Elementary
Realtor interviews business
Allow me to introduce myself as Jacqueline Watson, a Realtor in the Toronto/GTA area. However, my expertise extends beyond real estate. I am also a Mediator specializing in Labour Relations. My passion lies in more than just selling homes; I strive to transform lives and empower individuals to achieve financial freedom through home ownership.
In addition to my real estate endeavors, I am building a thriving community through my podcast, Elementary. This platform allows me to engage with various businesses and share their stories. My career path initially began in Toronto & GTA, coinciding with a successful tenure as a Director of Labour Relations, in healthcare working in the long term care retirement and commune services industry, which I hold dear to my heart.
Combining my passions, I feel incredibly fortunate to work as both a Realtor and a Labour Mediator. Each day, I have the privilege of doing what I love, and I am immensely grateful for this opportunity. The journey that has led me here has been remarkable, and I cherish every experience along the way.
Furthermore, I recently had the honour of joining the Pilot Place board. Witnessing the incredible impact this organization has on people's lives fills me with gratitude. I am delighted to volunteer my time and contribute in any way possible to support their noble mission.
Elementary
Realtor Real Talk: 10 myths - Behind the Scenes of a Successful Home Sale
Is inflating your home’s price for negotiations actually costing you more than you think? Join me, Jacqueline Watson, as I debunk ten common myths about selling your home, offering clear, expert insights and practical tips. Discover why pricing your home close to market value can lead to a faster sale and why a full remodel might not be necessary to attract buyers. We’ll also discuss why any season can be the right time to sell if your home is well-priced and beautifully presented. Plus, learn how downsizing can enhance your lifestyle and why older homes can still charm buyers despite the allure of new properties.
Think selling your home without a realtor will save you money? Think again. In this episode, I reveal the critical behind-the-scenes work that realtors do, from staging to appt handling, negotiations insurance and much more, which adds significant value to your sale. We also touch on the current market conditions, providing strategies for managing rising interest rates and advice for homeowners facing mortgage renewals. Finally, we wrap up with a heartfelt farewell, thanking our guest for their valuable insights and inviting you to suggest topics for future discussions. Tune in for a wealth of knowledge to help you navigate the real estate market confidently!
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Welcome to Elementary. I hope you're having a fabulous day, wherever you are. I'm not sure what you did today, but I hope whatever you decided to do, it was absolutely awesome. Well, my name is Jacqueline Watson and I'm a realtor in Toronto and I'm your host today. And today I'm going to talk about 10 myths, and I'm going to start with. Yeah, there's 10 of them that I'm going to touch on, and you probably heard about most of these, but I'm just going to remind you about them. But before we get started, let me know. If you have any questions, drop them in the question icon below or in the comments section, and I'll try and get to them before the end of the show.
Speaker 1:So, myth number one that you should always price your home high to leave room for negotiations and that is by far the biggest myth someone could tell you. First of all, you should price your home as close to market value as possible and because, at the end of the day, the buyer is going to determine the price. If you price it too low, guess what's going to happen? You are going to end up. If you price it too low, it will get raised up to the market value because people are going to think, oh my goodness, look at the steal of a deal and they're going to bring the price up If you price it too high. That's actually the difficulty, because people are going to think that your pricing is so high that you will actually turn off potential buyers. So pricing, pricing, pricing is so important. But that is myth number one, that you should price it high and leave room for negotiations. What's myth number two? Myth number two is that you should completely remodel your home before selling, and that cannot be further from the truth. While most buyers like these remodeled homes absolutely, for the most part, just doing how else should I put it a half-assed remodel is really not a good way to go right, because I think it's just, it's wasteful. If you're just going to like remodel but really not do a good job, put very cheap finishings, you're going to get that sort of return. I mean, it really depends on the price point we're looking at. Really, I'm in Toronto and the Toronto housing market is super crazy and the Toronto housing market is super crazy. But when buyers are paying that much for your home, they actually want a good price point. I mean, they want a couple of things. They don't want cheap finishings, unless they can tell. But they want good finishings, they want good quality product.
Speaker 1:Myth number three spring is a good time to sell your home. Well, quite frankly, any market is a good time to sell your home because you get an influx of different people and lately the market has been changing so drastically. So I think what people were thinking spring is always a good time really it really doesn't make a difference. You're going to get people year round looking to buy a home and as long as your home is priced well, it presents well, it's going to bring in buyers. In the winter you're going to get people who are absolutely crazy. No one who just wants to tour your home is coming out on those coldest days to look at your house if they're not serious, right. So think about it that way. Sometimes people say oh well, you know, in the winter there's not so many houses in the market. Well, all the more reason why people might want to buy your house. So a good market is any year round, any time of the year. I mean the whole year round, no-transcript. And honestly, timing the market is so difficult and waiting could be missing out on opportunities. The right time to sell is when you're ready. You know you just have to get someone that is knowledgeable, that has your back and help you navigate this crazy market in the first place. If you're doing it now but really the right time to sell is when you're ready so, just thinking you're going to time the market, it's almost impossible You're going to get if you buy. Let's just say this if you buy, if you sell at a lower price point, you're also buying at a lower price point, right, and sometimes if you're selling, if you're buying a bigger home at a lower price point, the delta is really where you are looking at. But really, at the end of the day, the market value is a market value. Even though you may sell at a very high price, you're also buying at a very high price. So think about it that way, right?
Speaker 1:Myth number five downsizing means sacrificing comfort, and that could not be further from the truth, because downsizing comes with a lot of positives. Right, it could be that you're saving money, you have less maintenance costs. I mean, if you have a huge home, you're paying to heat that home. You're paying to have empty rooms, you're paying to heat empty bedrooms, and you could lower your cost. You could have a home that better suits you, so you know. So one of the things is you know, when you're buying an initial home, sometimes you may be on a budget. You may have like three or four kids or two, who knows and typically if you're on a budget and you have kids, you want to buy a home that suits the needs of your family. So you're really choosing a little differently. But sometimes when you're downsizing, you get to the stage where you're really looking at really what you want. Right, because the world is your oyster at this point. Maybe you're almost an empty nester, maybe you are an empty nester and you're really just looking for something you want, as opposed to trying to fit all these people in, so on and so forth, and your needs could change quite drastically at this stage, right?
Speaker 1:Myth number six are older homes are harder to sell and while maybe people might want a newer home or a little more appealing, there are a lot of people who really like the charm and character of older properties. The key is to take care of your home, to keep it in good condition. When I say that, it doesn't mean that it has to be super renovated, but it has to be like the most important item should be taken care of and the property. You know I can walk into some known as property and you can tell that they've done everything. You know it's super dated but it's super well kept, so there's a big difference and super clean. So myth number seven you don't need to stage a home in a hot market. So I feel strongly about this. I feel that staging really does quite a bit for the home. I feel staging is essential. It allows people to really find themselves. It allows people to really see themselves in that space. Really, it also allows you to get the most for your money. But in a hot market and even in a down market, I think people need to walk in and see themselves in that space and if they can't do that, then I think it doesn't matter how hot the market is. You're not going to maximize the amount of money you get. Number seven I already said number seven, I'm really sorry. Number eight Online home evaluations are perfectly accurate and that is not true.
Speaker 1:It could not be further from the truth. Online home evaluations may hit the mark sometimes and people might go to these tools that are just giving you what they think the value is right and it's really. I mean, it doesn't tell you how they're arriving at this number, it just tells you what they think the number is. But really, if you take a look around and you do a true evaluation, you take a cross section of what is sold, you know, in the property type you're looking for, you do the exact updates.
Speaker 1:Now from a buyer and a seller. This becomes a little testy, right? So let's say you're the seller and I can tell you you know, we deal with sellers every day of the week and every seller thinks their property is valued at the highest amount. They think their property is the best, it has the most of this and even if it doesn't have the most of anything, they think the property is the best, it has the most of this. And even if it doesn't have the most of anything, they think the property is the best and that they should get X amount of dollars. But a buyer also thinks their property, the property is worth what the property is worth At the tail end of the day, it's what the buyer is willing to pay for the property. End of the day, it's what the buyer is willing to pay for the property.
Speaker 1:But I think well, not I think, but you, as the seller, you really have to make sure that you're understanding and that whoever you're working with is giving you the true numbers so that you can make the most. Like I said in the first myth, overpricing is not going to bring you the money you need. As a matter of fact, it will have you stay on the market a lot longer than you anticipated. So myth number nine um, the first offer is always a low ball offer, and that it may sometimes be the truth, but it's not always, and really sometimes turning down the first offer is not always the best way. I've seen people who have turned down an offer and have not got another offer in months thereafter.
Speaker 1:Really, if someone has taken that time to put an offer in writing, if someone has taken that time to put an offer in writing, so yeah, if someone's taken time to put that offer in writing, you really need to turn your mind towards it. Do you know how hard it is for someone and I'm not talking whether you're a seasoned buyer, you're a first-time home buyer, it doesn't really matter Do you know how hard it is for that person to put pen to paper? They can look at homes and then they're always gun-shy when it comes to putting pen to paper, and it's so important to really really turn your mind towards the offer. And money is one thing, and while money is one thing, so money is not the end all and be all right. There's so many components to the offer. It's about conditions. It's about you know, what are they offering you, what are the conditions? What do they want from you? You know, do they want? What shadows do they want? And sometimes people ask for like the weirdest things, like I did one offer and the the buyer, my buyer was saying, hey, I want all these, um, all this equipment, and I'm like it's kind of their equipment, but it was weird because they were asking for it. So I mean, you know, but turn your mind towards it. That's all I'm saying. Turn your mind towards it. Hi there, thompson, thank you so much. Good evening to you too.
Speaker 1:And myth number 10. This is number 10. Selling a home without a realtor or selling a home on your own saves you money. And I think people are mistaken and I'm going to go out on a limb and you guys can, you know, hate me for that, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say, look. I think what you see on the surface is what you see on the surface. If you actually could count up the amount of hours we put in to selling a home and Dory Global team will agree with me on this one, I know that and the amount of effort we put in and, mind you, we are independent entrepreneurs, right? So this is our business. We do not get paid until you have a deal finalized. You have a deal finalized.
Speaker 1:So even though we're putting out all this money, so for me, for example, I'm out like a lot of money before I can even get your home on the market. And sometimes we have to sit back and look at like if I have a seller who says to me oh, I want to test the market, I know I'm putting up so much money up front, I don't know if I want to test it with my money, you know. So I have to be mindful about what I choose and who I choose to work with, because we are putting out money on your behalf to get your home staged and pictures taken and I mean so to start with a professional cleaning, staging pictures. All of those things are money, but that's only the first half, and you know the organizer that I send in. She costs money too, but that's one drop in the bucket.
Speaker 1:If you know what goes on behind the scenes about appointment setting, about someone booking an appointment, about us trying to figure out who's coming to your house, we have the insurance for it. You don't have the insurance. So of course, if you're selling it on your own, you have to be mindful that you have random people knocking on your door saying, hey, can I see your property? And of course you know people that come through have to come through with an agent, whether it's the agent that's listing the property or now. I've got a whole reel on that one about. You know, should you go with the listing agent or not? And it doesn't matter whether it's my property or not. Listen, if you want to be represented, get yourself a good agent, because the listing agent is has one job it's to deal with the seller and make the most money and follow the seller's instructions.
Speaker 1:So so, myth number 10, like I said, you know, yes, you can. Anybody can sell their home. It's your home to sell. But if you only understand what goes into the work behind the scenes, it really makes a world of difference. You'll understand how much work we actually do to get the best for your home. So those are my 10 myths. Thank you, planetca. And so, yes, thank you for sharing. One of the viewers is saying that that's the kind of work I do in Nigeria cleaning and using man lift for maintenance. That's cool. That's very cool. So those are the 10 myths for today's topic.
Speaker 1:But as we move on, if you wanted to know what's happening in the real estate market, the next interest rate announcement is scheduled for September 4th and right now the economists are saying that more than likely, you will see another drop. Now how much of a drop? No one knows. It could be quarter basis points and who knows if it'll be more. Now I can't tell you what to do. I don't have a crystal ball and, like I said, timing the market is among the worst. So will we get, you know, crazy amounts of people coming out in droves to buy? Who knows? Will we get more people just waiting a little longer before they buy? Who knows? But September is typically when school starts, people are back from vacations and people start to turn their mind towards real estate again, because life starts and the reality of life starts again, because people were off during the summer trying to enjoy the weather, enjoy the weather, and so.
Speaker 1:But there's also the other component, right, that if you're coming up for renewal. So there's two pieces to that. If you are struggling in any way, start to work on your approvals early, and that's because the sticker shock is going to be drastic. I had actually someone talk to me yesterday. They had 1.65 and they're coming up for renewal next year and even with rates dropping, the sticker shock is going to be quite drastic. And so I said to them I said, oh, if you could put away money like you were paying for a higher rate, you should actually pay a higher amount, and that way, when it comes for renewal, you're not really getting that sticker shock. But, most importantly, you're actually lowering your interest costs by doing that, and any little thing that goes directly to principal makes a big difference, and so that's important. But there's different tactics that you can do. There's different things you can use. There's different ways you can deal with the upcoming renewals.
Speaker 1:If you have a renewal, all I would say to you is find someone who who's in your corner, who can help you out, help you understand what you're signing up for. A mortgage is not really a mortgage. A mortgage is more than that it's. It's it's really, it's more than just a mortgage. It's actually understanding those conditions, those key conditions of that make the components of your mortgage that really, really help.
Speaker 1:So, in saying that, I want to thank you for spending your dinner hour with me. Once again, my name is Jacqueline Watson and I'm a realtor in Toronto and it's always a pleasure to have you on the show. If there's a topic that you'd like me to uncover some more and you think it would be a good topic that you'd like me to uncover some more and you think it would be a good topic that you'd like to learn more about, feel free to DM me, let me know what your topic is, or drop it on one of my social posts. That would work too. In the meantime, thank you so much. Your time is so appreciated, and until next week we'll talk. And before I go, actually I wanted to share with you.
Speaker 1:I have an upcoming webinar for any of you who have friends, family, who are thinking of downsizing, or thinking of not even this year. It doesn't have to be this year. It could be like two years from now that maybe your parents are thinking about downsizing years from now, that maybe your parents are thinking about downsizing and they've got a lot of stuff. I have a webinar coming up September 10th. It is a webinar on organizing and decluttering. I'm so excited because I partnered with an organizer who is going to do the webinar for us and give you some great tips and tricks to help you get started or at least turn your mind towards it, right, Because what I'm feeling is a lot of my clients are like they get so overwhelmed, Like it's like, oh, my goodness, I'm like, I'm going crazy, I don't want to do this, and then they they just kind of like stop and they don't do it anymore Anyhow.
Speaker 1:So all of that coming up, but thank you so much again. I so appreciate your time and for you to come on the show and watch, and until next time we'll talk soon. Take care. Bye, oops, where is this?
