TrueCondos.com – The Best Source for Toronto Condos

2011 Market Forecast From Remax Condos Plus

If December is the annual ‘year in review’ month, then January is ‘predictions’ month. My broker (aka The Big Boss Man) over at Remax Condos Plus, Jamie Johnston, has put out his 2011 forecast for the downtown condo market. Here it is below for your reading enjoyment. Of particular note: Jamie now believes that the pre-construction market is now nearly 100% investor-driven. Love to hear your thoughts on this:

(more…)

Continue reading...

Selling Your Condo: MLS Listing or Exclusive?

When listing your condo for sale with a Realtor, there are two main options for what type of listing your property will be: MLS Listing or Exclusive Listing. That’s right, you can sell your condo using a Realtor without using the MLS system. Selling exclusively means you list with one brokerage and give one brokerage the exclusive right to market, show, and sell your property. MLS listing means any Realtor from any brokerage can show and sell your property (and in some cases advertise it as well).

As a seller, you might think, why would I ever not want to take advantage of the MLS system with its massive exposure to buyers and Realtors across the GTA, by listing my property exclusively with one brokerage? There may in fact be several reasons, for example:

1. Individual privacy. Your name is published on MLS listings (at least in the ‘back end’ system that all Realtors have access to). If you are a public figure you may not want 30,000 Realtors in the GTA seeing that your house is up for sale and booking a visit ‘just to look around’.
2. Shhh…Don’t tell the neighbours. For a variety of reasons, sometimes you just don’t want to announce to your neighbours that you are moving. Putting your property on the MLS is a sure fire way to let them know. An exclusive listing
3. Pre-arranged transactions. Many exclusive listings are sold before they are actually listed. These are cases where a Realtor connects a buyer with a seller behind the scenes, puts together a deal, then simply ‘lists’ and reports the sale on the same day.
4. Limited showings. Listing exclusively likely means you will not get as many showings as you might with an MLS listing, but it also means the showings you do get are likely very serious buyers and targeted buyers. These are people who have received personal invitations from your Realtor to view the property, or they are likely clients of your Realtors’ brokerage. It also means you won’t have any looky-loo neighbours coming by to see how you’ve arranged your furniture and how your bathroom reno turned out.

Listing exclusively is not for everyone, in reality it is a solution for a very small percentage of sellers, but there are clearly valid reasons for this option. If you are interested in listing your condo exclusively, contact me today to discuss this option. My brokerage, Re/Max Condos Plus, is one of the few brokerages in the city that has the size, specialization, and enough ‘top-gun’ agents on the roster to get exclusive deals done quickly and efficiently.

Continue reading...

January Market Update from Re/Max Condos Plus

I am part of one of the best condo brokerages downtown – Re/Max Condos Plus. Our broker of record is Jamie Johnston. Jamie has been in this business a long time and he’s a very sharp cat. Follow him on Twitter and check out our company blog which Jamie writes. Jamie just put out his latest market forecast and as usual he has some pretty strong opinions. Keep reading after the jump for the full report and let me know what you think in the comments section or send me an email.

(more…)

Continue reading...

Big Changes on The Horizon for AndrewLaFleur.com

You may have noticed a lack of posts over the past couple weeks on this blog. Rest assured it isn’t because the real estate market is cratering! To the contrary, I’ve been very busy serving my regular buyer and seller clients as well as working behind the scenes on some pretty significant changes to my business.

The first big change is that I am very excited to announce to my clients, family, and friends, is that as of today, I will be working with Re/Max Condos Plus.

By joining the team at Re/Max Condos Plus I am now part of a real estate brokerage whose vision and mission closely aligns with my own – to be the #1 resource in Toronto for downtown condos.

A little about Re/Max Condos Plus:

• Over 110 full time agents serving the downtown core
• Home of the ‘cream of the crop’ – many of the top agents in the city for downtown condos are on the Re/Max Condos Plus team
• RemaxCondosPlus.com is one of the most visited websites in the world for Toronto Condos
• Open 7 days per week with 5 prime street-level retail locations all over downtown, including King West, Bay and Bloor, and the Waterfront.

So what does this move mean for my clients and the readers of this blog?

• Better Service. Working for Re/Max Condos Plus means my clients will now have access to a wealth of resources such as floor plans to every major condo building in the city.
• Increased Focus. 87% of all sales at Re/Max Condos Plus are condos. It is the premier real estate brokerage in Toronto for downtown condos – exactly what my own business is focused on.
• More Listings. 39% of all Re/Max Condos Plus sales are exclusive listings -listings that never appear on Realtor.ca or the MLS system. Joining the Re/Max Condos Plus team means I now have access to dozens of assignment and exclusive listings at all the hottest downtown condo buildings – both new developments and existing resale buildings.

The second major announcement is that this website (AndrewLaFleur.com) will soon be going through a major overhaul. More details on this to come in the days ahead, but suffice to say I can’t wait to unveil the brand new site which will look totally different and have some innovative new features and content.

Continue reading...