It’s a well-known fact that home ownership is the single largest source of savings for Canadian households, and unlike when you pay rent, every payment you make builds equity. You have a steady income, secure employment, have been pre-approved to buy and the only obstacle in your way of home ownership is saving for your down payment. No problem! If you follow these tips and start setting something aside as savings every month you could have your down payment saved within a year.

1-Move in with your parents or in laws. The quickest way to get in to the housing market is to maximize your savings which is difficult to do when you are paying rent. If you pay a token amount of rent to the parents monthly and deposit the remainder in to a separate savings account specifically created for you down payment

$1000 a month is a conservative amount of rent to pay a month so depositing the saved money every month will yield $12,000 for the year to put towards a down payment

2-If moving in with your parents isn’t an option than move down one level in your current rental. Instead of living in a two-bedroom condominium downsize to a one bedroom or a bachelor suite. This will save you a minimum $200 per month and adds $2400 per month to your savings.  

3-Half your spending in restaurants and bars. The average person spends $250 a month eating in restaurants and bars. If you cut this expense in half, you will have an additional $1500 for the year to put towards your down payment  

4-Cut the home phone and satellite- chances are that you rarely use your landline anymore so it is money going down the drain when you own a cell phone. Satellite tv is an unnecessary extravagance when saving to buy a home. Make sure that you have a great unlimited internet package and you can replace your satellite with Netflix and watching your favourite shows online.

You will save a minimum of $120 a month which over the course of a year will put an additional $1440 towards your goals

5-Dial down your holidays. This doesn’t mean that you must sit at home for a year, just revamp your holidays to be more budget friendly. Drive to your destination or book your flights on airmiles or Aeroplan. Choose a destination that you won’t have to pay for accommodations. You most likely have a family member or friend living in the location that you are going to … give them a call and ask them if you can stay with them, chances are they will be thrilled with your company!

Savings on flights and hotel approximately $1000 every 6 months is $2000 to go towards buying a home

6-Personal income tax return – you have completed your personal income tax return and are getting a refund…. Why not take this money and add it to your savings? Chances are you didn’t know that you would receive the return and therefore it is “extra money”

$800 added to your growing savings!

No matter how many of these simple money saving techniques you choose to use, making small changes daily, weekly and monthly puts you closer to joining the ranks of many Canadians who have chosen to invest in their own financial future through owning real estate.

Location, location, location is the real estate agents widely shared mantra and there’s no doubt that by now you’ve heard it. But do you know what it means and why location is so important that to drive home the message we say it three times?

What does it mean? Simply put, identical homes can increase or decrease in value due to their location.

What Factors Could Positively Affect Location?

-Top Rated Schools and School Districts

-Scenic views such as lakes, mountains and city views

-Proximity to nature and recreation, walking and bike trails, beaches, ponds, and parks

- Curb Appeal of the area, a well-maintained home and neighbourhood that exudes pride of ownership

-Similar Interests and Values, these features will change depending on the individual and their interests. For example, a busy professional may be more likely to desire a property within walking distance to restaurants, theatres and boutiques while a growing family will likely place a higher value on a home in a quiet neighbourhood surrounded by other quiet families like their own

It’s almost easier to discuss what constitutes a bad location that a good one because the qualities that make a home more desirable varies depending on your own lifestyle or preference

Factors That Negatively Affect the Value 

-Commercial/Industrial Areas, except for living in a desirable downtown area, commercial buildings on your street will diminish values due to increase in amounts of traffic and noise levels

-Busy Roads and Streets, constant traffic and noise, perceived lack of privacy and debris will encourage buyers to purchase another home in a quieter location

-High Crime Areas, people want to feel safe in their own home so if when living in a high crime area you are worried about your valuables and personal safety it’s likely a potential buyer will be as well. These homes can be the most difficult to sell

-Lack of Pride of Ownership, neighbours who show little to no pride of ownership in home maintenance, have excessive amounts of junk and debris present outside, poorly cared for landscaping. Remember to look around the entire area during your home search, you can control your own house maintenance, not that of the neighbour…

-Close to Hazardous Materials, the essential point is that people don’t want to live next door to a nuclear power plant or any other structure that can emanate harmful odors and material

Remember this during your home search, you can easily change paint, flooring, fixtures and at times the layout of a home. What you cannot change and have no control over are the surrounding areas of your home once you have purchased it so discuss with your real estate agent and take the time BEFORE you buy to ensure that you buy in an area that will not only bring you greater enjoyment while you live there but will be more sellable when it is time for you to move

Whether you are buying, selling, or investing, your relationship with your real estate agent is an intimate one. You share with them your financial and family situations, wants, needs, goals and interests. You should not only enjoy spending time with them but feel a high level of loyalty and comfort with your agent as well as a sense of teamwork… together you are working towards a common goal because your success equals their success.

Priority Are you a full time real estate agent? Or is this one of many jobs or a hobby?

Ask yourself and your agent if real estate is their top priority. Make no mistake, if our clients aren’t successful, we aren’t successful and to succeed in real estate it must be a full-time job. A full-time real estate agent can devote their time and energy to helping you achieve your real estate goals whether it is continuously marketing your property for sale or searching for the right one for you to buy. There are limited hours in a day so if your agent has limited time and energy to devote to selling real estate, chances of you achieving your goals with them are slight.

Present- Is your potential real estate agent present in the area? Are they a local expert with experience in the area? It is incredibly difficult to advise someone on something that you don’t know or understand yourself, so if your agent is not familiar with the past, present and potential future development of the city, neighbourhood, or price range that you are working within, they can’t help you. During your time with your agent are they present and involved in the conversation or are they distracted by outside influences? If they aren’t listening to your wants and needs they won’t be able to help you achieve them.

What are your marketing strategies and techniques? - the days of simply placing a sign in the yard and uploading a home on the Multiple Listing Service are LONG gone. Is your potential agent experienced at using a variety of current marketing techniques? Traditional print media such as newspapers, magazines, mail outs are now a small component in the effective marketing of selling a home. It’s a well-known fact that the vast majority of home buyers search for a home online before they even consider viewing it in person so your agents online real estate presence is vital.  View their history of advertising their homes for sale, experiences and expertise on personal websites, social media (Facebook, twitter, linked in, Pinterest and Instagram) If their online presence is lacking or just recently began, then chances are they won’t be able to market your home to reach the greatest number of potential buyers.

What is your experience?There is a huge variety of different agents. Each one has a unique personality, variety of education, training, and marketing techniques. For this article lets break agents in to three categories. New agent, experienced agent, and top producer. There are benefits to using an agent in each stage of their career, the one that suits you best will depend on your own personality, experience, and goals.

Although a new agent may lack experience they will likely make you a top priority and make up for a lack of experience with fresh and energetic enthusiasm for their new career. This can be a benefit to you as your goals are at the forefront of their mind increasing your chances of finding the right property and the amount of attention your home will receive in their marketing efforts.

If you are looking for more guidance and support with your real estate goals than you feel a new agent can provide you with then an experienced agent may the right fit for you. An experienced agent will be able to guide you through the complexities of real estate seamlessly. They will have systems in place to create a smooth buying process for you keeping your housing needs and budget a priority so that you can focus on what’s important… finding the home that you want. An experienced agent has developed a variety of marketing techniques they will use when selling your home. Their market knowledge in the area will be advantageous when pricing your home, increasing the likelihood of achieving your goal… selling your property.

If hiring an agent with the most experience is your priority that a top producer might be the right fit for you. These are the agents who year after year have been at the top of their field and involved in the most real estate transactions in the area. The top producer should be able to provide you with an abundance of information on the current market conditions, historical real estate facts and will have solid systems in place to facilitate your experience whether buying or selling. Due to the sheer volume of clients that a top producer works with they will likely have an assistant or buyer’s agent working for them, which means at times you will be working with them and not your agent.  

Negotiation skills- if you are going to be working with a full-time agent by now they should have taken extensive training in negotiations. If you have contacted an agent to sell a home, they will have completed a Comparative Market Analysis which will determine the most likely sale price of your home in the current market.  Often a seller will want to price their home above fair market value in hopes of optimizing profit, if your agent is unable to discuss the pit falls of overpricing with you and help you to see why this is a mistake how are they going to negotiate on your behalf when an offer is placed on your home? Simply put if your agent is unable to negotiate with you, they are unable to negotiate for you.

Communication- Does your agent answer their phone and return your calls in a timely manner? If you aren’t able to get a hold of your agent how are others going to? Unanswered phone calls, text messages and emails are a good indication as to how much time your agent can devote to communicating with others on your behalf. Whether it be potential buyers for a property you are selling or the seller of a property you may want to purchase, lack of communication from your agent will equal missed opportunities for you.

Referrals-friends, family, past clients, other agents. If you don’t already know and trust a local agent when you decide it is time to start your property search or choose to sell your home then it’s a great idea to ask your friends, family members and co-workers about their past experiences with local agents. If this is not an option, then there are many online options that may be available to you. Research past client testimonials, ask for referrals in a local online chat group or simply set up appointments with several agents who you feel you may want to work with a decide who is the best fit with you.

As you can see there are many factors involved in choosing your agent. Make sure that whoever you work with is someone with whom you feel comfortable, have local market knowledge, possess strong communication skills, offer a variety of marketing strategies, and has dedicated the time and energy towards making real estate their primary focus. At the end of the day… if you don’t succeed in reaching your real estate goals, they won’t either!

When you put your home on the market, you want it to sell fast and at the highest value possible. To get top dollar when you sell, you must think like a buyer and take the time to do these simple repairs and renovations BEFORE you list for sale.

Remember First Impressions Are Important!

When selling your home, the first impression is the most important. Buyers are tech savvy and informed and often search for homes online or drive by the home before they make an appointment to view it with their real estate agent. If a potential buyers first impression of the home is that of disrepair or neglect, it’s unlikely that you will get them in the door.

Start with the curb appeal; paint or replace the front door. It doesn’t have to be the same colour as your exterior, make it look fresh and eye catching by painting or thoroughly cleaning it and ensure that it works properly and locks easily.

Freshen up your landscaping by removing unhealthy and overgrown trees or plants and replacing them with healthy ones, remove any weeds or debris, sweep and shovel your walkways and driveway, clean siding and windows if needed and ensure all outside lighting is in proper working order (potential buyers are just as likely to see your home in the dark as they are during the light of day)

Paint It!

When planning sell a home painting before you go on the market is always a good idea. A new coat of paint will make your home feel fresh, clean and updated. Painting is a relatively quick and inexpensive way to improve your homes appearance and gives it an overall impression of being well cared for.

Before you paint remember light NEUTRAL colours are the key to success and dark colours can make a room feel smaller than it is! White, beige and grey are your best options and are most likely to help potential buyers envision

themselves and their belongings in the home.

Clean and De-clutter

Clean, clean, clean, and de-clutter! A thorough deep clean before you list your home for sale can make a significant difference. Have carpets cleaned before you hit the market especially if there have ever been pets in the home, make sure that all light fixtures, mouldings, doors, floors, cabinets, and light switches are squeaky clean. A well cleaned home tells the buyer that you care for the home and are more likely to ensure maintenance and repairs have been done throughout the years.

De-cluttering creates more storage space and helps rooms appear more spacious. Pack, donate and throw away. If you have items that you don’t use daily or won’t need for the next few months pack them. Items you no longer need or use should be donated or sold for extra cash. Throw away all items that aren’t in good condition and can’t be sold or donated. You are planning to move anyways so why not start the process of packing and decluttering BEFORE you list for sale?

Bathrooms and Kitchens Are the Most Important Rooms of The Home

Buyers always pay special attention to the kitchen and bathrooms. Dated cabinets, countertops, flooring, appliances, fixtures, and knobs can give the entire home the impression of being dated and in need of costly renovations.  Although it can be difficult with your own home, take an impartial look at your kitchen and bathrooms. Are they functional? Do the cabinets open and close properly? Do the faucets leak? Spending the time and money to make the necessary repairs before you list will increase your chances of selling your home. Updating paint (walls and cabinets), countertops, knobs and flooring are relatively inexpensive repairs to make and can have a large impact when you are trying to sell. Need advice on updates and don’t know where to start? Talk to your real estate agent, we are here to help you

Fix It If Its Broken

Buyers offer to pay less for a home that has the appearance of needing costly repairs and nearly every buyer has a home inspection done before they buy so why not make the repairs BEFORE you go on the market? Leaky faucets, outdated electrical wiring and plumbing, windows and doors that don’t open and close properly, cracked tiles, shingles that need to be replaced and hot water tanks and furnaces that are beyond their life expectancy are all repair costs the buyer will deduct from the offer amount or even worse, are reasons why they choose to not buy your home.

Pay Attention to the Flooring

Outdated, stained, cracked or damaged flooring reduces the overall value of your home to the buyer. Most likely replacing all the flooring is not in your budget so put the cleaning fairy to work for you. A professional deep clean of the carpets can remove stains and odors, repair of cracked grout and tiles can have a large impact at an affordable price, and a deep clean of older wood floors can bring them whole new life.

IF you do choose to replace flooring there are many options available. Although hardwood and tile floors have long been a favourite, laminate, vinyl plank and linoleum now come in a variety of colours, styles and price options and can be a great affordable alternative.

Lighting and Odors

During showings and while having pictures taken open your curtains and let the sun shine in! This will help your home to feel more spacious and welcoming. If buyers are viewing the home in the evening, make sure to have your lights on and ready for them before they arrive. Dark rooms can give the appearance of a small or unwelcoming home.

If you followed my advice had did a deep clean of your home before going on the market you will have gotten rid of any lingering odors that were present. Pay special attention to pet odors that can be caused by pet hair, litter boxes or “accidents” on the floor and strong cooking odors that may linger in the home.

Open the windows, vacuum, wash and remove any causes of these odors before buyers arrive.

Although taking the time to clean, organize, refresh, and repair your home may seem like a daunting task, completing these items BEFORE you list will save you time on the market and will help your home to sell for top dollar