First, I want to tell you that yes, the rumours are true, you do not need a realtor to sell your house in Ontario, or even Canada. You can sell it yourself – privately. This is known as private sale or for sale by [...]]]>
You have many options available when selling your home in Toronto, Canada. 

First, I want to tell you that yes, the rumours are true, you do not need a realtor to sell your house in Ontario, or even Canada. You can sell it yourself – privately. This is known as private sale or for sale by owner (FSBO).  There are a number of places available to you for support if you want to do that.  With a private sale, you should be prepared to conduct the open houses yourself, put the ads in the paper yourself, take the photographs, post your house details on the internet, do all the negociating yourself.  Its a very hands-on process. 

If you are going to use the private sale route, I suggest that in real life you be employed either as a sales person or a business person as the skills you use in these positions make selling your home much easier.  When you are a salesman you are able to pick up on unspoken cues that potential buyers will be making.  When they come to your open house you will also be able to better decipher any statements they make to you about the property.  You will also be better able to speak to them and sell them on your house.  Skills aquired as a business person are good too as one of the most important decision making ability you will need to use is the ability to decided where to put your advertising expense.  You have to think about the money you are investing in a particular advertisement, gage who will see it, and if you will see a return on that investment.  If you are not a sales person, (or can’t force yourself to be one for a few months) you wont be able to close the deal and make the sale,  If you are not a business person, you will spend money aimlessly going down alley ways that don’t lead any where.  My reccomendation is that if you are not one of these people, please don’t try to sell your house yourself. It’s not going to work out.

Once you have decided to sell yourself, harden yourself to this decision.  You cannot sell with a half effort, you must give it everything you have, your full attention.  It will likely take longer than you imagine and you will need great amounts of patience.  Patience will also come in handy when negociating as the buyer of your property knows that you are saving the real estate commission when you are selling privately and will want to split that savings with you. They will ask for a cost savings if they are to buy your property. I spoke earlier about some of the activities that you will be required to perform, but there is some good news here for you. You can contract out those activities that you do not do well.  There are companies that can make a yard sign for you,  a website if you are not sure, internet marketing can be done by others, so can the photography or videography.  So if you know you don’t do something well, hire someone else to do it. You can hire a for sale by owner company that have a lot of these tasks integrated into a package for you, but don’t be fooled into thinking that once you sign up with these companies that the work is done, in fact it has just began.  The price they ask for what they give in return is quite high, but If there is any reason to use them it would be to save you energy so you can focus on closing the sale.

The descision to sell your home shouldn’t be made lightly, and neither should the decision to sell privately.  Make the decision once you have weighed the pros and cons and knowledge you can succeed.  You should also seek assistance and regular contact from your lawyer.  This is important if you don’t know the steps that go into the sale of a home.  The trickiest part is knowing what step comes after which.  I don’t want to weigh this down with too many warnings. If you want some advice, remember I can come see your house and give you my assessment of your situation.  At one extreme, we have the people who want to sell their condo at Bay and Wellesley for sure, if you are in this situation, you don’t need a realtor, or much help from anyone.  Just print a little sign ‘ Condo for Sale’ and put it up on the notice board in your building and it will be sold in no time.  Well, just make sure its a reasonable price and that you are not too crazy a person.  For the rest of us some good tips include : knowing what your competition is selling, and how, knowing your limitations, and being open to ask for help when neccessary.   The most important is to think about what you are selling and develop a plan that will get the type of buyers you want and stick to the plan.

Some expenses you will incur are media promotion (print newspaper, flyers for the neighbourhood, etc) $1200 for 3 months. Your lawn sign should be another $100, the feature sheets that you will give to potential buyers and the all important website will be another $150. So for three months you will have spent $1450. So thats why I say, if your going to do it, go all out! It doesnt make sense to spend that kind of money and get no results.  Think like NASA astronauts : Failure is not an option!

Now, my part of the story, I am Marcus Assalone, a Real Estate Salesperson for Coldwell Banker Terrequity here in Toronto.  I run this investment newsletter ‘Real Value’ that this article was first published on at news.marcus-assalone.com . Coldwell Banker Terrequity is a full service real estate brokerage which means that we sell properties and make our commission based on a percentage of the sale price.  Different brokerages offer different services and also charge different commission percentages.  Obviously, the less they do, the less the percentage.

Being full service basically means we do whatever it takes to sell your property. I sell every home like it was my own, but I do give my client a choice in one thing, and that is weither or not to list their property on the MLS.  Everything else is the same, I still advertise in the the same places, I still tell my buying clients about your property, the only difference is that in one case, if I list it exclusively, without it being on the MLS I am able to save you the commission that would have gone to the other Realtor.  So, you can choose to list your home either exclusively at a total commission of 3% or with the MLS listing which will be a total commission of 5%. If your property is in a competitive market, we may have to raise the total commission to 6% in order to give the buying Realtor and added incentive to bring their client to see your property.

If you decide to list your property with me, all these fees are totally contingient on me selling your house! If i don’t sell it, you don’t owe me anything.  All I am concerned about is – success! My success will be your success.

As you are deciding what is the best course of action for you and your home think about ‘what is it that sells a house?’  Is it the location of the house? The amenities that location offers? The condition of the home? of the neighbourhood?  Is it the kitchen that sell homes? is it the bathroom? how useful are these rooms to the house? or is it knowing what price to sell the property for? knowing if it is staged well? does it have curb appeal? is it the high end finishes that sell the house? or is it the advice of someone who knows what buyers are looking for and can counsel you correctly on that sale – who can tell you the right things to do – the right moves to make? In different neighbourhoods the buyers are looking for different things.

As your realtor I will be legally obligated to look out for your best interests.   I will do everything in my power to sell your home for the most money possible.  When we meet and together we develop a plan for the sale of your home, I will tell you my ideas. You will have no doubt that I bring the best value to help you sell your home.

So lets start on the right foot, schedule an appointment and have me come see your house and we will start the planning. Once you have all the information you need you can decide as you please, I will not put any pressure to force you into any contracts. My job is to help you.  My email is marcus-assalone@coldwellbanker.ca my direct line is (416) 495-2362.  If you call, chances are I will be on the phone and you will get my voicemail, leave me a message with how and when to best contact you.

Transcript

Today we are going to look at what a good real estate investment looks like.  In today’s example we are going to focus on growth potential.  When you buy real estate for an investment, you need growth potential.  So here we are in Macao, China. 

Macao is the historical [...]]]> The story is playing on the video below:

Transcript

Today we are going to look at what a good real estate investment looks like.  In today’s example we are going to focus on growth potential.  When you buy real estate for an investment, you need growth potential.  So here we are in Macao, China. 

Macao is the historical Portuguese settlement in China and its reputation for being the next Vegas is growing.   The amount of China’s population with disposable income is growing year after year.  Any business positioned to entertain these people will experience large growth.  China’s population is the biggest in the world; 1.3 Billion people.  That is a big market!  China also has a policy that encourages bringing the poor earning farmers into the cities where they can earn more money.  Macao is managed independently from the rest of China so they are able to focus on nurturing the entertainment sector to flourish in a sustainable way.  The development here of the Cotai Strip is the most exciting in the region, and one could argue, maybe even in the world.

The Venetian Macao is the anchor for this development, it is the fourth largest building in the world by usable floor space.  It has 10.5 million square feet of floor space.  It is without question the largest casino in the world.  You could stay within the walls of the Venetian and never have to leave.  You can enjoy yourself comfortably in its theatres, its convention rooms, its high end shops and restaurants.  I forgot to mention it also has a casino and hotel.

Others are joining this development at the Cotai Strip as well with their own casino, hotel and boutiques and theatres.  Some of the buildings that are already completed are the Grand Waldo Hotel, the Four Seasons, and also the City of Dreams consisting of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the Grand Hyatt, and also the Crowne Towers, a six star hotel.  More are still being built right now and others are planning to join this exciting development.

With all real estate investments there is two ways to make money.  One is through the growth potential, and the second is cash flow.  This development is an extreme example of growth potential.  The owners of the Venetian paid 2.6 Billion dollars for the land and structure, their plan is to wait while  the Chinese people develop their economy and have more and more money to spend on entertainment. They will increasing ly come to Macao to spend their money on the shows, casinos, hotels, restaurants and shops.  Then this structure will have paid for itself many times over.

Growth potential is important! In this case, the cash flow component is not as critical.  The project is still in its infancy.  They are currently receiving an annual return of 5% on their investment.  For China, an investor would not be happy with this as there are other growth opportunities in China at the moment that one could take advantage of that would tower over the 5% ROI.  This development is focused on the growth potential, the future.  When you have a high growth potential you could almost justify taking a loss in the cash flow side of the equation.  Your growth potential will make up for it in the long run.

Most of us understand growth potential as increasing your equity.  So to summarize, the strategy behind growth potential is to build a structure for 2.6 Billion dollars, and sell it in the future, once the market has matured for 260 Billion (a figure I just made up – don’t quote me on this!)  Even if you lost a billion dollars a year it doesn’t matter.  In this case, they are actually making money, they are making about half a billion dollars per year profit.

So remember this example when you are buying real estate for an investment.  Look for growth potential.  You want to buy something in an area that is being developed.  You don’t want to buy in an area that is already developed, because there is no growth potential.  This is a deep subject that we can discuss together and we can take into consideration your specific case and circumstances and goals.  So when you are ready to invest in real estate, give me a call and we can discuss it.

Hi everyone, welcome to this special video edition of Real Value – TV! We are going to take you to a neighbourhood of North York. This is Yonge and Finch.  Last year the hottest neighbourhood in the city was Yonge and [...]]]> The story on Yonge and Finch is playing on the video :

Transcript

Hi everyone, welcome to this special video edition of Real Value – TV! We are going to take you to a neighbourhood of North York. This is Yonge and Finch.  Last year the hottest neighbourhood in the city was Yonge and Sheppard, that is just a block south of here.  However, now with the changed economy, buyers are looking for better value, and they’ve decided to come here to Yonge and Finch. Why not? The best of the Yonge & Sheppard area, the Empress Walk, is just down the hill here.

People want to live here and the big builders know it. Tridel has two separate projects here.  This is Meridian, it is a beautiful two tower project. This is my favourite new building up here as thought as been given to integrate its architecture in with buildings around.  The towers house condo apartment suites, and at the base of the tower are town homes. At the moment those are all that is available.  You will be paying around $750 000 and they range from 1700 square feet to about 1900 square feet. In Meridian, a resale one bedroom condo apartment will sell between $260 000 and $280 000. A two bedroom will go for about $350 000 to $420 000.

Tridel also has this seniors residence, Grand Triomphe, still to be completed. Last time I checked they only have three bedroom suites available in here, and you will be paying over a million dollars for them.

Here is Pemberton’s recent contribution to the neighbourhood. It too is a two tower condo complex with retail on the ground level. When you are coming down Yonge Street, these buildings really give a bold impression.

Menkes is building another two tower condo complex. This is called Luxe, which started construction last year. In Luxe, a two bedroom is around 760 square feet and you will be paying $325 000, a one bedroom, that is around 520 square feet you will be paying $230 000.

This popular mall is also slated to be re-developed into yet another residential condo mixed with retail. Though, I would not expect any movement on that until the economy starts to pick up again.

At Yonge and Finch, you have the hustle and bustle of Yonge street, with all its shopping and restaurants, and you also have a residential area not too far away. If you are in one of these homes, it is surprisingly quiet. For a bungalow they will sell between $450 000 to over $500 000.  A recently renovated, two storey home, in excellent condition will sell for around a million dollars. What you have been seeing is people buying the bungalows, razing them and building two storey mansions and flipping them for a profit.

The Finch subway station is up here too, its combined with the GO station.  So no matter where you want to go, its not too far away.

These are the condos at Northtown, you just have to be careful of the view in here.

So we really just scraped the surface here at Yonge and Finch, if you or someone you know is thinking of moving into this area, please let me know and I will be sure to find them something that meets their needs.