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Home Inspections – Yay or Nay?
Over the years I have heard clients swear they would never buy a home without an inspection and other people share that they think inspections are a waste of money. What is the truth about home inspections? Let’s start with the good and bad. I will surmise that 95% of home inspections end up with…
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How does a 145% return sound?
The kids are (finally) back to school and the parents are looking at this yearly event as a bittersweet one. It means that summer is coming to an end and their time can be spent more focused on work and in many cases planning a change of addresses. The times people plan to move seem…
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5 Hacks on Winning in a Real Estate Bidding War
Picture this, a home hits the market and the agent is holding off on offers to a Sunday at 6 hoping to create a bidding contest. Within 24 hours a “bully offer” was submitted on the property. (Bully offers are offers where a Buyer submits an offer before the presentation date hoping to get in…
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How has Luxury Changed for Home Pricing in Durham Region?
Looking into what we consider “luxury homes” in 2024 I find it fascinating to review what is luxury today and what was luxury just a few years ago. Let’s revisit the past. It was February 2022, and we were in the midst of a heated market. Coming out of the pandemic, people were taking advantage…
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The Home with the ’12-Carat Gold’ Nails
There is a joke between realtors when it comes to a home that is listed for sale dramatically higher than it’s market value. We joke that is must have “gold nails.” Even in a market when most of what is listed for sale is selling there is always that one home, and we ran into…
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Shop Local. Where People Go for Real Estate Information on Durham Region
I understand why many people are confused about Real Estate in Ontario. A quick Google search titled “Real Estate News Ontario 2024” returned a list of responses, and as confusing as they are here are some of the top picks. It is apparent that finding information about the Real Estate market is a challenge, especially…
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Tenants Bill of Rights – Hot Air or Help?
Recently our federal Government has announced they are in the process of creating what they are calling the “Tenants Bill of Rights.” Let’s dig into this and determine if it is going to be a benefit for renters or just political folly. A quick background on rentals in Ontario reveals a bleak picture. If we…
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Reflections on a Turbulent Year
2023 is now a closed chapter in Real Estate history books. It was quite the year. If we ponder where we were a year ago, homes selling with conditions returned, the average home in Oshawa, Whitby and Clarington sold for asking price and in January, 260 homes in total sold. Detached homes in Oshawa started…
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A broken clock is right twice a day
Let’s take a “stab” at where the market will be at the end of the spring market in 2024. Spring in Real Estate tends to end about the time the tulips are breaking ground… so around the first of May. Here is what detached homes are selling for currently: Durham Region – $988,000 Oshawa –…
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Tortoise and Hare
Sometimes by slowing down, you get more than you dreamed of. Last week we had a very interesting story unfold. We placed a property on the market at an asking price of $850,000. The same model had sold for $820,000 at the end of 2022, so with the market a bit higher currently our target…
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