Month: July 2010

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Q & A From Private Sellers

I’ve put together some of the best questions I’ve received from Private Sellers out there, and will do my best to get you all the information that they would have liked to know when they were trying to sell their home. I should remind you that my answers are simply to the best of my knowledge and off the top of my head while I am here writing- it is very possible that I’ve missed a part or three. That being said – I’m sure I did a pretty good job.

Q: How do I coordinate my paperwork between lawyers, agents, lenders, inspectors etc?

A: Very Carefully. Lol. This is definitely a stress point for many private sellers, especially considering that the wrong info, or late info can turn a deal sour on a moments notice. This list is by no means complete, but should be pretty thorough. Consult with the various experts to double-check my guidelines.

Lawyers are going to want just about every piece of paper that either you (as the seller) and/or the buyer have signed relating to the agreement of purchase and sale. A good rule of thumb is that any and all parts of an agreement between the two parties should be sent to the lawyers – and MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS IN WRITING! A good saying in Real Estate is “Verbal Shmerbal” – doesn’t count, never happened, unless it’s in writing. It might not be a bad idea to run ideas by your lawyer before you sign anything either, and if they are going to be specifically mentioned (i.e.: Lawyer to retain funds for repairs, or lawyer to approve of this or that), then you want to make sure you ask them if they will have time to fit you in before you tie yourself up. As the deal progresses and conditions are waived/fulfilled and/or the agreement is amended – send the paper trail to your lawyer.

Lenders, in my experience, are managed by the lawyers. They will touch base and coordinate necessary paperwork and fund transfers. You may want to request a letter of pre-qualification from the Buyer’s lender before accepting their offer, just to make sure they are able to afford your home. Private Buyers must work very closely with their lenders and will need to provide a great deal of paperwork to them. Hopefully there is at least one professional Realtor involved (on this side for our purposes) that can manage and coordinate the paperwork.

Inspectors will be working with the Buyer’s in most instances. If the Buyers come back and say that there are issues that need some attention, don’t be shy to request the pages from the report that outline the issues in question. Be sure no one is pulling your leg! You may choose to get your own inspection, either pre-sale or as a 2nd opinion, and either way you will need to keep your report. This is for your records only, and can be shared at your discretion.

Agents will want a variety of paperwork including a survey, an SPIS (talk to your lawyer about this one), permits for work performed, and manuals for any and all working parts of the home. Whether or not you have or even want to share these documents is up to you. Be sure to have copies of everything you hand out, and consider sharing only the copies when critical documents are being considered. Originals can always be left on the kitchen counter once you leave.

 Those are the big four, and a few more come into the picture from time to time (appraisers, engineers, specialty inspectors, government bodies (MNE for example)). Paperwork for a private buyer is another story, and there is actually MUCH more paperwork for buyers to provide. If you do NOT have a professional Realtor on the Buyer’s end, then you could really be playing with fire. I’ve spoken to many private sellers who have gotten into agreements three times over and the deal has fallen through because no one has coordinated the sale properly.

Q: How do I set the price of my home?

A: NOT based on what “some guy down the street had his house for sale for”. Just as bad – not based on what other people in the area are asking. The thing is, FOR SALE is another way of saying NOT SOLD, so why would you base your prices on properties that have not sold? Are they what you are trying to mimic? NO – you want to SELL. This is where you have to call or email a Realtor for a Free and No-Obligation Comparable Market Analysis, or CMA. The Realtor will (should atleast) try to pitch you on why you should list with them (and handling that is up to you), but atleast you will get some good info on what sales prices are, what you can expect, and how you can price accordingly. Best Answer: Get three CMA’s. Some Realtors may be selective with their comparables, or might have missed something, and having a second and third opinion never hurts.

Q: What is the best way to market my home?

A: Marketing 101 says to know your target market, get the right kind of exposure (known as positioning), and that maximum exposure will create maximum demand leading to highest price.

Target market: who lives in your area? Better yet, who WANTS to live in your area? Tailor your marketing images and highlights to attract these buyers. You know who has lots of qualified buyers that are looking to buy? Realtors! Find out who the top-selling Realtors are for your type of home and target them!

Positioning: Had a look at the competition lately? How are they marketing themselves? How have the ones that have SOLD marketed themselves? Your goal is to emphasize the parts where your unit shines, avoid (where ethically possible) the areas where your property doesn’t compete so well, and LOOK BETTER than anyone else. Do your homework and put a plan together!

Exposure: Internet – do it. MLS and Grapevine are good – MLS is great actually – but there is much, much more. Kijiji, Used Ottawa, Zoocasa, craiglist, Google, MSN, Yahoo, Home Hippo, House Locator, Hotpads, Viva Real, Trulia, Home Finder, Second Space, Ebay, Kneedle, Second Space, Oodle  etc. There are over 300 destinations out there, and you want to advertise on as many as possible. Keep in mind that certain marketing vehicles are LOCAL in nature, and if you are putting all your eggs in one local basket, you’re missing out on all kinds of great business. Print media is good as well. Ottawa Citizen classifieds, Ottawa Sun and local papers.  Don’t forget lawn signs and directionals.

 That’s it for this month. Other questions were about contracts and legal, and warding off un-ethical people and practices. Those topics are pretty thick, and may need their own entries. I’ve answered those specific questions but a response that covers everything is beyond the scope of this piece. There is some great information on the Ottawa Real Estate Board’s website here: http://orebweb1.oreb.ca/info.shtml

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Feature Piece: Jack Of All Trades, Master Of None?

Feature Piece provided by Matt Haddad, Owner and Operator of Living Spaces Renovations.

Jack of All Trades is a common term for handymen that can tackle any repairs, additions, restorations or overhauls.  Many of these jacks of all trades have a basic knowledge required for such projects, but is that really good enough for YOUR renovation project?  When it comes to certain trades like electrical or plumbing trades – a basic skill set isn’t only insufficient, but can be dangerous. As a general contractor, I strongly believe in bringing in licensed professionals to jobsites to handle any significant workload in their related fields.  This helps large renovation projects to run more smoothly, as well as guaranteeing work that is done correctly and up to date with code.

As a general contractor, I strongly believe in bringing in licensed professionals to jobsites to handle any significant workload in their related fields.  This helps large renovation projects to run more smoothly, as well as guaranteeing work that is done correctly and up to date with code.  At Living Spaces Renovations, our team includes highly skilled, licensed tradesmen who are friendly and motivated.  Furthermore, dealing with one person in charge of a team of professionals helps to alleviate some of the stresses that are common with large renovation projects.  If there are any problems or concerns, the general contractor will take care of it.  Our goal is to provide absolute customer satisfaction as well as a clean, professional workmanship, and that’s a guarantee. 

            Too many times I have seen an individual taking on work beyond their capabilities, leaving the client no other choice but to instil trust in another to come in and fix the mess.  At Living Spaces Renovations we promise this will never happen.  We will leave you with a fresh, clean and sound renovation.  Whether it is as simple as painting your new home, or building you an addition, you can trust that the best people will have had part in the project.  

Matt Haddad – living_spaces@yahoo.com  – 613.794.7090

FREE ESTIMATES!

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Testimonial: Hindsight is 20/20

Here is a testimonial from one of my clients whose house I sold a few months back. Fantastic people, breathtaking home, challenging circumstances – and great results! I really enjoyed myself on this one!

“Marc has exceeded all my expectations as a Professional Realtor.

What impressed me most was not that he has sold my house in less than 1 day for FULL asking price ($719,000),  it was that he would go to great lengths to help us.  To him, selling a house was not just bringing offers to us, it was about HELPING clients. He took part in cleaning our house before viewings, helped us move our stuff out of our house on the closing date, and even helped us load and throw out a cargo van full of garbage at a dump site AFTER the closing date.

He has definitely made our house selling experience better, and was actually MORE VALUABLE than the commission that he and RE/MAX  earned. I would not hesitate to recommend his services to anyone who are considering buying or selling a home.”

Ping and Dominica
July 2010, Kanata

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This Orleans home uses little heat and almost no air conditioning.

The following is an article posted in the Ottawa Citizen on July 10th, 2010. I contacted Patrick Langston from the Citizen to get a piece done on one of my listings – ENJOY!   

As a native of Mexico, Enrique Roman knows something about the power of the sun. So when the architect and urban planner built his home in 1985 on what’s since become the eastern edge of booming Orléans, he decided to keep heating bills in line by maximizing passive solar heat from south and west-facing windows.   

A quarter-century later, Roman’s home is still performing splendidly.    

This past winter, for example, he spent roughly $700 to heat the two-storey, 3,600-square-foot home. And, thanks to the shade from the deciduous trees he planted on the south and west sides of his home 25 years ago, he says, “We hardly ever turn on the air conditioning.”      

Roman’s energy-miser home with its bold, staggered exterior and intimate, Mexican-themed interior is now for sale. Nestled on nearly three-quarters of an acre near the top of a quiet, sloping cul-de-sac, the open-concept home is listed at $719,000.   It’s easy to forget about the huge energy benefits of passive solar heat that families like Roman’s have tapped into. That’s in part because of the attention programs like Ontario’s microFIT initiative garaunched last fall, the program pays for electricity generated by smaller, residential-style producers, most of them using solar photovoltaic systems. Producers sell electricity from roof-mounted systems to the grid at 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour and buy back what they need at the household rate of less than 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. Under a just-proposed rate change, Ontario Power Authority would pay owners of small, ground-mounted systems who are not yet registered with the power authority 58.8 cents per kilowatt-hour instead of the current 80.2 cents; existing contracts at 80.2 cents would be honoured. But photovoltaic systems can easily set you back $25,000 and up and, unless you have an electric furnace or baseboard heaters, don’t do much to keep you cosy in the winter. Assuming you have a southerly orientation and no large coniferous trees or buildings blocking the sun, passive solar gain, which warms a room’s interior and is later released slowly as temperatures fall, is basically free. Plus, there’s nothing to ever repair or replace.  Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says that in a well-insulated home, one-third to one-half of heating requirements can be met by passive solar gain. The difficulty of getting the correct southern orientation for every home in a tightly planned subdivision limits opportunities for production builders, but manufacturers of prebuilt custom houses such as Viceroy Homes (viceroy.com), which go on building lots where orientation can be more flexible, often trumpet their solar-conscious design.  “We’d decided to go for passive solar heating when we were looking for a lot,” says Roman. “When I saw this one, it was exactly what I’d set out to look for. It’s got really great solar exposure, and there’s a hill on the north side and now another house to protect us from the wind. “Also, there’s a collection creek that runs along the south side and feeds into the Ottawa River, so that side will never be developed.” In the winter, the bedrooms, living room and eating area are solar-warmed, thanks to the many high efficiency, slightly oversized windows.Whatever heat the sun can’t provide comes mostly from a small gas heater that resembles a woodburning 

stove. It’s in the finished basement, which would make a dandy in-law suite. On the coldest days, a high-efficiency gas furnace kicks in. Extra-heavy insulation keeps the heat in during the winter and out during the summer. Roman also clad the house in tongue-and-groove cedar, knowing that brick sucks up heat in the summer, just when you least want it. Inside, the upstairs bedrooms have vaulted ceilings so that hot, summertime air stays far from sleeping bodies. The upstairs, which is reached by a winding staircase, also features a double-length walk-in closet and ensuite in the master bedroom. Wood predominates in the house, from the maple butcher-block countertops in the kitchen to the deep ceiling beams on the main level, the gleaming cedar floor and the all-wood windows throughout. “To me, when I came to Canada, the country was all about wood,” says Roman. “I wanted to go all natural, so we built the house out of all wood.” Roman, who says that cookie-cutter subdivisions destroy the social fabric of life and turn people into “a bit of a machine,” is currently designing a solar- and natural-health-based community in Mexico for retiring Canadians.   to his own home, he’s remarkably casual about his solar achievements.  “A lot of people, when they read all the principles behind solar, say, ‘Oh, that’s too much to understand.’  “Well, you do have to know the path of the sun in the summer and the winter. But there’s not really a lot of science involved; mostly, it’s just common sense.”     

 

   

  

Real Estate - ANALYSIS, Uncategorized

The Real Estate Bargain Bin

Where to find the best deals? Here are the best ‘bins’ to keep your tabs on:

 1. Estate Sales

An unfortunate effect of the beautiful lives we all lead, is that one day we will eventually pass away. What happens to a person’s home once they pass? Quite often, the family sells the property and gives the proceeds to whichever direction the will intended, and all the bills and debts are paid.

Why is this an opportunity? Quite often these Sellers are looking to unload their property quickly and just want it SOLD so they can move on – giving YOU, the buyer, an opportunity to walk in and potentially acquire the property for a discount.

2. Power of Sale

High credit card balances? Line of Credit out of control? Budget completely blown? Many people will answer YES to this question, and to these people, sometimes it is just TOO MUCH and they need to sell their homes to downsize and decrease their debt payments. Sometimes these people can’t even pay the mortgage or taxes, and the bank will seize the property and appoint a Realtor to sell it to re-coup the loan!

Why is this an opportunity? Again, motivated Sellers – that’s the key. These people need to sell their home and get their bills paid asap. Money talks, and if you can get yours in front of them first – it might give you an edge.

3. Handyman Specials

 Nice personality, but needs a little lipstick? Look no further than your neighbourhood ‘handyman specials’. These homes come from a variety of sources – from those that can’t keep a house to those that tried to flip but flopped. Pick up these homes at a bargain!

 Why is this an opportunity? Well, a property that is hard on the eyes is often hard to enjoy. A property that is hard to enjoy is hardly valuable, and hence comes at a discount because there is little to no demand in the regular everyday market. These sellers realize quickly that their home wont sell for the average price, and may need simply be in dire need to move on.

 4. Private Sellers

These Sellers have opted to sort through a riff raff of buyers themselves, and learn to pre-qualify them, negotiate with them, and close them. Let me tell you – not as easy as it sounds. Some of them even decide to work exclusively with un-qualified buyers that share the highest level of incompetence and advertise that they do not want agents to bring quality buyers to them!

Why is this an opportunity? Knowledge is power, and these folks, quite often, have little of either. Now there will be the odd exception, however the mass of these sellers did not price their homes correctly and can therefore not defend their price properly, they do not know how to negotiate (and are not even aware of) terms and conditions in a contract that can make a deal even MORE favourable than a low price, and therefore are not best suited to get the best advantages in a deal. Now I have never, and will never be unethical or unprofessional with a Private Seller, however; when I represent a buyer it is my obligation to get them the best deal possible.

Tricks of the Trade: I am able to manipulate the MLS database to search for homes by Seller (i.e. Contains “ Estate” or “Bank”) and can also search by keyword (i.e. Contains “handyman”, “tlc” or “flip”). Furthermore, I can have listings that match these criteria automatically sent to my clients inboxes the minute they are uploaded by other realtors, bypassing the overnight delay by the Ottawa Real Estate board, and therefore giving my clients a window of opportunity to view listings before the public does. This also really limits the homes my clients see to what they really want, instead of filtering through a hundred listings that “might work”. Pretty much any information that is related to a listing, I can transform into search criteria and can sort, sift and organize automatically and have sent out. These aren’t generic searches either (price range, location criteria), I’m talking digging deep and going above and beyond to get the cream of the crop. With regards to private sellers, most are open to working with me once I talk to them about the calibre of buyers I work with and the other ways in which I can help them, but they are really leaving themselves open to all kinds of pitfalls. Not only is pricing an area where they are at a disadvantage, but they are also (quite often) not well versed in legal matters (yes – contracts are complex legal documents), but also in the coordination and timing of all the related professionals that will all play a role in the success of the deal.

I hope you enjoyed the insight into the Real Estate Bargain Bin!

If you would like access to the BINS, and keep your tabs on any of them, simply visit www.RealEstateBargainBin.info

Cheers!