About Barrie's Allandale

What happened to my Client who Fell in Love with a home I showed him?

He went back home to Toronto, to take a closer look at his financial situation, talk to his Family and his Mortgage Specialist.  He wanted that home!  I told him that he should take care of all of this as soon as possible, to get the ball rolling.

The house was a secluded paradise with in ground pool, private, spa-like back yard and all the bells and whistles you could ever want in a luxury residence.

In fact, during an office tour, we had a tough time leaving the house, every Agent in the office was talking about it and… drum roll please… I was the lucky one to… sell it?!

I called my Client almost daily that week, and he was still not ready to make a move.  There was not much happening with the listing, as it was the priciest one in the area and quite out of reach for most local buyers. 

He was taking his time with the money matters and weeks went by.  Finally one day, I drove by the home and there was another Agent showing the property.  People leaving the home were excited and I became worried. They looked eager to get this home.

I got back to the office and called my Client.

“If you want this home… now is the time to do something about it.”  He was still not quite ready, but decided to submit an offer that day.  Regretfully, as I suspected ours was not the only one. 

To make the matters worst… my Client chose not to follow my advice and wanted to play the game of “how low can I go?”  Now, we all know that in a multiple offer situation, you need to put your best foot forward.  Most often there is no room for games and “water-testing”…

You can imagine how disappointed he was when the home he fell in love with was sold from under his nose at the above asking price. 

Now, we are in the third month of home searching (with the tiny two-week break, when I was away) still looking for the home that will touch his heart. 

Tomorrow I’m showing him 8 more. 

The sad part is that homes I’ve found since that first one, offer better value, are bigger, younger, nicer… etc. But those are not, and never will be THE home he loved.

Lesson learned?  I truly hope so.    

 

 

 

Joanna Gerber

Sales Representative
HomeLife
Kempenfelt-Kelly
Realty Ltd. Brokerage*
284 Dunlop St. W.
Barrie, Ontario
L4N 1B9

(705)794-6482

O:705-722-8191
F:705-725-8232
TF: 1-877-722-8191

*Independently Owned and Operated

www.Selling-Barrie-Homes.com
joanna@selling-barrie-homes.com
MOWIE PO POLSKU

Few months ago I was contacted by someone who found my site by Google Search.  I was impressed he said that each time he searched; I came up at the top, so he decided to give me a call. 

He was looking to buy in Barrie and currently lived in Toronto.  He gave me his must-haves, and his price range and we set the time to meet over the weekend to view several properties that I was able to find for him.

Weekend came and he arrived with his girlfriend.  Each home I showed them had most if not all of the items on his list and yet… we couldn’t “put a finger on it”.  Something was missing… the WOW factor was not there. 

To make the matters worst, quite quickly it became evident that those two people had a drastically different taste and quite frankly I could not imagine how I will ever find a home that they will both love.

After seeing 8 homes that day, quite tired we were heading back to the office.  Driving through one of the older neighbourhoods, where I spend most of my time, due to my kid’s activities… I heard a quiet “this is nice” from the back seat.

Now, “this” was nowhere near where they wanted to be, homes were about 30 years older than the ones we’ve seen that day and prices were… substantially higher here.

But there was this thought in the back of my head: “I know someone in my office has this amazing listing here, what if…?”  I pulled over and called my office.  Within 5 minutes (!) our Super Secretary, called me back with the lock box combination.

I opened the front door and my Clients… FELL in LOVE!

I could not get them out of there!  They loved absolutely everything about the home and the fact that it was listed at over $90K above their initial price bracket… was not an issue.  Or so I thought…

Read the rest of this story in "Loosing the home you Love"

 

Joanna Gerber

Sales Representative
HomeLife
Kempenfelt-Kelly
Realty Ltd. Brokerage*
284 Dunlop St. W.
Barrie, Ontario
L4N 1B9

(705)794-6482

O:705-722-8191
F:705-725-8232
TF: 1-877-722-8191

*Independently Owned and Operated

www.Selling-Barrie-Homes.com
joanna@selling-barrie-homes.com
MOWIE PO POLSKU

We all have them- at least I hope we do! Reuseable shopping bags. I am now the owner of 27. That's right 27.

I forget to take them with me when I go shopping, so I buy some more and they end up in the front hall closet too. And now to top it all off, our local grocery chain store is now charging 5 cents for each plastic bag if you want one of those. How to break this guilt inducing cycle?

You see I am a Live Green, Live Smart Trainer. Someone who is supposed to be setting an example when it comes to living in a sustainable way. Someone who is supposed to be trying to create a smaller carbon foot print on this earth. It seems so simple. Why do I forget to take the reuseable bags when I only shop once per week. I know I am going to the store to buy a week's worth of groceries. It never dawns on me until I actually start to bag the food.

I'll tell you why. Because I am human just like everyone else. I have things on my mind. I am busy. I am on a timeline to get this and that done before I need to be somewhere else.

But I was given a solution today when I attended a meeting at the local Barrie radio station, Rock 95 & Kool FM 107.5.

I noticed cases of canvas reuseable bags sitting in the meeting room. I remarked that I try to use them and always forget to take them with me to the store. The person sitting there said he found a simple way to remember was to change where I stored them. Instead of the front hall, put them all in the trunk of the car. Use them up, say 6 or so each week. Those get put in the hall to pile up again, and then when the pile looks big enough, put them all in the trunk again.So simple, I busted out in a big laugh. Why didn't I think of that?

It's what I always say. Don't raise the bridge, lower the river. Most solutions in life are right under your nose if you care to see with new eyes. Look for the simple solution, the low cost solution, the solution that will become a habit and you have solved your problem.

I'm off to put all my reuseable shopping bags in the trunk now. I can shop with confidence now that I can make one more simple effort to make my carbon footprint smaller.

I recently replaced the 30 year old carpeting in my master bedroom. There are many options out there today from wood to laminate to bamboo to low VOC carpet. I would like wood but I also wanted the softness of carpet in the bedroom. Decisions, decisions.

It took awhile to decide, but I finally opted for Low VOC carpet from Gallery of Floors in Barrie. The carpet cost a little more than regular carpeting, but the upside was no off gassing from the carpet. As you spend 8 hours sleeping this was a concern for me as I have asthma and did not want any odours and off gassing from the carpet to effect my health.

I knew I had made the right choice when my husband came home from work that day.

The first thing he said was "didn't the carpet guys come today?" He couldn't smell the new carpeting (he works on new residential construction sites all day so he knows first hand what new carpeting smells like). I told him that the carpet was in and there were no odours to speak of. We slept very well that night and I suffered no ill effects from the carpet off gassing.

So if you are in the market for new flooring, take a look at Low VOC carpet. It may be exactly what you are looking for. Especially if you are marketing a home for sale, it is a great marketing tool to use when listing the house.

Way back in the early 90's, my children attended a school Prince of Wales in Barrie that believed the children should not bring anything to school in their lunch that would have to be sent to a landfill.

Their solution to this was as follows-

In each classroom there was a container with 4-5,000 worms in soil inside a box. All vegetable and fruit scraps would be placed in the box and the worms would take care of it from there. It is called vermicomposting.

Of course it was only a matter of time before there was a box of worms in our home. Children are early adapters to things that make sense. They could see immediate results to their actions and how those choices effect their environment.

Any container that was brought had to be reusable (first choice and heavily promoted) or recyclable (distant second choice).

This pretty much took care of any waste that had previously been taken to a landfill.

A list was provided to the children to post on their fridge with ideas for a healthy lunch that did not produce waste.

Does anyone know of any schools that are practising this method of reducing waste in their town?

It makes more sense to not create the waste in the first place instead of trying to figure out how to dispose of it afterwards. You have the choice in how big your carbon footprint is. How about it? Ready for some worms in your life? They are quiet, you don't have to clean up after them and they cost nothing to feed except your scraps that were previously going to the landfill.