A child’s crayon drawing, showing three happy people in front of their new home, graces the office of Andrew Lasko of Lasko and Associates. It was a gift from the eight-year-old daughter of a couple from the Philippines – a thank-you gesture for helping the immigrant family purchase a house in Canada by matching their budget with a motivated private seller.
While there have been many such satisfactory outcomes throughout his 10-plus years as a realtor, providing “full service and the right kind of experience for every client” takes effort, especially in a fast-paced and constantly evolving real estate market, says Lasko. “I keep this picture around and on tough days, I look at it and remind myself of why I’m doing what I do.”
The idea of “full service” means different things to different people, and Lasko strives to gauge the exact level for ensuring his clients are comfortable. “That’s why it’s important to start with a conversation to understand their expectations,” he says. “It’s not just about whether they are looking for two or five bedrooms or what kind of amenities they want nearby. I am interested in learning what process works best for them; for example, do they like to be hands-on? Or do they prefer to outsource as many tasks as possible?”
His background in financial planning and analysis in the real estate, urban planning, banking and auditing industries – combined with a passion for community-building – give Lasko an advantage when it comes to enabling clients to make strategic real estate decisions.
He values “a methodical approach and due diligence” for collaboratively navigating an industry, where structures are useful but market trends sometimes require a quick response. That’s where experience is a big asset, he believes.
“Over time, you get to know buying patterns; you see where things are offered and where people are looking,” says Lasko. “I can help you explore real estate as a step towards achieving your overall financial and lifestyle goals. I can also speak intelligently about a range of financial products.”
With many of his clients being busy professionals, including accountants, engineers, doctors and lawyers, Lasko aims to minimize the stress that can come with selling or buying a home. “I have pretty big shoulders, so you can trust me to carry much of the load,” he says. “And I’m constantly challenging myself to go the extra mile, to uphold the ethics – and improve the reputation – of the profession.”
Lasko grew up in Toronto and lived in Sydney, Australia, and Copenhagen, Denmark, before settling in Vancouver in 2007. Moving frequently inspired an appreciation of the “emotional strain that can come with the process, even if you’re super-organized.
“The last time I moved, I had a spreadsheet. I hired a packer and a mover,” he recalls. “I was going to wake up in one place and go to sleep in another.”
Needless to say, it wasn’t quite as stress-free as anticipated, he admits, and experiences like this have reinforced his commitment to offering his clients “the right experience.
“I really focus my attention on what they need,” says Lasko, who loves to discover commonalities, for example, in demographic or socio-economic backgrounds. With his ties to the financial, Jewish and LGBTQI+ communities and his active lifestyle, there is always overlap, “like a Venn diagram,” he notes.
Lasko also hopes to help enhance his clients’ financial flexibility, perhaps by discovering unrealized value. “I love the fact that I can help people enter the market with a condo,” he says, “and move their way up to million-dollar estates.”
His efforts and results have not gone unnoticed, and Lasko has repeatedly earned professional recognition. Yet what matters most is when clients tell him he’s “the best realtor,” says Lasko. “This gives me the shivers, in a good way.”
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.
