A real estate broker in the U.S. has the following advice for buyers: find listings with no photos and save money. Huh? Last year, Frank Borges LLosa, a Virginia REALTOR®, spent some time going over a whole bunch of his local MLS® statistics and listings to see how photos affect the sales of homes in his area. [...]
There is a very special treasure in Collingwood that many people are just starting to discover. It’s a magical place where children are the stars. It’s called the Magic of Children Art Gallery and to the best of my knowledge, it is the only child focused art gallery in Ontario. Founded by local artist Lory [...]
The first rule of real estate is location but the first rule of real estate advertising might be locution. According to a Canadian study completed last year, the words used to describe a home in advertising may be worth money in the bank and can affect the time it takes for properties to sell. Professor [...]
The term “absorption rate” generally refers to the rate at which properties sell in a given area. For example, if 1000 homes are currently listed for sale and, 280 sold last month, we would have a current absorption rate of 3.57 months based on the current data. Developers and builders have used this type of [...]
Collingwood has had a twin city relationship with Katano, Japan since 1981. This pairing has been successful with active volunteers in both communities keeping the relationship strong. Just last week, a delegation of about 30 people including Mayor Carrier and Deputy Mayor Cooper returned from a 12 day tour of Katano which is in Osaka Prefecture. [...]
In addition to this blog, I participate in a HUGE North American blog site called Active Rain where I learn much from others in my industry be they other REALTORS®, Mortgage Brokers, Lawyers or Home Stagers. In response to a recent post I did about Smart Growth both here and on the Active Rain site, I [...]
In less than a decade, the web has gone from being a novel idea for advertisers to an essential part of our economy and everyday lives. In terms of real estate, the majority of potential buyers now come through the internet and the latest statistics say that roughly 80% of all home buyers start their [...]
Most Canadians want to pay their mortgages off as fast as they can. Since the payment of principal and interest is typically not tax deductible as it is the U.S., we are paying the bill with after-tax dollars and for many, it’s an awfully big chunk of our monthly expenses. There are many things you [...]
Someone I know was fined $5,000 last year for failing to ensure that there were working smoke detectors in a rental unit that he owned. At the time the tenants first occupied his unit, the smoke detectors were working and he never knew otherwise. Later, during a random door to door check by the local [...]
Do you look for real estate listings online? Where? Sometimes, we have little controversies in the real estate community. One such issue last year was the introduction of something called IDX into our real estate board. IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange and basically what this system does is to allow REALTORS® to display information [...]
You are currently browsing the archives for the Insider Secrets category.