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One of our listings burned down - Now what?
One of our listings burned down.

Not completely burned down, but $100,000 in damage kind of burned down.

To complicate matters, we already had an accepted offer on the place. It had even passed a home inspection.

So, what now?

I this short video, I discuss "risk of damage and loss". What happens when damage to a home happens while it's under contract.
 
 

Transcript

 One of the things I love about this business is just when you thought you've seen everything, something new happens. And that happened to us yesterday when a listing that we'd been marketing burnt down, yes.


To make matters worse, we'd just accepted an offer on this property a few days ago. In fact, the home inspection was yesterday and it passed with flying colours. But you can imagine that the buyer is looking at this deal a little bit differently today, now that there's a $100,000 of fire and smoke damage in the property.


So, what happens in a case like that, if damage occurs at a property between the time that it's purchased and the time the purchaser takes possession?


Well, the offer to purchase that we use in this province is quite clear that the risk of damage and loss to the property remains with the seller until the completion date. What that basically means is that the seller is responsible to deliver the property to the buyer, as promised, in substantially the same condition that it was in when the buyer agreed to purchase the home.


So, if something more simple occurred, like a water heater failed prior to possession, it would be up to the seller to replace that with something of similar utility for the buyer before the possession date. In a case like this, where you have extensive and massive damage, what you really have under the law, I believe is, is a frustration of the contract. In other words, the seller is not in a position where they can deliver the house in substantially the same condition. So the buyer is going to have the option to back out of this contract if they want to do that.


On the other hand, we've got insurance claims that could get involved and the buyer could end up pushing through and purchasing this house and actually ending up with a better home than they bargained for, as renovations occur and the property is renewed. So it remains to be seen where this one's going to go at this point, but as a buyer, you're protected against damage to the property that occurs before you move in and you're responsible for anything that might occur after you move in.


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I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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How we're helping our clients limit physical contact while buying of selling a home

We're all focused on reducing our exposure to Coronavirus. Businesses are busy figuring out ways to help customers through this challenge.


I've received statements from Royal LePage, my business landlord, my bank and others. All have suggested methods to interact with them to get our work done with less risk. I appreciate that.


Even my gym has adopted protocols to reduce the risk for those who chose to get fit there. It starts with the heavy use of hand sanitizers when entering the gym. A rigorous equipment clean up routine at the end of each workout follows. I'm impressed. If I'm going to be around other people it's nice to know that health and cleanliness are a priority.


Reducing unnecessary physical contact is also key. "Social distancing" is a proven method for slowing the spread of disease.


It occurs to me that our clients might want to know of services we provide that can help limit physical contact.


First, we are a virtual operation. You'll never need to come to our office. If we need to connect, we will come to you. Handshakes and hugs suspended for now. 


But, chances are we won't ever need to come to you. As Saskatoon's first and most experienced virtual brokerage we've mastered working without paper.


If we need face time, we can easily manage that virtually.


We're skilled at executing and moving documents electronically.


That means we can conduct an entire transaction without you being present.


 Write an offer
 Negotiate an agreement
Receive a deposit
 Deliver documents to your lender
 Manage your home inspection and get a report to your inbox
 Send documents and instructions to your lawyer


We even have a concierge service that allows you to arrange most aspects of your move online.


 Mover
 Utility connections
 Insurance
 Mail forwarding
 Identification updates
 Other moving services


This can all happen without your physical presence.


I'll also throw out the fact that we produce an impressive 3D tour for every residential listing we take. The tours give buyers an immersive viewing experience without a visit to the home. It's like Google Maps indoors. It's almost as good as being there.


If you're selling your home, this is an excellent tool for qualifying buyers. We can use it to reduce looky-loos and open houses.


Click the embedded tour below to experience a 3D tour.




I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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You must have a home inspection if you plan to use the buildings on the land

Someone on my team is working with a buyer who had an interest in writing an offer on a specific home.


They HAD an interest.


My team inquired with the seller's agent about the availability of the listing.


The seller's agent indicated that their seller would not consider any offer that proposed a home inspection as a condition of the offer.


The property is over a century old.


There are all kinds of stupid wrapped up in this scenario that I won't get into.


If you're a home buyer, don't be stupid.


Exercise reasonable diligence. This is a big deal for your future.


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I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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Paperless operations increase speed and efficiency for the client

I made the move to a paperless life and business about six years ago.


At that time, what I liked most about it was that I no longer needed to think about, or buy so many other things.

Pens, paperclips, staplers, white-out, printers, ink, filing cabinets, desks to name few.


It took time to settle in. I had to reconfigure my thinking and my approach to many things.


At first, it was a struggle to manage the paper that others forced upon me. Today, I carry every document I've created since my office opened in my pocket.


In recent years, I've been more pleased with the fact that I don't even need an office. I can do my work from anywhere.

A couple of weeks ago I had a thirty-minute stopover about 20 percent of the way into a five-hour flight. When the flight attendant waved the green flag for phones, I made use of the time to work.


Bing! There's a counteroffer in my inbox. I email it to my client and text her to let her know it's there. She tells me she'll go to $330,000 but not a penny more.


I write the new offer and send it to her for a digital signature. It's back in five minutes and off to the other agent.


When I arrived at my destination, an accepted offer was waiting for me. From my phone, I sent it back to my client and her mortgage broker on my way to the hotel.


Speed, efficiency and effectiveness for clients.


Freedom to move for me.


I like it.


________________________________


I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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If your agent lies to you, you've been pushed into fantasyland, not a good place to buy or sell a home

Little white lies

In a world in which lies are all too common, it's easy to overlook small white lies, puffery, and even deceitful marketing practices that are designed to draw you in but fall well short of delivering what's promised.


If you're buying or selling a home or engaging the services of any professional, you should expect the unvarnished truth.

When a professional is willing to tell you a lie, and you take that lie as the truth, you are now operating in a fantasy world. You've stepped outside of reality.


You want to be grounded in reality, to be armed with facts when making decisions that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.




Transcript


10 years or so ago, I'm talking with a commercial real estate agent and he asks me about the Home Showcase which was a weekly publication of printed listings that came out with the newspaper,  And he asked me if I advertised properties there and I said yeah, for sure I do.


And he said well is it effective? and my answer was no, it's not effective at all. We rarely ever get a call from the newspaper anymore.


So why do you do it was his next question and my answer to that was, well our clients expect us to.


To which he responds, well isn't it time that we stop lying to our clients?


And man, that really struck me hard at the core because I consider myself a pretty honest guy, but I realized that yeah, that is a lie. Here I am a real estate agent and I'm actually doing something that I know is totally ineffective because the person I'm working for might think that it's necessary.


You know, whenever... We're living in a society that's really used to white lies. They're harmless we feel, but you know, as a real estate agent or any other type of professional, when you step over the line and you tell your client something that isn't true, you've actually made a little tear in the fabric of reality. You've moved them into a world of fantasy and they're actually making decisions based on false information and God only knows where that's going to end up. It could end up anywhere, but it's probably not gonna be good and even in a case like this where you might think well that's pretty harmless.


But the truth is if I'm focusing resources on things that are ineffective, that takes those resources away from things that can really be effective.


So since that day, I have never run another newspaper ad and since that day I've spent well over $100,000 on online advertisements and the exposure that we've been able to bring to our listings has gone through the roof because of that.


So you have to examine these moments of untruth from every possible angle and when you do, I think you'll realize that you're hurting the person that you're telling the lie to and you're probably hurting yourself too because at your core you know that you've done something wrong and that's gonna come back to bite you in the ass.


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I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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An overview of changes to Canada's mortgage stress test



Here's a short video I produced to explain the changes to Canada's mortgage stress test that were announced on February 20, 2020, and take effect in April of 2020. What follows is a Global News story that I had an opportunity to contribute to on the topic.



Global News Story



I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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My Top Three Tips for a Stress Free Possession Day


Buying a home can be a stressful experience. Possession day challenges can drive a stable person insane on a day that should be super special for you and your family. Here are my top three tips for a stress-free possession day.




Transcript

Buying a home can be pretty stressful. I mean, let's face it, you're investing hundreds of thousands of dollars. You've got negotiations, mortgage applications, home inspections. All of it has the potential to be pretty stressful and possession date can be exceptionally stressful. 


I want to give you three tips that I think will lead to a more pleasant and enjoyable experience for you on the possession date.


First of all, over 27 years as an active real estate agent and broker, I've reviewed thousands of real estate transactions and there's one thing that most of them have in common. The possession dates are almost always set for either the beginning of the month or the middle of the month. Don't do that. 


The professionals that are involved in your transaction are going to be juggling a hundred balls on those days. They're going to be extremely busy. If you set your possession for the seventh or the 23rd or some other odd day in between the middle and the end of the month and something goes wrong, you will be able to get those professionals engaged in solving your problem quickly.


Secondly, I want you to set your expectations properly for your first viewing of that house. Remember, when you bought it, you were all excited. That place was all staged with beautiful furniture, nice art, fresh-cut flowers, maybe some fresh baking cookies in the oven. All of that's going to be gone and it might look a little bit stark and bare. You might be tempted to feel disappointed because of that. Set your expectations realistically, it's going to be an empty house when you show up. You're going to dress it up and make it beautiful. Make it your own.


Finally, the third bit of advice that I have for you is this; do not plan your move for possession date. If you roll up there at noon to pick up your keys and you bring a 50-foot moving van with you that's costing you $200 an hour and something gets delayed, you don't get the keys until 2:00 PM, you are going to be super stressed out. So come, take possession, do a walkthrough, measure things up, decide where you're going to put things and plan to move in a couple of days. 


I hope this is helpful to you, that it leads to a more enjoyable experience on your possession date.


I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra



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In this two minute video, I share a jaw-dropping experience from my past and explain how home buyers are increasingly falling victim to a modern technology that can destroy them at the negotiating table.



I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra


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It’s only been a few years since I first saw a serious home surveillance system installed in a Saskatoon home I’d been hired to market and sell. It was an impressive and sophisticated system that enabled the home owner to look in and listen to what was happening in their home while they were away. They used it regularly to monitor the home.  I later learned that they used it to look in on buyers who were viewing the home.



At the time, systems like this were rare because they did cost a lot of money. The value of this particular system was in the tens of thousands of dollars. Just a few years later, surveillance systems are a dime a dozen. In fact, a $5.00 iPhone app can monitor up to a dozen audio and video feeds using simple equipment like webcams. Small cameras and microphones can easily and inexpensively be used to monitor activity in the home.


The same equipment can be used to look and listen in on your “private home viewing.”


When viewing homes as a prospective buyer it’s best to behave as if you’re being watched. Avoid judgmental comments about the home owner's lack of taste. Try not to get too excited. Put on your poker face. Save your negotiating strategy discussions for the car ride home.  Behave as you would if the home owner were right there with you. They just might be.


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 Vidorra

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From the Star Phoenix website today: "The Saskatchewan Party says a new tax credit for first-time homebuyers would make home ownership a little more affordable. On the campaign trail in Regina on Thursday, Premier Brad Wall pledged to introduce a non-refundable income tax credit to all first-time homebuyers that would result in an income tax savings of $1,100."


Read more.


How do you feel about this campaign promise?


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 Vidorra

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“Marty Ummel feels she paid too much for her house. So do millions of other people who bought at the peak of the housing boom.


“What makes Ms. Ummel different is that she is suing her agent, saying it was all his fault.”


I came by this story from today’s New York Times by way of the 1000 Watt Blog, one of my favorite daily stops.


Naturally, I can’t speak to the facts of this particular case and it’s my guess that it will be a difficult argument to make. However, the story should serve as a reminder to agents that there is more to representing a client than finding them a home and putting a contract together.


Ultimately, we are responsible to “protect and promote the interests” of our client. If they’re offering to pay more than market value, they have a right to know it. They depend on us to tell them the truth.


Nobody can predict the direction of a real estate market with absolute certainty, yet almost daily I hear from people who claim that a Saskatoon real estate agent has told them that prices are going to go through the roof this spring. Just three weeks ago, one agent stood in my office and relayed portions of a conversation he had with a buyer. “This house will be worth $X by spring. I guarantee it!”


“Hmmm…and I think you just did guarantee it.”


If your agent is using this kind of language, he or she may be either ignorant or reckless. I could be wrong, but it’s worth thinking about. :)


The full New York Times story 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.


Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

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Over the past several months a number of my past clients have asked me about real estate opportunities in the U.S. The rising dollar, combined with reduced prices in some beautiful U.S. cities has many Canadians considering a purchase in their favorite vacation spot. A friend of mine from Phoenix recently asked if he could share some information about buying property south of the border, so I jumped at the opportunity to have him as my guest. I’d like you to meet Jonathan Dalton, and his partner, Toby. J

Greetings from Phoenix!

I’m Jonathan Dalton from RE/MAX Desert Showcase and Dalton’s Arizona Homes Blog. Norm was nice enough to let me drop in and talk directly to you folks and I’m quite appreciative. As I write we’re in the middle of a cold snap – it’s down to 53 degrees here, which translates to somewhere around 12 Celsius. But that sounds much colder than it should so I’m going to stick to 53.

One of the big stories of real estate down here in the Valley of the Sun is the surge in Canadians looking to purchase second homes here, usually for themselves and sometimes as seasonal rentals (even though the high season is the same time of year someone from the land of snow probably would rather be here.) I’ve spent most of the last six months acquainting folks from Alberta and Saskatchewan with the Phoenix area and some of the particulars of buying homes down here.

There seem to be a lot of seminars up there telling people what they need to know about buying in the United States, though it seems like the seminars really work out best for the hosts collecting the checks at the door. The basic information’s good but there’s a lot of small stuff you ought to know before you buy in the United States and the Phoenix area in particular.

With any luck (and possibly a bribe or two) Norm will let me write about these in a little more depth sometime. But here are some basic things you should know:

1)The Phoenix real estate market is big. It’s really big. From Surprise in the northwest to Queen Creek in the southeast is somewhere around 65 miles one way. It’s hard narrowing down the search so …

2)Know what you like to do. If you’re into golf (which we do year-round here), golf is everywhere. If you want to watch hockey, come to the West Valley. If you like off-Broadway productions stay closer to Arizona State University in Tempe. What you like to do will impact where you ought to look.

3)Speaking of such things, Queen Creek is in a different county than Phoenix. We’re in Maricopa. Queen Creek is in Pinal. Property taxes are far higher in Pinal County than in Maricopa. The local paper ran an article about Canadians buying in Florence which is even further south than Queen Creek. Not sure if the sales agent ever mentioned taxes.

4)And on that note, don’t go into a new build without representation. Agents at new builds will tell you what they have to tell you but not necessarily everything that you might need to know.

5)Lastly, financing isn’t nearly as complicated as it seems … if you find a lender who knows what they’re doing with Canadian buyers.


Timing is an interesting concept from what I’ve seen with my clients. Not only are you guessing the direction of the local market but you’re also gambling on the currency exchange. A small decline in the Phoenix real estate market actually could be less costly than a drop in the loony. With our dollars at parity, that seems to be the main reason folks are looking more than normal.

I’ve got a penchant for rambling as you’ll discover if you visit my blog so I’ll wrap this up here. Hopefully I didn’t wear out my welcome and I’ll be back again. Thanks much for allowing me to interrupt and I now return you to Saskatchewan real estate news already in progress.

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