Yesterday & Tomorrow

From all of us at Oakhill to all of you who made 2014 a huge success, THANK YOU!!!

To all the clients we served to our fellow REALTORS® we wish you all the best in 2015, if you need anything gives us a call!

As we look back on the year we are very happy to state our business more than doubled!!! We are so very pleased that you trusted us with your business and we don’t take it for granted. We work hard every day to be the best at what we do and we won’t stop trying either!

This was a very difficult year for many, the economy in this region still struggles but we still sold more than $260 million in real estate…and that’s not a bad thing at all! Real Estate Companies came and went, agents moved around like they always do and we are very happy that Kim, Fiona and John joined us this year. They have been great additions to the team that we are building at Oakhill, no plans to be the biggest but we have many on being the best. Interest rates are still at an incredible level and the market tends to favour the buyer so as they saying goes “buy low, sell high”

What’s in store for 2015 at Oakhill? Well we are in the market for two more agents to join us plus one that will have her license soon…right Ray? If you thought about getting into the business or looking for a change than drop into our office and let’s chat! The market should continue to improve slightly but looks like we are another year away from any significant improvement. Interest rates…well that will always be the hot topic but unless the economy shows some strength I wouldn’t anticipate any great change. There will always be the upward pressure for these rates to increase because of the low levels banks just aren’t making the kind of profit they want. I wouldn’t expect much more than a point or two above present rates down the road but struggle to believe we will see them in 2015. The financial world has been saying for the last three years they are going up but nothing, so I guess sooner or later they have to be right. Though it is very nice to see gas pricing below a buck a litre it also causes some challenges to growing the economy in our region, helps other regions greatly , ours not so much. Hopefully we find a balance for this industry in 2015 but again this looks like it’s another year or so away. We are re launching our private brand or for sale by owner program in 2015 called “Own This Home”. This program allows those wanting to sell their homes themselves to still have access to MLS® but at a much lower cost than the traditional model. We are also working on another product that we are very excited about but you are going to have to wait another month or so before we can tell you more. We would however ask you to stay tuned because I don’t think I’ve seen a group of agents this excited before about a new product!!!

We are very excited about 2015, we think it will be another year of growth at Oakhill and we would love to do business with you!  

Change

Here is a quote that I have had posted in my office, not sure where it came from or who the author is but much like the one we posted a few weeks ago this one also describes us at Oakhill pretty much to the "T"!

"THE SECRET OF
CHANGE lS TO FOCUS
ALL OF YOUR ENERGY
NOT ON FIGHTING THE
OLD BUT ON BUILDING
THE NEW"

 

We are always striving to be better at selling and buying real estate and meeting the wants and needs of our clients. We believe the world is always in a state of change and so is the real estate. We would rather be out front leading the way, trying new things instead of being in the way or worse being run over by those like us who embrace change.

 

 

If you have an idea that you feel would be a "WOW" for the real estate industry we would love to hear about.

 

 

Time to downsize?

If you are downsizing you have a couple of possible issues, one if you are thinking of a garden home you may find that it actually may cost more than what you can fetch for your larger home. This is market driven, high demand equals a higher price and since most families are much smaller today larger homes have less demand equalling a lower price. These are both pretty straight forward economic principals but you can fight back and at least get every penny from the sale of your home that you can. In coming blogs we will provide you useful tips that can help you get more for your home but for today we are going to give you the basics.

You have to make your home stand out from the competition but it has to be in a good way, too many sellers simply get an agent to put up a sign and take a let’s see what happens approach. Well what usually happens is the home doesn’t sell or it sells for far less than what it should. If you are thinking about selling than step back and begin to look at your home like you did when you bought it, forget the memories, and forget about what you have done, forget about how much you love your home and start to think like a buyer!!!

Have you ever gone for a drive and drove past that home and remarked “that’s a cute home”? I think we all have said this at some time or another and if we really stopped to look at the home that was very cute what would we find? Well the yard will be pristine, the lawn will be free of weeds, the landscape will be perfect, the trees and flowers are easy to maintain but add a nice touch. The home is well cared for, the siding is clean and well maintained, windows are spotless, and the roof is in great condition, the driveway is clear of clutter. In simple terms the home welcomes you to have a look!!!

That’s it! Nothing you can’t do but few sellers take the time, we have listed many homes and begged our clients to take some time and tidy these things up but if we had a dollar for every time a client said I am not spending one more cent on this place well wouldn’t have to work anymore. It should take you two to four months to get your home ready to sell…yes we did say two to four months. Above, all we talked about was the outside…inside will need even more work. Buyers today are picky they want the home to be pretty much perfect and every home has maintenance issues that have been neglected. How about the window that doesn’t open or the door that sticks, when was the last time that it had a coat of paint on the walls and ceilings? What about our favourite topic “clutter”? Reduce reduce reduce and then reduce some more!!! We all have way too much stuff, take a look at your closets and is there any space on the shelves or rods? We bet there isn’t an extra inch because we fill every inch of our homes. If you have five bed sets plus the one that is already on the bed box up five and just wash and reinstall the one that you have left, do you have 20 towels but usually use only one or two well than start packing now. A buyer who sees a full closets only sees a house that is too small and on to the next one.

The best advice we can give you is to think like a buyer when you are a seller. If you really do this walk outside and step onto the sidewalk and have a look at your home. What do you think, is this home for you? Have a note pad and as you walk towards your home write down all that needs some attention, nothing is too small. Step inside and go through your home room by room. Please, please, please remember you are not going to be living here anymore so that extra special colour you fell in love with but everyone else thinks you lost it now has to go!!!

If you follow this basic plan and tackle your home with the goal of making it a “very cute home” it will sell and it will sell in a shorter time period often for more money than what others are getting. It’s up to you leave money on the table for the buyer to take or put some elbow grease and a few targeted dollars into the old place and put some cash into yours.

Big Red Flag...

This quote from Mark Cuban that we found on Twitter sums us up at Oakhill pretty much bang on! Nothing stays the same, life is always in a state of change and you can either get on the wheel of life and enjoy the ride or get run over by those of us on it.

“Wherever I see people doing something the way it’s always been done, the way it’s ‘supposed’ to be done, following the same old trends, well, that’s just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.”

Life can get repetitive, consistent and complacent. Falling into a life or workplace of complacency is dangerous. Seek opportunities and take risks that are out of your comfort zone. Work for a company that is constantly changing, growing and evolving.

Surround yourself with people who are bold and do not follow paths already created. Do not be afraid to look at opportunities in life that are different, offbeat or even a little weird.

We are trained to interpret “different” as a negative, when in reality, different jobs and opportunities often provide for the greatest potential for us to thrive as individuals. Life is too short for us to live in fear of being different. Be whom you want to be and don’t worry about the haters.

Counterintuitive? Not Really

Thinking of selling your home privately but still want it listed with MLS®? Better still would you like all the local REALOTRS® and all their buyers to also see it on their internal system? This could mean potentially higher offers… and more money in your pocket! We have helped many in the past and we would like to help YOU!

Oakhill Realty believes that it is our job to find solutions that work for and in the best interest of our clients and customers. There are a number of private marketing firms that offer similar services but they don’t have licensed, trained and insured real estate agents working for them or you! Oakhill will provide you with affordable access to the most powerful tool in real estate- MLS® plus a number of other resources that you can choose from. Our Agents are licensed, trained and insured to trade in real estate in New Brunswick.

The Oakhill brand of “For Sale by Owner” or Private Sale, called “Own This Home” gives you the opportunity to sell your home at a margin of the cost compared to selling your home through a traditional Real Estate Company.

Our unique private sale program is designed for those who are knowledgeable enough about the real estate market to represent themselves but need the industry’s most powerful tool – MLS®. With “Own This Home”, you not only get the national MLS® system but also DMS which is the local backend used by local agents. This extra benefit will get your home seen by 95% of the people looking for a home!!!

Any questions? We would be more than happy to answer them…call John today at 506-633-8383

www.ownthishome.com
www.oakhillrealty.ca

The Hard Numbers!

Before we started to answer the rest of yesterday’s blog we thought we would share the most up to date stats from the Saint John Real Estate Board.

As with numbers or stats they can have a variety of interpretations one simple fact is that we are selling on average 154 properties a month and there is inventory to sell. The average sale price is around $160,430 which is a drop of about 7% from last year at this time. One fact we found interesting this month was that the price range that had the most sales was between $260,000 and $349,999 we feel this is some good news. Over all the market is relatively balanced as to what is selling.

The Saint John Real Estate Board Inc. MLS ® Statistic Report [NOVEMBER 2014 ]

2014 2013 2012 %INC/DEC [ 2013 - 2014 ] Total # of Listings [Month] 312 313 306 0% Total # of Listings YTD 5521 5559 5617 -1% Total # of Expired Listings [Month] 343 297 241 15% Total # of Expired Listings YTD 2668 2432 2522 10% Total # of Sales [Month] 125 140 137 -11% Total # of Sales YTD 1692 1767 1802 -4% Total Sales Dollar Volume [Month] $23,042,575 $23,707,250 $23,061,699 -3% Total Sales Dollar Volume YTD $271,449,113 $292,781,567 $292,321,848 -7% Show Chart 2014 2013 2012 TOTAL Total # of Closed Sales [Month] 158 115 133 406 Total # of Closed Sales YTD 1672 1711 1742 5125 Total Dollar Volume of Closing Sales YTD $269,227,208 $281,174,417 $282,331,848 $832,733,474 Total # Sales Pending 0 0 0 0 Total Dollar Volume of Sales Pending $0 $0 $0 $0 Number of Active Listings in the MLS ® System At time of Report Creation. (click Number for Current Detailed Report) 2870   NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD BY PRICE 2014 2013 MONTH YEAR MONTH YEAR Under 30,000 10 132 8 130 30,000 - 39,999 3 58 3 47 40,000 - 49,999 1 41 4 60 50,000 - 59,999 3 56 4 55 60,000 - 69,999 2 59 6 64 70,000 - 79,999 5 53 6 55 80,000 - 89,999 1 65 8 63 90,000 - 99,999 2 54 0 47 100,000 - 119,999 17 122 10 117 120,000 - 139,999 9 157 12 151 140,000 - 159,999 9 159 15 182 160,000 - 179,999 8 159 11 157 180,000 - 199,999 7 111 10 131 200,000 - 219,999 6 96 7 87 220,000 - 239,999 9 70 10 93 240,000 - 259,999 4 54 5 63 260,000 - 349,999 21 155 14 165 350,000 - 399,999 2 39 1 31 400,000 - 499,999 3 25 3 42 500,000 - 749,999 2 20 2 19 750,000 - 999,999 1 5 1 5 1,000,000 + 0 2 0 3

	RESIDENTIAL	COMMERCIAL	MULTIFAMILY	FARM	TOTALS
ACTIVE	2439	229	199	5	2872
SOLD	40724	814	2893	20	44451
CONDITIONAL	0	0	0	0	0
EXPIRED	42087	3670	5106	124	50987
CANCELLED	5686	396	623	16	6721
WITHDRAWN	2567	159	246	4	2976
TOTALS	93503	5268	9067	169	108007