Tag Archives: Home

If I Terminate a Deal, Can I Go Back and Make Another Offer?

Ask me anything. Anything at all. And I promise you an honest, straightforward answer. I’m here to help and I’m happy to do so. Don’t be shy because there’s no such thing as a stupid question. If you haven’t been selling real estate every day for the past 20+ years like I have, no one expects you […]

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When Will the Spring Market Begin?

This is one of those questions to which there is no precise answer. The start of the Spring Market varies from year to year and is influenced by factors such as the weather, the number of buyers who didn’t find homes in the Fall, when sellers are ready and willing to list, etc. Why do […]

Should You Do a Pre-Inspection (homes) or Order a Status Certificate (condos)?

Pre-inspections are becoming more and more common. If you’re not sure what a pre-inspection is, it’s a home inspection done by a seller before a home goes on the market. It has several benefits. First, depending on the area and the type of home, buyers may expect to see a pre-inspection. If one isn’t available, […]

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Is Staging Necessary?

Staging your home before putting it on the market has become common these days, especially because it has been shown to produce superior results. Some people are hesitant to stage their homes because of concerns about the expense and time involved. If this sounds like you, don’t be concerned. Staging has been given different interpretations, but essentially, it means preparing […]

2 Good Times to Buy (1 is Now!)

People often ask “What’s the best time of year to buy a new home?”. There’s no correct answer to this question because many factors that affect the market change from year to year. But I’ve noticed a few trends over the past several years that seem to indicate that there are some good deals to be had in November and June. […]

Strike a Better Deal by Being Honest When You Negotiate

You may have heard differently from other sources, but with over 20 years negotiating experience under my belt, I’ve found that trust is a fundamental element to a successful negotiation. A couple weeks ago, during a multiple offer situation, my clients were surprised to see the name of someone they knew on an offer for their home. It was surprising […]

Always Remember and Never Forget These 2 Important Facts!

When people talk about the residential real estate market softening, there are two extremely important factors which they often overlook. These factors play a crucial role in determining prices and are so influential that I  find it hard to believe they’re overlooked so frequently. Please don’t make this mistake when YOU’RE trying to gauge the market so you can determine the best […]

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Best Friends for Ever or for Never (BFF or BFN)?

What’s this you say? Posting 2 days in a row? Has there been a monumental shift in the real estate market that the world needs to know about immediately? Nah, I just had another post-worthy idea. Hard to believe, I know. It seems that everybody faces the dilemma of whether or not to hire their […]

Why So Few New Listings?

It’s November and we’re still in the middle of the Fall market. Last week was a normal Fall market week with a fair number of new homes coming on the market. So what happened this week? Why have there been so few new listings? Well, if you’re a buyer looking for a certain style of […]

Market Conditions: The Truth

There’s a lot of noise out there right now about the state of the real estate market. It seems that almost every day someone reports that the market is softening or is about to crash. I don’t understand how these conclusions are drawn because I haven’t seen any evidence of them. I do, however, see […]

The Pizza Paradigm

Every once in a while, I find myself tracing my roots back to the beginning. I don’t mean to Montreal, which is where I was born, or to Europe, which is where my grandparents came from. I’m referring to a charming, 13th century village called Scanno which is in the mountains a few hours outside of […]

You Want How Much for Your Home?!

Margaret and Pierre had been looking for a new home for a while when they finally found one they liked (names, prices and other details have been changed to protect everybody’s privacy). It wasn’t perfect, but it had some very nice features. It was nicer than most similar homes, but at $995,000, its price reflected […]

Vaporize The Land Transfer Tax!

They tell me to write short blog posts. As you can tell, I’ve been having difficulty. Let’s see how this one goes. If you’ve ever bought a home in Ontario, you know about Land Transfer Tax. You probably don’t remember it fondly, but you can’t forget it because it was so substantial (approximately $16,500 for […]

House Research Made Easy – Just Google It!

Due diligence. When I was a lawyer, I hated this term. It meant long days and nights reading through countless, boring documents. I’m shuddering right now just thinking of it. Thankfully, I don’t have to do that kind of due diligence any longer, but due diligence has not disappeared from my life altogether. When you […]

Fall Market Prediction (2012)

The kids are back to school and I’m back to blogging, just in the nick of time for the Fall market. If only someone made a realtor crystal ball. All signs seem to be pointing towards a very robust Fall market in central Toronto. By that I mean that we can expect the supply of […]

Reckless Reporting?

It’s summer time again – sunshine, heat, long days, ice cream (my personal favourite)……and plenty of articles about the demise of the real estate market. It seems that this happens every summer. Recently, the Globe and Mail reported that “In Vancouver, the seller’s market recedes” (July 5, 2012). On another day, the headline read “Housing bubbles: Messy […]

Multiple Offer Mayhem

You never know what to expect when you put your home on the market and designate a date for offers because anything can happen. My clients put their home on the market on Wednesday and sold it on Monday, which was the offer date. You might appreciate this behind the scenes rundown of how things played out so […]

Real Estate Yoga

There’s already laughing yoga, smiling yoga, hot yoga, naked yoga and countless other types of yoga, so why not real estate yoga? I’m not kidding, but I’m not suggesting you start doing headstands on your roof. I’ve been selling real estate for over 20 years and practicing yoga for over 16 years and I take […]

Are You a Good Client?

Most people set out to hire a good agent, but did you know that many agents set out to find good clients? That’s right! Some of us are as concerned about who we work with as you are. We’re not interested in selling as many homes as possible and working with just about anybody to […]