-
The Harvest Gold Fridge Dilemma
We have a house coming to market soon that was built in the early 2000s. At roughly 25 years old, it sits right at the point where many homes begin to split into two very different categories: updated… and dated. When people first move into a brand-new house, the first five years are usually busy…
|
-
What Would a Start-up Pay for Old Fashioned Experience?
If you’re not in the business of selling real estate, you probably missed the headline last week. A cloud-based brokerage with no offices—The Real Brokerage—acquired RE/MAX. Not a region. Not a handful of offices. The entire global network—roughly 145,000 agents. A year earlier, Compass absorbed Anywhere Real Estate, the parent company behind Coldwell Banker, Century…
|
-
One of These Homes Doesn’t Belong
There’s a Sesame Street song most of us can still hum. One of these things is not like the other… one of these things doesn’t belong. That same idea shows up in real estate more often than you’d think. Three properties crossed my desk recently. Similar price range. Same general market. Very different outcomes. The…
|
-
Motivation Is Not a Marketing Feature
Last week I saw a listing on MLS that made me do that slow head shake you do when something just feels… off. It also sent me back to something most people don’t realize realtors agree to follow: a formal Code of Ethics set out by RECO (the Real Estate Council of Ontario). In plain…
|
-
Thick Skin, Thin Takes, and Why Hoping for a Housing Crash Misses the Point
One thing I’ve learned from writing columns for local news outlets and contributing to blogs like this one is that a thick skin isn’t optional. If you put opinions into the wild, the wild writes back. Sometimes politely. Sometimes… less so. After a recent article, several comments landed in the familiar bucket of “I can’t…
|
-
2025: The Year that Politely Cross-Checked Canadians
2025 came in like a lion and went out like a blindfolded sheep trying to find warmth in a polar vortex.Not great. Not subtle. Like a very Canadian winter. A lot of the year’s energy got vacuumed straight out of the room by… well… everything: Basically, the news cycle spent the year on Red Bull.…
|
-
The Story of a $22M Power of Sale
Ontario’s housing market has a way of reminding us that no one—neither the family in a 900-square-foot bungalow nor the owner of a 14,000-square-foot estate—is immune to shifting economic weather. At the upper fringe of the market, past the three- and four-million-dollar mark, most of us assume life unfolds in a different financial atmosphere. The…
|
-
Thinking of Moving to Albuquerque? Or Nunavut? Or That Random Florida Swamp Your Aunt Forgot She Owned?
You’d be shocked how often I get calls that start with, “Hey… this is going to sound weird, but can you help me with… [insert wild location]?” Case in point: a past client casually drops into a conversation that she inherited “swamp land” in Florida. In a smug way I dig around, call a guy…
|
-
The Real Estate Market Runs on Espresso
Gas powers the car, sure—but let’s be honest: coffee powers the realtor. Without caffeine, offers don’t get written, deals don’t get negotiated, and nobody remembers which lockbox code works for that one listing in Whitby. Luckily, Durham Region has leveled up its coffee game. These cafés aren’t just refuel stations—they’re the new open houses of…
|
-
Buyers Are Waiting… But For What?
A recent survey revealed some fascinating clues about where our housing market is headed. In short: Buyers want to buy — just not right now. Here are the highlights: On paper, this sounds encouraging. But here’s the reality check: the average home price in Canada today is $687,000. A 20% down payment is a staggering…
|