Can we talk? There is one aspect of this business that sits very uncomfortably with yours truly.  I would really appreciate your comments, thoughts, suggestions and guidance. This weekend I received the following message from one of my agents: “Sorry to bother you on Sun. Larry!

You know,  the  greatest pleasure I derive from writing these tips, such as they are, comes from the ensuing reader comments that float their way back to me. Comments generally make me think, reconsider and even, occasionally, feel validated.  They keep me in line. I have received num

Just the beginning of the New Year and we’re already back into those unwelcome multiple offer calamities — so incredibly stressful on each hopeful Buyer and his/her agent. The winner often second guessing that he paid too much, the losers often regretting they hadn’t

The last tip highlighted a situation where a supplementary tax bill had been issued by the City on a property we had sold that was, in fact, occupied by the previous owner during part of this billed reassessment period. Our Buyer is faced with paying the whole bill. I received many co

“If if ain’t one thing, it’s another!” Okay folks, I had another one thrown at me this week.  Think it worth sharing. We sold another broker’s listing.  It closed just fine.  This happened one full year ago! Apparently the Sellers had made substantial ren

Don’t even get me started on what a colossally bad idea the posting of listings is for everyone concerned. The government of Canada requiring us to allow unrepresented Sellers the opportunity to place their properties on MLS so that fully-represented Buyers can jump at the oppor

Let me tell you a story. It happened to us a while ago but it’s true and lessons taught most certainly still apply. We had a listing. Newish house. Good street. Hot market. We listed it for $1.2M. Multiple offers. One of the offers came in at one million, four hundred thousand d

What is the advantage to a Seller in having a property survey?  After all,Buyers can just get their own title insurance – doesn’t that alleviate the need for the Seller to provide a survey? Yep, title insurance is a good thing to have, but there are some things better disc

Many agents who have come into this business within the last decade have, for the most part, been exposed to a wildly busy Seller’s market. Working with Buyers could almost be called ‘Real Estate in Running Shoes’.  Get ‘em into the house, quick.  Run and get t

Let’s face it.  In most cases, the reason that overpriced listings languish unsold on the market is not because of the Seller’s refusal to consider a price reduction but rather because of the Agent’s reluctance to address the matter with the Seller and make the diffi