Zingers #107 – Knock knock

Do you want to see a house that is for sale?  Ask your agent to schedule a visit. Most homes for sale have the owner still living on the premises with family and family needs.  Be respectful and avoid asking for supper time (5 – 6) and after children go to bed (8 or 9). The owners will have to stay in the house and you will not be able to really see the house.

You are not the dinner or sleep over guest.

6 Steps to Buying in a Hot Ottawa Market

 

 

When looking for a home in locations where the average Days on the Market is low and bidding wars are common, a prudent Buyer needs to be prepared. This is a Sellers’ Market and a Buyer needs to be ready. 

 

  1. Get your financing pre-approved. Visit a mortgage broker and your bank. Know what the financial lender is willing to provide, roughly how much it will cost and how quickly the lender can make the final approval on a mortgage.  Know your financial limits. 
  2. Identify a lawyer and a home inspector. 
  3. Spend time identifying your “must haves” such as locations, school districts, minimum number of bedrooms and baths, and any other essential features you must have.  
  4. Get as much market information as possible from your agent about the current housing situation and prices.
  5. Search for your new house and, when you have one identified, bid. Look at all the comparative house information provided to you by your agent to help determine what you will offer. This will help inform you about the values in the neighbourhood.  In your offer, eliminate as many purchasing conditions as possible.  You could do a home inspection before putting in the offer.
  6. To avoid being caught in an emotional bidding session.  Keep in mind what you have decided as the value of that particular house. Bidding wars are competitions that you may not want to be emotionally caught in participating.

Finally, if you get the house, congratulations are in order. If not, then start the process again.

Photo credit:  Red Hot Market @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsarkasim/3899340088/

What the Ottawa Home Inspector Saw – Water Related Investigations

During a home inspection, you will be looking for evidence of water related problems with the house.  A look at the roof, a look at the slope of land away from the house, peeling of paint inside and outside the house, mould on the walls and in the basement, etc.  There are serious implications (cost and structural) to water damage. 

In addition to the obvious structural issues, there are many water related things to investigate.  Here are a few:

 The devil is in the details of your home inspection. 

 Photo credit:  lost thoughts @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawee/3469678953/

Rachmaninoff on Ottawa Runway No. 2

You are looking at a wonderful home.  There is concert music being sent everywhere in the house.  How wonderful that the owners have wired the home for sound in every room.  Wait a minute.  Is that music disguising something?  Make sure that you have done a bit of research before putting in an offer. 

Look at Google maps to see how close the house is to what may be noise pollution.  Do some research on the housing development being planned in the area.  Think about the level of privacy and quite that you personally need and take this into account with the location of your next home. 

Photo credit:  IMGP0664 @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/maaksuut/3117036022/

Build Your Ottawa House Buying / Selling Team

Think of your house buying and selling as one huge project and you are the project manager.  Project Managers will tell you up front that they are not necessarily experts in every area of the project but that they can find the resources, create a team, set a project schedule with milestones and, in the end, be able to evaluate the success of the project.  Now you, the home Buyer/Seller are going to be the manager with your own PMBOK – Project Management Body of Knowledge, including creating the team. 

Who do you need? 

Don’t be afraid to call upon people to be part of your “team”.  Buying, selling and moving are huge endeavours and it is unrealistic to think that you can do all of this alone. 

Photo credit:  Project Management Plan @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/perhapstoopink/467087455/

R Rated Pictures – Inside Ottawa Houses

As Buyers you are concerned that you will not remember every house that you are going to see.  You plan to take your camera or your phone camera and use it while you go from room to room in each house.  In fact, this is an invasion of the Sellers’ privacy, a security issue and just impolite.  Yes, the house is for sale and yes there are photos available on the MLS® / Realtors.ca but….  These photos have been carefully taken to ensure that personal information about the owner is not posted.  You, a potential Buyer, are there by the grace of the Seller and under the supervision of your agent.   Put yourself in the Sellers’ shoes and ask yourself if you would like strangers taking pictures of the interior of your house. 

In lieu of photos, keep the feature sheets for each house and write down any thing you need to remember on the sheets or in a notebook.  Track by the MLS® number and the address.  If you are really interested in the house and are not sure of something, ask your agent to go for a second booking and then confirm what you need to know.  You may, if required (such as sending photos to parents who will be helping to buy the house), have your agent ask the Seller if it is permissible to take some photos.  If you are at the stage of having the house inspected as a condition of purchase, ask if you can take photos.  There is often a lag between when you buy and when you possess so Sellers usually say yes.

A picture is worth a thousand words – with permission.

Photo credit:  signs=no signs @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/neoliminal/518031835/

Increasing Mortgage Rates – Paying to Buy a House

With the recent increase in fixed rate mortgages, home owners are questioning what to do with their current mortgage – lock in now if they have a variable mortgage, stay put on the existing mortgage or convert to the new fixed rate.  Certainly a trip or call to your mortgage broker / bank to ask these questions is advised. 

If you have a great rate and it is fixed for a few more years, why not follow some wonderful advice from the mortgage industry – start paying your mortgage at the new higher rate (even if some of the money is put aside for single payments).  This will do two things for you.

1.  You will get accustomed to the higher mortgage payments so there will be no surprise when your existing term if over.

2.  You will have increased your principal payments so that when you renegotiate your mortgage, you will own more of the house – thus reducing the number of months or years of your mortgage. 

There are many ways to reduce your mortgage.  This is one tip that has two advantages – for you.

Photo credit:  3D Realty Handshake @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2136953043/

Zingers #96 – Ding dong – Knock knock

Ring the bell or knock on the door when you visit an Open House,.  You do not have to wait for the salesperson to answer as he or she may be occupied with another group of visitors.  It is polite to let the agent know that you are entering the house.  If the home is For Sale By Owner, wait for the owner to answer the door.

Knocking and ringing will get your foot in the door of the sale.

Paying to Buy a House – What is your best offer?

Ottawa is experiencing a real estate sales rush.  Many houses are on the market for as little as a few hours to a few days.  Many are set up for bidding wars.  Buyers, afraid to never find a house, are entering into this market with some anxiety.  In a bidding war there are a few ways in increase your chances of getting the house:

Finally, decide on what you want to offer for the house.  Ask your agent for information on comparable sales.  Think that you may have to pay above the most recent sales in the area.  Ask yourself the key question – “What is my highest and best offer.  If I have to go $100 above that price I will not want to pay that price to own the house.”  If you love the house, your best offer will be higher than if you like the house and it “will do”.  The right price is what an informed Buyer is willing to pay.  If you are willing to pay above recent sales and you have comparison shopped, then you are setting the new market price.

 

Sometimes it is necessary to hold your breathe and dive in to a bidding war.

Photo credit:  Dive @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/516341295/

It is Impossible to Erase all Trace of Visitors When Your House is For Sale

No matter how hard they try not to disrupt a house, people coming into your home, to view it or inspect it for purchase, will leave some evidence that they have been there. 

I recently accompanied a Buyer on his home inspection.  The inspection went very well.  This was his first home and he brought 4 other people to walk through the inspection with him.  Imagine – an inspector, the Buyer, 4 friends/relatives and the real estate agent!!!  Too many.  Everyone was careful to remove their shoes.  I watched to ensure that the Sellers’ things were respected.  The inspector put everything back where it belonged (such as the cover on the electrical box) and tried to put ornaments back in their right location when he had to move the to get access at doors, cranks, tapes, pipes, etc. 

Before leaving the house, I did one final tour to ensure that all doors were closed and locked and that all lights were turned off.  I left and was not more that 15 minutes away when I realized that I had forgotten my binder.  I returned within the 1/2 hour to get my binder. 

Imagine my surprise to find a very distressed homeowner, vacuum in hand and tension emanating from every pore.  I assumed that she was worried about the results of the inspection so I mentioned that it had gone very well and that the she would soon be hearing from her real estate agent about the inspection and any other conditions.  Her distress, and it was significant, was related to the table in the kitchen being moved (the inspector had opened the windows to ensure that the cranks were functioning) and that three dining room chairs and her plant had been moved in the dining room – where the inspector, Buyer and I had sat discussing the inspection and getting the final written report. 

I felt badly for her.  It was obvious that any unknown visitors were an intrusion and that the selling process had been very difficult.  Although her house was only 5 days on the market, every day must have been torture.  I apologized for moving the furniture and left. 

If you are selling, remember that It is impossible for people to spend 3 hours on an inspection in your house and not leave some trace of being there.  If you are a Buyer, keep in mind, the motto – “Touch with your eyes.” unless you are with a home inspector. 

Photo credit:  footprint.JPG@ http://www.flickr.com/photos/greencolander/1413601855/

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