TorontoRealtyBlog Do you ever look at current situations, societal issues, actions, or quandaries, and wonder what aliens from another planet would think? Seriously.  It’s an interesting exercise. Of course, I’m taking this from Jerry Seinfeld‘s playbook. He did this joke once where he asked what aliens would think if they saw us walking our dogs.  The dogs lead and we follow behind, with an outstretched arm, attached to the dog wherever it decides to go.  And when the dog stops, arches its back, and empties its bowels onto the ground, we stand there and wait for the canine ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog I have never, not once, dove head-first into a pool. But that tracks, right? Considering I felt the need to specify head-first when I mentioned “diving,” it just goes to show you how unfamiliar I am with this past time. I guess I just never saw the point?  Is there something exhilarating about going in head-first instead of feet-first?  Or does one feel the need to be as aerodynamic as possible when breaking the water’s surface? Then again, my thoughts on the matter are clearly affected by a deep, dark secret that I have been carrying for some time now.&nb ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog Have you heard of Takashi Murakami? I haven’t. And I don’t expect that 99.9% of Torontonians have either. I remember writing about the King Toronto project several years ago and cynically suggesting that 99.9% of Torontonians had never heard of Bjarke Ingels, and that there was no reason why people should be paying $2,000 per square foot for a pre-construction project simply because it has his name on it. But maybe I’m just boring? I wasn’t excited when Nobu came to Toronto. Robert DeNiro was great in Goodfellas, don’t get me wrong.  But I wouldn’t pay more for ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog You know that saying about the slow car-wreck? You just can’t look away. Can you? Then sometimes, you almost anticipate the car-wreck, and morbidly (if this is an analogy…) prepare yourself for the spectacle. That’s how I’ve felt about the 2024 national budget for the last few weeks, and while the budget won’t be released until April 16th, I’m already anxious about it. I want to try not to make this blog post political since it’s supposed to be about the newly-announced Renters Bill of Rights.  But I personally believe that the country is far worse off in ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog Are you reading your very first blog post here on Toronto Realty Blog?  Or are you a ten-year veteran? Those who know me – at least, through TRB, are fully aware of my thoughts on pre-construction condos, the pre-construction condo industry, and the way that pre-construction condos are sold and eventually built. But for those that aren’t aware, let me say this: Through twenty years in this business, I have never sold a pre-construction condo. Not one. No, I’ve never been lured in by the 6% commissions, the opportunity to “win” a Mercedes if I hit a certain sales t ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog Do you recall the blog post that I wrote a couple of weeks ago? The one about the psychology of pricing? I had fun with that one!  Except when it came to choosing the “feature photo,” since there aren’t as many interesting, high-quality photos of minds or people thinking.  I must have gone through one-hundred photos of brains before I found one that wasn’t ridiculous. Then again, you might think today’s photo is an odd choice. But is it? If you want to get metaphorical, don’t listing agents “mask” the real price of a house or condo for sale when ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog What were you doing in February of 2014? No.  Seriously.  I’m asking. A friend of mine told me this week, “You seem really caught up on age lately.” I asked him to define “lately” and he paused, pondered, and said, “I mean, maybe the last couple of years, now that I think about it.” Damn.  It’s true what they say.  Life does change after 40… February of 2014 wasn’t that long ago. Barack Obama was President.  Stephen Harper was Prime Minister. Pharell Williams sang “Happy” and Meghan Trainor taught us “All About That Bass.” The ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog Did you ever watch The Americans? I did.  All of it. It was one of those series that I watched the first few seasons of, then stopped, but then came back to years later.  I finished the last season at some point in 2023 and, while I had many, many questions about the show, the plots, the accuracy, the ending – and just about everything else that a show-watcher will dwell on upon the conclusion of the series, there’s one scene that I acted out in my mind, over and over. (spoiler alert) The family of four is splintered in the end with Philip and Elizabeth going back t ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog Did anybody ever watch the television show, Married…With Children? I did. In fact, I was practically raised on it… The show was about a dysfunctional family from Chicago and much of the humour was expressed through the family members taking shots at each other.  The parents, especially. While many groups in the United States advocated against the show (ie. religious groups, citing the deterioration of the American family unit), this show actually helped me to feel normal about my own dysfunctional family. Not every family was like those on Growing Pains, F ..read more

TorontoRealtyBlog I was having a conversation with a prospective seller on Sunday who was one of those “all real estate agents are the same” types. Sometimes, I feel like I would have to spend six hours with a person to properly, accurately, and fully convey my value to them. Other times, I could do it in six minutes. But then there are times when it’s simply never going to be accepted and absorbed. “You list a property, you set an offer date, and you accept offers.  Badda-boom,” he told me. I think that most would agree it’s not that simple.  But when trying to understand the n ..read more