RE/MAX Hallmark Blog

Being Ordinary is more difficult than the day to day grind..

The week between Christmas and New Year day has always been a peculiar week for me. Peculiar in a couple of ways. It really is a time to slow down, sleep in later, find things to do outside of the ordinary. Not being "engaged" in the ordinary is sometimes more difficult than the day to day grind. Of course, it is also a time to be with friends and family, put work aside and catch up on what is important.

Now that my kids are all older and out of the house, it is certainly a different season for me. When my guys were growing up, Christmas  was frantic. Things to do and things to be amazed with. Memories were made. My guys today reminisce about Christmas's gone - nice memories. Today, Christmas is more about getting together if only for a day or so. They all have different lives, agenda's and relationships. It's all good. When they were younger, the time between Christmas and New Years day would be spent keeping them busy - going to the Science Centre, movies, playing hockey and looking forward to school starting again after the break.

I am thankful for those memories. I like the time between Christmas and New Years day now because of the time it allows me to refocus, connect and get in touch with myself. A forced breather so to speak. I would much rather spend this time of year in some warm climate, particularly on a extremely cold morning like today BUT it is not to be this year. Maybe next year.

If we don't have value, what we do won't be valued

We all want to give or create something of value. Or at least we should if we want to have a successful career in real estate. Too often we go through the motions of our business with our clients, expecting them to do business with us just because we are in front of them, or connected with them electronically. I have noticed the expectation through a connection is unrealistic at times.

We don't do the effort required at times, instead taking comfort in unrealistic expectations and disappointment when are expectations are not fulfilled. Unless we are willing to offer incredible value in what we do, what we do will not be valued. 

To grow and succeed in 2010, great emphasis should be put on increasing the "value added" component of what we do as realtors. 2010 should be the year of adding new "capabilities" to our careers. Become experts in certain aspects of our business, become engaged in our business, energized by creating a difference to the clients we serve.

The good news is that our clients want us to help them. They want us to be better at what we do and constantly search out the best in the business to help them get what they want. And when they do find the value they are looking for, they will be pleased to pay for it.

Everyday is Christmas Day

My Ten Christmas Wishes: 

• our children continue to seize the opportunity to make this world a better world for the generations to follow
• people take more time to pause
• people and governments think of the whole rather than the self
• we take more time to concern ourselves with the big picture
• we take less time worrying about the small things in life
• we take less time being "effected"
• we understand that to succeed, we must add value
• we learn that we cannot control the choices of others
• we understand that growing is a big part of life
• that we treat everyday as Christmas Day

Changes coming in Mortgage "Rules"

 Make no mistake about it, the Feds are concerned about the amount of debt most Canadians are carrying and are now planting "seeds" to indicate something will be done about it. The prime target is the real estate industry. Fueled by extraordinarily low interest rates, people have been lining up to buy real estate in Canada, and when that happens prices increase and borrowers take on more debt. 

The concern for those who concern themselves with this sort of thing, is what happens to all the people who borrowed money (mortgages) at low low rates when the term of their mortgage expires and rates are higher, as they will inevitably be? If suddenly a 2% mortgage becomes a 6% mortgage - problems could and will occur for many.

Flaherty, our federal finance minister is laying the groundwork to make the minimum amount required to buy a house (5% currently) rise to a higher level. What that level will or could be he isn't saying. Also Flaherty is also hinting that the high amortization rate of 35 years could be lowered as well.

I could be blasted by my real estate friends for saying this, but I like the idea. I think in Canada we should be prudent when it comes to borrowing money and if raising the requirement to get a CMHC insured mortgage from 5% down to perhaps 10% down, helps us all out in the long run, we should embrace the change. 

I know many young families that have scrapped to get a down payment of 5% to buy their first homes, and good for them. However, our industry needs to be controlled and maintained for the good of all. 

Reflections of 2009

With only a few weeks left in 2009, I thought it would be a good time to start reflecting on what happened this year, month by month:

January - still panic in the market, we were worried about the residual effects the worldwide financial meltdown would have here in Canada. Buyers were sitting by the sidelines, concerned about their jobs. Many sellers, especially sellers who had purchased already were desperate to unload their homes and many bargains were had for buyers confident enough to step up. 

February - the real estate market started to have it's effect on brokerages. The game was up for several broker owners who had been using their "trust accounts" as their general accounts. One in particular, David Seto of RE/MAX Executive hurt over a hundred hard working realtors by taking money which did not belong to him. It was a disgrace. On February 2nd, RE/MAX Hallmark was called in to right the ship at the Executive location in Richmond Hill.  As of today, the RECO insurance program has still not come forward to help these innocent realtors out, another disgrace.

March - signs of life begin to bloom with the coming spring in our real estate market. Our Canadian system of banking and governance had a strong foundation and didn't crack. We may have to pay for it in years to come, but in 2009, the ship was righted.

April, May, June - things back to a more normal market, low rates, pent up demand from buyers and lots of listings ready to sell fueled our real estate market. Confidence was back, the sky wasn't falling after all.

July, August - ahhh our summer market and time to holiday, coast and get ready for our fall market. Not this year. The market sizzled along, record sales, price increases and low listing inventory meant this summer would be a strong summer for real estate sales

September, October, November - records, records and more record sales are reported throughout Toronto. In October, sales were up 94% in our company when compared to October of 2009 at the start of the panic. Multiple offers were common.

December - is the bubble ready to burst? Not quite sure we are in a bubble - but certainly we can't continue along at the pace we have been on. 

So what's in store for next year? That's for another blog posting.