For years now it’s been a seller’s market in Kitchener-Waterloo, especially during 2020, 2021, and the first few months of 2022. When COVID hit, people didn’t know what was going to happen, but with the decrease in interest rates and the sudden need for more space, the market boomed. 2020 and 2021 were intense, with buyers frantically trying to find a home, often offering on multiple homes, over asking, with no conditions and no protection. Lots of first-time buyers were priced out of the market. In April 2022 the market began to cool, the Bank of Canada announced interest rate increases, and ..read more

Condo fees have something of a bad rap. Often misunderstood, I find that a lot of first-time home buyers can be hesitant about buying a condo or townhome because of the condo fees. Yes, these are an additional expense that you will have to pay, but the point that I think is being missed by first-time home buyers is that these condo fees are covering costs that they would need to pay anyways if they owned a freehold home.  I don’t want to say condos are the lifestyle for everyone, because there are definitely people who would be happy shoveling their own driveways and mowing their own gra ..read more

It seems that over the past couple months, more and more duplexes have been coming on the market.  This is likely due to investors selling their duplexes to capitalize on the current market and cash out while the market is high.  Because most of these investors already own and live in a separate home, they won’t need to worry about the buying process, so this makes sense.   This selling trend is putting more inventory on the market, and creating an opportunity for buyers to enter the housing market who have been previously priced out of the market, or constantly outbid.  B ..read more

As a first-time home buyer you might be wondering, how do I decide which Realtor® to work with? Well, there are a number of factors that could speak to you, so I put a few tips together to help guide you through the decision-making process.  First, if you don’t know a trustworthy Realtor®, then there are many ways to search for a Realtor online. Try throwing “Real estate brokerage” and ‘Kitchener”. Skip the ads, and the top of the list will be the brokerages who have really great SEO and have positioned themselves to be a leader in today’s digital world. That’s not necessarily to say the ..read more

Over the past few months, the market has changed. In January conditional offers were rarely seen let alone accepted but now we’re seeing that conditional offers are finally coming back! With this shift adding more money to your offer isn’t necessarily the most effective way to be accepted. To help you craft the best offer possible, here are a few creative options that may end up saving you money:  Deposit – If you’re able to offer more towards your deposit, it shows the sellers that you’re serious and less likely to forfeit a higher deposit and refuse to close when the time comes. Offer ..read more

Hey there, buyer! I wanted to check in, touch base, see how you’re feeling. It’s been a wild few years in the real estate world, especially here in Waterloo Region. The Region of Waterloo encompasses the towns of Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, and the smaller North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich. Due to their proximity, Kitchener and Waterloo are often hyphenated, but the locals just say KW. A benefit of living in this area is having so many charming yet disparate towns so close together. Since the beginning of the pandemic when we had no idea what was going to happen in the real ..read more

In an ever-changing real estate environment, we’re forced to constantly adapt as realtors.  It’s our job to stay current, whether it be with respect to recent sales, new developments, precedent setting legal cases, city legislation, or even simply how the sales process is conducted.  I enjoy being on top of my game, as I believe it’s what sets apart the good realtors from the GREAT ones! That being said, understanding the market ourselves is one thing, but for our clients, or even the general public for that matter, it’s not your full-time job to stay on top of these topics.  T ..read more

Happy new year! If you spent 2021 hunting for the perfect home or just keeping an eye on the market you know just how challenging the past year has been for buyers. It can be easy to assume that not much is going to change and we’re doomed to relive the challenges of the past. Of course, without a crystal ball it’s impossible to say what’s going to happen, though the optimist in me believes things will improve. In the meantime, as we make up our 2022 resolutions there are lots of things we can do to help prepare for a successful year in the real estate market! First and foremost, remember tha ..read more

When I first heard of staging a house, I thought it was just to make vacant houses look lived in. Coming into the real-estate industry, the more I learn about staging, the more I see how much it impacts the desirability of a home – and therefore its saleability. Here, I’ll delve into the fundamentals of staging to sell.  Staging isn’t only about making the house look nice. Yes, it is about that, of course, but it’s also about furniture placement and creating a flow through a living space. It’s the ideal way to see how a space can be utilized and judge the size based on seeing furniture i ..read more

So, you’ve started your search for your next home. Whether this is your first purchase or your “forever home,” there are so many aspects to consider when vetting any property. Odds are that at this point you will have done some mental math to estimate what you can afford before heading out on the hunt for the perfect house. Bonus points if you’ve already talked to a mortgage broker to find out what you qualify for! Something that I often see forgotten, however,  is the need for insurance, and the various factors that will affect how much you are going to be paying in premiums. In this ar ..read more