stress – Refined Real Estate Team

This is time sensitive.

Jeffrey Luciano — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 18:32:02 +0000

One of the most stressful aspects of real estate is the time sensitive nature of it.

Whether it is searching for a home to buy, preparing for a home to go on the market, negotiating a deal or getting all your ducks in a row prior to the closing, time is often of the essence when it comes to real estate.

As real estate agents, we learn how to deal with time pressure, how to help our clients feel comfortable with the parts of it that are unavoidable, but also how to work smart so we don’t end up in situations where we’ve got very little time to make very important decisions.

We thought we’d share the three big picture reasons as to why time is often of the essence in real estate. Don’t worry, we’ll keep it short as we know you’re a busy person.

Reason #1 – There is just that one property.

Whether you are buying or selling, it always comes down to just one property. As much as we are fond of talking about average prices and what is going on in the market, you don’t buy a house that is the average of houses and you don’t sell the market, you sell your property.

While real estate is very much a tangible item (the “real” bit gives it away), it is not a commodity in the sense that there are exact substitutes. Are there other properties out there? Sure. Is there another property that is the exact same property, available at the exact same time, that you can buy at the exact same price? No.

In this way, real estate differs considerably from lots of other purchases of physical items. After all, you’d never get worked up and require immediate answers if you were considering the purchase of a TV, because you know that you can find that exact TV from the exact manufacturer, and likely at the exact same price. Anything that is scarce has a strong element of urgency and the more unique a property is, the more there is pressure to deal with it immediately or risk missing out on that opportunity.

Reason #2 – Things change quickly.

The second aspect of real estate that makes it time sensitive is that the situation can change very quickly. While we most often think about that in terms of an overall market shift, where we go from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, there are more local changes that happen very quickly.

A neighbourhood that is super popular can go from no listings to a bunch of listings in a very short time frame. When neighbours see a house sell in their area for a price that pleasantly surprises them, they often decide now is the time to sell as well. Enough people make that decision and the pool of buyers is suddenly split between a number of options, meaning less competition and not as high a sale price.

Outside interference in the form of mortgage rate or rule changes or government policy changes can also quickly change the situation. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, it is uncertain if the situation that currently exists will continue as it is for much longer. This means urgency is called for as there is nothing worse than being ready to take action, only to suddenly have the ability to take action stripped away.

Even if the option to buy or sell still exists, time is often of the essence because a change can dramatically increase or decrease the sale price of a home. This can be a nearby comparable that sells for a very low price for some reason (causing the next home to sell for less as a result), an economic change such as a major employer announcing a major expansion that requires lots of new hires (causing homes to sell for more as new buyers arrive) or literally thousands of other variables that change the relative value of a property.

Reason # 3 – Home is where the heart is!

Finally, the majority of residential real estate transactions involve people’s principal residences. While you can argue that selling the car your son learned to drive in has a fair bit of emotion attached to it, nothing compares to your family home.

Whether you are buying or selling, people get very emotionally invested in real estate transactions for themselves and their family. It isn’t just a large purchase, it is the place you and your partner are planning on raising your kids. It isn’t just a big change when you sell your house, it’s saying goodbye to the basement you started your business in and where you went from a renter to a homeowner.

The emotional aspect of real estate means that people care deeply about what is happening and they want to aware of what is happening. The financial aspect of buying or selling is very significant but we truly believe it pales in comparison to the emotional side. The act of buying or selling real estate is often crucially important to your plans, your hopes and your dreams. As such, waiting to hear news on what is happening is agonizing, and time is absolutely of the essence.

If you are looking to buy or sell, make sure you work with an agent who understands the importance of acting (and responding) quickly. When you have full-time, focused professionals who have made helping people buy and sell real estate their career, you get the attention and results you deserve. If that sounds appealing, get in touch with us. We promise we’ll respond right away!

Three rules to avoid stress when buying a home.

Jeffrey Luciano — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 19:02:13 +0000

As real estate agents, we get to be front and centre in one of the most impactful moments in a person’s life. Not just a really important moment that day, week, month or even year – In their entire life.

Buying a home is not only typically the largest purchase a person will make in their life, but it also has a fundamental impact on their life moving forward.

The commute they take to work every day from then on? It’s because of where they live.
The local restaurant they go to regularly? It’s because of where they live.
The schools their kids go to, the neighbours they interact with daily, even the friends they see most often because they live close by – it’s all because of where they live.

We’ve helped hundreds of clients buy homes and we know that the importance of the decision and the sheer scale of the commitment can cause tremendous stress. The good news is that there are ways to keep yourself calm and less stressed.

Without further ado, here are our three rules on how to buy a home without stress!

Rule Number 1 – Get Your Ducks In Order

Without a doubt, the most stressful deals we’ve been a part of involved buyers who were suddenly thrust into the buying of a home when they hadn’t prepared properly.

Time is of the essence in real estate, which means that deadlines become very real. When there is an offer date of Monday at 6:00 p.m., we need to submit our offer by Monday at 6:00 p.m. It doesn’t matter if there was a line up at your bank, if you were somewhere with no internet access or if you have other pressing business. That home is being sold at 6:00 p.m. on Monday and if we aren’t ready, we aren’t the ones buying it.

We naturally have a tremendous amount of empathy for buyers who are placed in a rush situation, where we find a home they love but they aren’t ready to actually buy. The feeling that you are missing out on “your” home is a horrible one.

As such, in order to avoid that feeling, we have very clear conversations with our clients about how we need to get all our ducks in order.

Specifically, this means:

If you are getting a mortgage, have your pre-approval fully in place. This means an actual commitment letter from a lender after they have collected all of the proof of your mortgage worthiness. Some clients have a conversation with a lender and are told a purchase number based on that conversation. This is not a pre-approval and the stress levels go through the roof when after a purchase, the lender starts asking for all of the documentation and starts having issues with different aspects that may mean a lower mortgage, or none at all.
Make sure your deposit amount is available for the next day. When you purchase a home, the deposit amount is almost always due the next business day. If you have the funds tied up in investments or in a non-branch bank, it can take days to make those funds available. When you are ready to buy a home and making an offer is imminent, make sure you get those funds accessible. You may lose a couple of dollars in lost investment growth, but you gain less stress in the purchase.
Line up other resources. When we find your home, we will shortly need the services of other people to help make this happen and to make you comfortable with the purchase. When we need a lawyer before an offer (to review a status certificate or examine a title question), having that person in the loop and ready is hugely important. Similarly, having help in the form of home inspectors, contractors, movers and so forth ready to go means a significant reduction in the stress when you need those people.

We regularly help clients with getting their ducks in order so that when we find a property that might become their home, we don’t have the added stress of getting these things done in a massive rush.

Rule Number 2 – Control the Outcome

Depending on the type of market we are in, buyers can feel powerless. When lots of people want a given property, it can be pretty stressful competing in multiple offers to buy a home. Even if the market is more balanced, any purchase is still a negotiation, and the numbers involved are very significant.

Regardless of the market, we can remove stress from the buying process by deciding on two numbers for the purchase of the property.

The first number is the price we’d like to pay. It’s based on our review of the market and your financial situation. It’s a realistic number, but somewhat optimistic.

The second number is the price we are willing to pay if we have to go there. It’s the price above which we say to the seller, congratulations to selling it to someone else for that price, they had more money than sense.

By identifying our preferred price and our maximum price, we can go into any purchase offer understanding the consequences. We’re hoping for close to the first number, we’re willing to go to the second number if circumstances dictate we have to do so. Those are the only two options. If we can’t get the property within that range of numbers, we don’t buy it.

Simply knowing that you’re not going to put yourself in a situation where you got caught up in the negotiations and made a decision you regret can be hugely relieving.

Rule Number 3 – Knowledge is Power

One of the most intense sources of stress can be internal doubt and uncertainty. While everyone is a little different in how they approach decision making, we have found that the vast majority of clients like to feel comfortable with the market and have seen some properties before they want to put in an offer.

We go through a deliberate process with a number of steps in order to make sure that we have seen properties that helped us determine what is truly important. When we have completed this process, the purchase becomes considerably less stressful as our client is confident that this home represents a good value and good fit based on what they have been seeing on the market.

On the rare occasions when clients have bought one of the first homes we saw together, it has been a more stressful experience. If you can’t compare the property with others you’ve seen, it is hard to know if it’s the best home in the world for you, or just another option.

Any real estate transaction is a big decision when compared to most decisions you make. It is hugely impactful on your life moving forward, but the process can be handled in a way to make it feel better – and to get you better results. If that sounds appealing, get in touch so we can talk about how to move you forward. We will use soothing tones, we promise.