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What is the Future of Real Estate Lead Generation? Continuing 2025 Trends in Canada

Published June 17, 2025 by Real Estate Leads

The need to always be finding ways to gain advantages over competitors is a constant one for real estate agents. Especially as it relates to lead generation and being able to find new clientele with a good measure of consistency at all times. The matching reality is that it’s always a challenge to do that, and that’s because there is never enough potential clients to go around. A great many realtors will be aiming to work with a much smaller pool of people who are ready to either sell a home, or buy one. So the question then becomes what are you doing to increase the likelihood that it is you who is speaking to them first? The answer to it is always going to be at the heart of real estate lead generation for 2025 and beyond.

It’s fair to say that most of the guidelines for good lead generation don’t change over time, and if you’re a agent who’s doing well with getting new clients in real estate then it is probably because you’ve followed the same path as other realtors who’ve had success with their methods. The proven-effective approaches tend to be the ones that get talked about, and of course we’ve talked about them at length over the years here with our blog. We specialize in paid real estate leads for Canada, and many realtors who have had some success with the standard approaches to lead generation have added to the profitability of their PREC with paid leads. Zillow alternatives for lead generation abound here too, and an online lead generator for realtors is one of them.

Agents who want to have greater levels of business on their plates are always encouraged to go through the basic channels, and possibly consider paid real estate leads too. But what we’ll look at with this blog entry are the related trends with this that are continuing to be forefront ones here in 2025 and may well pick up steam as we move into the second half of the year. One fourth of the way through the 21st century soon and one thing’s for certain – people will continue to buy and sell homes and real estate will still be a big part of Canada’s GDP. This is what brings people into this career, and we’re always pleased to help agents have greater success with theirs.

So let’s get right into it, and hopefully there is something to be learned for each of the agents who are here to look into Real Estate Leads and have had that lead them to our blog here.

New Work & Life Realities

Many of the current real estate trends shaping the 2025 market are ones that didn’t have the same level of relevance – if any at all – in years far previous to this one. Buyers, sellers, investors, and industry professionals are all watching the landscape closely to see how fluctuations and technologies influence the space. Increased rental demand is one of them and the according interest in certain properties for investment buyers is a smart place to focus now for real estate lead generation 2025. This especially applies to commercial real estate, although most of the agents who are a part of our network will be working in residential real estate.

The use of certain working spaces and those spaces having some correlation to housing prerogative for people leads us to the first trend we’re going to look at today.

Continued Remote Work Influencing Working Spaces

The trend for remote working got its start during the COVID pandemic and while that time is very much in the rearview mirror now, the opportunity to be working remotely continues to be a possibility for a lot of people working in certain professions where the entirety of their work is done online . Working from home is no longer a temporary adjustment, and instead it has become a standard way of life for many.

This real estate trend continues to factor into residential and commercial real estate markets significantly. There is the way that buyers are prioritizing homes with dedicated office spaces, and other buyers will putting an emphasis on high-speed Internet access and adaptable layouts that accommodate hybrid work setups. This trend affects not only residential spaces but also commercial real estate, with a growing demand for shared co-working spaces in urban and suburban areas.

Technological Integration

You’d have to be living under a rock to not know how Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing everything in almost all sectors and industries nowadays. Real estate is one of them too and several technological integrations have changed how properties are bought, sold and managed. Consider these examples

Smart homes – Consumers are now preferring homes have some form of equipped smart technology. This could be automated lighting, security systems, or energy-efficient appliances.
Virtual tours and AI tools – Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and AI-driven property analytics are having the positive effect of making buying property more convenient and accessible.
Data-driven marketing – Real estate professionals are using big data to identify trends, target specific buyers, and make their marketing campaigns vastly more optimized.

All of these are very prominent for real estate lead generation 2025 and will nearly certainly continuing to be in the coming years and decades.

Urban Revitalization

Certain dynamics of the outflow of people from urban centers is changing the standard buyer prerogatives seen with people who either staying in the city, or the newcomers to it. What we are seeing with urban centres in Canada is more mixed-use development and more of a focus on creating areas that combine residential, retail, and office use. This has nothing to do with Zillow alternatives for lead generation, but it is very likely altering the way realtors will market themselves to clients as they nurture leads and eventually convert those people into clients.

Another part of this trend that goes along with the idea here is the way cities are also investing in creating greener and more walkable spaces with increased public transit. This is part of an overall civic-government aim to improve quality of life and create a balance to attract new residents. We’re taking note of the efforts being made to address housing shortages in urban centres by creating more affordable housing opportunities too.

Interest Rate Fluctuations

Significant fluctuations in the federal interest rate as set by the Bank of Canada has been seen as a trend in the last few years too, although here in 2025 it’s gone down for the first time in many years. Even small changes can impact buyer affordability and market activity, and when the rate moves there are always buyers who either now become qualified or are no longer likely to get approved for the mortgage they’d need to buy the home they want. This fully factors into real estate lead generation for 2025 because with the currently lower-than-average interest rate there are greater numbers of people who can legitimately bid on properties and buy their first home.

But if rates rise again then this change will favour renters and investors, especially in multi-family properties. We can envision how regular buyers might have to adjust to new financial dynamics and put more of a priority on smaller, more affordable homes if they are one of the part of the buyer demographic that feels the need to purchase a single-family detached home. On the flip side, sellers will need to adapt to pricing strategies to better align with shifted buyer capacities.

Increased Rental Demand

One of the major factor that continues to characterize the 2025 real estate market is the surge in rental demand across the country, but most prominently in major metro urban cities. Increases in median home prices in these areas (excluding condos as multi-family housing) and increased job mobility are the factors driving this trend. Then there is the way the younger population also prefers to have flexibility rather than long-term ownership where they might end up being ‘house poor’ as the expression goes. Developers are taking advantage of this increasing real estate trend by responding with innovative rental communities specifically targeted at this lifestyle. They offer fully furnished units, flexible lease terms, and amenities such as fitness areas, dog parks, and communal entertainment spaces.

Community Engagement Focus

Realtors that are active participants in the community will always do better with real estate lead generation 2025 and this is because that interactions with potential clients serves to slowly build them into being a trusted local expert. The people these agents speak with at these community events will believe they are invested in the well-being of local residents. Partnering with local influencers or organizations is another effective way to boost visibility and promote long-term relationships with people who may eventually decide to put their home on the market or possibly buy a home for themselves.

Vancouver Real Estate Developers Create New Home Inventory Drop Over 90%

Published September 3, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

If you’re a resident of Vancouver, you’d have to have been completely out of touch with the local media in order to not know that the housing crunch is a major issue in the city and has been for some time. No one is debating that Vancouver needs affordable housing, and part of achieving a greater supply of affordable housing is increasing the housing inventory overall.

Now the common logic belief would be that increasing the number of new housing starts in the city would be an integral part of these affordable housing efforts, but instead the reality seems to be that many of the NDP government’s efforts to ‘cool’ the housing market have done the same for developers and builders and and cooled off their enthusiasm for new projects at the same time.

Needless to say, big picture trends like this do a lot to influence the the industry environment for real estate agents in Vancouver, and it’s something that real estate and housing industry across all the country are likely keeping tabs on too. There’s the potential for downturns, and as a realtor that means you need to work harder to get your share of clientele. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is an excellent way for realtors to get more out of their client prospecting efforts.

But back to topic here, it’s interesting news to read that Greater Vancouver real estate developers are launching less units – a lot less, to the tune of 90% less than were started for this time last year.

New Low for Pre-Sale Units and Launches

MLA Canada numbers for last month (July ’19) saw the fewest new pre-sale units launched in years. Developers have been choosing to delay new releases as a result of pre-sales not being absorbed as speedily or thoroughly as before. It’s true that these fewer launches did help to firm up the absorption ratio, but sales still came in very low.

Greater Vancouver pre-sale launches for that same time period were also extremely low. The number given for the number of new pre-sale units hitting the market in July was just 157, and that’s down 91.82% from last year. Industry experts didn’t expect a number so low, and it actually comes in in 43.07% lower than forecasted.

The MLA is also stating its belief that poor absorption is resulting in delayed or cancelled projects. Lower priced projects may also be stalled so that the developers can cash in on the Federal Liberal Government’s first-time buyer incentive (which many economists say will do nothing to make Vancouver or Toronto affordable for the people the program is supposedly going to benefit – but that’s a whole different topic)

Greater Vancouver New Pre-Sale Real Estate Listings

If we go back two years this month, to September of 2017, the number of newly available pre-sale units of new homes across Greater Vancouver was in the vicinity of 900 homes. Skip forward a year to September 2018 and it has actually dipped to 700 or so. However, the very next month – October of 2018 – saw this number jump exponentially to to some 2,4000 new home pre-sales being available.

The number came down again slightly, but stayed in excess of 1,000 for the next four months. It was only in February 2019 that things started to fall again, and it’s been a downward slide since then, confirming housing industry and economy experts to suggest that the foreign buyer’s tax and vacancy taxes, among other ‘cooling’ measures introduced by the government are actually serving to counteract the benefits they’ve created for homebuyers by making more difficult for many of them to find suitable homes for sale.

Developers Only Sold Slightly More than Half Of Pre-Sales

Also seen last month was a sharp drop off in volume for sales of newly launched pre-sales. Only a little more than half – 58 – of all the pre-sale units launched in July were sold. That’s a BIG decline of 95.34% from last year. In fact, it was the fewest pre-sale launch sales for any month over the course of the last two years at least.

Greater Vancouver Pre-Sale Absorption Highest In Months

Much fewer launches did promote a better sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR). The SNLR came in at 37% for July, down 43.07% from last year. However, that’s a high mark for the ration going back to December 2018. An SNLR above 60% is what’s known as a ‘seller’s market’, where prices usually go up. Between 40% and 60% means the market is balanced, and homes are generally priced ‘as they should be’. Below 40% and it becomes a buyer’s market, where prices typically go down.

Jan 2018 – 92
May 2018 – 70
Sept 2018 – 38
Jan 2019 – 18
Mar 2019 – 28
July 2019 – 27

Greater Vancouver’s absorption has picked up, but the ratio still isn’t at a balanced level as of yet. The industry is decreasing the number of new project starts due to weak absorption, and the number buyers for new launches appears to be dropping as well.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered exclusively to you and for your own one privately-served region of any city or town in Canada. It’s your region, and they’re your leads, every month and it’s a great way to get a leg up on your local competition when it comes to digging up prospective clients who are genuinely interested in buying or selling a home in the near future.

Understanding ‘Subject To’ Clauses for Real Estate Transactions

Published August 27, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

As is the case with any profession, there’s a whole lot of terminology that newcomers need to get up to speed with understanding, and do so as soon as possible. The bulk of them will be answered thoroughly during your real estate licensee training before you get your license, and as we’ve said so many times knowledge is persuasion power when it comes to both doing your job well AND attracting new clients who will be more likely to see you as reputable IF you obviously know your stuff.

Here at Real Estate Leads, our Canada online real estate lead generation system is an excellent way to put you in those situations – more specifically, where you have the opportunity to convey your real estate expertise to prospective clients. If you’re new to the business, it’s an excellent investment into putting the power of the Internet to work for you and giving you a leg up on meeting people who are genuinely interested in buying or selling a home.

But back to topic, a Subject To is one of the most common qualifying conditions that will be attached to the sale of a home, and as the listing realtor they’re definitely a ‘big deal’ as more often than not failing to meet the Subject To conditions means the offer will quickly be dead in the water. So it goes without saying that having an airtight understanding of them is really going to benefit you.

**Subject To ____, Not Subject 2**

That heading is chosen there because it’s not that this is the 2^nd of a list of subjects. Rather, it’s the sale is subject to (condition being met as stipulated by potential buyer submitting offer). That’s the first important distinction you should be making here.

In terms of property sales, a common clause that is included in many agreements is that the sale of the property is subject to the sale of another property. This is what’s referred to as a suspensive condition, and that means that if the sale of a property is subject to the sale of another one, then if that event does not take place the transaction lapses and the buyer would not have to initiate any further cancellation of transaction proceedings, either through their realtor, the brokerage, or a financial institution.

Most often, this simply means that the purchaser needs to sell his property in order to raise funds to pay the seller. Do note that many realtors will insist that any ‘subject to the sale of another property’ clause in any agreement should include a condition to protect the seller, if that’s who they’re representing.

When accepting a ‘subject t’ offer which includes only a simple term like stating the offer is subject to the sale of the purchaser’s property within, say, 60 days then that will mean that the home’s seller is bound to this one purchaser for 60 days and that they cannot sell to another buyer within that time frame. If the home does not sell to that buyer within the allotted period, the seller’s home then goes back on the market.

Time Limitations are Important

As a means of protecting the buyer and the seller, a good realtor will ensure that the terms and conditions state that the ‘subject to the sale of another property’ clause is limited to a certain period of time. The home seller should be advised to keep on marketing his property within this period. It’s also common if another offer is received within the period to then give the existing buyer an option to eliminate the subject to condition.

It’s also standard for sellers to have the right to accept an offer with better terms and conditions.

Subject To Advantages

Subject To conditions benefit sellers when they are still allowed to market the property and if they are able to maintain control over the offers that can be accepted.

Obviously, there’s much more to gain for potential home buyers. This is especially true when the purchaser is not in a position to pay for the home without receiving funds from the sale of his current home, as mentioned. It’s common knowledge that the purchaser should never eliminate this clause unless he has other means to pay for a property.

In addition, there is always the possibility of another buyer who has sufficient funds available immediately coming along and offering to buy the property. There are 2 rules that come into play with subject to clauses, and they are as follows:

Rule 1:

The purchaser has a fixed time frame where they need to have the property sold by a certain date. They then put the property on the market at a realistic market value in order to sell within the given period. The estate agent selling such a property should give the purchaser ample information to establish a realistic market value.

Rule 2:

This one applies when the buyer is not able to compete with a cash offer. In this instance, the buyer should then accept that they have not sold their home and the intention of the seller is to get the money from the sale of his home as soon as possible..

More often than not, would-be buyers have no other choice but to purchase with a “subject to” condition, so be prepared to work with them – a lot. Understand as well that subject to offers normally come in higher than cash offers, and that puts some pressure on the home owners for obvious reasons. Do they take the sure thing (cash offer) or do they roll the dice and hope the subject to offer works out?

Sign up with Real Estate leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are not delivered directly to you, but delivered only to you. That’s right, you get them and no other realtor does. That’s because you also have the ability to claim your own exclusive region of any city or town in Canada. Your region, your leads for that region, and your success in that region.

Follow the lead of other satisfied realtors and get in on this big-time marketing advantage today!

Smart Civic Planning Strategy Working Contributing Nicely to Vancouver Housing Market

Published June 11, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

Over the course of their careers most realtors inherently develop at least a basic understanding of civic planning, and it’s helpful to understand how smart civic planning makes for better housing developments. That is of course beneficial for everyone, and realtors included in as far as the volume of their business is concerned. Nowhere in Canada is smart civic development and housing needed more than in the hotbeds of Vancouver and Toronto.

Not only is it important to try to counter urban sprawl as much as possible, but it’s important that people be able to live in suitable homes and immediate communities and not have overly long commutes to get to work. Again, realtors will be acutely aware of this, and those working in either of Canada’s two biggest metro areas will have heard these concerns from clients. Fortunately, it seems as if there are positive developments being seen.

Generating client leads and turning them into clients will require many things of you, and not the least of which is being attuned to what locations and opportunities there are in your city. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is an excellent way to harness the power of the Internet and be put directly in touch with these types of individuals.

But back to the immediate topic, and specifically how Vancouver is seeing the fruits of its planning strategy across the last decade.

Seeds of Change

Metro Vancouver’s vision for this started 8 years ago, and their planning strategy is seeing specific areas of the suburban Vancouver area growing into standalone cities within the city.

It’s easy to see the many new and towering urban enclaves that are taking root throughout the city. Neighbourhoods like Vancouver’s Oakridge, Burnaby’s Brentwood, Lougheed and Metrotown town, plus nearly a dozen other once-suburban areas around the region are becoming developed into smart urban centres.

It’s quite impressive how former regional shopping centres and transit-oriented sites are being redeveloped into mixed-use communities that have the ability to house thousands of residents while also providing clusters of amenities like shopping, entertainment and hospitality, and news office spaces too.

The city’s regional growth strategy had Metro Vancouver – representing the region’s federation of 21 municipalities – laying out future plans for development. City planners and stakeholders chose to focus on urban centre locations and areas connected to major transit stations via Translink’s SkyTrain and Canada Line networks.

Direction was provided to the municipalities, but also to developers and investors so that high-density growth could occur in what is well known to be a very land-constrained market. Once the municipalities adjusted their own zonings and plans for the hubs, it made it possible for investors and builders to buy up land and under-developed assets in regional town centres at Surrey Central, Burnaby’s Brentwood town centre, Richmond Centre, Vancouver’s Marine Gateway and Oakridge neighbourhoods.

Dramatic changes in those neighbourhoods are in progress. A large number of towers – some 60 storeys or higher – are either being built or planned for formerly-low density residential areas. The Brentwood area in Burnaby and the corner of Willingdon and Lougheed Highway is likely the best example.

Brentwood and Oakridge’s Major Transformations

Nowhere has the change been more dramatic that with Burnaby’s Brentwood neighbourhood. Nearly 30 residential and commercial towers are either underway or in their planning stages at four major development complexes. This is going to work out to more than 13,000 homes and 3.86 million square feet of retail and office space being built over the next decade.

The rebirth at Oakridge in Vancouver will also be remarkable. It will have 16 or more new towers itself, comprising one million square feet of retail space, 450K square feet of office space and more than 5,000 new homes.

One of the key strategies of the RGS that’s really been wholly integrated with both was to build towers that replace large tracts of existing surface parking wrapped around suburban shopping centres.

Developing Urban Enclaves

Many cities in North America are developing urban enclaves, but Vancouver is doing it in a big way, and especially so for a relatively small city. What’s unique about Vancouver is it is an overly land-constrained market and the scale of these developments is occurring in what is really a very small geographic area.

All this is going to be important, as Vancouver projects to have a million additional residents over the next 20 years. It needs to become more liveable, and of course with more housing stock comes a greater opportunity for ALL people in any facet of the housing industry. Realtors included.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you – and only you – for any region of any city or town in Canada. That region is also yours to serve exclusively, and nearly all of the realtors who’ve gotten on board with us already are more than thrilled with what it’s done for their business with the greater number of prospective clients they’re put in touch with.

Defining ‘Exurbs’, and Why They’re Increasingly Popular for Real Estate

Published June 3, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

One of the things that most people who have an understanding of economics and the big-picture relation to the real estate market and industry will know is that never before in the history of the Western World have we seen such a multitude of external forces changing the realities of buying real estate. There are a whole host of reasons why many employed, middle-class families are being priced out of markets in places like Vancouver and Montreal.

That dynamic is also being seen to a lesser extent in many other areas of the country, and in the United States as well. Indeed, a ‘city’ realtor needs to be more familiar with the areas outside of that city’s metro area than ever before. Many of his would-be clients may be eyeing a move there, and here at Real Estate Leads our online real estate lead generation service for Canada is an excellent way to give yourself an advantage with prospecting new clients in what is an ever-more competitive arena for real estate agent.

What’s an Exurb?

Which leads us to our buzzword for today – ‘Exurbs.’ We’ll assume all of you are familiar with the term suburb, and if so you’re perfectly set up to come to understand what an exurb is. An Exurb is (quoting directly from Merriam-Webster for anyone questioning authenticity) ‘a region or settlement that lies outside a city and usually beyond its suburbs.’

Right, that much of it isn’t difficult to come to understand, but what’s the relevance of that to as far as being an increasingly popular choice for real estate? Well, for that we need to evaluate the second part of the definition – ‘an area that is often inhabited primarily by well-to-do families.’

Now when you really weight the entirety of that it makes sense. With urban densification becoming more and more pronounced around the world, it’s becoming more and more challenging for even the most financially well-equipped to live the detached home and 2-car garage / picket fence ideal. So these significantly more deep-pocket would-be buyers are looking EVEN FURTHER outside of town.

It may be a bit of a commuter nightmare for some, but these homeowners aren’t going to be overly concerned with the price of motor fuel. (Nearly $1.60 or higher per litre here in Vancouver these days)

The Trend

These ‘Exurb’ secondary municipalities, some being located as far as double digit or even hundreds of kilometres from the large urban markets, have slowly become more viable purchase destinations amid high housing costs. Some may be choosing community and lifestyle over ‘urban excitement’ and career opportunities, and it seems that many of them are skipping the suburbs right now and going even farther out.

Some info contained in a recent survey conducted by Queens University:

As of 2016, 3/4 of Canadians are living in suburban communities
From 2006 to that year, exurbs experienced 20% population growth, and auto-dependent suburbs experienced 17%
8 of the top 10 fastest appreciating exurbs nationwide are in Ontario, and specifically in areas surrounding Hamilton, London, Windsor, Kingston, Guelph, and the Tri-Cities, among other locations
For BC, secondary municipalities in the Hope area beyond the Fraser Valley and Kamloops Exurbs regions saw the most growth

The connecting theme between all of these is they’re a significant ways away from a metro region, but overall that’s not as daunting as it used to be for people. Another reputable-source study found that – not surprisingly – elevated prices weigh heaviest among the minds of young and first-time buyers.

It will be advantageous for realtors to expand the boundaries of their areas of familiarity and expertise to go beyond where they’ve consolidated their efforts, and particularly so for more well-to-do clients as compared to the way it would previously.

All of this is of course connected closely to being put in touch with these types of clients. Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered to you exclusively and for your own privately-served region of any city or town in Canada. Harness the power of Internet marketing and get a leg up on your competition that puts you in direct contact with people who are genuinely considering buying or selling a home.

After all, there has to be something to be said for having the first crack at turning prospects into clients for your real estate business!

7 Best Customer Service Practices for Realtors

Published May 13, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

We imagine there’s not even one practicing real estate agent who needs to be convinced of the importance of superior customer services when it comes to advancing their business. Further, the vast majority of realtors will already be providing their clients with good customer service, but it’s entirely fair to say there’s always room for improvement. As is the case with nearly everything, getting right down to the absolute truth of a matter often involves going beyond conventional thinking, and this is entirely accurate in the real estate business.

Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system for Canadian realtors is an excellent way to augment a realtor’s client prospecting efforts. More leads equals more opportunities, and the best realtors will know that turning a prospect into a client often isn’t as much of a challenge as retaining that client for future business opportunities as well. Enjoying repeat business from a client who decides to buy or sell a home again in the future is dependent on your being every bit the knowledgeable and reputable professional they hope you to be.

That, and meeting their every expectation when it comes to your role as their realtor. Obviously, customer service is going to be a big part of that and so our focus here to day will be on a handful of proven-effective customer service practices for realtors.

There’s no industry where customer service (client service, if you prefer) is more essential than it is in real estate–an opinion I’ve found support for even as the list of industries and professional services niches for which I’m a customer service consultant and speaker has climbed above a dozen. In real estate, empathetic, patient customer service from a dedicated agent, supported by a skilled, polished, and motivated office staff, is a prerequisite for success. If you work in real estate, the principles and best practices I offer below will put you on your way to building a superior level of client service, thereby creating loyal customers, generating word of mouth marketing, and building passionate brand ambassadorship.

Always be Quick to Respond

Real estate clients in today’s world expect speedy service, and now more so than ever before. The saying that an hour represents a year in internet time is pretty appropriate when it comes to what they considerable to be reasonable in as far as response times are concerned. A prospective client who doesn’t hear back from you before the end of the day (at the very latest) may very well move on, or at the very least be starting to develop an unfavourable opinion of you.

Smartphones make it entirely possible to respond to any manner of digital communication quickly. You have one, so be sure to use it and always respond to client communications as promptly as possible.

Anticipate Client Wishes to the Best of Your Ability

It’s a fact that when a client’s wishes are met before they’ve needed to be expressed, that client is going to be plenty pleased with their realtor. Making yourself better equipped to do this requires aligning your systems and your people to anticipate what your clients – and well in advance of the point where they feel they need to ask for it.

It’s true that much of this foreword thinking is the type that only comes with experience working as a realtor, but it’s also true that you can go a long way in this regard simply by thinking about what your wishes would be if YOU were the home buyer or home seller. aligning your systems to focus on what clients really want from your processes is really a key, and make sure to understand that each and every client is going to be different from the next in this regard.

Take Initiative to Share Information with Clients

Clients that feel empowered tend to be satisfied ones, and that comes from the satisfaction of being possession of all the facts they deem to be important. For you, the focus should be on explaining what they need to know and why – before they need it. You can start by NOT assuming that ANYTHING is common knowledge between you and the client. Even if they do, you’re not going to be disadvantaging yourself by sharing it with them, and if anything they’ll see it as evidence of the fact that you’re making entirely sure they’re sufficiently in the know.

Choose Wisely When Building a Real Estate Team

Every real estate firm will have measures in place to promote their clients receiving superb service, and if you’re a realtor who’s become successful to the point that you need to start building a team then you should choose those team members very judiciously – keeping in mind the importance of great customer service in real estate. It’s true that a single disagreeable or unresponsive team member can severely diminish client loyalty. You can and should aim to become an expert at recruiting, selecting, training, evaluating and reinforcing the efforts of service personnel.

Master your Greetings and Farewells

Industry research has indicated that clients that the parts of an encounter they remember most vividly are the first and last minutes of them. It’s for this reason that you should focus on ensuring you have the interaction skills and moxie to make sure these parts of the conversation / interaction are most to the clients’ liking. Yes, that often means engineering them, and while that many not be ‘natural’ it’s perfectly fine to have scripts in place for these parts of your discourse and meetings with clients.

Practice them so that they are natural, but do make sure that you have them in place to make certain that you start and end on the right notes with clients.

Acknowledge Returning Clients in a Personal Manner

You stand to benefit immensely from being able to speak to a returning clients with the kind of ease, naturalness, and personability that indicates you both remember them and know of their individuality. This goes a LONG way in creating the impression that your excellent customer service is paired with a continuing degree of genuine interest in these clients as distinct people.

Some realtors have expressly strong memories that serve well for this purpose. For those of you who don’t, it’s advisable to make notes in your digital files on clients where you jot down little things you catch onto about them. Keeping a notes file in your phone so you can add to it immediately after meeting with them is the best idea, and you then transfer those notes to a master file on your computer once back at the office or at home.

Don’t Measure Yourself Against Prevailing or Conventional Standards

This one is fairly self-explanatory; you shouldn’t be resting on your laurels based on the fact you’re meeting or exceeding what’s seen as the minimum for customer service in real estate. Instead, benchmark yourself against the best practices you can find throughout a variety of service-intensive industries, and do so because that’s going to provide your with a more realistic interpretation of what clients ACTUALLY expect from ANY service provider – their realtor included.

Every client interaction with you is judged based on expectations set by the most receptive and in-tune providers in hospitality, the financial services industry, and other areas those who’ve mastered customer service best practices have reaped the rewards for their efforts.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you exclusively, for any area of a city of town in Canada that’s protected for you exclusively within our system. The region is yours and yours alone, and you’ll be the only realtor who’ll receive leads for it. It’s a proven-effective way to supercharge your client prospecting efforts and you’ll have more in the way of opportunities to showcase your real estate excellence – including exceptional customer service.

Marketing Real Estate with Facebook Retargeting Ads

Published April 16, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

Even realtors who were especially cool to it for the longest time have had to come around and accept the importance of social media marketing in real estate. Facebook is front and center in this regard, and not because it’s superior to any of the other leading social media apps. Rather, it’s because Facebook has become the social media app of choice for older people. Yes, a good number of Mom and Dads out there have discovered how Facebook is great for keeping in touch with friends.

Now the relevance of this isn’t hard to understand – no disrespect to younger generations, but it’s people who are in their 30s and upwards who are more likely to be buying and selling real estate. If you’re on Facebook you’ve almost certainly seen real estate agents and / or real estate brokerages using paid ads that promote properties for sale or their real estate services.

As such, making good use of Facebook is something you may want to consider for your real estate business. Same can be said for our online real estate lead generation system here at Real Estate Leads. Long story short, whatever can create the short distance between A and B when it comes to you meeting with prospective clients is something you should pursue as enthusiastically as possible.

What is a Retargeting Campaign?

A retargeting campaign is the part of a digital marketing strategy that gives you a significant edge in re-engaging customers at specific parts of their journey throughout your site. How Facebook comes into it is that it provides a piece of code called a pixel that tracks how many times that specific visitor stops by you site.

To be brief, Facebook Pixel enables you to measure and optimize ads plus build audiences for your ad campaigns. Once you have it, you then use this pixel to know which group of people visited which page of your website and how they interacted with it once they’re there.

Who Will I Retarget with Facebook Retargeting Campaigns

There’s really no limitations here once the individual has visited your site, even just one time. Keep in mind that you won’t know the personal data of any person that you are retargeting, but you will be aware of the exact behavior of people on your site. Because of this you can retarget any visitor or group of visitors who come to your site.

Here are some examples of useable information you can obtain from Facebook Retargeting

Retargeting people who read through your blog, sending them more relevant content that is designed to further enhance their purchase interests

Retargeting people who visit a specific URL, providing them with a tailored message for the next step
Retargeting people who visit a page for a webinar with incentives to register for the webinar
Retargeting existing customers with new offers
Retargeting website visitors with lead ads to collect new subscribers

There’s also much more you can do with retargeting – it really is only limited by initial traffic received and what you imagine you can do with the information.

What is more defined is all the ways to implement Facebook retargeting. That’s why it’s best to get set up for these ads with your Facebook user account and you can see what kind of results you’ll get within a few days.

Retargeting Campaign to Set Up First

A good idea is to set up for an abandoned cart or form sequence as your first retargeting campaign. These will be instances where people took the time to start an action, but didn’t complete or submit it. The term for these actions is ‘hot audience’ because they’ve already signaled some degree of purchase intent.

Here is an example of how this works:

Abandoned Appointment / Inquiry

Let’s say someone began filling out a form for more detailed information on a home, or to request a meeting with you to discuss a property you have on the market. Facebook pixel would allow you to know who filled out that form. You respond by retargeting them with a communication, infographic, or special offer that gives them incentive to return and this time fill out the form completely and submit it.

It’s also helpful that you can do this automatically through Facebook using a type of ad called a dynamic ad with a product catalog. This combination allows Facebook to serve ads based on the exact behaviours of the customer while they were at your Real Estate website as linked to it by your paid Facebook ad.

Surprisingly Powerful Tool

We spoke with a real estate agent in Western Canada a while back and she reported that she made contact with a couple that became her clients via a Facebook Retargeting Ad within a few weeks of first trying them. Granted, she is sufficiently social media savvy and had been using her own sponsored ads for Facebook for some time, but it was her first go around with retargeting ads on Facebook.

There’s no debating they’re an excellent fit for real estate marketing, and in large part because of the nature of what’s involved with buying or selling a home. People may window shop at homes, but if a person has taken some level of interaction with your site it can usually mean there’s some definitive level of interest in making a real estate move.

Retargeting is a powerful technology that allows you to create virtual lists of people who have visited your site and serve them ads based on the behavior on your site. Facebook retargeting ads are highly recommended for realtors.

As is Real Estate Leads! Sign up for real estate leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered exclusively to you and for your very own region of any city or town in Canada. Their your leads for your area, and only you receive them. It’s a dynamite way to supercharge your prospecting efforts and you’ll almost certainly come to seen it as money well spent for growing your real estate business.

Vancouver-Based Online Real Estate Investing Platform Promises to be Well Received

Published April 1, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

One of the inescapable realities of living in Canada’s most popular urban areas is that every aspect of life is intimidatingly expensive. When it comes to owning – and investing – in real estate, that expensiveness is at its apex point. Likely no one needs to be told that real estate is supremely expensive in Toronto and Vancouver, but it’s that reality that of course makes many people want to be able to invest in it.

As a realtor the bulk of your clients will be buying homes to live in them, while others will be buying them as revenue properties with the aim of renting them at rates the market will bear. In either scenario, however, it’s a fact that the people are making investments, and in most cases it’s an investment in both their immediate future AND their financial future.

Here at Real Estate Leads, the benefit of our online real estate lead generation service is that it puts you in touch with buyers and sellers who are legitimately considering making such a move, and as their realtor it’s your responsibility to tailor your efforts to meet their prerogatives.

The fact of the matter is if you’re a realtor working in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, or Montreal there’s going to be would-be buyers who are prevented from being prospective clients because of the market being unaffordable for them. That’s an inflexible reality and simply a part of market forces, but it’s unfortunate that it means fewer would-be clients.

Seems there may now be a little bit of an equalizer for people who’ve until now been resigned to being priced out of the market. There’s a new platform could make investing in Canada’s most expensive real estate market less daunting.

Introducing Fraction

Fraction is a Vancouver-based equity stake lending platform that promotes itself as a more secure option than traditional home equity lines of credit. Their premise is that by taking a 40% equity stake in a property, it can reduce a buyer’s mortgage payments by 35%. The home buyer still must secure mortgage financing for the remaining amount, but the drastically lower figure is much more workable in that regard.

Now of course, yes, this significantly diminishes the amount of equity they can build up in the property by making their monthly mortgage payments. However, it’s best to look at it this way; if you own a home and want to take some equity out of it, your existing option is you could sell, or get a HELOC or reverse mortgage. The 2^nd party-financier option may be better because you can sell up to 40% of the future value of your home to them.

Provided the market’s robust enough – and in Canada’s big urban centres it most certainly is – a client can still count on making a tidy profit on the original investment even while still reimbursing Fraction its 40 percent.

Investment Properties Too

It also promises to be a good choice for investing in additional real estate properties.

Those who want to invest in real estate in Vancouver, for example, would be able to buy securities from Fraction and have the value of those securities being debt-protected. It doesn’t take anyone with an advanced understanding of economics or investment savvy to see the potential advantages in that. “

The investment serves to be a mortgage charge on title, and by that they’re able to secure their stake in the property. That’ fine, but what about my part of it your client may ask. Well, it also means that their principal is more secure too.

Adding to First-Time Buyer Incentive

The 2019 Federal Budget arrived last week, and it includes a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation equity stake incentive for first-time buyers. However, that incentive is capped at 10%, and household income cannot exceed $120,000. Plus, the total cost of the home can’t be greater than four times that amount.

With a service like Fraction, the impediments put up within the first-time homebuyer incentives being introduced within the budget are not nearly as prohibitive when it comes to buying property. The investment is quite a bit safer because it’s not a down payment. It’s still a mortgage on title, so it’s way safer than the CMHC one, which will be more like a down payment itself most of the time.

An Example

Let’s put together an example of how this would work. Let’s say the owner of a home worth $1 million—not uncommon at all in Vancouver or Toronto — wants to take out $200,000. They’re able to sell 20% to Fraction, and when they sell the home 4 or so years later for something in the vicinity of $1.5m, that 20% is worth $300K. That’s paid at sale, and they’re still $200K up when all is said and done.

Appreciating at 5.5% per annum has been the norm for Canadian properties, and so if a property invested in with this model and service fails to increase by that much there’s a built-in interest rate of 3%. Of course, that rate will vary by region once Fraction spreads out a bit.

It’s easy to see how this is something that you as a realtor should be recommending to buyers who don’t want to be stretched too thin in the beginning but can see the near certainty of that property appreciating nicely in the not too distant future.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered to you exclusively and for you similarly-exclusively served region of any city or town in Canada. What this service does is put more opportunities in front of you, and when you’re an informed realtor it’s that much easier to become a reputable realtor based on an ever-growing track record of what you’ve been able to do for your clients.

What Clients Want from Their Real Estate Agent

Published March 26, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

Every once in a while it’s good to get back to the fundamentals, and that’s true whether you’re talking about your career, your golf game, or even your culinary capabilities. Often you’ll find that by reorienting your foundation in smart ways means everything that’s built on top it is improved as well. Being a service-plus real estate agent in Canada is no exception, here.

While experienced realtors will quite likely have a firm grasp on strong fundamentals in the real estate business, it is novices like many of you taking advantage of our opportunity here who’ll benefit from first understanding them, and then revisiting them often.

Speaking of opportunities first, however, our online real estate lead generation system for Canada here at Real Estate Leads comes extremely well recommended for any realtor who’d prefer to hit the ground running and build up his or her real estate business with greater rapidity. Long story short, it puts qualified leads for you area in the hands of one realtor and one realtor only – you. Of course, those leads are only opportunities – what you do with them is up to you, but a market and industry-savvy realtor is always up to that challenge.

Back to today’s topic though – what are the fundamental basics of what clients want from their real estate agent?

Buyer Client Expectations

The first difference to understand with buyers in comparison to sellers is that they’re a whole lot more complex and varied with their prerogatives most the time. There are different levels of experience and requirements. First-time buyers often need an overly guided approach to their buying a home. Investors, on the other hand, will usually want lots of data. Transactional help, lots of interpretation of documents, and help with decisions are often also standard wants / needs for buyers.

But that’s likely quite obvious for many of you, so let’s look at specific buyers based on the properties they’ll be evaluating.

If a client is focused on the vacation or resort home market, they’ll almost always need even more support. Many of these properties are in rural, mountain or seaside areas, and these are areas that often have strict environmental, developmental and building codes. If your client is an out-of-area buyer they will be looking to you to provide skilled representation to ensure they aren’t buying something with hidden future problems.

When representing buyers in other specialized areas or property types, these buyers will tend to lean more on your expertise and local market knowledge. Condominiums are the purchase of-choice for most buyers these days in Canada’s large urban centers, and they’re that way very much out of necessity. Condo rules (via strata) and financial particulars will be extremely important to these buyers, and they want their realtor to be explicitly in the know about them before they go to see the property together for the first time.

Next, investment property buyers. As a whole, these buyers will usually be the most ‘informed’ demographic you’ll serve as a realtor, and just because this ‘isn’t their first rodeo’ as the expression goes. When it comes to these buyers, they often approach you with a great deal of market knowledge. Interestingly, what they value most in a realtor is an ability to take an aggressive approach to helping them locate good investment deals, and then strong negotiating skills to help them get their desired property at the right price. A real estate professional who can catch things they may have missed and bring them to their attention before an investment mistake is an invaluable resource for them.

Seller Client Expectations

It’s inadvisable to look at sellers as individuals who just want to sell their home quickly and for as much as possible. Yes, on the whole sellers are less likely to be overly reliant on their agents for help in the process. Most sellers will know how technology has changed the game in as far as how a home is marketed to the masses these days.

So where are their priorities now, and what do they want most from a listing realtor? Their hope will be that you will take the initiative when it comes to commissions and finding ways with creating lower costs with roughly equal marketing options. If you’re working with aa full-service commission arrangement, you need to have at least a few instances where you’ve gone ‘above and beyond’ and left them with the impression that it’ more than they might have received from a lesser real estate professional.

One very interesting trend that’s been observed from client satisfaction surveys in real estate for North America is that some home seller client really appreciated how their realtor was able to effectively and rationally explain to them how commission-free or low-commission real estate services (which are popping up absolutely everywhere these days) are inferior to that provided by a genuine in-the-flesh / at-your-door real estate agent.

This doesn’t mean simply stating – however truthful – that these homes tend to stay on the market longer. Instead, you should be able to explain why that is and what you’re able to do counter that eventuality if they choose to work with you.

Be in the know – and very in the know preferably.

All Consumers

We’ll conclude here today with a bullet point list of the skills and qualities actual home buyers and sellers of all types will typically be looking for in their realtor:

Honesty and integrity
Knowledge of purchase process
Responsiveness
Knowledge of real estate market
Communication skills
Negotiation skills

There are others, including people skills and technical skills, but these 6 are boxes that you need to be able to check and list out how you meet those needs exactly. Your marketing may feature these skill sets, or it may not. Either way, there’s always room for improvement doing your very best in these areas.

In conclusion, we can say that the qualities of a good real estate agent will vary based on consumer needs but the basics will always apply and are worthy of ongoing focus as a result.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated leads provided to you – and only you – for your similarly exclusive region of any city or town in Canada. Nine times out of 10 that’s going to mean more in the way of client prospecting successes for you and you’ll be in the position to do what realtors do best most often – putting people in touch with the best buyers for their property, or finding that perfect property for a buyer.

Check out our testimonials for stories from actual realtors who’ve gotten on board with the service and are now continuing to benefit from it immensely.

Young Canadians Still Holding onto Detached Home Aspirations

Published March 19, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

Much has been made lately of the way the new home development industry has shifted more and more to a focus on condominium development over the years due to land constraints, average consumer purchasing power, and the need to build upwards in popular major metro areas in Canada. All of this continues with just the same energy as before, and it is true that multi-family housing development IS the future of housing in Canada’s big cities whether people like it or not.

Successful realtors adapt to the new realities of the industry, and it’s likely fair to say that the majority of first-time homebuyer clients are going to be looking at condos exclusively if they’re looking for a first home in Vancouver, Calgary, or Toronto. Where you put your energies is a very strategic decision, and being more explicitly in the know about the condo market may be an advantage. However, it would seem that the classic dream of a detached home with a backyard and every other kitschy appeal isn’t one that some people are willing to forego.

Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is a proven effective way of being put in touch with prospective clients who are genuinely considering buying or selling a home sometime in the near future. As far as would-be home buyers are concerned, they may well have their eyes on a condo that’s in town and near to work for the couple, but if there’s kids in the picture they may well be willing to take on a higher mortgage (provided they’ll qualify) and accept a longer commute to have everything a detached home has to offer.

So what’s the ins and outs of why some young people aren’t willing to give up on owning a detached home like the one many of them were likely raised in? Let’s have a look at that here today.

Still Worth It for Some

It’s a given that condo supply in the country’s largest markets will see significant increases in the near future, but a recent Globe and Mail report indicated that for the most part young professionals and those starting families will still prefer to buy and live in single-detached homes.

Federal policy focused on boosting the availability of low-cost condo units in downtown areas is smart and well intentioned, but it has unwittingly encouraged urban sprawl by forcing more Canadians to look further out into the suburbs to be able to realize their dream of a owning a detached, single-family home with a yard.

Why most – especially singles or couples – would see a condo as their best fit is fairly easy to understanding; they’re more likely to be able to extend the amortization period on insured mortgages, easing the stress test introduced last year or increasing the $750 tax credit for first-time buyers.

However, it seems that many millennials still ultimately aspire to purchase single-family homes.

Look at Montreal

Greater Montreal is a good place to see this phenomenon playing out. Updated numbers provided by the Quebec statistics agency showed that nearly 24,000 residents (many of whom met ‘young household’ criteria) moved from Montreal to the suburbs and beyond over the course of 2018. This migration was the largest off-core one since 2010.

The consensus seems to be that attempts by policy makers and urban planners to coax Canadians into accepting condo living as a semi-permanent state in life may come from good intentions, but it is has not stopped millennials from dreaming the suburban dream and realizing that 600-square feet is going to impinge their quality of life to an extent that many of them will deem unacceptable.

If you’re a realtor in one of these pricey urban areas you’d be well advised to NOT approach any young buyer individual / couple without kids with the assumption that they’re going to want to get into a condo. Yes, most will but you shouldn’t make any assumptions – especially for the reasons being laid out here.

Willing to Commute

It seems that younger Canadians are willing to take their mobility in their own hands if it means having their own suburban single-detached property. If a big yard for the kids is a must, many of them are willing to spend 2 or more hours of their day getting to work and back. That of course has it’s own negative ramifications, but it is what is in as far as understanding your prospective clients’ motivations.

It is true that more Canadians than ever are driving to work, proof that efforts to promote mass transit and densification have done little to kill the dream of a house in the suburbs. If that’s what a client wants and is willing to pay for (both in financial terms and what they’ll pay for in lost time commuting) then you’ll be best served by understanding and relating to their buyer prerogatives and catering to them like any good real estate agent would.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered to you exclusively for your privately-served region of any city or town in Canada. You can count on having many bonafide opportunities to turn these leads into clients, and it’s a fact that most realtors who’ve already gotten on board with this see it as 100% worthwhile investment in the current and future success of their real estate business.

Maximum Loan Amortization Extension from Feds Has Major Potential Ramifications

Published February 26, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

Most people in the real estate industry will agree – even if grudgingly – that the new mortgage stress-test regulations rolled out by the Federal Government a year+ ago we’re entirely necessary to normalize the market and prevent hundreds of thousands of Canadians from becoming ‘house poor’, as the expression goes. This of course has had the effect of their being fewer qualified first-time home buyers, and the direct correlation between that and less business to be had for real estate agents is easy to understand.

It would seem now that the Federal Government is considering a reactionary move to improve the housing market, and we can safely assume that it’s in large part a response to the pinch felt by industries that are directly tied to the home construction and renovation industry, and to a lesser extent to stimulate the housing market as a whole.

These are trying times indeed, and it’s unlikely that we’ll see the the limited numbers of qualified buyers increasing anytime soon. As is always the case, when the going gets tough the tough get going and realtors now must work harder to secure new clients. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is an excellent means of putting the power of the Internet to work for that aim. It’s highly recommended, but let’s get back on the topic here and discuss why this move by the Feds may have some rather unintended consequences.

Longer Amortizations, Lower Payments, More Interest

That’s the long and short of what this possible move is going to entail. The Government’s Ministry of Finance may not be intending to increase household debt with this move, but that’s what it will almost certainly do in the long run. In the short term, however it promised to be beneficial. Economists and those most familiar with the housing market are saying that – most relevantly – it’s likely to drive prices even higher when the next housing cycle begins.

What we would see is lower payments relative to 25-year amortizations, in exchange for paying more interest, and a proliferation of 30-year mortgages for first-time homebuyers.

What’s in Amortization?

As mentioned, the Feds are considering extending the maximum amortization schedule on mortgages. Amortization is the length of time determined for a borrower to be paying off their loan before it. Currently, insured mortgages are limited to a 25-year term, meaning that buyers can plan on paying off the home in 25 years. That’s not short period of time, but the reason we’ve become fairly accustomed to that in Canada is – plain and simple – that it allows Canadians of lesser financial means to buy a home.

What we’ve recently become aware of is that Canada is considering allowing first-time buyers the ability to amortize for 30 years. The aim is to increase affordability, but is that what we can expect it to do.

Hard Numbers

Let’s look at a typical scenario here; at typical Toronto home costing $761,800 (average median price for a detached single-family home at this time). Let’s assume next the the borrower has 10% down and is then borrowing at a rate of 3.59% on a 5-year fixed rate throughout the whole mortgage, which underestimates the cost.

What we see is that the minimum monthly payments drop roughly 12.5%, and that’s what makes it appealing to the would-be buyer. This is a result of lengthening the amortization, and while it might seem appealing it increases the amount of interest these buyers will be paying if they take they full time to pay off the mortgage (which nearly all buyer do nowadays).

It’s not going to increase it a bit, it’s going to increase it quite a lot, and that of course means increased household debt. Many people would agree that with this you’d be making people less house poor, but more indebted long term, and that the two sort of cancel each other out to really offer little to no tangible savings or affordability benefits for prospective homebuyers.

So going back to that average Toronto home – running those payments on the 25-year amortization models works out to a hefty $351,103 in interest payments over the term. Bump that up to a 30-year amortization and it climbs to $431,511.

Not as appealing as it might have seemed, is it?

More Expensive Housing in the Long-Term

We tend to agree that extending amortizations only makes housing more affordable temporarily, since credit inflates prices. Lowering the cost of borrowing is often thought of as a way to increase affordability. It may, but not in the long run and if you’re in a 25 or 3-year amortization mortgage the ‘long run’ is definitely part of your reality

Disposable Income to Service Debt Ratio

Over the past 5 years real home prices across Canada have increased 42.65%. The amount of disposable income to service this debt increased only 12.65%. Affordability today actually improved across Canada by 7.29% since 2007. Real home prices have gone up 86.54% over that same period.

Real estate agents are always inclined to wonder whether home prices will go higher, but perhaps now more so than ever. remember that’s long-term. Real estate works in a cycle, and right now prices need to correct for new buyers to enter. The most important consideration here is that borrowers with a 30-year amortization will pay less towards principal. In the long term that costs borrowers more, and it inflates home prices – which of course will be viewed very negatively in the not-too-distant future.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered to you exclusively and for your very own, protected region of any city or town in Canada. It’s a proven-effective way to get more out of your client prospecting efforts, and we’re nearly certainly you’ll quickly come to see it as a very worthwhile monthly expense when it comes to promoting your Real Estate business.

Realtor Know-How: Calculating Land-to-Building Ratio

Published February 11, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

Every second week we try to shift our subject matter back to topics that are among the many that new realtors can – and should – familiarize themselves with when aiming to become a more knowledgeable and well-rounded real estate professional. It’s a worthwhile aim for sure, as it goes a long way in being seen as realtor who has more to share with all the different sorts of real estate clients who will have different buying / selling prerogatives.

All of this is of course done in the big picture perspective of building your real estate business. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is an excellent way to get even more out of your client prospecting efforts. Putting the power of the Internet to use and connecting you with people who are genuinely interested and increasingly ready to buy or sell a home should sound good to any realtor, and that’s exactly what you get with Real Estate Leads.

Today’s realtor know-how topic is one that will be very handy and practical when working with commercial or investment real estate buyers; calculating land-to-building ratio. Let’s get started.

Land Parcel Percentages

We can start with understanding that every structure occupies a certain portion or percentage of the land parcel it’s sitting on. This percentage or ratio of the size of the building to the land is referred to as the ‘land-to-building ratio.’ A high ratio indicates that the property isn’t being used to its fullest potential. A low one is indicative of the property already being at full capacity.

The Equation

It’s quite easy to calculate the land-to-building ratio. Here’s the equation:

Divide the square footage of the land parcel by the square footage of the building

Here’s an example:

188,000 square feet of land divided by 43,500 building square feet. This works out to 4.32

This is a 4.32:1 land to building ratio, and that’s a high one. The average is between 2.5:1 to 3.5:1.

Relevance for Residential Properties?

There can be, but it’s typically not something that factors in as strongly for residential properties. The land to building ratio is rarely seen in residential appraisals. It is helpful to know that the ration can be limited by municipal codes and property restrictions, however. In some instances there is a desire to keep the size of homes to a certain percentage of the lot space available for building.

Land-to-Building Ratio in Commercial Applications

The use of the land to building ratio is obviously of much greater relevance with commercial and industrial applications. For example, building codes usually include very firm requirements for the amount of parking that certain size structures must maintain, and the same goes for setback and green area considerations.

A commercial space with an 11 to 1 land-to-building ratio might not be best utilizing the land, there would definitely be value in the additional space. Another property with a ratio of 2.5 to 1 could be at maximum capacity.

It’s easy to imagine that most considerations around municipal and other regulations occur with commercial, industrial, and institutional real estate. Environmental protection issues often come into play with industrial properties as well, and in particular ones related to hazardous materials.

Let’s look at specific commercial real estate types and the considerations that are added to the Land-to-building ratio for each:

Retail Shopping Center or Mall

First and foremost here are population demographics considerations. A consistently sufficient flow of consumers to support the shops and businesses is a must. Traffic patterns are also important. Ratios of the tenant retail lease spaces and the overall theme of the center are important as well.

Office Buildings

The type of offices they’ll house is something to consider. For example, A medical office or dental office complex would have very different space requirements.

Warehousing and Specialty Operations

Warehouses require a lot of space, as well as large truck loading docks much of the time. They don’t need parking spaces the same way a retail development would. Specialty businesses like car and RV dealerships or any type of consumer service provider will have a whole array of different considerations that are unique to them, and different to land-to-building ratios

Excess Land Value

The decision where you will be more likely be expected to volunteer your expertise is whether paying for excess land and its zoning is a wise investment of capital. As the realtor, you may be asked if it that excess land can be divvied up and sold, either in the short-term or long-term. Is the overall land made up of two or more independent parcels? Do any existing or planned structures infringe upon one of them? Does the unused land have its own access? Can it be subdivided legally?

All of these are questions that your clients may ask of you. Be prepared to answer them.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you – and only you – for your similarly exclusive region of any city or town in Canada. Once you sign up with us, that region is yours and all of the leads for it go to you and no one else. We can say truthfully that pretty much every single realtor who’s gotten on board so far is happy with the service and sees it as money well spent as part of the business promotion and marketing budget.

Try it for yourself, we can guarantee you won’t be disappointed with the way it put you in touch with real prospective clients for your real estate business.

How to Start an Effective Email Drip Campaign for Realtors

Published January 28, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

In the ever-digital world of the 21st century, your online marketing efforts can never be second rate. That’s as true for realtors and their real estate business in the same way it is for everybody else. It’s of course just one of many ways you should be approaching the challenge of prospecting for new clients, and that aim is really at the core of everything you do as a realtor when you’re not providing services to existing ones.

Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system for Canada is an excellent way to harness the power of the world wide web and get it working for you to provide you with real, genuine quality leads that put you in touch with people who are equally genuinely considering buying or selling a home in your locale. Nearly every realtor who gets on board quickly comes to see it as money well spent as part of their business promotion or marketing budget, and we’ve been very pleased to see how beneficial they’ve been finding it.

Email marketing campaigns are, like anything, only effective when done right. A ‘drip’ email campaign is particularly highly recommended because it’s less obtrusive and tends to land on recipients who’ll be more open to receiving the communication. Today we’re going to discuss the basics of putting together one of these email campaigns, so let’s get into the 4-step process.

This is something you can do on your own, even if you’re the most digitally non-savvy person around.

Why a From-Scratch Real Estate Drip Email Campaign

Pre-designed real estate drip email campaigns that you can buy ready-made are usually not a good option. Done badly and they’ll result in a prospective buyer or seller hitting the ‘unsubscribe’ link – and that’s the end of your communication channel with them.

With that warning out of the way, you also need to know that they are NOT getting the same email from your competitors.

How Often Should Emails Be Sent?

Email every day? Once a week? Every month? More? Less? Generally speaking, the protocol regarding this will depend on local market conditions (the ‘speed’ with which homes are moving), the type of market, and the properties of clients you typically serve. If it’s a ‘fast’ market, you may prefer to send emails at the beginning of your real estate drip email campaign with greater frequency / less of a gap between them.

With ‘slower’ markets you can let the be spread out a bit more.

Keep in mind that no matter the type of market, the frequency of emails MUST drop off as you move further into your campaign. This is important. Successful long-term real estate drip email campaigns will typically only send out 1 email roughly every 3 months once the first few have been distributed. Make sure you do the same

Email #1 – 2 Days After List Entry

This real estate drip email campaign is for buyers but can also be used for sellers.
Prospects will have already received one email prior to this, and that would be the auto-responder email.

Most agents will determine their email recipient list from forms filled out on their website site, As a result of this, prospects will receive one email that is delivered with a document (or a link to the information) along with a thank you. That first email is immediate, and it should be sent two days later.

The aims with this email are as follows:

Appraising them of the process if they decide to buy or sell. In the first paragraph they’ll learn that this is the first of four emails they’ll receive. This should always be done because often there’s a large decrease in the unsubscribe rate if they make the recipient aware that they’re not going to be spammed incessantly.
Giving them a link to valuable information, including links to area maps and descriptive pages for the area. You’ll almost certainly be covering an area larger than just one suburb or the like and people get confused about all of the area names found in the MLS.
Use of wordage and sentences that results in a a high click-through percentage and low rate of unsubscribers.

Email #2 – 5 Days After List Entry

The first email introduced the prospect to the MLS area maps and descriptive information. Now, your 2nd email informs them that they can stop doing manual searches and enjoy the convenience of automated email alerts sent with new listings and price changes for listings that are a match for their property criteria.

They will be more familiar with the areas now, and they’ll likely use that information to tailor their searches even more.

Many soon-to-be serious buyers will spend some time in this automated email listing alert system setting up a search, and that’s especially when you want automatic listing alerts to be hitting their inbox nearly every day.

Email #3 – 8 Days After List Entry

A considerable number of your email recipients / prospective clients still won’t yet be ready for the automated listing reports. For this reason it’s advisable to take them back to your IDX search page instead, and show them how to get a lot more detail on each listing that hasn’t been displayed in the IDX results.

By doing this you’ll make it more likely that they return to the site again and again requesting expanded listing reports. You’ll need to manually create these reports and send them to these prospects, but if put effort into them and prepare solid reports that are also laid out cleanly and attractively in the document then you’ll be making real progress with securing interested buyers as new clients. Put your best effort into all of this!

Email #4 – 12 Days After List Entry

The last automated email extends your appreciation to these would-be clients for sticking with you and not choosing to unsubscribe, and it also informs them that you’re happy to keep them on your follow-up list for quarterly sold property statistics reports because they seem to be interested in making a move in the local real estate market.

You acknowledge the prospect’s continued interest in the market, as well as reaffirming that they’ll only receive four emails a year. Done right this keeps them interested enough to stay on the list.

Long-Term Follow-Up

Right after each calendar quarter-year ends, it’s smart to go into your MLS system and generate a sold property statistics report. Define it by type of property (i.e., residential or commercial). It should require only about ten minutes of your time to produce a PDF file and upload it to your website.

Next, go to your email list and send out a blast email to the entire list providing a link to the report, and if you have some solid relevant commentary to add on the previous quarter and the numbers in the report – go ahead and add it.

Stick to this drip Email protocol and you’ll very likely see a low unsubscribe rate. In most cases when people do choose to unsubscribe it’s because they’re no longer interested, or have purchased a home in another market. The ones that continue to stay subscribed are worth more of your attention, and if you have a strong feeling about one or more of them you can even get back to the good old tried-and-true basic approach of making a visit to them in person.

Be confident, and do everything you can to have the knowledge you need to be local real estate expert before you do!

Sign Up Today!

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you exclusively, and also for your similarly-exclusively served region of any city or town in Canada. It’s yours and yours alone with Real Estate Leads, and that puts you in a real position of strength to have the best leads in that area being delivered to you and you only.

It’s a dynamite way to supercharge your client prospecting efforts, and we can’t recommend it highly enough!

Real Estate Sales Drop Hard Across Country

Published January 22, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

Your take on the recent trend of cooling Canadian real estate sales will depend on who you are in the real estate market. If you’re an owner or an investor with funds in real estate, you likely won’t see it very favourably. Alternately, if you’re a home buyer – and in particular a first-time homebuyer, the recent news that sales dropped to a new multi-year low last month to close out 2018 will be cautiously promising.

As a real estate agent, of course, any downturn in the market isn’t what you want to be hearing. Fewer sales equates to less business to go around for the ever-greater numbers of licensed realtors in the business. Situations like this make being able identify, impress, and retain prospective clients increasingly important for a realtor.

Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system makes it so that you get more out of the first part of that equation, and capable realtors have a way of using the second part to ensure the third and establish long-term clients. The same type of clients who are likely to recommend you to others as well. It’s a positive all around.

But back to topic, what’s to be made of this trend that continues to see the real estate market in Canada cooling off so significantly?

Canadian Real Estate Sales Dip Like They Haven’t Since 2012

Canadian real estate sales indicated one of the worst Decembers in years. A mere 21,909 sales went through the MLS nationwide for December, and this was down 34.24% compared to the month before. This is a 19% decline compared to the same month last year, and sales for the month have only been lower a pair of time over the past 10 years; 2012 and 2008.

The December numbers and annual growth rates were worth noting. Monthly declines are always seen in December, but this one was the biggest since 2007. What’s more, the annual decline is the third consecutive one to occur here, and the most pronounced one since March 2018. Since February of 2016, the annual growth rate has been trending lower.

Dec. ’18: Only a Single Major Canadian Real Estate Market Grew

The observed market declines were consistent across the board, but a few markets did better than others. Montreal came in at 2,825 sales for December, which was a 2.5% increase compared to the same month 2017. Ottawa had 677 sales, a 12.9% decrease from the previous December. Winnipeg’s number was 495, and also down 14.4% from the same time last year. Facts are facts, and only one major market with more than 500 sales last year grew over the course of 2018.

Scenario for Canada’s Bigger Urban Centres

We’ll start with Toronto and Calgary here. Toronto reported 3,781 sales in December, a big decline of 23.3% compared to December last year. Calgary reported 985 sales, a similar biggie at 24.2% down from one year ago. The CREA defines both those declines as middle of the market, however, and relatively speaking.

Of course, market restrictions in both Toronto and Vancouver can been credited with a large portion of the sales declines seen in Canada’s 2 biggest metropolitan areas. Mortgage stress testing has been a big factor as well, and should continue to be this year as well while the new definition of a ‘quality buyer’ is still a work in progress.

The risk of course is looking at those factors in a vacuum, but it’s safe to say that a broader weakness is being observed across the country. The fact that markets not subject to a foreign buyer tax are also seeing weakness in sales supports this understanding.

There are some that suggest that more Nationally-focused mortgage stress tests would be a good idea, but industry insiders counter that by saying that most markets with declines do not have home prices detached from local incomes (which is the explicit scenario in Vancouver and Toronto). That doesn’t mean prices are fair value, but it does indicate that the stress test has had minimal impacts.

It remains the way it’s always been in that a typical family in most cities can afford a typical home. The consensus seems to be that it’s primarily households that would be buying ‘beyond their means’ are the ones being impacted by the restrictions – and for many of them they might actually be glad for the wake-up call! In conclusion, though, and when we look at this objectively we can see that the impact of rising interest rates, and a contraction in general credit applications are behind the market dips. This happens nearly every time interest rates rise, and they are always moving in one direction or another.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered to ONLY to you and for your similarly-exclusively served area of any city or town in Canada. It really does wonders for supercharging your prospecting efforts, and if the ever-greater numbers of realtors coming on board are any indication – it’s definitely effective.

The Increased Costs of a Variable Mortgage in Canada

Published December 25, 2018 by Real Estate Leads

As a real estate agent it’s pretty much common knowledge that the vast majority of your homebuyer clients will be purchasing their new home with a mortgage. There are a few buyers who are sufficiently deep-pocketed to buying a home outright without the need for financing, but they’re few and far between these days. Being regarded the way you want to be by your clients is a product of being seen as an expert on every aspect of buying or selling a home, and the ins and outs of securing financing in the best way is a part of that.

Buyers will have a choice of a fixed or variable mortgage when buying their home, and these days in Canada it’s a much more costly option in the long run to choose a variable mortgage. This is true in the face of that being very different from the way it’s been for decades where choosing a variable mortgage had many advantages to it.

Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system for Canada is a great way for you to get more out of your client prospecting efforts, and then share your expertise on anything and everything related to real estate – including what are their best choices when moving on to working with a mortgage provider. With that understood, let’s look at why variable mortgages are more often not the best choice anymore.

Understanding Variable Rate Mortgages

A variable rate mortgage involves the interest rate not being fixed for the life of the mortgage. Instead of being locked in a higher interest rate, the borrower has their interest calculated monthly and based on the lender’s prime rate (%). This can be a positive or negative for the borrower, depending on the type they have.

Conversely, a variable rate borrower pays a fixed monthly sum, but the amount paid towards the principal will change depending on whether the lender’s rates go up or down. If rates go down, you pay less interest and then more goes towards paying off your principal loan. This means your balance is reduced faster, and this has the potential to save you a significant amount of money. If your rate goes up, then you pay more in interest and reduce less of your principal loan amount. As you can see, that can cost you a lot more.

Over the past year, the variable mortgage rate has jumped considerably, and that’s been very disadvantageous for homeowners who chose variable rate mortgages

The Estimated Canadian Variable Rate Mortgage Is Now Up Over 22%

The cost of a variable rate mortgage has been increasing across Canada. The Bank of Canada has stated that the typical rate reached 2.72% on December 6, which is a jump of 2.25% from a month previous. The rate is now over 22.52% higher than it was at this time last year. The impact of this for borrowers is very substantial.

At mid-December last year it was at 2.23%. In late January of 2018 it spiked to 2.45% but in June it had levelled back out to 2.35%, but in July it began to climb hard. In October it shot up from 2.49% to 2.66% and his been rising ever since until now.

Paying More To Borrow The Same

Let’s look at that in real world impact. A borrower at the estimated rate who borrowed last year, would now have their interest payments sitting at a 22.5% higher rate. If they make the same payments, the amount paid to their principal would decrease by about 6.6%. When their variable term ends, they will have paid much more cash to the bank and made much less progress towards paying off their mortgage.

Interest rates fell for years, but now they’re starting to climb decisively. It used to be that variable rate mortgages worked in favour of borrowers, but as rates were cut these borrowers made principal contributions that tended to be higher. Now the scenario is exactly the opposite. Variable rates are rising in response to increasingly heavy mortgage debt levels, and this of course is making it more difficult for homebuyers to make real progress in paying their debt.

Long story short, advising your clients about the greater advisability of a fixed-rate mortgage these days may be something you’ll want to do.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered to you exclusively and for your similarly-exclusive region of any city or town in Canada. It’s a great way to get more out of your efforts and build your client base more efficiently and effectively.

Toronto Real Estate sees almost a 2% increase in sales in 2019

Published October 9, 2018 by Real Estate Leads

Last week, the Toronto Real Estate Board announced that year over year sales in the Greater Toronto Area had seen a 1.9% increase in overall sales. This year over year increase is good news for local realtors and even better news for those who are looking to buy or sell in the hot Toronto market. This kind of increase was expected, but with sales through the multiple-listings system going up over 120 this month when compared to last year, the board has been ecstatic.

This news was only made better when the board compared average selling price in the Greater Toronto Area. Last year, the average home sold for $774,489, while this year the average is now sitting at $796,789, an increase of over 2.9%. This is a huge jump, and although this is still a cool housing market when you compare Toronto to the likes of Vancouver, GTA realtors are starting to take notice.

GTA realtors might be enjoying a larger than normal selling price when compared to last year, but one of the more concerning numbers for those realtors who sell a lot of below-priced homes it the fact that new listings are down. Overall, the GTA has seen a decrease of 3.1% in new listings, and this could start to affect the bottom line of some of the regions top agents.

The board has seen an increase in price growth mainly in higher-density properties around the city. This means that realtors who are selling townhouses, condos or semi-detached homes have seen an increase in both profit and movement around their properties. The numbers have finally started to stabilise after the provincial government introduced the foreign buyer’s tax and speculation fees on vacant homes that saw the market dip in the new year. However, realtors need the advantage to stay ahead, and that comes in real estate leads.

Real estate leads are one of the best ways for Toronto or GTA based realtors to get ahead of the curve and ensure they are one of the more successful realtors in the area. From being able to get leads on who is selling, and who is buying, you will be able to match homes or condos to prospective buyers with relative ease. Imagine not having to cold call throughout the day, and instead, have warm leads delivered to you in a competitive market like Toronto.

This is the reality for those who use real estate leads, and with a hot market like the GTA, you need to get ahead. Now is the time to see how real estate leads can help you take advantage of this almost 2% jump in the market, and the almost 3% jump in pricing, and enjoy being a realtor again. With leads in your mailbox, you will be able to focus on what you love about your job, selling houses, and finding perspective home buyers the house or land of their dreams. It is time to start enjoying work again, see how real estate leads can help make that happen!

Fall Cleanup Ideas for Homes Soon to be Listed

Published September 11, 2018 by Real Estate Leads

Spring and summer are always peak season for the real estate market, and now that are both are getting behind us as 2018 moves into its final quarter it’s time for us to consider Fall and how it’s different for clients listed a home at this time of the year. As realtors, our clients rely on us to have a whole wealth of insights into the best ways to market a home and maximize their return on the sale of it. Obviously, landscaping and manicuring of the property becomes LESS important during FALL but don’t think for a minute that it becomes unimportant entirely.

Part of flexing your knowledge muscles for clients comes with meeting these would-be clients in the first place. Prospecting is as difficult as it’s ever been for realtors these day given the level of competition that’s out there and the fact that the real estate market in Canada has cooled considerably recently. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generator is an excellent way to supercharge your prospecting efforts and those who’ve already taken advantage of it tend to rave about how it’s done just that for them.

But back to the topic at hand; what can your clients do to make their home more marketable from an out-of-doors perspective? Read on.

Here are a few simple tips that won’t eat up much in the way of time or money so they can still enjoy the season while making their home look its best.

Start with the Exterior

It’s important to remember that the exterior of a home is just as important as the interior and that’s because it’s the first thing buyers see when approaching the home. However, they don’t need to be a professional landscaper to have an attractive front yard this season. Follow a few simple guidelines and they can take their lawn from eye-sore to exquisite quite quickly. Have them make sure that leaves are raked, grass is cut and flowerbeds are tidy. Instruct them to pull out their garden earlier than usual, as well as cleaning up all the weeds before adding a quick layer of fresh topsoil.

This is an easy and inexpensive way to make the home’s landscaping look its best. Next, if their patio set looks as though it has been sitting out all summer, suggest they give it a quick wipe down and clean the cushions of any dirt and debris. They should also get rid of any summer flowers that are now wilting and try some plants that are better suited for this type of changing weather. Those will certainly add a better feel to the area as far as potential buyers are concerned.

Welcoming Touches

Suggest some ways that your clients can make people feel welcome with a fall display outside their front door. An autumnal wreath and decorating the porch with harvest-themed plants with rich orange flowers, pumpkins, gourds, corn and bunches of apples will impress potential buyers and make them see the home differently in a good way. Once they feel like the exterior is in tip-top shape, they can then pay some attention to the interior of the home as well. One suggestion that’s been known amongst home stagers for years is to have a lingering smell of baking coming from the kitchen while an open house is being held.

With the inevitable arrival of fall, it’s time for them to pack away their summer clothes too. Boxing them up and storing them at a friend’s house if need be is a good idea. Cleaning out all of the cupboards (homebuyers often open them up for a look) is too, and they should ensure that the basic items left behind are tidy and well organized. Get rid of any cobwebs and don’t let them forget to dust off ceiling fans. Suggest a fresh coat of neutral paint and carpet cleaning if you know that they don’t have much in the way of budget constraints. Clients that minimize clutter and get rid of anything they do not need or don’t want to take with them is hugely beneficial.

Although selling a home in the fall requires spending a little more time tending to the outdoors, making the extra effort like this doesn’t go unnoticed with prospective homebuyers.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered to you exclusively and for your own protected region of any city or town in Canada. You’ll quickly see it’s money well spent as you’re put in touch with people who need the services of a real estate professional like you.

Saleability Factors Clients Are In Control Of When It Comes to Selling A Home

Published August 15, 2018 by Real Estate Leads

Even the greenest realtors will quickly find out that selling a home is stressful for clients, and particularly so if the market is more of a buyer’s one that an a seller’s one. That part of it is of course dictated by market forces and isn’t something either you or your clients should be dwelling on. Your clients will be looking to you to be the voice of authority and experience that is guiding them along the way to their receiving the best possible outcome with the sale of a property that they’ve likely invested a lot of their time into owning it. Needless to say, dropping the ball in that regard isn’t an option.

Now we do know that you don’t need to be convinced of that. Gaining clients isn’t easy, and it’s also very competitive in this industry. There hasn’t been enough ‘pie’ to go around for decades, and it’s pretty safe to say it’s never been more challenging than it is today. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is an excellent way to reinforce your efforts there. Once you’ve made initial contact with these potential buyers or sellers, then you have the opportunity to wow them with your knowledge of the biz

Nothing is more assuring for folks in the early stages of the home being on the market than a realtor who can be the voice of reason. And further, if you can take that voice of reason and help them with saleability of the home, you’re well on your way to becoming ‘their’ realtor.

So, here are 5 saleability factors that are very much in your client’s control, that will help get their home sold at the right price.

The Property’s Condition

The home in question may meet all of a buyer’s criteria (and look great on paper) but if it’s ‘run down’ in any way when a buyer comes knocking, he or she will likely leave quickly and scratch your client’s home off their list. Advise them that it is very much their job to make sure their home is in tip-top shape to ensure the home is sold at the best price possible. Make it clear they need to be certain that everything in the home is well-maintained. A good start is to have them declutter their home and make sure everything is orderly and well-serviced. A home that’s been cared for very well and promises to require very few repairs if any and minimal ongoing maintenance is very attractive.

The Terms

Suppose your clients have met with a keen buyer. Here’s what they should do to do themselves a favour and make the purchase an easy decision and smooth process. A good many interested buyers opt out of a potential purchase for no other reason than that the terms are just too complicated or inconvenient. Advise your clients to be proactive in defending agains this. Investing in a home inspection report and dealing with the issues before their home hits the market is HIGHLY advisable. Doing so will help them seal the deal and enable you to reach a larger market as their realtor. Another factor to keep top of mind is their move-out date, and ideally one in the near future. Showing potential buyers that they are able to vacate the home quickly will work to their advantage.

Availability

A client’s home could be the best-looking property on the local market, but what good is attracting buyers if there’s never any available time to meet with them? It is essential that clients adhere to a schedule that meets the buyer’s needs and to also be able to accommodate last-minute viewing requests – even if they will be disrupting their lives. It’s in their best interest to be flexible. Let them know that a buyer’s sense of urgency could be a positive indication that they want to move fast. Denying requests to see the home could mean your clients losing out on a sale. When they are preparing to sell their home, prompt them to take note of any issues that should be dealt with before it hits the market.

Upgrades and Extras

Upgrades and extras go a long way in improving on a home’s saleability. From kitchen renos to installing a new heating system to window upgrades or even simply patching up holes and then applying some fresh paint. Advise clients to stick to practical renovations, as decor renovations are particular to a person’s taste and of course tastes vary wildly from one person to the next.

Price Setting

Speaking with a realtor and being open to his or her suggestions as to what is the right price for a home makes so much sense for clients, and it is perfectly acceptable to state plainly tha pricing a home realistically gives them a much better chance of selling their property quickly. When pricing their home, they should set emotions aside to ensure that their price is fair and justifiable. Explain that the home’s value is best and most realistically indicated by reviewing the comparables. Researching homes that have recently sold in their market and which possess the same characteristics as your clients. Then sit down and show them what you’ve learned, and how it should dictate the way they approach pricing their home as it is prepared to be put on the market.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you exclusively and also for your own privately served area of any city or town in Canada. It’s a proven effective way to get so much more out of your prospecting efforts as you move towards becoming an established and trusted realtor in whatever part of the country you’re serving as a reputable real estate professional.

Market for Detached Homes in Canada Now Officially ‘Flat’

Published August 8, 2018 by Real Estate Leads

Realtors all across Canada have certainly been beneficiaries of the tear Canada’s housing market has been on for years. Come mid 2018 and we’re seeing that that era may now be over, and in hot markets like Vancouver and Toronto it’s becoming the ‘bubble’ isn’t going to exactly burst as predicted, but it isn’t getting any bigger either. That of course means something of a plateauing for home values, and particularly for detached homes that were nearly always selling for way over asking as a result of bidding wars. This and the larger number of qualified buyers looking to buy homes before the new Mortgage Stress Test Regulations via the BoC.

Home sale volumes for the period between March and April hit a nine-year low, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), and that of course has effects of all sorts as the increased amount of inventory make it not so slantedly a seller’s market anymore.

Of course, realtors will have fewer prospective detached home buyers as a result of both these trends. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is a great way to get more out of your client prospecting efforts and connect with individuals you want to be in touch with as a new realtor.

No Pop, For Now

Home prices for the most part aren’t dropping, at least for now. The national average home price slid 6.4% last month as compared to May 2017. Most of that’s attributable to the fact that the mix of homes being bought and sold now includes greater numbers of comparatively inexpensive properties, like condos and to a lesser extent townhomes, and less in the way of detached houses. The national average lower is skewed lower accordingly.

Looking at CREA’s benchmark home price, home values were up 1% in May 2018 compared to May of last year. That’s not cause for alarm, but it’s still a very big dip from the often tens of thousands of dollars worth in annual home equity gains many Canadian homeowners had been basking in.

The reality now seems to be price increases in the low-single digits. CREA predicts national average home prices to rise by 3.8% in 2019, with gains in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and prices staying stable in the Prairies and Newfoundland and Labrador.

That trend of stagnating or modestly rising pricing, if it holds up, has implications for home sellers, home buyers and even homeowners who aren’t planning to sell.

Bidding Wars Becoming Fewer

Clients thinking of putting their home on the market should no longer rudimentarily assume that their home will sell for a higher price than their next-door neighbour received last year. There will be exceptions to that, and most likely in Ottawa and Montreal, where home prices are still recording healthy gains.

As a real estate agent, you should have a firm idea of how to price a client’s home competitively by looking at price trends over the past three months in your particular area. Being in the know up front prevents any type of misstep on the part of the seller that may hinder or disappoint them in the future. Know market value, and suggest listing prices accordingly.

Have your clients best interest firmly in place, and have all 3 of you ‘know’ your story as you say, knowing how to defend your price. Ideally, you’ll be able to present the buyer and the buyer’s agent with a spreadsheet showing prices for similar properties in your area over the past few months.

Pricing a home in the ‘high range’ of what it’s worth gives you and your clients room to negotiate, while underpricing a property with the idea of sparking a bidding war isn’t nearly as advisable as it used to be.

See bank appraisals for reasons for that. They’re not as assured as before either, and banks want to protect themselves as well in case of any downturn. Long and short of this is banks won’t lend more than a home’s appraised value. The winner of the bid war may not have the finances to cover the difference once the bank looks at mortgage terms.

It’s important to also have an end date for your client’s listing, to avoid their property languishing on the market and to place a cap on expenses incurred within listing the home professionally.

Downsizing Reconsidered More Often

As we mentioned in our blog of 2 weeks ago, more and more detached homeowners are staying put and not downsizing to smaller living spaces as has been the trend for a long time now. That’s because these owners are now having to resize their expectations, especially if home is Toronto or Vancouver.

Yes, sellers will still make a profit, but it won’t necessarily be the big gains they’d been planning on, and naturally their predisposition will be to hold tight for now

Relatedly, condo prices are soaring in all major urban areas in response to this and many other trends in Canadian real estate.

The prospect of getting a home for slightly less than the asking price has improved, and that’s good news for some buyers. Sign up here for Real Estate Leads and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online generated buyer and/or seller leads delivered to you exclusively for your independently-serviced area of any city or town in Canada. It’s a great way to supercharge your prospecting efforts and generate meeting opportunities with potential new clients.

Poll Shows More & More Seniors Committed to Staying In Family Home Through Retirement

Published July 23, 2018 by Real Estate Leads

Real estate agents are as familiar as anyone with what is, or at least has been, the typical cycle for families in relation to home ownership in Canada. Once the kids have grown up and moved out and you’ve reached what’s called ‘empty nest’ status then typically it was often the case that a couple approaching or already in retirement would consider downsizing to a home that meets the much lesser needs of the two of them.

According to a recent Ipsos poll nationwide, 9 out of 10 seniors now feel it’s at least somewhat important to stay in their current home through their retirement. The poll surveyed Canadian homeowners of all ages, and found that those aged 65 and up are more likely than younger homeowners to value living out their retirement years in their home.

That’s quite a departure, and the fact that many of these homeowners live in detached single family homes in urban hotbeds like Vancouver and Toronto definitely has the potential to sway the real estate market and change how realtors approach their business. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is a great way to get the power of the Internet helping you with building your client base. But it seems that some of the bigger fish, if you will, won’t be in the pond now.

Reasons for the Putting Off or Delay in Downsizing

As mentioned, detached family homes are few and far between in Canada’s major housing markets, and this trend of older owners staying in spacious detached homes may leave new homebuyers in something of a lurch. It’s a fact that construction of new detached homes in Toronto and Vancouver has declined to the lowest rates in decades, much of that attributable to rising land prices and municipal density requirements.

The situation is then becoming that new homebuyers are largely competing for existing homes even as city populations continue to grow, and that has certainly fuelled the soaring prices of recent years.

Why the new reluctance?Seniors may be avoiding downsizing for a fear of not getting as much bang for their buck as they’d hoped, particularly as the market begins to cool in Canada’s major metropolitan areas. For this reason, seniors thinking of downsizing to free up some cash for retirement may be reevaluating their expectations, especially if their live in Toronto or Vancouver.

While prices for single-family homes in both cities are dropping or moving in a straight line at best, condo prices are still soaring. This is typically where many ‘downsizers’ will be focusing their purchase interests, having long been able to buy one and then ‘pocket’ a nice retirement fund from the sale of their detached home.

Knock, Knock

More relevant to you here , however, is the fact that this may also explain the increase in realtors approaching homeowners about selling their home, and especially in Ontario. Another survey found a quarter of those over 75 responded that they’d been approached by a realtor unsolicited, meaning they’d never expressed interest in selling their homes before.

Successful realtors adapt, and those who are door knocking here are most certainly showing the hustle needed to adapt in these new market environments.

We see now that without an influx of homes coming back on the market as Canada’s population continues to age, it may be even more difficult for new homebuyers may to compete for buying the home they need.

Things Looking Up?

2018 to date has had cities like Vancouver and Edmonton seeing a surplus in home inventory for the first time in years, keeping in mind that prices have yet to react.

Homes for sale in Metro Vancouver reached a 3-year high in June, according to REBGV. This is believed to be because buyers are less active today, making for a volume of homes for sale not seen in the last few years. Edmonton is at a similar peak, the highest since 2008 for that city.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads delivered to you exclusively for your similarly exclusive area of any city or town in Canada. Make the most of each of them and you’ll almost certainly see your client directory growing in a hurry.

3 Solid Strategies for Move-Up Buyers

Published July 17, 2018 by Real Estate Leads

Moving up has always been a common strategy for homeowners looking to work their way into the home that is going to suit them long term. My parents started in the smallest of row homes here on the West Coast of Canada some 30+ years ago and now they’ve got a beautiful large home with yard in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Real estate is an investment, and making judicious decisions when it comes to purchasing real estate with the idea of selling the home for profit in the future is very important.

A good realtor is a knowledgeable and helpful realtor, and for those of you who are new to the business there’s so much you can learn – and share – about how to best buy real estate given your clients’ long term plans. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is dynamite for getting your more in the way of qualified leads that you can contact and then have the opportunity to secure clients. We stress the word ‘opportunity’ though, because that’s all it is. Your prospective home buyers or sellers will expect you to know the business!

Moving up to their ‘forever home’ is exciting for people. Most move-up buyers typically will have some savings and home equity to work with, making their next move feel less like a compromise and more like a thoughtful selection. However, move-up buyers face their own set of challenges that call for a very evaluated and measured strategy.

Here are 3 options for your smart move-up homebuyers and sellers with a plan!

Sell First

The ‘sell first’ strategy is ideal for move-up buyers who are unable to afford to pay two mortgages simultaneously. Having them sell their property first eliminates the risk of having to carry two mortgages, conditional upon not selling the existing home in time. This also reduces the chances of them having to reduce their asking price in response to a need to speed up the sale. This is a good option for move-up buyers who are banking on the proceeds of their sale to fund their new (and likely more expensive) property. By selling first, they’ll know exactly how much money they have to purchase their next home.

Determining Suitable Asking Price

When homes in a clients’ area of choice are selling faster than the sign can hit the lawn, it’s often that a ‘buy first’ strategy is the way to go. Buying a new home before selling their old one removes any rush to settle into a sub-par property, or having to seek alternative temporary housing options while you continue the process. This move-up buyer still lives in his or her existing home and this allows them time to shop around, and keep on with looking until they find that perfect place. This move-up buyer will typically require a bridge mortgage.

Understanding Mortgage Options

Acquiring an agreeable mortgage as a move-up buyer approach is most ideal for anyone, but making that acquisition is increasingly challenging these days. Having clients align their purchase and sale closing dates can be tricky. It’s a 3-way dance – the client, the person they’re buying from, and the person who’s selling the property your clients would like to buy. Have them keeping in mind that they’ll also have to move out and move in on the same day, so time is their best friend if it can be managed effectively. This means they need to plan ahead – researching neighbourhoods, being pre-approved for a mortgage, and beginning the ‘purge’ that should come before a big move.

The right move-up buyer strategy of course depends on a number of factors, such as your clients’ financial situation, current housing market conditions, their personal comfort level and their predispositions as buyers. Have them consider all these when making their decision. You are the pro who’s there to ensure a smooth transaction on both sides of the bargaining table.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of online-generated, qualified buyer and / or seller leads that are provided for you exclusively and for you similarly exclusively-served region of any city or town in Canada. It’s a great way to supercharge your prospecting efforts and build your client base when you make yourself as the expert who can help these people with a purchase of this kind of magnitude!

4 Pre-Construction Closing Costs Homebuyers Should Be Aware Of

Published October 2, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

There’s no debating that buying a home during a pre-sale or even further in advance of construction beginning has many benefits. In addition to more agreeable pricing as the first buyer, your clients will also have more in the way of options for customizing their home, modifying it to accommodate a mortgage-helper suite if need be, etc. etc. As well, presale buyers will often have a grandfathered-in clause allowing them autonomy over whether or not they choose to rent out their unit, independent of complex-specific rental restrictions.

Here at Real Estate Leads, our online lead generation system for realtors in Canada has been so especially well received by realtors coast to coast, and we believe that helping you have further success with the increased opportunities it’s providing for you is beneficial for one and all. A knowledgeable realtor is always one held in high regard by prospective clients, so this week we’ll yet again share information on a subject yours may well want to know of – pre-construction closing costs.

They tend to be rather unexpected surprises for many a buyer, and you’ll be fostering better relations between them and yourself if you can make them better aware of these costs long before they near their closing on purchasing a home.

A Few Last Pricey Hurdles

It’s easy to get caught off guard with closing costs when buying a pre-construction home. They’ll vary depending on the value of the home, the municipality in which it’s located, and whether you’re a first-time home buyer or not.

As a general rule of thumb, advise your clients to have 2 – 4% of the purchase price earmarked for closing related costs.

Some of the most common of these added closing costs are:

Development Charges

Pre-construction properties most often have development levies at the insistence of the city. The property developer will almost always pick up the lion’s share of them, but a portion of these costs are still passed on to the individual or couple purchasing the home. These development levies are very necessary; they go towards capital and operational expenses for the city, like building new schools, maintain utilities infrastructure, or funding new transit initiatives.

Clients considering buying a pre-construction home should aim to be very clear on whether or not there’s a cap on development charges, unless they’d like to be surprised at closing perhaps. Low rise homes will have their own specific charges, for benefits such as driveway paving, community tree planting, and work needing to be done to meet municipal building specs. Of course, every situation is different – you can go ahead and recommend your clients consult with a real estate lawyer you trust, in order to review the documents and be 100% clear on applicable fees.

New Home Warranty

A New Home warranty is the term used for a warranty for a buyer’s pre-construction home. What’s typically covered within it?

A multi-year warranty for major structural defects
Deposits (paid to the builder in advance of the construction of the home)
Certain defects in work and material Protection against unauthorized substitutions
Coverage for common elements in condominiums
Compensation for construction delays or occupancy
Against financial loss for contract homes

More information in regards to these different coverages are found at the different new home warranty providers’ websites, depending on your Province. The cost of enrollment is – not surprisingly – dependent on the purchase price of your client’s home.

Ontario – Tarion

British Columbia – New Home Warranty via BC Housing

Alberta – ANHWP

Saskatchewan – NHWP.org

Manitoba – MBNHWP

Quebec – RBQ

New Brunswick / Nova Scotia / PEI / Newfoundland – AHWP

Taxes

There are a pair of main taxes on pre-construction homes; the first is the provincial land transfer tax, and the next is provincial sales taxes. If your clients are purchasing a new townhouse, condo or house, however, there may also be an additional municipal land transfer tax.

In Ontario, for example, rates vary with their land transfer tax, depending on the purchase price of the home. Using the same example as above, a $532,000 home would correlate to a land transfer tax bill of approximately $7,100. Keep in mind that first-time homebuyers will likely be eligible for a $4,000 rebate.

To make it simpler, I recommend using RateHub’s land transfer tax calculator to determine the approximate amount your clients will come out at. (Can be used for any Province)

Pre-construction project pricing usually include the GST, or HST depending on your Province. In fact, the builders get a tax rebate on your behalf. Keep this in mind though – if the property is not going to be their principal residence and instead is going to be an investment property, in some (not all) Provinces you will face a tax bill that’s a percentage of your home’s purchase price. If you’re planning on using the home as an investment, be sure to budget for this additional tax.

Foreign buyers should also keep in mind that there’s also an additional 15-per-cent Non Resident Speculative Tax (NRST) for buyers in Metro Vancouver and Metro Toronto, which of course has been smartly implemented to protect housing for Canadians living in those metro areas.

Lawyer Fees

Last but not least, there will also be lawyer fees that need to be accounted for. Real estate lawyers have a pair of main responsibilities; the first is conducting a title search, and the second is preparing an adjustment statement. This includes closing costs plus any additional applicable fees. It’s typical to expect to pay somewhere between $1200 – $1700 in legal fees, depending on the purchasing specifics. It’s always best to shop around for competitive rates, and going with experienced real estate lawyers is best.

It’s definitely stressful, but buying a new home is overall an enjoyable experience for most people. As a realtor you have the most power to make it so your clients’ experience, and by signing up with Real Estate Leads here you’ll have all the more opportunities to do what you do best and ensure your clients are 100% happy with every step of the process AND without too many unexpected surprising costs.

4 Innovative Approaches to Marketing Real Estate

Published September 7, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

Ask any realtor what’s the number one engine driving change in the way properties are marketed and he or she will almost certainly reply that it’s technology, and web-based ones in particular. As is always the case, it’s those who adapt to and embrace these new technologies who gain the greatest amount of benefit from them before their use and application becomes commonplace. Here at Real Estate Leads, we’re obviously keen on new technologies too, having brought our own offering to the table with our online lead generation system for realtors in Canada that’s been especially well received.

Technology comes from innovation, and in turn technology is implemented with innovative approaches to using it. These new approaches can give real estate agents and brokers and edge in an increasingly crowded place. Embracing changing technology, generating unique content, and carving out a specialty niche to stand out from the competition is highly recommended.

Here are 4 innovative marketing trends for real estate agents or brokers.

Video or Live Streaming of Property or Neighbourhood Walk-Throughs

Most of us can take quality 1080p HD video with our smartphones, and video has the potential to be an enormous marketing asset. People by and large pay more attention to videos than text communications and, as of this year, video constitutes 74% of all web traffic.

Short, bite sized videos let real estate agents quickly and easily share the appeal of a specific property. Many brokerages or individual real estate agents will have a prominent section of their website dedicated to video real estate listings.

What’s exploded in popularity these days among realtors, however, is live streaming. It’s a fact that people spend 3x longer watching live streaming video than they are willing to give to other forms of video.

That should sound plenty good to real estate agents: they can live stream videos to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or other social media platforms to allow potential clients an in-person look at available properties or neighbourhood hot spots.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how to ‘go live’ on YouTube –

Target Specific SEO Keywords Highlighting Your Real Estate Niche

In real estate, 9 times out of 10 your buyer or seller will come from a targeted audience. Keep in mind though that the website of an individual real estate agent won’t able to compete with the well-paid SEO efforts of MLS giants like Zillow.com or Realtor.com. That’s not to say you can’t increase the visibility of your site for search engine like Google and the like, and the key to doing so is by identifying related keywords that are specific to your niche or location – whatever or wherever that may be.

The key here is to NOT attempt these revisions to the text on your website – unless you’re an SEO professional or experienced web copywriter. If you’re not familiar with SEO optimization, meet with one of these experts and share what it is that makes YOU unique in your capacity to serve SPECIFIC customers in YOUR area. He or she will then incorporate these changes to your web copy, without ‘stuffing’ the content – which is the common mistake made by anyone who attempts to DIY upgrade their search engine optimization. It needs to read naturally for 2 reasons; first, keyword stuffing really reads awfully, and second, Google and other major search engines will actually penalize you for it – meaning it will actually harm your website’s SEO!

Zoom in on hyper-local keywords such as neighbourhoods or even postal codes. Are you an expert in neighborhoods like Kingsway or Spruce Grove, for example? Content marketing that’s developed according to specific neighborhoods is getting big. Smart real estate agents or brokers make their targeted locations clear, so as suggested above go ahead and ask around and be open to paying for the services of a professional.

Use a Real Estate Website Building Service

The majority of you won’t have hours or thousands of dollars to spend constructing and maintaining a real estate website. Most realtors will have a website, but the technology associated with web development has grown in leaps and bounds and you stand to benefit immensely if you upgrade to one of the much more dynamic websites that are available these days.

Much the same as above, don’t hesitate to pay a web developer to build you a website that’s both a reflection of the calibre of your business and one that’s particularly engaging for would-be clients that visit it.

Here is a list of the top web developers in Canada.

Many of these new super dynamic real estate sites are MLS integrated and easily customized to target a variety of audience types, generate leads, and more. Your developer may also be able to incorporate building pages, which show a specific development’s unique story. Speaking of stories…

Tell & Sell the Real Estate Story

As is the case in every industry now, content marketing in real estate is more powerful by the day. Realtors can and should be able to sell the experience and tell a great story, whether on their own (you’re likely a much better writer than you’re aware) or with the help of a content marketing specialist. Create content that focuses on the neighborhoods you cover; for example, what are the 3 best schools in that area? What sports or recreational pursuits are available in the nearby vicinity? You get the idea.

Also, when you’re putting together your content make sure you’re not simply rolling out one ‘fact’ after another. The best stories create a bond between you and your prospective clients. Research has shown that 92% of consumers want marketing materials that share some type of story where they can imagine themselves in the experience, rather than being told ‘it’s like this, it’s like that’ . Be creative, especially with your real estate blog posts. Share an engaging bit with them about what their experience could well be in their new home.

These are but 4 examples of ways you can harness the power of new digital media for your benefit with your real estate business. Of course, signing up with Real Estate Leads here and enjoying online-generated qualified buyer and seller leads delivered to you exclusively each month will be similarly beneficial, and we bet you’ll be plenty intrigued with our service once you dig into the details of it a bit.

7 Unobtrusive Friendly Tips to Offer to First-Time Home Sellers

Published August 29, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

You’ve secured your client and they’ve agreed to list their home with you. Great, you’ve turned your opportunity into a client and your prospecting strategies are paying off. There’s standard protocol choices that a realtor will go through when he or she determines that the client is a first-time home seller, and it’s good to have a less-procedural approach sometimes as you move through the stages of listing and selling their home.

Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system has been very helpful for realtors all across Canada, and as we’ve stated many times, prospecting effectively in real estate is all about establishing relationships, expanding your skill base, and – most importantly – making every opportunity into the most it can be. Sellers who sell their home quickly and / or get their asking price or beyond will hold you in very high regard, and quite likely request your services again years down the road.

As regards that less-procedural approach, it can be very helpful to make less-important but still valuable tips to your clients and present them in a very conversational way. Let’s discuss a few of them here:

Know and Suggest the Best Day to List the Home

Experienced realtors will know the best days and seasons to list a home based on it’s specifics and / or location . This time period will vary depending on the local community, the weather, time of year, and a host of other factors, and of course including the vibrancy of the present real estate market – or lack of it. This is a great one to discuss with your new clients very early on in the process

Be Direct About the Suitability for Immediate Showing

It’s perfectly acceptable and entirely advisable to be up front with people about whether their home is ready for showing, or what it needs to get to that point. Allow an open house if the home is conducive to an open house.

Showing a home that is not ready for it can mean a squandered opportunity with a potential buyer who may have been willing to pay asking price, a big loss for owners who are looking to move their home quickly and for the price they want.

Be Proactive in Preparing a House for Showing

Related to the above, an agent should be very involved in both recommending and working to make the home truly ready for sale. Most homes show better with about half of the furniture removed. Ideally buyers walk in the door and can get the feel for the space they’ll have at their disposal. Another industry-wide choice is home staging to boost selling power and appeal.

Painting is often the single best improvement you can make. Dings in the woodwork or gouges in the walls make your home suggest there’s going to be deferred maintenance. Always a big negative for an prospective buyer.

Advise Flexibility with Showings

In as simply a suggestion manner as possible you should suggest your clients be flexible with showings. If they’re too much of an imposition, you might suggest they go away the first weekend their home is on the market. Sure, some might think it a bit intrusive to make a suggestion of that magnitude, but you’d be surprised how many couples are quite receptive to it. The best way to sell your home is to let a buyer inside with the buyers’ agent to tour in absolute peace and quiet.

Use your judgment whether or not to suggest having a family member or pet of any sort be absent from the home during showings. Again, you are being a professional and working in the ENTIRETY of your clients best interests. They should be understanding and appreciative of that Use judgment, but do be firm in saying what you feel needs to be said.

Recommend Professional Photography

Most clients will make this move on their own, but if not you are wise to make very clear how much they’ll benefit from working with a professional photographer who has a high-end 20+ megapixel DSLR camera. Advise them that it’s not enough to just get the angle right in the photo, the most popular photos are rich in colour, depth, and sharpness and they are visually appealing in a way that a series of snaps from a smartphone or point n’ shoot camera simply can’t be. Suggest further that they approve the virtual tour or photo tour before it is published online and / or in print.

Suggest Regular Monitoring of the Listing Online

Homeowners will know the property better than anyone, and it’s quite common to have ones make suggestions, queries etc. on the listing of their home as they are exposed to each day or several days a week via their computer or smartphone. As such, suggest your clients review their listing online regularly. Suggest that they can look at their home listing on various websites, also to make sure the information is always being stated accurately.

Agents do their best to ensure accuracy, but since it is their home, they’ll know the details better than anyone. When they spot something may be amiss, they’ll contact you immediately and you can react from there.

Share the Advisability of Booking Movers Well in Advance

Once an offer is accepted and a possession date is confirmed, tell you clients about how it’s very much in their best interests to book a moving service early if they intend to use one. The end of the month is always the busiest time of the year due to the rental market, and they can also help themselves out by starting to pack once the offer is accepted, even if the possession date has yet to be agreed upon.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here to have online generated qualified real estate buyer and seller leads delivered to you exclusively and for your own protected region of the country. We’ll get you some leads, and you’ll work your magic in turning those opportunities into clients!

Appraising Clients on The Best Ways to Approach Bidding Wars

Published August 10, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

Real Estate markets in certain locales across Canada are as hot as they’ve ever been, and there’s no getting around the fact that it means that bidding wars are often the norm for attractive properties. Here at Real Estate Leads we’ve put a lot of effort into providing our online lead generation system for realtors together, but another part of what we do is share industry insight that realtors can share with their clients OR those clients can benefit it from it themselves directly.

As stated, these bidding wars are standard procedure in many parts of Canada. More and more prospective buyers are facing off against another buyer for their dream property, and no doubt it can be stressful. Far too many people go above and beyond their REAL purchasing means, but there’s no reason you have to drain your bank account in order to purchase a home you love. Realtors who have been involved in many multiple-offer situations during their careers have loads of advice on how you can best approach a bidding war and act prudently within it.

Every bit of their advice circles around one particular maxim; make homeownership decisions with your head, not your emotions. We’ll add to that it’s often far too easy for prospective buyers to falsely insulate their perception of what makes the home a ‘must-have’ when the prospect of a bidding war is looming. The token first consideration is to be 100% honest with yourself and always be reevaluating your position with an especially critical and objective view. After all, the purchase of a home is very much not one to be taken lightly!

Anyways, here we go with our 6 tips for being in a bidding war for a home.

Understand Market Value

Regardless of what a house may be listed for, it will typically end up selling for what it’s truly worth. It’s recommended to determine the home’s market value by consulting with a real estate agent or looking up comparable properties via the local MLS before bidding accordingly. For example, if the house is listed for $100,000 less than it should be then most of the offers won’t extend past the initial round of bids. In these instances, prospective buyers who bid low likely shouldn’t have been there in the ﬁrst place.

Don’t Hold Back on Putting in Your Best Offer

Should you be up against 2 or 3 other bids, it may surprise people to learn that it’s best to give their best offer right away. You can then be of the perspective that if you don’t get the house, you can have some assurance in knowing that you gave it your best bid. Keep in mind that putting in your best offer doesn’t always mean going beyond your budget – determine a limit and stick to it. This is about getting the most ideal home for you, and not about ‘coming out on top.’

Nix Your Conditions

It will also be beneficial to have any and all prospective homebuyers understand that removing conditions from your offer may make your bid more appealing to the seller, and particularly so if your bid is similar to that of another buyer who’s less flexible in this regard. The ﬁnancing condition is fairly easy to remove, as long as you have completed the mortgage approval process in advance of your bidding. Another recommended consideration is to think about eliminating the home inspection condition. That doesn’t mean you forego the actual inspection, however, as if you’re really interested in a home you can then pay on your own for an inspection before you state your offer as compared to doing so after you bid.

Bring a Certified Cheque

This one is big; If you’re serious about purchasing a home then bring a bank-certified cheque in the amount of the offering you’re prepared to make so that – should it be accepted – the sellers can deposit the money into their account right away. This has twofold benefits; one, it shows them you’re 100% committed to going through with the purchase, and two – it really gives them explicit incentive to move forward with your offer on the home.

Leave Ego Out of It

As suggested above, it’s unfortunately all too common to have problems arise when buyers get carried away with the competition and become compelled and singularly focused on winning the bidding war. Nothing is worth stretching yourself beyond your means ﬁnancially. Being house poor is a real condition and increasingly legitimate problem for every greater numbers of people these days.

There’s no debating that having the wherewithal and good judgment to be able to accept that you’ve been eliminated from the bidding war is SO important if you want to eventually be in an ideal home AND one you’ll be able to afford. This cannot be shared with your clients earnestly enough!

Which leads to the final tip,

Be Prepared to Walk Away

Go ahead and be optimistic about your max bid but also be ready to move on. As is the common belief in the industry amongst realtors, there is a 90+% chance that any home that you see as being ‘perfect’ and ‘can’t miss’ will be outdone by one that’s either already on the market, or will be on it before long. This advice is even more practical for buyers who are already living in a home that they either own outright, or the majority of it. They absolutely do NOT want to be making ill-formed decisions with the equity they’ve worked so hard to build.

Being informative and helpful for your clients begins with establishing prospective buyers and sellers AS clients in the first place. To that end, our system is a great choice for profit and business growth-minded realtors across Canada. Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive qualified online-generated leads delivered to you exclusively for your protected region of the country.

From there, take those opportunities and work your magic putting people in homes they love on the way to making a strong name for yourself as a realtor in your community!

Traditional Mortgages Riskier Than Ever According to BoC

Published June 19, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

Home buying has never been a particularly inviting and reassuring process for most, but recently there’s been plenty of discussion in the media about the role high-risk borrowers play in making the financial lending pillars a little too shaky for the big banks’ (and the economy in the bigger picture considering the role housing plays in it) liking.

The question here is how are traditional borrowers doing across Canada? Not so long ago, the Bank of Canada updated Canadians on how low-ratio mortgage originations did in the previous year, 2016. In their quarterly report on vulnerabilities and risks, the growth of low-ratio mortgages was called out. It would seem that well-leveraged home buyers represent a significant portion of the purchasing whole, and that mitigates much of the risk for banks. However, these buyers are – not surprisingly – taking out significantly larger loans much more often, and the way that increases amortization terms is posing risks for real estate markets.

Here at RealEstateLeads, we offer a valuable tool that provides a way for realtors to get more listings, but we understand that sharing knowledge with those agents in order for them to make buyers ever more qualified for the life-altering purchase they’re about to make is definitely beneficial as well. So let’s discuss this recent concern regarding traditional mortgages.

Low-Ratio Mortgage Borrowers

A low-ratio mortgage borrower is a buyer who has a significant down payment when buying a home. Sometimes called a “traditional” mortgage, it will typically stipulate that a 20% down payment is required. According to the BoC, a low-ratio mortgage borrowers averages a 30% down payment at this time. These are the least risky types of mortgage holders. Or in theory at least.

These types of borrowers continue to be the client of choice, but the BoC has been taking notice of the risks associated with their borrowing preferences. First off, after a 35% down payment, income documentation rules become “less stringent”, as the bank puts it. Part of that means income verification is not undertaken. That’s not a particularly pressing issue since the likelihood of a home’s value dropping by 35% is fairly unlikely, but it’s a possibility nonetheless and some would say it’s more possible than ever before and particularly in specific locales.

The average loan-to-income rate across Canada for low-ratio mortgages saw minimal growth throughout 2016. A loan-to-income rate is exactly what it sounds like – the ratio of the amount borrowed on a mortgage in comparison to the amount of income generated by the household. 3 years ago this number was 271%. One year later, it had jumped to 292%, a 7.74% change. 2016 saw it increase to 296%, a 1.36% change. This should be regarded as a positive, but it should be noted this is across Canada. In-demand markets like Toronto and Vancouver are burdened by markets that many people would figure have no correlation.

Low-Ratio Average Loan-To-Income Above 450% Is Growing

One specific risk highlighted by the BoC is the number of low-ratio mortgages with a loan-to-income ratio that stands above 450% is growing. In 2014, the number of low-ratio mortgages had a loan-to-income above 450% was only 12%. By 2015, that number leapt to 15% of all mortgages. In 2016, the total of low-ratio mortgages above that 450% loan-to-income mark was sitting at 17%. It continues to grow, fuelled in large part no doubt that Canadians have shown themselves to have little to no fear of extreme housing debt, or being ‘house poor’ as the term goes.

The BoC is quite justified in their concern about this segment, and for a pair of reasons. The first is the sheer size of loan, while the second is the documentation of income. When your loan-to-ration tops 450%, there are inevitably going to be doubts about your ability to keep up with the payments. Further, when they’re low-ratio mortgages, it’s not unlikely that income wasn’t verified as stringently as perhaps it should have been. Should the borrower haves a significant change to their income or a change in ability to withdraw income from another country, there’s a real potential for big-time problems.
The risk to the lender isn’t all that prominent in such an instance, but the issue is that it threatens the equity of neighbouring homes when it happens repeatedly. Unfortunately, the nature of the market means the stage is very much set for that to happen in specific regions.

Low-Ratio Mortgages Are Taking Longer Terms

Another growing trend is low-ratio borrowers choosing longer amortization periods. In 2014, 42% of low-ratio mortgages had terms that stretched longer than 25 years. In 2015, that number jumped to 46%. Now, the number for low-ratio mortgages with amortizations longer than 25 years is 51%. It’s a growing trend, and one that obviously would be troubling to lenders.

It has the potential to be particularly problematic because of low interest rates. Mortgage rates are already at historic lows, but any type of significant uptick could be very tough for the borrower to absorb. One could increase the length of their mortgage, but that length of amortization may not be available in the future. Should that be the case, you would have to take a shorter amortization and increase your payments dramatically. Not difficult to see where this is going, and why it could be potentially devastating for borrowers.

Yes, the risk associated with these types of loans are likely exclusive to overheated markets like Toronto and Vancouver. They don’t present much of a concern to banks, on account of the cushion applied to down payments.

The concern should rest exclusively with the homeowners, and those prospective homeowners may be your clients. Be sure to have a reputable mortgage broker / advisor on tap to recommend to your clients, and do consider signing up for RealEstateLeads here to get qualified online-generated buyer and seller leads delivered to you exclusively for your specific region of the country.