Posted on: September 14th, 2021 by Chris Scott
If anyone is interested. Here are some random thoughts on a few things real estate and otherwise.
Capital Gains on Primary Residences?
This is not going to happen. I have been asked this a few times this past month. Governments want to get elected again and having 100% of homeowners against them will not help their chances. Could they increase the capital gains on investment properties or flipping. I believe that could be the case. But they will never come after our gains on our primary residence.
Changing Market
Sellers really need to start having better expectations of what they are going to get in this market. I recently priced out a house that may have gotten $1 million as a sale price in April. Right now, I’m seeing that it may be more like 925 to 950k. The seller seemed very disappointed at this number. This is a house that would’ve been worth 775 last year. I would still say it was a very good investment we are just not selling at the all-time high right now.
The Power of Staging
One of the hardest things to do as a real estate consultant is showing people the value of staging. It is hard because there is no clear return on investment. What I mean by that is when you do the staging there’s no set amount that you’re going to get back by doing it. It is all based on my experience as a realtor and seeing firsthand that home preparation is the number one way to increase what a client will get for their house. I spent $3000 staging my own house and Colin from our team spent over $2000 staging his home for sale. There is a reason we invested in this process.
Pandemic Fatigue
Anyone else feel that they need the world to go back to normal ASAP? In many ways, this Fall is hopefully going to bring some normalcy with kids back in school. For me as a business owner, team leader, realtor, friend, and most importantly father and husband it has been so difficult to feel like I am succeeding at any one of these important tasks. I feel like I’m doing OK but just not flourishing if you know what I mean. In many ways, I need to relearn the good habits that I had in place before covid started. Also, anyone else dressing a lot more casually? Lulu dress pants are now my go-to!
Current Favourites
The best snack mix going right now is the Cajun mix at Farm Boy, another favorite is Farm Boy’s chocolate-covered pretzels. A close second are Miss Vickie’s Spicy Dill Pickle chips. Anyone one else developing a snacking habit? We have snack-a-palooza’s at least twice a week.
Recent Reads
Right now, I am reading Greenlights by Mathew McConaughey. Good life story. It is funny and interesting. Alright, Alright, Alright!
Also, reading The Song of Achilles. So far so good.
Best of TV
Right now the best thing on TV are the Blue Jays! Loving the streak and playoff push.
Posted on: August 7th, 2020 by Chris Scott
I love my current home. My wife and I love our neighbourhood and the neighbours on our street. We always thought we would be here long term. How is it then, that in a global pandemic, we impulsively purchased a new home. To be quite honest I am still not sure. It happened so fast 🙂 We were not even looking. My wife literally looked at 2 houses and we put offers on both of them. What really got us was the idea of having a pool, privacy, and main floor office. Not sure we would be moving if it wasn’t for Covid-19. Also, nice to have something positive to look forward amongst so much anxiety and uncertainty. Are other people having similar feelings? I have got calls from clients that said Covid-19 has them revisiting what they really want in their home. Pools have all of a sudden become more important!
This is what sold us:
Now we just have to wait till 2021 to move in!
Buying in Hot 2020 and Selling in Uncertain 2021
The catch with our purchase is that we cannot move till next year because of the seller’s plans. They are building a house and it was delayed. It will be the longest resale closing of my real estate career! The waiting game is going to be painful. The challenging part financially is that we have purchased in a really hot market and will be selling in an uncertain 2021. I am a pragmatic person. I know next year our market will not be as good as our current market. How could it be, we are in the hottest market in a generation. I do believe next year will still be a good market. Our current supply shortage and strong demand are enough to sustain a seller’s position for at least the next 6-8 months. I am betting on it with my own house. If I am wrong I have plugged in all my numbers very conservatively. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. If we end up somewhere in the middle I will be happy.
The Emotions of a Buyer
It has been a great exercise going through the buying process again. It has really reminded me of how exciting the process is for buyers and all the emotions they are going through. Anyone else have buyers remorse the day after their purchase?? I did! Thankfully it was a very fleeting emotion. Buying a home is stressful, exciting, and consumes much of a person’s thoughts in the moments leading up to purchase and throughout the process. I totally get that and will make sure our team’s services are always making the process as seamless as possible for our clients.
Posted on: May 13th, 2020 by Chris Scott
There is no status quo right now in any industry. In real estate, we are pivoting and providing lots of unique options to our Ottawa selling clients. In this case, our clients chose our exclusive option. This allowed us to actively market the property but not have it on the MLS. The seller only wanted very qualified buyers coming through the house. We were able to control that better with our exclusive option. At the time of listing, there were also two end units available on their street (Barrick Hill). Both were the same floor plan. We wanted to wait until they cleared MLS to list ours. We had a very throughout listing strategy.
Through our marketing efforts, we found a buyer who wanted to see it. That buyers agent had them view the 3d tour we had online. The buyer was able to comfortably walk through the home from the comfort of their own. When they came through for their in-person viewing they already knew it was the right house for them. We got a full price offer the next day. Our offer was significantly higher than the other two eventual sales on the street (average of 18k higher). We sold off-market for top dollar with very little hassle. Who you work with on the sale of your home matters!
If you are thinking about selling your Ottawa home, please feel free to contact us. We would love a chance to talk to you about our enhanced marketing services.
“Absolutely outstanding service! I was reluctant to trust realtors again after having a terrible experience on the sale of my first home with another agent. Chris and the team really went above and beyond on both the selling and buying side. I can not recommend them enough!” – Seller of Barrick Hill
