By Warren McNeil

I was showing houses tonight and I couldn’t believe how cold it was outside. Are we in the Yukon? What’s up with the cold already. I might need to dig out the parka and a cap! The weatherman even said we might see trace snowflakes in the next day or two. This has to stop. The gas and electric companies must loving this because they get to enjoy another month of profit from people using their heating systems a bit longer. But I digress.

Mostly everyone of my clients have been asking me what the market is like right now. They’re asking me because they are hearing from various sources that there are changes in the market. This could be spurred by the US market but I think it is just how things are right now. I’m not an expert in this area but I do read alot and I am always trying to stay on top of the current real estate market. Especially how it effects the area of Kitchener and Waterloo. Both CREA and Re/Max said that the market was going to balance out this year. I am already seeing how some areas of Kitchener-Waterloo are softening. It seems more like a balancing out. Some houses go up for sale and sell right away while others are take a little longer to sell. According to the monthly stats, the average sale price for a single-detached home in Kitchener is around 295,000 while the average days on market is approximately 43 days. The average list to sale price ratio is 98.3. These stats show that our area is still strong and should not really be effected as much as other areas of Canada. In other words, houses are still appreciating in value and they are selling in a decent amount of time for close to asking price. What more could you want. It would be great if sellers could get more money for their houses when they sell and buyers can get a best deal when they buy a house. Unfortunately that can’t happen at the same time. Something has to give.

See Also:
Canada’s housing market expected to cool off
Home Sales will fall 11.5% this year realty group predicts

Thanks for reading!

By Warren McNeil

Technology, is an amazing thing. Having a background in computers, I rely heavily on computerized systems and technology to help me to do my job. I am a gadget guy so if it is powered by a lithium battery, then I want one. People might not realize this but being internet connected is necessary for todays realtors. Gone are the days of the big “real estate book o listings”. In today’s day and age, things move in such a fast pace that we don’t even have time to read. We abbreviate everything when we send text messages, we email instead of calling or visiting people and we search our board system via computer to get quick results for available houses for sale. Being able to search the MLS for listings is 1000 times faster then rifling through a book.

Here is a shortlist of some of the techology I use to do my job:

Blackberry

The Blackberry is where I receive all my emails, text messages, pages, phone messages. It even allows me to seach the MLS system. The features of this device are absolutely critical to any realtor. Without this device I would be lost. We even send text messages to our clients because they told us they prefer this method over other communication methods. The PDA was one of the greatest inventions ever.

Computers

Another device we couldn’t live without in this information age is the computer. The computer is used for everything. Internet, marketing, communication, research, advertising, training, time management. This list could go on and on. Heck, home inspectors even print off their reports from computers. In the next five to ten years, I can see all real estate based contracts being electronic. This would definitely save trees. I think the best thing to ever happen to trees is the computer because it “cuts down” (no pun intended) on paper. All we got to do now is figure out how to handle the high gas prices! How about solar powered robots that can transform into cars. More then meets the eye indeed!

Digital Cameras

The digital camera is required in order to take pictures of your home. It sure beats Polaroid. Scanning images would be a real pain in the butt, Pulling out the little SD card and sticking it into the little SD slot on my laptop sure beats scanning them in. Some of the digital cameras that you can buy now even have builtin tools to improve the picture quality. Now with harddrive based movie camcorders dropping in price, video is slowly starting to show up.

GPS

This device is a godsend. I can’t believe I lived the first part of my life without one. As a realtor, this device will pay for itself a million times. Especially if you are like me and you get lost pulling out of your driveway.

In summary, whether it is receiving a text message on your Blackberry, uploading new photos to a listing on a website or finding a house in the middle of nowhere, technology enables us to be more efficient at our jobs. If you like to keep track of all you appointments in a paper daytimer thats great. I prefer to keep appointments in a system that I can access on my Blackberry as well as a paper daytimer. The downside to technology is that it can be distracting. We have become slaves to the devices that we use everyday. I never answer my phone when I am at appointments because I feel it distracts me and changes my train of thought. I also want to show the people that they have my undivided attention. Some people can’t resist the temptation to read an email or answer the phone during a meeting. How many times have we been at a seminar when the phone rings 100 times. Or what about at a movie theatre. I have heard people answer the phone and talk in a movie theatre. The people in the audience told the person to “be quiet”. It was actually quite funny.

That’s enough of my spiel on technology.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for reading!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil RE/MAX Twin City Realty, Brokerage ( 519.579.4110 | 519-498-8118
Connect with us on the following social networks Facebook: www.facebook.com/TeamMcNeilRemax
websites: www.TeamMcNeil.com, www.ClickThatHouse.com, www.KitchenerLofts.com, www.ElmiraRealEstate.ca

By Warren McNeil

Back with another post… I am starting to really get the hang of this blogging thing. The purpose of this blog post is to mention that Melanie is looking after raising awareness for *** cancer by hosting a "Yard Sale for the Cure" at our office at 901 Victoria St N on May 31st, 2008. We need your stuff!

http://www.remax-oa.com/WhyREMAX/InTheCommunity/yardsale.asp 
http://www.yardsaleforthecure.com/index.php

We are asking people for donations. We need to get as much stuff for the yard sale as we can. Please let us know if you want to get rid of anything. We will take it off of your hands.

For more information about the event or where to drop items off, please contact Melanie or Warren McNeil at Re/Max Twin City. 519-579-4110.

Thank you for your support!

By Warren McNeil

Doing a quick Google search for "first time home buyer" will yield more information about the home buying process then you can shake a really big stick at. You will find many pointers via Google. Therefore I am not going to repeat everything here. I am just going to point out a few of the important things to consider.

 If you are buying a house for the first time, it can be downright frightening. Fortunately there are several people who can help you through this daunting process

Here is a shortlist of people who can help you

- realtors

- mortgage brokers or bankers

- lawyers

- home inspectors

- insurance

Rather then go at it alone, it is recommended that you consult an expert. The above people are trained in their field of expertise and will be able to help you in more ways then you realize. A good professional will be able to save you money, time and give you peace of mind. Planning is very important. Buying a house involves many steps. You can’t just walk into the house store and say I will take that one.

Four Simple Steps of the Home Buying Process

1. Pre-approval

2. Home search

3. Offer

4. Condition fulfillment

Pre-approval

Getting pre-approved is important step in the home buying process so that you know how much you can afford. No sense in looking at a house that is out of your price range. You are just setting yourself up for disappointment.

Home search

Looking for a house is more involved then just going to an open house and buying it. You should look at several homes to see what features you like and dislike. Not all houses have open houses so you could be missing the house of your dream house by not looking at everything available.  Remember, you are the one who is going to have to live there. Why not buy something you will enjoy for years to come. Try to visualize what it will be like in 5 years in the house and if you think you will be still happy then chances are you made a good decision.

Offer

When you are ready to put in an offer, your realtor will help you with the paperwork.  You need to compare the house price and make sure that it coincides with other houses that recently sold on the market.  Depending on your situation, your realtor needs to put in various conditions such as home inspection and financing. These will protect you in the event there is something wrong with the house or the bank denies your application for a mortgage. Once the offer is accepted you can move on to condition fulfilment.

Condition Fulfilment

Now that you have an accepted conditional offer you will need to fulfil the conditions. With the home inspection, you need to make sure the houses doesn’t have any problems (i.e. needs a furnace, roof, water leakage etc). Home inspections generally take 2-4 hours depending on the inspector and the size of the house. You also need to make sure that you can afford the house. Financing is extremely important. You need to find a lender who will lend you the money to buy a house. Since you probably don’t have 200,000-500,000 in bank, financing is necessary.

As you can see, this just scratches the surface of the process.  

Thanks for reading! Hope you found the information useful…