So the table is set, the carpet is vacuumed, and the house is sparkling and geared toward all of your newly installed focal points. Your listing contract is signed and your Saskatoon real estate agent has told you that you’re going live tonight and to be prepared for your first showings!

How do we make your listing stand out? We’ve done all the groundwork, but now the curtain is going to be lifted and the audience will soon be in your home to view the stage you have set. So, much of giving a five-star showing is about creating a mood, and that’s what we’re going to talk about here today.

Let’s start with lights. For every showing we have, I want every single thing in your house that makes light to be turned on, and I mean everything:  every lamp, pot light, puck light, art-feature light, even the work light on the hood fan. (No, not the interior oven light. I had someone ask me that once, so I figured I better clarify). I want those lights up and running, even if your showing is happening at 9 am. This means that if you’re going to be at work all day, you need to switch them all on before you leave. I know, I know, Al Gore would read this and cringe, but you’ll see the benefits of it in the purchase price of your home. Maybe you can use the surplus to buy some carbon credits.

Why is light so important? Because people who are looking to buy Saskatoon real estate love natural light. Light is something that you can’t often change. A house is either well-lit, or it’s not, and if it’s not, it’s often difficult to renovate in. Having all of your home lights on—especially in the middle of the day—gives the impression that there is bountiful light in the home, and therefore adds perceived value.

Next, music. I like to make sure that every time there is a showing happening you have music playing in the home. The best source is often using the music stations on your digital cable because you can choose by genre, it’s never-ending, and it’s often non-descript. You also don’t have announcers coming in and out. I don’t like local radio stations as they can be a little too in-your-face and a little too personal, when we are aiming for neutral. Buying a CD and playing it on repeat can often work. But music selection is paramount. I like instrumentals the best. Stay away from things with vocals. The type of music you choose really depends on what you’re trying to sell. If you’re selling a renovated townhouse in Saskatoon’s more trendy areas, go for some instrumental light jazz. If you’re selling a luxury home in an older more established area go for light classical. If you have a house that overlooks water, find one of those CDs that have flutes playing with ocean noises in the back. It’s all about creating the mood. The music should be loud enough so you can hear it, but not so loud that you couldn’t have a comfortable conversation if you were standing right near it.  You may want to consider playing music on every level, but try to play from the same source. If there are different songs playing everywhere you’re going to have the feeling of confusion in areas where you can hear it all playing.

Finally, there is etiquette. You never want your Saskatoon real estate shopper to feel rushed. For that reason, if you get a call from your Realtor to book a showing from 3-4. You should be totally gone from the house from 2:45-4:15. This gives your buyers all the time they need to be able to show up and explore. No, you may not stay home for any showing. No, you may not wait in the garage, backyard, shed or whatever wild idea you come up with. You and your family must be totally gone from the property. Otherwise you have totally spoiled your scene.

In addition, the only acceptable excuse for declining a showing that your Realtor requests is the following: you or an immediate family member is dead or dying. No other excuse is acceptable. If you want to sell your home, you’ve got to be serious about it. If you decline a showing, you’re giving the message that you don’t really care if you sell or not, and that does not inspire people to write offers. Additionally, nine times out of ten, if the buyer’s agent can’t book a showing on the first try, they won’t attempt to rebook, and you may have just lost an offer or a multiple offer.

You’re at the end of the road here. Reaching this point in the process of selling your home means you’ve done most of your work already! Now all you have to do is maintain that sparkle in your home, and trust your Realtor to bring an offer. So kick up your feet and relax! You’ve staged your home to sell!

Until Next Time…

Blessings

Rachel Vanderveen is a Calgary Christian Realtor specializing in Calgary condos for sale, South Calgary Real Estate, Calgary home staging , McKenzie Towne Real Estate, and Auburn Bay Real Estate.  But more importantly, she is a mother to four adorable children, a lover of Auburn Bay Realty, and an avid writer of Calgary Real Estate blogs. For more information on Calgary mls.ca, or searching mlslistings.ca, visit her website here.

Now that we’re in the final steps of staging our home, we need to get to the heart of un-decorating. Why is it that all of us stagers seem to want to take your house apart and make it so plain? Well, the answer you’re looking for is right there in the name of the job we do: staging. We’re setting a stage for buyers. Think of what you see when you go to the theatre. It’s not often that you see ornate sets and backgrounds. Even shows like the Phantom of the Opera have fairly minimal backgrounds. There’s not a lot to look at. The background just sets the scene; it doesn’t tell the story. The actors tell the story. I happen to have seen Rent on stage a few times, and when I think about the actors in that show, they sparkled. At one point, Mimi—clad in bright blue sparkly tights—actually flips her hair and a poof of sparkles actually releases out into the air. You hardly notice the iron rails she is dancing on when she herself is taking up so much space.

“Ok, Rachel, we get it; you’re a theatre geek, what does this have to do with selling a home in Saskatoon?”  The point is that the actors are the ones who have to fill the stage with whatever story they want to tell, and those who want to buy a home in Saskatoon, are the actors on the stage you’re setting. So what happens when you’ve left your story all over the stage? Well the result is confusion, and unsettledness. It would be like walking onto the set of The Lion King and trying to tell the story of Showboat. It doesn’t work. People need to be able to imagine their story unfolding on your stage, so our chief concern today will be making that stage interesting, inviting, and yet neutral and ready for any story that needs to be told. This is done mainly by de-personalizing. It’s hard to imagine raising your kids in a certain real estate listing, where you can see the photos of the children who live there, and the marks of the owners who are raising them. That’s not a blank stage. Saskatoon MLS shoppers will feel more like guests in someone else’s home, rather than being able to enter a residence and truly try it on for size.

So what needs to stay, and what needs to go? Well let’s start with all of the personal photos. Everywhere. Wedding photos, graduation photos, the whole nine yards. Gone.  “But, Rachel, I had my wedding photos professionally shot by an up-and-coming avant garde photographer; they’re really more art than personal!” Nope, sorry, those are personal, and in some ways they may even be worse than wedding photos taken in a studio. The problem we have with personal photos—no matter how well they were photographed—is that now we have someone who is honestly looking to buy Saskatoon real estate in your home, and they’re not looking at your home; they’re looking at your wedding photos! They’re ooohing and they’re ahhhhing, and they’re pulling their husband significant other away from looking at the home, in order to look at your photos. Once you have that happening, in many cases, you’ve lost them. This isn’t a home for them anymore. This is your home, and they’re just visiting.  So junior’s baseball championship photos, all of his trophies and ribbons, everything needs to come down to make room for the new junior who happens to be into soccer and math.

Most people who have made achievements in university or higher education like to post their certificates, degrees and diplomas in their study. This is a no-no. Not only is it pulling people out of the blank stage mentality, but it is also giving them cause to give you a stinky low-ball offer on your home. “Ohhhh, so this seller is a doctor? Reeeeaaaally? Well, then I guess he has gobs of money, and he doesn’t need to get his asking price on this property. They can afford to give me a few thousand dollars off.”

Then there is art work that may not have personal photos in it, but it’s pretty loud all the same. Your artwork should not draw attention to itself. Your artwork is in place to compliment the space and to reinforce your focal points. I once staged a home where a bachelor homeowner had a medieval sword hung above his bed. Is the sword cool? Yes. Is it a totally different approach to decorating? Yes. Is a sword appropriate to hang over the master bed for the purposes of staging? NO. That gives the opposite message that we want to give off. The whole scene of a “come-hither” environment is spoiled by such a hard image which calls up thoughts that are the last thing we want Saskatoon homebuyers thinking about when stepping into your master bedroom.

So what’s the main thrust here? You need to set a stage that looks like the “best life.” The kind of life we all hope to live, and isn’t really possible in reality….but darn it, we just keep trying!  Don’t know what that looks like? Pick up an issue of Canadian Home and Garden, that’ll start to give you a good idea! You don’t need to worry about spending the money on all of the expensive furniture and accessories, just take note in those pictures of what you don’t see, rather than what you do see: no mess. No personal photos. Blank stage.

Good Luck! We’ll see you here next week for my final blog on how to give a five-star showing!

Until Next Time…

Blessings

Rachel Vanderveen is a Calgary Christian Real Estate Agent specializing in Calgary condos, South Calgary Real Estate, Calgary home staging , McKenzie Towne MLS Listings, and Auburn Bay Real Estate.  But more importantly, she is a mother to four adorable children, a lover of Auburn Bay Realty, and an avid writer of Auburn Bay Community News blogs. For more information on Calgary mls.ca, or searching mlslistings.ca, visit her website here.

Now we get to the fun stuff: decorating. Actually in most cases, we will be un-decorating, but for those of you who live a little too plain and minimal—not naming names… *ahem*… bachelors and the like—it may be time to add a few pieces to dress up your spaces and create interesting focal points in your rooms in order to make your home stand out on the Saskatoon MLS®. Most Realtors out there do not offer staging services, so you can bet that once you have your home neat, trim, and staged, your listing will make an impression on your pool of Saskatoon home buyers.

What are focal points, and why do we need them? Focal points are the parts of the room where your eye can rest when you enter, and which cause a calming and relaxed feel to visitors. Having several different focal points in the room tends to communicate to real estate buyers, a feeling of confusion and overwhelm. It just feels cluttered, even if it’s not.

So before we start into how to create interesting and inviting focal points, I need to take you right back to square one. I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but we have to de-clutter a space before we can create a focal point. Once you have decided where your focal point is going to be, you need to seriously pare down the space around it to make sure that your vignette is going to get the attention it deserves.

So let’s use, for example, the great room. In this space your focal point will likely be your fireplace. If you don’t have one, you’ll have to create a similar feel. You can make a focal point out of tons of things, such as old musical instruments, a collection of hang-able antiques, old record albums, or framed sheet music. The options are only limited to your creativity, and to being neutral in colour. These are to be used in the great room only if you do not have a fireplace. However, I’m a huge fan of fireplaces in great rooms; if you don’t have one, you can buy them fairly inexpensively at your local big box store. These things are so easy to set up. Just open the box, assemble, and plug in. No saw, hammer, or nails required. Think in the neighbourhood of $500 for a basic one, and around $1000 for your more ornate feature fireplaces. Costco is also a good place to go for these fireplaces. This may seem like a big investment, but remember, you get to take it with you! Don’t forget to point out to your agent that the fireplace is not an attached chattel of the home, so that they can be sure to exclude it on the Saskatoon MLS® listing.

Okay, back to the example. So the fireplace is your focal point. That means that you should undress the rest of the room. Take it down to essentials. Keep the lamps on your side-tables, but take off the figurines, coasters, and magazines. Just keep it simple. Your focal point, however, should be interesting. You may decide to place a neutral urn on top of the fireplace, or neutral—yet eye-catching—picture in a frame hung above the mantle. Mirrors are also great to hang above the fireplace. In fact, I’m okay with mirrors hung just about anywhere. They open up the space, and can multiply the light available. Put bright throw pillows on your couch (make sure they all match and are one colour) and place them so the points, actually point towards the fireplace. The centerpiece on your coffee table should not block the view of the fireplace in anyway; it should be something that will help guide the eye toward it.

In the bedroom, your bed will likely be the focal point, just because of its sheer size. For that reason, again, I do urge you to consider a bed-in-a-bag, if you do not already own a modern set. A modern bedspread can have a huge effect on instantly modernizing a space. Be sure to have a head board in place. If you do not, you can construct one out of some wood, batting, and a length of fabric. Assemble with construction glue and a staple gun, and hang securely where the headboard is supposed to go. Above that I’d love to see a mirror that spans the width of the headboard, or a decorative item of the same length. Failing those large accessories, you can place three medium neutral items on the wall above the headboard, or five small ones.

Remember, it’s not about how much you have to decorate; it’s about how little you can use and still make the space interesting and above all inviting! Happy (un) decorating!

Rachel Vanderveen is a Calgary Christian Realtor specializing in Calgary condos, South East Calgary Real Estate, home staging , Calgary Real Estate Investment, and Auburn Bay Lake MLS Listings.  But more importantly she is a mother to four adorable children, a lover of Auburn Bay Real Estate, and an avid writer of Auburn Bay Community News blogs. For more information on Calgary mls.ca, or searching mlslistings.ca, visit her website here.

As we work through the outer parts of the house and begin to move towards the inner parts, it may be tempting to start to believe that no one is really going to be looking at these parts as much as the main floor and living areas, but I can assure that this is not true. People will indeed look into the bedrooms, the closets, the pantries, and the bathroom cabinets. Some people may even open up your fridge, dishwasher, washer and dryer to see what they could expect from an appliance that they may soon acquire. This week, I would like to move deeper into the master bedroom to see what needs to be done there to make it shine and stand-out on the Saskatoon MLS®.

Let’s start with the master bedroom and bathroom. Over the years, I have found that it is easier to tell clients what I do want to see, rather than what I don’t want to see in the bedrooms. So let’s start with the basics. First, I would like to see a bed, two nightstands, and two matching lamps. Anything else in the room should be sharply questioned in terms of whether it’s going to stay or go. All of your extra bedside materials will need to be boxed up. No books, glasses of water, prescription drugs, or eyewear. The tables should be totally clear. To make things easier, you may consider getting a small Rubbermaid bin for your nighttime accessories and sliding it under your bed.

If you have a dresser in the room, there should be lots of room for it. A good rule of thumb is that two people should be able to hold hands and walk all the way around the bed without hitting the dresser or the bed on any side. If you don’t have that kind of space in your room, I would strongly suggest removing the dresser. There are two reasons for this. The first one is the obvious one, and that is that the less we have in a space, the bigger the space appears to be. The second is that having an extra dresser in the room tends to say that there isn’t enough room in the master closet to store all of the clothes. If you’re like me, there probably isn’t enough room in the closet. This is why it’s important to pack up all the unnecessary seasonal clothes and store them away as mentioned in previous blogs.

Unfortunately, TVs in the bedroom are always going to be a big no-no. The same goes for video games. TVs in the room bring a harsh value to the space. The feng shui is all off. I would very strongly recommend removing them and boxing them up.

If you have the same bedding that you received as a wedding gift in 1994, I would suggest getting a bed in a bag from Walmart, Winners, or Home Sense. These products are worth their weight in gold. They can be purchased for a very low price and they come with sheets, comforter, bed skirts and usually a few throw pillows. Be sure to pick a neutral shade. Stick to browns, beiges, whites or creams. Being that your bed is the going to be the focal point in the room, you want to make sure that you make it look modern and inviting.

Moving into the master closet, be sure to follow the instructions of previous blogs by removing as much as you can. Remember, the less there is in the closet, the bigger it looks. Once you’re all done boxing everything up, colour block what is left.

When I describe the master bathroom to my clients, I tell them it should look “spa-like.” Totally clear the counters of all products. Buy a five-dollar shower caddy from Walmart and keep all of your products in there so that when you need to shower, you can take the caddy in with you, and when you’re done, you can place it back under the sink. You can keep a pump-able hand soap on the counter (no, you can’t have a bar of cracked and grey-stained bar soap) and a neutral vase with fake white flowers in them. Everything else should go. The only other thing I would like to see on the counter is three hand towels folded in perfect squares, and then three face clothes folded in perfect squares on top of those. Then on the very top, I want you to fold a fan or a swan to sit on top of the pile. You can find out how to do that here. On the floor by your tub or shower, take a basket and fill it with rolled up white towels, and place it where it won’t be in the way. I know this is not the way that people honestly live in their homes, but remember, we are selling an experience as much as we are selling a house in Saskatoon, so remember that every little bit counts!

The bathroom itself should shine from head to toe. Every surface should be polished and clean, and potential Saskatoon home buyers should be able to walk into your shower and eat dinner off the floor. The most important spaces in your home to keep clean as a whistle are the kitchen and the bathroom, so don’t skimp on polishing time in these areas.

The master bedroom is one of the most serene spaces in your Saskatoon real estate listing. You need to make sure that this space tells a story to your buyers. So let your room be the main space of the house that says, “Come on in, and enjoy!”

Until next time…

Blessings

Rachel Vanderveen is a Calgary Christian Realtor specializing in Calgary condos, South East Calgary Real Estate, home staging and Calgary Real Estate Investment, and Auburn Bay Realty.  But more importantly she is a mother to four adorable children, a lover of Auburn Bay Real Estate, and an avid writer of Calgary Real Estate Blogs. For more information on Calgary Home Buyers, or searching mlslistings.ca, visit her website here.

Cleaning and de-cluttering your home has probably left you a bit breathless, but this week I’m going to ask you to go a few steps further. As your home begins to take shape, and you’re starting to see surfaces you haven’t seen in years, I want to focus your attention on some of the small stuff.

I always tell my clients that you have five seconds to make an impression. Saskatoon home buyers usually know if they’re going to love your house or hate it within the first five seconds of viewing your home, so it would make sense that you spend a fair amount of time on curb appeal, and make sure that your exterior sets the stage for the Saskatoon real estate gem that you have hidden within.

So let’s talk curb appeal. If it’s winter, your walkways should be perfectly shoveled, salted, and absolutely clear of ice and debris, not just to make it easy for home buyers to access your front door, but also for the practicality of not wanting to have a lawsuit on your hands should someone slip and fall. If parking is such that people need to walk over a hump of snow in order to get to your driveway, shovel a pathway through the hump so they can walk without immersing their feet in a pile of snow.

If it’s summer your lawn should be cut, trim, whipper snippered, and utterly manicured to perfection. Maybe this is a personal preference, but I’ve always liked lawns that are mowed on a 45° angle. It shows that the homeowner takes pride in his or her home. Your garden should be completely weeded, and planted—if you’re the type that gardens—if you’re not, than your soil should be wet, turned, deep black, and fresh-looking. Try to avoid the soil that is flat and cracking and baking in the sun.

Sorry, but garden gnomes, colourful windmills, personal name plates (Jones’ Residence), and any other type of garden décor are going to have to go. Keep it simple, simple, simple. Use neutral colours in everything you have laid out. If you feel like your garden is naked without all the decoration, you can go out to Superstore or Walmart and pick up those solar lights that you can use to mark out the walkway to your doorstep, or outline the shape of your garden. Those make evening showings warm and inviting!

Now here’s the hard part: your yard needs to look like this for every single showing. You can’t miss one, not even one. I’m not trying to make your life difficult; I do have a very good reason for being so demanding. You see, Saskatoon real estate agents will be opening your door to buyers who have been scouring the Saskatoon MLS® for weeks or more; you never know which one is going to be the one that loves your home and wants to write an offer. To make it easier on my clients, I tell them that every showing that comes through your house is your potential buyer, and every showing after that is the buyers that could take your home into multiple offers and bid your asking price up, rather than down.  The good news is that once you’ve whipped it into shape, it isn’t as hard to maintain!

Now let’s get down to the finer details of the look of the front door. Potential buyers will be standing on your stoop for a moment (in most cases) while they wait for their Realtor® to locate the lockbox and open the door. They will be taking stock of what they see around them, and I have often found that, that moment of looking at a seller’s exterior is usually a pretty clear indicator of what is to come on the inside. So for that reason, make sure your mail box is clean and polished. If it is rusted, tarnished or dirty in any way at all, spray paint it back to a perfect colour, or replace it with a brand new one. Your outdoor light fixture should also be cleaned to a high-shine. Again, if it’s not sparkling, spray paint it or replace it totally. I like to see a wreath on doors. No matter what the season, a wreath creates a great focal point, and gives off a come-hither-type of feel. Make sure that it is seasonally appropriate and extremely neutral and understated. Colours should be whites, golds, beiges, deep greens, blacks, or browns.

Your door handle should be in optimal working order; there’s nothing worse than having the buyer’s agent struggling to get the door open. The knob should be polished and firmly screwed into the door, not wiggly or rattling. Most people don’t notice how dirty their front door gets with scuffs and marks. Attack it with a Mr. Clean magic eraser and if you can’t get it totally clean, then paint the whole thing top to bottom. Don’t do touch-ups here. Broad day-light will often expose a fix like that.

The siding right around your front door has a tendency to collect dust, debris and spider webs. If you go and look at it right now, you’ll likely notice that there is a fair amount of dirt hiding in the corners. Power-wash the exterior of your home from the front driveway right up to the front stoop so that everything that the average buyer sees will be totally clean.

Yes, I’ve given you more to add to your to-do list, but again, believe me, it all pays off when the offer comes in! Good luck, and I’ll see you back here next week as we go further into creating a Saskatoon real estate listing that sells!

Until Next Time…

Blessings

Rachel Vanderveen is a Calgary Realtor specializing in Calgary condos, South East Calgary Real Estate, home staging and Calgary Real Estate Investment, and Auburn Bay Realty.  But more importantly she is a mother to four adorable children, a lover of Auburn Bay Real Estate, and an avid writer of Calgary Real Estate Blogs. For more information on Calgary Home Buyers, or searching mlslistings.ca, visit her website here.

So now we’ve cleaned our home, and met and hired a Saskatoon real estate agent who is committed to helping us achieve a top-dollar sale. Our agent is sending a stager, but we want to get the most out of our stager’s time by having our home in the best shape we can before (s)he arrives.

So the next thing to attack is de-cluttering. What is clutter? My handy-dandy little Encarta dictionary defines it as a “messy collection of objects.” Well, this week, I’m going to redefine that word for you. Well maybe not redefine, but definitely sharpen the meaning for the purposes of our discussion.

Clutter, for our purposes, shall be defined as anything that you do not absolutely need to use in the next three months. If you think about it, that is a lot of stuff! For example, depending on the time of year, that could mean 3 seasons of your clothes, and your children’s clothes. That being said, why don’t we dive straight into your closets? Closet space is a biggie when it comes to selling real estate. Women Shoppers are always looking for more closet space, and when those Saskatoon real estate buyers come traipsing through your humble abode, they want to see lots of it. How can we make our closets look two-thirds bigger than they are? That’s easy! Remove two-thirds of the stuff! Box it, pack it up, and move it out. Let’s face it; you’re going to have to do it anyways, right? I mean, you are planning on moving house, right? So why not do it now rather than later.

So, Rachel, what am I supposed to do with all of my family’s seasonal clothes? Well, I personally am a big fan of those giant Rubbermaid bins from Walmart, but you don’t have to be so fancy. You can get old boxes from your local grocer. Once you’ve got them all packed up, well, you’ve got to get rid of them! Before I tell you where to put them, I’m going to tell you where not to put them. Do not stack them up in your basement and do not stack them in your garage! I know you’re not going to make me tell you not to stack them anywhere else in the house, that should be a given. Yes, that’s right, your boxes are going to have to go somewhere off site. Now, as I see it, that leaves you with two options:

1) You can find a loving friend or family member who has a basement or garage in home that is not going to be listed anytime soon, and stack them in there.

2) You can enlist the help of a storage unit.

But Rachel, I can’t do either of those things. Okay, fine. If you really can’t do either of those things, the n as a last option you can store the boxes in either the basement or the garage, but if you do so, try to stack them up as high (and as safe) as you can. The reason for this is that we want to be able to see floor space in those areas. Basements—especially unfinished basements—have their value caught up mostly in the amount of visible space. The bigger you can make it look, the more perceived value it has. The best way to make something look bigger is to remove as many unnecessary contents as possible. The garage is another place where space is a big issue. If it’s a double, it needs to look like a comfortable  double; if it’s a single, it needs to look like there is room to spare. So if you must store your extras in the basement or the garage, try to build shelving and get it up off the floor.

Now let’s move back to closets. Once everything is removed that won’t be used for the next three months, the biggest thing I want you to focus on is floor space. If you do nothing else in your closets and pantries, just make sure that the floor space is totally clear. Having the floor clear, again, makes the space appear larger.

After everything is removed from your storage areas, you have to organize it in an appealing way. After years of staging homes for sale, I have found the easiest way to describe the type of organizing you need to do is to say to the homeowner: “It should look like someone with OCD lives here. Think Julia Roberts in Sleeping With the Enemy.” So what does that look like? Well, I’d love to see everything arranged from largest to smallest, with the English label facing out…and…if you have time, colour-block it all. I know it sounds nuts, but let me tell you why it’s so important to make it all look like this. When you’re showing your home to potential buyers who have been looking all of the Saskatoon real estate listings in your area, your home will be the stand out. They see the almost obsessive cleanliness and associate a value to that. They will assume that you are the type of person who set a monthly clock to check your furnace and clean your ducts. They’ll know that if the roof leaked, you were up there in hours to have it looked at and instantly repaired. And they’ll be certain that a person as obsessively clean and organized as yourself, would never stand for mold growth anywhere. Feeling confident that the home you choose has been kept up to high standards has a value that is almost incalculable.

I often say to my staging clients, that when you think of the work you’ll have to do on your home to get it ready for the Saskatoon real estate market, imagine writing yourself a paycheck for about $200/hour. I have found that is roughly how much staging can increase your price, give or take. I can attest to the fact that staging your own home can seem like a  daunting task, but when you picture the income that  you can earn from putting in the time to make it sparkle, it’s a lot more appealing! So roll up your sleeves!

Until Next Time…

Blessings.

Rachel Vanderveen is a Calgary Real Estate agent specializing in Calgary condos, South Calgary Real Estate, home staging and Calgary Real Estate Investment.  But more importantly she is a mother to four adorable children, a lover of Auburn Bay Real Estate, and an avid writer of Calgary Real Estate Blogs. For more information on Calgary Home Buyers, or searching The Calgary MLS, visit her website here.

There are only two reasons why real estate doesn’t sell: marketing and price. It’s a pretty wild concept, but stay with me here; I’m going to break this all down.

The Saskatoon real estate market attracts a huge pool of buyers, and most of them turn to the Internet first. The Internet is the gateway that Saskatoon home buyers usually take before they decide to come and see your home in person. So before I tell you about what you can do to stage your home to sell, I’m going to tell you what you need to do to make sure that qualified home buyers of Saskatoon real estate actually see the work you’ve put into staging your home.

Your first job is picking the right agent, who is going to expose potential Saskatoon real estate purchasers to your home in the most attractive and professional way possible. For this reason, you should make sure that you’re hiring an agent who is tech-savvy, and has a website that can expose your home in the best light possible. Next, you should make sure your agent takes photos of your home that are shot with a wide-angle lens, and provides a virtual tour or a video tour.

One of the most important services an agent can offer is feedback. I came into a home a couple years ago that just wasn’t selling. The feedback given to the agent was the same for almost every showing: “Buyers think the front entrance is too cramped and buyers don’t like that bonus room has been changed to a fourth bedroom.” Among other recommendations that I made, I specially recommended that they place a very large mirror in the front entry, and also that they restage the fourth bedroom into a bonus room. The place sold three days later.

You see, the vast majority of real estate agents out there employ a method of selling that I fondly refer to as “list and pray.” They come to your home, shoot pictures with their tiny point-and-shoot camera—that also functioned as their family camera when they took a trip to Disneyland—whip out a listing contract, get it signed, and then they go home and pray that it will sell. That’s where their job ends.

So now let me tie this whole thing together for you by going back to my original bold statement. There are only two reasons why Saskatoon real estate doesn’t sell: marketing and price. If your agent hasn’t done everything (s)he can to market your property by sending you a stager, taking wide-angle photos, advertising your property, and giving you feedback, well the only thing (s)he has to work with is price. Meaning, if your home doesn’t sell, your list-and-pray agent is going to come at you for a price reduction. So rather than using their own efforts to sell, they just want you to cut your price. However, if an agent comes to you after having provided staging, photos etc, and tells you that you’re over-priced, well, you probably are. Being that your agent has done everything they can on the marketing-side of selling, you can feel confident that if they tell you it’s price that needs to change, you need to get out your shears and take a little off the top.

So now we’ve cleaned our place up, and we’ve decided on a Saskatoon real estate agent. Next week, we’re going to talk more about what you need to do to your home to make sure it sells for more money than your neighbours. Stay tuned!

Rachel Vanderveen is a Calgary Real Estate agent specializing in Calgary condos, home staging and Calgary investment real estate.  But more importantly she is a mother to four adorable children, and an avid Real Estate Blogger. For more information on buying a Home in Calgary, or searching Calgary MLS Listings, visit her website here.

I’ve been a home stager and a Calgary Real Estate agent for many years now. The benefit of doing both jobs is that I get to implement the theories of staging in Calgary homes for sale, and I also get to see how they work by gauging a my buyer’s reaction to the scene that’s been set. I can tell you from personal experience, as well as statistically, that the jury has made its decision: staging works.

Norm has invited me here to his blog to help educate you on how to earn more money on the sale of your Saskatoon home, and you don’t need to do it by investing huge amount of money in renovations. The staging I do in Calgary works primarily with the items that are already existent in your home. I usually recommend a budget of $500 for homes listed at $300,000 or less, and a budget of $1000 for homes listed at $600,000 or less. Spending that money to spruce up your home is really the least of the investment you’ll be putting into your home. The biggest investment is going to be your time. Yes, it will take oodles of time to clean, de-clutter, organize and neutralize the spaces in your home, but it will pay off! Staged homes absolutely do sell faster and for more money than their unstaged competition. Statistics unanimously agree on this point. Now I can’t give you a range on your Saskatoon Home because I haven’t walked through your home, but you can bet that Norm can!

So where do we start? If we want to earn maximum dollars for our home, and spend the least amount of money, what is square one? Well, it’s pretty simple, and I bet you’ve already guessed it! A total, complete, inside-out and almost-manic cleaning job is where we begin our journey. Some of you out there, have a natural knack for cleaning, but most of you (the ones who are like me) have a dilly of a pickle trying to keep on top of the never-ending dust and grime that creeps up when you least expect it.

So before I get into what to do to decorate (or undecorate in most cases) your Saskatoon home and prepare it for sale, let’s get back to the basics. I want you to attack your baseboards, casings, walls, pantries, cupboard faces, faucets, floor corners, and every nook and cranny possible. Let’s face it; no one can really live that clean. It’s just not possible, but the kind of clean that you need to have when you list your home in Saskatoon, is the sort that will tell a story about you as a seller. People see an obsessively cleaned home, and they think that you are an obsessive-type person. Meaning, that every time the furnace broke down, you attended to it immediately and replaced the parts needed to perfection. When the roof had a leak, you were up there within hours and put only the most secure fixes on it to make sure it never leaked again. Like it or not, you’re selling yourselves as much as you’re selling your Saskatoon home. So this week, get down and dirty!

Until next time.

Blessings

Rachel Vanderveen is Calgary Real Estate agent specializing in Calgary Condos, Home staging and Calgary Investment Real Estate. But more importantly she is a mother to four adorable children, and an avid Real Estate Blogger. For more information on buying or selling a Home in Calgary, or searching Calgary MLS Listings, visit her website here.

Remember, TeamFisher’s Full Service Marketing Plan includes a complimentary staging consultation to create a room by room plan to help you present your home at its very best. More details on our listing services are available here.

Previously approved by CREA’s board of directors, subject to ratification of the national real estate association’s member real estate boards, the consent agreement makes it crystal clear that CREA and its member boards have no business dictating service levels for MLS® listings. Brokerages may opt to offer service levels that range from a “mere posting” where the brokerage’s responsibility would be limited to data verification and entry in the MLS® system, to a full slate of additional services which include showing the property, marketing and negotiation of purchase contracts.

CREA has always maintained that their MLS® rules do not prohibit brokers from negotiating limited service agreements with property sellers. One MLS® rule that did exist when the investigation began prohibited “mere postings.” The association has always maintained that the intention of this rule was only to keep members responsible for the accuracy of MLS® data in order to maintain the integrity of the MLS®, and that all other services were negotiable. In their initial response to the Bureau’s allegation that CREA’s rules were developed to prevent limited service models, CREA cited several examples of brokerages that were offering limited services, including MLS® listings for under $200.

Precise details of the agreement have been kept under wraps on the understanding that litigation before a Competition Tribunal scheduled for April of 2011 would proceed if the CREA membership voted against the ratification of the agreement. A full copy of the agreement which is immediately effective, and in effect for ten years, will be available on the Competition Bureau website as soon as it is registered with the Tribunal.

Memorandums released by CREA and member boards after the agreement was struck have not provided a great detail of detail, except for a few points of clarification in answer to erroneous news reports. In those memos, CREA has made the following points:

• The agreement would not allow public access to MLS® systems. Sellers wishing to utilize the MLS® would still need to access it through a REALTOR®.
• The agreement would not require brokerages to adopt limited service models.
• That an offer of compensation to buyer’s agents would be required for inclusion of a property on an MLS® system.
• That real estate brokerages would continue to be responsible for the accuracy of the data entered into an MLS® system.

In a memo to the membership of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® emailed shortly after the vote, executive officer Harry Janzen had this to say about the impact of this agreement on the Saskatoon real estate industry and consumers who utilize services offered by members.

The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® has always been a progressive association in its delivery of services to its members and in turn, the consumer. In the mid 1980s Saskatoon saw the first of what was then viewed as an alternative business model.

Since that time, several brokers have chosen to offer services that assist sellers who prefer less than full service in the marketing of their property. The REALTOR® community in Saskatoon and area will continue to offer marketing services that philosophically align with their belief on how to best serve today’s consumer.

Consumers need to be aware that regardless of the service level they choose to receive from a REALTOR®, the REALTOR® must still comply with provincial law and the industry’s regulatory body the Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission. Two examples of Saskatchewan requirements are: An agency relationship must exist between the REALTOR® and the Seller based on the services chosen. Another example is REALTORS® are still responsible to verify the accuracy of MLS® data to ensure association MLS® system data integrity.

Given Saskatoon’s experience and history with alternative business models, approval of the consent agreement simply means business as usual for both REALTORS® and consumers.

Only time will tell the true impact of this agreement, but one thing is for sure; this REALTOR® is happy to see the end of this ugly battle, regardless of where it goes. I believe in free markets and competition. Availability of the broadest possible range of services is good for consumers and for real estate practitioners alike.

CREA President Georges Pahud comments on the agreement here.
Final agreement paves way for more competition in Canada’s real estate market: Competition Bureau
Read also: Canada’s Competition Bureau concludes CREA’s rules are anti-competitive
Read also: MLS rules and CREA headed for Competition Tribunal

Update: A copy of the consent agreement between CREA and the Bureau is here.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS® listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

I got a bit of a kick out of this story about a recent study of open houses which found that almost half of the people who attended them weren’t even in the market to buy a home. Fifty-seven percent admitted to getting some kicks out of the opportunity to “check out the seller’s personal property” from opening closets to reading notes on the fridge. I’m guessing it’s more than fifty-seven percent.

I suppose having your fridge notes read or your medicine cabinet raided by total strangers and neighbours is fairly harmless, at least compared to some of the other possibilities. It seems that there’s no end to the dangers and delights that can occur between 2 and 4 on a Sunday afternoon.

Just a few years ago, a very strange idea crept into the mind of one Saskatoon dude. Over the course of couple of weekends he made a number of open house appearances, all of which were hosted by women. After entering and greeting his host, he would take the first opportunity to sneak away to a private spot and undress to his underwear, underwear which was selected to accentuate his feminine side. Then, to the horror of the attendant REALTOR®, he would parade through the living room to make himself seen. Perhaps I have a keenly sharp sense as to what the average woman may find sexy, or perhaps it was just a lucky guess, but it came as no surprise to me that this was not a real turn on for the women who happened to be there. I was surprised to learn, however, that this is not actually an illegal activity. Fortunately, police were able to convince the man that no good could come of such exhibitions and after one firm talking to, he stopped.

Being cornered or assaulted by a kook is probably the worst case scenario for an agent at an open house but theft of the seller’s personal property is always a concern, and rightly so. Over the course of my career I’ve heard several stories of items gone missing, but frankly, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often than it does. It seems that open houses can be a pretty easy and lucrative target. Here’s a news story about an Oshawa couple in their 50’s who were recently charged with stealing over $500,000 worth of property from a number of open houses. It’s quite a way to be making a living after 50. Sad but true.

Open houses can be more than fun and surprises for agents and home sellers. It seems that buyers find their fair share of delights as well. In this interesting blog post, New York Times readers share their fondest open house memories, from tales of intimate boudoir photos proudly displayed, to people fast asleep in bed. One of the stories reminded me of an open house I hosted early in my career, before I had a good sense of what staging a home really means. The seller was a hunter, and not just a regular hunter. He had visited Africa on numerous occasions and quite a collection of trophies had accumulated on the walls of “his room” as it was affectionately labeled by her. There are few things uglier that a warthog. Gazelle’s, water buffalo and zebras are all quite magnificent, but when you chop their heads off and attach them to the walls of a sixteen by twelve foot room they have a tendency to dominate. They can also send people fleeing. One woman literally ran down the stairs and out the front door without so much as a goodbye.

Perhaps the most shocking and sad open house story I’ve ever heard was this one. It seems that the home owner, distraught and grieving the recent death of his beloved spouse, hanged himself in the closet of the master bedroom. His lifeless body was discovered by a “prospective buyer” who just had to open the closet at an open house. Some fifty-seven perent of you might like to keep this story in mind the next time you have the urge to sneak a quick peek inside a closet at an open house.

Do you have any fun or scary open house stories? Please share it with us by leaving a comment.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS® listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

So, what is a quick sale is vital for you? What if you don’t have time to wait it out? What can realistically be done to increase your odds of selling over the next thirty days? Frankly, there are just a few things that you and your agent can actually control but those things are all important factors in capturing a buyer’s interest and closing a sale. The three areas where you and your agent have full control are presentation, promotion and price.

Presentation Part 1

In a crowded real estate market homes that don’t show well, or those that are in poor repair are a very tough sell. It’s just too easy for a buyer to pass. They have every bit of confidence that something better will come available soon. Unless your home has some unique quality for which there is a reasonable level of demand you must be prepared to put in some elbow grease, or spend a few bucks to properly prepare it for sale. Alternatively, you can make up for those shortcomings with a lower price. You’ll likely need to price the home so the buyer can see a clear net gain of equity as a result of doing the work. Here’s what the math needs to look like to interest buyers in most of these cases – Purchase price + cost of repairs = a clearly below market price.

Even homes that are in good repair can benefit from some basic pre-sale preparation and some staging. Improving the condition of your home is one way of adding value to make your offering more attractive to prospective buyers.

Our home preparation list and our preparing for a successful photo shoot article both have some basic suggestions for improving presentation.

Presentation Part 2

The old cliché, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression” couldn’t be more accurate.

Several studies indicate that almost all buyers begin their home search online. They use the Internet to qualify properties for onsite viewings and eliminate those that they don’t care to see. Today’s online tools allow buyers to quickly favorite or trash homes while they browse. Once your home is eliminated from the list it’s very difficult to recapture a buyers attention.

Web appeal is the new curb appeal. Your home must show as well online as it will when the buyer visits in person and fortunately for you; the bar is generally set fairly low. It’s not that difficult to look better than the competition. An average house, presented well, can have more web appeal than a great house that is presented poorly.

Presenting your home in the best possible light with professional quality images and attractive written descriptions will play an important role in your success or failure as a seller. Improving the online presentation of your home could increase inquiries and showings resulting in a faster sale.

Promotion

Now that your home is looking good, you need to ensure that potential buyers can easily find it and the Internet is clearly where buyers for your home are looking. Some people feel that Canada’s leading real estate website, realtor.ca can adequately expose a property to the market. You definitely want to be there but here’s the big catch – according to HitWise, realtor.ca reaches fewer than one in three home buyers. Two of three choose to look at homes elsewhere. If realtor.ca forms the bulk of your online marketing effort you’re actually missing most of the market. Information on your home should to be available at a variety of home search websites to maximize the possibility that buyers will find your home. A robust web-marketing plan will include placement on a number of important websites and an active effort to draw buyers to your property including pay-per-click advertising campaigns and spotlights ads where available.

The wonderful thing about Internet marketing is the ability to track and count visits to your property’s online ads. You can know, without question, that people are seeing your home.

If preparation or promotion are lacking you may be able to make some adjustments in those areas and find success. If your home can be easily found by home buyers and it looks great online, it’s likely failing to sell for another reason.

Price

No amount of preparation or promotion will sell a home that’s clearly priced above market value. If your home presents well and buyers are aware that it’s for sale you have just one option to bring about a faster sale – lower your price to make it more attractive. Generally speaking, the roughly 270 Saskatoon homes that do sell over the next thirty days will be those that appear to offer the best value, in the sole judgment of those who offer to buy them. Remember, buyers have what seems like an endless selection of homes and they’re not feeling much pressure to move quickly. They must see good value to be drawn into a negotiation on almost any home.

Best wishes for a speedy sale!

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Click image for a larger view

We’ve done some cool things over the years to set our listings apart from the competition. None have been quite as exciting to me as this custom-made yard sign that is now offered as part of our full-service marketing plan.

Compared to past efforts we’ve made to capture and pique the interest of potential buyers who are driving or walking by our listings, this idea is beautifully simple. The signs are eye catching and they immediately provide answers to a few basic and common questions. Best of all, the buyer doesn’t have to take any action to get the information. They just have to stop and look. That’s exactly what’s happening. If they want more, a custom web address utilizing the home’s address provides an easy second step to learn more about the home.

I wish I could take credit for the idea but I was first introduced to the “custom yard sign” by this post on the Bloodhound Blog a few years ago. I’ve always wanted to do it but it was easy to put off. Coming up with a great design for a sign turned out to be a very tough project. My thanks to the people at Reach Communications for taking that task off of my hands and producing a professional looking piece when they helped us develop our brand strategy.

In the end, it’s obvious to me that the custom yard sign is a natural for our team. We’ve put a significant amount of effort into learning how to make a home look its best in pictures. These custom signs provide an opportunity to leverage those skills in another way for the benefit of our selling clients.

Interested in learning more about our seller services? It’s all right here (large pdf file may be slow to load).

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

An example of a seasonally inappropriate photo for July

It’s July 1 today.

I’m not raising this point because I’m concerned you’ll otherwise miss out on the celebrations of the day. I bring it up because there’s about a ten percent chance that your listing is still being promoted with photos showing snow if it was listed between the first of January and the end of April. Even though winter is long gone and spring is now behind us, I managed yesterday to find nearly forty listings that are still being displayed in a prairie winter wonderland setting. Some of them are showing quite a lot of snow.

Anyone who lives in Saskatoon is accustomed to snow, but snow in July is still a crazy idea, one which buyers just won’t understand. It not only looks stupid but it is probably robbing you of any chance that you might have to bag an offer before the snow flies again. If you do get an offer, the buyer will surely feel justified in coming in very low since your home has been for sale for what seems like forever.

It’s not your fault, but clearly this problem won’t be addressed unless you’re prepared to do something about it. Please check your listing online to see if the photos are seasonally appropriate.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

When an agent submits a new listing to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® (MLS®) there are a few wonderful opportunities that can be effortlessly captured or just as easily squandered. The MLS® data server is a busy little computer that spends its day accepting data on Saskatoon homes for sale. There’s a special place in its digital heart for brand new listings.  It believes that one of its most important jobs is to notify people about great new listings that may be of interest to them. Several times each day, it packages the new data and sends it places. The first day your home is added to the MLS® database it could be seen by hundreds of potential buyers either in the form of an email update (“there’s a new listing that matches your requirements”) or displayed on one of many websites that accepts this data including Realtor.ca.

As a home owner, if you can have any say in the matter whatsoever you’ll want to ensure that your home’s listing isn’t sent out looking like the one pictured on the left. I won’t bother explaining why, because that would be condescending to people like you who have common sense. You already know why this listing is a perfect example of a massive fail. So, why does it happen nearly every single day? Why do we so commonly see brand new listings being marketed with no photos and with very limited listing detail?

As a prospective home buyer or a home seller under contract you might come to one of a few conclusions.

• The listing agent doesn’t care about the quality of his or her work or how it impacts on you.
• The listing agent is too lazy to gather three megabytes of data in one place and complete a twenty-minute task in a single session.
• The listing agent lacks the common sense to understand why images and information are important.
• The house being marketed is so butt ugly that it’s best that people don’t actually see it.

In most cases, none of these things are actually true. It’s far more likely that the agent is simply busy with a million and one other things competing for his or her attention. This important marketing task isn’t insisting that it should be immediately attended to and therefore, it becomes one of those little tasks that we can get back to later when time permits. But, this is not cool. It’s not cool at all.

This terrible fail is the result of a lack of planning and every home seller deserves better. While I rarely speak directly to other real estate agents on this blog I’d like to share some very simple thoughts on rolling out a new listing to help sellers capture the “once in a new listing” opportunities that exist.

Dear real estate agent,

Here are just a few things that you might want to be thinking about when you take your next listing.

1. Your listings are your inventory. They are presented with your name attached to them and they are a reflection of your professionalism, your organizational skill, the level of care that you apply to your work, and your ability to manage details. If you can’t effectively handle this simple part of the process, how can a seller have confidence that you’re capable of handling a contract?
2. Your new listings deserve a rollout plan. If you’re too busy to roll it out properly, don’t take the listing.
3. Timeliness is important, but the quality of your presentation should never be sacrificed for speed. Any seller is best served by having their listing rolled-out properly tomorrow, instead of poorly today.
4. Most of the tasks associated with a new listing can be performed by another competent individual who trades their time for money (assistant or virtual assistant), so don’t be afraid to delegate, but it’s your job to ensure that the tasks are completed correctly and once started, without delay.
5. Decide with your seller on a launch date for the listing.
6. Gather all of the important data about the property including a full compliment of photos (interior and exterior) prior to the rollout date.
7. Write an attractive description, post-process images and prepare virtual tours in advance of the rollout date.
8. Share your photos and your description with your seller to reduce errors and to improve the quality of your work.
9. On the rollout date submit your listing using broker load and include all of the information you’ve gathered in a single session. Do it early in the morning. Nothing else will be competing for your attention at 6:00 am so you’ll have plenty of time to see the task through to completion, and to proofread and correct errors before the system starts to send data out around 10:00 am. Your listing will also show up on the “new listings” page of the MLS® all day, instead of just a few hours.
10. Continue on with your other electronic marketing tasks while you’re in front of the computer with all of the data handy.

It really is that simple.

Home sellers; don’t be afraid to set the bar high in terms of your expectations in the rollout of your listing. Ask your agent for a rollout plan and some assurances that the presentation of your home will be handled with the great care it deserves.

Related posts

A compelling case for more photos on your home listing
If a picture is worth a thousand words…

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @norm_fisher.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS® listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

This commercial for Cullman Liquidation Center came to me by way of Tim Ayres, a Realtor from Sooke British Columbia who wrote in his Twitter stream, “This is easily the best real estate commercial in history.” Thanks for the laugh Tim!

By way of Brendan King’s Twitter stream.

As a licensed Asian, I found this particular misunderstanding quite amusing and so did the other Asians in my office, but discriminatory practices are no laughing matter and fair treatment for all human beings is a cornerstone of a civilized society.

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code was written to protect people from discriminatory practices. The following are “prohibited grounds” for discrimination under the Code;

(i) religion;
(ii) creed;
(iii) marital status;
(iv) family status;
(v) sex;
(vi) sexual orientation;
(vii) disability;
(viii) age;
(ix) colour;
(x) ancestry;
(xi) nationality;
(xii) place of origin;
(xiii) race or perceived race; and
(xiv) receipt of public assistance.

Section 10 and section 11 of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code deal specifically with discriminatory practices in the sale or leasing of real estate.

Discrimination in the purchase of property prohibited

10(1) No person shall, on the basis of a prohibited ground:

(a) deny to any person or class of persons the opportunity to purchase any commercial unit or any place of dwelling that is advertised or in any way represented as being available for sale;

(b) deny to any person or class of persons the opportunity to purchase or otherwise acquire land or an interest in land; or

(c) discriminate against any person or class of persons with respect to any term of the purchase or other acquisition of any commercial unit or any place of dwelling, land or any interest in land.

(2) Repealed. 2007, c.39, s.4.

(3) Nothing in subsection (1) prohibits the sale, the offering for sale or the advertising for sale of a place of dwelling for occupancy by persons over 55 years of age exclusively.

Discrimination in occupancy of commercial unit or housing accommodation is prohibited

11(1) No person, directly or indirectly, alone or with another, or by the interposition of another shall, on the basis of a prohibited ground:

(a) deny to any person or class of persons occupancy of any commercial unit or any housing accommodation; or

(b) discriminate against any person or class of persons with respect to any term of occupancy of any commercial unit or any housing accommodation.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to discrimination on the basis of the sex of a person with respect to housing accommodation, where the occupancy of all the housing accommodation in a building, except that of the owner or the owner’s family, is restricted to individuals who are of the same sex.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to discrimination on the basis of the sex or sexual orientation of a person with respect to the renting or leasing of any dwelling unit in any housing accommodation that is composed of not more than two dwelling units, where the owner of the housing accommodation or the owner’s family resides in one of the two dwelling units.

(4) Nothing in subsection (1) prohibits the renting or leasing, the offering for rent or lease or the advertising for rent or lease, of any housing accommodation for occupancy by persons over 55 years of age exclusively.

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code is here.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

I first signed up to use this “social media” tool a little more than a year ago. I think I gave it a fair shot (96 tweets and a lot of listening) but it just doesn’t seem to work for me. I’m not that comfortable sharing the minor details of my life with others.

On the other hand, I am kinda crazy about sharing real estate stuff with those who are into it. If you’re into that, and you’re into Twitter, well, you might want to check out my Twitter stream here.

You probably won’t find out where I am, or what I had for dinner, but if you were checkin’ it out you’d know how many Saskatoon homes sold today, and what the average selling price was. You’d know that a property sold above a million bucks yesterday, and that another one picked up a sold sign today at just shy of a million. Heck, you’d even already know the average selling price of a Saskatoon home for March 2009.

So, hit me up on Twitter, won’t ya?

I’m over here, by myself, at the moment. ☺

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Like almost everything else these days, this MLS history report reminded me of the volatility of stock market. I only wish that my investments were still priced higher than they were five months ago.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Act quickly!! Offers will be accepted until February 20th 2008.

I have to ask myself, “Why should I act quickly?” It would seem to me that I have at least two weeks to get over there.

Most of us can understand a seller’s desire to leverage a seller’s market.

In my opinion, this is a good example of a seller shooting themselves in the foot, and most likely failing to achieve what they’re hoping to accomplish. It’s terribly difficult to generate a lot of excitement around a property that isn’t even really for sale. This property will be old news before the seller is anywhere near ready to look at offers. Many buyers will probably be reluctant to even give it the time of day.

Last year, while this was going on I did my best to keep my sellers focused on two day time periods. This is plenty of time to reach the most motivated buyers and create a bit of a buzz around a property. Any longer and time begins to work against you.

Read also: Seller’s will review all offers…someday

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Sitting on a narrow lot which measures in at 7.25 feet by 113.67 feet, this little charmer has been completely renovated from top to bottom. It features a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom and a decent back yard.

I was most impressed by the initiative taken by the listing agents, Christina Lopes and Louise Ruggiero of Sutton Group Security Real Estate Brokerage. These two go-getters have enhanced their listing to the fullest on MLSOnline including a sales brochure and a virtual tour which offers eighteen still images and four 360 degree panoramic images.

It’s hard to find an agent who will provide such a rich presentation on house ten times the size.

The virtual tour for the property is here.

Tip of the hat to Matthew Collinge of Vancouver who originally posted about this property on his blog.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Shocking as it may be, there’s something remarkably refreshing about the truthful approach that this agent has taken to marketing this property. Let’s face it, this is an ugly house and trying to convince prospective buyers that it’s anything but only serves to insult their intelligence. It’s not like they won’t notice once they arrive for a viewing. What’s the point in putting them through those hoops if they’re not open to purchasing a mutt? This forward approach also serves the seller by targeting the appropriate niche, and qualifying buyers. Assuming it’s priced properly, it should sell.

I can’t say that I’ve ever gone quite this far, but I can’t ever recall have a listing which would deserve such a tough description. I can tell you that it pays to be forthright in a real estate advertisement. Earlier this year; I listed a property which was built in the late 70’s and hadn’t seen an upgrade since. I started my ad by saying, “It’s not the prettiest house on the block and it’s definitely time for some upgrades but this 1,080 square foot bi-level is priced right and provides an excellent opportunity for an affordable home in a great family neighbourhood.” After a couple of days of pre-promotion, the home had 43 showings its first day on the market, attracted 16 offers, and sold for $27,000 more than the asking price. There’s obviously a great market for homes that need work. Why shouldn’t we let you know it when we have one for sale?

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Edmonton builder, Coventry Homes is lobbing out an offer which I’ve never seen before – “…buy one of Coventry’s feature semi-detached or single-family show homes and you’ll get a 2008 City Golf at no additional cost.”

Is now a good time to buy an Edmonton home? Ask Sheldon or Sara. They seem to really know their market.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

For a seller, the obvious allure of an unconditional offer is the certainty which it immediately provides. In the past, unconditional offers were typically made in rare instances when the buyer has the resources to finance the purchase themselves and does not require anyone’s approval. Today, we see many buyers submitting offers which contain no “subject to mortgage approval” clause in spite of the fact that they will clearly require a mortgage approval to complete the purchase of your home.

In this particular market, unconditional offers are being made in an effort to create an advantage for buyers when they are competing with other offers. It’s a gutsy move on the buyer’s part. Sellers should be aware that in most cases there are limited benefits to them in taking this kind of offer seriously. In fact, you may be accepting more risk than you ever imagined. You need to understand that at the end of the day, you still have a sale which is conditional upon the buyer receiving a mortgage approval. If a lender won’t lend the buyer the funds they won’t be buying your home. It really is that simple.

When a buyer appropriately includes the “subject to mortgage approval” clause there’s a short term “out” for the seller. If the buyer is unable to obtain financing you can move forward with your selling effort, normally within a short period of time. In this particular market you can likely expect your home to attract a level of interest which is similar to what you experience the first time it was offered for sale. The risk of accepting a finance condition is pretty limited and almost inconsequential.

Consider this; a buyer offers to purchase your home without a mortgage condition in spite of the fact that they’ll require mortgage approval. They provide a ten thousand dollar deposit. You’re happy.

The buyer then proceeds to see his lender and based on some change in his financial situation, or something which he failed to disclose to the lender during his initial “pre-approval” process he is rejected by the lender.

The buyer is distraught realizing that’s he has likely made a move which will ultimately cost him $10,000. He’s not ready to give up and decides that he is going to try to arrange financing some other way. Whether he chooses to tell you about his misfortune today, or 60 days down the road, the same $10,000 is at stake, so there is little incentive which might cause him to come forward so you can deal with a collapsed sale and move forward with your plans.

Meantime, possession date on the home which you’ve purchased draws near. Perhaps you’ve obtained bridge financing which would allow you to possess both homes for a short period of time so that you can move directly from one house to the other. As soon as the sale on your first home completes you’ll pay the lender out of the proceeds. Trouble is, your sale doesn’t close and suddenly you own two homes, and two mortgages. Ouch!

Now, you might say, “At least I’ve got the $10,000 deposit. That will be helpful in dealing with this mess.” Yes, if the buyer should agree to surrender that money you’ll probably be able to find your way out of it. You should be aware however that there is a provision in the Real Estate Act which forbids a real estate brokerage from releasing a deposit which is “subject to dispute.” If the buyer objects to its release, the deposit is staying right where it is until the matter is settled.

Clearly, this would be a sleazy approach for a buyer to take and I believe that contracts which we use in Saskatchewan would ultimately entitle you to the deposit, but you might have to drag this bum to court to make that happen and that can be a lengthy, costly and onerous process. The buyer could try other sleazy tactics like filing an interest in your property with the Land Titles Office making it difficult for you to sell it to someone else. These tactics would be used as a way of strong-arming you into returning all or part of the deposit. I would say that the larger the deposit the more likely it is that a buyer will throw down the gloves and fight.

I know of one instance where a buyer changed their minds on a purchase after removing all conditions. They flew back home to England and they used the very tactics which I just described. The seller had to jump through all sorts of hoops to get their home back on the market and it has been difficult locating these people to serve them with a summons. The sale fell through over two years ago. The seller will have her day in court this May. The deposit was a mere $5,000 which clearly tells me that some people will do just about anything to try to save a buck.

Sellers beware!

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

It’s never been harder to predict the probable selling price of a home in the Saskatoon real estate market. At most points in my career, it’s been reasonably easy to come pretty close with a little prudent research. Now, things seem to be changing so rapidly that it’s hard to answer the question with a great deal of confidence when a seller asks, “What can I get for my house?”

Take comfort in the fact that if a home is properly marketed and given good exposure to home buyers, the price which you ask is almost inconsequential, as long as it’s not too high. What’s most comforting is that if you price your home very attractively, you may in fact get far more than you even expected you might.

A recent experience which I had with one of my clients is a perfect example of how price can impact results. I share it with you with their permission.

Joe and Sally (not their real names) wanted to sell their home. As prudent home seller’s, they decided to interview three agents for the job. During my time with them I stressed the importance of selecting an agent based on services and marketing strategy and I asked them to try to focus on those things in making their selection, and not on the agent’s “price.”

Sometimes, agents will tell a seller almost anything to secure a listing hoping that they may eventually convince the seller to reduce it to a reasonable and marketable price. I refuse to do this. Invariably, it costs the seller something, if not a lower sale price, certainly some lost time and frustration. An agent has a responsibility to provide his or her best advice, even if it’s something the client would rather not hear. At the heart of an agency relationship is the principle, “protect and promote the client’s interests” and that begins with the truth.

The first agent that Joe and Sally interviewed suggested that the home’s value was “somewhere between $155,000 and $165,000.” They were left feeling disappointed as they had hoped they could get more. This agent later revised his suggested list price to $199,900 after researching the market further.

When I met them I explained the complexities of pricing real estate today. I told them that I couldn’t be sure how much we could get, but I proposed a strategy that I thought would deliver a top dollar sale. I knew full well that the first price proposed was too low. Even the most aggressive buyer is only willing to go so far over list price, and a price which is too low can cause buyers to be suspicious and to wonder what’s wrong with the home. I felt the home could look very attractive at $20,000 above this agent’s high range. I suggested that we price the home at $184,900 and I felt confident that it would attract offers above the list price.

The next agent whom they met with suggested a list price which was somewhere above the $210,000 mark. Joe and Sally even felt that the suggested price was “too high” but like all home sellers they hoped to maximize their return on resale. For the record, I’m not suggesting that this agent was in any way underhanded in his suggestion. Sometimes, it’s simply an honest overestimation of the market’s potential, something all agents have done, and what I suspect probably happened here. As I said, it is difficult right now to nail that perfect price.

You can probably appreciate that Joe and Sally’s day was getting better with each agent they interviewed. They’d gone from $155,000 to $210,000 plus in just a couple of hours. Confused, they decided to interview a fourth agent the following week. That agent suggested a price of $197,000, making my suggested list price the lowest of the four.

When all was said and done, Joe and Sally decided to list their property with the agent who suggested the highest price. They talked him down a bit and the home went on the market at $209,900. The property was listed for two full weeks and during that time many people came to see it. Their agent diligently worked the listing hosting two open houses. Thirty eight groups of people attended the first one, but soon traffic began to dwindle to “two or three showings each day.” A couple of people made verbal offers both of which were substantially below list. At one point a decent written offer was accepted but ultimately, the buyer failed to remove conditions and the listing expired without success.

I was surprised, but very pleased to hear from Joe. When I got the call he asked, “Would you like to list our house?”

“Yes, I would,” I said and a meeting was scheduled to get the home back on the market.

This time, I proposed a listing price of $189,900. It was two weeks later and things had changed some. Again, I was confident that with such a price I good generate lots of interest and in all likelihood present offers above the list price. It took some trust on their part to approve this number as it was a lower price than the offer they had received, and even though it hadn’t completed, I’m sure that the offer price had become the benchmark by which they would judge any future offer. Further, it was still well below the price which was suggested by all of the other agents they interviewed. They decided to trust me and I listed the home at the proposed price.

I began with the usual process of preparing my marketing materials including feature sheets, virtual tour and an internet ad. Before I placed the home on the MLS®, I emailed it to over 300 agents and invited them to schedule a showing for this home which would be available the following day. By the end of the day, I had booked about a dozen showings. The following morning I placed the home on the MLS® and the telephone continued to ring and more showings were scheduled. Over thirty prospective buyers went through the home that day, and by the time I met with Joe and Sally later that evening I had seven offers to show them.

Joe and Sally accepted an offer that evening which significantly exceeded the original asking price of $209,900 (by enough to buy some pretty cool stuff) and the sale has since firmed up.

During the previous listing, the buyers called all the shots. They know that the Saskatoon housing market is hotter than it’s ever been and they were probably suspicious that this home had not sold quickly like most others have. Nobody is excited about paying top dollar for a home which nobody else seems real interested in. A lukewarm buyer can be difficult to deal with. Whatever the case, the price at that time was not causing them to really want this lovely house.

On the other hand, our new price created some excitement. Buyers were nearly tripping over each other during that first day of showings and it was totally obvious to everyone who came by that this home was attracting interest and would likely sell today. Buyers came to the table with their very best offer. In fact, if we had four homes just like it, they all would have sold above the previous list price. That’s right; four of those seven offers were above $209,900.

This is a pricing strategy which I’ve used with great success since this bull market began; generating offers which exceed the asking price by as much as 20%.

When you price your home, you’ll want to take some care that you’re not too low, but be particularly careful that you’re not too high. An attractive price which ensures buyer interest is just as important in a hot market as it is in a balanced one.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

I’m talking about the practice of delaying presentation of offers until a specified date and time. It’s been done before in raging real estate markets across North America. The practice is just recently getting some play from Saskatoon home sellers and their agents. Of course, the objective is to create a bidding war on the property.

There are two factors which I think are critical in using this strategy successfully; timing and price.

I’ll touch on timing first. I saw an attractive new listing come on the MLS® system yesterday. The comment on the listing said, “Offers presented on March 12 at 8:00 pm on seller’s request.” A week is a long time in the Saskatoon real estate market. The odds that any two buyers will ever run into each other at a showing are remote. Nobody will really get the sense that there is any excitement about the property. Those that do see it will probably be back and forth as to whether or not they even want to buy it (I know of several instances where buyers have decided to withdraw an offer they’ve written or adjust the offer price down). Certainly, they’ll be looking at and considering anything else which comes available in the mean time. That’s okay for buyers. I’m not really sure how it’s good for the seller.

Now, take all of the people that might consider this home, and have them view it within a one or two day period. Buyers are much more likely to encounter other buyers at the property and truly get some sense as to the level of interest that this property is attracting. People tend to want things that other people want. We’re funny that way. Shorten up your time frame and watch the motivated buyers pour in.

Now, let’s get to pricing. Your asking price must be attractive enough that it’s guaranteed to generate offers. If nobody makes an offer by presentation time it sort of takes the wind out of your “sale.” Where do you go from there? “Okay. I guess we’ll review offers on the 19^th.” It’s kind of like planning a big party and nobody comes. Not fun!

I’ll admit it’s very challenging to price home right now. It seems that there are substantial changes from one week to the next. You don’t have to worry about pricing the home too low. You can trust this real estate market to tell you exactly what your home is worth at offer presentation time, provided that your home is properly exposed to the market and buyers know it’s for sale. The more attractive your price is the more showings you’ll have and the more offers you’ll get. We’re seeing many offers which are $10,000, $20,000, even $30,000 over the asking price. If buyers see the value, they’ll pay a fair price and there’s an excellent chance that one or two of them will pay far more than a fair price.

It’s all about creating some excitement. It really is that simple.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate