It Sold For HOW Much? WTF!

I’ve been a realtor for over 10 years now, and I can honestly say that I’ve never seen as many WTF sale prices as I saw last week.

It’s not unusual for a house to sell for stupid money in this city (it is Toronto after all), but last week was notable because it happened so many times!

All over the city, almost every day, houses and condos were selling for unprecedented figures.

“Unprecedented” is the key word here, but I’m not sure it really does justice to what we saw last week.

A few examples…

Sale #1: A condo townhouse in the east-end

• 1,100 sq ft
• 2-bed / 2-bath
• Parking

The last few comparable sales happened back in the summer, and sold for around $580,000. This new listing was priced at $589,000 and sold on offer-night… for $840,000!

Sale #2: A freehold home in the Don Mills area

• 1,500 sq ft
• 3-bed / 3-bath
• Detached 2-storey

The listing agent and seller priced it low ($1,188,000), thinking that it might sell for somewhere in the $1,500,000 - $1,600,000 range. It sold on offer-night (with 31 offers) for… $2,303,000! Read more about this sale in the Toronto Star here.

Sale #3: A one-bedroom condo in the downtown core

• 600 sq ft
• 1-bed / 1-bath
• No parking

A nearly identical unit sold in this building in the spring, for around $390,000. This new listing was priced at $435,000 and sold on offer-night… for $505,000!

It’s Sunday night as I write this, and I’m wondering what tomorrow and the rest of the week will bring. It can’t be as crazy as last week, can it? We’ll see…

If you’re thinking of making a move and would like to know how I can help, feel free to contact me for more info.

WTF? $20,000 For A Locker!

Depending on the building's location, a condo locker typically sells for $3,500 - $5,000 on the resale market.

A locker might fetch more if it's unique in some way.

Maybe it's larger than average.

Or maybe it's actually a separate room, thereby offering the owner more space and added privacy.

Most lockers aren't separate rooms though.

Most are nothing more than see-through "cages" (approx 3ft wide x 6ft high x 6ft deep) and sit in an open room, side-by-side with everyone else's locker.

Well, one of these "cages" is for sale on MLS right now... listed at $15,000.

$15,000!

(I did a spit take when I first saw the listing and covered my laptop in Tahiti Treat. You guys remember Tahiti Treat?).

That's not all though...

$15,000 is actually the reduced price.

They had it on initially at $20,000!

I wonder how much these guys would be looking to sell their parking space for...

If you’re thinking of making a move and would like to know how I can help, feel free to contact me for more info.

WTF? Showings Are Only Allowed On Thursdays, 6:00 - 9:00pm!

I was booking showings for a client the other day and one of the properties we wanted to see was restricting showings to Thursday evenings only, 6:00 - 9:00pm.

My client was only available on Wednesday that week, so we had to skip that particular property.

Too bad. It coulda been a contender.

When listing your home for sale there's a handful of HUGELY important things you need to do if you want maximize your odds of selling quickly and for top dollar.

One of those things is be as flexible as possible with showings.

Someone wants to come take a look at 8:00am on a Saturday morning? Let 'em.

Someone wants to get in at 9:00pm on a Tuesday? Let 'em.

Is being totally flexible with showings going to add a bit of stress to the selling process. Yes, likely. But it's worth it.

What if a potential buyer is only in town for a day or two? Refusing their request for a showing means there's no way they'll ever get to see your property.

"They'll reschedule if they're really interested in seeing the place".

Maybe. Hopefully.

It doesn't always happen though. In fact, I'd say that most of the time buyers move on to viewing other properties and never look back.

Selling your property is an odds game in some ways. The more potential buyers you allow to come through, the odds of selling increases.

Now, if you have a baby or small children at home that certainly changes things. I have a 15 month-old and I probably wouldn't allow showings past 8:00pm. If there was no way that the buyer could reschedule tough, I'd try to work something out.

If I thought that the property could sell within just a few days, I'd maybe consider not living there at all during the listing.

Either way, I'd do my darndest to avoid shutting the door in a potential buyer's face.

If you’re thinking of making a move and would like to know how I can help, feel free to contact me for more info.