What's for Sale in Grand Beach...

So what does $114,900 get you in Grand Beach?

Well if you act fast, it gets you location, location, location.

Just walking distance from world renowned Grand Beach, you can sit on your front deck and gaze at Lake Winnipeg and on a clear day, often all the way to Gimili.

This newly listed neat and tidy, 852 square feet, 2 bedroom cottage is situated in Grand Beach's next door neighbor, Grand Marais. Share all the amenities Grand Beach Provincial Park has to offer with none of the restrictions. The cottage is finished in a combination of pine and cedar is on a large 50' x 150' lot and includes a 3 pc bathroom, a large enclosed sunroom great for extra sleeping and a 10x 20 tiered deck (2009) deck on the front.

The large backyard could easily accommodate a tent, trailer or build a little guest house for those unexpected guests who surely will drop by.

Besides offering you a world class beach, Grand Beach is only a 1 hour ride from Winnipeg. It also offers golf, waterslides, kiosks, shopping, campgrounds, picnic areas, playgrounds, bakery, arcade, retro diner and so much more.

Enjoy many more summers in this existing cottage while planning to build your dream retirement home for later. It is truly one of the best spots in the area and is a downright steal at only $114,900!!

Call or email me to book your showing. Showings start Monday, June 9. Don't miss out on this great opportunity to own a lake front cottage in Grand Beach/Grand Marais.

 
I'm here for YOU.

~Ciao

Selling Your Home With Pets...

Most of us have them.  We love them dearly and they are part of our family.  Now, I know it might be hard for us pet lovers to imagine this...but not everyone likes or even tolerates our four legged family members.  Some home buyers are allergic, others are afraid and everyone detests pet odors.  Even if the buyer is a pet owner themselves, you have to remember that your pets aren't their pets.  More times than not, the buyer will assume your pet bites, jumps, vomits, claws, spits up hairballs and are just plain hyper and bad.  

Unfortunately, our pets can become a bit of an obstacle when we want to showcase our home in the best possible light.  Since the presence of pets in a home automatically decreases the home's value in the buyer's eye, the best piece of advice I can offer is to find different accommodations for your pet while your home is on the market.  Hopefully, a friend or relative can take care of them or you may want to consider boarding them at a kennel.  If this is not a possibility, I suggest the following tips:

• Make your agent aware that there is a pet in the home.  This way they can post explicit instructions on the listing to caution the buyer's agents at showings.

• Any exotic animals or reptiles need to be securely contained and their presence should be revealed before buyers and agents enter your home.  A prospective buyer and their agent should never  accidentally discover them.  This never ends well.  Again, let your agent know, so others will know.

• Perception is everything and buyers are prone to suggestion.  Try to remove the pet from the home for all showings and any signs that a pet resides in the house.  That means remove food and water bowls, doggie beds, toys, cat trees and scratching posts, etc when not in use.  Keep the yard completely free from dog excrement.  I'd even go as far as removing pet photos as well.  If a buyer knows there is a pet residing in the house, they will purposely look for pet related damage.  This can be frustrating to the seller when no damage exists but the buyers assume there must be.

• Be realistic about your home's value.  Your home may have actually decreased in value because of damage due to pets.  If you cannot repair the damage you may have to consider a price reduction.

• If it smells it won't sell.  Have an objective third party give your house the sniff test.  Keep cat litter boxes and dog potty pads out of sight and impeccably clean.  

• Hire professionals to remove urine stains from the carpet.  If stains cannot be removed, you may want to consider replacing the carpet.

• Vacuum daily (and not just the carpets) and change bags more frequently than usual.  Open windows and let fresh air in.  A closed up home will hold more odour.

• If your pet must remain in the house for a showing do not let them run loose.  You never know how your pet will react when spooked by a "stranger".  It's so sad when a pet escapes when the agent opens the door never to be seen again.  Instead, put your pets into a carrier or kennel, with a note stating  to not bother the pet. And again, let the agent know so this information is relayed to the other agents.

I know we love our pets and we don't want to be away from them.  Selling your home is stressful enough but pets can complicate and prolong the process.  By removing them from the home, the house should sell faster and help keep your pets safe.  Before long, Fido will be back in it's rightful place, ruling the roost once again. 

I'm here for YOU.

~Ciao

Determining List Price...

I heard this line from the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic;  "Cost and worth

are very different things."  It resonated with me because it's a concept that can be very difficult to explain to the homeowner when we are determining the list price of their home.

"Cost" is what you actually paid.
"Price" is the amount asked. 
"Value" is what it's worth. 

Who determines value?  The market determines value.  It's just that simple.

When a homeowner is interviewing agents to list their home, there are many things you should be looking for when choosing an agent.  Basing your decision on which agent tells you the highest list price is not one of them.  In fact, I recommend your choose your agent before you determine the price of your home.  Agents, have as much control over the price of your property as we do the weather.  A good agent is going to come into your home with a thoroughly prepared Competitive Market Analysis because market value is determined by facts not opinion.

You know when you go to the doctor and he gives you an X-ray.  That X-ray gives the doctor a pretty accurate picture of what's going on and he will analyze and diagnose from there.  The CMA  is very similar to that X-ray.  It gives us a clear picture of  where we are sitting presently and we can analyze the facts and determine the best route to take for optimal results.

What's in a CMA? 

A CMA will include recently sold listings that are the most similar to your home.  From that, we can determine a price range of what the market is willing to pay for your home.  I'll also show you the listings that didn't sell and we'll figure out why they didn't.  From there, we will look at all the competing listings.  These are the listings that are presently up for sale.  They are your competition.  This is where we'll discuss our pricing strategy.  We don't want to list your property at a price that will help your competition look even more appealing and hence help them sell their home.  We may, however, want to price your home in away that could make your competition work for you instead.  Combined with information on current statistics, the market's condition, trends and inventory, together, we will determine a list price that will allow you to receive the optimal price, in the most reasonable amount of time.

But why don't we just try listing my home at a higher price for a couple of weeks and if it doesn't work we just can lower it?

It's your home, and honestly, you have the final decision on what you want to list your home for but I strongly advise you not to do this for many reasons:

• A home is only a "new listing" for a while and the first 2 weeks is the most important time as it's the time the most people will see it. The longer a listing sits, the less traffic that listing receives.

 
• It's not only buyers that get excited to see your new listing...other agents get excited too.  If it's not priced right, the other agent's enthusiasm will wane.  They are not eager to show their clients a home that is overpriced.
• With the higher price, the real qualified buyers for your home may not even see your listing.  You may have inadvertently priced your house outside the perimeter of their search criteria.  If your listing fails to make itself know to them, how can they buy it?
• Buyers are educated. They'll spot an overpriced home right away.  And if a buyer doesn't, the mortgage appraiser will and the sale you thought you had is dead in the water.
• You risk your listing becoming stale.  The longer a listing is on the market, buyers may start wondering what's wrong with it.  Having your home on the market is stressful at the best of times.  Always being ready to show your home, maintaining a "show home" condition and still trying to live your life can be tough.   A savvy buyer may actually wait for it come down in price and use your beaten spirit against you.  A property listed too high initially, has a greater potential for selling less than market value.

• When a home is accurately listed at market value, a hot property can actually create a buyer's frenzy.  You could end up with a offer over your list price.  (Winnipeg has been experiencing this for a while now)

But I bought my house for xxx amount and I've paid xxx amount into improvements and you are saying that its value is less than all that added together?  I think it only fair that I get paid what it cost me.

Let me put this another way.  What if you inherited your great aunt's home.  You are quite content in the home you are living in now so you decide to put it up for sale.  Technically, it cost you nothing.  What would you expect to be paid for it?  It works both ways. When we make renovations and upgrades in our home there are going to be upgrades that may increase our market value and there will be upgrades that may only be important to us.  And then there are upgrades that fall somewhere in the middle.  What you paid for something yesterday has nothing to do with what it's worth today.

Cost and value are not related and they should never be confused.

All real estate sells for market value.

Keep warm.

I'm here for YOU.

~Ciao