In the midst of another lockdown and stay-at-home order, many Ontario residents are understandably feeling burnt out at the unpredictability of the pandemic.
However, life isn’t on pause due to COVID-19 – and if you’ve been trying to sell your home recently, that may just be another added frustration (and expense) you have to deal with.
In such situations, you need a reliable real estate brokerage that will handle the difficult process for you, and New Era Real Estate prides itself on being just that.
New Era’s main distinction is that they only charge a flat fee of $5,900 (compared to the much pricier 2.5% commission that standard brokerages charge), and their full, high-quality service leaves nothing out – they focus on selling your home so you can focus on the important things, like being with your family and staying safe during the pandemic.
When you sell your home with New Era you get (a dedicated agent), market analysis, professional photography of your property, a variety of selling strategies, home preparation, a robust marketing/advertising campaign, schedule showings and buyer qualification, negotiation, and much more. Their detailed FAQ lists out everything you can expect from their service.
You can also trust that New Era’s agents and brokers are all fully licensed with years of experience, and you’ll get an agent that specializes in the city/area you live in to ensure they can provide the best service possible.
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Worried about selling during COVID-19? New Era Real Estate has been going strong even during the pandemic, largely thanks to their ongoing safety protocols, so you can rest assured that the process is as safe as possible. Each buyer and agent is required to go through their COVID safety protocol, including an extensive questionnaire, and a record is kept of every interaction with your home.
Additionally, hand sanitizer is available during each listing to help keep clients safe.
“Now more than ever, it’s crucial to save any way you can while not sacrificing service,” says founder John Martino.
“As prices continue to climb, so do commissions, even though for the most part the job has stayed the same. We simply want to offer the full service people need at a fair price.”
If you’re worried about your livelihood during the pandemic (or simply fed up with paying ridiculous commissions), New Era Real Estate is the best option to help you save thousands – on top of the cheaper commission, they don’t lock their clients into a contract, so you don’t pay a cent until your property has been sold.
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.
