Stuart Smith

The Month of December.

This time, every year, millions of Canadians cram the malls looking for the perfect gift for the ones they love. They dip into their savings and spend more than they had intended to. Stockings are lovingly filled with useless trinkets. The tree is lifted off the ground by the sheer volume of carefully wrapped presents. The dinner table displays a massive turkey with all the fixin’s. It is the greatest holiday of the year. Families come together. Children squeal with delight. Presents, which took hours of patient care to wrap, are opened in the blink of an eye. Paper is strewn around the room, impossibly difficult packaging is finally forced open and batteries are inserted into toys and games. Giant flat screen tv’s are mounted on the wall and new jewellery is tried on. This is the exact moment that the new Christmas puppy has his first accident on the floor.

The Month of March

Winters grip on our lives is finally breaking. Spring has sprung and we can’t wait to get out of the house. Ironically, we also can’t wait to get into a house at this time of year as well. The real estate newspapers are snatched off the shelves as families begin the annual hunt for the perfect home. But that perfect home is always $20,000 more expensive than the mortgage we are able to attain. Weekends are consumed by going to open houses and preparing our homes for sale.

Then IT appears. The perfect house on the perfect street. Best of all, we can afford it. We call the number on the For Sale sign and ask for an immediate showing. We arrive and have to wait in the car for 5 minutes as a young couple is touring the home and will be done soon. When we finally get into the home we see the small collection of business cards on the counter. “Didn’t this house just get listed yesterday?” we think to ourselves. What a home. There is no question that we will be making an offer, but for how much? We contact our sales representative and are informed that there are already two other offers on the property. In the end, we lose the house and have to start again.

The Greatest Gift

What if, instead of blowing all of your savings on Christmas presents, you decided to invest in a home and make that the present you give to your family? How would the previous scenario change?

1) By saving $1,000 on Christmas gifts you are increasing the amount you can afford to spend on a home by $20,000 if you get a 5% down CMHC guaranteed loan.

2) The number of people competing against you for the perfect home is greatly decreased as is the risk of losing a bidding war.

3) As demand is low at Christmas it is typically a buyers market and you can aggressively negotiate for a better price.

4) Associated businesses such as movers will compete for your business at this time of year for the same reasons.

Sure, the bottom of the Christmas tree may be bare, but the tree is now 6 feet taller thanks to your new cathedral ceilings.

It is not too late to return the presents you have already purchased. In fact, if you buy a home before Christmas with me, I will personally gift-wrap your home. Think about it, and then give me a call.

Stuart Smith

(905) 728-1600

stuart@stuartsmith.ca

Only 400 home sales to go to reach my target of donating $100,000 to the Breast Cancer Foundation in 2009.