Localism: Grey County, ON

Marketing a Luxury Home In Collingwood ~ Blue Mountain; Part 2

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:38:19 -0500

After you have established the right asking price, have prepared and staged your luxury home, it's time to begin marketing the home for sale.

Remember the question most sellers ask is "Will you advertise my home in the Globe & Mail?" Let's think about that. What we want to find is a suitable buyer. Less than 5% of buyers can afford an upper-tier home and even fewer (less than 1%) of buyers in South Georgian Bay buy a property valued at over 1 million dollars. Where are those buyers and how do we find them?

I can hardly imagine someone sitting down to read ads of out-of-town properties for sale unless they have some interest in the topic. Secondly, if they do, I doubt they suddenly discover South Georgian Bay for the first time and I doubt even more that any ad, usually 30 words or less, will cause them to make a new life plan. No, in reality, the buyer likely already has an attachment to the area be it in past vacations, friends who have invested or moved here or maybe they already own property in the area.

This buyer is affluent and educated. If they are in the market for a luxury home, the probability is extremely high that they will search on the internet for available listings to see what's out there. They will visit the area and will likely solicit the recommendations of family or friends to find a good area. They'll drive around, right down some addresses and head back online for details. They'll eventually hire a local REALTOR® if they are serious. In other words, they are not looking for a two line ad in a paper that cost some agent hundreds of dollars to run with no results. Trust me on this, I know. I know, oh how I know! They are using the internet, signage and salespeople as well as family and friends.

So, a good start for a new listing in this category is for the listing agent to host an Agent Open House inviting other REALTORS® to view and learn about the home. If you can't sell the agents, chances are you'll have a tough time selling anyone else.

Secondly, make sure the house is easy to show and that the owners are absent during the showing. Most clients ask that the listing agent be present in the background and therefore available to answer specific questions that might arise. Make sure the keys work, the alarm system is addressed with the agent, that the house is in top notch showing condition and that pets are removed from the home.

Now that the house has been priced, prepared, staged, shown to other agents and is easy and ready to show, the real marketing begins. Naturally, that involves signage, placing the listing on the MLS® Multiple Listing Service and preparing feature sheets. But there's more. Much more.

Coming Soon: Marketing A Luxury Home in Collingwood ~ Blue Mountain; Part 3

Marketing a Luxury Home In Collingwood ~ Blue Mountain; Part 1

When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

Do You Rent Out Your Blue Mountain Condo or Chalet?

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:34:48 -0500

Many people who own secondary properties in vacation country like to rent them out from time to time to cover overhead costs associated with owning such a property. That may get a little more difficult soon.

The Town of the Blue Mountains has been discussing the issue of short term rentals for some time now and earlier this year, they enacted an interim control by-law to allow some time for the study of this matter.

This week, a staff report came out with recommendations governing the licensing of short term accommodations and, from what I read, it will be VERY tricky to get approvals in most residential zones if this is approved. I'm not saying that I disagree with the direction. If you own a home in a residential area, you want your investment to be protected from commercial uses that may impact your enjoyment. That's certainly a fair thing to expect.

If you are considering the purchase of a recreational property with the intention of renting it out, you need to read the staff report. and the Interim Control By-Law. Longer term rentals shouldn't be a problem so owners may need to rethink their ownership investment strategies.

When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

Selling A Luxury Home in Collingwood – Blue Mountain

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:02:24 -0500

Just a few years ago, it was pretty rare to see a home sold for over a million dollars in South Georgian Bay. Today, there are 1-2 luxury home sales each month and we're starting to see homes topping two and three million dollars. One property in the area is listed for far more.

Luxury homes often take more than a year to sell even in a strong market. Currently in our area, there are 34 residential properties for sale ranging in price from $1,000,000 to $9,985,000. In the last six months, there have been 8 sales so, at the current rate, there is better than a two year supply of "inventory" of high-end homes not including the vast number of custom and new homes available as well.

As a REALTOR®, taking a listing for a high-end homes requires careful thought. Yes, commissions on luxury homes are substantial but so are the costs and demands plus, money invested is never recouped if the house does NOT sell during the listing period. Imagine listing 5 homes, spending thousands on marketing each one and none sell.

I recently listed a luxury home that is one of the finest crafted homes in the area. Since this type of offering is growing in our marketplace, I think it could be useful to look at some of the considerations involved in marketing upper-tier properties.

The first step is to work with the Sellers in establishing an asking price. Comparing size, number of bedrooms and such is not nearly enough since not all homes are created equal. I've been in homes over a million dollars where the interior finishes were no better than those found in a $200,000 subdivision home. Seriously. Pricing means knowing the intricacies of comparable properties in regard to neighbourhood, design, workmanship and quality of materials in the home. It's critical to know the competition, to know the neighbourhoods and to understand the potential buyer profile.

Coming Soon: Marketing A Luxury Home

When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

Buyer Beware When Buying a New Home

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:00:16 -0500

My first real estate advisor was my Dad. He used to say that when you buy a home, make sure it's one that "first your foes lived in, then your friends and then you." The idea was that a new house has deficiencies that can cause frustrations while subsequent owners add to and perfect a home.

I admit these lessons coloured my viewpoint. While sometimes a new home is suitable for certain buyers, I generally think a resale home offers less risk and more benefit in most cases.

A few years ago, I had a client who insisted on buying one of the first 3 homes to be built in a brand new subdivision. I cautioned her that there was a risk in doing so. What if the developer sold off the land to someone else who had an entirely different vision for her neighbourhood? What if their work crews were terrible? Did they have a TARION track record? Well sure enough, she bought the house. The builder went belly up, the land is for sale and the deficiencies have never been corrected.

More recently, I've been working with some super folks looking to buy a luxury condo in the area for rest and relaxation from their busy lives. They became intrigued with a new development and picked what they thought would be a perfect site. It overlooks a quiet meadow with a fabulous view of Blue Mountain where the sunsets would be magnificent. It's quiet and peaceful but they'd have to pay a significant "lot premium" to acquire that end unit spot.

What the builder's salesperson didn't tell them is that a new road is planned to run right beside the unit and then, the meadow will be a construction zone for years to come as hundreds of homes are planned for that land. Their view of the mountain will likely be impacted by the new condo's to be built right behind them. Not only that but the builder is a year behind schedule and existing owners are screaming foul over unaddressed deficiencies. After I heard about their plan to buy, I got the plans for the area which I was able to show them. That purchase is now on hold.

When it comes to buying new, buyer beware. Model homes often have thousands and thousands of dollars of enticing upgrades and slick presentations that make the fantasy exceedingly powerful. In many cases, you as a buyer are on your own and unrepresented in negotiations. Take your time, think, ask and seek outside advice before signing on the dotted line.

When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!

Part 1: Building Your Own Home in the Collingwood – Blue Mountain Area

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:18:12 -0500

With spring fast approaching, we're getting more enquiries again from people who are looking for vacant land on which to build their new home now or at some point down the road. After 19 years in this business, I've seen both winners and the losers in the building game. There are those who built something that subsequently had a higher resale value within a few years and, there are those who have far more into their dream home than they'll get out for a very long time. The difference between winning or losing at the building game is made up of a number of different factors:

· location

· the property

· the design

· the quality of construction

· the quality of the finishes

• again, the LOCATION

You'll notice, I didn't say, the price. The cost is derived from all of these other factors and an expensive but well designed and built home in the right location with suitable finishes will produce a better return than a moderately priced and poorly build home in a terrible location.

Here are some questions would-be-home-builders should ask themselves and in later posts, we'll talk about site preparation costs and then, construction costs.

In my experience, many people think they can buy a lot and then build their dream home at a reduced price or, that they can put up a pre-fabricated home within an unrealistically low budget. "My uncle is an electrician and my brother is a carpenter so we have contacts in the family." How many times I've heard that! Before you make a decision to build, let's consider a few things:

· Did you know that the most expensive part of building a house is in the materials and not in the labour?

· Did you know that, according to a study done by Mattamy Homes (Canada's largest home builder), there are 91 steps involved after the site work is completed? It starts with staking out the site and ends with paving the driveway. Do you have 91 friends, relatives or skill sets that will allow you to actually save money?

· Tradespeople are really, really busy. Wait, good tradespeople are really, really busy up here and some are already booked out for the year. If you want a good excavator, plumber, electrician, carpenter and such, you need to be patient and, you need to be prepared that you'll pay for the quality. You also best have very good project management skills and be able to co-ordinate the trades. If one doesn't show up and the others therefore get held up, can you jump in and drive the backhoe or, will you pay the extra fees in having the trades come back another day?

• Do you have the product knowledge that will best serve your needs now and into the future? The difference of $2,000 in the total cost of your windows could save you $20,000 in ten years. What about energy efficiency in design and finishes? Do you have enough time to learn all the best options?

If you are still satisfied and comfortable at this point, then it's time to consider the costs of the land and site preparation. Watch for a post on this next week.

When it’s time to buy or sell real estate in the Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Georgian Triangle area, contact Marg, an experienced and competent Broker who’s ready whenever you are!