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Our team is finally ready to launch the newly revamped ByTheOwner.com. Discover the new look and applications as of next week (starting July 19th).
ByTheOwner’s team wishes to inform the population that we have been multiplying our efforts in order to satisfy the increasing demand for our services since the beginning of 2010. Please stay calm!
All our efforts are directed to maintain the same quality of services for all our clients. Please do not put your safety at stake!
Taking unnecessary risks is not recommended. ByTheOwner will make sure that everyone gets the full service for which they have signed up. No one will be left out!
ByTheOwner’s traffic updates
Luckily, our users are benefiting from this increase in traffic. The number of houses sold through our Website has gone up by 75 % in the past month of February. The urge with which people are visiting our websites and our open houses has nothing surprising!
We have gathered a few stories of consumers who have either been ‘victims’ or ‘witnesses’ of this success :
Sold in 10 days….Great traffic & and presentation with the pics (thx Renato)…………..and thx to the team at ByTheOwner.com
Andy Pham
Brampton
2010-03-23
Offer was accepted, the website made it easy to setup. The staff was friendly and helpful, thank you bytheowner.com!
Gregory Wolfson
Richmond Hill
2010-03-16
Thanks Magda for all your fabulous help and great pictures. The web site is wonderful, everything you need is at your finger tips. Good Luck to all.
Jacqueline Steele
Mount Albert
2010-03-25
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), which represents real estate agents across Canada, has agreed to revise its rules regarding the use of the MLS. These amendments were voted by the CREA members, after the Competition Bureau had filed a complaint against the organization, for anti-competitive practices.
In what exactly do these amendments consist? Will consumers really have more options when it comes to selling their homes? Where does ByTheOwner.com fit in?
There are many factors that will results in success when selling a home privately. Professional signs are a very important factor. ByTheOwner.com has improved the look of our signs multiple times over the course of 11 years in business. We make sure our signs are clear, attractive, and functional. 
“Thanks to the website and sign, we received 2 serious offers and have successfully sold our home!”
The ByTheOwner.com lawn sign is 3 feet by 2 feet and it is included with every subscription package. Our local representative places the owner’s phone number on the sign before the appointment. Our website and a large “For Sale” banner are also displayed on the sign. The phone number can be inputted into our website in order to take the buyer directly to the photos and info.
ByTheOwner.com also provides open house toppers which slide into the top of our lawn sign. On the open house topper, the owner can indicate the day and time of the open house. ByTheOwner.com’s open house directional signs, and directional signs are perfect for directing neighbourhood traffic to your house for sale. These signs can be temporarily placed on major intersections to promote your open house. All our signs are attractive and make the buyers take notice.
Not only do the ByTheOwner.com signs attract buyers, but they also make sure the buyers know that the owner is serious about selling. Some private sellers purchase their signs at a local hardware store and write home details on the signs with a black marker. When you are attracting buyers, it’s very important to have a professional image, a great home, and a fair price. If any of those factors are not appealing to buyers, it will make it difficult to sell your home.
ByTheOwner.com
Over the weekend, a photo appeared in the Toronto Star that showed a purple kitchen. The associated article called “Colin and Justin: Mauving right along” describes the renovation and shows the kitchen.
It is a very cool renovation and hopefully the owners will enjoy it. Perhaps it fits the owner’s style and it was exactly what they wanted. However, this kitchen brings to mind the “catch 22″ with renovations. Renovations do not always achieve a “return on investment”. Owners, if they are planning to sell the property in the future, must always consider a renovation that would appeal to a broad range of buyers.
As mentioned in a previous post (Renovations: “Ya, but it has a new roof” ), sometimes “extreme” renovations might not be great for resale value.
ByTheOwner.com adds more than 10,000 properties per year, and occasionally we see sellers who have renovated to their own taste and when it comes to sell, they realize the difficulty in finding a buyer with the same taste as they have.
Just a friendly reminder that if you want to “mauve” into a new home, you have to sell your old home…and a purple kitchen might not help you sell.
ByTheOwner.com
1. How much will it cost?
This first step is key. Many sellers that use real estate agents, don’t work out how much it’s going to cost them. They simply agree to pay 5% commission because “It’s standard for the area”. If you are agreeing to pay 5% commission, then calculate how much that will cost you (plus GST). Remember that when you sell your home, it’s tax free money. If you are paying $15,000 to $20,000 to an agent, then also calculate how long would it take you to work to earn that (after tax). For example, if $1,000 is deposited into your bank by your employer on a weekly basis, that means, for a $20,000 commission, it would take you 20 weeks to earn that (5 months!).
Tip: If you think it’s outragous to pay an agent $20,000 to sell your home (which could be like you working full time for 5 months) then look for an alternative.
2. Is the listing contract breakable?
Before signing your rights away, make sure you understand if the listing contract is breakable or not. Most are not. This means that if you sign with an agent for 3 months, and he does nothing, then you have no way of breaking the contract. This could be very costly.
Tip: Make sure that the agent adds a clause that says that the listing contract is breakable, by you, at any time. The agent shouldn’t worry because they still will maintain rights to a buyer that saw the home while it was listed (hold over period), so there is no reason that they would object to the clause.
3. What will the agent do for their commission?
You should ask for a detailed, written, list of items that the agent will do in order to sell your home. Remember that if you are agreeing to pay 5%, which will amount to a lot of money, you should know what the agent will do to earn that money. Will your agent be present when buyers come to the home? If not, how will the buyers know about the important qualities of you home?
Tip: Try to put a value on the items that the real estate agent will do. Ask yourself is it worth it or is there an alternative?
4. When will appointments be scheduled?
Your agent will most likely provide a lock box so that a different agent can show the buyers around your home. Your agent will call you before the other agent arrives. You will want to know how much “warning” time will your agent provide. Will the appointments be anytime? Anyday? Does this mean that you have to keep your home clean 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
Tip: When you sell privately, you control the visits and appointment. Many private sellers simply schedule visits on the weekend during set times. This allows them to live their life during the week, clean their home Sat/Sun morning and then accept buyers at a convenient time.
5. What price will be asked for the home?
If you are asking $400,000 and then sell for $390,000, then that means that you will take home $369,525 (assuming 5% commission). When you are using an agent, you really need to calculate how much you will keep from the sale of your home. You need to know your “bottom price”. Remember, if you drop your price by $10,000, then it costs you more than $10,000, but it only reduces your agent’s commission by $500. Large drops in price affect the seller a lot more than the agent. Sellers also need to understand that if they agree to sell their home with an agent for $400,000 and an agent brings a solid offer at that price, then they have done their job. The agent might have a right to the commission whether you accept that offer or not (check the fine print of the listing contract).
Tip: When you sell privately there is no commission to pay and you are in complete control. If you don’t want to accept an offer, you are under no obligation to do so. You also have more flexibility on price. If you wanted to sell your home for $400,000 with an agent, you would only take home less than $380,000. If you sold privately, you could sell for $400,000 and keep $400,000. You could even sell for $390,000 and you would still save $10,000.
Most parents agree that there is nothing that they would not sacrifice for the benefit of their children. For some families, the school is the main factor in determining where they choose to live. That includes specifically moving into a neighbourhood because it has a great school. They will first decide which school their children will attend, and then only search for a property in a location which permits their children to attend that school. Thus, any real estate surrounding a great school will always be in high demand. It is no coincidence that the top schools in the country are often surrounded by the most expensive real estate.
The Fraser Institute publishes rankings of the elementary and secondary schools in BC, Alberta, and Ontario. You can see all their reports here. Here is a sample from the Ontario Elementary Report.
Here are some links to the reports:
Ontario Elementary
Ontario Secondary
Alberta Elementary
Alberta Secondary
BC Elementary
BC Secondary
There has been some criticism of these reports and rankings. Most people will agree that there are many factors that contribute to the success of a child’s education. Many brilliant minds and outstanding individuals have graduated from schools that were not considered “good” and vice-versa. However, the environment does have an affect on an education, so attending a good school increases the odds of obtaining a good education.
Private sellers are the best person to explain to buyers about the quality of schools in the area because they live in the area, and their children will have attended the school.
ByTheOwner.com
Here is the 7 step process to save $29,400 in 13 days.
1. Subscribe online at ByTheOwner.com and choose the premium plus package.
2. Have our ByTheOwner.com representative take amazing HDR photos.
3. Have Randall Weese, licensed real estate professional, provide you with a Comparative Market Analysis.
4. Receive offers and call the ByTheOwner.com sales coach with any questions.
5. Ignore the real estate agents that call to solicit your listing.
6. Accept a great offer and pay no commissions!
7. Save $29,400 in real estate commission and taxes.
Isn’t it great when everything works the way it’s supposed to? That was the case with this ByTheOwner.com customer and the customer now has almost 30 thousand dollars in his pocket.
There are a few ways that the above situation might not have happened.
- The customer could have listen to the agents that called, listed, and paid $30,000 in commissions.
- The customer could have posted on a lesser website, with poor photos no buyers.
- The customer could have not chosen a package with CMA and listed their property too high or too low.
- The customer could have not taken advantage of our sales coach and perhaps not have received answers to their questions.
..but that didn’t happen and the customer saved enough for a new car!
ByTheOwner.com provides all the tools and support for you to succeed in selling your home and saving thousands of dollars in real estate commissions. The real estate market is very hot right now. There is a very high demand and a low inventory of quality homes for sale. If you have a great home, now is the perfect time to sell privately.
ByTheOwner.com
In order for a buyer to purchase a house, they first need to qualify for a mortgage. Also, in order for a seller to sell a house, they need a qualified buyer.
This blog post will examine what buyers will need so that they qualify to obtain a mortgage.
Down Payment
Buyers must have at least 5% of the purchase price of the home for the down payment. That means that for a $300,000 home, the buyer must have at least $15,000 in their bank account. For a $400,000 home, the buyers must have $20,000 in their bank account. This amount should be actual money. It can’t be from a line of credit, or from other sources which would require the money to be paid back.
Seller Tip: If you have a serious buyer for your home, you could ask them if they are putting 5% or 10% down. This will help you determine how much money they have in the bank.
Regular Income (Job)
In order to be qualified for a mortgage, buyers have to have regular income from their job. The banks will ask for proof (T4, pay statements) before they approve your mortgage. Their annual income will be a main factor in how much money buyers can borrow. A good rule of thumb is 3 times your income, but at today’s rates, a better rule of thumb is 4-5 times income. This means if the buyers’ combined family income is $100,000, they should be able to obtain a mortgage for $400,000.
Seller Tip: Ask the buyers what they do for a living. If they say “Teacher” and “Police Officer”, then you know that they should have no trouble obtaining a large mortgage and there is a great chance that any offer you accept will not have financing problems. However if they say “Fast Food Customer Service” and “Nortel”, then there is a possibility that the buyers might not be approved for the financing. Self employed individuals also have different requirements to qualify for a mortgage.
Credit Score
The buyer’s credit score will have a significant impact on their ability to obtain a mortgage. Buyers should already be aware of their credit score before they put in an offer on a home.
Seller Tip: Ask the buyers if they have obtained a credit check yet. If they have not, you should suggest that they call equifax or transunion. Suggest that they will need it anyways and if they let the banks check their credit, then it hurts their credit score (so they should get it themselves).
Low Debts
How much money the buyers can borrow is a function of how much money they make, but also how much debt they have. Banks will look at two numbers:
Gross Debt Serviced: This number examines how much money the buyers make and compares it to the monthly costs of the mortgage and the home (taxes, heating). The monthly housing costs can’t be more than 32% of your income.
Example:
Income: $100,000
GDS (32%) = $32,000 ($2,666 per month)
Using this measure, the mortgage, taxes and heating should not be more than $2,666 per month.
Total Debt Serviced: This number is similar to the GDS above, but it includes other debts (car payments, credit cards, line of credit…). If the buyer has lots of debts, then it will reduce the amount of mortgage that they will be approved for. The Total Debt Serviced (TDS) should not be more than 40% of your income.
Example:
If you have the following monthly debt payments:
Car = $800
Line of credit = $300
Credit cards = $150
Student Loan = $150
This would equal $1400 in monthly debt obligations. If you made $100,000 a year ($8,333 a month). That means your mortgage and housing costs could not be more than $1,933 a month ($8,333 x 40% - $1,400 = $1,933).
Summary: It becomes difficult (and a waste of time) for both buyers and sellers if buyers are not qualified to purchase a home. The best solution for a seller is to ask a lot of questions, and the best solution for a buyer is to do some research so that they know what they can (and can’t) afford.
ByTheOwner.com
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