How the MLS® Works

The latest Realtor.ca Insights Report was just released & inspired the topic for today's post.


First, let’s start with some messages I’ve received recently:

Thought you'd send cheaper places, I see all these on realtor.ca


Where is the rest of the information about this house


Where are the photos?


Maybe you’ve had similar thoughts & questions, so let’s talk about how the MLS® works:

Tales from the Trenches : Theft



Seriously!


A colleague recently posted in our realtor group about something that happened to their client who just purchased their home this summer...


Someone stole their central air conditioning unit! Cut the wires & hauled it away from the side of their house!


And they don't know exactly when it happened, because who's checking the air conditioning unit outside once it's turned off for the season?! Not me, that's for sure!


The more you know, the more you can protect yourself - share what you know & help protect others too!

 

Here's what I learned from the 55 responses in that thread that made me think that this was a good PSA to share:

Analyzing an Investment Property

I'm keeping today's post short & sweet, but it couldn't be a more important message! 


Prices have come down since we hit the peak of the market earlier this year & when you're investing you want to take your advantages when & where you can get them. A "down" market is certainly one of those times. And on the face of it, some of the lower prices look very attractive, BUT now more than ever it's important to know your numbers!


This summer for example, a client of mine was looking for an investment property with very specific parameters & after each showing we stood at my car, with my laptop on the hood of it, & plugged the numbers into a spreadsheet I designed for him, to see if the numbers made sense - FOR HIM & what he was trying to accomplish. In the end, none of them did. And that was an important exercise because there was more than 1 occasion where he was ready to move forward on a property until we really broke down the numbers.


Analyzing an investment property is more than just the purchase price & interest rate.

Part 3 - What Happens When A House Doesn't Close?

This is the 3rd installment in my series on What Happens When A House Doesn't Close - Part 1 detailed what happens when a Buyer breaches their contract & doesn't close & Part 2 is about how my Buyer clients benefitted from another Buyer's breached contract. Click through to catch up if you missed them! 


As I was researching & writing those first 2 posts in the series, I discovered that as the market was accelerating rapidly in 2020, 2021 & early 2022, some sellers were balking at closing because prices had risen so dramatically between the time that they sold their homes & when they were due to close...and they wanted in on that action - in other words, more money! None of my clients encountered that so it wasn't really on my radar screen...apparently it was happening back in 2017 as well, but again, not on my radar!



So what happens when a seller won't close?

What is an SPP?


In real estate speak this refers to a “condition” in an offer that makes the offer conditional on the Sale of the Purchaser’s Property (SPP) or Sale of Buyer's Property (SBP) which is the same thing. 


In a balanced or Buyers’ market this is a completely normal condition to include if you already own a home that you will need to sell before closing on a new property. Normal but not necessarily easy…

 

In a Sellers’ market, this kind of condition – or really including any kind of condition, can mean the kiss of death for your offer if you’re competing against an offer that doesn’t include that or other conditions…

 

When you’re including conditions in your offer, you’re writing them to YOUR benefit. The Seller is looking for an offer that benefits THEM. And that’s what  negotiations are for, to find terms that everyone can agree to…

 

So let’s break it down!

Insurance Issues You Should Care About!

 Is your HOME under-insured?


The price per square foot of a new build has increased dramatically over the past couple of years & often our insurance policies are not keeping up!


Regardless of where you are in the real estate space, this is an important topic to understand & take action on if needed.


First-Time Home Buyers – as you are arranging insurance coverage for your new purchase, ensure that you understand & ask how “replacement cost” is determined, “adequate limits” & “co-insurance penalties”


Homeowners Who Have Renovated – if you have “forced” appreciation on your home due to renovations then your replacement costs may have changed, depending on how your policy is written


Homeowners Who Have Re-financed to Pull Equity Out – make sure you don’t owe more than you are insured for


Homeowners/Investors Who Have Owned Their Home for a Long Time – has your “replacement cost” kept in step with market appreciation of your home

Property Values are Hyper-Local

 

-Local Matters-

I love getting questions & comments! And in the past month I've gotten a number of questions that follow the same theme...and that is, how does the selling price for a home in one area impact the value of a home in another area? Some of the homes in question are more than a hundred kilometers away from each other!

And the answer is that most likely it doesn't! It's not a relevant comparison because each area has it's own little eco-system when it comes to things like supply & demand, property values & more!

I'm sharing 1 comment & 1 question in today's post, one is more from the seller perspective & the other from the buyer's - & it's cut & paste directly from my email for the win!

The first one, a comment, came after updating someone on the selling price for a home in Wilmot Creek in Newcastle. I had noted how long it had taken to sell & the fact that the selling price was 86% of what they were hoping to get (given their original asking price). The response to this was:

Wow! I guess that will be impacting our sale too!


And my answer was as follows: 

Part 2 - What Happens When A House Doesn't Close?

This post was inspired by a home in Oshawa that sold firm in May of this year & was due to close in August - but didn't. In September it sold for $85,000 less than it had sold for in May.


In Part 1 I wrote about what happened when a client of mine breached his Agreement of Purchase & Sale back in 2017 as well as a rundown of all the things that COULD happen when a contract is breached -  in case you missed it, go back & read Part 1 HERE


Thalia & Melpomene   Comedy & Tragedy/Happy & Sad
(Sums up the 2 different client experiences I've written about in 1 handy dandy picture!)


I also mentioned how I had another client who benefitted from a breached contract, so we're going to use that as an example to show how a bad situation can turn into a good one for both a seller & a new buyer when that happens!

What Happens When A House Doesn't Close?

This is not a step-by-step guide per se, but rather some real life scenarios & how they did (or might) play out.


This post was inspired by a home in Oshawa that sold firm in May of this year & was due to close in August - but didn’t. In September it resold for $85,000 less than what it had sold for in May.