The past five days have encompassed a 64-hour work week for us at urbaneer.com as we’ve endeavored to successfully ride the crest of the Spring market in a calm, albeit frenetic, state. It’s been intense but we’re not complaining! Having personally spent the previous week exploring the colonial city of Merida, located on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula with some very best friends (stay tuned for a post pending recovery of the photos from a broken laptop), returning to hit T-dot’s pavement full tilt is considered par for the course every Spring. The market dynamic is very similar to last year, which I outlined in my Spring/Summer 2011 Real Estate Forecast. Click HERE to read that still-relevant post, especially if you’re a first time buyer.
First, our fantastic DoubleMint Wrigley Loft sold with a speedy twelve day closing, which meant urbaneer.com had to whistle in the movers and get our Style Enhancement furnishings to exit stage left. Unfortunately there was a glitch, when we discovered some of those furnishings slated for delivery to a soon-to-be-swish 800 square foot covered terrace in a ‘Coming Soon’ listing were too large to fit through the sliding patio doors! Boo! Not to worry though, as urbaneer.com has more fantastic pieces in its collection. Stay tuned for… one, two, THREE new Style Enhancements in the next coming weeks.
It was a tough week for one of our buying couples who are very pregnant and counting down to the arrival of their first child (not THE Beyonce!). At the beginning of the week they offered on a well-presented semi-detached three bedroom house with basement income and 2-car garage in the central west downtown core. Listed at $599,000, they were one of six buyers competing for the property which spiked around 13 percent over ask. Not to be too desole over it they switched gears and, a few days later, offered on a vintage (read ‘ready to renovate’) semi-detached three bedroom house with potential basement income and 2-car garage in the same neighbourhood. Listed aggressively in the mid-$400,000, our buyers submitted a condition-free offer with a sizable bank draft and the seller’s preferred closing date, slamming it hard against 8 others with a bid 33% over the asking price! Although one never knows in this market, I was reasonably confident they were in the running. The outcome? I received a call from the listing agent in near-tears. It turns out the Seller rejected all 9 offers and promptly increased her list price an additional $280,000. WTF? My buyers, and I, are a bit bruised over the situation, especially as they had invested $550 in a pre-purchase home inspection. Boo to those greedy Sellers!
We have one happy buyer this week, who was one of nine buyers competing for a former corner grocery store with four car parking located up the street from one of the central downtown west subway stations. Retrofitted into a legal duplex with a dug-down extra-high basement (about 3600 sf in total), the property was bursting with character, high ceilings and drenched in natural light from its southwest exposure, which are all intangible features that can make a property especially desirable. Renovated ten years ago, most of the building components are midway through their life span, so it offers enough longevity to generate a solid income stream while my buyer can begin redesigning it into a luxe lofty dwell. Also aggressively listed in the mid 600s, my buyer and I agreed there was no way but up when it came to the future value of this property. Bidding 22% over list, my buyer secured the property against another top bid by just thousands of dollars.
As the realtor known for ‘talking you out of making an offer’ on most prospective real estate purchases, in these instances each property got the approving urbaneer.com “Thumbs Up!”
Can we help you, or your friends or family? Please know the urbaneer.com team are here to help!
Wishing You a Super Long Weekend!
~ Steven
Real Estate
Tales From The Real Estate Trenches
