This past week-end, Drew organized an Idols Revisited show as a fundraiser for The Door, a youth drop-in centre that is close to having to close the door.  Very literally, close The Door.  He invited six of his friends from the Canadian Idol show to Collingwood and each one readily agreed and, performed at NO CHARGE!  Isn’t that wonderful of them?

About 500 people attended the show last Saturday evening to listen to almost 3 hours of fantastic singing.  The pipes on these fellows have matured in just the 18 months since the show ended and I guess that has something to do with the performance experience they’ve had since.  Omar Lunan did one song A Cappella that raised goose bumps on my arms.  The Pigott brothers, Sebastian and Oliver, brought their twitching and bewitching talents to the stage with soulful energy that riveted the audience’s attention.  Adam Castelli rocked the house with his rockabilly tunes while Paul Clifford sang quietly and almost reverently.  Then came Earl.  Yup, that snowboarding, gangly big oaf from Alberta named Earl Stevenson.  He was clearly a crowd favourite and certainly to this gal – I call myself Earl’s Girl.  My husband reminds me that perhaps I should say I’m his Mama since he’s exactly half my age.  Spoil sport.

Then came Drew who brought the house down with his stunning guitar playing and remarkable vocal ability.  That lad can sing!  Thank-you Drew for bringing this great show to us and for helping another local organization through some tough times.  A special shout out to John Gabrielle who makes things like this work with his superb organizational skills.  He also happens to be about the most charming fellow this side of Athens.

P.S.  To my friends who bet I’d never get to meet Earl?  Ha!  A bunch of us went over to Cranberry after the show and listened to two more hours of the fellows.  We met, we talked and, I win!

Single Family Residential
New Listings: 51 (61, 35, 40)
Average List Price: $ 451,849
Range of List Prices: $133,900 – $1,595,176
Number of Sales: 19 (20, 14, 18 )
Range of Sale Prices: $120,000 – $2,385,000

Condominiums
New Listings: 19 (22, 13, 11)
Average List Price: $253,605
Range of List Prices: $135,000 – $839,900
Number of Sales: 1 (6, 6, 3)
Range of Sale Prices: $135,000

Vacant Land
New Listings: 8 ( 8, 10, 9)
Number of Sales: 1 (3, 0, 2)
Range of sale prices $99,000

Items to Note: There was a vacant land sale at it’s list price.

Single Family Residential
New Listings:  34 (48, 47, 28 )
Average List Price: $452,869.91
Range of List Prices: $174,900 – $3,200,000
Number of Sales:  15(15, 26, 24)
Range of Sale Prices:  $122,000 – $725,000

Condominiums
New Listings:  16 (13, 9, 17)
Average List Price: $391,431.25
Range of List Prices: $139,900 – $750,000
Number of Sales:  5 (9, 9, 8 )
Range of Sale Prices:  $188,000 – $315,000

Vacant Land
New Listings:  11( 4, 10, 3)
Number of Sales: 7 (5, 4, 3)
Range of Sale Prices:  $80,000 – $700,000

Number of Prices Changes All Types (down or up):  38

Notables this week:
* 2 vacant land properties sold at their list price and 1 Single Family Residence sold at it’s list price.

Single Family Residential
New Listings:  48 (47, 28, 37)
Average List Price: $477,514.40
Range of List Prices: $99,900 – $2,195,000
Number of Sales: 15 (26, 24, 28 )
Range of Sale Prices:  $139,000 – $1,111,000

Condominiums
New Listings:  13 (9, 17,18 )
Average List Price: $237,235.08
Range of List Prices: $119,900 – $700,000
Number of Sales: 9 (9, 8,10)
Range of Sale Prices:  $173,500 – $299,900

Vacant Land
New Listings:  4 (10, 3, 6 )
Number of Sales: 5 (4, 3,4)
Range of Sale Prices:  $150,000 – $500,00

Number of Prices Changes All Types (down or up):  35

Notables this week:
* 2 condos sold at their list price and 1 Single Family Residence sold at it’s list price.

Over the years, we have been blessed with wonderful clients, who have very often become dear friends, as well.  We’ve laughed and cried; celebrated and mourned with you and for you, and you’ve done it right back for us.  We’ve spent days, weeks, months and even years looking for that perfect place for you to hang your hat and call home.  There have been many a meeting around your kitchen table debating the merits of an offer on your home.  Do you know what?  We wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

Chris and I are ever so thankful for your business and your friendship – past, present and hopefully, if we are lucky, future. 

To our clients, our friends, our families and all those who, to our delight, blur those lines, have a restful, peaceful, happy Thanksgiving.  We are thankful for you.

Sixteen years ago, I had the great privilege of hiring my assistant, Chris McCormick.  At the time, she was in the mortgage brokerage business which is how we met and after working with her on several transactions, I felt she was exceptional in every way.  I was thrilled when she agreed to come and work with me.

Back then, client records were kept in a rolodex and offers or letters were prepared by typewriter and carbon papers.  Faxing was not yet legal, computers were DOS based and there were just over 100 REALTORS® in the area compared to well over 300 today.

Chris transformed my real estate practice.  She organized systems, motivated and inspired me and treated every one of our clients like family.  So much has transpired since then!  After just a few years, I made the decision to manage a new real estate company in town and Chris was right beside me with an energy and commitment that was remarkable.  Together, we worked to build a successful little operation but within a few years of managing, I was missing my passionate work which was selling real estate.  That’s when we moved to RE/MAX.  Again, a new adventure and new patterns were no challenge to Chris as she helped make the transition smooth and fun.  In those years, she computerized all of our systems (did I mention she is a computer whiz?), managed our accounting, and every day she cared for each of our clients deeply.  She cracked the whip behind me to keep me on track and on time.

For 16 years, Chris and I have worked within 4 feet of each other.  When we started, our children who are now in their twenties were wee tykes.  We’ve seen each other’s kids grow into adulthood.  We’ve watched our parent’s age and we’ve lost a Mom and two Dads.  We’ve moved homes, have faced enormous life challenges and have shared everything from last night’s crazy dream story to our deepest hopes and fears.  We’ve laughed until tears rolled down our faces.  During every step of the last 16 years, we’ve had each other’s back.  We spend more time with each other than we do with anyone else in the world and yes, we can finish each other’s sentences.

Chris rarely misses a day of a work and she clocks extra hours doing whatever needs to be done.  She is one of the most creative writers and marketers I know.  She can type faster than I can talk.  She puts up signs in the snow, shows property, does Open Houses, handles the phone lines, fixes the copier, deals with lawyers, attends home inspections and about a thousand other things without breaking into a sweat.  She deals with our clients in the most devoted way and is like a dog with a bone when it comes to bringing a clients dream to life.  She volunteers, takes courses, goes to church, participates in civic matters and is now the second-vice president of our local real estate board.  This is wonder woman.

I couldn’t think of a way to say thanks to Chris for the last sixteen years so this is it.  Chris, I think you are one of the most intelligent, creative, funny and kind people I know.  You are that exceptional, one-of-a-kind person I imagined you to be so long ago.  Thank-you for all you do and for who you are.
 
Happy Anniversary.

Go to Google, type in the address you are looking for and click on maps.  Here’s an example for 252 Hurontario Street in Collingwood (yes, a shameless plug for one of my best listings):

 
Pretty easy, isn’t it?

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When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

One of the things I do is to syndicate my listings to numerous sites such as Craigslist.  With each post, I check off the box that says it is not OK for others to contact you about other services, products or commercial interests.  I don’t want to get reams of spam mail from people who are not interested in the listing I’m advertising in a legitimate way.

So a couple of weeks ago, I get an email that reads:

Please contact me in regarding home for sale
Robert
519 924 2001

Before replying, I noticed that his email address was affiliated with a For Sale By Owner firm called By The Owner.com (there’s some free advertising for you Mr. Ward).  Since I always try to address spam and, since he was contacting me in a shady way and against Craigslist rules, I sent him the following email back:

Mr. Ward
As this property is listed for sale, I find this an inappropriate use of Craigslist.

His reply:

We are Canada’s largest private home seller website bytheowner.com  All private sales whether they’re in the Star, Globe& Mail, Craigslist or where-ever are fed into our main administration and we follow up on these leads. We are here to assist you in selling your home.  We have 6,900 listings, 3,878 sold since Jan/2008 and 250,000 viewers per week looking for homes.  We have sold many in Collingwood/Blue Mtns.  This is not an inappropriate use of Craigslists since our goal is to assist homesellers in the sale of their homes.  I’m sorry if I offended you

Fair enough but, he was still spamming me and not paying attention.  My reply:

I am a real estate broker Robert and, you are offering a commercial service.  This both violates Craigslist rules and, is offensive to me in my business.  Thanks for your reply but I think your system needs some fine tuning.

Now here is the zinger.  His reply:

I DON”T CARE WHO YOU ARE!!!! DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOD??
YOU ARE NOT, SO REMEMBER THAT IF GRAIGSLIST IS  FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICE.  WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON IT?
AS FAR AS FINE TUNING  WE ARE THE LARGEST IN CANADA FOR PRIVATE SALES WITH NUMBER OF LISTINGS, NUMBER OF VIEWERS,AND NUMBER OF SALES IN 2008.GIVE YOUR HEAD A SHAKE AND REMEMBER THERE IS ONLY 1 GOD
JUST TO NOTE… THE NUMBER OF NEGATIVES MY CLIENTS TELL ME OF YOU PEOPLE JUST MAKES ME SO HAPPY.
SO IF YOU WANT TO KEEP UP THIS E MAIL CHARADE DO SO!!!

you now who

Wow, so now I know that he knows that I’m not God.  How did God get into this conversation anyway?

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When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

Most offers today include a clause in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale giving the buyer the right to one or two further inspections of the property following acceptance of the deal and prior to the closing.  One of those usually takes place on the day of closing.  The purpose is to ensure that the property is in essentially the same condition that it was when the buyer made the offer. 

If you read the fine print in the pre-printed forms we use for an Agreement of Purchase and Sale, there is a clause that says the property remains at the risk of the seller until the deal closes.  It goes on to say that the Seller will maintain insurance on the building until that time as well.  It’s an important clause and I could write a book on the number of times it has become an issue.

One time, there was a house fire two weeks before the closing date that destroyed the kitchen.  In that case, the buyers agreed to accept the insurance proceeds and close the deal after which they’d put in a new kitchen.  In another case, the sellers had moved out two weeks prior to closing.  In the following two weeks, a flood occurred that extensively damaged the basement of the house and, it was not discovered by anyone until the pre-purchase inspection took place.  In another case, vandals had entered the house the night before the planned closing and again, there was extension damage.  In all cases, the insurance saved the deal and everyone closed the transactions with full knowledge leaving nobody fuming.

One of the most common issues we’ve encountered is when a large amount of garbage or debris has been left behind by the seller resulting in hundreds of dollars of dumping fees and transport.  In such situations, the lawyers will usually call for a hold-back on some of the funds until the refuse is disposed of by either party.  I recall one such situation which caused an irate seller to throw a few punches at us!

There is story after story but suffice to say, a pre-purchase inspection is ALWAYS a good idea.  Missing or replaced chattels, damage caused by a move or a sudden leak can all ruin a closing.  Better to know before handing over thousands of dollars and taking possession.

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When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

Auld Lang Syne, REDUX!
The real estate version  by Crabbie Burns (aka Chris)

Should old buyers be forgot?
And never brought to mind?
Should old sellers be forgot?
No never, none of mine!

Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne,
Bring memories of kindness, yet
For auld lang syne.

We sure have run about the slopes,
and viewed  the housies fine ;
We’ve wandered many a weary square foot,
since auld lang syne.

Chorus

We’ve toured the acres, ponds and streams,
The condos, farms and land;
But miles and miles have never kept
Us from the task at hand

Chorus

As surely you’ve sold your wee place !
And surely I’ve bought mine!
Together we’ve put our deals to bed,
for auld lang syne.

Chorus

Friends stand now, where clients stood
It’s friends we’ve b’come O’er time,
And as this year’s end draws nigh,
Three cheers for auld lang syne.

Chorus

From both Chris and I, we wish you a Happy New Year!