I had an interesting discussion with a potential home seller this week. As the market in Edmonton has started to slow down, they felt that they wanted to list with one of the big branded real estate companies, in order to have any real chance of selling. I found this curious and would have to disagree for a number of reasons.

1. I call it the ‘brand trap’.

The big company brand is a facade. I understand why people would find comfort in it. They see the same brand everywhere and I imagine they conclude that there must be an army of professionals all marching in lockstep to sell people’s homes. The truth is that each office is independently owned and each Realtor® is an independent business person running their own micro-business within the…

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If Ambergate Advisors were to represent you as a home seller, apart from guiding you toward selecting the best asking price, we would create full market exposure for your home using the most efficient advertising methods. We would also protect you from time wasters as much as possible and recognize that in most cases, we are not just selling your house, but your home.

For example: we would discourage home showings before a decent hour in the morning, most likely 9.00 am and not after a certain time in the evening ie 7.00 pm. You may have children to prepare for bed, or perhaps you just need to relax after a hard day at work. We also typically ask for 3 hours-notice to give you time to prepare your home for marketing, tidy up, or change your plans…

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In a crowded market like ours here in Edmonton, setting yourself apart from sometimes hundreds of other competing home or condo sellers may be your ticket to success.

We have a home stager on our team, Josie Bamber, and she often has a pretty hard job convincing home sellers to pay for her services.

Why?

Many home sellers in our Edmonton market have spent years getting their place “just so” and they cannot see why a buyer would not want to purchase it just as it is. And secondly, it might be because it requires a cash investment that some less motivated sellers wish to avoid.

Which outcome is worse?

Investing money to sell the house for full market value with low stress, or

Not selling at all?

Most serious home sellers would agree…

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Summary:
August proved that our Edmonton market is robust. Values were markedly up in July and stayed high throughout August. Days on market is flat, suggesting a balanced market for buyers and sellers. Almost the same numbers of homes were sold in August compared to last year, pointing to ongoing and strong demand.

Sales Values

Sales in Edmonton dropped slightly in August, but only by a modest $1197 dollars over the same time last year.

Days on Market

Homes were selling in the same amount of time as last year i.e. only 54 days.

Numbers Sold:

Only 7 fewer Edmonton homes sold in August 2016 compared to August last year.

Outlook:

If you are buyer looking for a home we urge you not to wait too long. Values are increasing…

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At this brokerage we find that there is a plenty of confusion by our home selling clients and our buyers as to how they secure financing and make sure that this piece is handled properly during both the negotiation phase and the due diligence phase of buying (or selling) a new home.

There are essentially 2 steps.

Step 1 – Initial Approval

Must be completed BEFORE you start looking at homes. Most good quality Realtors® will not spend much time showing you homes until this part of the process is complete.

As a buyer, you need to find out how much a lender will actually advance you and you need to be comfortable with the payments.

To get this information, your mortgage broker will need to determine if you can borrow money and this decision…

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