Toronto Real Estate Podcast with Rene Ahmad

A personal touch can go a long way in a competitive real estate market. Here’s what I mean. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation There’s a lot of power in a personal touch.  This afternoon, we had a bully offer come in, which is a preemptive offer that comes in before the offer date. The listing is down on the beaches, and everyone wants to make an offer on it.  The power of the personal touch comes this afternoon as one of the agents has met with his clients to prepare a letter from the buyers. They wrote it up themselves and included a photograph of their family to talk about how much they love the property and how it’s a perfect fit for them and how they fell in love with it.  “ There’s a lot of power in a personal touch. ” Sure enough, the seller who said no to all previous negotiations is now open to a conference call to discuss the offer. Remember, if an offer gets stuck, a personal touch can really help move it along. We see it happen over and over again. If you have any questions about other things you can do to make an offer on a home stand out, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

No matter the type of sale, we can help. In fact, we are in the process of facilitating a tricky assignment sale of a new property. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  An assignment sale is when the original buyer of a property allows another buyer to take over their rights and obligations of the purchase agreement before the original buyer takes possession of the property. I am in the process of completing an assignment sale for a brand-new unit. In fact, it’s still under construction. I’m holding a private open house for the property with a few select buyers that are looking for a unit just like this one. The original buyer is happy because they are going to make a profit off of the sale. The new buyer is happy because they are going to get the first crack at this property and not have to compete with other buyers for it. If the property was listed on the MLS, the competition would likely be heavy. Everyone wins when we are able to coordinate an assignment sale like this. “ We’re always looking for win-win situations. ” If you have any questions for us or know someone in need of a buyer for an assignment sale, let me know. We may be able to help out. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Today I want to talk a little bit about something I call the “Trump Effect.” Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation How is President Trump affecting our market? So far, it seems that sellers are putting their homes on the market a lot quicker, instead of waiting until spring. It’s the start of February and people are putting their homes on the market right now, despite the cold temperatures, to get ahead of the market. It might not be happening immediately, but there will be a spillover of immigration from the U.S. into Canada and sellers want to be prepared. Buyers are also purchasing homes more quickly. As soon as a home goes on the market, phone calls start pouring in and showings are set up. Buyers are rarely taking 48 hours to think about purchasing a home, and instead are prepared to pounce the second they find a home they want. “ We have a quick, strong, and healthy market to look forward to this year. ” Overall, our market seems to be quicker and remains healthy under President Trump. If you have any other questions, please feel free shoot me a text, give me a call, or send me an email. I look forward to speaking with you!

Home sellers seem to ask the same questions year after year. Here are the three we hear from almost all of them. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation I’m coming to you today from beautiful, sunny San Diego at the Mike Ferry Production Retreat with the top 1% of agents who were invited here to learn how to set up our year for 2017. As dynamic as the real estate market is, there are many things that stay constant from year to year. One of these is the most common questions that we are asked by sellers. There are three of them, and I’m asked about them at nearly every listing appointment: “ The first thing we’ll do is figure out your home’s value. ” 1. What is my house worth? In today’s market, everyone wants to know what their home is worth. That’s one of the first questions we answer in our market evaluation. 2. How long will it take to sell my home? Everyone has heard stories about homes that sell in mere days. We are able to answer that question within a day or two. Quite often, it’s very quick. 3. What are we going to do to sell the home? We have our plan fully written and typed out to show you exactly how we sell two homes per week on average. We provide this ahead of time so sellers like yourself can review it and have some of your most common questions answered. If you have any other questions or know someone who has similar ones, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

How is the real estate market doing right now? How are things shaping up for 2017? I’ll give you my market forecast today. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation One of the most common questions we get this time of year is, “How is the market doing? How will the market be this spring?” First of all, I’m coming to you from our office. I’m here late because we’re working on another listing that we’re taking, as well as negotiating two offers. This pace has continued right through the holiday season. A lot of that is driven by the fact that prices are still high, especially compared to 2014 and 2015. For the last couple of years, prices have grown. In fact, prices went up almost 24% across the greater Toronto area. That is a tremendous increase, and a lot of people are taking advantage of it by downsizing, moving up North, or moving to a cottage. The market seems to be very strong right now. The changes in interest rates haven’t affected the market as much as we anticipated. Although a lot of first-time buyers got pushed out of the market because they couldn’t afford the rate increases, the markets in higher price ranges, like $600,000 and above, haven’t been affected. “ The market is very strong right now. ” As we continue into 2017, I expect that the market will be very strong. We have the lowest inventory that we’ve seen all year, so if you are thinking of selling your home, now is a great time to put your home on the market. If you have any other questions about the real estate market or about selling your home, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

The Concord Season’s Condominium won’t go public for another three days, but one of my client’s just got a great deal on her unit. How did this happen? Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation Today I’m coming to you from the Concord Season’s Condominium. This is a pre-construction project that won’t go public for another three days. One of my clients is in the office right now getting a great deal on a unit before the condo is available to the public. She will get some amazing incentives as far as finishes, amenities, and bonuses. If you are interested in a pre-construction deal or a pre-construction project, let me know. I work on these every month. You get the advantage of picking and choosing your unit before the building is even available to the public. “ You get to choose your unit before the building goes public. ” If you have any questions, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

We just wrapped up a retreat in Miami for the top 1% of top-producing agents in the country and I'm excited to share some things I've learned. Today we're discussing what home sellers really look for in an agent. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation I've just finished up at a fantastic retreat so we're filming today's video live from Miami with the Atlantic Ocean behind me. It's a retreat for the top 1% of top-producing agents in the country, and we got to learn quite a bit in four days. A big topic we addressed is what home sellers want from an agent, and I wanted to share some of this discussion with you. To get a good answer, they actually interviewed more than 10,000 home sellers across the country to ask them what they look for in an agent. As a home seller, these are the things you want to consider when looking for an agent: They want their home sold in a fair amount of time. Basically, time is just as important as the selling price. They want our expertise and for us to tell them honestly what it will take to get their home sold. They want an honest and fair opinion. They want someone who will listen to them and their opinions. They want an agent who will tell them the truth, even when they don't want to hear it. Sometimes, agents have the difficult job of telling the truth, but sellers are definitely looking for the truth in this market. They want a great salesperson, not a friend. Sometimes, we just have to deliver difficult information. They want an agent they feel a strong level of trust with. They want to know that their concerns are being met. “ Sellers want an honest agent they can trust, not a friend. ” These were some of the most common things they found that sellers in North America look for in an agent, based on thousands and thousands of interviews. On our team, we always strive to do the absolute best for our sellers. I hope you found this information useful. If you have any questions or you're thinking about buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you!

Today I wanted to shine a spotlight on one of my favorite service providers, Adam's Home & Lawn. Let me show you the amazing work they did on my own home. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation Today I'm happy to be joined by Adam of Adam's Home & Lawn to give you a look at the amazing job he's done preparing the property in the video above for sale. The difference in driveway sealing is like night and day. Adam is a consummate professional who showed up and completed the work on time and provided great service.  Adam's Home & Lawn doesn't just do driveway sealing, though. They will also do gutter cleaning, lawn aeration, and window cleaning as well. As Adam says, it's a total exterior experience for your home. If you're thinking about listing your home, Adam and his guys can give it a complete makeover from top to bottom.  “ It's a total exterior experience for your home. ” In the video above, you can see the stark difference in how my driveway looked before and after they sealed it. It went from looking old and weathered to nice and clean with a matte black finish. It makes the landscaping and the colors of the house really pop. If you're interested in having any work done on the outside of your home, you can call Adam at (416) 803-3368. If you have any questions about Toronto real estate or you're thinking of buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help!

You have heard that the real estate market is hot, but you might not have heard about how hot the rental market is lately. People are lining up to sign a lease! Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation You have heard that the real estate market is hot, but you might not have heard about how hot the rental market is lately.  If you have any property that you are looking to rent out, believe it or not, there are bidding wars right now between tenants trying to lease a property.  We have AAA renters lining up to sign a lease. Many of these renters have been pushed out of the market due to escalating home prices and need to get into a home soon.  “ People are lining up outside of rental properties wanting to sign a lease. ” Recently, we helped a landlord select a tenant for their property. There were many renters competing for the property, but we were able to get a great tenant to sign a three-year lease. The landlord is now very happy and the tenant is set to take great care of the property.  If you have a rental property and need a new tenant, now is a great time for you to be on the market. If you have any questions about leases or the real estate market in general, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for home purchase deals to fall through. Here are a few reasons why these deals sometimes go to hell. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation Right now I’m standing in a vacant property that I’m about to show a client. The reason that it’s vacant is actually because the deal on this house fell through not long ago. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon in the real estate world, which is why one of the questions I get most often from clients is, “Why do these home deals fall through?” Here are six of the most common reasons I’ve come across: 1. A change in the buyer’s credit score. A buyer may make a major purchase or see a dip in their credit score for one reason or another. If this happens from the time of purchase to the time of closing, it’s possible that the deal will fall apart based on financing. 2. The inspection spooked them. Especially with older, rural homes like the one in the video above, an inspection may reveal a lot of hidden issues that scare the buyer away from the deal.  3. The loan was not pre-approved. If the buyer didn’t have a pre-approval in the first place and put an offer in on the home, it’s possible that the deal would fall apart not long after, or even right up to the day of closing.  4. Running out of money. Sometimes it may take the buyer until the closing date to realize that they don’t have the money to close the deal. Occasionally, the buyer will come to the closing table and tell the seller that they have yet to sell their home, their funds haven’t come in from overseas, or they just simply underestimated closing costs. 5. Small problems are blown out of proportion. Especially after the home inspection and when the buyer has seen the home a few times afterwards, small problems may come to light that cause the buyer to back out of the deal. “ A buyer may blow small problems out of proportion and walk away. ” 6. Cold feet. If a buyer gets cold feet and suddenly feels uncomfortable with the transaction, they may simply walk away from the deal. If you’re ever wondering why a home you’ve been watching comes back onto the market, it could be for one of these six reasons. If you have any other questions on home purchase transactions or are looking to buy or sell a home yourself, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

As we enter the fall market, people tend to take their homes off the market in order to wait until next spring or summer. Don't be fooled though, the number of buyers makes now a fantastic time to sell. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation As we get back to school, we get back into the fall real estate market. We just had two clients in the office today who asked if now is a good time to list their properties. We ended up listing their properties because now is a phenomenal time to list. There are a couple of reasons why that is: As you may have seen recently in the news, the Toronto real estate market in August saw a 17% increase in prices over last year's prices. A lot of that is in Toronto, but a lot of that has spread to the suburbs as well. Second is the lack of inventory. A lot of people selling their homes have pulled their property off the market and are waiting for spring or summer of next year. There is less inventory to show to the same (or even more) buyers that are looking to move before the end of the year. Their plans for job transfers, mortgage commitments, and family plans haven't changed - they still want to move in 2016. There are a lot of motivated buyers out there looking; there is just not a lot of inventory to see. As a seller, that's great news because you have more buyers out there looking at your home. “ There are a lot of motivated buyers out in the fall and not much inventory. ” The third reason that now is a great time to be in the market is that weather-wise, it's still like summer! We still have 30 degree temperatures and late sunsets. If you have any more questions about selling in the fall, please don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to help you out.

I’m coming to you from one of our listings today. We have just sent up a drone so our photographer can take some aerial photos and video. This is a beautiful three-acre property complete with rolling hills, streams, lots of trees, and wonderful foliage. The drone is able to capture everything about this property. Using this cutting-edge technology, we can post amazing photos and video of this property online and draw both local and out-of-town buyers. Drones are great because we can capture the entire landscape. “ Drones capture the entire landscape. ” We use the latest cutting-edge technology to reach out to interested buyers across the country. If you have any questions, just give us a call or send us an email.

We just wrapped up another work day, and I want to take a moment to talk to you about your custom home search. In fact, we just used the custom home search to help some clients. They have always wanted a specific type of investment property. While I was prospecting this week, I found a seller who had a property that matched my clients’ exact specifications. I sent them the details Saturday morning and we just got back from a showing. They absolutely loved it! “ Custom searches make the process smoother for everyone. ” Even in a hot market like the one we’re in now, we can put deals together. Custom searches help us find properties for our buyers. We can find you exactly what you are looking for even before the property hits the market, making the process smoother for everyone. If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation Some new clients just hired me on the spot to help them find a home in this crazy seller’s market. Why? I showed them exactly how I’m going to find their next home. Our team helps buyers find homes within 21 days on average while most of our competition takes months to help their buyers find properties. How do we do that in this crazy market with all these bidding wars? We actually dive into the areas our buyers are interested in with triple-line dialing technology. I can dial up to three phone numbers a time. Every day, six days a week, I contact a minimum of 30 potential sellers for our buying clients. I then arrange private showings so the seller doesn’t even have to go on the MLS! If you know anyone struggling to find a home in today’s market, give us a call. We can help them find a home within 21 days by knocking on doors and calling potential sellers. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation I’m here at one of my listings that backs up to a lovely pond and as you can see in the video above, there’s a “For Sale” sign on the property. It’s listed for sale at $1.5 million and it’s all over the internet, but today we want to focus on the sign and why it’s there. Many people are skeptical or unsure about why they should use a “For Sale” sign when they sell their home. The way we always respond is by asking the question, “What’s your goal when selling a home?” Obviously, it’s to create attention for your home, which will lead to more demand, more offers, and more money. Even a simple thing like this sign can give more eyes, more calls, and more interest in the home. We always put one, sometimes even two “For Sale” signs on our properties. We put reflectors on the signs as well, so they are more visible at night. Studies show that 15% of the time, buyers find homes through a “For Sale” sign. You want to do everything you can to create attention for your home, and this is an easy, inexpensive way to do so. If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’d love to hear from you!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation After recently closing four deals within 24 hours, I wanted to share with you how we put those transactions together so quickly. We used what’s called an Exclusive Listing Agreement. You might have heard of other ways to list a property, such as sending it off into the MLS. However, we use exclusive listings, or pocket listings. In two of these cases, investment sellers didn’t want to go through the time and effort of listing in MLS. They didn’t want to deal with staging, professional photography, advertising, and more. Luckily, with our program, they didn’t have to! Instead, they wanted me to find a buyer quickly. I marketed to our own database of about 19,000 people. For both situations, serious buyers contacted me to express interest in the property. We successfully closed by recruiting buyers from our database alone. The sellers were pleased to earn their asking price, and we managed to dodge a bidding war. This also erased the need for hosting viewings and open houses. If you’re thinking about buying or selling a Toronto home, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to schedule a time to talk about this program and more!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation I’m here at the Mike Ferry Superstar Retreat. At this three day event, we learned all the top ways to take advantage of Toronto’s incredible real estate market. We also learned about two common pitfalls for sellers to avoid in today’s market.  First of all, you need to avoid pricing your home incorrectly. Doing so costs you a tremendous amount of money. Our market is so hot that an incorrect price causes you to spend three weeks on the market, which means your listing is going stale. If you do get any offers, they will start coming in lower and lower. Make sure you are priced accurately from the get-go to avoid this.  The second pitfall is using the wrong marketing strategy. Again, this could cause you to sit on the market and lose money. For example, you’ve probably heard a lot about multiple offers. However, multiple offers are only occurring in certain neighborhoods. If your property is unsuitable for the marketing strategy your agent proposes, you will sit on the market. We want to set you up with a plan that works for the neighborhood you are in.  If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation I’m here at an Agents’ Open House with two team members, Sunny Ahmad (my dad) and Heather Howe. Heather is our concierge, so if you’ve done business with us before, you’ve likely already interacted with her one way or another! Today, I’ll be discussing the benefits of hiring the Rene Team. Clients love our exclusive concierge service. If they have real estate questions, especially early in the process, Heather provides all the information they need. For instance, if you’re listing a home, and you’re wondering how to stage your bedroom, Heather helps you out with that! She has over 25 years of experience doing this, so it’s nice to have an expert on demand. My dad works best with negotiating for buyers and sellers alike. He’s great with the fine print you often overlook. Additionally, he’s been working in real estate industry for 30 years. We completed over 500 transactions in the last 20 years in a variety of different languages among clients with different nationalities and backgrounds. Plus, we have a highly active database to market listings to. If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in the Toronto market, give us a call or email today! We have over 75 years of combined experience. I look forward to hearing from you!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Call me at (905) 456-3232  for a FREE home buying or selling consultation Buying a home is not just about the money you spend up front. It's all about the rest of the money you need to spend beyond that. Before making an offer on a home, find out what the property taxes are, what the water bill might be, and what the standard electrical bill is in that home. Utilities differ from home to home, neighborhood to neighborhood, so it's crucial to factor in these costs ahead of time.  You also want to think about the kind of furnishing you plan on purchasing. You might need to purchase new appliances or furniture, depending on the house and the terms put down by the seller. These are things you need to investigate, as they'll contribute to the final cost of the home. If you would like guidance so you don't fall victim to the hidden costs often associated with the home buying process, please don't hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to hear from you!