Category: Real Estate Sales

Real Estate Sales, Suburb Series

What Makes a Good Location?

For our Suburban Buyers, finding a good location can often be tricky. It isn’t enough to be in a ‘good’ suburb – you ideally want to be in the most favourable part of it. So what exactly makes one part of a suburb more favourable than others? Here I’ll give you a few great examples to look out for.

First of all, we need to acknowledge that a suburban buyer often has a family that needs and values certain things. Safety being the most important, then proximity to recreation being second, and finally proximity to amenities and transportation being third. Let’s go through those one by one.

First – Safety. One aspect that makes a good, SAFE location for a Suburban Buyer is one that has little to no traffic so that their kids can play or even wander in the street without panic. Every parent wants their kids to be able to play street hockey, ride their bikes, or throw a ball in the street and feel safe doing so. The peace of mind that a location like a base of a crescent provides makes a very particular lot even more desirable. Suburban Buyers would also like to be on a street or block where the other homes are at least as nice and as big as theirs. When neighbouring homes are of a poorer quality (build, look or upkeep) there are generally poorer standards in the area – which can make them feel unsafe.

Second – Proximity to Recreation. Being right next to a park or a sports field gives Suburban Buyers a place to get some space and exercise, and to feel safe with their kids while they do the same. As long as these places are well kept and attract other similar people – this is a massive bonus that makes a home worth even more.

Finally – Proximity to Amenities and Transportation. The trick here is to think of these like your in-laws. You want them close – just not next door. Around the block, a few streets away is perfect lol. Suburban Buyers want the convenience of being able to run out and get some food or whatnot, and don’t want to have to be stuck in traffic for 15 minutes just to go 1 mile down the road doing it. Many suburbs get so developed that getting to the highways or rapid transit stops are easily 25-30 minutes on average. God forbid someone has to take a bus or two just to get OUT of the suburb – time adds up quick.

So if you are a Suburban Buyer thinking of WHERE you want to be in your preferred suburb, I would strongly consider these three items I’ve mentioned above, or at least be very clear about what it is you are looking for.

Too often I’ve seen buyers more focused on a few thousand dollars as their main driver when it comes to finding a home, and I would hate for you to be lured into thinking that would be the most important thing in the home where you’ll be spending the next chapter of your life.

Real Estate Development, Real Estate Sales

Sobeys Building High Rises in Orleans?

Yes – that’s what they are proposing. Sobeys has applied for a zoning by-law amendment to develop 7 High Rises on their site on St.Joseph ranging from 7 to 18 storeys high!

Currently a giant, mostly vacant site on the NW side of the roundabout at St. Joseph and Jeanne D’arc, Sobeys would see it transformed to a mix of both residential high rises and mixed use mid rises. The proposed buildings facing St.Joseph would have some commercial uses in them, the remaining to be residential use, and nearly 500 parking spaces underground!

This site is incredibly close to the new LRT station at the 174 and Jeanne D’arc, which is a major consideration for the approval of the amendment.

If this gets passed, this will be 1 of a handful of projects that will see nearly a dozen mid to high rises get built on and around St.Joseph.

Real Estate Sales

Paint the Porch

In negotiations, it’s important to know that in order to TRULY get what’s best for you and your side – you need to work with the OTHER side to get it. Some people try to bully or force for their win, and that NEVER get’s you all you could have got out of the deal.

A subtle way to use strategy and gamesmanship in negotiations to get what you want and not lose cooperation with the other side is what I call the ‘Painting the Porch’ strategy.

This strategy essentially describes the act of having or adding things into your offer that you don’t really need (or even want), only so that you can make a perceived concession at some well timed point in negotiations.

In order to do this, you need to know what items you or your client DON’T need in an offer that would normally be considered standard, WHERE your clients’ preferences for terms lie, and a few pain points on the sellers side.

Let’s break that down.

First – do your clients need an inspection? Do they need a finance condition? Are there any standard conditions they won’t require? Consider ADDING them into the offer anyways, as long as they don’t raise any yellow flags and appear to be completely normal.

Second – are your client’s completely negotiable on closing date? Are they able, or want to put down a large deposit? Consider appearing to need these terms on the opposite end of the reasonable spectrum from what the other side wants, only to adjust them later on.

Third – ask the other side what feedback has been like. What are the pain points? What does the seller know about the property that has been causing it not to sell? Maybe the reason it hasn’t sold is because of a reason that you or your client didn’t even realize or don’t care about! Consider using that pain point as a reason for being where you want to be in the deal and it will resonate and seem understandable to the other side.

An ideal example would look like this: A seller wants a reasonably quicker closing on their home that needs some work and is a little older, and they know the front porch needs to be redone because everyone has been commenting about how bad it looks. Your client, a contractor, doesn’t care about the closing date, doesn’t need or want an inspection, can put down a huge deposit and couldn’t care less about the porch.

Consider an offer with a closing date that’s on the end of the reasonable time frame, have an inspection condition (reasonable), and ask the Sellers to have the front porch repaired and painted prior to closing because ‘your client can’t take on all that work’. This, of course, comes with your price on the lower end of reasonable.

As you work through negotiations, to keep your price nice and low, consider moving the other variables. Shorten the closing date, up the deposit, remove the inspection condition and tell them you’re willing to take on the front porch disaster, all which will appear as very favourable concessions, while keeping your price nice and low.

In the end, you could end up with the EXACT price and terms your client wants, all while keeping a nice low price for them too.

Well played.

Again – it is CRITICAL to remember that you can’t use tactics like this to bully or force your terms on the other side. Why? Well, not only do you want and need the other side’s cooperation and good faith to KEEP this deal together and to get the most out of it, but if you want to have a long career in Sales you need to be able to work with and trust your counterparts – and that won’t happen if you are unfair with them.

Good communication with the other side, an understanding of your fair limits and boundaries, and respect for the other side is CRITICAL for a good deal. That’s why I always advise to work within reason when negotiating.

Real Estate Sales

How to Prepare Your Home For Sale

Likely the largest hurdle for our Sellers – HOW to get the home ‘show ready’. Seems like a daunting task for sure, however there are a few good rules of thumb to follow to get you going in the right direction.

For starters – good home maintenance is a must. We want Buyers to come in to your home and feel like the home has been cared for. After all, pride of ownership says a lot about BOTH the sellers and the home. Seasonal maintenance, regular maintenance on appliances and utilities, as well as maintenance on any property damage are all a must. Our most successful sellers are on top of ALL the required maintenance of their homes and keep detailed logs so they can show prospective Buyers.

Second- declutter and clean. We’ve all heard this before, however there is more to this than you might thing. Regarding cleaning – give your home a DEEP clean right before you list. That means dust all those hard to reach places, clean the stove and fridge, and wipe the baseboards. When it comes to decluttering, what you want to do is ideally have a large number of the EXACT same type of cardboard boxes or plastic bins, get some labels, and sort out a proper, clean and well lit place to place all your storage. Why go through all this trouble? Because EVERY house will have 1 or 2 rooms with storage, but most will look like … well… a garbage dump. I’ve seen garages packed the ceiling with what seems like a variety of items just thrown right as far and as high as they’ll go. YOUR storage on the other hand will reflect well on you. It will be clean, organized, and neat. This is an excellent opportunity to stand out from the competition and to give the next Buyers the impression that when THEY move in, they’ll be organized too!

Third – paint your home. Consult with a stager to see what the latest and greatest colours and matches for your specific property, and if you can’t paint like a pro – hire one. This is one of the best ways to freshen up your home, give it a ‘new home smell’, and is also an excellent return on investment. Paint is a few hundred dollars in the cans, but 10-15K worth of value on the walls (if done right).

These are just the basics, and there are many more strategies to get into if the resources exist. Depending on the levels of time, money and energy available, preparing a property can go from the simple rules of thumb above, to a complete transformation.

Any questions? Ask 🙂

Real Estate - ANALYSIS, Real Estate Sales, Uncategorized

Navan VS Cumberland

Despite many clients of mine seeing these neighbourhoods as being relatively similar options, there are a ton of both important and fascinating differences between them.

Here are some aspects of each village and differences between them (please excuse me as I can’t get EVERYTHING in here):

Navan

Known as one of the best communities in the City, Navan is INCREDIBLY engaged with it’s ‘villagers’. Founded in the early 1800’s, it was named after Navan Ireland (very cool) and was predominantly farming land. Since then it’s amassed some very active and beloved establishments like J.T. Bradleys and the Navan Memorial Center and Arena. Home to the renowned Navan Grads Jr.A Hockey Team and Navan Fair, this village is really a beacon for community spirit. Who hasn’t had a few drinks in the beer tent while listening to some amazing live country music? Their sense of recreation further extends to Fastball leagues, Curling and plenty of activity on the Prescott/Russel pathway.

They also pride themselves on their Navan Market, community dinners and seasonal festivals.

Another unique aspect would be that Navan has an Elementary School and many Daycares and Churches (fun fact… St. Mary’s Anglican church was named after TWO St. Mary’s churches in Ireland).

There are fewer sales per year in Navan and a slightly lower price point than Cumberland (coming in at 875K on average in 2023).

If I had to describe Navan in 1 word it would be COMMUNITY. Go Navan!

Cumberland

Known as where ‘the nice houses are in the East End’, Cumberland has a VERY cool history. While Cumberland was also formed in the early 1800’s, it was originally a fur trading and saw mill community founded by British Empire Loyalists. Fun Fact: The Grandchildren of a ‘Loyalist’ with the Dunning last name, and a renowned Fur Trader with the Foubert last name are what my Elementary School in Orleans was named after – Dunning Foubert! The village boasts a very quaint ‘downtown’ area with shops, restaurants and even a Heritage Museum and Arena within a few hundred meters.

Admittedly a ‘quieter’ community, Cumberland still has an active community association that supports it’s famous Cumberland Market, as well as having a big emphasis on local Arts and Culture.

Not to be outdone with recreation, Cumberland also has many great trails and pathways. It also has it’s own Arena, Outdoor Rinks and Curling Club, but most notably – the prestigious Camelot Golf Course (which I believe is the nicest course in the entire City).

Real Estate wise, MORE sales per year, with a slightly higher price point of around 900K on average. HOWEVER – there are homes for sale as high as 3M in Cumberland, with consistent homes listed in the high 1M’s and even 2M’s. There are certainly homes of that caliber in Navan, just not nearly as many.

If I had to describe Cumberland in one word it would be “High-End” ( I used a dash to make that one word.. it counts).

CONCLUSION

This is just my opinion – so don’t be mad.

If you are looking for more of an ACTIVE community, with a strong sense of Family and Recreation – then Navan is BY FAR your best choice.

If you are looking for a SLOWER paced community, with a strong sense of Arts and Culture – then CUMBERLAND is BY FAR your best choice.

Again, these are just generalizations. OF COURSE each community has a bit of everything.

What do you think?

What should I include in this article?

Real Estate Sales

Buying and Selling a Biz

It’s true, it’s true…. Realtors’ can also help people buy and sell businesses!

While the formula for doing so isn’t the same as buying or selling a business, there is still an absolute formula to follow if you want to do it right.

Here are some of the SUPER fun considerations to look at:

  1. Earnings of the Company and how that factors in to the value. Two big terms here are EBITDA and Multiples. The EBITDA is the ‘Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization’. Why does that matter? Well… because people often ‘fudge’ their earning for tax purposes, and if you can get your hands on a few years of 3rd party (or audited) financials, you can deconstruct them to identify they TRUE earnings – or EBITDA. Then, you need to figure out what multiple applies to your industry. A multiple is basically the number that is multiplied by the EBITDA which can fairly place the value of the company according to other recent sales in the industry and their multiples. So – if you’re EBITDA is 100K, and based off your research you see that common multiples for your industry are between 4.5 and 5, then your value could be between 450K and 500K.
  2. Another thing to consider is the value of any assets in the company. Here you’ll need to look at a full list and you depending how big and how complex that list is, you may want to get an appraiser or subject matter expert to determine the overall value being offered.
  3. Another thing I like to consider, that many people overlook – is the LEASE (if there is one) on the property. Not all businesses own the Real Estate they operate out of, and if that’s the case – you need to know all details about the lease. Most importantly WHEN the lease expires and what RISK that’s going to add to your business. One of my strategies when representing a Buyer for a business is the successful renegotiation of a lease to gain favourable terms and to give stability to the new owner.
  4. The last thing that is also the most overlooked – is a simple business plan. I know – hard to believe.. but a LOT of people fail to do a simple analysis of the both the industry and the business itself, the competition and the risk that it faces on a Macro and Micro level. I’ve found that a quick overview of these aspects gives my clients enough information to make the proper strategic decision.

If you’re BUYING a business – you need all this stuff.

If you’re SELLING a business – you need all this stuff AND you need to advertise it properly. You should take the proper time (often 5 years) in getting everything ready for sale. There are certain things you can do TODAY to help make your business more valuable, which I’ll talk about in another post another day 🙂

Thanks for Reading.

Real Estate - ANALYSIS, Real Estate Financing, Real Estate Sales

BOC Holds – Who Cares?

The Bank of Canada (BoC) announced today that they are HOLDING their Key Rate at 5% – but why should you care?

Well, there are two reasons you should care.

The first one would be WHY they decided to hold. Essentially, the BoC manipulates their Key Rate (the rate at which ALL banks borrow their money and then turn around and loan it to you (at a markup aka Prime Rate) based off of how much or little they think you should be spending on stuff. If people are spending TOO MUCH and Inflation starts to get out of control, or perhaps debt levels get out of control – they INCREASE their rates to (essentially) squeeze your pocket book and make you calm your spending.

Tough love – yes. But sometimes required.

So the REASON therefore that they decided to HOLD rates is because they are seeing that people and the economy are getting their financial acts together – WHICH IS GREAT.

Inflation is down a little to 3.8% from 4%, and the GDP was flat last quarter at .03% growth (if it would have been in the negative then combined with last Q’s negative growth then we would have officially been in a recession).

So imagine a plane about to crash and then barely pulls up in time and skims the trees and everyone is safe.

Good play BoC. Good play.

The Second reason you should care about this is because since our financial plane just skimmed the trees and everyone will be ok – that sigh of relief will have great ripple effects moving forward. Happy and relieved people have less stress and anxiety, tend to go out and have a little more fun, spend a little money – and overall just make life more enjoyable. So that’s good!

These are two reasons you should care about the announcement this morning.

Now if you are BUYING and/or SELLING Real Estate then this has even more importance to you. The MAIN thing here is that we will have decent consumer confidence moving forward, which in turns means Sales Activity should continue to creep along at (hopefully) decent levels.

Why that matters is because the last rate hikes … well honestly… they hurt.

Last year the average home in Ottawa was 745K and as of last week the average is 588K – nearly a 200K difference. That 745K was also down from nearly 800K the year before that. If you’ve been looking to sell then it hasn’t been a good run the past few months, so this should at least stabilize things and give us a little bit of activity before we close out the year.

If you’re looking to Buy – this might honestly be the bottom of the market.

The BoC is claiming they want to LOWER their key rate by the end of Q2 (June) next year down to 4%, which means variable loan payments will go down and prices will start going back up.

If you want any more info on this situation or have anything you want to run by me please dont be shy. You can call me or text me directly at (613)868-4383, or email me at mevans@remax.net.

Best

Real Estate Sales

Who Has Your Money?

How we prepare and describe the property depends on the concept of the Target Market, that is – WHO is your buyer? Better yet – who is your BEST Buyer? And ultimately – Who is the BEST Buyer that has YOUR money and is willing to exchange it for your house?

THAT’S WHO WE’RE INTERESTED IN FINDING.

To refine the definition of Market Value we explained earlier, I would change “What a home is worth to a Buyer” to “How much the Best Buyer is willing to pay for the home”.  

We aren’t interested in just ANY Buyer, and we know that there are many types. Two important ones to consider are the CHEAP BUYER that wants the best price on EVERYTHING. We all know this Buyer – cheapest clothes, car and virtually everything else. “What’s your best price?” is the mantra for this buyer. The buyer we want is called a QUALITY BUYER, that is – a buyer that is looking for quality and is willing to pay for it. It’s important to know that not every buyer is looking for the cheapest house. In fact, most aren’t. Most buyers are looking for a GREAT house that will make them happy, give them the life they are looking forward to, and make them feel safe and proud. We have all kinds of emotions and different motivations to work with here – and that is the plan. 

In determining how we will prepare and market a home, we first look to identify that Target Market. Typical Targets are young couples, first time home buyers, young families and investors. Not so typical Targets include very specific demographics relating to age, culture and even socio-economic status. It’s often considered taboo to market housing to a specific demographic for fear of discrimination, however ignoring clear signs of groups or types of people that absolutely pay more for specific houses in certain areas is a little reckless and is leaving money on the table. Of course, there is a tactful and respectful way to market homes as well. 

First Time Home Buyers are looking for things like value, security, stability and excitement at the same time. 

Young families are interested in yards, parks, school bus routes, rec rooms, open concept spaces, and community. 

Investors are looking for opportunity, growth and stability. 

Once you’ve identified the Target Market, you then need to consider how to prepare the home in a way that appeals to them the most. This is where staging and design comes into play. What types of upgrades are they looking for specifically? What style are those upgrades? What type of quality are those upgrades? What types of décor speaks to that buyer and attracts them? You can even get down into certain smells and sounds in the home they will appreciate. How should the home smell and sound when they walk in during showings? 

When properly executed, preparation of the property is an incredibly powerful way to attract the highest and best offers, and for this reason, we put in a great deal of effort into carefully curating an environment that will showcase the most value to our target market.        

Real Estate Sales, Uncategorized

If you think Realtors cost a lot – you should see how much missing the perfect Buyer costs.

Ever hear a person say Realtors’ cost too much? I have.

This statement implies that we all do the same thing, and the only difference between us is price. If that were true, then there would be a giant race to the bottom for commissions to get the client the best value.

The fact is – we don’t all do the same thing. There are a ton of different models and even more Realtors, and depending on WHAT we do – you can get a very different result.

Here are the Top 5 ways in which (what I would call) a GOOD Realtor NETS their Seller MORE money than ANY OTHER OPTION THEY HAVE.

5. Keeping more money on the table during post-inspection negotiations. Quite often, once the preliminary negotiations are done, buyers will get a home inspection. It is entirely possible they either find some serious issues, or even pretend like they do – and they come back to RE-negotiate and get a better deal. The problem here is that they may feel they have you stuck because your property is Conditionally Sold and they are threatening to walk away and stigmatize your property unless you bend to their wishes. A good agent will be able to skillfully evaluate the alleged problems and their costs, let alone use great communication and potentially bring in other aspects of value to keep the deal together.

4. Negotiating a better deal. Even better than having to save a deal, is negotiating an air-tight one in the first place. No conditions is best, but in their absence a good realtor will mitigate the risks of foul play by disclosing and being up front about potential hurdles, securing a high deposit, and even using verbage in the offer that keeps their client protected in the event the Buyer tries to pull a quick one. They can keep some value shelved in case they need to use it later, and have excellent rapport and communication with the other side to make sure things will go smooth.

3. Making your home more valuable. Bringing in stagers, repair men, cleaners and even just sound advice on extremely cost effective ways to pump up the property’s value are a few ways we can do this. We certainly are aware of trends and areas that can be improved, and have a strong network of specialists to pull on for expertise as well.

2. Making your home appear more valuable. Marketing will showcase your home in the best light possible – giving it an appearance that it is as valuable as it could be. There is a delicate balance to be had here between showcasing and exaggerating, where we want to make sure we aren’t misleading the Buyers and setting their expectations up improperly. When good marketing makes a home appear more valuable than poor marketing would – you get better buyers in the door.

1. Finding the Right Buyer. Number 1 on my list because this is the BIGGEST deal a good (listing) agent will do for you. There a LOT of buyers for your home, but you want the ONE who is willing to pay the most amount of money for it, right? Identifying WHO that Buyer is from the get go (Marketing 101: Identify your Target Market), and rolling out a marketing plan (staging, photos, video, ads, descriptions etc) that appeal directly to THAT buyer is what will ensure you attract the best offer(s) possible. Think about it – the Buyer willing to spend the MOST amount of money on your home is looking for quality, and more importantly – WILLING TO PAY FOR IT. That’s who we want. Your home can be a lot of things to a lot of people. We want it to be the PERFECT home for the PERFECT Buyer.

Real Estate Sales

Our Client Passed Away

We were supposed to help her sell her home in a few months when we got the news. Nicole was introduced to us through another client months beforehand, and unfortunately she was in very poor health and was looking to move in with family members full time.

I’ll never forget coming in the office and having one if my partners tell me that she was gone- passed away peacefully overnight. We all know that eerie silence of not knowing what to say.

In addition, our original contact told us that we needed to proceed with the sale and pick things off where they left off. Challenge was – Nicole was alone here and we had none of the information we needed on her home. NO ONE was around to help, and we essentially got carte-blanche to set things up ourselves.

We spent the next month being detectives working ith lawyers, property managers, executors, neighbours and in the home itself sifting and sorting through documents, finding and organizing manuals and measuring and labeling rooms and items.

Finally, we prepped and cleaned the unit and just finished the marketing and launched the listing a week ago.

It’s beautiful 😍

Sometimes our process requires a very high level of care and detail – and this was certainly one of those times.