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Temperature Check: Bathurst and Lake Shore Edition

This is the second installment in this new series whereby I am attempting to give my readers a street-level, in the trenches sort of perspective of what the condo market is actually like. “Temperature Check” will help show what it’s like to be a seller in the current market and what you can expect if you sell your property now. I’m sharing with my readers some stats that no one else in the market is sharing.

Last week I listed a unit at one of the well-known buildings located at Bathurst and Lake Shore. It was a 1+den with parking and locker on a medium-height floor facing north/north-west. Here is the activity the listing received:

• On the market for 2 days
• Approximately 20 Realtor showings booked
• 2 email inquiries from buyers who saw the listing on the internet
• 1 bully offer received, which started a bidding war with 4 offers total
• End result: Sold for 5% above the asking price

Interpretation:

The results of this were better than I was expecting, buildings in this area typically are not known for their ability to attract bidding wars, and the sheer volume of activity on the listing in just 48 hours was indicative of a very hot market. We were planning on holding off on offers until about a week after the property was on the market, but we received a bully offer after just 2 days on the market so I had to jump into action, calling and emailing every agent who had booked a showing on the property to let them know the situation. 3 other agents responded and also brought offers to the table, which was surprising to some degree but great news for my seller. It needs to be noted that we did not price the property low to attract a bidding war.

My key takeaway from this is that finding a 1 bedroom and den with parking and locker for around $300K downtown these days is very rare, and buyers that have been priced out of ‘downtown proper’ are now looking to areas like Bathurst and Lakeshore, Liberty Village etc. as the next best thing. Of course it goes without saying that a prerequisite for success like this is understanding how to prepare your condo for sale, and to position it properly in all your marketing efforts to generate maximum activity and results.

If you are thinking about selling in 2011, I don’t see things getting any better for sellers than they are right now. Questions or comments? Please contact me.

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One Came by Fax

The spring market doesn’t officially start until, well, spring. But anyone who is shopping for a condo (or a house) in Toronto knows that the market is H-O-T right now, and multiple offers are not the exception, but the norm. Over the years of working with buyers and sellers in multiple offer situations, you learn a few tricks. If you are a buyer in a multiple offer situation, there are four sweet words you should love to hear:

“One came by fax”

Sending an offer by fax in a multiple offer situation is the real estate equivalent of ‘mailing it in’. The agent is essentially saying, my clients’ offer is not strong enough to stand a chance of actually being the winning offer, so I’m not going to waste my time by actually showing up for the offer presentation.

At the precise time of bidding, make sure you find out a) how many offers there are on the property and, b) how many are being presented in person vs. by fax/email. If you hear some or all of your competing buyers are submitting their offers by fax, consider your own offer carefully before submitting! You don’t want to be the offer that makes the seller’s say “One offer came in and blew us all away!” (Side note: Sellers-NEVER say this in front of a buyer or buyer’s agent). For example, if there are 3 offers, and you are the only one who shows up in person to present your offer, there is a good chance the other two offers are going to be weak ones, so consider your offer price accordingly. An in-person buyer is a much more motivated and serious buyer than one who is not present (as a general rule).

When I hear an offer was faxed in, I will automatically discount that offer when advising my buyer-clients on an appropriate ‘winning’ offer price. This is more relevant when in an offer situation with 2-4 offers, but it becomes less relevant when there are 5+ offers.

Questions or comments? Please contact me.

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Now That’s What I Call A Happy Client

Recently I listed for sale a house on Crawford Street, near Trinity Bellwoods park. The property was previously listed for sale with another Realtor for a number of months and had no offers. I took over the listing and after devising a marketing plan for the property, the property sold in a week with multiple offers and for approximately $50K over the asking price.

My clients were so elated with the results they put together a video.

If you’d like to hire me to sell your property in Toronto, contact me today. (Post-sale video production not required!)

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