Market Minute - November 2019

The turmoil surrounding our federal election has subsided and Canadians now have a Liberal minority government. This means, at least for the time being, home buyers and sellers shouldn’t expect any changes to the current mortgage qualification requirements.

This leads me to believe that Sunshine Coasters will continue to see a buyers’ market into summer 2020 followed by balanced conditions until spring 2021.

Despite the uncertainty that accompanies an election and our soft real estate market, demand for Sunshine Coast real estate still exists. Buyers are still out there and are even willing to bid over asking, provided they see value in the listed property.

The two crucial steps to selling in a buyers’ market are to price your property accordingly and to market it aggressively. 

The peril of "negotiating room"

When pricing, a common misstep is to price your property too high in order to give yourself some room to negotiate down to the price you actually want.

This is the worst thing you can do in a buyers’ market. The average public are not professional real estate agents, but they ARE the ones that choose what houses to see. Regular buyers don’t see a price that can be negotiated down: they see an overpriced home and keep looking.

I go into more detail on my pricing strategy in my book, “Setting a New Benchmark – The Straight Truth on Buying and Selling Real Estate in Canada”, which is available on Amazon.

How your home is marketed is the largest factor in deciding how quickly and for how much it’ll sell. Photos, video and a floor plan are key.

Marketing is critical

Photos are often the first exposure to your property so it’s critical that these images portray your home in its best possible light while creating an emotional reaction from potential buyers.

A good floor plan is literally a map that details the size and layout of your home. Having your property precisely measured by a professional provides additional piece-of-mind to all parties: everyone knows that the square-footage being advertised is recent and accurate.

Video is something that buyers expect to see and is an absolute must-have for every listing. A large volume of Sunshine Coast buyers come from out-of-market and a walkthrough tour allows them to experience your home wherever they are in the world.

These videos also help to eliminate unnecessary and intrusive viewings – the only people visiting your home in person will be buyers that have qualified themselves by watching your video. This can be a real time-saver if you work from home or have kids. It’s especially helpful for showing revenue properties. Instead of negotiating showing times with your tenant, potential buyers are screened using the video.

If you're not already working with a Realtor, ask me how my proven system can help you achieve both those goals.