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Most real estate professionals will offer an estimated market value of your home or property when creating a listing contract. After all, you need to set a listing price. But it’s important to understand this is NOT a professional appraisal of your home. Only licensed real estate appraisers are permitted to professionally appraise your home.

What is a Comparative Market Analysis?

A Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) is a method real estate professionals use to estimate the value of residential properties, which helps sellers set a listing price for their property. CMAs examine the prices at which similar properties in the same area have recently sold.

The report you are given must include a statement indicating:

• the purpose of the report
• that a real estate appraiser with a license from the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) did NOT prepare this report
• that it is NOT a real estate appraisal report
• that no one should refer to or rely on the report as an appraisal report
• that the report does not comply with RECA appraisal standards
• that the report must not be used for financing, civil proceedings, income tax purposes, or financial reporting purposes

CMAs must only provide a range of value for the property, not an exact value. As a seller, the purpose of a comparative market analysis is to help you make a decision on how to price your property for sale or rent. You would then use the CMA’s range of value to set a listing price for your property. You cannot use the CMA to obtain mortgage financing for a property.

If you would like a FREE market evaluation of your home, please contact our office!!

Whether your are buying or selling, it is very important that you research the Realtor that you choose to help you. Before signing a listing contract, take the time to meet with a few Realtors to see if they are the right fit for you. You do not have to sign with the first Realtor that walks through your door – do you homework and make sure that they are willing to work for you – and your home. We have compiled a list of questions to help you interview prospective Realtors.

1. What are you going to do to entice buyers to view my property? Advertising is a key weapon in every agent’s arsenal. Where are they going to advertise, how often, what is their target market? Besides their sign on your front lawn, what else do they utilize for marketing?
2. Will my home be marketed on Realtor.ca within days of signing the listing contract, or will I have to wait a period of time before this happens? Many buyers start their search by using this tool.
3. Do you hire a professional photographer to photograph my home for marketing, or do you take the pictures yourself? A well photographed property communicates value to the prospective buyer – blurry, dark photographs do not do their best to communicate how inviting and bright a space can be. Buyers may skip over your property because of this.
4. Open Houses – yea or ney? Realtors have differing opinions on open houses. It is all personal preference, but it is important to discuss with your potential Realtor their views on this.
5. Comprehensive Market Evaluations – How does your potential Realtor plan to ensure that your home is properly priced? Do they pull a number out of a hat, or do they do a search for comparable properties in your area? Making sure that your Realtor provides you with as much information as possible to properly price your home is crucial.

Choosing an Realtor is an important decision. You want someone who represents YOUR interests first and foremost.

If you are thinking about buying a condo, or you already own a condo, there are some changes that have been proposed to the Alberta condo property act that might be put into place soon.

These changes will come in two stages. The first stage deals with buyers of newly-built condos and properties that have been converted into condos. The second stage addresses how condo boards are governed, their voting practices and procedures, and insurance regulations.

Numerous engagement sessions were held in July and August of 2017 inviting Albertans to provide feedback on condo governance issues, and an online survey was set up after the open house engagement sessions were complete.

If you are considering buying a condo – we would suggest doing a bit of research into the proposed changes.

Every transaction is unique and so is every property.  A properties location alone makes it unique.  What amazes me is the vision that some people have to look at something unwanted, that everyone considers junk and see something spectactular they can do with it.  These visionaries sometimes miss the obvious the obvious things in their vision. and I guess that’s where I and other true professionals come in to help.   There are certain things that should be looked at when you are buying a property.

1.  The property itself in the full light of day.  Some inspectors will say the best time to look at a property is during a downpour.  I don’t think you have to go that far but I have been amazed when I’ve looked at a property at night and it looks fabulous and when we come back during the day we really see it for the dog it is.  Especially the destroyed landscaping in the back yard because apparently the owner house sits pit bulls for friends.

2. The area around the house. This may sound simplistic but in commercial real estate locational analysis is very important.  You’ve heard the saying location, location, location and the importance that is put on location.  If you are new to an area you should drive around that area and get to know what the neighboring properties are like.  Are they similar or inferior?  Is this area improving, disintegrating or stable?  How do you access the property? Is there a bus stop right out front?  The best research you can do is your own reconnaisance.

3. The title.  Looking at this document without someone who understands it might be frustrating or simply a feeble exercise, but the title tells you the property’s current to reasonably current state.  In fact this defining document can tell you so much about a property it deserves its own seperate article.

4. Any MLS® history you can find about previous sales – times it was on the market before.  It may not be relevant now but I don’t care about that.  I’d want to see it if I were buying the property.  It might tell me something interesting, like this property has taken a year to sell almost every time someone has tried to sell it, or it just 2 months ago for 100,000 less.  I might still buy it but it may affect my eagerness to buy it.

5. Any area and comparable sales.  Going around looking at houses is not enough!  Values can change significantly by just crossing the street.  Go one direction and values go up, go another and they sink like a stone.  It is easy for the uninitiated buyer to look at a home that is $50,000 more than another one they just looked at and say its over priced, go back and buy the other property thinking they stole a deal only to realize too late that there is a significant difference in the location.

Any Realtor® can and will show you this information.  A good one can interpret it for you and help you make a far more informed decision.

It has happened many times in this market that I have shown a client a home they love and we have pulled over in my car, pulled out my lap top, hooked up my portable modem and downloaded this information.  In some cases it has put people at ease and in other cases it has raised some concerns that changed their offer strategy changed or they decided not to pursue the property.  In the end it’s your cheque and if you’re going to make an offer and buy the property anyway, you might as well see this stuff, it could mean the difference between a great decision and a decision wrought with regret.

Building a fence around your property has many benefits. A solid fence is both decorative and practical as it adds attractiveness, security and privacy to your yard. A fence will provide your family with a safe and secluded outdoor living space for your entertaining, relaxing, gardening and for your children to play in. An attractive fence will also increase your property value and make your home more marketable when it comes time to sell.

Hiring a fence contractor will ensure your fence is built properly and that all local regulations and building permits are obtained for the project. Alternatively, you could choose to build the fence yourself. Here are some DIY tips on how to build a fence:

Obtain a building permit.

In most municipalities you will need a building permit to build a fence, but in others you might not. All jurisdiction’s will have a zoning bylaw that puts regulations on the height, material and location of your fence. You can check with your local municipality to see what the local regulations and restrictions are.

You should also check with your neighborhood association, if you have one, to ensure you are compliant with their restrictions as well. The last thing you want to do it tear down a fence after learning it wasn’t compliant with these regulations.

Call before you dig!

Regardless of whether you need a permit or not, you should book a visit with a “Call Before You Dig” organization like Alberta One Call to make sure you are not building or digging near electrical, gas, water or sewer lines. They will send someone out, free of charge, to mark where your utilities are in the yard so you can be sure to steer clear of those areas.

Choose a fencing material.

You have some options when it comes to what you’re going to use to build your fence. The most popular material is wood fencing, usually a durable pressure treated lumber, but you could choose to go with PVC vinyl, aluminum, wrought-iron or chain link fencing. If you are choosing wood, some lumber companies offer pre-cut fencing packages and can give you some tips on construction and design.

Stake out where you will build your fence.

Check your land title and be sure you find your property line so you don’t accidentally build your fence on the neighbour’s yard. Stake out the corners where you want your fence to go and connect the stake’s with twine to ensure your fence is outline is square. Use a level on the twine to ensure your stakes are squared and do the same for your middle posts.

Dig post holes and install your fence posts.

Your municipality will have let you know how high your posts need to be and how deep your post holes should be too. In Alberta’s climate, you’ll have to dig deeper than the frost line which is 3 feet deep, but some jurisdictions might require you to dig deeper than that. Save yourself the back-breaking work and rent a power auger to dig your post holes.

Then put 3 to 4 inches of gravel at the bottom of each hole before inserting your post. Make sure it’s lined up properly by using a post leveler and check your post height. Either have someone hold it for you or support it with boards nailed to the post near the bottom, supported by the ground. Then pour in your quick cure concrete mix into the hole until it’s about two-thirds full. Keep the boards on to support the fence post until the concrete is cured. Then fill the remainder of the hole with dirt.

Build your fence!

Tie a piece of twine from one end post to another at the same height. This will act as a guide to make sure you line up all your fence boards at the right height along the top. Make sure your fence boards aren’t touching the ground, they should be elevated a few inches. Then screw in your horizontal support boards. You might need 2 or 3 depending on your fence height. Once the horizontal support boards are in place, start installing your vertical boards, spacing them about ½” apart. Use galvanized screws over nails as they last longer.

Stain or paint your fence.

Staining or painting your fence will help it look finished and make it more weather-proof. You can choose a simple stain or paint your fence to match the design of your home and yard. Painting will also help hide blemishes in the lumber, but will require more regular maintenance over the years so be prepared to commit to that if you want to paint.

According to realtor.ca, spring is the busiest and best season to sell a home. While a good home can find a buyer any time of year, homeowners might find the buyers’ pool is strongest in spring and into summer. The reasons for that are many, ranging from parents wanting to move when their children are not in school to buyers wanting to move when the weather is most accommodating.
Because spring is such a popular time to sell a home, homeowners who want to put their homes on the market should use winter as an opportunity to prepare their homes for the prying eyes of prospective buyers. The following tips can help homeowners during the pre-selling preparation process.

ADDRESS THE EXTERIOR OF THE HOME

Winter can be harsh on a home’s exterior, so as winter winds down, homeowners who want to sell their homes should make an effort to address anything that might negatively affect their homes’ curb appeal.  If it’s in the budget, hire professional landscapers to fix any problematic landscaping or address any issues that arose during the winter. Homeowners with green thumbs can tackle such projects on their own, but hiring professionals is akin to staging the inside of your home.

CONQUER INTERIOR CLUTTER

Clutter has a way of accumulating over the winter, when people tend to spend more time indoors than they do throughout the rest of the year. Homeowners who want to put their homes on the market in spring won’t have the luxury of waiting until spring to do their “spring” cleaning, so start clearing any clutter out in winter, even resolving to make an effort to prevent its accumulation throughout winter. Just like buyers are impressed by curb appeal, they are turned off by the clutter. Buyers see cluttered homes as less valuable. In addition, a home full of clutter might give buyers the impression, true or not, that the home was not well maintained.

ELIMINATE ODORS

A home’s inhabitants grow accustomed to the odors that might be circulating throughout the house. Pet odor, for instance, might not be as strong to a home’s residents as it is to guests and prospective buyers. Because windows tend to stay closed throughout the winter, interior odors can be even stronger come late-winter than they are during the rest of the year. A thorough cleaning of the house, including vacuuming and removal of any pet hair that accumulated over the winter can help to remove odor. In the weeks leading up to the open house, bathe pets more frequently, using a shampoo that promotes healthy skin so pet dander is not as prevalent. Open windows when the weather allows so more fresh air comes into the home.
Spring is a popular and potentially lucrative time to sell a home, and homeowners who spend winter preparing their homes for the market may reap even greater rewards.

Over the years I’ve been involved in hundreds of sales where parents were helping their kids buy a property, and I’ve seen that “help” come in many different forms. There are some good ways for parents to help their kids by a home, and some things that should definitely be avoided. So, here are my tips for the best ways for parents to help their kids buy a property:

1. Don’t make assumptions based on previous experience. The most dangerous thing I see parents do is to make decisions for their kids, based on what worked for them.  Real estate has changed considerably over the years and so have the trends.  Basing an important decision on outdated information could be a major misstep.
2. Don’t short-cut the process. Make sure the kids are involved and learn the process and what’s involved now, for their future benefit. Our process is to sit down with our first-time clients and explain the entire process of buying a home including contracts, costs, and what to expect for the type of property they are buying. I call this the ‘no friggin surprises’ method.  We also review some of the important information I could provide to help their decision-making process. For example, I wouldn’t buy a property without reviewing these documents:
   • Titles and instruments related to the title
   • A History of the property on MLS®
   • Comparable sales and much more depending on the type of property.

   If it’s important to me, it should be important to you.

3. Attend the showings where possible, but know your limitations. Many parents will send their kids out to look at properties then show up after the offer is written. Most often this is too late.  Nothing is more frustrating than the “it’s not good enough mom” who decides at the inspection that there must be something better out there. When young people have done their due diligence – they know what’s for sale in the areas they are choosing, they know what has sold and have had thorough discussions about it and the information around it – and papa shows up knowing more than everybody, having seen none of the other properties… it’s frustrating for everyone involved. If parents don’t see at least some of the properties available in the price range you can afford, even the best option can seem like a dump.  Parents don’t need to see everything, but they should at least get a feel for what is out there.
4. Protecting your children doesn’t mean keeping them locked in the castle. I remember one property in Westmount I showed to a smart, young, paralegal who had been looking with me for quite awhile. It was by far the best property for the price, condition and area she was considering.  As we walked through the property it was obvious her parents hated it (they lived in the ‘burbs). By the time the showing was done, she was in tears and there was no point explaining that we had looked at everything close to downtown and it was the best available listing. The next day I got a call from my client who was quite distraught saying she wanted to put in an offer, but her father had told her to go in significantly lower than list price.  This young confident women was now a wreck, and the property was already pending anyway – two other parties wrote offers the night before and it eventually sold over list price.
5. Estate planning is imperative. Will you be on the title with your children? What implications does this hold if you should pass away?  What if they are married?  Should you be joint tenants with them or tenants in common.  In joint tenancy the survivors automatically get your share, but what if its tenants in common? Is your intent to gift the property to your children should you die or grant an interest to someone else? What if they are married or get married? Is this a gift to them? What if they get divorced? What if your current spouse gets remarried?  These are just a few of the questions I ask in these situations.  Often no thought has been given to this whatsoever when a good deal of thought must go into this. A discussion with your lawyer before your write an offer is highly recommended.

Helping your kids buy a home can be an excellent investment and a great way to help your kids as adults, a little planning and preparation are important steps in making the best decision for your family.

Are you selling your home, but you aren’t being represented by a licensed real estate professional? You may be a “mere posting” seller. A mere posting is when a real estate professional puts a seller’s listing on a Real Estate Board’s listing database, but the real estate professional has chosen or agreed not to provide services to the seller other than to submit the listing for posting on a listing database.

If you are a mere posting seller, you need to make sure you understand the role of the buyer’s representative. You need to know the services you will receive from the buyer’s brokerage (real estate professonal) and just as importantly, what services you won’t receive from the buyer’s brokerage.

What you need to know

• the potential buyer is using the services of a real estate professional
• the real estate professional is the agent of the buyer and must act in the buyer’s best interest
• the buyer’s representative does not represent you
• the buyer’s representative may provide administrative services to facilitate the sale of your home. They may act as a scribe for you to complete documents but cannot give you advice
• the buyer’s representative will ask you to pay a fee for selling your home
• the buyer’s representative will ask you to sign a Sellers Customer Acknowledgement and Fee Agreement prior to presenting the offer
• if you do not reach agreement on a fee, the buyer’s representative may have to talk to the buyer prior to presenting any offer
• the buyer’s representative cannot give you advice on the value of your home
• the buyer’s representative may give you information on homes similar to yours for sale and those that have sold

Consumers with no representation
You may wish to work with a real estate professional for a particular real estate transaction and not want a real estate professional to represent you. Examples of this include:

• the real estate professional represents a landlord of a large shopping centre and a potential tenant has an interest in a space in the mall
• the real estate professional has a written buyer brokerage agreement in place and attempts to sell a property where the owner is representing themselves
• the seller has chosen a mere posting option without representation to sell their residential property
• a real estate professional represents a new home builder exclusively and a potential buyer shows interest in the builder’s property
• a real estate professional is a tenant representative and approaches a landlord on behalf of a potential tenant

A client is a person that enters into a service agreement with a real estate professional. A customer is a person who has made contact with a real estate professional but does not engage them to provide services.

In the situation where the real estate professional represents the buyer and the seller is selling their home through a mere posting listing, the buyer’s real estate professional will treat the seller as a customer and provide sole agency representation to the buyer. This means they will give administrative services to the seller and full representation services to the buyer.

Disclosure of role and administrative services to the unrepresented seller
It is important for a buyer’s real estate professional to disclose to you that the buyer’s brokerage:

• does not represent you, the seller
• represents the buyer
• must be loyal to the buyer and always act in their best interest
• does not owe any agency obligations, and in particular, any fiduciary obligations, to you
• will not give you any services that require the exercise of discretion or judgement, or the giving of confidential advice, or the brokerage advocating on your behalf
• will communicate to the buyer all information from you, whether or not it is of a confidential nature. The exception is for confidential information the brokerage receives from you through a prior agency relationship with you
• will not give you information or advice that is not in the best interest of the buyer

Obligations to the seller
The buyer brokerage’s responsibilities to you, the seller, are:

• exercise reasonable care and skill in relation to the brokerage services
• not negligently or knowingly give you false or misleading information
• hold all monies the brokerage receives in trust in accordance with the provisions of the Act
• comply with the provisions of the Act, Rules, Regulations, and Bylaws

Administrative services to the seller
When it is in the best interest of their buyer client, the real estate professional may give administrative services to you, as a customer. Real estate professionals will give these services to a customer because doing so would be for the benefit of their client and the transaction. Administrative services are at the option of the real estate professional, without creating a client relationship. The brokerage, at its sole discretion, may give you, the unrepresented seller, the following information or services:

• real estate statistics and information on properties including comparable property information available through listing services or other local databases
• standard form agreements of purchase and sale and other relevant form documents and act as scribe in their preparation in accordance with the instructions of the seller
• the names of real estate service providers, but the brokerage will not recommend any particular service provider
• present, in a timely manner, all offers and counter-offers to and from the buyer and seller
• convey, in a timely manner, all information the seller wishes to communicate to the buyer
• inform the buyer and seller of the progress of the transaction