Barrie Clulow

In looking at some Mill Rates Around the Greater Toronto Area and in Particular Uxbridge and Georgina I noticed a few peculiarities. While most areas have two different mill rates for residential and multi residential not all do. Some even have four different mill rates with the additional divisions being residential urban and residential rural

It is interesting to note that the Multi Residential mill Rate in the York Region Communities I checked were all higher than the Residential while in Durham Region they were both the same. For example Georgina, which is in York Region has a residential rate of 1.395088 and the same for Multi residential
Uxbridge, Which is in Durham Region has a residential rate of 1.295688 and Multi residential rate of 2.189644

What I found most interesting was Milton, Burlington and Halton Hills had four different residential rates. For example Milton has an urban residential rate of .943257 which is quite a bit lower than both Uxbridge and Georgina. Milton's rural rate is even lower at .898350 which is the second lowest of the ones I looked at with only Toronto being slightly lower.

While the homes would not necessarily compare, because similar homes would not sell for the same amount of money in the different communities, if you looked at a home with an "assessed"value of $300.000 in each community the taxes would vary from $2,695 to $4185 for a home with the same assessed value

$2,695 in Milton R
$2,830 in Milton U
$3,887 in Uxbridge
$4,185 in Georgina

It will be interesting to watch what happens to

"Your" Property Tax Bill

With province wide re-assessment taking place
for your 2009 property tax bill.

In a post from a FSBO company here on active/rain they made the claim that 25% Of Residential Real Estate In Canada Is Sold Privately. The wording of their post seems to imply that part of that 25% were builders. Well as a former real estate person the poster is either misleading you or had no personal real estate dealings with builders, when they claimed that builders do not use real estate professionals, when I know for a fact that that they have and do.

It would appear that the poster is attempting to discount the services that Real Estate Professionals who work full time and who make a living at selling real estate offer. This is not the first time they have made claims that attempt to discount the services provided by the real estate industry. I can't help wondering if they are actually a former high producing real estate person as they claim is there some reason they no longer practice. You have to ask yourself if you are making a lot of money, as a top producer would be, why would you leave the industry and then attempt to discount the services you used to provide. Is it all marketing hype?

They also claimed that the number of FSBO's would double and represent 50% of the market in 3 to 5 years. If this is true, and I doubt it is,then your source of accurate information to assist you in pricing your home just dried up as only well seasoned veterans will likely remain in the business and they will certainly be less forthcoming with the information at no cost to you.

While I do not doubt that at times there is a very good chance you may well be able to sell your home yourself. Just a couple of the things you need to consider before going this route are how much time and effort you are willing to put into it and your level of expertise in negotiations. You can always take your offer to a lawyer for legal advice and as this same poster states in another post you might even get some pricing advice from your local real estate professional.

But do you need a FSBO company to help you?

Not if you are knowledgeable enough to handle the sale by yourself in the first place. You can place your add on the Internet and in the paper just as easily as they can. You can post your add to most of the sites they use yourself along with many others they do not use. You can buy professional signs from the same sign company they use heck your local real estate professional may even tell you where they get their signs while they are giving you free Comparative Market Analysis information. You can pick up offer forms from your lawyer and the list goes on.

Or you can pay them their fee throw their sign on your lawn and sit back and wait as you watch most of the buyers look at and buy your competition through their Friendly Neighbourhood Real Estate Professional .

In Memory of all those who died
and in support of all those who
lost family friends and loved ones

WE SHARE YOUR TEARS

Within a day of the 9/11 attacks I along with close to a thousand Construction workers where I worked started wearing several stickers on their hardhats to show there support for those who had to deal with the loss of family and friends. On this anniversary that day is as clear in my mind as it was on the TV. Today once again they are on the minds and in the prayers of many across Canada and the United States as well as around the world.

There was a post here recently by a FSBO company blogger that claimed that to be a fact.

You have to ask yourself is it all hype to promote the FSBO services offered?

In reading the post I noticed that the poster claimed that no
real estate agents are involved when you purchase from a builder.
Hang on there just a minute if these sales are included in the 25%
then the 25% just suddenly took a real kick in the seat.

Interesting that he/she says he/she is a former real estate broker and
yet his/her information about how new homes are sold is not correct
so I can only surmise that he/she never personally sold new homes.

First builders are a very sophisticated group of vendors, with huge marketing budgets that the ordinary home owner just does not have. They are selling many, sometimes hundreds of homes from their web sites and advertising. They effectively have their own private co-operative listing system with properties and sales offices that stretch across the GTA and beyond. they have the wherewithal to get the buyer to come to them on their terms. What private for sale by owner has that kind of reach or budget?

I also am a former real estate broker and during my time as an agent I sold many new homes both as a licensed real estate agent, and as a broker. I also worked direct for a Major Builder who shortly after I left opened their own real estate company and hired professional licensed real estate people to handle their new homes.

Just because a builder does not put his properties on MLS does not mean they are being sold privately the correct word is exclusively and yes some properties are still listed exclusively but for those who want maximum exposure MLS is still the best way for most residential resale properties. Do all Builders list their homes , no but many do and even more do when they get down to a few at the end of a project. Now ask yourself why would they do that even with their huge marketing ability? Perhaps Because they know it works!

Can you really save $10,000, $20,000 and even more in fees as the poster claims. Perhaps, but lets look at a home that is located in a subdivision of homes with several similar homes on the market. Lets assume similar homes have sold for $400,000 and they were listed at 5%, a common listing commission in a good market. If the home sells for $400,000 the Commission or fees would be $20,000.

Now put yourself in the shoes of todays buyer. They have access to all the same information you had, they have done their homework they know all of the above and they know you are expecting to save the fees but so are they.

They also know you do not have the marketing strength behind you that the other homes have so they are potentially in a great position to haggle over the price, offering much less than they would on other homes. Will you save some of the fees, possibly. Will you save them all, not likely.

If they are truly sophisticated buyers they may put conditions in the offer that seem Ok but literally tie your property up for months and in the end they do not complete the transaction as their conditions were not met.

What you would expect the real estate professional to do
is
NOW YOUR JOB.

The post also says "you have to step into the shoes of an agent" in so doing you need to ask yourself if you have what it takes? Do you have the tools you will need to do that? Do you have the knowledge, the ability to negotiate, can you show the property at a moments notice or at the prospective purchasers convenience, do you have someone to answer your phone 24 hrs a day 7 days a week, can you show the prospective purchaser comparable properties.

I could go on but they most important point is; while you are at work, or away on vacation, or even out for the evening, that potential buyer whose call you did not answer is out with your neighbourhood real estate professional buying a home they were shown, that is comparable to yours because it was what they were looking for and the price negotiated was acceptable to them.

Everyone has the right to buy or sell in the manner they choose but for the widest possible exposure you need more than a sign on the lawn and a post on a blog or add in the newspaper.

You need the exposure that only the combined membership of your local real estate board can give You through the various networks and interrelated web sites in addition to a co-operative listing system.

Many agents today not only put your property on their own web sites they put them on their company web sites, other agents web sites, and many other web sites that promote real estate for sale. A really good agent will ensure your property is exposed to the widest spectrum of potential buyers by putting your home on literally hundreds of web sites as well as the MLS web sites.