Happy New Year!

Have you set any New Year's Resolutions for 2023? It can be difficult to stick to one thing for the entire year, but setting goals for yourself and checking in on them is a great way to motivate yourself to achieve something new. Maybe this year instead of one resolution for the entire year, you can start smaller. Set one goal for the month of January and then check in on how it went and build on that goal in February. Or start even smaller with working on one small habit at a time.
Our team is putting this into practice this week by sitting down with our broker, Chris Perkins to talk about our goals for the year. Looking back on 2022, we're so proud of all of the relationships we built with our team, other professionals, local…

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Leveraging Your Equity

Even with the recent slow down in the market, property values are still significantly higher than they were last year.  Many homeowners have no idea how much equity they have in their home and similarly, are not sure what opportunities that equity provides.  I often hear people say how they could never afford to buy a new home because they are too expensive now.  However, most people I speak to do not fully understand their borrowing potential when leveraging their equity. 

For example, I had a client who purchased their semi-detached home many years ago for $170,000. We recently sold their home for $340,000, which meant they had some $200,000 in equity to play with.  Instead of rolling that entire amount into a new mortgage,…

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The Art of Negotiation

For the past two years, the value we’ve brought to our clients has been in the form of winning competing offers when buying a home, or leveraging multiple offers when selling. Now that the market has taken an abrupt turn, it is important that your Realtor changes their tactics to ensure your success when making a move. 

When selling, your Realtor now needs to do a lot more work to obtain feedback from buyer agents while encouraging them to submit an offer.  Obtaining an offer is half the battle, the other half is negotiating favourable terms.  It’s unlikely you’ll like everything about an offer when it is submitted, but it is always advisable to work with the buyer to reach an agreement where everyone is happy.

Buyers today…

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A NORMAL PERSPECTIVE

As summer is in full swing, a cooler real estate market still represents a hot one. It is easy to lose sight of perspective when it comes to Halifax real estate.  For years, it ticked slowly upwards without absurd swings in either direction.  The last two years dominated the media and in turn, dominated conversations across the province.  It is important to understand the statistics that form the foundation of our current housing market.

The number of sales in June 2022 was only beaten once in the past twelve months - in May of 2022.  Sales remain strong even though inventory is on the rise.  However, we still only have 1.4 months of supply.  This means that if nothing else were listed, it would only take a month and a half for…

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How will the Non-Resident Tax Affect Homeownership Costs in Nova Scotia?

Last week, the Provincial Government released a budget that included newly created Deed Transfer Taxes for Non-residents and increased Property Taxes for Non-residents. Since this was announced, many people have had questions of how this will affect them as well as the real estate market in Nova Scotia. See below for more information quoted from the Province of Nova Scotia website:

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Provincial Deed Transfer Tax for Non-residents

The Provincial Deed Transfer Tax (PDTT) will be effective for all purchase and sale agreements and other specific transfers starting 1 April 2022.

The Provincial Deed Transfer Tax will apply to all residential properties or portion of…

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Non-Resident Tax to Greatly Increase Homeownership Costs in Nova Scotia

We were informed this afternoon in a news release from the Nova Scotia Assocation of Realtors regarding the new tax rules that will significantly increase costs for home buyers who are not residents of Nova Scotia. 

The directly quoted news release from NSAR is included below:

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"Budget 2022/2023 – New taxes that impact your clients

This afternoon the Provincial Government released a budget that included newly created Deed Transfer Taxes and increased Property Taxes for out-of-province buyers and owners. NSAR has continually expressed concerns that the increased taxes will have unintended and negative consequences on Nova Scotia’s economy, tripling owners' taxes and…

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Are we adding gasoline to a real estate market already on fire?

Buyer fatigue is fast becoming a reality and who can blame them?  Countless offers written over several days or weeks, often in competition with dozens of people vying for the same property.  Multiple failures and a lack of hope.  The average sale price of a home skyrocketed in January and increased again in February, but ironically, the average list price of a home went down in that same period.

Sellers, probably guided by their Realtors, are choosing to list far below market value to create feeding frenzies. This is why homes are now selling at an average of 122% of the list price.  In this model, the goal is to have as many showings as possible over several days before the Seller…

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Is Halifax The New Toronto? - Halifax Real Estate 2022

Real Estate markets across Canada have a lot of similarities. Buyers can use what is happening in other cities to foreshadow what might happen in their local area, using the knowledge gained to navigate rapidly changing conditions. Join Adam Scott as he sits down with Paul Purcell from Royal LePage Urban based out of Toronto as they discuss the market, the challenges buyers face in Toronto and how they have pivoted in order to secure homeownership. What Paul experienced in the Toronto market may very well be a prelude for what's to come in Halifax.


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The Inventory Chasm

The jump in the average price from December to January is nothing short of astonishing. Sales are down by almost 40% from last year, but that's not due to a lack of buyers. Rather, there is simply nothing to buy. Let me paint a picture for you. Currently, there are only ten condos for sale on the entire Halifax Peninsula. Two of those are listed below $400,000, the next cheapest is $1,014,500. That is a gap better described as a chasm. In January, the average price of a home in the Halifax Regional Municipality was $581,180. Sellers were on average obtaining 111% of their asking price. 

Next, let's talk about a certain Spryfield semi-detached. A nice home built in 2010, well-maintained and with a few recent upgrades. We listed…

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Market Value vs. List Price - Halifax Real Estate 2022


In this video Chris Perkins, Broker/Owner discusses Market Value vs List Price, and which is more important in the Halifax Real Estate Market. 

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