15 Questions To Ask Your Realtor

Real estate is an interesting business. Even though you have professionals who take care of financial transactions and legal documents, you still need someone to connect with. When you're helping someone buy their home or sell their existing one, you need to have a good sense of your client - their likes, dislikes, mannerisms and demeanor. Likewise, people need to have a good sense of their real estate professional. Something as simple as a basic understanding of a person can be the difference between a smooth home buying/selling process, and an absolute nightmare. There's lots of Realtors out there, isn't there? It seems like every home you look at online has a different listing Realtor. Here's the thing, though. You have a CHOICE when it comes to…

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When Your Home Buying Checklist Turns Into “Too Picky”

This is a tough subject to approach, for both Realtors and home buyers. Even though we all approach home buying with an objective-as-possible attitude, at the end of the day we’re all human. We all have emotions. Emotions are what make this subject so tough to approach. However, this is what makes this topic so important to talk about!

On one hand we have you, the home buyer. You do your homework, and you make a list of must-have home features to find a home that meets your needs. It's understandable how you can feel that the proper approach would be to include as many details as possible, in terms of applying intense criteria to your home shopping. On the other hand, we have the Realtor. They know the market like the back of their hand – what’s…

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Your Guide On Conditional Home Sales

Have you ever found a home that you were interested in buying, only to find that near the bottom of the page the status reads, "conditional sale" ? What does that mean? Is the home sold, or isn't it? Sold listings are taken down since they're no longer active on the market, so why is a home that is conditionally sold still up there?

A conditional sale is much like the photo above. Each domino represents each part of the agreement, and the action of the dominoes falling one after the other represents these parts being completed/agreed upon. The hand stopping the action represents a condition, or a part of the agreement, that has not yet been met. Simply put, when a home is ‘sold conditionally’, it means that a buyer and seller have come to an…

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4 Truths About Real Estate Comparables

"Comparables" in real estate refer to comparable home sales. You might even hear this abbreviated as "comps." Comps help sellers and their agents identify an accurate listing price for a home — one that captures more buyers, minimizes time on the market and clears the path for a smooth transaction. Home buyers reference comps to decide how much to offer on a home, so that they make sure they're not over-paying. An appraiser sources their own comps to help accurately assess how much a home is worth. When analyzing real estate comps, it's important to heed a logical criteria of comparison. Let's go over the four most important criteria, so that you can understand how to accurately and fairly price your home when the time comes to sell.

1) Compare…

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Home Buying Advice For Non-Married Couples

For most, this is an awkward topic to cover. More and more couples are electing to buy a home together before marriage, as well as couples that choose to remain common-law. This change in societal norm can result in uncomfortable talks between your sweetheart, your lawyer, your Realtor and your parents. However, the most productive talks ARE the awkward ones! And, in terms of real estate, there's always uncomfortable scenarios you need to be prepared for anyway. In a traditional fashion, married couples had to plan and arrange their finances in a streamlined way for their real estate investment. Does this change for non-traditional you and yours? Nope! In fact, it's pretty much the same - sans the same last name. Let's dive right in and talk about it…

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Preparing For The Sale

Thinking about selling? Not sure about doing it on your own, or getting a Realtor to help you out? Here is the perfect place to begin. Let's go over the process from your perspective:

1) Call Your Realtor

Okay, so we're a little biased. We want you to go with us instead of doing this all yourself. Is it because we're greedy, commission hungry sales people? NOPE. It's because we're professionals. Would you install a water heater in your home if you weren't completely sure on how to do it? Probably not. You'd seek a professional to complete the work. The same thing goes for selling, and that's exactly why we're here. When you're beginning to think about selling your home, we have an informal conversation about why you want or need to…

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Don't Do That! First Time Homebuyer Advice

It's such an exciting time, buying your first home. The leap into homeownership is what usually marks a new chapter in life, especially for young adults. While the process is made easier by choosing a Realtor to be on your side, there are still some mistakes that are made by adventurous first time buyers. In order to help you better, we've come up with 4 tips that will help you avoid making mistakes - based off of common regrets of first time home buyers, and admittedly, personal mistakes we made in our home buying youth!

1) Don't Assume You'll Be Here Forever

A study completed 6 years ago by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) estimated that the average Canadian will own 4.5 to 5.5 homes in their…

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3 Surefire Ways To Improve Your Credit Worthiness

As we all know, there are no quick fixes when it comes to your credit. There is no magic way or secret trick to rapidly improve your credit standing. However, improving your credit is something that you can get STARTED on rather quickly. After some time, your credit score will improve and other aspects of your financial health will reach a healthy level. Without further ado, here are our three surefire ways to improve your credit worthiness:

1) Only Apply For Credit If Absolutely Necessary

Financial institutions may take the opening of multiple accounts as a red flag. They may see you as being unable to repay any debt at all because this behaviour is common with those who are financially distressed. Lenders approve their borrowers…

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5 Ways To Improve Your Winter Curb Appeal

Hey, sellers! Regardless of the season, your home should make a great first impression on potential home buyers. We know that winter creates some ugly conditions, but you can use these conditions to beautify your home's outdoor appearance! Don't let winter put a freeze on your home sale. Follow these 5 helpful tips to boost your home's appeal during this time:

Light It Up

With less sunshine and shorter days, adding outdoor lighting to your home will help illuminate it. Lighting the pathway, and/or lighting any features unique to your home can increase your home's curb appeal. Even placing lights in the main window of your home can make a big difference!

Plan For Snow

We get more than our fair share of snow in Saskatchewan.…

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The Major Elements Of An Offer

The purchase of a home isn't at all like buying a chocolate bar from a convenience store, or even like buying a large piece of furniture. There's legalities to consider, items to move, systems to check and so on. To make sure all of these things are taken care of, there's a process. You know, the home buying process and the home selling process we so often talk about. An important initial part of the process for both buying and selling is the Offer to Purchase, or Buyer's Offer if your prefer. So, regardless if you find yourself on the selling side of things, familiarizing yourself with the Offer to Purchase will be a beneficial step that'll help you and your Realtor negotiate and refine when the time comes to get back to the buyer. Here are the major…

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