May 2006

Housing Index ends May down .024

Detailed analysis to follow this weekend…

How to start a blog in 3 minutes or less

In the past few days, I’ve been asked by a few friends of mine how they can start a blog, and more specifically, if they can start a blog.
To answer their questions, I present to you the Benjamin Bach Blog Starting System:
1) Visit blogger.com/start
2) Click ‘create your blog now’ on the right side of the page
3) Fill out the form and click ‘continue’

PRESTO, You’re done!

If you have any further questions, feel free to email me…

Anyone looking for a Four Plex?

If you're interested in a great investment in the heart of Kitchener, my partner and I will be listing a beautifully restored fourplex in a few weeks. It has been redone top to bottom (basement unit is being finished off now) and is a great deal at it's list price (approx $350,000). For more details email me at ben . bach @ gmail . com .

Bach on Real Estate

As of May 27, the KW Housing Index is 0.516

Welcome to my weekly weekend update of the market in Kitchener Waterloo!

For the last few years the area has been one of the hottest markets in Ontario (and for good reason!), and recently we've been seeing a slight shift in favor of a buyer's market in the past month (the month started with an Index reading of .56). 500 homes have sold this past (rolling) month, and another 147 are pending sale.

While the market is still hot, it isn't growing at the same rate it has in recent years, with YTD sales being very close to last year's YTD figures. The local economy continues to be very strong, unemployment is historically low, and new business are migrating into the area on a consistent basis.

Buyers an expect to be able to bargain with the seller on price, terms, and inspection results.
Sellers can expect to be on the market longer before receiving an offer, and that offer may be for less than they expected. Sellers can distinguish their home by preparing it for sale properly (by using a Home Dresser or Accredited Staging Professional), using a Realtor with a sophisticated home selling and marketing system and price their home properly.

achievement coaching

Last night I had the pleasure to meet my business achievement coach, another Realtor he coaches and his lovely associate, and two of his colleagues (also achievement coaches) for drinks in Markham (a suburb north of Toronto). A great time was had by all (especially 'shy' Jerry), and it was a pleasure to spend an evening talking to a group of successful businesspeople from across North America (Paul and Sharon were crazy enough to fly from warmer climates to chilly Canada) who not only are dedicated to personal growth within themselves, but are dedicated to helping their friends and clients grow as well.

At one point, Patrick remarked that he should have brought some paper so he could take notes, and I felt exactly the same way. The advice and ideas I recieved from talking to these wise folks was priceless.

Anne has a Home Dressing business, which is what most people would call staging, but after an earful from the 'Barking Lady' would understand that it's much more than that. What she does is look at the home from the buyer's perspective exclusively, and she advises realtors and sellers how to make their home stand out from every other listing in the area. As she says it, you see a gorgeous bottle of perfume in beautiful delicate packaging, and because of that, you decided to pick it up to smell it over the other bottles. She gets buyers to pick the home up and smell it, rather than passing over it like the other homes. She is lightyears ahead of 'stagers,' and I am excited to implement some of her ideas into our business here.

On the topic of Achievement Coaches, GET ONE! If you own a business, are in real estate, or want to make the business you work for more profitable and more fun to work at, check out http://www.richardrobbins.com. In my opinion, they are the premier real estate and business achievement coaches . They might not be cheap, but nothing worthwhile ever is. Instead of asking if you can afford to, ask if you can afford not to!

I signed up for their Business Advance program the same week I was licenced in Real Estate, and it has been the best decision I've made so far for my business. Even though I'm brand new to the city I work in and fresh from university, I've been able to list $4,000,000 worth of property in my first six months.

I attribute much of the success I've attracted to the guidance my BA Leader and the entire RRi team have given me in designing and implementing systems and building my business. Only 2% of the world can work well without accountability. If you don't happen to be in that thin slice, call a coach today.

(cross posted at Attracting Success)

Welcome to Kitchener-Waterloo Market Watch

As of today, the Housing Index is: .52

Welcome to Kitchener-Waterloo Market Watch, a new blog which will track and report on the housing market in Kitchener-Waterloo (and surrounding area). One way we monitor the market is by tracking and publishing the Kitchener-Waterloo Housing Index, which is an indicator of buyer intensity for listed single family residential homes in the Kitchener-Waterloo Area (more areas to be added soon).

The Index is found by adding the number of closed sales in the past 30 days with the number of conditional sales currently pending. This number is then divided by the total number of available homes & condos. A higher number indicates more buyer competition for each home on the market; a lower number indicates less buyer competition for each home. A number below .80 indicates a market that favours buyers, while a number above 1.0 indicated a market that favours sellers.

This blog will also track the ups and downs of the market in less imperical ways, since it is written by a Realtor.

Check back often to keep on top of the ever changing market.

Benjamin