Royal LePage Annual Charity Garage Sale

 

The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is Canada’s largest public foundation dedicated exclusively to funding women’s shelters and violence prevention and education programs.  Since 1999, this foundation has raised more than $10 million  to help women and children across Canada.      

  Saturday May 14th is the date for this year's National Shelter Foundation Garage Sale.  My counterparts and I here Royal LePage in Collingwood are once again particiapting in this event.  100% of the proceeds will go to My Friend's House here in Collingwood and we graciously asked you to support us in this worthy cause.
  The event will be held at the new Cranberry Mews commercial plaza located on the west side of Highway 26 by Cranberry Resort.  Donations of unwanted furniture, clothing, toys, household items etc. may be made daily by dropping them off at Unit #405 located at the far south end of the plaza.  If you have larger items such as furniture etc. to donate with no way of getting them there, please feel free to contract me rickcrouch@propertycollingwood.com or on my cell phone at 705-443-1037 and we can arrange to have them picked up.

  We are looking forward to having a very successful sale hoping to raise even more money this year for this great cause.

Area Real Estate Sales Soften in March

  After posting strong sales in January and February, real estate activity reported through the MLS® system of the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board (GTREB) softened in March with 155 properties changing hands during the month versus 199 in March 2010, a decrease of 22%. Sales volume in March also declined with a total of $48.5 million worth of MLS® listed properties selling as compared to $56.7 million in the same month last year.

  Year-to-date MLS® sales total 348 individual properties down 10% from the 387 sales reported in the 1st quarter of 2010. As in prior months, sales at the upper end of the market continue to play a dominant role with respect to sales revenue. Unit sales in most price ranges below $500,000 have declined in 2011 while sales activity above $500,000 remains very strong. To the end of March there have been 10 MLS® sales reported over $1 million whereas last year there were just 2 in the same time period.
  The number of new listings coming onto the market has slowed this year which is resulting in more balanced market conditions that favour neither seller nor buyer. Through the end of March a total of 1,497 new MLS® listings have come onto the market as compared to 1,527 new listings in the first 3 months of 2010, a decrease of 2%. The number of expired listings is also on the decline with 692 listings having expired this year versus 719 in 2010, a drop of 4%.
For a complete summary of market activity 1st quarter 2011 versus 2010, please see the latest edition of my Georgian Triangle Real Estate News.  To discuss your particular real estate situation or goals, please feel free to Contact Me without obligation.

Through The Eyes of Buyers Part 2

As previously stated the issue of pricing remains one of the key elements in successfully getting your house sold.  Sellers and in many cases REALTORS® are failing to acknowledge this which is why we have such a high ratio of "expired" versus sold listings.
  Unfortunately and despite the effort some of us put into it, pricing a property is not a pure science.  Comparable sales analysis is the best methodology out there for pricing a property but for some homes and or parcels of land there are no comparables.  Increasingly, I find it helpful to have a seller(s) look at their homes through the eyes of a buyer(s).  Buyer's certainly expect a property to meet certain conditions in terms of appearance.  It is up to date, nicely decorated, well maintained, free of clutter etc. etc. but it also goes much beyond that.  At specific price points, certain other expectations emerge that help to establish a home's value.  At $350,000+ a home better have a nice master bedroom with an ensuite bath.  When you start getting up in the $500,000+ range, today's buyers are expecting finishes commensurate with that price such as granite or other such material for the counters, upgraded trim, better than average bathroom fixtures and kitchen cabinets etc.  Many homes in our market are over-priced from the standpoint the features and finishes don't live up to the expectations of the buyer(s).  For example, a home listed in the $800,000, $900,000 range that has laminate floors versus real hardwood, Arborite counters not granite, hollow core "800 series" doors and other such finishes typical of a mass produced, tract subdivision home is never going to attract a buyer willing to pay that price.  Despite a detailed comparable market analysis or other mathematical gyrations, a property is ultimately worth what a willing buyer is prepared to pay and if a buyer(s) sees a lot of cost ripping out what they perceive are inferior finishes, they will never pay an inflated price.
  Looking at your home through a potential buyer's eyes is something your listing REALTOR® should help you with.  One other key point to consider is this.  When you finally get an offer on your home at a price you turn down, essentially what you are doing is buying your own home for that price.  At that very moment, looking at your home through a buyer's eyes is critical as you need to ask yourself, would I pay that for this home?  Why?  Because that is exactly what you are doing when you turn down that offer.       

Sometimes Early Looks a Lot Like Late

I didn’t pull out the Easter decorations last year. I didn’t host a post-church family brunch. I didn’t color hard boiled eggs with the kids. Oh, we had a delightful celebration and I have no regrets whatsoever about the somewhat unorthodox way we made our observance, but that did not stop me from looking ahead to this year and planning a return to the Old Ways. I thought that certainly this year there would be decorations, there may well be a brunch – heck, I might even conduct my traditional frenzied search for last pair of white girl's tights anywhere in town.

These children own 17 types of adhesive products and yet they will steal my Scotch tape if I look away for so much as a second. They cannot be trusted.








Early guidance suggests that none of this will happen again this year. I've not dispensed with the critical pre-holiday planning stages, however. To my way of thinking, there’s nothing like the memory of a recently passed or about-to-be whiffed holiday to prompt progress toward the next time around. Women’s magazines advocate such an approach – buy Christmas wrap on December 26th and so forth – but I really feel that I’ve got the methodology down to an art. My procedure is as follows:

1. Six weeks before the day arrives, write a lengthy and elaborate list of projects to be completed. You might, for example, want to make your own wrappings out of quilting fabric or wish to potato-stamp bunny shapes on a hemp table runner. Maybe include both – there’s no need to be under-ambitious, I always say.
2. Purchase, recover from dusty underbed storage, or otherwise gather from the kids’ art bins the required supplies. If you require more than two adhesive products an angel gets her wings, so don’t be shy!
3. Pile said supplies on sideboard, end table or sofa, awaiting time (and energy) to use them.
4. Express gobsmacked shock as the holiday comes and goes while preparatory supplies go untouched on sideboard, end table or sofa. Wonder what you did with those 42 days, and then strike vague recall of unarticulated expectations at both home and work having chipped away at what had seemed to be abundant leisure.
5. Find time (and energy) the week after the holiday when the rest of one’s colleagues and friends are recovering from festive excess to complete the projects because there’s no way those things (see Step 3) are going to be put back under the bed. Too crowded under there anyway, what with all the pipe cleaners and felt, and fabric paint leftover from prior years.

It’s simple, really. While to the rest of the world I will appear to be ever so late with my adorable beaded springtime napkin rings and wooden eggs decoupaged with butterflies, I maintain that, no, I am quite prepared for next year. Bring it, April 8, 2012. I’ll be ready for you.