Agent Will

It’s been nearly two weeks since I lasted posted and it’s not for having material.  It’s merely for lack of time.  Let’s do a quick catch up on what is going on out there:

You can lead the market or follow the market

The news has been nothing but gloom in all markets be it housing or stocks.  We’ve had the biggest tumble in a single day since 9/11 just yesterday on the TSX and we’ve had gas prices go up and down like a yo-yo.  All the while Oil has dropped to $93/bbl.  If you’re like me then your holdings are not nearly what they were just a couple of weeks ago and don’t think for a minute that that is not affecting/will continue to affect the housing market.

At the same time we’ve had the big story here being that housing sales haven’t just fallen but practically “jumped off a cliff” (Tsur Sommerville, UBC, quote).  Well, sit down for some more gloom here: I think the media is under reporting it.  That’s right.  Whether they know it or not they are in fact sugar-coating a week old donut.  My research shows us actually having the second weakest August in 14 years for sales volume and sales/total listings ratio while having the second highest number of active listings.  If there is any good news to forecast it is that sales/listings ratio actually go up, way up, in the winter months as fewer listings come on and many are taken off market.  In fact sales/listings ratios in December (new listings, that is) have never been below 60% or 10% compared to total listings.  In August we were at 36% and 8.8% respectively.  If these numbers don’t follow the 14 year trend then we really are in deep.

So what can you do?  Get a realtor who doesn’t have his head in the sand, knows what is going on, follows the market, understands how to interpret stats, and has proven to get the job done recently (in the past two months at least).  You can lead the market or follow the market.  Forget what your neighbour sold for last month.  Apples to apples you likely won’t get a dollar more than them.  Instead consider that if you sell now you will likely be getting more than the home that comes after yours.  Do not chase the market down.  Lead it.

I fully believe that the gloomy news in the markets here and down south is far from over and we have yet to realize the true effects here north of the 49th.

Reality Check

Of course this is happening now.  It’s all starting to simmer (not boil) just as I am involved in the filming of a reality TV episode of House Hunters International for HGTV.  For those who do not know, the premise of the show is that a buyer looks at three properties and chooses one.  The audience is left guessing which property they chose as each will offer pros and cons.  It has certainly been an interesting and fun experience to be involved in.

Big thanks go out to Elizabeth McQueen for arranging one of the suites and to Simon Abraham for another.  We could not have done the show without their fantastic co-operation and assisstance.  I’ll keep you all posted on how the final day of shooting goes and when the episode will air (gosh, I hope it doesn’t turn ou, um, cheesy?)