Does A Pool Add Value to Your Property?
Episode 2 : How does an in-ground swimming pool impact the value of your property (or one you’re thinking of buying)? Oh, also… it was Happy Canada Day!
Channel Launch
Channel Launch! Check out episode 1 on Bruce’s new YouTube channel. Headline: The 12 Reasons I’m Starting A YouTube Channel. Plan to cover common questions and issues in real estate for home owners and investors, open the hood on the industry machine, and give you a different perspective on many agent practices. Feel free to agree and disagree – but …
7 Reasons To Not Like Ottawa’s Shared Equity Mortgage
Is Ottawa’s proposed Shared Equity Mortgage “plan” a good idea? Okay, so I only know what I saw on CBC News the other night. They reported that the Canadian Government has yet to work out the details of the “plan”. We can’t fully assess it until we have those details… but the concept seems misguided to me in many ways: …
Ottawa Neighbourhood House Prices 2018
This article contains the full set of charts to support my February 2018 email newsletter. If you’re interested in receiving complete monthly Ottawa real estate market analysis, why not sign up and try it out. You can always unsubscribe, and no one will hunt you down to find out why. You’ll find a subscription link at the bottom of this …
Ottawa Condo Prices – Older vs. Newer
Talking about Ottawa condo prices with one of my clients recently, I realised it’s been 6 years since I looked at the average selling price trend for older vs. newer condo apartments in Ottawa. Here’s the article from 2012: Are New or Re-Sale Condos a Better Investment? Fast forward to today; let’s take a look at the average selling price …
Bidding Wars That Aren’t
Have you read the CBC article from April 25th about Ottawa real estate’s “Perfect Storm” intensifying “Bidding Wars”? I’d like to go through this article and shed some light on a few of the pronouncements it makes. You can read the original article here: CBC Article: Bidding Wars Intensify It’s fun working in real estate because almost everybody finds it interesting …
Selling – Dealing With The Agent Who Already Has a Buyer
Law makers are waking up to some of the old school sales tactics that are unfortunately still common in the real estate business. CBC’s Marketplace ran their story (episode 44 – you can Google it if you haven’t seen it) about Realtors in Toronto working both sides of a transaction for the benefit of themselves (and buyer customers or clients) …
Rise of the Real Estate Cash Offer Nightmare
Your home hits the market and bam! You receive multiple offers – how excellent is that? And now you have to decide which offer to work with, or to accept. A quick glance reveals that the prices are all very close, the closing dates are all acceptable, and there is little to obviously set one of the offers apart from …
Irrevocably Yours – Part 1
The irrevocable time on an offer – what does it mean? If you’re making an offer on a property, what time frame should you set? If you’re selling a property, how should you treat the irrevocable date on offers you receive? Should you state a requirement regarding irrevocable times in your listing? The irrevocable date and time on an Agreement …
Should Your House Be Coming Soon?
It’s all the rage… the “coming soon” sign on the front lawn. Two of my clients have asked me to put one on their lawn this year while they were preparing their homes to sell. Why did they ask me? The first reason is my fault – I forgot to talk to them about this fad when we were working …
House Price Angst
Two articles caught my attention today. You’ve probably heard that average home prices in Canada – particularly in Toronto and Vancouver – have been climbing like crazy. One article today covered Moody’s warning about the dire impact of a pending housing correction in Canada. They put us in a bucket with Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand – all four countries …