Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

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Should I Worry About Moisture on Windows?

Friday, March 24th, 2017

You’re standing by your window admiring the view. Then you notice it. Moisture has built-up around the edges of the glass. Should you worry?

 It all depends on the reason for the buildup.  Assuming you have traditional double-pane glass in your windows, there are a few things to look for if you notice moisture.  Often, moisture at the bottom of the windows is simply caused by too much humidity in your indoor air. If that’s the case, simply adjust your humidifier.

If the moisture is on the exterior of the window, typically there’s also no problem with the window itself. It may have rained recently or the outside humidity may have spiked causing the accumulation. Generally, there’s no reason for concern.

However, if the moisture is in between the two panes of glass, the seal has broken and surrounding air – along with its water content – has made its way in. This disrupts the thermal barrier of the window, reducing its energy efficiency. In fact, the glass might feel noticeably colder than your other windows on chilly days. In that case, you’ll need to replace the pane.

 Similarly, if the moisture is coming in through only one spot — the bottom right corner, for example — then you might have a leak. If you have a wood frame or sill, you may also notice a growing water stain. It’s important to get leaks fixed quickly. There may be water damage occurring within the frame that you cannot see.

 

 

 

 

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Selling a Home in a Crowded Market

Friday, March 17th, 2017

When you’re about to sell your home, it may be disheartening to see so many other properties for sale in your neighbourhood. You may be thinking, “That’s a lot of competition! Will our property get noticed?”

 Fortunately, there are many proven strategies for standing out in a sea of For Sale signs.

First of all, keep in mind that many home purchasers come from the REALTOR’S personal network of buyers who want to move into your area. So, choosing the right REALTOR® is crucial.

Second, remember that when there are other properties for sale on your street, curb appeal becomes even more important. There are many simple things you can do to make your property look great to those driving around looking at homes. Make sure your property looks as picture perfect as possible.

In a competitive market, it’s also more important than ever to highlight features of your home that are unique and enticing. If, for example, you have a large backyard deck and brand new hardwood flooring, make sure these are mentioned prominently on the feature sheet.

Finally, be as flexible as you can be when scheduling viewings and open houses. Don’t forget that other listed properties in your neighbourhood draw in buyers, who may notice your home. It’s not uncommon for a buyer to view a property and then scout the neighborhood. So, you want buyers to be able to see your home on short notice and at a convenient time for them. If there are several other nearby properties for sale, it means things are hot from a real estate point of view. You want to roll out the red carpet to buyers.

Looking for help selling your Calgary home quickly and for the best price? Call today!

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Will an Open House Help Sell your Home?

Friday, March 10th, 2017

You’ve probably seen signs around the area for Open Houses. You may have even attended a few. These are open invitations for potential buyers to drop by on a certain day and time, to check out the property and get more information. When you’re listing your home for sale, you might wonder whether you’ll need to have an Open House.

To answer that question, you’ll need to consider the pros and cons. Planning and hosting an open house isn’t as easy as it may seem. There’s a lot of preparation involved. In addition, you’ll likely spend hours making your property look its best and you’ll need to be away from your home for a good part of that day.

That being said, an Open House has many advantages.

  • Open houses used to be advertised only by Realtor signs and attracted nosy neighbours but the world has changed. In Calgary open houses can now be advertised through our Realtor system and will get uploaded to Realtor.ca
  • Typically I find about 80% of my open house traffic saw the listing on Realtor.ca and came specifically to view that home.
  • It is important to note that open houses typically cater to the people who are in the beginning stages of their search and have not yet hired an agent to represent them.  If they are wowed by your home this often speeds up their buying timeline.
  • It helps showcase features of your property that may not come across well in advertisements and listing descriptions.
  • It attracts potential buyers who, for any number of reasons, might not otherwise call to view the home.
  • It generates a buzz and publicity about your listing.

When I get asked this question my answer is “Don’t know if it will help it sell your home but it certainly cannot hurt.  Having said that the final decision is always left up to the client.

PS: As I write this I can also tell you that last weekend I sold a home where the buyer was introduced to the home at an open house so it can work!

For more info on Open Houses contact us

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Important Things to “Fix Up” before Selling

Friday, March 10th, 2017

Why is this critical?

Home buyers do not typically know anything about repair costs so they pull a number out of the air making sure that number is high enough – their estimate is always high and usually extremely high.  An Example, and I see this everyday is – the carpet in your living room is badly worn, cost to replace might be $2000.00, many buyers will use a number like $10,000 and will deduct that from your list price. So it’s your choice invest $2000 up front for lose $10,000 off the sales price.

When you’re preparing your Calgary home for sale, it’s not unusual to need to fix up a few things around the property. After all, you want your home to look its best to buyers, so that you get good offers, quickly. The longer your home sits on the market the less it will sell for.

What do you need to fix?

Here are three categories that will help you create and prioritize your list

Anything that squeaks or creaks – Is there something in your home that makes a noise it shouldn’t be making? Perhaps it’s a rattling closet door or a creaking floor board? You may be so used to it you no longer notice the sound. But buyers will. Be sure to get those items fixed.

Anything that’s unsightly- You don’t have to make your home look perfect. However, things that are unsightly will likely get buyers’ attention. You want them to focus on the terrific features of your property, not the scuff on the wall.  Take a walk through your property, including the yard. Pretend you’re the buyer. Do you notice anything that doesn’t look good? If so, tidy it up, fix it up or replace it.

Anything that’s broken-  If there’s anything that needs repair — an outside tap that’s not working, or a sliding door that regularly careens off its runner — call the contractor or fix it yourself.

Getting these items fixed will go a long way toward making your home appealing to buyers.

If you are in need of some professional help we are happy to connect you with Calgary contractors our clients have been happy with. Contact us!

Want more tips on preparing your home for sale? Contact us today.

 

 

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Calgary Real Estate Market Forecast 2017

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

Every year the economist for the Calgary Real Estate Board put together a forecast for the agents.  Below is a summary of her predictions.  The full package gets into alot more detail about the Why looking at all the indicators that influence the market such as the Regional Economy, Energy Sector, Labour Market, Net Migration,Housing Market Activity, Rental Market, New Home Market & Resale Market.  For a full copy send me a request here.

CREB® forecasts a slow transition for housing in 2017

After a long period of economic downturn, Calgary’s housing market is expected to see some price stability in 2017, but not across all market segments and property types. Both detached and attached prices remain unchanged over 2016 levels, while apartment is forecasted to contract by another two per cent.

“The transition in the housing market will be a slow process,” said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. “We are entering the year with high unemployment rates and the possibility that job growth will not occur until the latter portion of 2017. These conditions will continue to weigh on housing demand, but supply is adjusting to weaker sales activity, which will eventually translate into price stability.”

City-wide sales are forecasted to total 18,335 units in 2017, a three per cent gain over 2016, but 12 per cent below long-term averages. This modest demand change will merge with declining listings and easing inventory in the new home market to support more balanced conditions and prevent further downward pressure on prices.

“This year is about moving away from extremely challenging conditions,” said 2017 CREB®president David P. Brown. “The transition is going to take some time, which means sellers need to stick with the fundamentals of pricing their homes correctly against other comparable product in the market. There’s still lots of choice out there for buyers, but major price declines are unlikely in most segments.”

Alberta’s economy was much softer than many predicted over the past two years, as prolonged weakness in energy weighed on other sectors of the economy, including housing. Since the start of the downturn in late 2014, price adjustments have ranged from a low of nearly five per cent in the detached sector, to a high of 11 per cent in the apartment sector. The amount of price change between these different areas of the market was based on how much oversupply there was in each sector at any given time.

Our housing market is moving toward a new equilibrium, but that shift is heavily dependent on stability in the energy sector and overall labour markets. There is also considerable risk from recent government policy changes that could derail expected gains in the second half of 2017. It’s a new outlook this year, but the market risks shouldn’t be overlooked.

For the entire CREB® forecast, contact me.

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The #1 Investing Mistake – Fighting Your Emotions

Monday, November 21st, 2016

Try an experiment. Pick a stock, a business venture, a real estate area, or another kind of investment and ask your friends and family what they think about it. What do you think will happen? We are willing to bet you will get as many different answers (or at least variations of answers), as the number of people that you ask. The question is: Why?

Where Do Our Emotions Come From?

Everyone has past experiences that shape the way they view the world today. Without delving deep into the psychological, everyone carries emotional baggage attached to the events that have occurred at previous times in their life. This is unavoidable; however, the key is to recognize the facts from your own jaded perception.

If someone heard their parents warn them about a potential real estate crash (similar to that in the 1980’s), and never looked deeper into it, then it is likely they will avoid real estate investments. If someone read an article in the paper about a murder in a certain area of town, they may feel the area is dangerous. Had that same person never been subjected to these stories, they would likely never have had any fear attached to real estate, or a particular area of town.

The Origin of Fear

We are actually only born with two natural fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. But what does this mean for all of the other fears we have? Every other fear in our life has been learned and taught to us. Someone with different experiences will have completely different fears. How do we know if something is dangerous or should be feared?

Think back to some of the fears you may have: spiders, snakes, etc? Or maybe things a little more pertinent: bankruptcy, certain areas of town, technology stocks (especially after 2001), etc? What do we have to believe to feel these fears? Chances are our fears are based on a small piece of information we gained in the past. We have now spent our lives focusing on supporting evidence for this fear and perhaps overlooked real, refuting evidence.

Your Emotions’ Role in Investing

Since emotions and fear are based on “hearsay” and false evidence that seems real, and not on facts and fundamentals… they have no place in investing. It is impossible to make an unbiased investment decision when emotions rule the basis of that decision.

Investing out of emotion and not fundamentals is the #1 investment mistake.

Fear is not the only emotion to be careful of. If you are choosing a place to invest because you grew up there or because it is close to your home, or you think the house is cute, or worse yet, because your parents told you too . . . Be Wary.

Fundamentals vs. Emotions

Investing fundamentals are based on objective, unchanging, non-deviating facts, whereas emotions are based on . . . well . . . very little, if any facts. If your research and due diligence meets the criteria, and is in line with your ultimate goal, then make the investment. However, if you are basing your decision on the past advice of a friend or relative that no longer applies to a marketplace, then run away until you can get the facts straight. You want undeniable, measurable facts.

Real Estate Fundamentals

If a city is growing in income level & population, the development in the area is starting to take off, the price to income ratios are low, vacancy is low, interest rates are low, unemployment is low, and prices have begun to climb after a plateau . . . then invest. If an area is beginning to redevelop (i.e. new buildings) with a few projects and things are starting to clean up, where traditionally this has been a “tough” area of town, then invest and ignore the fear.

There are lots of economic indicators that will make a particular city (or area) a good place to invest in real estate. These indicators are what you need to make your investment decisions based upon. If the type of transaction fits into your portfolio (flip, wrap, lease option, joint venture, cash flow, etc.) and will help you meet your goals, then the decision is unquestionable.

The Boring Side of Investing

After you have done 1 or 2 transactions, real estate investing should become boring. It is a mindless game. Either the fundamentals are there, or they’re not. The numbers work or they don’t. You don’t care what the house looks like, where it is located, or what nationality is prevalent in the area. The only thing you care about is this: Are the facts good and will it help me reach my goal? Investing in real estate is a mindless process that can be repeated over and over.

The fun of real estate investing is rising above your fears & emotions, and enjoying your wealthy retirement as a result.

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The 5 Reasons Homes Don’t Sell

Friday, November 18th, 2016

Most people believe there are lots of reasons why a home doesn’t sell. However, there are actually only five. If you address these five common mistakes, then you will never have a problem getting your home sold.

Over Pricing and Speculating

We all wish we could ask whatever we wanted for our homes, but unfortunately price is set by comparable properties and market conditions. If you are priced above either of these, then your home will sit for a long time.

Looking at the price of homes currently listed for sale in your neighborhood only tells part of the story. You must research how much homes are actually selling for, and price your home accordingly. Your home will only sell for what buyers are willing to pay for it.

Exposure

Even a well priced property can’t sell, if no one knows about it. If you are not marketing your home where the buyers are looking, then you will not sell it. The greater the percentage of your target market that sees your home, the better chance you have of selling.

More and more, people are using the Internet as their primary source of research. Be sure your home is easy to find in the most common places that people look.

Poor Marketing

You have to make buyers WANT to look at your home. If your marketing makes your property look like every other listing, then you are simply “rolling the dice” and hoping for the best. Is your marketing truly compelling?

A great question to ask is… Why should someone buy my home, versus any other home in the neighborhood or city? If you don’t believe that you have a compelling reason, then the buyer won’t either.

Presentation

So now you’ve got someone to look at your home, but it’s a mess, smells bad, or simply shows poorly. If a buyer doesn’t feel comfortable in your home, you can forget about the sale.

If you can, don’t be around during showings, keep the house clean, and do some research on staging your home for selling. A small investment can make, or save you thousands.

Lack of Buyer Confidence

Purchases fall through every day, because sellers cannot confidently answer the buyer’s questions, provide accurate paperwork, or verify important details. If you are not organized before you sell, then you may watch all of your hard work go to waste, as a potential buyer walks away due to a lack of confidence.

Do Your Homework

You need to be very realistic with your goals when you are selling and you must do your homework. As the marketplace changes, so must your strategy. Too many people spend thousands of dollars, hours of their time (not to mention stress) and miss the best opportunities to sell because they don’t have the proper information to make a sale possible.

“Get the advice of experts when you can.”

Gather all of the information that you need and get the advice of experts when you can. At the end of the day, hiring a professional to ensure your sale is handled properly may be one of the best investments you can make.

For a free home consultation contact us. 

 

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10 Ways to Get Your House in Tip Top Shape Prior to Selling It! And Maximize the Most Income!

Monday, November 14th, 2016

Many people want to know what the secret is to getting the most out of their real estate and to appeal most consumers looking for real estate today.  This report will guide you through doing many of those things to help get the most dollars when selling your property.

  1.     Paint the interior!  Most buyers appreciate a good fresh coat of paint and this will help enhance your properties value.  It will also help brighten your rooms giving a new clean                       appearance.  Stay away from bold and bright colors and focus more on lighter and softer earth tone shades.  This will also help make the rooms feel larger and appeal to a bigger group of         potential buyers.
  2.     Paint the outside!   Curb appeal is important and there is nothing worse for area estate professional to try and market a home that has peeling paint or is in desperate need of painting.         Of course depending on the time of year and the weather conditions if you can paint but if at all possible paint the exterior.  As noted with the interior suggestion of using soft lighter                 neutral colors do the same for painting the outside of your home.  Stay away from bright colors that others may not like.
  3.     Pick Up Any Outside Debris, Trash or Clutter!  First impressions make a huge impact on potential buyers.  Should your property have unwanted clutter at the initial greeting to               consumers when your property is shown, it will not help in the marketing and selling of your home.  A few hard hours of raking cleaning and picking up odds and ends could add                         “thousands” to the sales price of your home.
  4.     Reduce Extras and Odds and Ends From Your Home!  Rooms with too much furniture or decorations can often detract from the showing of your home.  Usually too much décor           can make the rooms look smaller and hurt your chances of selling your home.  Store unneeded furniture or items that you can do without during the marketing stage of your property               listing.  Your goal is to make your property look spacious and comfortable.  Buyers also want to see rooms that appear and look spacious to them.
  5.     Be sure and Open Blinds and Draperies!  This is a great idea to help aid the salesperson sell your home.  When your property is in tip top share and ready to show having as much            light as possible helps brighten your home and give it a good feel.
  6.     Avoid Playing Music!  Although you may like the music playing in the background it can be a deterrent to the agent and buyers while looking at your home.  Keep music off while your         home is being shown.
  7.     Price Your Property Right from the Beginning!  Many buyers take the approach and attitude that they can always come down on price.  This can be a bad thing to do.  Many buyers       feel if a home has been listed for a long time that there is something wrong with it.  Most agents will tell you that the best activity occurs during the first two to three weeks of the listing             begin date.  After a few weeks the activity will begin to taper off and showings will cease.  If your home is priced incorrectly from the beginning it will not get a lot of showings and the                 longer your home is on the market the more buyers will feel that it’s tainted or something’s wrong.  Price your home right at the beginning to help get the most activity and a quicker sale.
  8.     Have Your Carpets Cleaned!  It’s a good idea to have your carpets cleaned or your hardwood floors polished or waxed.  This is normally not too expensive and can usually add a lot of         appeal to potential buyers.
  9.     Hire a Staging Company!  If possible hire a staging company to help show you ways to maximize room appeal and value to your residence.  Many real estate firms have a staging                   company or people on staff who can aid in this service.  Feel free to ask me about how I can help with staging too.

      10.  Purchase New Linens and Towels for Bathrooms!  This can help aid in giving a new appearance to your bathrooms.

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Joint Venture Explanation

Monday, November 14th, 2016

Brief Explanation

The Joint Venture is by far the most powerful business concept ever conceived. The ability of two or more people to pool their resources together (money, time, skills, etc) to achieve a greater goal, has been the hallmark of the world’s most successful companies and business ventures.

The joint venture’s application to real estate is absolutely natural, and has allowed hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people to accelerate and multiply their results.

Two or more people with a common goal (typically financial) get together and offer each other their resources. One partner may offer their time and services, whereas the other may front the money for the transaction. Since the active partner (time and service) may not have the money, and the investing partner (the source of financing) may not have the time or expertise, both parties are required to successfully bring a transaction together.

An agreement between the two partners is formed. The nature of this agreement is truly mutually beneficial to both parties and huge rewards can be realized.

The Benefits

Investing Partners

  •         Higher ROI
  •         Increased Investment Possibilities
  •         Passive Income
  •         No Time Commitment
  •         Opportunity to Diversify Portfolio
  •         Increased Net Worth
  •         Minimized Risk Due to Investment Nature
  •         Proven Systems and Clear Cut Agreements
  •         Opens the Door to Otherwise Unavailable Investments

Active Partners

  •         No Money Required
  •         Infinitely Repeatable
  •         Increased Net Worth
  •         Minimized Risk Due to Investment Nature
  •         Unlimited Purchase Power
  •         Monthly Cash Flow
  •         Leverage Your Time
  •         Proven Systems and Clear Cut Agreements
  •         Opens the Door to Otherwise Unavailable Investments

How It Works

Once the partners agree to work together, it is time to figure out how the details of the arrangement will unfold. It is important to note that there are no concrete laws involved in determining how the terms of this agreement will look, however, we recommend looking at past successful models for guidance. This is what will be discussed here.

A common joint venture agreement is between two parties. One person has some money to invest, however, maybe not the time or desire to properly manage a real estate investment, and usually also lacks the specific skills necessary to acquire, maintain and properly assess such a venture. The second partner may not wish to front any money, however, has the time, wherewithal and commitment to appropriately acquire, maintain and assess the value of a property.

In this arrangement, the investor typically fronts all of the required money and the active partner contributes their time, effort and skills respectively. The investor will cut a cheque, and the active partner will find the property and take care of everything else. Since both parties are equally important, the ownership is divided up 50/50.

Each party will split the income from the property equally after the investor receives their initial investment back. This means that there will be a return of the investment and a return on the investment.

There are three ways you will make money. First, is through the equity that comes from the mortgage being paid down. This has nothing to do with the investor’s down payment, but is the amount that is paid down after possession is taken. Second, is through the cash flow that occurs if the property is rented and the amount of rent collected each month exceeds the monthly expenses (typically paid out quarterly). Finally, the appreciation that is gained as the property increases in value.

A Quick Example:

A property is purchased for $250,000 and the investor fronts $65,000 for the down payment and initial costs. Rents are collected and there is $200.00 per month positive cash flow. Meanwhile, the mortgage is paid down $4000 per year. After 3 years, the property is now valued at $330,000 dollars and you decide to sell.

Here is the simple break down (not including selling costs):

The investor would get back their $65,000 initial investment

Income from Cash flow: $7,200

Amount of Equity Paid Down: $12,000

Income from Appreciation:  $80,000

Total Income: $99,200

50% share to each partner: $49,100

ROI for the investor: 25% annually or 76% overall

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Building Your Real Estate Investment Team

Monday, November 7th, 2016

Whether you like it or not, you can’t do it all by yourself. Investing in real estate requires many different professionals. There are REALTOR®s, appraisers, inspectors, builders, renovators, mortgage companies, banks, property managers, lawyers, partners, accountants, sign companies, printing companies and yes even mentors, buyers, sellers and tenants. I have heard in business that you are only as good as your weakest link. I want to suggest that you choose your real estate investment team carefully. You may even want to go as far as interviewing your team players.

After all, this is a business and the dollar amounts can be substantial, so you want to make sure that your team members have the same morals, ethics, business philosophy and complimentary personality to you. This is not to say that you will not make some mistakes and/or changes along the way, but when you start out with a list of the qualities that you are looking for in your team, it makes the decision-making process much easier. Yes, I did say qualities, and not experience or education. It’s easy to find someone who knows the business or has experience, but it can be a challenge to find the right qualities and personality to match you and your goals.

I would start my search by seeking a referral from someone who is already in the business and is successful. Make sure you know the person you are asking for the referral from, well enough to know that you will be well received when you contact whomever they referred. Notice that I indicated that you seek a referral from someone who is not only in the business, but is “successful”.

It doesn’t do any good to contact a banker for a line of credit when you have been referred by someone the banker just turned down, nor does it look good to contact a REALTOR® referred from someone who just backed out of the last deal they had under contract. I think it is only appropriate to note here, that if you are making a referral to someone who is building their team, make sure you know a little about this person as well. It doesn’t help you to refer someone to your banker, who just got out of bankruptcy and has a history of shady deals. Protect your reputation.

Once you establish your team players, you should be loyal to them. Let me give you an example. Who are you going to call when you find a listing online or another REALTOR®’s listing while driving the neighborhood? Most people would say I would call the listing agent. I used to do the same thing. Let me suggest you call your team player and let them go to work for you.

If you call the listing agent and buy the house, it may be the only sale you give that REALTOR® this year. By calling your REALTOR®, that closed 30 transactions for you last year, they will go to bat for you to get you the price and terms that they already know you are looking for. Not to mention the fact, that you will be the one they call when they find an awesome deal that fits your model. Trust me on this, as I know from experience.

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