your list price might be even more important for buyers than it is for you. Why? Because […]

Who Got the Better Deal?

Finally, there were the sellers who were told by a few Realtors that their home was worth approximately $1.7m. They decided to list for $1.85m and sold for $1.75m. I heard they felt the price was too low. and I’m sure the buyers felt they got a great deal because they paid $100,000 less than […]

Who’s To Blame For This Market?

Have you bought Bitcoin lately? Gambled on Gamestop? Rolled the dice on lottery tickets? Or perhaps you’ve decided to try your hand at some residential real estate in central Toronto? Because it’s been almost as unpredictable. It’s one thing to take a risk on a lottery ticket or a small investment, but quite another to […]

The Two BIGGEST Mistakes People Make

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re buying or selling your home. Especially in today’s hot market because decisions have to be made even more quickly than usual and because higher prices mean mistakes are more costly.   I see people make mistakes every day. Literally. But thankfully not our own clients. How do I […]

Real Life Buyer Stories

When I was a teenager in Montreal there was a plastic surgeon who did a lot of nose jobs. Thing was, most of those noses ended up looking the same. You could look at someone’s nose and say “That nose was done by Dr. Dave.” There’s nothing wrong with that but I’ve never taken a […]

My Mother is Disgusted!

  There were lots of little things my mother had to do when my father passed away last year, things like cancelling credit cards, closing bank accounts, transferring internet accounts and the like. You know how it is. All the small, mundane tasks that should take about five minutes each to do. My mother stayed […]

Two Markets – Action Steps

“Michael, I just read What Market Are You In? and it was great. It has lots of helpful info and really helps me understand the big picture. I’m now able to impress my friends with my in depth knowledge, but I’m in the process of actually selling my house and buying a new one so I’d […]

What Market Are You In?

If you think it’s hard to distinguish Thing 1 from Thing 2, try figuring out what’s going on in the real estate market now. Stand on one side of the street and you could be in one market. Stand on the other side of the street and you could be in another market. Some people […]

Listing Lessons

You’d think that after 25+ years in this business I’d know it all, but the longer I’m in this business the more I learn. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that experience really is invaluable in this business. And what’s the point of all this knowledge and experience if I can’t use […]

Commission

This is one of the subjects I get asked about most frequently. Probably because there’s lots to know and no one ever talks or writes about it. I rarely talk about commission with my fellow Realtors so almost all the information I have comes from third parties – potential clients who say things like “We’ve […]

THIS Spring is Different!

I’m usually a pretty upbeat guy, but lately I’ve been feeling a little grumpy because of some of the things I’ve been seeing in the real estate market. Maybe grumpy isn’t the right word. Perhaps disheartened and frustrated would be more accurate. I contemplated not writing this until I’m feeling better, but sometimes you just […]

Real Estate Love Letters

If you live in central Toronto, chances are you’ve received at least one letter about selling your home in the last little while from a Realtor you don’t know. You may even have received numerous such letters from different Realtors! All of these Realtors are just doing their jobs, in most cases trying to find […]

If Advocate Was a Pizzeria

If Advocate was a pizzeria, this is what it would look like, except with a little more style and panache. This pizzeria is in a small, medieval village about two hours southeast of Rome. The streets are paved with cobblestones. There are no cars in the village. Everyone knows everyone, including the gentleman who owns […]

Waiting for Houses

If you’ve looked for a house in central Toronto during the past twenty years, you probably have a pretty good idea of what it means to wait for a house. For most buyers, the process goes something like this: You toy with the idea of moving for a few months or even a few years. […]

Sellers Beware!

I don’t know if it’s because of the TV reality shows they’ve been watching or because they’re tired of being at a disadvantage in this long lasting sellers’ market, but lately I’ve noticed a few more buyers making demands of sellers around closing time. It’s only happening in a small number of transactions, but this […]

Value II: The Moving Target

Anthony and I were talking about the last blog post – how to determine which of two similarly priced homes has more value – when he asked me a very good question: why were semis more expensive than bungalows back in 1993? For those of you who don’t know Anthony, he’s Anthony Malecki, one of […]

What Do You Value Most?

True confession: I still go to agents’ open houses. (If you know me, you’ll know this is about as juicy as it gets.) I know I could save a lot of time by looking at the photos online, but I like to keep up to date with the market and find I get a better […]