Welcome to Canadian Real Estate, Housing & Home – I’m Steve Fudge!
Today I’m sharing one of my recent blogs from my site Urbaneer.com about the challenges realtors are now facing as Torontonians collectively navigate a real estate market where – over the past two years – its core dynamics have been in major flux.
Read on!
February 2024
Toronto Real Estate 2000 To 2022
Since 2000, the Toronto real estate market has seen price escalations for 22 years except for two brief periods. The first was in 2008 when real estate values in the original City flatlined for a month during the US Subprime Mortgage Crisis. The second occurred in 2017 when the Provincial Liberal Government introduced a policy intervention called the Fair Housing Plan which effectively cooled the downtown housing market for four months (*generally the suburbs suffer longer because of the homogeneity of the housing stock and Buyer profiles). Beyond those blips on the housing price chart, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) from 2000 to 2022 the average home price in Toronto climbed from $243,255 to $1,190,749 – fueled by the voracious appetites of end-users, flippers, foreign buyers, Banks of Mom & Dad, investors, REITS, money launderers, Pension Funds, and speculators constantly competing in blind bidding wars. That’s a jaw-dropping increase of 489%.
In 2021, the Bank of Canada was becoming alarmed by the pace of inflation which in 2022 surged to a four-decade high. Driven by COVID-19 disruptions, supply chain bottlenecks, and rising energy prices, given the mandate of the BoC is to keep inflation stable and predictable, they began raising interest rates in March 2022 – implementing 10 rate increases totaling 475 basis points over 16 months – in what would turn out to be the most rapid tightening cycle in Canada’s history. The byproduct of this was significant. The BoC effectively removed the key from the ignition of Canada’s asset-based economy. After firing on all cylinders since 2000 the shelter economy was disengaged. Within weeks its momentum dragged and our once scorching hot real estate market became tepid. Since then, there are occasions it sputters and even idles.
This became clear when the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board’s (TRREB) MLS® System reported only 65,982 home sales in 2023. That’s fewer sales than there are TRREB member realtors which number around 73,000, and a steep decline from the 2021 sales record of 121,639. Incidentally, the last time Toronto home sales were that few was in the year 2000 when Toronto’s population was two-thirds the size it is now.
This shift has been difficult to process, particularly for an entire generation of Torontonians who have never known a market shock. Dazed in disbelief, many are hanging onto their purse strings by a thread, hoping they can extract their original investment should the bidding wars return this spring. Although there will be bidding wars, in some areas and for some dwelling types, this doesn’t mean prices will imminently climb back to 2021/2022 levels nor does it change the optics that we’re just two years into a correction that will last at least four, if not longer.
How do I know it will be at least four years for the Toronto real estate market to recover? I’m relying on foresight. And the prediction the Bank of Canada will keep mortgage interest rates at 4.5% or higher for the better part of this year. If this occurs, when you look at the number of mortgages coming up for renewal and the number of pre-construction projects that are scheduled to close in the next two years and the difference in the interest rates at the time the of Purchase compared to now it’s unrealistic to believe there will be no financial casualties. When you pair the fundamentals of interest rates with the affordability of end users, and when you remove the promise of resale riches to the pool of investors who justify negative carry, it’s pretty clear the math doesn’t work if you’re a speculator rational prudent educated consumer. I’m also relying on experience. Having met many homeowners who defaulted on their mortgages after the real estate bubble burst in 1989, the experience taught me that it’s the human condition to ignore the sky is falling – even when it’s falling on you.
My Roller Coaster Career
In 1989 I was a newly-licensed, fresh-faced realtor who had no idea I would see Toronto real estate values decline by as much as 35% over the next 6 years with prices flatlining for a further 4 before the property market began its slow phoenix-like recovery. As Toronto suffered the agony of its crumbling real estate market, the whole country was being crushed by austerity measures, high inflation, high unemployment, high interest rates, and higher taxes. Yup, GST was introduced in 1991.
Times were tough for all Canadians, but it seemed as if Torontonians had it worse. It was definitely the case for folks who purchased Toronto real estate at the peak of the market in the late 1980s. If those homebuyers managed to avoid selling their property under financial duress or defaulting on their mortgage, it took about 12 years for property prices to return within range of the sums they originally paid. Imagine, after 12 years not even recovering your buying and selling costs! Nuts, right? Or is it? The answer to this depends on whether you view your shelter as a ‘home’ or if you consider your property to be an ‘investment’. Regardless, for some sobering examples using recent listings (and to hear your own audible gasp when you see the prices during that time) check out my post –> Toronto Real Estate Then & Now: The Lost Decade Of The 1990s.
When people tell you they started their career at the bottom and worked their way up, why does it seem as if their first job was always in a mail room? Not me. But when I’m asked to describe my real estate start I say: “Picture yourself getting onto a roller coaster for the first time. You’re keen to become familiar with the mechanics of operations, not knowing – as you unwittingly crest the market peak – the ride has overheated and it’s become detached. At this elevated height, the sheer force and momentum of the ride untethers people, properties and prices as it pummels to the bottom. You do your best to hang on, keep your focus, until it eventually grinds to a halt. You’re alarmed, exhilarated, overwhelmed and relieved you stayed the course. And because this was your first time on a roller coaster, you believe this is just the way every ride is”.
As challenging as those years in the real estate trenches were, I learned how to competitively stick-handle the real estate play in a Buyers’ Market without compromising integrity, or ethics. I cultivated excellence in pricing, processing & negotiation. I excelled in crafting lifestyle marketing and shelter promotions to target niche markets. I completed my Graduate Degree in Environmental Studies, and embarked on the concept, sales and marketing of $50,000,000 worth of loft conversions and new condo developments. And I found my calling is in the service of others, helping people from all walks of life navigate the stress and unknowing of closing one door to open another for any number of reasons or circumstances.
I’m sharing this not to give myself a self-congratulatory pat on the back, but to opine that the Toronto real estate market completed a full cycle starting with its peak in 1989 through to the peak in 2021 / 2022. Although lovers of roller coasters know every ride is different, what if you don’t love, or even like, roller coasters? Either way I’m your guy. I’m the realtor who can hold your hand if you need it while we weather the peaks and valleys of the market. I will Get The Ideal Deal Done. I promise I’ve got your back.
Real Estate Is Flipping In An Upside Down Backwards Way
Did you know that not only is the real estate market in flux (think air turbulence on a Boeing 737 Max 9 with a missing door plug) – but as Sellers lose control and Buyers gain altitude to varying degrees in our market – the dynamic of real estate is flipping in an unfamiliar upside down backwards way. Think about it. The script has gone from a Sellers’ Market to a Buyers’ Market which has inverse interests and motivations. This sudden, unexpected and rather dramatic turn of events is changing the playing field.
Furthermore, it’s worth mentioning that those who have been selling Toronto real estate for 25 years or less have never worked for any length of time in such unpredictable (and some would say unfavourable) market conditions as these. Until the BoC started quantitative tightening, only around 3 out of every 100 members of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board had operated in conditions other than a Sellers’ Market, meaning that the definition of a Buyer Broker’s success for over 2 decades was ultimately the speed they could unlock doors and submit Offers with large deposits and no conditions for the highest sum their Buyers could spend. How many of TRREB’s 73,000 realtors can advocate and negotiate effectively on behalf of Buyer clients today if the opportunities have rarely been afforded – through no fault of their own?
It’s A Different Market, Folks!
With our current market conditions unpredictable, there’s no assurance your property will sell quickly for the sum you want. In a hot market, the owner would vacate, the property would be staged, and a bidding war would result in a firm and binding sale within 10 to 21 days, at which point the owner would move back in until the closing date. Frequently the total number of offer submissions and their contents revealed the temperature of the market for that location and dwelling type, and served as indicators for the broader market at large.
Unfortunately, the Toronto real estate market is no longer scorching hot. A bidding war is no longer a certainty, nor that a property will be sold within 30 days. But there are a whole lotta realtors still selling Sellers on their ‘tried and true’ program saying it will result in the highest value possible in our current market conditions. If they do I’m telling you they’re either lying, they’re inexperienced or they’re being very careful with their choice of words. I’ll tell you why with an example in a moment.
For 2 decades, Sellers and their realtors accomplished this using the List Low Holdback Approach, which is when a Seller offers their property at an attractive below-market price and sets an Offer Date for interested parties to submit bids. The objective is that on the Offer Date, more than one Buyer will compete for the property and drive the price to the top end of market value. For this to be successful, there must be two key factors in alignment:
- It requires the supply of similar dwellings in location, condition, size, and price point to be significantly fewer than there are qualified, interested, and willing Buyers prepared to blindly compete against each other.
- It also requires sufficient momentum in the market for Buyers to be confident that the appraisal their lender conducts will align with the premium they’re paying.
These conditions were pretty much prevalent in Toronto for two decades until March 2020 when the Bank of Canada began increasing interest rates to control inflation. Since then our market has been like a spinning top losing its momentum, making it wonky and extremely unpredictable. You may have been reading headlines about Buyers of pre-construction condos walking away from deposits of hundreds of thousands of dollars, power of sales that are listed for $1,800,000 less than their original asking price and still not selling after a month on the market, or the spontaneous combustion of dozens of new homes nearing completion across the GTA that are likely occurring because the Buyers can’t close on their purchase.
Do Desperate Sellers & Power Of Sales Have An Immediate Impact In A Shifting Market?
On the topic of those who have found themselves unable to carry their mortgage, we’ve consequently been seeing more homeowners needing to sell their property as quickly as possible (not necessarily for the highest and best price), and more properties coming to market Power Of Sale. One question being asked of late is the degree to which sales that occurred under financial duress will impact the value of similar properties located nearby. There are a lot of mitigating factors that come into play with each particular sale and, while I am hesitant to make generalizations, there are some basic truths.
First, in Ontario, when an owner defaults on their mortgage a lender is more likely to initiate a Power Of Sale because it does not require the use of the court system, making it typically a much faster process. When this happens the lender initiating the Power Of Sale is obliged to sell the property for the highest price they can get. Funds from the sale go towards wiping off the entire debt slate including the outstanding mortgage balance, interest arrears, and any commissions. When all default payments and fees have been covered, the homeowner gets whatever funds are left, if any, and the lender keeps title until it is transferred in ‘as-is where-is condition’ to the Buyer.
When a Seller under financial duress sells their property, more often than not the standard warranties in the Agreement of Purchase & Sale remain, like the Urea Formaldehyde clause warranting that the property does not contain this type of insulation which is considered a hazard. Given a property with some warranties versus one with none should be accorded a higher value, this is a consideration when looking at a property being sold under financial duress.
As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, in the original City of Toronto there is more heterogeneity in the housing stock than there is in the suburbs because more time has passed since the original dwellings were constructed. In other words, older established neighbourhoods have more properties that have been upgraded, enlarged, substantially renovated, or replaced entirely, which reduces the number of direct comparable sales making it harder to peg value. Alternatively, suburban housing stock tends to be more consistent because it’s newer and, typically, comprises a specific number of dwelling types with a limited selection of floor plans constructed over a larger geography. In many ways, a newer suburb is like a high-rise condo tipped on its side with each unit becoming an independent dwelling, being a townhouse, a semi, or detached. As a result, the more homogeneity in a geography – like a suburb or a large urban site that has been redeveloped in recent decades – the easier it is to peg a value because one can ascribe more similarities.
Keeping this in mind, in the freehold market the first sale of a similar property in proximity to an owner does not, in my opinion, have an immediate impact unless it’s on the same street in which a listing realtor would have their work cut out for them to demonstrate the differences. Nor does the second sale in my opinion, unless it is located closer to the owner’s property than the first one. But once the third sale is posted on MLS within the same quadrant or suburb it starts to muddy the waters because it implies a pattern.
In the condominium market, the impact can be much more immediate and hard-hitting. It will bite the most, say, in a high-density investor-owned tower like the ones in CityPlace and less so in the boutique owner-occupied buildings sprinkled across the original city in one of the many urban village neighbourhoods where the pool of product is much smaller and usually less rare to market. In the condo high-rise with hundreds of units, where 10 to 20 units may be listed for sale at any given time, a unit that sells for a substantial discount directly and immediately impacts all the similar units in the building, whether by having the same unit number (say, all the ’03’ units), or units with a similar square footage. As I’ve written before, in a high-rise condo your resale value is always dictated by the most desperate of Sellers which is why I recommend buying in mid-rise buildings in desirable locations where there are fewer units. Scarcity will serve you in all market conditions.
Are We Regressing From Strategic Bidding To Real Estate Roulette?
Although the downtown core generally isn’t seeing price adjustments like the suburbs, what has been both fascinating and disconcerting is how different each micro-market has been oscillating uniquely, often changing week to week. It’s really inconsistent. By and large, small condos are suffering because more investors and first-time Buyers are sitting on the sidelines and there’s a larger pool of product to choose from, while larger condos with terraces can go into competition as downsizing boomers lock down space to age in place and fewer of these come to market. But what’s hot and what’s not can flip like a light switch. Some weeks a flurry of unremarkable small condos will sell while an eye-catching penthouse will sit. Even one of the strongest markets – high-ratio first-time Buyers seeking a renovated family-friendly house in a downtown neighbourhood – can suddenly go crickets.
This was the circumstance last September when we listed a renovated 3-bedroom semi-detached house with a laneway garage in Leslieville. The market was so quiet our List Low price of $899,000 only compelled one Buyer to submit a bid on the Offer Date. While our Seller hoped for $1,000,000, this Buyer offered $910,000. Although the cooperating broker was pushing us to push our Seller to accept, saying “it’s going to get much worse”, we knew we could do better. The Offer was rejected and we subsequently relisted the property for a higher sum. We also advised our Seller to be patient and stay the course.
They say patience is a virtue. But it can also be stressful for many realtors and most Sellers. In the case of our listing in Leslieville, after 28 days we suggested our Seller relist the property a second time repeating the same List Low Holdback Approach. Our Seller agreed, and this time four Buyers ponied up offers and the property sold for $1,060,000. This sum was $150,000 more than the offer a month earlier. It was also an amount that surpassed our client’s expectations. So what happened? Did his house suddenly jump $150,000 in value over that month?
Nope.
Maybe Your Buyer Has Yet To Cross Your Threshold
This is important for Sellers to understand.
Every day new sets of Buyers enter the market. Their desires, willingness to act, and purchasing power will be different. How they weigh their criteria, rank a dwelling according to their wishes, wants, and hierarchy of needs, and process what features are most important – spanning the pragmatic to the personal – will also be different.
To illustrate this, here is a selection of different considerations Buyers may consider when looking to purchase real estate that I’ve framed as questions:
If you were considering purchasing a house right now, which items would you rank as more important than others: the property’s lot size & the surrounding streetscape; the exterior features like parking & landscaping; or the dwelling’s age, size & condition? Does the zoning, density or development potential have any bearing on what you would purchase?
How does the dwelling’s geography, sightlines, privacy, or proximity to shopping, public transportation, schools, recreational facilities, or green space inform you on what it’s worth? What about the life cycle of the neighbourhood, the cultural composition of a condominium, or the benefits or challenges of the immediate location? Would you discount a property for being on a busy road, appreciate the TTC stop outside your front door, or would it be a deal-breaker?
What about the intangible values of a property? For example, would you pay a premium for perceived status markers, like being on one of the more desirable streets in a neigbourhoood, or purchasing in a condominium that is coveted by your social world? If you were considering a condominium purchase, would you pay less to be on the Lower Penthouse level versus the Penthouse level, even when every unit on every floor in the condominium is identical? Would you be comfortable purchasing a condominium in a building with no Floor 13, only to discover that the legal description for Suite 1401 that you’re considering purchasing is Level 13 Unit 1? In other words, does your superstition , or the superstitions of other cultures have any influence over what you buy?
There are so many mitigating factors that contribute to what a property is worth, and so many target markets seeking their own Rubik’s cube of needs, that the true market value ultimately comes down to the sum the Buyer is willing to pay and the amount a Seller is willing to accept. This is contingent on the motivations of both parties, how deep their financial pockets are, and potentially – at this critical moment in time – how long the property has been listed for sale. And by this I don’t mean that the longer your property is for sale the less that it’s worth, but the opposite. After 2 decades of the real estate market firing on all cylinders realtors, Buyers and Sellers, have been conditioned to believe that if a property doesn’t sell on the scheduled Offer Date then it means something is either terribly wrong or it’s overpriced. Perhaps that may have been true when most listings would have 30 to 100 sets of prospective purchasers crossing the threshold during the first week it was listed for sale, which would guarantee multiple Buyers would compete for it and the property would sell for the highest price.
But in a shifting market the pace of real estate is unpredictable. Last Spring there was an uptick in sales when Buyers misread the Bank of Canada’s decision to hold interest rates steady in March & April 2023 as a sign they were done with further increases. Resale properties were hot until the BoC did two 25 basis point increases in June and July at which point the market retracted. I anticipate we’ll see a solid Spring market because there are a lot of Buyers tired of treading water. They’re impatient. They want to buy so they can put down roots and begin the next chapter of life. And some are proceeding knowing very well the property they purchase may decline in value before it goes up.
Then there are the Buyers who are feeling less urgency. They are the growing pool of prospective purchasers unwilling to blindly compete in a bidding war. They are certain real estate prices are going to come down further and they’re ok to ‘tread water’ if it means they’ll be able to secure something closer to the bottom of the market. Building their financial future by being prudent and patient is their priority. They are waiting for more Sellers to be listing under financial duress, and then they’re going to negotiate with them directly to get the best value.
Sellers should exercise caution. Your realtor may be doing you a disservice by insisting that the List Low Holdback Approach will assure you top dollar. You may, in fact, find yourself with five offers that may all be a bit light on the money, because there are a lot of Buyers tossing in offers hoping their bid – which they know is below market value – sticks. And in those circumstances, I worry that there may be disingenuous listing realtors telling their Sellers that those 5 bids indicate the true market value of the property – even when the ‘old data’ may suggest otherwise – and the listings realtors purposefully skew the Sellers’ perception of what their property is worth.
Keep in mind, when the volume of real estate sales drops, the longer it takes to secure the right Buyer because that right Buyer may not be actively looking every waking moment as was required in the boom to bubble time frame.
At the time of this post, we’re simply not seeing the bidding wars that were commonplace for over a decade. On those occasions that we do, the final sale price can still be for amounts substantially less than the sums similar dwellings garnered in 2021 or 2022. Just last week, a 3-bedroom semi-detached house in Mississauga listed for $749,000 had 300 viewings over 6 days. You may have even seen headlines like this one: “85-offer Bidding War Comes To An End With Mississauga House Sold“. With 85 offers, one might assume the final sale price skyrocketed into the stratosphere.
How much did it sell for? $999,999. I know nothing about this transaction but it’s interesting to note $999,999 is the most a Buyer who qualifies for the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive offered by the Government of Canada can spend.
Was $999,999 A Lot? It Depends On The Optics & The Last Similar Sale
For the 84 prospective purchasers who did not secure that Mississauga property, the $999,999 sale price was not only a lot but in their eyes probably too much. However, when you compare it to the sale price of a similar home on the same cul-de-sac that sold almost two years ago for a significantly higher sum, one might consider this reasonable. Remember, it’s all about optics.
Unless you were in a coma (and if you were I’m glad you’re not anymore), after the Bank of Canada lowered and left its overnight lending rate at 0.25 percent for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, in January 2022, the Bank’s Governing Council announced that interest rates would be increasing because inflation was high and rising at an alarming rate. So at the beginning of March 2022, the BoC increased the interest rate by 25 basis points. Six weeks later in the middle of April 2022, the BoC increased the interest rate another 50 basis points for a total of 75 basis points. This was the second of what would be 10 interest rate escalations totaling a further 400 basis points. At that moment in time, no one knew that we were heading into a dramatic shift in the market.
Nine days after that second interest rate hike, in the third week of April 2022, a similar 3-bedroom semi-detached house across the cul-de-sac from the Mississauga property discussed above, listed for $1,148,000, sold for $1,120,000 after 15 days on the market. Now, let me say that I know nothing about this property or this sale, except that it was abutting a park which would award it a premium. What I do know is that at that moment in time, actively engaged Toronto real estate Buyers were assessing the market one of two ways. Everyone knew interest rates were on a trajectory up. The Bank of Canada was very clear about this. And, it’s a near certainty that when interest rates go up prices go down.
None of this is rocket science, which meant Buyers had two very clear options:
1) They could let their mortgage pre-approval commitment at its enticing low-interest rate expire and move to the sidelines anticipating prices would drop knowing requalifying at a future higher posted interest rates would diminish their purchasing power.
Or 2) Take a leap of faith and secure a purchase within their budget using their enticing pre-approved 5-year fixed-rate mortgage commitment knowing that even if prices went down, they had security of tenure.
What would you choose?
As it turns out, no surprise…prices have fallen in Toronto. The $120,000 difference between these two sales demonstrates the market has shifted. For all-cash Buyers, this is great news. For Buyers who need mortgages, those with smaller down payments face significantly higher monthly carrying costs because of the interest rate differential today compared to April 2022. In fact, many of the Buyers who qualified to purchase in Spring 2022 are currently shut out of the market. And many of those Buyers who bought at that time wouldn’t be able to get the sum they need to break even.
Given this reality, would you rather be the homeowner who bought 2 years ago with 20% down who has the security of tenure with a 5 year closed mortgage at a low interest rate that won’t be up for renewal in three years but has seen 50% of their equity disappear or would you rather be the Buyer on the sidelines with 20% down who doesn’t qualify for a mortgage at the current rates to purchase an entry-level house?
This. Market. Sucks.
The Greater The Market Uncertainty, The More Likely A Seller Will Accept A Lesser Sum
In a shifting market, it’s easier for a Seller to question how much their property is worth, especially when it has unique features that appeal to a very specific target market. Say you own a waterfront condo with a boat slip in Toronto that you’d like to sell. Is it better to sell in the Spring Market (which historically means in February, March or April) when real estate is its busiest even though boats typically go in the water in late April or May? Or is it better to delay until people are actively enjoying boating (including rich folk who don’t own one but realize they want one) who may offer the intangible premium of convenience to have their (future) boat steps from where they live?
Yes, I could provide an answer on this subject but my point is that a realtor who is working in your best interests will explain all of the factors specific to your property and – particularly if there are unique features – what Rubik’s Cube of values different Target Markets will apply to arrive at the value it’s worth to them.
“Has your realtor taken the time to identify possible underutilized features, or potential higher and better opportunities, unique to your property that could garner a higher sum?
“If your property’s micro-market is showing a disparate range of values, do you trust your realtor to advise you whether bids submitted for your consideration are within or outside the appropriate range of value?”
The Urbaneer Team just sold an Estate Sale in Riverdale for $200,000 and $250,000 more than the 2 Estimates of Value provided by competing realtors. I believe the differences in value were because those realtors looked at everything that was wrong with the property whereas we considered everything that was right on the property. While I was surprised to learn how substantial the price differential was after I was awarded the listing, I always believed I could achieve a higher price than the other Estimates of Value.
As I share in my post called When Dreams Of Domesticity Became Nightmares: A Recollection Of The 1989 Toronto Housing Market Crash, the 35% decline in real estate values was slow and incremental. Spanning 6 years, prices didn’t drop like a stone but they fell more like snowflakes on a calm winter’s night. Call it a gentle price adjustment if you will, but this meant Sellers could list their property for sale because they ‘would like to sell, but didn’t have to sell’ and see what happened. This is something a lot of Sellers, Buyers and realtors, should understand. The pace of the Toronto real estate bubble we’re only just beginning to extract ourselves from was fueled by the intensity and desperation of FOMO. FOMO is a form of heightened anxiety, and that kind of energetic oscillation was so overtly unsettling it befell everyone because it became the price of admission to play the real estate game. Now guess what? That’s not the Toronto real estate market anymore. But it’s been really hard for everyone to adjust to a slower pace, especially realtors. Many of us still drink a pot of coffee a day because we can’t wean ourselves off of 2 decades of being five minutes late and on call every waking moment.
The takeaway here is that when there are more properties for sale than there are Buyers, some times a property isn’t selling – not because it’s overpriced – but because you’re waiting for the right party to cross the threshold and say “I’m Home”. During the four months our Riverdale listing was offered for sale we kept our clients informed, we demonstrated our efforts and commitment to match the property with the right Buyer, and we never lowered the list price. Did I second guess my judgment when Buyer #1 offered a sum that was $200,000 less than the price we would eventually get? Yes. Did I feel more confident when Buyer #2 submitted a bid one week later that was just $100,000 less than the amount our Sellers wanted? Yes. Although those Buyers made a substantial improvement with their Offer resubmission I was truly disappointed we couldn’t create a meeting of the minds because they were really nice people. However, it set the stage for Buyer #3 to come in strong with no conditions, a substantial deposit, an acceptable completion date, and a final price that was only thousands of dollars more.
The success of our Leslieville and Riverdale sales mentioned here was ultimately because our Sellers were patient and understanding. They trusted our guidance and counsel. We never pressured them to reduce their prices nor did we arm-wrestle their expectations. Instead, we educated and updated them with bi-weekly reports on the market conditions for their property types in their neighbourhoods, dissecting every listing that came to market along with an analysis of what sold. That’s what playing a long game is about.
Congratulations to our Sellers. The Sold Sleeve just went up.
When a market is shifting due to the most aggressive interest rate hiking cycle in Canada’s history, it can be challenging for everyone – including realtors – to understand the ramifications it will have on real estate today, tomorrow, and in the future. In times of change, better to consult the services of a real estate team actively embracing a market in flux than seeking the counsel of realtors relying on the tried and true programs of the past. After all, change is the only certainty we’re guaranteed in life.
With decades of experience navigating the lows and highs and lows of Toronto real estate, we’ve helped hundreds of Sellers and Buyers secure the right property purchase. A resource on all matters of real estate, housing & home – the Urbaneer Team welcomes offering you our insight and guidance. Please consider us.
We’d love to be your realtors of choice!
The pleasure would be ours.
*Title image courtesy of Patrick Tomasso – @impatrickt on Instagram & Unsplash – with thanks!
Thanks for reading!
~ Steven
