When we put our homes on the market, we all want two things: for the home to sell fastand for the most money possible. We start the selling process with such hope however when a home doesn’t sell or develops a stigma, sellers are often confused and unable to figure out what to do next. What creates a stigma? What makes a property sit and sit on the market, generating few if any visits and absolutely no offers? Well, I feel its all about denial. Denial about price.Denial about the appearance of the home. And let’s face it, denial can cost a seller a sale. When Selling You Want to Avoid Stigmas So how do you avoid having a listing gather dust on the market? Well, initially it comes down to being realistic about what needs to be done before the property goes on the market. It’s not about ... 02/15/2011

A few weeks ago, one of our realtor partners contacted us to do a consultation for one of his listings which was located in a very family friendly neighbourhood. My partner Alana did the consultation and as it turned out, the home had served as a university residence for up to 20 university students in graduate programs over the course of the past five years. Painted purple, black and other vibrant colours, the home owners knew that when it came time to sell they were going to have to do some serious neutralizing.  When Alana got to the home, she was taken through the home by the seller who had already painted all the crazy colours out and had just put in new laminate flooring on the main floor. There were some lighting issues that Alana noted right off the bat (dining room had a dated ... 02/09/2011

I was driving in a newer subdivison in Kitchener this evening and I couldn't believe the height of the snowbanks. The main reason for the high snowbanks is that there is minimal clearance between the houses. The banks were 5ft in some areas!! Sorry about the quality. Picture was taken with my Torch under lowlight conditions. 02/07/2011

Okay, so this blog article was inspired by a meeting my partner Alana Merritt and I had with a realtor the other day and its not a new topic - but it IS an important one! We met with this realtor and being savvy business women, we checked out his online presence, read his blog and noted what he looked like so that we could recognize him when we met him. In his picture, he looked about mid-thirties, had a great smile and a full head of dark brown hair.  Flash forward to the small coffee shop, Alana and I had arrived about 10 minutes early so we could get a coffee and eat a sandwich before the meeting. We sat and waited only to be approached by a man in his 50's with thinning grey hair and glasses. As it turned out, this was the realtor we were supposed to meet! We were taken aback as thi... 02/03/2011

So I don't often brag in my blog, but I've been told I need to learn to toot my own horn a bit louder sometimes.  I've just returned from 5 days in Las Vegas, where I attended the two day RESA Convention, plus the additional one-day Certified Staging Professionals Convention.  Both were incredible learning experiences, and I've returned to chilly Ontario re-charged and motivated by the professional speakers and networking opportunities with so many successful stagers from Canada, the US and farther abroad. A highlight for me personally came when I was awarded the 2011 RESA Canadian Rookie Stager of the Year, at the gala awards night on Monday evening.  "Rookie" status means in business less than 24 months, and I'm currently at about 22.  It was truly exciting, and I thank Shell Brodnax,... 01/27/2011

by Warren McNeil, Check out this video I did about some new tools that Re/Max is providing us to better market our listings. The tools are text messaging and QR codes. The text messaging will allow a prospective buyer to drive up to one of our listings and text to request more information about a listing. The details will imediately be sent to the phone of the prospective buyer. The other tool is the use of a QR code. What is QR Code? QR stands for quick response and is a square barcode that makes getting URLs, SMS (text), contact information or location coordinates onto a phone-fast. With a barcode scanner app installed, point your phone's camera at the code to read its contents. Here is my QR code, try it out! I have a Blackberry so the app that I use to read QR codes is called "QR Co... 01/27/2011

I write this blog post on Blue Monday. Blue Monday is supposedly the most depressing day of the year because of holiday debt. See this Wikipedia article about Blue Monday. The Federal goverment announced today that it was going to introduce some new rules to help reduces Canadians household debt. Here are the mortgage rules that Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled: Maximum mortgage amoritization will be reduced from 35 years to 30 years The maximum amount that a borrower can refinance their mortgages will be lowered from 90% to 85% The goverment will stop insurance backing lines of credit such as home equity lines of credit Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday his government was “concerned about growth in the level of household debt." I don't think this will effect home buyers that muc... 01/17/2011

Well, Debra Gould inspired me to write this short blog article on the top ten moments which came from my job as a home stager. You can link to her blog post and read her top 10 list which is really entertaining and inspiring as well! I should also mention that both Alana and myself get VERY involved and passionate about each job we do. At some point in every job we are grinning at each other like crazy people, loving that we are getting paid to make these transformations. So here we go in no specific order: Getting a call from a Toronto production company who is interested in having us set the stage for their next commercial on the same day we get called by a major developer who wants us to stage all of his model homes Finishing up the first model home project we ever did and walking a... 01/08/2011

I just want to take this time to wish all of my Activerain friends a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and hope you have a really happy and healthy holiday season. I look forward to connecting with many more of you in 2011. 2011 is going to be the best year ever!!!     12/23/2010

by Warren McNeil, I did a video tutorial for the all new realtor.ca iPhone app. This is a full featured app that is based on geolocation. GPS enabled so you can find new listings near you, open houses, property search by area and realtor search. I really like this app and I think potential buyers will find it really convenient and easy to use. If you have an iPhone and are looking for a house, I recommend downloading the iPhone realtor.ca app! 12/20/2010

By Warren McNeil, Over the past couple of weeks we have met with a few people thinking about selling their house. One of the questions that they ask us is about selling the house in December. "Is Selling Your House in December a Good or Bad Idea?". The answer to this question depends on how busy you think your holiday season will be. If you think it will be too difficult for you to work around the showings, than I think that it might be better to list after the holidays. However if you want or need to sell and are able to work around showings and offers then selling in December could work well for you. The nice thing about listing your house in December is there is less competition and the buyers who are looking are usually pretty serious. At least the buyers we work with. I am sure the... 12/16/2010

by Warren McNeil, Today I was out showing condos to a client from out of town. They were looking for something between 130,000-140,000, with an elevator and they also wanted a low condo fee. It was a bit of a challenge finding some decent options under 150,000 but we did come up with a few. I also made the suggestion to consider ground floor units since they didn't want anything with stairs. This would give them more options. In addition to the options I mentioned in my video, there are also some new construction condos available in Kitchener Waterloo that might work as well. http://www.KitchenerLofts.com 12/15/2010

By Warren McNeil, I read a really interesting article about a Guelph based developer that bought a city block down between King, Madison, Charles and Cameron. The plan is to develop mixed use residential. They are paying 3.6 million for the land. There will likely be two high rise apartment buildings and some townhouses as well. There is no timeline when the construction will begin. One part of the article I found interesting was the value of the land and how much it has increased in the past 5 years. "Five years ago that land would probably have fetched $500,000 an acre. Fusion Homes paid about $1.5 million an acre." In the past 10 years downtown Kitchener has seen many new developments. - Kaufman Lofts, LeMarch Condos, Mansion Lofts and the Eatons Lofts. There are also ongoing develop... 12/12/2010

Home staging is a proven method of preparing a home for sale. Professional home stagers showcase a home’s architectural features and focal areas while at the same time, downplaying a home’s weaknesses. Home staging is all about adding ‘WOW’ to a property so that the house stands out and is memorable for buyers in a great way. Sunroom "After" Rooms in Bloom staged it. I’ve written and featured guest articles on how to choose a good home stager however its important to understand that when selecting the professional who will stage your home, that you do your homework. Some stagers will emphasize their prices and say they are the‘best deal in town.’ Great. Price matters, most definitely, but does that professional have the experience and talent needed to showcase your home? Or do they rel... 12/11/2010

By Warren McNeil, I recently did a video about why buying a power of sale in Kitchener Waterloo could be a good deal. A power of sale is when an owner defaults on their mortgage and the bank  takes posession of the property to recover money loaned to the owner . They usually try to sell the property for fair market value. Once sold, they will pay off the loan, any legal costs and if there is anything left over they will give the remainder to the owner. Many buyers confuse power of sale with foreclosures. A foreclosure is a when a bank or lender will obtain title, sell the property and try and recover the debt. They are not obligated to give any remainder to the owner. In Ontario, banks sell properties where the owner defaulted on the mortgage for fair market value.  They are obligated t... 12/06/2010

By Warren McNeil, In the next few of years there will be several new construction condo projects available in Kitchener Waterloo. Some of these developments are already pre-selling these condos.These developments are scheduled to be completed in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Some of the larger projects are 3 or more years away. If you need to buy something in the next 6-12 months then these new construction condos might not be a good option for you. If you are looking for an alternative to all of the new construction developments in the Kitchener Waterloo or Cambridge area then you should look to the resale market. The resale condo market in Kitchener Waterloo has been really strong over the last couple of years and there are lots of options for people looking for this type of housing. If you ar... 11/30/2010

December is mere days away and radio stations are broadcasting – much to my chagrin –Christmas music 24 hours a day. While this is a time of parties, entertaining friends & family and gift buying – it’s also the time when the real estate market cools off. Not manybuyers go hunting for homes in December however its important for sellers to realize that if they are selling their home during this month, the property still has to be show-ready. If you’re like me, with 20 boxes of Christmas decorations (my husband swears the decorations multiply over the summer while they are in storage), then you need to re-think your holiday decorating strategy while your home is on the market. If you are selling over the holidays then its important to keep decorating simple with key accessories designed ... 11/29/2010

By Warren McNeil, I recently answered a question from our website about the total number of dogs you are allowed to have at a condominium or loft. It is important to review the rules and regulations of the condominium corporation and have your lawyer review the offer if you don't understand something. It is also important to ask these questions when you first put in the offer. The condominium rules must be followed and therefore, you will need to be aware of this if you are planning on buying a condominium and you want to have pets. Being a pet lover myself, this is a very important thing to know. There are lots of condominiums in the Kitchener Waterloo area that will allow pets. If you would like more information, please let me know. Here is the video. 11/29/2010

The way in which home owners sell their homes has changed and evolved over the last twenty-five years. Due to increasingly busy lifestyles, dual income families and a tremendous rise in TV shows about all aspects of design, a new breed of home buyer has emerged. These buyers are smart, savvy and they are willing to invest more money in a home which they can just move into without making any significant changes to the property. Less and less of the ‘fixer-uppers’ are being bought by these buyers, primarily due to the fact that they simply don’t have the time – or the resources – to renovate their new homes. Homes which need work are being bought by property flippers who, recognizing the potential value of these houses and having the connections, resources and time to get the repairs and... 11/24/2010

By Warren McNeil, Everybody has experienced buyers remorse at sometime or another but when you are buying a house it is a much bigger deal. You want to make sure that you are making the right decision. It is easy to feel regret when buy something. Especially when you feel that you might overpay for something or buy a lemon. When I have a buyer who has remorse after putting in an offer, my goal is to deal with the issue right away. I think reviewing the recent comparables is a really good start. Home inspections are also really good to help buyers learn about the condition of the house. Once you have all of the information, it is easier to overcome buyers remorse. Please take a look at the following video blog I did about how to deal with buyers remorse. 11/22/2010