I have clients who have expressed an interest in buying however they feel that the market is too high and they wish to wait until it cools off. Some of these clients have been speaking this way since the year 1999 and are hopeful that the market will soon come down. I have good and bad news for them. Just like all markets there will be ups and downs. Timing the market correctly is impossible. One thing for sure is that the price will go up over the long term. The time will come whereby there is a price correction and they can make their move. The bad news is that by this time the over all price is far higher than what it was at the time that they had originally thought of buying, not to mention the fact that their over all mortgage would have been substantially paid down. Buying Real Estate should be easy. If you have the down-payment and you have the ability to purchase than just choose the unit and time will take care of the rest! I have a fiduciary duty to represent you in your best interest. With 15 years’ experience in the field working directly for developers and 24 in the Real Estate Industry I will bring forth the qualifications to ensure that your representation is in place and that you will be satisfied with the outcome.

Using your own agent is vital when buying new. Most people think that by going direct to the selling agent in re-sale or developer in pre-sale that they will ultimately lower the costs and that this will be passed on to them.   Doing this will ensure that you are not being represented.  Developer agents will sell you on over priced remaining product, in re-sale, agents will be confused as to whom they represent.  In either case you will negotiate a bad deal. Developers rely on the support and sales from agents.  Developers will not run the risk of under cutting the realtor public and being black listed, we represent over 80% of their sales. In the case of re-sale, multiple representation never works in the best interest of the Buyer, think about it, who is paying for the service of selling the property.  The price of representation is already factored in, the choice of representing one’s self is ignorant to say the least. I have a fiduciary duty to represent you in your best interest. With 15 years’ experience in the field working directly for developers, I have the knowledge to insert certain clauses, and I will explain the agreement of purchase and sale to you in a way that you will understand it. However if you are confident that you can do a better job than a Professional Agent who has a fiduciary responsibility to represent your interests and is schooled in the industry, than by all means go ahead.  With such confidence I would also suggest that this person write their Real Estate Courses and consider a career in the business.

What a great concept, buy it or sell it, assignit.ca If you have a pre construction condo and you want to sell it prior to occupancy or final closing this site will inform you of exactly what to do not to mention it will help you assign the unit as they have over 14,000 users many of them buyers for assignment as the price is usually lower than market value.

This week I will be listing a property at the Festival Towers because the owner was so impressed with our ability to help him recover over $60,000 of rebates that he over paid and even though his Lawyer charged him nearly $10,000 to represent him and he has one of the best Accountants, they did not help him.  Get your rebates back from the government, you may be applicable for gst home-buyers / the transfer tax credit / taxes charged in error / city tax rebates etc.  Condo Rebates  offer a professional consultation with no fees up front. They merely retain 15% of the uncollected amounts. Alternatively you can strongly suggest that your lawyer or accountant do if for you, however, as they may not be updated with the latest tools and knowledge you run the risk of not getting back all of your rebates. If you have the time try to do it yourself, you must however be willing to follow up and don’t be discouraged if you must file time and time again before you get it right. These rebates are available but not user friendly and come with expiration dates. Try yourself or ask a professional, don’t procrastinate!

Have you ever wondered what the development fees were and why they would charge you? Look at the writing in your agreement of purchase and sale. Usually the developer must pay the development fees to the city prior to getting their final approval. They feel that since this fee was accounted for but you buy a condo from them a year later that you are responsible for the increase of this fee. This can represent $3,000 – $6,000. Be aware!! There are some developers that are passing the entire fee on to you, $20,000 to $30,000. Not to drop any names but Pinnicle for one, thats right, check your writing in the agreement, you are responsible for 100% of all development fees in this agreement. Congratulations, I suppose this makes you a developer!

Choosing the right agent can be quite danting at times. Everybody claims to be a VIP agent, so why is it that some get better deals than others? Take your time to do some research on the agent representing you. When I meet my clients I spend more time getting to know them and what they want, also I tell them my qualifications and let them understand the relationship that I have already built with the Developer. The reason every agent is a VIP, even though they have never made a sale for that developer before, is because of the fake it until they make it strategy. Would you choose to work with them if they told you that they just became an agent last week?

Impulsive buyers, be warned. If I had a dollar for every buyer I have met who just wants to buy something right away, I could have already retired. Understand the buying cycle. Our bulk rate sales event / the vip event / the preview event / the grand opening, all of these and many more events happen during the sales cycle from begginning to end. Where are you buying in this cycle? Each event increases the property value by as much as 5%, are you satisfied that you are buying something to just get it over with and happy in the 20 percentile of the highest sold prices in the building or do you need an edge and want to get in the begginning? This is where we seperate the investors from the end users. Take your time and make the right choice!

 Get your rebates back from the government, you may be applicable for gst homebuyers / the transfer tax credit / taxes charged in error / city tax rebates etc. If you find this to be a difficult task as most of you investors and have better things to do not to mention your present lawyer and accountant can’t figure it out, go to a professional. Condo Rebates they offer a professional consultation with no fees up front.  They merely retain 15% of the uncollected amounts.  Alternatively you can strongly suggest that your lawyer or accountant do if for you, however, as they may not be updated with the latest tools and knowledge you run the risk of not getting back all of your rebates.  If you have the time try to do it yourself, you must however be willing to follow up and don’t be discouraged if you must file time and time again before you get it right.  These rebates are available but not user friendly.  Try yourself and then ask a professional.

 Using your own agent is vital when searching for an investment. In many countries this means that you must pay more for the representation. In Ontario it is free. The developer pays me to represent you. This may sound crazy, but, they can’t sell all the units on their own. They rely on the support and sales from agents. I have a fiduciary duty to represent you in your best interest. With 15 years’ experience in the field working directly for developers, I have the knowledge to insert certain clauses, and I will explain the agreement of purchase and sale to you in a way that you will understand it. Some people think that by going direct to a developer that this will save them money. The opposite is true, they will not run the risk of under cutting the realtor public and being black listed. You will be represented (for lack of better words) by the developers agent, that’s right, the person who is employed by the developer, their job is to get rid of the hard to sell units and maintain the best deal for the developer

Abatements are credits back to the purchaser for mistakes made by the developer. You can go direct and complain about this mistake or you can join up with others and have a company negotiate on your behalf. Though developers make alot of mistakes, not all of them can be considered in an abatement as there are many disclosures and representations made in your original agreement of purchase and sale that cover them for these mistakes. Common abatements would be a piller in your bedroom that was not in the floor plan, failing to build certain amenities or not giving enough visitor parking spots. Your best advice is to join a face book website whereby others are talking about it or check out Canadian Condominium Rebates to see if others have made similair complaints