The real estate industry has had to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to social distancing and safety measures, they’ve also embraced technology to connect buyers and sellers remotely to facilitate a safe sale.
“We’re seeing a lot of people doing Instagram live and Facebook live open houses for example, where the buyer can talk to the agent and ask them can I see that bedroom again, can you take me downstairs,” explains Jennifer Lebedoff, managing broker at Coldwell Banker Jane Hoffman Realty and managing broker and owner at Coldwell Banker Horizon Realty in B.C.’s Okanagan region.
Once a buyer is interested, they can request an in-person viewing where the agent and the client head to the location in separate cars to maintain social distancing. When they get to the home they are asked to sanitize, certain locations will ask people to put on PPE and not to use the washrooms.
A form is presented to the viewer asking them COVID-19 related questions and acknowledging the safety protocols.
Each open house and viewing is different, as buyers and sellers may have some concerns about how they want to do a viewing.
“Sometimes a seller will insist that people do showings with masks and gloves. Sometimes we suggest that the seller keep cupboards open, closets open to minimize touching … they’re kind of showing with their hands in their pockets and walking around.”
She adds if a buyer wanted to see something specific, the realtor, who will be wearing gloves, will open the door to minimize the use of highly used touch points until the potential buyer is ready for the next step.
For full inspections, professional cleaners clean afterwards.
Minimizing the number of people who are just browsing comes down to the seriousness of the buyer.
“A good agent always likes qualified buyers because setting up a home for sale and setting up a home for showings take a lot of time and emotions for a seller. So, we always asked the tough questions to qualify buyers financially and now we do that even more.”
Lebedoff says in the past they would advertise a sale and sometimes get eight to 10 potential buyers but with social media, they’ve expanded their market.
“We can have hundreds of people seeing the open house all at the same time and then it stays around on the social media so people can go back after the fact,” adds Lebedoff.
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.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
