Real estate Myths, Fact or Fiction?

Have you heard or been told things that you think "that doesn't seem right" in regards to Real Estate?

A home is likely the most expensive purchase you'll ever make. And the best way to protect yourself from costly mistakes is to go in with a solid understanding of all aspects of the home-buying process. Feel like you're swimming in misinformation?

Well lets look at a few of these "myths" and debunk them. Here is a list of the “Top Real Estate Myths.” There is no particular order. A typical consumer would not encounter all of these (and may not experience any of them) in a transaction. We could substitute many different “myths” for the list above. Some of these may surprise you, so there are general comments about each myth.

1. Experienced agents…

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What things Realtors should tell you....

The vast majority of successful real estate agents are true professionals who take the long view.

Their advice is in their clients' best interests. Some agents go further by being fully transparent when conflicts arise (which often do) and make certain they are fully disclosed to their clients.

Realtors live a conflicted life.

On the one hand, they are salespeople that only make money when their deal closes.

On the other hand, they are consultants. They advise buyers and sellers throughout the process, ideally giving clients advice that is disinterested from their own financial outcome.

Often, these two objectives are aligned and there is no issue. For example, a listing agent makes more money if he is able to sell a house for a higher…

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Considering Cash Offers When Selling A Home, Don’t Jump Too Fast

For many sellers, Cash is King.

Cash is a safe bet, and you don’t have to take your chances with a buyer who needs to jump through hoops to get a mortgage loan to buy your property. But is the cash offer always the right deal for your home sale?

The Appeal of Cash

The first thing you need to address when you receive an offer is how strong the home buyer is financially and how likely they are to close. A cash offer is always worth considering, because a failure to obtain financing is the main reason why deals fail to close. In the era of strict lending criteria, some buyers no longer qualify for a mortgage. In other scenarios, lenders quash the financing because the appraisal figure comes in lower than the purchase price. There’s no lender with a…

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What Does "Low Housing Inventory" Mean?

If you’re like many Canadians, you may still have a perspective of the real estate market influenced by media coverage of the 2008 crisis. However, real estate is always subject to cycles, especially around growing and expanding communities like Kamloops. The reality is this area is now facing a looming shortage of housing inventory. If your a buyer moving to the area it is key to find a local experienced realtor who can get you up to speed on your knowledge of Kamloops real estate market, its not all doom and gloom as we show in this article. IF you are a seller then the local "know-how" of a realtor is key in getting your house listed at the correct price with the best exposure possible.

From the Bank of Canada to local real estate firms, the level…

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Top Downsizing Strategies for Residential Real Estate

Downsizing has an upside when you are talking about purging your excess when you move to a smaller home. However, it still can feel like an insurmountable task if you are not careful to follow a few simple downsizing strategies.

Emotional Energy

Downsizing is an emotional journey. Perhaps that seems like a silly statement but consider all the items in your home are there because you liked them enough to bring them home. From clothes to kitchen utensils, every item in your home has a story. As you begin to downsize you re-live those stories. As you are working through your possessions, be careful to not take on too many negatively emotional tasks at once. However when you encounter those items start asking yourself if you really want to move those…

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Help with a negative equity home sale.

Need to sell a house underwater?  If you don’t know what this means then let me enlighten you. It means the house is not worth what you need to sell it for.

Maybe your job has just relocated you, a family member is sick, the neighborhood is declining. Whatever the reason is, you need to move, and you need to sell your house fast. You call up a realtor and they tell you all the things that you need to do to get it sold, such as cleaning up, painting the house and even what he believes it will sell for. But we have 1 problem…… The house is worth less than you paid for it. This does not mean that you made a mistake in buying the home, lots of other factors can combine to make this situation occur. In BC for example if you paid market value for a home and…

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The real estate math mistake we all make

Selling a paid-off home is pure profit, but our brains just don’t see it that way

Most financial choices boil down to simple math. Add up the gains, subtract the costs, and you should get a number that helps you draw a conclusion. Those numbers are particularly useful when trying to make a major life decision, such as whether or not to sell the family home.

Given how hot big city markets like Toronto are these days, the math would certainly make a compelling case to sell. Yet according to the April sales data from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), listings are down 27% year-over-year in the GTA. Despite brisk sales and skyrocketing prices, most homeowners living in semi-detached and detached homes are choosing to stay put. (A similar lack of…

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Cooling of Canada’s Hottest Real Estate Markets Delayed Again

July 13, 2016

Canada’s residential real estate market posts strongest growth in five years in the second quarter of 2016

Central bankers expected to keep interest rates lower for longer in light of Brexit and global uncertainty

TORONTO, July 13, 2016 – Canada’s residential real estate market continued to show strong appreciation in the second quarter of 2016, posting the highest national year-over-year gain seen in five years, according to the Royal LePage House Price Survey[1] and Market Survey Forecast released today.  Amid continued world economic uncertainty, the historically low interest rate environment that has fueled Canada’s real estate market growth in recent years – most notably in Greater Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) –…

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Owner Financing - What you need to know

5 Reasons to Offer Owner Financing

It seems a bit counter intuitive for someone who owns home to allow a buyer to pay over time for their property. After all, wouldn’t it be better to get all the money in one go thereby requiring the buyer to get financing from a bank? Well, sometimes it’s more lucrative for the seller to offer financing and here’s why:

1. Better Selling Price

In a buyer’s market, it can take a while for a property to sell, and once a home has been on the market for longer than 60 days,  real estate agents often encourage the seller to drop the price. To attract more interest, they make sure that all the marketing materials, including the For Sale sign, clearly show that the price has been reduced. However, instead of cutting the…

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Ten Ways To Know Your Home Is Overpriced

Pricing a Home For Sale

Overpricing a home is one of the biggest blunders in Real Estate. In fact when you overprice your home it is one of the hardest things to recover from even if you end up reducing later on down the road. After being in the Real Estate industry for the last twenty eight years it has become common place to see overpriced homes languish on the market. Pricing a home for sale properly is critical part of any successful real estate equation!

You see it so many times over and over by sellers who think their home is worth more than the next guy down the street. I suppose it is human nature for all of to think anything we own is better. Sometimes a seller’s misguided belief is fueled by some foolish Real Estate agent who has mislead…

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