Blog

Joanna's House - Episode 5: What you Think You Want and What you Really Want

2009-06-29T21:23:20Z

Six months later and I'll bet you've been sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation to find out what I've been up to, right? Right. Well, at least humour me.

Time flies and shit happens - both the good stuff and the bad and everything else in between. If there is anything that I have learned over the last while, it is that sometimes, no matter how much you try to plan or think ahead, what is right at the time may not be right later on. What you think you want at the time doesn't always end up being what you really wanted all along. We're always making decisions for ourselves based on the situation at hand and the variables always change, so sometimes the question of what is right or wrong is in itself, questionable. Hindsight is always 20/20 of course... and now you're probably confused. What the heck is this girl talking about? Well, I have gone full circle and I suppose an explanation is in order...

The whole premise of Joanna's House was to document my search for a house for myself and my pooch Hero. I looked - I did, but as the snow came down and the grass was getting ready to grow, I also started to realize that I'm not into shoveling the snow nor am I into cutting the grass at this point in my life. My next point of realization, which I'm not sure I should make because it is quite sexist but I'll make anyway, is that there are some things around the house that I, as a girl, just don't want to or am incapable of doing (i.e. lifting heavy items, doing general repairs, etc.). Believe me, I am very self sufficient and I do realize that I can hire people to do all those things, but the thought of having to do that doesn't really sit well with me. I much rather have a man around the house to do those things if you know what I mean.

Fast forward a bit - I saw countless numbers of houses around my price range and nothing, really nothing felt right - well, unless I was willing to double my budget and purchase a totally gutted one! Just to humour you, I will document what I call my catagories of houses in Toronto's Downtown Core:

House Type 1: Wow, Something Like This Actually Exists?

These houses consist of those that have butchered up, mashed up, and divided up to accomodate as many people that can possibly fit given that everyone supposedly needs to shower and go to the washroom at least once a day during regular daylight hours. So if you do the math, that's at least a good hour for each head, which means that the one house can fit 24 people! YAY or not so much? Fine, I'm joking just to prove a point, but good grief, these rooming houses are almost so beyond repair that they aren't even worth considering. I was shocked that people actually live in these and how many at that! Most are in pretty bad shape too, so once I saw the locks on every door and living rooms turned into bedrooms, I was out of there.

House Type 2: Some-tings Wong!

Hey, is the house leaning to the left? It smells kinda damp down here. Wow, that's a huge tree and it looks like it's growing into the foundation like a tree house! I wonder what this is or why this is here? Oh my gosh, the house is sinking!

Get the drift?

House Type 3: This House Could Work if I had Another $100K Under My Mattress

House Type 4: Too Good to Be Trues

Not to dissuade anyone from wanting to buy a house or anything, but after seeing a bunch of houses and discovering/hearing how much work is required to get it to a good shape and to keep it that way, I decided to put my house dreams on hold. The dream is still alive and well though... until the next episode - The Variables Have Changed.

Joanna's House - Episode 4: Back from the Break

2009-01-06T21:29:39Z

Ok, my apologies for not updating, but if you haven't noticed, the market has been frozen solid over the last little while. Seasonal and holiday effect kicked into full gear and real estate was the last thing on many people's minds -- including mine actually, which is a first. Can you believe I totally let go of work and really enjoyed myself for once? Not bad, huh? Well, on the flip side, the bad news is the pending Visa bill... I caused quite a bit of damage which is why it's a better idea for me to work because the alternative is spending!

Anyway, the search continues, but things are dead - really dead. There is a severe shortage of listings on the market right now and all the stuff that is sitting is sitting for a reason. It appears as though sellers are still trying to come to terms with the changing market as they're not priced aggressively enough to generate sales.

Joanna's House - Episode 3: A Dose, and Whif, of Reality

2008-12-09T04:23:26Z

Last weekend, I decided to do a little bit of homework and dragged my friend KC along to look at some places with me. With my Buyer Clients, I typically don't like seeing more than 4 or 5 properties in one session because they start forgetting what they saw or associate features with the wrong houses. Following my own advice, I booked 4 appointments for properties, two in E1 and two in C2, that looked pretty good from the MLS descriptions and pictures... well, that was until we actually set foot in them.

Joanna's House - Episode 2: My Eyes are Bigger than my Wallet

2008-11-27T05:59:07Z

The next biggest thing after defining your BIG WHY is coming up with the what - your criteria. Since I sell real estate for a living, it's probably a lot easier for me to do since I know what's out there, but there are a ton of resources available to help you along the way - including your Realtor! So, in my case, I've broken down the topics into time, money, location and property and I've come up with the following set of criteria and requirements:

Property Virgin's House for Sale!

2008-11-17T23:29:04Z

Well, well, well... what do we have here?

So, my little irate blog last year about a sneaky Property Virgin that appeared on the show has, and continues to cause quite a stir (click on the link to the "Property Virgins: Some People Just Have No Common Decency" blog entry). Long story short, the guy went out to see some homes with the host, Sandra Rinomato, and stumbled upon one that he liked, but instead of working with her, he ended up going around Sandra and bought the house on his own (through another agent so it turns out). Yes, yes, yes - I'll admit that I was quite emotionally enranged when writing that (I could have been on my rag and it was very late in the night!), but I'm still against what he did for the principle of it rather than the semantics.

Anyway, on my daily rounds of searching through homes on the MLS, I noticed that the home that my favourite Property Virgin bought has been relisted for sale (this is the 3rd time). I actually came across the house when it was first listed, but I forgot to blog about it and yeah.

Joanna's House - Episode 1: The BIG WHY

2008-11-17T22:43:24Z

Firstly and most importantly, the number one step is to figure out the BIG WHY you wan't to buy real estate. It can be for various reasons such as wanting to invest for cashflow or it can be just to put a roof over your head. Whatever the reason, you need to be clear as to why you want to buy now and what your intentions are for the short and long term future. After a lot of thought, I've come up with the BIG WHY I want to buy a house:

Joanna's House - My Brilliant Idea

2008-11-09T20:15:43Z

Amid the terror of a supposedly collapsing Toronto Real Estate market, I've finally decided that the time has come for me to seriously consider buying a house. Am I crazy for thinking of buying in this market? Well, as Forrest Gump said, crazy is as crazy does... and real estate is what I do isn't it? hehe...

I know I ramble on a lot about making the right decisions in real estate and that buying (or selling) should make physical and financial sense. I also know that it's hard to fully hear and subsequently listen to my message because it's virtual and it's so vague. Thus, I've decided to try something a little bit different...

Babble from a Member of a Dying Breed

2008-11-09T04:53:28Z

As predicted in my last blog, the crap has hit the fan in the Toronto Real Estate market - sales are down over 35% from the same time last year! Well, take that as a grain of salt folks because last year was a record year and the numbers were artificially inflated by the introduction of the new Toronto land transfer tax. On top of that, the financial market in the US took a nosedive causing a lot of people to lose a lot of money, so what do you expect? Then on top of that, it's the news - I'm telling you! If they keep reporting over and over and over and over again how badly the real estate market is, that will become the reality.

Inspiring and Creating a Reality - Is Hindsight or Media 20/20?

2008-10-06T05:00:00Z

Someone commented on one of the Ask JO blogs that I wrote almost a year ago (wow, time flies!) and it got me reading what I had predicted back then. It was an article about the Toronto Real Estate Bubble Bursting and he pointed out that the contents of the blog are even more relevant now than they were back then since some of the stuff I talked about is starting to come to be.

Now it's time to reflect... I'm actually quite pleased that my predictions back then are still pretty on the ball. Crap continues hitting the fan in the US largely due to the sub-prime market and the super conservative Canadian Government has tightened up it's lending criteria and practices via CMHC. The inventory in Toronto is starting to build up, while the prices are still steady; the good stuff is selling rather quickly, while the sub-par stuff sits and racks up those Days on Market numbers. Oh and a new point, the role media plays in influencing and formulating the mindset, opinions and outlooks in people is absolutely amazing!

She Who Acts First Wins the Place

2008-09-20T03:06:48Z

My Client, E, has been looking for that perfect place for a little while now and since she had the luxury of time, she took her time. E had to move out by the end of November because her landlord had fell ill and she wanted the loft back to either live in or sell. E was in no real rush, but I made sure that she had all her documents ready in case something "perfect" came up... she wanted a loft or a nice condo in the King/Queen West areas. If you know the market, you'll know that's what everyone wants! The properties rarely come out and when they do, they're snapped up in a jiffy, so you really have to act fast.

Last night while I was surfing on MLS, I stumbled upon perfection! A brand new loft listing exactly where she wanted to be and within her price range. I called E, booked the appointment, prepared the paperwork, showed the property, signed the offer, submitted the application and secured the place all in less than 24 hours! *whew* I had to push aside some Friday plans in the process, but that's what it takes... she who acts first does win the place!

E is happy and so am I.