A house in Toronto sold in late January, 2020 for a full $1M over asking price.  Without a doubt, there is a huge opportunity for certain properties right now.  Here’s three questions about your home.  If you answer yes to any of the three, it’s time to sell.

Is your home, shall we say, not in tip top shape?

Have you ever gone to a BBQ and arrived a bit late?  Everyone brought some food to contribute and the hosts made a bunch of tasty BBQ.  By the time you get there, however, most of the good stuff is gone.  What’s left is that weird salad that somehow involves vegetables and jello, plus some suspect looking meat.  You came hungry though, so you make the best of the situation and try your luck.

This real estate market has some similarities to the above analogy.

When there are lots of options out there for buyers, standards tend to creep up.

  • That kitchen is looking a little dated and I kinda wish it had undermount sinks.
  • I like the size of the bathroom but it definitely needs better lighting and more storage.
  • I think it’s a good layout on the main floor, but that flooring is pretty low quality.

Contrast that against what happens when buyers have very few choices and are worried about missing the boat for another month or two.

  • We can live with the kitchen for now and it will look great when we get it renovated.
  • It’s easy for us to put in some new lights and some cabinets in the bathroom.
  • A few area rugs and the main floor will look great.

If you have a home that needs some work and you don’t have the time, energy or money to do it, now is a great time to sell.  Buyers will overlook imperfections in the home in order to get into the market.

Is your home located in a less than ideal spot?

Within every city, neighbourhood and street, there are homes that aren’t in the ideal location.

While it may be an in-demand place in general, there are some challenges to certain properties that can’t be fixed by the home owner.

Some examples include:

  • Located on a busy street that makes pulling in and out of the driveway and parking difficult
  • Located at the end of a residential street beside commercial properties
  • Located on an unusually shaped lot that is inferior to other lots on the street
  • Located near unappealing features such as hydro-electric equipment
  • Missing common features for your neighbourhood (no parking, garage, porch, etc.)

If your home has some of these fundamental challenges, then now is an excellent time to sell.  Just like with a home that needs updates, buyers are willing to overlook aspects of a property that isn’t ideal in order to get into the market.

Do you live in one of these hot areas?

Real estate is inherently local and while we can talk about a hot seller’s market overall, the reality is that certain places are more in demand than others.

We’ve looked into what areas are seeing the most interest in listings and the corresponding highest sale to list price ratio.

If you live in any of the below areas, people want your house.  Detached, semi-detached, townhouses, even condos are selling like hotcakes in these areas.

  • W03 (Corso Italia)
  • C11 (Leaside)
  • E01 (Leslieville)
  • E02 (The Beaches)
  • E03 (East York)
  • E09 (Scarborough)
  • Markham

If you want to see the boundaries for each of the above MLS areas, you can do so on this handy dandy map.

There you have it.  Three questions that should help you decide if now is the time for you to sell.  If you answered yes to any one of the questions, you should seriously consider putting your home on the market.  If you said yes to all three, then now is the time for you to sell!

Oh, and that house we referenced at the start?  Here’s the details.


PHOTO FROM ROYAL LEPAGE REAL ESTATE SERVICES LTD., BROKERAGE

It was a detached house in the High Park-Swansea part of Toronto.  It listed at $1,298,000 on January 29, 2020.  While that’s a great neighbourhood, this wasn’t a show home.

In fact, it was listed for sale “as is” and the listing notes there is existing knob and tube wiring in the home, which is almost impossible to get insurance for and requires expensive work to remove and rewire the home.

Despite the lack of glamour with the house, it was on a good street, was a good size and sold for a very good price.  After 6 days on the market, they reviewed offers and the winner paid a cool $1M over the asking price, at $2,300,000.

If you’d like to create a similar sort of story about your home, don’t hesitate to get in touch.