Ontario will force you to have an energy audit completed before you list your home

This is a letter I received from OREA today. Not sure if the public is aware that people will have to do a sort of Drive Clean for their homes. 

Dear Bradley, I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on an important issue at Queen's Park and what your provincial association is doing to protect the dream of home ownership in our province. Last week, the Government of Ontario government released their Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP). The CCAP is the government's strategy for reducing green house gas emissions. Included among 28 other policy proposals, is a Home Energy Rating and Disclosure (HER&D) program. HER&D would mandate that an energy audit be completed before a new or existing single-family home can be listed for sale. The current proposal would also require that the energy rating be included in the real estate listing. The province is proposing to cover the cost of the audit through a rebate and plans on further consultation before launching the program in 2019. OREA opposes HER&D or any other form of mandatory home energy audits. OREA is deeply concerned about the impact it will have on consumers, the real estate market and Ontario REALTORS®. OREA has successfully fought against mandatory home energy audits since 2009 and our position has not changed. When the province first put HER&D on the table back in May 2015, OREA lobbied hard to stop it. Our policy submission made a detailed case for why HER&D would hurt consumers and the real estate market. Unfortunately, the province has signalled its intention to move forward with HER&D, so we're redoubling our efforts. OREA has retained one of the top government relations firms in Ontario - the same team that assisted us on our MLTT campaign – to strengthen our advocacy against the new proposal. While this promises to be a more difficult and uphill fight than we've faced in the past, rest assured your provincial association is not taking any tactic off the table, including a broader public relations campaign to educate MPPs and consumers about the perils of HER&D. Thank you for your ongoing support of our advocacy efforts. If you have any questions, comments or concerns you can contact OREA's government relations team at GovernmentRelations@orea.com. Yours sincerely, Ray Ferris, President Ontario Real Estate Association

What the heck is going on with the Real Estate Market in Peterborough and City of Kawartha Lakes???

Worth taking a few seconds to view the video

Explains a ton.

Total number of Expireds

Total number of listings

Total number of sales

5 Mistakes Sellers Make

5 Ways Sellers Sabotage Their Own Sale

By Sarah D'Hondt  |  Read Bio

Selling your home? Every seller wants the same thing: to sell their house for the most money possible, as quickly as possible. This is exactly what your real estate agent wants too. That said, there are usually two things keeping this from happening: price and condition.

Price and condition are always the deciding factors for buyers, and they also affect the amount they may offer. Luckily for you, these are also the only two things you have control over!

So let’s take a look at the top five mistakes you may be making if your home hasn’t sold yet.

Mistake #1: Thinking your house is special.

As a homeowner, you are proud of your home. You might even think it’s superior to all others in your neighborhood. This might be because of the time and money you spent remodeling it. Perhaps you hand-picked every slat of Brazilian Hardwood and personally laid it, or chose a ridiculously expensive gold leaf wallpaper that you just had to have. You may assume if you spend a lot of money on bells and whistles, that MUST make it worth more, right? Wrong.

Buyers are looking at your home, trying to envision it as their home. They’re easily distracted by your loud, hot pink bedroom walls and won’t consider that it was a custom color made to match the loud pink zebra comforter and matching curtains. They’re also mentally calculating how much money they need to spend to refinish those hardwood floors, repaint and have that wallpaper removed.

You must understand your house isn’t special to anyone but you, so it’s always best to cater to buyers by showing them your home’s cleanest, most neutral face. You need to clean your home until it shines, ditch the clutter, paint, make needed repairs, and keep up with your landscaping.

You need to trust your real estate agent (not Zillow) on where to price your home. And remember one important thing: Just because you spent $50,000 on a kitchen remodel doesn’t mean you’re getting every penny back (despite what your shoebox full of receipts might be telling you).

Mistake #2: Thinking you’re a salesperson.

As a seller you may think you’re being helpful by sticking around during showings to help agents and potential buyers see how special your home is. You might think the buyer’s agent can’t possibly know how to showcase your home as well as you can, or have any clue what the really important things are to point out.

So you stick around, you smile super big and you’re super nice to everyone. You point out the hardwood floors, custom wallpaper and things that you love about the house, because you are a better salesperson than some real estate agent who has never lived there, right? Wrong!

Actually, you’re not coming off as super nice, but annoying (at best) and more than likely cocky or creepy (hey, just telling it like it is). While gushing over all the things you love, those may be the very things the buyer hates.

The best thing to do is leave the house and give the buyers some space. Buyers want privacy. They don’t want to be cornered into awkward small talk with the homeowner or feel rushed when making the most expensive purchase of their life.

Mistake #3: Thinking they will come back.

Imagine you had a long day at work. It’s a hot, muggy day. Your car’s air-conditioning is acting up, making you stick to your seats on your longer-than-usual commute home. Your kids are bickering and everyone is starving. Then your phone rings. It’s your real estate agent calling with a last-minute showing request… in ten minutes. This is NOT what you need right now, but you want to sell your house.

You have two choices. Option A: plead for the showing to be rescheduled, because you mistakenly assume the buyers and their agent will gladly rearrange their schedule around yours and come back.

Or, Option B, remind yourself that you want your home sold, and these buyers may only have the next hour or so to see as many homes as possible before making a decision because they’re relocating from out of state (or whatever their unique situation may be).

Never, ever, go with Option A.

No matter how you feel or what kind of day you’re having, you need to be accommodating. Sometimes you just have to bend over backwards. Buyers hold all the power because they’re the ones with the money and ability to make your dream of selling come true.

So as you load up your hungry, fussy kids, you smile and wave as you back out of the driveway and head to the nearest drive-through. You’ve made the right decision! You realize you must suck it up and make your house available… even when you really don’t want to, because buyers will rarely come back at a better time.

Mistake #4: Not being willing to negotiate.

So you got an offer on your home, and you accepted it! Congrats! Regardless of how long your home had been on the market or what the final terms are, this is exciting because it means all the showings are over and you’re roughly 30 days away from closing.

After the home inspection, the buyers ask for some repairs to be made, or possibly for you to purchase a home warranty for them or assistance with closing costs.

Most buyers will ask for those things; it’s nothing to get bent out of shape over.

This is where you, the seller, need to be willing to meet in the middle and show the buyer that you’re serious about selling. Otherwise you risk your deal falling apart and being stuck with the house which you’ll eventually shell out more money to fix anyway.

Sure, you can always re-list your home, but it may sit on the market for 30, 60, 90 days or more. Meanwhile you’ll have to deal with more showings, keeping the house spic & span, and losing sleep due to the anxiety of the unknown.

Please remember that this pending sale on your home has contingencies, and it could fall apart for a number of reasons. The appraisal is one contingency; the home inspection is another. Both of them may require you to be flexible and willing to negotiate. If you aren’t and the deal falls apart, then you have no one to blame but yourself.

Also, your first offer is usually your best offer, and oftentimes your only offer. Once you secure an interested buyer, you need to trust your agent and work with them and your buyers to get the home sold and not waste time on bickering over a $100 light fixture or $400 home warranty.

Mistake #5: Pets.

Last but not least, not everyone is a pet lover. Many people are allergic to cats or dogs, or have sensitive noses that can smell urine and stinky litter boxes on the other side of the house.

When you’re selling your house and you have pets, you really need to make the home look and smell as if no pets ever stepped foot in it. Your cat’s favorite spot on the couch that’s coated with 4 inches of matted fur needs to get scraped off (with a lint roller a few hundred times if need be). The food bowls, cat trees, pet toys, pet beds, scratching posts, cat condos, etc. need to be out of sight too. So do the fur babies themselves.

Before you leave, make sure your backyard is free of landmines. You may as well put Whiskers’ litter box in a garbage bag and store it in the garage or closet or someplace out of sight and smell.

When a buyer leaves, they’ll remember their first impression, so you want it to be a good one. Pet odor can be a deal breaker, even if everything else about your home is perfect.

To summarize…

Your home isn’t particularly special to anyone but you, so keep it clean and showing beautifully and as neutral as possible at all times. Don’t try to be the real estate agent (i.e., be sure to leave the house during showings), and take the pets with you! Don’t assume that buyers will bend over backwards to see your house—you need to do the bending, and you need to be flexible with negotiations too.

If you follow this advice, you shouldn’t have a hard time selling quickly and you’ll avoid the unnecessary stress that many sellers endure because they become their own worst enemy by sabotaging their own sale.

Happy MONDAY!!

Happy Monday! I hope you had an amazing week! As always I like to start the week off right with some words of inspiration...

 

"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a know in it an hang on." Thomas Jefferson

 

 

There are times in life where we have done all we can... In those times, don't give up, don't stop, just hang on and continue pushing.... Consistent action, even if the action is just hanging on, will pay off...

 

Keep pushing and keep creating the amazing life you know you want and deserve!

 

Have an awesome week and let me know if you need anything!

Brad Sinclair

Sales Representative

Flat Rate Realty Inc

Visit my website! www.bradsinclair.ca

705-749-9292

Or Text me 705-927-6236

Exceptional full MLS service, professional representation and

experience with local knowledge you can trust. All for an amazing

commission rate of 3.75%. What more could you ask for?