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As Toronto’s spring 2016 real estate market kicks into high gear, we’re seeing the usual patterns emerge: anxious Buyers, cut-throat bidding wars and bully offers. We’re also seeing some common patterns with Sellers:
The Over-Excited Seller – There’s no doubt it’s an exciting time to be a Seller and seeing dozens of people book showing appointments for your home is one of the most exciting parts. But if your pricing strategy involved setting a ‘bidding war date’ in order to drive maximum traffic and interest to your house, stay the course and don’t get sidetracked. We’ve seen plenty of over-excited Sellers this year accept mediocre bully offers and leave money on the table. [A bully offer is an aggressive offer submitted in advance of the bidding war date in order to circumvent a bidding war – you can read more about bully offers here]. True story: we watched the Seller of a gorgeous house accept a bully offer on the second day and shut out other Buyers who would have paid significantly more for their house (we know, we had a Buyer for it). The cost to the Seller: more than $40K. Ouch.
The Braggart Seller – You probably hear these Sellers at the water cooler, bragging about getting $300,000 more than their asking price. Truth: there are lots of pricing games being played in 2016, and we’ve seen dozens of houses priced $200,000-300,000 below what the comparables indicate the value should be. Getting over-asking isn’t a feat of brilliance – getting over-value is. So far in 2016, the average house is selling for 108% of the listing price.
The Anxious Seller – Sadly, the bidding war game doesn’t work for everyone. So far in 2016, 68% of houses in the central core have sold for more than the asking price – which means there were still plenty of houses that didn’t get multiple offers. If your house doesn’t sell in the blink of an eye, rest assured: if it’s been staged, marketed and priced properly, it will sell. Right now, the average number of days on market in Toronto’s central core is 16 (for houses).
The Unrealistic Seller – With all the hype in the Toronto real estate market, it’s only natural that some Sellers develop unrealistic ideas and don’t want to accept market value for their property [Remember: Market value is the price where a willing Buyer meets a willing Seller]. Twice in the last month we’ve been contacted by Sellers who want us to find them “an international Buyer” who will pay them significantly more than what their house is worth. Truth: international Buyers aren’t dumb; they pay market value too.
The Lucky Seller – Sometimes, the stars and the moon align and huge-impossible-to-justify offers are made and accepted. I’m looking at you Mr. Seller who got $500K more than asking…congratulations.
The Delayed Seller – Gah! Unfortunately for Toronto Buyers, this is the most common Seller out there right now: they have a great property they want to sell BUT they need to find their new home first. It’s the painful cycle of Supply and Demand that’s the root cause for all the craziness.
The Greedy Seller – We’re still reeling from an aborted sale last month, where hundreds of people toured a home, six Buyers made offers (at least one was more than $200K over the asking price and more than any of the comparable sales warranted) – and the Seller decided not to sell. WTH?
Thinking of selling? Get in touch to get things started!
