Ross' Real Estate Rebuttal
Every single day of the year Canadians are fed and read myths and misrepresentations about real estate. The conversation is dominated by voices who are either misinformed about everything real estate or by stakeholders whose primary interest is getting paid when you buy or sell a home. The voices range from governments, regulators, economists, academics, banks and real estate franchising companies all equally inept in answering your questions. While we can't provide a rebuttal to this massive level of incompetence we can take the time to provide an alternative opinion to some information that we feel deserves addressing.
Finally what's different about Ross' rebuttals is that he asks that you don't believe him either. Ross asks you to follow up and fact check every single fact he suggests in these rebuttals. As Ross is often heard saying: " Don't believe a single word I say, call up your lawyer, accountant, advisor or read the facts yourself, before you follow my advice. My firm loves oversight and the truth!"
Finally what's different about Ross' rebuttals is that he asks that you don't believe him either. Ross asks you to follow up and fact check every single fact he suggests in these rebuttals. As Ross is often heard saying: " Don't believe a single word I say, call up your lawyer, accountant, advisor or read the facts yourself, before you follow my advice. My firm loves oversight and the truth!"
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Why This Rebuttal
Too many myths and misrepresentations coming from a regulator. |
Ross' Rebuttal:
“ Ross, the provincial regulator of real estate in Ontario in a recent Ask Joe column published in the Toronto Star said that home buyers looking at homes in the winter were serious and then he implied it was OK to sell our home in December or January as long as we agreed to pay a real estate sales representative to help us. We need to move out West quickly and we want to be sure we are making the best decision for our family. Do you agree with the article?”
First, I am glad you sought out an independent expert who has no bias in the information they give you at this most challenging time in your family's life.
Home Owners should understand real estate sales people and brokers get no formal education or training when earning a real estate license about how markets function or how to sell properties across the wide range of market conditions that exist at any one time. As a matter of fact the majority of licensed sales representatives have sold so few homes over their careers and been licensed for such a short period of time they lack even the experience to help you out in this situation. The truth is your chances of contacting a real estate sales person in Ontario who would be even slightly qualified to answer this question is around
One in Forty Thousand meaning you have about a 0.0025% chance of obtaining the correct advice. Who would encourage any consumer accepting those odds?
Christmas and New Years and the 8 weeks that surround them are very challenging and difficult times to sell any home let alone the few homes that should actually be sold at that time of the year. The truth is Seven out of Eight categories of home buyers who are searching for a home in any given month are at their lowest levels around the holiday season, meaning if your home is not of the one category remaining where interest is higher, selling will come at a great financial loss generally better forfeited through choosing another selling time. There is a reason why so called "real estate insider" advice to buyers is buying a home over the Holidays gets you the lowest price possible!
Generally most home owners should plan for a minimum 3 month lead time in order to list their home for sale and if the best price is the goal that window only opens for around 4 months at most each year, across each category of home during the year. There are many ways you can navigate the situation you find yourself in today but rushing to sell and taking the advice of someone lacking both the training and experience to help makes no sense and should never be recommended by any government body.
You already took the correct first step and called a real estate professional trained in all aspects of the home trading process and the home trading market, to get your advice from. The very first thing you should be informed about is whether prices for homes like yours are now rising or falling and what forecast lies ahead for it. If your home is expected to appreciate 10% in the next 4 months or depreciate by that amount makes all the difference in the world on what decision you may choose to make. At least obtaining this type of information makes the most sense.
The second step is formulating a plan of sale including timelines and expected outcomes by looking at what are the most important things your family is worried about. Some families will accept losing 10% of their homes value if it means moving quickly while most families cannot afford to make that decision almost always choosing to instead to accept some short term family discord in hopes of protecting their family's homeownership wealth when informed of the options.
The answer for most families will be not to sell in December or January and anyone leading you down that old path, followed for decades, that has caused great financial damage to families, should not be listened to. As a matter of fact we don't even suggest you accept our advice on the topic and instead we insist you consult a wide range of professionals (we give you a list) to see if our recommendations are in your best interests. The truth is that the facts clearly suggest the only people we council you against contacting is a real estate sales representative or broker for just some of the reasons stated above (there are many many more).
Yes, at some time we would be advising you to contact a real estate sales rep to handle a very very limited set of details required to sell your home but that happens at the end of a process after you have the time to make an informed and educated decision knowing all the facts.
So the simple answer is that for 90% or more of the families who own their home, you should not sell in December or January.
Regards
Ross
