dave barrow newsletter may2011

Considering Your First Condo?

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DAVE BARROWREAL ESTATE INSIDER

INSIDETHIS MONTH’S ISSUE!

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Cover Story - Considering Your First Condo?

Featured Story - Sell Your Home Now With These Tips

Current Mortgage Rates in Halifax

Super Dave’s Auto Sales Referral Program!

Too often, condominium buyers fall prey to the “do nothing, just play” sales pitches inherent in lifestyle campaigns presented by condominium developers. Although “condo living” may offer freedom from the physical tasks associated with home ownership, con-dominium owners are not free of the responsibilities of property ownership. In fact, they take on the added ob-ligation of ensuring the condominium corporation man-ages their investment properly.

“Just shut the door and go – even for extended peri-ods,” “welcome to worry-free living,” and “leave every-thing to the property management firm” are three of the most common statements made to entice potential buyers to condominiums. These three statements are not automatically true. An owner should get involved in the running of the condominium to guarantee peace of mind and security of investment.

The term “condominium” does not apply to the physical structure of the building, but rather to a type of property ownership that differs from province to province. Town-houses, high-rise apartments, detached homes, com-mercial units and industrial properties may all be set up as condominiums. In each case, owners have agreed to share ownership of the common property called the common element which includes everything from swim-ming pools, stair wells and lobbies to the roof, plumb-ing and elevators. Owners pay monthly fees, based on the unit factor, to cover the expense of maintaining the common element......(Cont’d Pg, 3)

This advertisement is not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract.

MAY2011

If you or anyone you know are interested in buying or selling real estate I would be happy to hear from you!

TODAY IS A GOOD DAYTO PROTECT YOUR MORTGAGE

Nick MathersBus 902-443-5337 ext 2212Cell [email protected]/nicholas.mathers

© Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, 2009.

Because your home is more than just where you live. Know your options.

PRESENTED BY

W W W. DAV E BA R ROW. C A

In a buyers’ market, selling your home can be a frustrating lesson, especially if you make costly mistakes that can slow your sales opportunities.

According to an article by Zillow, about 36 percent of homes nationwide sold for a loss in January. As spring rolls in and buyers head out to shop for their perfect home, they’re doing so with a critical eye because of the many choices due to ex-cessive inventory.

If you avoid common seller mistakes, you can save yourself time and money. Let’s take a look at a few of these problem ar-eas.

Sole-focused, comp-based pricing. Yes, recent sales count. Studying and under-standing the comps in your area will give you an idea about how much buyers were willing to pay for homes in your neighbor-hood in the recent months, but relying strictly on the comps is a mistake.

Take a close look at the homes that are currently listed for sale. How does your home stack up? What are the benefits of buying your home compared to the others on the market? What makes your home stand out? Are you conveying this infor-mation to buyers?

When you do review the comps, see if you can notice any particular benefit list-ed for the sold homes that may have at-tracted buyers and ultimately caused the sale to close at a higher price. The typical advantages include: good schools, neigh-borhood parks, walking distance to retail stores, close access to freeways, quiet neighborhood, bright rooms, open floor plans, and new appliances. Now, take a look at your home from that buyer’s perspective and search for a few more unique features worth noting.

List your improvements and upgrades. If you’ve put in a tankless water heater for instance, be sure to mention it. While only so much can appear on the Multiple Listing Service, if you have plenty of addi-tions to your home make a bullet-style list, print it out, make copies, and leave it for open house guests. This additional sheet will help buyers remember specific details about your property and it will help your home stand out from the dozens of others that they might be viewing.

Listing home for sale based on what you paid. Do you sell a car based on what you paid for it originally? Not typically. Yes, I understand cars depreciate but when it comes to real estate, many people, until recent years, had been trained to think that homes only appreciate. Well, houses most certainly can build equity, but there’s been a sharp lesson about how they can lose value too. Getting what you paid or more for or a home depends on many factors, including when you purchased it, current market conditions, economic fac-tors, length of ownership, improvements, and how much time you have to sell.

Listing your home based on how much is still owed can cause a seller to list the home for too high of a price. This can quickly result in a painful cycle of price reductions signaling to buyers that there’s plenty of room to negotiate on price. In the last month, 23 percent of homes listed on Zillow had price reductions.

Sell Your Home Now With These TipsNot making curb appeal into web appeal is another mistake. Curb appeal is the art of making your home appeal to buy-ers from the moment they first see your home. Some sellers think of this in terms of making their home appealing when buyers come to an open house or drive by it. But these days, curb appeal must transfer to web appeal, too.

That means that any and all pictures of your home should create web appeal -- an instant attraction -- drawing the buyer into your home for an in-person look. If your photos or videos are not properly composed with pleasant lighting and free of clutter and distractions, they won’t ap-peal to buyers browsing the web. With so many of the searches for homes originat-ing online, it’s worth it to invest in the best photos you can of your home. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words ... and a video of your home can be worth even more if it convinces the buyer to get in the car and make the drive to see the “real” thing!

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...which includes everything from swim-ming pools, stair wells and lobbies to the roof, plumbing and elevators. Owners pay monthly fees, based on the unit factor, to cover the expense of maintaining the common element. The unit factor will gen-erally be calculated in proportion to the value that the unit has in relation to the total value of all units in the condominium.

Each owner has individual ownership rights to his or her unit. Condominium documents outline the exact extent of the common element, the boundaries of indi-vidual units, and rights and obligations of all parties. Each condominium is different. What is common element in one may be part of the unit in another. For example, the exterior wall of the unit may be part of the common element in one condominium and included in the unit in another.

Armed with information about how the condominium is set up, the property ad-ministered and the residents’ actions reg-ulated, buyers and owners will be able to protect their rights and their investment. For instance, condominium owners are le-gally bound to pay monthly maintenance fees whether they agree with manage-ment’s spending decisions or not. Own-ers must not assume all management de-cisions are financially sound – they must make sure they are. Are lavish amounts spent on redecorating the lobby instead of upgrading to replacing energy-efficient windows?

First Condo (continued from Page 1)The first step as a potential condominium buyer? Learn your rights as an owner. Our federal housing agency, Canada Mort-gage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) offers a free comprehensive guide–online and in print–to get you started.

Aimed at the Canadian housing market, the no-charge Condominium Buyer’s Guide clearly and concisely provides in-formation on many aspects of condomin-ium ownership.

First-time buyers, as well as experienced homeowners considering a condominium for the first time, will find useful informa-tion on types of condominiums, conver-sions, buying research checklists and various information sources and contacts.

MORTGAGE RATES

Term PREMIERE Posted

ARM Prime–0.75% Prime

1 YR 2.64% 3.70%

3 YR 3.59% 4.55%

5 YR 3.89% 5.69%

*OAC, rates subject to change without notice, rates as of 05/23/2011

For more information regarding interest rates or mortgage options, please

contact Igor Geshelin at Premiere Mortgage Centre.

(902) 441-6493 [email protected]

For more information regard-ing interest rates or mortgage options, please contact Igor

Geshelin at Premiere Mortgage Centre.

902 441 [email protected]

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