Winnipeg's Real Estate Podcast

Should Buyers get a home inspection? How do Sellers choose a real estate agent? What are 3 things to check at possession time?   These and more tips , plus current mortgage rates, in this episode.

Instead of replacing your plugged, cracked or blocked underground sewer line, listen to this alternative.   Relining your sewer is cheaper, cleaner and can be done at anytime of year.

Is  now a good time to buy or sell a house or condo in Winnipeg? Listen and find out

3 Real Estate Fact #1 [00:00:00] Host Ryan Peterson: Get ready for three interesting real estate facts you should know coming up in this episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast. Cue the music [00:00:11] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: you're listening to the bone knows real estate podcast tips and advice for home buyers, sellers, and owners with award winning Remax agent Bo Kaufman. [00:00:26] Host Ryan Peterson: Hello, I'm your host, Ryan Peterson. Welcome to another episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast with my friend and real estate expert, Bo Kauffmann of Remax Performance Realty [00:00:35] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Hey Ryan thanks for the great intro and anybody who's listening to this will notice right away that there's a bit of a change in the format here. Ryan and I did a series of episodes a few years ago that were called a real estate round table. And what I always liked about him was the little back and forth and two different voices talking. So I wanna recreate that here and I thank you, Ryan, for agreeing to do this with me. [00:01:04] Host Ryan Peterson: My pleasure. It's great to be back Bo. All right. So let's get right into it with three different facts about real. Okay, You must hear this first question a lot from home buyers. When my possession data is coming up, how do I get the keys and get into my new home [00:01:09] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: All right. So it really depends on where you are. I hear that a lot of places in the states and different provinces and the real estate agent actually has the key and meets you at your door, but here in Manitoba, it's all done through the lawyers. So here's what happens is about a week before you possession date, you the. Meet with your lawyer, you sign a bunch of papers. You give him a suitcase full of money that he's gonna tell you, just how much to bring and you sign the papers and then you just sit back and wait. At the same time, the seller meets with their lawyer signs, papers, and gives him the keys. And then the day before possession. The lawyers talk to each other and exchange those two items. The buyer's lawyer sends the money. The seller's lawyer sends the key. You get another phone call and the day before possession, you show up at your lawyers and he'll give you the key and with strict instructions not to go into the house. Until right at the time that stated on the offer. I remember, [00:02:01] Host Ryan Peterson: Getting my first home in 2000 and yeah, it was a plain Manila envelope that I got the key in. And honestly I was expecting a little bit more fanfare, what are you gonna do? You're still excited about the new home now. Bo is the date usually hard and fast or is there some flexibility, say a buyer wants to swing by and get some measurements to make sure that the furniture is gonna fit certain way. [00:02:20] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR:   Okay. That's a really good question. Answer that question. The date is hard and fast. Now, if it's important to you to take some measurements or to go in for one more, look, make sure that you're a real estate agent. That's the buyer's real estate agent writes that into the offer because the seller does not have to let you back in until let's say it's nine o'clock and not Tuesday morning when you're taking possession, you don't have the right to go back in there. If you, some people want to do not only measurements, but they also might wanna get a contractor to go through. They might wanna be ready to do a new kitchen, make sure you write that into the offer. And that way the seller when they agree to it, have to let you in. [00:02:55] Host Ryan Peterson: worst they can say is no. That's right. And it's not one of those things that's gonna make or break a deal or make you lose out on a house, right? Nope. That's right. Okay. Great now. Okay. Let's look at the other side of the equation. Do home sellers get their money right away when the keys are handed over? [00:03:08] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: All right. So Manitoba again was one of the worst provinces until about six or eight years ago. You could basically wait a month. For your money. So if you're possession it, if you're moving outta your house on August 15th, you probably didn't get the money until mid-September that's. Because here in Manitoba, the new owner, which is the buyer, their lawyer has to register that house with land titles office. And that is a slow, arduous time consuming process. That also depends on whether the lawyers are on break or whether they're on holidays or how busy they are, et cetera, but it usually takes a month. There's a new system came into place. Actually the system's been around for a while. Manitoba just came on board with it a few years ago. It's called the Western Canadian protocol, otherwise known just as protocol. And now you can get your money within a few days. So best case scenario. If you move out on the 15th, you might have the money on the 18th or 20th. But it can take a couple of weeks still. [00:04:05] Host Ryan Peterson: I remember my last move.   I ended up owning both homes for a couple of months with some bridge financing. I know I couldn't wait to get my money fast enough. When it finally sold. Now Bo, is there a season or time of year when it's better to buy or to sell? What picks market does seem hot all the time, but there's ups and downs that can be predicted or taken advantage of. [00:04:25] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Oh you betcha who was it that was credited was saying when everybody else is buying, sell, when everybody else is selling buy, I think that was Warren buffet, but I'm not sure.  Certainly the spring is the best time to sell your house. Now that being the case, that also makes it the worst time to buy your house because you are pretty much guaranteed to be up against eight, 10 other people. It seems like in our market here, everybody waits till the spring to go out and buy a house. Start the year fresh. Worst time to buy. Best time to buy is right now, that's be like late summer, early fall. Anybody who wanted and needed a house is moving right now to start, the school year for their kids, buyers have really taken a, a break right now, and there's a lot more inventory on the market. So best time to buy is the late summer, early fall. And that's just the way it is in Winnipeg. That's always how it's always been. It's [00:05:13] Host Ryan Peterson: a you really put yourself in more of a power position at the end of the summer as a buyer, because at that point they're desperate to move on to the next thing they [00:05:21] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: have planned. Oh, absolutely. And just think about it this way. If you're up against 10, 10 offers in the spring, your offer has to be clean. It has to be big, it has to be stand out. So now we actually get listings, come on the market where they've had one or two showings, not offers just showings in a week. Wow. So it's definitely a great time to. [00:05:40] Host Ryan Peterson: And you're probably likely waving a home inspection in the spring. Where you could get that luxury in the fall. [00:05:43] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: That's right. Absolutely home inspection, better financing condition longer time to make a decision. So it's better all around [00:05:51] Host Ryan Peterson: My wife and I are always keeping an eye on E saying Paul, and it seems rare when something goes up for sale. What do you recommend to people that are in the market buyers that are in the market that want an. But there's not a lot really going on there. What can they do to get on the radar so that the first person in, when [00:06:06] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: something pops. Okay. So the best thing to do is get ahold of a real estate agent, somebody, or somebody you've heard of, or somebody you've worked with in the past, get 'em to set up a search and they can do it by geography like geographical location. So if you only want a house in a certain radius, right around Cher farm roads, or around hot, not or birds hill or whatever they can set up a search and anything that comes up. Comes directly to your computer and you can see the listing come fresh. [00:06:31] Host Ryan Peterson: That's excellent. And fortunately, I know a great real estate guy who happens to be sitting across the table from me. Okay. Thanks Ryan. before we sign off, what are the current mortgage rates doing? [00:06:39] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Ryan for that, I'm gonna turn to my mortgage expert. That's Mike Schroeder with mortgage architects. When we come right back, we'll be right back after this short announcement. All right. We're here with Mike Schroeder of mortgage architects to talk about some of the lowest rates available at this point in time, which is like mid August, 2022. Hi, Mike. How you doing? Hey, doing well with yourself. Excellent. All right, let's get right to the point. So you've got somebody that comes to you and says, Hey, I wanna buy a house. And I need a $300,000 mortgage. So what is the absolute lowest rate you can get? [00:07:40] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Expert: So lowest rate I have is a variable rate. You're looking at about 3.8% effective today. And on a $300,000 mortgage gives you a pay of about  $1,545 a month.   [00:07:51] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: And that's principle and interest taxes of course would be extra. [00:07:55] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Expert: Yes and that's on a 25 year amortization [00:07:56] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: And that was 1545, correct? Yes. Okay. So now what if I'm nervous and I'm not the kind that wants to keep an eye on the mortgage rates every day.  What are fixed rates right now? [00:08:09] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Expert: Youre looking at about4.59% and so same mortgage amount, same terms. You're looking at about 1675 a month. [00:08:16] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: So that’s about $130 a month. Difference between the two. 130 for what some people might think is peace of mind, but of course there's ups and downs. There's a downside to being locked in for

Find out how dramatically the real estate market has changed in Winnipeg in the past 2 months. Have we gone from an insane sellers market to a strong buyers market now?   Is now a good time to buy a house or condo in Winnipeg? Listen to find out.

Real Estate sales, listings for houses and condos in Winnipeg

Fed Budget Discussions [00:00:00] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Let's separate fact from fiction about the upcoming federal budget proposal. That's coming up next to Winnipeg's real estate podcast. [00:00:26] Hello, everybody I’m Bo Kauffmann Remax performance Realty with another episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast. You know, the real estate market is super hot, so naturally everybody thinks that that's a good thing for all real estate agents. And it's just a wonderful thing. Well, it's not a great thing because it's, so one-sided the only one who really benefits is anybody who wants to sell their house and not buy another one. [00:00:48] So if you're retiring and we're gonna move into an apartment, this is a great time for you. But for buyers and especially first time buyers, it's not a great time. Houses are selling for not only 60, 80, a hundred thousand dollars above asking, but they're selling for 80,000, a hundred thousand dollars over what they would have sold last year. [00:01:07] So if you're a first time buyer you're struggling, it's a, it's a tough time to get into the housing market. So naturally the federal government is going to step in and fix this issue for us with some of their proposals. So I had a friend call me last week and say, Hey, I heard that the blind bidding is coming to an end, the federal government's going to outlaw it. [00:01:25] And I had to kind of look it up and see what they were talking about. And it's part of their proposed budget is that they are looking for a way. To make this whole process of house purchasing more fair. So let's take a second here and talk to somebody who knows a lot more about this, somebody who is in the financial game, and that is Mike Schroeder of mortgage architects. [00:01:50] Let's give him a call. [00:01:55] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Good morning. Hey Mike, how are you doing it's Bo Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Excellent. Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR:  I thought I thought today we'd talk about the proposed budget. Because about a week ago, a relative of mine called me and said, Hey, have you heard that blind bidding and sealed bids are a way of the past are going away? And I'm saying. No, actually, I haven't heard that's so I had to look into it and that's one of the proposals that the government, the federal government would like to do away with, uh, to put it in perspective and to put some history behind it is when you put your house up for sale right now in most provinces, you can put it up for sale and then buyers enter bids that are private and sealed and only  the seller gets to open them. Well, what, what can happen is somebody, the winning bidder can overshoot all the other bids by quite a bit great for the seller. Um, but you know, the federal government says, Hey, we don't like this. So they, you know, Talked about maybe finding a way to put an end to it. [00:02:57] The problem is these real estate laws are set provincially in the federal government has very little authority. They can try and work with the provinces on this stuff. Uh, but so far from what I've heard, the provinces had told the federal government to go pound sand So, um, I know there's a lot of rumors out there. [00:03:15] There's a lot of, uh, things that we might be doing, but it's not even voted on yet. So, Mike, what have you heard and what do you take away from this proposed budget? Well, let's start [00:03:25] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: with, what's actually been talked about details. So the first one is actually a proposal. I like it's called the tax-free first home savings account. [00:03:35] So most people are familiar with the fact that you put money into your RRSPs. You can take money out of your RRSP’s. For the first time home buyer, they catch of course is that you have to put the money back into your RSP for the next 15 years. Okay. Well, most people are also familiar with the tax-free savings account. [00:03:54] You put money in there and it grows tax-free. You could pull it out. Penalty free. Well, what this product does is actually combines both of those things together. You can put your money into this account. It is tax deductible, meaning it lowers your taxable income tax return at the end of the year. Right? But now you can pull money out of the tax free for your first time buying a house. [00:04:18] And the best part is you don't have to replace it. [00:04:21] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: That's right, because, um, I, I think we glossed over it that the TSA, the tax-free savings account, your money grows in their tax-free, but it's after tax dollars that you put in, correct. [00:04:34] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Well, it's not tax deductible. That is tax deductible. [00:04:41] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR:   So that if that passes, that would be an awesome thing. Is there what's the limitation or what's the limits on that? How much can anybody put in there per year in Israel? [00:04:50] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: So the proposed limit right now is $8,000 per person. And there's no limit for household. So husband, wife, maybe adult children in the house, um, siblings down and whatnot can all contribute together. [00:05:01] So $8,000 per year per person, and up to a total lifetime limit for individual of $40,000. [00:05:10] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Okay. So husband and wife or boyfriend, girlfriend, they start saving. They get engaged, married. Then they buy a house. They could have up to 40,000, which has been tax deducted throughout the years. So that's, that's, that's an awesome benefit. And then they can put $80,000 towards the house and that's, they, they can take it out without having to pay income tax on them. Exactly. [00:05:38] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Consider it another benefit for friends with benefits. [00:05:41] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Excellent. That, that would be a good thing.  What else have they proposed? [00:05:46] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: So now it's easy to forget is that when you're a first time home buyer you get a tax credit which lowers your taxable income. Um, so the current credit is $5,000. Now that doesn't mean you get $5,000. That means a lower your tax bill by five grand. [00:06:04] They're increasing that from 5,000 to 10,000. So it doesn't actually help you get into a house limited. It takes away some of this thing at tax time as you buy that first home, that would be good. [00:06:12] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Yeah. Okay. That's another good proposal. Anything else? Uh, that they've said that, that you like, or don't. [00:06:20] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Well, one of the things that I'm interested in and mostly from the side of unintended consequences, is there a talking about some sort of ban on foreign ownership? I guess that leaves the question of defining foreign ownership, right? Is that someone who's new to Canada? Does that mean a refugee, a student and immigrants?  We don't know. This is simply a big proposal and so. [00:06:44] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Well, yeah, exactly. I'm thinking back on somebody, I don't know, six, eight years ago somebody called me or emailed me, hi, I am the, uh, um, finance minister for, and then this is African nation. And of course you get these emails, please send me money, you know? Um, but no, this really was the finance minister. [00:07:03] He came to Canada and he bought a condo for his daughters to go to school. So would that be considered foreign? He doesn't live here, but his daughters go to school here and they have a place to live. So if, if that's the kind of a thing that they are proposing to stop, that probably wouldn't be a good, it would not be a good thing. [00:07:20] But, um, yeah, it's, it's the federal government, right? They, they kind of have their fingers in everybody's in everybody's business and sometimes it's not a good idea. [00:07:29] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: One of the additions supposedly set up might not apply to students, but then does that apply to the student, gets to get to know payments.  So I don't want to speculate you on some things that we don't know about. It's just not worth our time to do so. [00:07:37] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: What about interest rates? Hey, I just heard that they talking about another hike in June. [00:07:45] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: So that's the speculation right now. I can tell you on the fixed rates that ever since the government announced, I want to say it was yesterday, uh, where the inflation rate is that right now, um, that caused the bond market to spike, which raised the by fixed rates. [00:07:59] And so we're now seeing five-year fixed rates of at least 4% while some lenders don't need a little bit higher. Okay. Uh, variable rates are still considerably lower than the fixed, but you're right. The federal government has said they may increase the overnight rate in June. So that's definitely watch for, uh, for a lot of reasons. [00:08:17] I still think variable is a better choice than fixed, but at the end of the day, that's a personalized conversation that we need to have with people want to know the mortgage nature. Then you understand the risks and benefits of that. [00:08:27] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Gauging their comfort level and, and their, you know, what, what they know their future to be. [00:08:33] If they know it. So what our open rates right now are variable rates. [00:08:39] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: So it's a fixed range, about 4%,…… variable rates around about two, 2.1%. So there's still a gap right now between the two. Um, and that gap isn't, uh, isn't narrowing at all is the fixed rates to Nicholas. [00:08:50] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Yeah. It's just to put that in perspective, if there's a 2% difference, if you've got a $400,000 mortgage, 2%, that's $8,000 a year. [00:09:00] Right. So divided by 12 that's what does that? 680 something like that. $675 per month difference. That's huge. [00:0

[00:00:00] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: Do you have too much stuff in your house? What do you do with it? Today? Would talk temporary storage solutions. That's coming up next to Winnipeg's real estate podcast. [00:00:26] Bo Kauffmann: Hello, everybody Bo Kauffmann from here from Remax performance Realty with another great episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast.  It's been said that the more room you have, the more stuff you accumulate, I can verify that, but there'll come a time when we all run out of room. My current hobby is scotch and cigars. and luckily that doesn't take a lot of room By the way, we have an upcoming fundraiser, a scotch and cigar sampling right here in Winnipeg on June 18th. That's the father's day weekend, but it's a Saturday.  And it has a twist to it. I know there's lots of scotch and cigar events around, but this one has a bit of a bonus. You actually get to enjoy the cigar because we're holding it inside. Thomas Hinds new sampling lounge, and they're licensed to allow smoking. So tickets are very limited because there's only 46 seats. If you're looking for tickets, give me a shout. They're going fast. June 18. And there was a five o'clock sitting and an eight o'clock sitting.  And the eight o'clock is just about sold out. Maybe you've got a hobby collecting sewing machines, or your collection of old pinball machines are starting to take up too much room. What do you do? Or perhaps you're going to sell your house and you need to just temporarily declutter a need some temporary storage. Whatever your reasons. There are storage solutions that have popped up all over town, ready to serve your storage needs. And today we're going to speak with Claire Coppens business manager of total storage right here in Winnipeg. I'm going to ask her a few questions. Hi, Claire. How are you today? Excellent. [00:01:52] Bo Kauffmann: Okay, let's get right into it. What kind of people are, are your customers who use a storage facility? [00:01:59] Clair Coppens  I would say that the most popular reason people are coming to tool storage, like for a self storage unit are big milestones in their lives, like buying a new home or waiting for a new home to be built. Or oftentimes we have see like death of a loved one.  And they're trying to find space to put those belongings for a shorter or long time. [00:02:17] Bo Kauffmann: Right. Okay. Yeah, certainly I can get behind the idea of using storage to put your extra stuff, especially if you're downsizing or even up-sizing like your, you want to store it until you find a new home and then decide what you want to do with about you've been around for 10 years, you're telling me, but what do people look for when they want to select a self storage facility? [00:02:36] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: So I would say that the first thing to look for, if you're going to see a unit is if the facility is clean, like, are the hallway swept, are the units dusted and, you know, Ask other tenants there too. Like if they find the facility clean, the second thing I would say is, do you feel safe there? You know, you're putting a lot of your, your special items there. Is there a gate? What's the security like, is there cameras, do you need a code? What kind of locks are they asking you to put on the unit? And then third, it's just, do you feel welcomed there? Right. Do you feel like the staff cares that you and your items are there and you're not just a customer of theirs, you know, are they going to go the extra mile to make sure that your belongings are safe and well taken care of while you can't take care of them? [00:03:16] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: Okay. So a question came to mind is do people have access to their stuff 24 7? Or are you just open during certain business hours? [00:03:23] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: Once you've rented a unit at 12 strategy, you have 24 hour access that's included in your rent and you can come and go as you please. But of course we do have those security features that you need to get through before you can go to your unit. [00:03:33] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: Excellent. Okay. Good. Excellent. So, and I understand you have climate control. Do you also have non climate controlled and really what's the difference? So we offer [00:03:41] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: both climate control. The non-climate control would be more of like a garage style where there's a roll up door and you put your items in and there's no control of temperature, humidity. [00:03:51] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: And the climate controlled is, is more like storing an items in a house. So they're there in an interior space. The temperatures controlled [00:03:58] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: now, obviously one's going to be more expensive than the other. And we don't have to get into dollars, but if you have a garage that's not climate controlled or a similar space, that's climate controlled, roughly how much more would the climate control be? Would it be double or will it be 20% more? [00:04:15] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: No. The prices is pretty similar actually. Like, so for example, our, our five by fives and non climate controlled, the $70. And the climate controlled is 75. So it’s comparable. [00:04:24] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: The price you quoted was per month. [00:04:28] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: So a total storage when you move in is your anniversary date and your payment is always due on that date. [00:04:33] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: Okay, cool. Now, besides self storage, do you guys offer anything else? [00:04:37] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: Yeah, absolutely. We sell boxes and packing supplies, like mattress bags, tape Reusable tote. So rather than having to, to purchase that yourself you can rent them. And then if that is green, right, we're recycling the boxes. We make sure that they're clean. [00:04:49] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: We also do this service called marketplace, where if you are looking to get rid of a few items, we will do like. Like picture taking and posting and dealing with all the offers and sell it on your behalf or a commission. And then we donate 20% of that sale to charities. Okay. Oh, [00:05:04] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: nice. Okay. Yeah, I understand. [00:05:06] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: You guys are like a sister company to total moving. [00:05:10] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So we have the storage space and total moving is the brawn., [00:05:14] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: I suppose. Excellent. So do you ever auction stuff off like they do on storage wars? [00:05:18] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: We do get, it's not nearly as, as dramatic storage wars. It's of course we want people to have their items, right. [00:05:26] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: The last thing that we want to do is auction it, but if it does get to that point we do auction our items. It's on bid 13, and if you want to see our past auctions, you can visit our website. Total moving, excuse me, toll storage, wooden pig.ca. And we also have an email list if you wanted to be notified of when our next auction is [00:05:43] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: Okay. Now I assume that these auctions would be mostly for people that kind of abandoned their stuff, stop paying, or, or just left, left stuff behind that might not even be valuable to them anymore. They just left it right. Abandoned. [00:05:56] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: Yeah, if they stop paying and then we can't contact them to set up a payment plan to reunite them with their items. [00:06:01] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: Okay. So is there a final tip that you would give anybody looking for storage? [00:06:06] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: Absolutely. Yeah. I think the number one thing that people are not taking advantage of in storage is making use of all the vertical space in the units. Right. So you're laying your items out on the ground. Like it gets some shelving, you know, use the reusable tote so you can stack them easily and make sure you're using every square foot. People have to, I guess, provide their own shelving kind of thing. These units are not shelved. [00:06:25] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: Yeah, there is no shelving in the units. We're actually looking for like, looking into like offering shelving as something that you can purchase or possibly rent from us. So that could be a next step….makes sense. [00:06:34] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: Are they all the same height? Like five by five by how tall? [00:06:41] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: So some of them are a little bit taller than others. They range from about eight to 11 feet. [00:06:44] Bo Kauffmann - Real Estate Agent: Okay. Where are you located at? [00:06:47] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: We're at 21 Bloomberg trails, about two minutes past the perimeter on the number one in Headingley. We're right across the motel six. Okay. And you guys have a business phone number? [00:06:56] Claire Coppens - Business Manager: People can reach you at 2 0 4 8 3 2 8 1 8 1.

What are Cash-Back Mortgages? Whats the catch, and how do they help? Interview with Mike Schroeder of Mortgage Architects   How much is your Home Worth?  Home values are on the rise with the low inventory of housing on the market!  That makes it an excellent time to sell right now.  Contact ❤️🤍💙BO KAUFFMANN, REALTOR®️ 204.333.2202 when selling and/or buying!  “Bo Knows Real Estate”. Join me on my website Blog.WinnipegHomeFinder.com for listings, informative blogs & so much more.  #clhms #toprealestateagentinwinnipeg #awardwinningremaxagent #boknowsrealestate #yourwinnipegrealestateagent #remaxagent #homesforsaleinwinnipeg #theremaxcollection

Home Buyer Tips & Etiquette [00:00:00] BoKauffmann-REALTOR: Let's talk about tips and home buying etiquette. On this episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast, All right. Welcome to this episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast. Today, we're going to talk about some tips and etiquette for home buyers to follow. What do I mean by that? So you're looking at houses and likely on a Saturday afternoon, let's say you're going to go out and look at four or five houses back to back with your agent. We call that a home viewing tour. And today we're going to talk about tips to make that, that whole tour go a little smoother, a little less troublesome just make the whole experience a little bit better for you. But also some etiquette and some rules to follow. Because as a buyer in this hot sellers market, you want to stand out for the great offer you make, not for the rules. Your break sounds like a song in there. So let's we're going to break this episode down into three different sections. The first one is going to be what to bring and where during these home showings, second one is going to be what not to bring what not to do. And the third one is how to act in sponsor inside the house. So let's go. All right. So remember it says, like, let's say a Saturday afternoon, you gotta look at four or five houses in a row. And this first tip is really helpful in the winter wear comfortable shoes you can slip on and off. If you've got these big mukluks that tie up halfway to your knee, you'll spend a lot of time taking them off and putting them back on from going from one showing to the next. So we're comfortable. Slip-on shoes next, bring a pen and pad. Now each listing will probably have a listing sheet waiting for you so you can grab that, but there's always going to be questions or things that aren't on there that you might want to mark down for yourself. If you're looking at five houses in a row, it's easy to get them. You know, you end up forgetting which one needed the new bathroom upgrader, which one had the really ugly floor here or there. So it's good to mark that down. So bring your own pants. And last bring a mask and sanitizer. Yes. COVID is still a thing. I remember you going into other people's houses. So we are still expected to wear masks because people live there and there's showings after us. So once inside you're going to be touching the fridge. You're going to be touching doorknobs, closets, stuff like that. Plus there was people there before us, so you might want to sanitize going in and coming out up next. We're going to talk about what. We'll be right back after this short announcement. This episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast is sponsored by urban top code, paint and design. Bring in quality fine finishes to your home. Whether you're planning to sell, have just settled in or looking for a robust color refresh urban top code, paint and design has your home covered. There's quality in their hands and they leave it in their work call. Rob white today at 2 0 4 7 9 1 8 0 2 4. All right. So let's start with some of the things that not to do. Leave the food and the and the drinks in the car. Let's say you picked up a cup of coffee on the way to your showings or a sandwich or a banner, a hoagie. Leave those in the car. Don't bring food into somebody else's house. As I can hear the eyeballs rolling. Oh my God. Bowl where you're telling us that it's because it's been done and then coffee gets spilled and it, it's not, it's not a good thing. Next is keep the the viewing group. Now if you're a young couple chances are you want your parents' approval, maybe they're even putting money in for the down payment. They're definitely want, want to have a look at the house. And I encourage that. In fact, if we're looking at 20 houses, I would encourage that you bring all decision-makers to as many of their showings as possible. Because the last thing we want to do is get into a situation where we looked at 20. You like one and you bring your parents back for like an approval and they haven't seen the other 19 and they go, oh my God, this house is 400,000 no way. Well, it's a good thing to have them along for the other viewings as well, so that they get a sense for the market. Having said that if you're a young. You likely have two sets of parents. Maybe you have an uncle that's knowledgeable in construction, and you want to bring your sister along for approval too. Before you know, it there's eight or 10 of us going into a showing. And that becomes unmanageable. You see your agent is responsible for that house for the entire time that you're in there. And ideally your agent will keep the whole group. That way when, when the homeowner complains that something's damaged or something's missing, your agent can honestly say, well, look, my whole group, I was with them the entire time. So you can imagine if there's eight of us and two people go up to the second floor to go into the basement. Obviously you lose control of that situation. Bring the decision-makers, but keep it as small as. In fact, during the height of COVID, there were many listings, which specifically said only three people into the house at any one time. That is the buying couple and their agent period. They weren't allowing kids in. Now, some of these things have changed and some of the rules have relaxed. There's still a limit. So keep the groups manageable which brings us to the next one, leave the kids. Look, let's talk, honestly, here, your three-year-old is not going to decide whether or not you liked the house. Maybe the, maybe your, your boy or your girl hate the house. You still going to buy it. So when you have one or two kids along, it is just another pair of shoes to put on and take off. It's another hand to hold onto because you do have to keep control of your child. And if you go into a bedroom like a sellers, child's bedroom, there's toys there. Guess what your kid wants to. And they can't children want to jump on furniture or jump on beds. And every time you say no, they start getting a little, little less interested in looking at more houses because they can't go play in these things anyway. So I've had situations whereby the third showing by the third. One of the parents had to stay in the car with a three-year-old while the other parent came, looked at the house and had a quick, you know, a quick look and then went and tagged off so that the second parent can come look at the house. Very cumbersome. It interrupts the whole flow and interrupts the showing best. Leave the kiddos at home with a sitter, with a parent, with a neighbor. And if. Hey, make me the bad guy. Just tell him the agent won't and the agent doesn't allow it, but it makes for a whole better viewing experience. Funny story here while it's funny. Now it wasn't at the time I had a listing up in Amber trail, so I was representing the. And an agent called to book showing. Now I don't meet the agent. I certainly don't know who his buyers are, but they booked a showing for let's say a Saturday, two o'clock. So my sellers leave the house. The agent goes in, my sellers came home at a reasonable time, like almost 45 minutes later, but the people were still inside. So my sellers hung back. They stayed in their car and they watched everybody come out. So after it was all done, my sellers called me and said, The front door opened, the agent comes out and after that, it was like a, like a circus clown car, about 10 or 11 people came out to make matters worse. The seller goes inside and finds that somebody has been laying on their bed, on their marital bed. You, you don't do that. So I call the agent, the buyer's agent expecting that maybe the kids had jumped on the bed, turns out no one of the uncles thought it was a good idea to lay down on, on somebody else's. So again, keep groups small, keep the kids at home and it makes for a better viewing time, better showing time all around and last we can have time be on time because I'm showing times are limited. So if you've got a, a showing window from 10 till 10 30, that's your entire window. So if you only show up at 10 15, you're only hurting yourself. You're cutting back. You're showing by 15 minutes because at 10 30, somebody else will be knocking on the door and wanting to come in. So. Keep, keep the group small. And when we come back, we'll talk about what we can and can't do inside the house. We'll be right back after this short announcement. This episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast is sponsored by Mike Schroeder of mortgage architects. If you are serious about buying a home, then contacting a mortgage specialist is an important. Mike and explain your options and let you know exactly what you can afford. This will save you time by making sure you are shopping within your budget. Call Mike Schroeder today at (204) 229-3214. All right. So now we've entered the house. Hopefully we're the only ones in there. You and your agent. First thing to do, definitely take shoes off unless the house is a, an entire like something that has to be torn down. Keep your shoes. If you have to, perhaps the basement is unfinished, it's got concrete floor. Yes. You can carry them up to the basement and walk down there. But throughout the house, definitely keep your shoes off. So in the summertime, it's a good idea. Especially ladies, if you wear slippers or something like that, and you take them off, all of a sudden, now you've got bare feet. You're walking on hardwood floors and you're leaving your sweaty footprints on somebody else's. So you might want to take some, some socks that you. Next, once you inside the house, everything that's included in the listing is fair game. So you can open the fridge, open the stove check inside, check inside the dishwasher. If the washer dryer are included. Absolutely. You can open them open cupboards doors, kitchen drawers, stuff like that. Just not dresser drawers. Don't jump on the bed. Don't open night tabl

Documents needed for Home Buyer Pre-Approval [00:00:00] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: In any hot real estate market buyers know they need to get pre-approved before even looking at homes. So how do we streamline that process? That's coming up next on Winnipeg's real estate podcast. [00:00:13] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: You're listening to the bone knows real estate podcast tips and advice for home buyers, sellers, and owners with award winning Remax agent Beau Kaufman. [00:00:28] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Hello, everybody bought Kaufman here, Remax performance Realty. And today we're talking about pre-approval. Now that's been around for awhile buyers. These days know that they need to get pre-approved by the way, pre-approval is different than pre-qualification. When a buyer goes up to a bank teller and says, Hey, I make 60 grand a year. How much of a mortgage can I afford? Can you plug those numbers in? And the teller gives them. That's pre qualification. That's not what we're looking for. We need something a lot deeper than that. We need something where they do a bit of a dive into your financial abilities to financial history, your credit rating. And that's called a pre-approval. Now, depending on who you're dealing with or pre-approval. Take just a few hours or it could take days. A lot of times it depends on the financial institution you're dealing with, but it can also be helped. Like the process can be sped up by you, the buyer being ready for the questions they're going to answer, because no matter where you go, they're going to need a number of documents from you. And today we're going to talk to my good buddy Mike Schroeder of mortgage architects. And he's going to give us a list of documents that you, the buyer have to have. So you, you may as well spend the time to dig them out, have them ready and really impressed the hell out of them when they ask for those documents and you say, Hey, I've got everything ready in a file here for you. I'll email it to you. A lot of times that pre-approval process can be cut down to a mere hours. So here we are, help me in welcoming Mike Schroeder to the show. All right, Mike, welcome back to the show. [00:01:53] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Good morning, Bob, how are you doing today? [00:01:55] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Excellent. Excellent. How are you? Are you [00:01:57] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: busy? Oh man. This has been great. All everyone's buying and selling homes you say? So it's been [00:02:02] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: crazy. Okay. All right. So we're talking about what a buyer can do to kind of shorten that whole pre-approval process and they can, as quick as possible some of the documents that they need, that your you and other lenders are likely going to ask them for. So let's start with that. What, what do buyers need to provide to get pre. [00:02:21] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Sure. So we can break the documents down to three different categories. We have to show how much money you make. So your income, we have to cover your down payment and we have to go over your credit. So let's start at the beginning of that first question of course would be, would be, are you employed or are you self employed? If you're employed at the company that really, we need the last pace. Have you received your last two years of G4S? If you've been the employer that long, that will give us a good establishment on Granger. Don't forget if you're receiving the Canadian child benefits that many lenders will also accept that as a valid thing. Now, if you're self-employed, we need to get your last two years and they've been tax returns. One of the easiest way of getting those tax returns is to contact your accountant because they have them all filed away for you. So you really should have both either of those items ready to go when you're ready to get them. [00:03:14] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Okay, quick question for you. I've heard people say that they need a letter from their employer. When does that come into effect? [00:03:20] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Sure. So yes, we will need a letter from their employer, but I understand that sometimes employers are delayed in getting you there. If we have your teeth boards and your pay stub, that is enough to get the process started on your pre-approval. We can always ask for more documents later on, but at least we've got this process started. [00:03:37] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: It still, wouldn't be a bad idea for a buyer to just reach out to his employer and say, Hey, could you give me a quick letter? What is, what needs to be in there? You've been working here for X number of years. [00:03:44] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Yeah. So when you're starting there, how you're paid, uh, whether you're on commission, whether you see bonuses, uh, whether or not you're on probation and, uh, someone of a lender can contact. If they want to, just to verify the information. [00:03:58] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: I'm talking in full. Okay, excellent. So that covers the income portion. Correct. [00:04:03] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: And so next would be down payment. So this one's a little bit trickier because the documents we need will really depend on whether you're down to humans coming from. So there's more, so here's some questions for you that. Is the money coming from money you've saved yourself. So that could be from an employer matched RSP or employer match tax-free savings account, maybe money you've been saving the bank philosophy months. The other question will be is if they're coming as a gift, so maybe you have a parent or a sibling or a grandparent who's gifting you money for a down payment. Well, that will change the documentation that as well. The other two factors will be that if any of the money's coming into modus, And lastly they, the money is being bored. So for down payment, more so just know where the money is coming from first. And then we can give you some more details on what people are working from there. [00:04:54] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: So people can actually borrow money for that 5% down payment, correct. [00:04:58] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: That most of them don't realize that, but you can actually bore it usually on like a, a line of credit or a short-term loan. And then that money can be used legally for a down payment, a. [00:05:10] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: But of course the payments that you make on that new loan will also affect how much you can afford on a house. Like it goes against your credit score. [00:05:17] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: Correct. And that's one reason why a lot of people often don't do it. Um, but it is an option for you. And we're really comes in handy is if you're short, say some of the down payment, so maybe you need $20,000 for down payment and you have 15, $16,000 saved up. You can make it the difference or that, and that can really help you in buying the house you want. [00:05:37] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Okay. Cool. [00:05:41] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: We'll be right back after this short [00:05:43] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: announcement. [00:05:47] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: This episode of Winnipeg's real estate podcast is brought to you by total moving, providing, moving services, packing supplies, assembly, and organizing for residential and commercial clients guaranteeing no hidden fees while providing the most efficient moving process. Call 4, 3, 1 4 4 1 move. Or get an estimate online@totalmovingwinnipeg.ca that's total moving Metta. Toba is modern. [00:06:14] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: And we're back. And Mike is going to tell us about the last set of documents we need. [00:06:20] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: And then the last one will be the credit report. So all we need to do is a pull. A credit report is the information you provide anyways, accurate standard Bersin number. But here's the key. We find that about quarter of all Clara reports have errors, and we want to pull your credit as early as we can. I'm not making this up last month. We had a client who they had combined his credit report with Jim or with a similar name from Vancouver. They now said that he was responsible for it $900 a month car payment, which you can imagine affect how much has been pre-approved for it. Right? So fortunately we have a contact at the credit agency where we can go and repair and we can actually help correct those items for you with no cost. And so just wanted to keep might as additional services we offer is making sure that your credit report is actually. [00:07:05] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: No in that case, how long did it take to repair that? [00:07:08] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: I took a couple of [00:07:09] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: weeks. Okay. I've heard stories that it can take, sometimes it can take months. Is that, is that true? Like for different kinds of [00:07:17] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: issues, it can sometimes take longer. What is nice though, is that as mortgage brokers, we actually have access to a backend, uh, contact method through Equifax. And so we can use escalate the matter yet. Correct. And more quickly than clients could have they just called. [00:07:33] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Okay. So, um, it being pre-approved one of the benefits is that you lock in that mortgage rate, which of course now there's a good threat of it going up. Right. So how long can you lock it [00:07:43] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: in for, uh, between 90 and 120 days, depending on the lender. So call between three and four months. [00:07:50] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Okay. Awesome. Um, yeah, it's only gone up a quarter point, but the chance of it going up another quarter point in the next three to four months is pretty real, right. Well, [00:08:00] Mike Schroeder - Mortgage Architects: don't forget the, even though the variable rate just went up by a little

Hiring a Mover in Winnipeg [00:00:00] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Spring market is here. And as with every spring home sales are increasing. So more people are buying and selling, which means more people are going to end up moving. Do you do it yourself or do you hire a mover? So coming up next is an interview with a friend of mine who runs total moving in Winnipeg. [00:00:16] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: And we're going to get some tips on how to find, hire, and select a great. [00:00:20] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: Uh, you're listening to the bone knows real estate podcast tips and advice for home buyers, sellers, and owners with award winning Remax agent Beau Kaufman. [00:00:41] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: All right today, we're going to be talking about moving, hiring a mover or doing it yourself. The moving industry I have found is one of those really unregulated industry, anybody with a pickup truck and call themselves a mover. It's like a home inspection, a service, anybody with a flashlight. Can call themselves a home inspector. [00:00:57] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: So how do you weed through that? I can tell you a quick little story. When I was a police officer, I was sitting in the station and somebody came in and report that they had a whole bunch of stuff go missing from their moving company. It is, it is kind of a wild west out there as far as moving goes. So if you are going to hire a mover, make sure your hire a good one. [00:01:18] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: And today we're going to be talking with a good friend of mine who runs total moving, which is fairly new here in Winnipeg. And we're going to talk to him next. His name is Colby kiss. All right. So I'm here with my friend Colby kiss from told will moving Winnipeg, uh, Colby. Let's get right into it and ask you if. [00:01:37] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: There's so many movers out there. I mean, anybody with a pickup truck and call themselves a mover, it seems to me it's like a somewhat loosely regulated industry. There really is, you know, it's a wild west show out there. How do people find a great mover? What sets a great mover apart from the. [00:01:53] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: You know, what's, um, bad. [00:01:55] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: You're absolutely correct. In that sense, you gotta be careful with who you're hiring. Um, some places you might want to look to first would be like BBB, better business bureau. Uh, they only bring credible businesses on with business, better business bureau. Sorry. Um, we're on there. We have a great, great review system through them. [00:02:11] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: The next would be check your Google reviews. That's probably your most important, um, important thing to look into, right? Like if you have a company has all five stars and they've got over. Say even 30 reviews, you're probably looking at a company that is somewhat credible and they can all be fake ones and companies are looking to do that. [00:02:27] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: Right. So it is something companies do, unfortunately. But, um, if they're getting over the 30, 40 mark, they're definitely, they're definitely having customers that are having good experiences with them. So that's massive. And then another one we're hopping into, as soon as we get into, um, two years in business, sorry, is cam the Canadian association of movers, our business mentor and Phillips is in there. [00:02:46] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: And. Set the steps up for us to get right in. We've already been deemed as, uh, as credible. And it's just about. Getting two years in the industry for us right now, so that we can hop into that one to further go into it. I guess like some things you'd want to look into when you're making the calls to the moving company, or you want to make sure that they're friendly, they're willing to help you right off that first phone call. [00:03:06] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: I get lots of calls from customers. From the first phone call, they say, they're so surprised that we're approachable via phone, and that were over the phone, over the phone. I'm willing to answer their questions and not just get their, their estimate info that we need. If you want to know what's going on in there with their whole situation before they're moved. [00:03:24] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: And, uh, next thing of course, you wanna make sure these, these companies are fully insured. Workers, they have their workers' comp certified they're fully insured as well. I think it's important if you looked on a company's website or in their socials, um, just make sure they're staying relevant. Lots of these moving companies that maybe are trying to hide the kind of sketchy or things they do or whatever it might be. [00:03:45] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: They don't have a social presence. They're not completely updating their website regularly. So it's kind of a good way to good way to tell that if a company is staying relevant and staying. Updated on their content. They're not afraid to be out there. They get out of customers that are mad at them, commenting on their stuff, 24 7, if they, if they're doing that. [00:04:03] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: Right. So I think we do that. We, we have a very good social presence and I think our website's pretty top notch and yeah, I think another important question to ask when you're hiring a mover, first of all, make sure they're going to get you an estimate, like, you know, movers over the phone should ever just say it's going to be four hours and then they show up and yeah. [00:04:18] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: A thousand more things than they expected for a one bedroom move. We make sure we break all their things down through a cube sheet, ensuring that we actually get our customer a proper price and an hourly rate that makes sense for their move. And when we get them that we normally fall within half an hour positive or negative of that estimate. [00:04:33] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: So it's kind of an important thing there for sure. You want to get a number before going into your [00:04:37] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: move, especially if you just kind of want to know what you're getting. Exactly. [00:04:42] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: Yeah. And there's you hear that so much too, that customers come to me and they say, oh, Hey, this one company I hired three years ago told me it was going to be $300. [00:04:50] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: And they showed up to my one bedroom apartment and then ended up being $700 in five hours. Right. So we make sure we get them that our number and a price that will be somewhat close on. Okay. And then the last thing I think is kind of important there. Would be ask them, ask a moving company. This one always throws a company off and it might not be the right company if it does throw them off. [00:05:10] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: When you ask them this question, but ask them what they're going to do. If things go wrong. And the unfortunate part of this industry is we're movers. There's going to be dings Nicks. There's going to be stuff like that. That happens. The important thing is how that's, how that has made up for, uh, We run claims forms. [00:05:25] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: There's basic laws from the federal government of what we must meet, but then we also sell our customers valuation. We make sure they understand our claims forms for going in so that they know if anything does go wrong, we're here to help them. And we give them every opportunity to ensure that they're getting, whether it's money back or things fix, they're getting those opportunities to have any mistakes made. [00:05:44] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: No. Excellent [00:05:46] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: in the big one there that stuck out for me is the insurance and the, uh, workers' comp because of, uh, if a mover slips in your house and hurts himself, uh, that actually it's the home owner's responsibility sometimes because he's provided the home owner, the seller or the buyer has provided the workspace. [00:06:04] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: So you gotta have worker's comp and [00:06:06] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: insurance. Absolutely. I mean, some of the, I mean, it's not even to bash some of the smaller movers. Everyone's trying to make a dollar, I guess, but it needs to be done correctly. Right? So those two things are huge. Of course you want them fully insured and, and, and the companies to have workers comp for their employees. [00:06:22] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: Well, listen, I [00:06:23] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: get it. A lot of young people, uh, buying their first house. And I remember when I was like 25 30, we always had friends. We had a ton of friends, some of them would pick up trucks and they're always willing to do stuff for a pizza and a case. So w what do you say to young people who say, well, I'm going to see myself that 500, 600, $800 and just get a bunch of buddies together, have a good day, make a day of it. [00:06:45] Bo Kauffmann - REALTOR: What do you say to people like that? [00:06:47] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: Um, call me for an estimate first. Uh, I, you know what everyone says that like every, it seems every friend group, including my own, they all go through. Whoever's lucky enough to call. I shouldn't even say lucky enough to move into their first place, but. Whoever's moving out first. [00:07:04] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: It seems like they all go through that and they end up buying the case of beer and pizza. And then no one else in the friend groups fortunate to save the money there. But, um, there's just certain things that aren't going to get done. When you hire, hire a friend group, you're not going to know how long it's going to take. [00:07:17] Colby Kiss - Total Moving: If you're moving, will you, we, can we go into pound? Did you want to be, make our moves? Right. So if you're moving, say 3000, 4,000 pounds, and you just got to pick up truck, you're going to be moving all day with your friend group as

It’s springtime, and Winnipeg home buyers are facing a very tough sellers market.  How can first time buyers get a leg up in this highly competitive environment?  Lets talk with mortgage expert, my friend Mike Schroeder of Mortgage Architects…next. Home buyers in Winnipeg are in a very tuff spot.  Our spring market is normally very competitive.  This is when buyers come out in large numbers, and end up competing on homes and even condos. This year they are facing 2 additional obstacles,:  Lack of listings and rising interest rates. Normally at this time , we have around 1200 houses on the market.  This morning, we have just over 400.  Whats worse, is that over half of them are new listings, and will likely be sold in the next couple of days. Also, the headlines are shouting  “Bank of Canada DOUBLES its interest rates”…  adding more stress to the daily routines of home buyers. So I thought it was high time that we speak with someone who knows mortgages, knows how to help home buyers and can add some perspective to these issues. Let’s say hellow to Mike Schroeder of Mortgage Architects in Winnipeg.

Welcome to Winnipeg’s Real Estate Market update for March 2022 Here we are at the beginning of March, and let’s take a look at the housing market first, then the condo market. On March 1st, we had a total of 366 houses available for sale.  That’s up a little from the 306 we had a month ago, but well below 577 on March 1st last year. The main segment of activity continues to be in the 250k to 500k range where we sold 236 during Feb., and only have 157 available on March 1st. The next busiest price range is from 500 to 1 million, with 129 sales during Feb. A lot of listings start out in the 400 K range, but bidding drives their sold price up over 500K. I just worked with a couple who bought their first home.  It took 7 attempts to finally have our offer accepted.  The home they bought was listed at $320K and they had to bid 95K over that.  It’s tough to be a buyer right now. Winnipeg’s condo market is not spared from this hectic activity.  We currently have only 211 condos available, compared to 431 last year and 561 the year before. Sales of 146 units in Feb. is an increase from the previous month, and significantly higher than the 86 sold in Feb. last year. So in summary, Winnipeg continues to be a very strong seller’s market, so if you’re thinking of selling a house or condo, NOW is the time to call to get ready to sell.  Call me anytime for a free market analysis.

Hello Winnipeg, welcome to my 62nd market update   Weather is cold, but our real estate market is HOOOOT Check this out! End of Feb, we normally have around 1200 houses for sale.  Today that number is  349 Same with condos….normally 5-600 available, but today just 207 If you’re thinking of selling your house or condo, take advantage of this market right now.  Call me to discuss the best strategy to get the most for your home. If you’re a buyer, buckle up….  Multiple offers are pretty much the norm right now.  Homes getting 10, 15 or more offers is fairly standard. So why not wait until the inventory scarcity ends?  Here is why:  Right now it’s -40 and most of the buyers are still dormant.  Once nice weather arrives, they will wake up and join the hunt for a home…..creating even more demand. If you’re serious about buying or selling, a house or a condo in Winnipeg, call me right now Bo Kauffmann, REMAX performance at 204-333-2202

Welcome to the real estate quickie for Feb 2022   First, lets look at the HOUSING market. On Feb 1st we have 306 houses for sale in Winnipeg. Let’s put that into context.  Last year, which as you may recall, was a super hot sellers market, but we actually had 481 Houses available,  or about 60% MORE than today.  And 2 years ago, that number was over 1100….nearly 4 times what it is right now. What are the real world effects of this type of market?  House went up for sale in St James last week, at 370K, got 19 offers and sold for over 100K more…. Over the month of January, which is normally a pretty slow month, we sold 273 houses, with another 55 showing as pending,  for a total potential sale of 328….   That means that, at this pace, if NO further listings came to market, everything would be sold in the next 29 days…..  that is a super low inventory level. But how about condos.  Traditionally, they have a history of being more affordable and available. Well, there are 227 Condos of all prices available in Winnipeg right now.  One year ago that number was 402…..  and 2 yrs ago it was 561 In January, we sold 69 condos, with another 40 showing as pending, for a total potential sale of 109 condos.  This inventory level sits at 65 days….   While that’s double the level of houses, in the condo-market this is super fast. So even condos are now selling with multiple offers, there is simply no escaping it. If you’re a buyer, hold off if you can.  And if you’re a seller, RIGHT NOW is a great time to list your home. If you have to do both, there are strategies available to maximize your results….call me to discuss that may be best for your unique and distinct situation.

Showing the sales and listings stats for houses and condos over $500,000 in Winnipeg. As of July 15th, 2021

April 2021 Market Update for Winnipeg's real estate market   also check out https://boknows.homes/news

Spring market has arrived in Winnipeg.  Crazy bidding wars, shortage of homes all add up to bidding wars.   Plus a call with Mike Schroeder of Mortgage Architects with tips for divorcing couples.