After a good decluttering, look at the focal points of your home: a pretty fireplace mantle, built-in shelves, new windows, and emphasis the positive. There are many ways to do this, one of the best ways to start is with a coat of paint on the walls. Think of it as a fresh palette. Choose soothing neutral shades of white, blue, grey or even yellow. The best fallback colour choice in my opinion is Cloud White by Benjamin Moore. The nice thing about this white is it's warm and inviting, and turns shades of grey and blue in certain light. I recommend doing most or all rooms in one shade to create a true consistency within your home. No jarring colours! After the walls are fresh and clean, try and direct potential buyers to those special areas of interest of your home by creating visually pleasing vignettes. On a mantle, group a few pieces of glass or a big piece of wonderful artwork (think about renting if you don't have much to work with). On bookshelves, take everything away and start over with stacks of books or magazines and a few objects mixed in. On bedside tables go with a beautiful lamp and flowers. The options are endless.Friday, November 28, 2008
Style & Staging Tip #2
After a good decluttering, look at the focal points of your home: a pretty fireplace mantle, built-in shelves, new windows, and emphasis the positive. There are many ways to do this, one of the best ways to start is with a coat of paint on the walls. Think of it as a fresh palette. Choose soothing neutral shades of white, blue, grey or even yellow. The best fallback colour choice in my opinion is Cloud White by Benjamin Moore. The nice thing about this white is it's warm and inviting, and turns shades of grey and blue in certain light. I recommend doing most or all rooms in one shade to create a true consistency within your home. No jarring colours! After the walls are fresh and clean, try and direct potential buyers to those special areas of interest of your home by creating visually pleasing vignettes. On a mantle, group a few pieces of glass or a big piece of wonderful artwork (think about renting if you don't have much to work with). On bookshelves, take everything away and start over with stacks of books or magazines and a few objects mixed in. On bedside tables go with a beautiful lamp and flowers. The options are endless.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Style & Staging Tip #1
The very first, and in my opinion most important, tip for clients in preparation for selling their homes is to declutter. Typically a big job, don't leave it to the day before the open house! First, try and put on fresh eyes and look around your living areas (especially living and dining rooms, bathrooms, kitchen and bedrooms) and be critical of what you see. Are there piles of magazines, cd's, newspapers, mail etc just lying around? Is there no relief of furniture and chatchka's randamly set here or there? Are the kids toys taking over? Are dishes piles in the sink? You want to be able to look around and feel there's a sense of order to your home. Next call in someone else, a second opinion, to take a look around be it your agent or design-savvy friend. Don't get defensive, just look at it as an exercise to maximize the marketing of your home and, bottom line, get the most money for your home. The bathroom above is a good example of a decluttered space for it's clean look, but not stark or lacking in personality. I always recommend new white towels, nice bright lightbulbs, bare floors for the most part, and a heavy duty scrub from floors to ceiling to ensure a fresh welcoming impression. The bedroom, though there's a lot going on, is still clean, orderly and very pretty. I have lots more tips to share, stay tuned!
Friday, November 21, 2008
191 Balsam Ave
Make sure you swing by our open house this weekend from 2-4 pm at 191 Balsam Ave. It's nothing less than a stunning home in the heart of the beach. 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, photographed for House & Home magazine, you name it -- it has it. We hope to see you there, even just to say hello!
Help a friend - refer to us!
In today's volatile real estate market, we can't over-stress how important it is to have a great agent - or in our case, 2 great agents! We all know that we are now in a buyer's market; buyers need a strong negotiator to save them money and get them the best terms possible. For sellers, home prep and marketing are more important than ever. Emily's expertise in that area will give them a unique edge. Also, a key characteristic of this market is a longer sell cycle. It's important to maintain an active profile in the market; that's why we don't quit 'til the home is sold! If your friends or family are planning to buy or sell in this market, put them in good hands - call us today!
Getting nerdy and crunching numbers
With all the noise out there, it’s hard to know what the Toronto real estate market is really doing, isn’t it? I’ve been telling people that it’s not as bad as the media says it is, and the numbers I just crunched basically support that. Naturally, some areas are doing better – or worse – than others. However, the handful of districts that I picked include where most of you live.
As you can see in the charts below, although the month-over-month numbers for October ’08 vs. October ’07 are down in some districts – by a lot in some areas like C03 and W01 – both the average and median prices year-to-date in ’08 are still higher in almost all sampled districts than the ’07 annual average and median. City-wide, the volume of transactions is way down; it’s no surprise that prices have drifted downwards, too. Notably, C03 and W01 are areas where the sales activity is roughly half of what it was last year. By contrast, in E02 (the Beach) the sales activity is roughly 85% of last year’s pace, and prices have remained stronger. This is also true in W12, where the median price (first-timer range) is up almost 14% from this time last year – and where there’s no City of Toronto Land Transfer Tax….
Also, I believe that the city-wide average is skewed by very high-priced sales. For example, in October of ’07 there were 252 sales for over $1,000,000. This October, there were only 77. Looking at all sales over $750,000, that segment accounted for 6.3% of transactions in October of ’07, and just 3.4% in October of ’08. (Note: TREB only publishes those numbers by the month, not year-to-date, so I have to limit the comparison to just October. However, I’m sure you get the point!) High-value sales are down by almost half, which has a serious draw-down effect on the ‘average’ sale price. Thus the exciting headlines! However, most folks buy in a range of $300,000 to $600,000, and in that range prices are much more stable.
This reality applies not just to sale prices of individual homes, but to districts where the average price is very high. I believe that this explains why the median price in E01 (Leslieville, where the average and median prices are in the first- and second-time buyer range) has remained positive while prices in C03 (pricy territory) are down.
So, what does this mean to you, the ‘average citizen’? If you are a seller, you shouldn’t panic; well-priced houses are still selling at a fair market rate. It’s a tougher market, as we have basically completed the transition from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. Be prepared, be realistic, and be competitive. It’s not a market in which you should reach for the stars; your objective should be to sell at a reasonable price; if that means pricing for less than your neighbour sold, so be it. Keep in mind that you will probably also be buying in this market, so you’ll get some wealth protection there.
If you are a buyer, don’t get too cocky. There are some deals out there – indeed, some sellers are putting fire-sale prices on their houses. However, there are still enough buyers out there to generate the odd bidding war, as we’ve seen in a few cases recently. If you are trying to buy at the bottom of the market, you sure don’t have to rush out and buy today. However, timing the bottom of any market is a difficult thing to do. Once the financial markets get their ‘confidence’ back, I predict that the Toronto market will see a bit of a ‘bounce’, as those buyers who have been waiting to see what happens next decide to jump back in to real estate. Take advantage of this flat real estate market, and also take advantage of today’s cheap lending rates. Keep in mind that you will probably be taking out a standard 20 year mortgage. Today’s rates of around 5% are very low by historical standards, and whatever rate you get today will likely be much lower than the rate you pay towards the end of your mortgage… that’s a bit tricky to calculate, but the point is that money now is cheap; it may not be so cheap in the future. Thus, buying sooner rather than later still makes sense. In this climate you can take your time, think it over, and then make a conditional offer in most cases.
Toronto is definitely in difficult times – with high and rising city taxes adding to a difficult environment. However, we haven’t seen big job losses yet, interest rates are still low, and our economy will probably not tank like some U.S. cities. As I have said before, real estate is still a good investment compared to your other options. Besides, we all need somewhere to live! J By the way, the last time October sales were down around 5000 transactions was in 2001; at that time the average price for a house in Toronto was $251,479!
(The charts didn't paste well, so we'll have to do without for now. If you want a copy, please email me and I'll send it to you.)
As you can see in the charts below, although the month-over-month numbers for October ’08 vs. October ’07 are down in some districts – by a lot in some areas like C03 and W01 – both the average and median prices year-to-date in ’08 are still higher in almost all sampled districts than the ’07 annual average and median. City-wide, the volume of transactions is way down; it’s no surprise that prices have drifted downwards, too. Notably, C03 and W01 are areas where the sales activity is roughly half of what it was last year. By contrast, in E02 (the Beach) the sales activity is roughly 85% of last year’s pace, and prices have remained stronger. This is also true in W12, where the median price (first-timer range) is up almost 14% from this time last year – and where there’s no City of Toronto Land Transfer Tax….
Also, I believe that the city-wide average is skewed by very high-priced sales. For example, in October of ’07 there were 252 sales for over $1,000,000. This October, there were only 77. Looking at all sales over $750,000, that segment accounted for 6.3% of transactions in October of ’07, and just 3.4% in October of ’08. (Note: TREB only publishes those numbers by the month, not year-to-date, so I have to limit the comparison to just October. However, I’m sure you get the point!) High-value sales are down by almost half, which has a serious draw-down effect on the ‘average’ sale price. Thus the exciting headlines! However, most folks buy in a range of $300,000 to $600,000, and in that range prices are much more stable.
This reality applies not just to sale prices of individual homes, but to districts where the average price is very high. I believe that this explains why the median price in E01 (Leslieville, where the average and median prices are in the first- and second-time buyer range) has remained positive while prices in C03 (pricy territory) are down.
So, what does this mean to you, the ‘average citizen’? If you are a seller, you shouldn’t panic; well-priced houses are still selling at a fair market rate. It’s a tougher market, as we have basically completed the transition from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. Be prepared, be realistic, and be competitive. It’s not a market in which you should reach for the stars; your objective should be to sell at a reasonable price; if that means pricing for less than your neighbour sold, so be it. Keep in mind that you will probably also be buying in this market, so you’ll get some wealth protection there.
If you are a buyer, don’t get too cocky. There are some deals out there – indeed, some sellers are putting fire-sale prices on their houses. However, there are still enough buyers out there to generate the odd bidding war, as we’ve seen in a few cases recently. If you are trying to buy at the bottom of the market, you sure don’t have to rush out and buy today. However, timing the bottom of any market is a difficult thing to do. Once the financial markets get their ‘confidence’ back, I predict that the Toronto market will see a bit of a ‘bounce’, as those buyers who have been waiting to see what happens next decide to jump back in to real estate. Take advantage of this flat real estate market, and also take advantage of today’s cheap lending rates. Keep in mind that you will probably be taking out a standard 20 year mortgage. Today’s rates of around 5% are very low by historical standards, and whatever rate you get today will likely be much lower than the rate you pay towards the end of your mortgage… that’s a bit tricky to calculate, but the point is that money now is cheap; it may not be so cheap in the future. Thus, buying sooner rather than later still makes sense. In this climate you can take your time, think it over, and then make a conditional offer in most cases.
Toronto is definitely in difficult times – with high and rising city taxes adding to a difficult environment. However, we haven’t seen big job losses yet, interest rates are still low, and our economy will probably not tank like some U.S. cities. As I have said before, real estate is still a good investment compared to your other options. Besides, we all need somewhere to live! J By the way, the last time October sales were down around 5000 transactions was in 2001; at that time the average price for a house in Toronto was $251,479!
(The charts didn't paste well, so we'll have to do without for now. If you want a copy, please email me and I'll send it to you.)
We're blogging - woo hoo!
Howdy!
Welcome to Emily and Simon's Real Estate Blog. Over the next little we're going to load up some content here to bring you our perspective on the Toronto real estate market, and how to make the most of it today. Whether you are a buyer (hunting for a deal) or a seller (trying to maximize the value of your home), we've got the expertise, know-how and the chops to get you to your goal.
Use our blog to get tips on shopping strategies, home preparation and marketing, and to keep track of market trends. Sign up as a 'follower' of our blog and stay up to date! Have a friend or family thinking of buying or selling? Tell them to START HERE! We'll connect with them right away and take great care of them.
Welcome to Emily and Simon's Real Estate Blog. Over the next little we're going to load up some content here to bring you our perspective on the Toronto real estate market, and how to make the most of it today. Whether you are a buyer (hunting for a deal) or a seller (trying to maximize the value of your home), we've got the expertise, know-how and the chops to get you to your goal.
Use our blog to get tips on shopping strategies, home preparation and marketing, and to keep track of market trends. Sign up as a 'follower' of our blog and stay up to date! Have a friend or family thinking of buying or selling? Tell them to START HERE! We'll connect with them right away and take great care of them.
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