July Newsletter

New legislation is a one-two punch for landlords, homeowners, flippers, builders and developers! There is currently a lot of movement in legislation, and it’s going to affect house prices AND people’s plans. These proposed and actioned pieces of legislation are part of the puzzle of pricing homes.

How do we price homes? The single most important thing to get right is determining the TRUE and HIGHEST value for your home. This is different than an appraisal. An appraisal is when someone says what your house would sell for right now, based solely on comparison to what people were willing to pay and what people were willing to sell for, in the recent past. Then those sales are adjusted mathematically based on whether your home’s attributes are higher or lower value than the ones that have sold.

The real challenge is knowing the background. Why did ONE sell for way more than the past sale prices? Could it have something to do with the “FUTURE VALUE”? Could it be a specific buyer? The “I want to live near my Mom, who will take care of my kids while I’m at work and she doesn’t drive” or is it for the “basement suite can be easily added” buyer?

Then that highest value must be applied against the movement of homes in the market. Is the market for 4-bedroom, 3-bath, corner lots selling fast or selling slow? And in that speed, what is the need of the Seller? Do you need to sell to buy? Do you want out before your mortgage is due? OR do you want to see if you can get a benchmark price or you won’t move?

The legislation piece is where it gets interesting. The tax burden on the capital gains, the anti-flipping tax, no foreign buyer law, revised eviction and renovation rules, these pieces affect pricing as they can be specific to the SELLER, and not necessarily the home.

I review all of the components (history, forecasting, condition, legislation impact, seasonality) and create an information matrix for my clients. We get a robust picture of options, likely outcomes, and the NET AMOUNT that you get to take with you or pay, to move on with your plans. I do not tell you what you want to hear, I tell you what you need to know. Sometimes that means, you are going to “test” the market for your price and that’s fine too, and has risks. My job is to explain the risks, your choice is whether or not you take them.

My expertise is working with you as your consultant, to achieve your real estate goals with the amount of risk YOU and your family are willing to take. Let’s start unpacking the box of “what is my house worth” together.

-Leah