Technology is once again helping out another industry looking to survive these uncertain times. The emergence of virtual tours during this pandemic is helping some Alberta real estate agents carry on with their job.
“What we’re seeing right now is the advent of the virtual [walk through]… certainly the photographs are enhanced, a lot more information online,” said David Agema, an associate broker with Agema Group Lethbridge.
“Now we’ve created the virtual walk through, which means the camera goes up and down, they have balancing machines, so you can see the property,” he added.
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Virtual tours can serve as a convenient resource and they may even stick around.
“I believe you will see this to be the norm. Because of a forced change, an opportunity presented itself to sell to the public, to sell to the sellers, which makes sense to everybody’s life,” Agema said.
“Theoretically open houses, where you just meet strangers, we have no idea who’s coming through your house,” he said.
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The tours can be a great tool for people who may live far away, however, in-person viewings are still possible with the help of extra safety precautions.
“Turn all the lights on, leave all the doors open. Leave the front door unlocked if you know the showing’s going to be right there at 2 o’clock,” said Justin Myer, realtor and owner of Lethbridge Real Estate.
“Maybe at 1:50 they unlock the door, so when the agent comes in there’s very little touching,” Myer said. “They don’t have to turn any light switches on or turn them off.”
Myer says practices such as disinfecting surfaces, wearing gloves… and physical distancing are being implemented as well.
He goes on to explain that some people who are set on buying or selling property right now will continue to do so, despite COVID-19.
“That’s why real estate agents in Alberta were deemed an essential service… because you are going to have a lot of people, where maybe there’s a divorce, maybe there’s a court-ordered sale, maybe there’s an estate sale, like they just have to sell their places,” Myer said.
Although both realtors say there has been a recent decrease in both local sales and selling prices, the full impact of the pandemic won’t be known for at least a few more months.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
