Understanding the Offer to Purchase Form is essential once your house hunting expedition is a success! You have found the perfect home, one that satisfies your needs, most of your wants- and best of all, fits your pocketbook. Now comes one of the most important phases of your home-buying experience: making an offer to purchase the home.
If you are buying a home, then, before you decide on whether this home is your dream home, the following checklist will help you look at prospective homes with a critical eye. We suggest printing this page and putting it on a clipboard. When you find a home that really interests you, mark the features you see and note their general condition on this list.
SELLING YOUR HOME ON YOUR OWN - OR USING A REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON
Home value sometimes referred to as "Value in Use", is best described as the probable price at which a home trades in a free, competitive, and open market and is synonymous with the market value.
The Income Tax Act does not specifically set out whether or not a gain or loss is capital in nature. The taxpayer is responsible for reporting the gain as income or capital gain. This report may then be challenged by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency with the onus of proof on the taxpayer.
If you have decided that now is the time to sell your home, you might be thinking: should I hire a Real Estate Sales Representative or do it alone. Have you ever considered repairing your own car? Anyone can buy the tools and parts. However, most of us just do not have the knowledge, training, experience or the expertise and commitment of time to do the job properly. Besides, there are plenty of experienced professionals to do the work for us.
HOW REAL ESTATE MARKET CONDITIONS AFFECT YOUR OFFER PRICE
STAGING… FOR A FASTER SALE AND HIGHER PRICE
When should I sell my home? Your answer to this question might be right now! If you have taken a job in another city or made an offer on a new home, or had an addition to your family, selling your home fast might be the most important goal you have. Most people, however, have some flexibility when they sell their home. Let us take a closer look at the most important factors that can go into this decision.
A hot market is a "seller’s market". During a seller’s market, properties can sell within a few days of being listed and there are often multiple offers. Sometimes homes even sell above the asking price. Though most buyers want to get a "deal" on a home, reducing your offer by even a few thousand dollars could mean that someone else will get the home you desire.
There are many television shows today that focus on home staging. If you have not watched any, do yourself a favor and tune in. They all say the same thing: do not even consider putting your house on the market until you have taken a close look at its condition. Experienced sales people know that you only have one shot at impressing potential buyers, so take some time to prepare your home for showings. You will be rewarded with a faster sale and a higher offer.
A very accurate saying is that "Any home will sell once you get the price right." Of course, this is usually said from the perspective of dropping a price until it's too attractive to pass up. Actually, the accurate pricing of your home prior to listing is as much an art as it is a science.
A great many moves in our lives are to larger residences to accommodate growing families. Or, perhaps our financial development allows us to move up to a larger home with more features and amenities. There is no stress involved in trying to reduce our life’s stuff to fit into a smaller place. If anything, we just need to shop for some more furniture for the new larger place.
You may have lived in your home for many years. The location factors that you considered when making your purchase decision may not apply to today’s buyers. The task is to identify the current positive aspects of your home’s location and market them aggressively. When it comes to positive locations, people’s different attitudes and preferences will determine if a location is a “good” one.
Marketing a home for sale is quite different from most other types of marketing and advertising. Unlike marketing many products, homes are each unique. Marketing decisions will be based on thorough examination of the home’s features and comparison to the competition in the marketplace. Decisions must also be made concerning improvements that might enhance the home and sell it faster and for a higher price.
Whether buying or selling a home, one activity will be part of the process in all cases and for all involved. Let’s look at the offer to purchase contract and negotiation process from both sides
GTA housing market quickly shook off the recession
Updated: Sat Jan. 02 2010 8:07:39 AM
Bill Doskoch, ctvtoronto.ca
When you look at GTA housing prices and sales statistics, it's almost like there had never been a recession.
As 2009 wound down, homebuyers were partying like it was late 2007, which illustrates the V-shaped path the market followed when the recession started to bite in the fall of 2008.
The recession is generally considered to have started in October 2008. For that month, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reported that GTA sales were down 35 per cent over the same period in 2007.
Toronto average home prices were down 13 per cent over the same period in October 2007, while 905 homes prices declined about eight per cent.
But if you look at the median house price for a detached GTA home, it only really collapsed in December 2008 (the median is the price point at which 50 per cent of homes either sold for above or below that figure. It's less prone to distortion than the average price):
October 2008 - $377,000
November 2008 - $379,000
December 2008 - $300,200
January 2009 - $365,000
February 2009 - $370,000
The median price continued to rise throughout the year, ending at $445,000 in November, 2009 (the December figure will be available in early January).
"I find it very strange," consultant Barry Lyon told ctvtoronto.ca.
When 2008 ended, Lyon said he was very conservative in his forecasting of GTA condominium demand for 2009 -- but he had to revise it upwards three times.
"I'm happy to be low, I'll tell you, but I don't know anyone who didn't think we were in more of a U-shaped recession rather than a V-shaped," he said. "I think we've all been quite amazed by the strength of the recovery and how quickly it's happened."
One factor could be the service nature of Toronto's economy. From October 2008 to November 2009, the service sector of Ontario's economy lost only 0.4 per cent of its jobs. Goods-producing jobs contracted by 10.5 per cent.
Some job sectors -- finance, insurance, real estate, leasing; professional, scientific and technical services -- actually saw net job growth during the recession. Those jobs have a heavy presence in Toronto.
Obviously, people felt confident enough in their prospects to purchase real estate.
In a Dec. 1 report, TD Economics said housing usually follows a "first-in, first-out' cycle during economic downturns.
Nationally, the robust recovery had economist Pascal Gauthier wondering whether a bubble could develop and whether affordability had significantly eroded -- something that could adversely affect future demand.
"The misalignment of home prices with their fundamental drivers, such as demographics and income, cannot last. That much is known. What is less clear is the exact timing of when and precise channel by which the two will eventually realign," he wrote.
That being said, he didn't see a high risk of a correction in the short term.
In Toronto, more supply in the form of new house and condo completions could help moderate price hikes, he said.
TD Economics also said by its calculations, the pent-up demand that developed during the uncertain early days of the recession had exhausted itself by November. Lyons agreed with those assessments.
Lyon said one thing that's pushing price growth is the lack of listings across all types of homes.
"I find that puzzling, because a lot of people are sitting on a nice uplift," he said. "Why wouldn't they use that to either trade up or trade out of the market?"
When you drive up and down the streets, there are no signs. "My real estate agent friends are really uptight because they just can't get the listings," he said.
Everyone has a multiple-offer bidding story.
If there were more properties on the market, prices wouldn't be rising as fast, he said, adding he'll be interested to see if there's a big upsurge in listings come spring.
"We still have an affordable product mix here but we always get nervous when prices start climbing, because we don't want to lose Toronto's affordability," Lyons said, noting Vancouver is a city with real affordability issues.
Unlike Vancouver, Toronto has plenty of land available for high-rise condominiums -- although there is a shortage for single-family homes, he said.
Younger people are flocking to the lower eastern area of inner Toronto as they can live easily without a car while accessing their workplaces downtown. Employers are investing in office development downtown to accommodate this talent pool, he said.
With new immigrants continuing to flow into Toronto and hoping to get into the housing market, and the investor sector holding in, real estate values should hold up in 2010, Lyon said.
"Not an outstanding year, but a good year on balance, with an emphasis on Toronto city proper and in the resales ... anything in desirable neighbourhoods, around transit, is going to keep doing very well," he said.
