Ottawa and Surrounding Area Real Estate market discussion

cbalain wrote: ↑ Looking for some input / advice for a first time buyer. Listing went out yesterday for a house in the outskirts, setup appointment to go view today. Got a message from my agent stating that there are 2 other offers and that they would start reviewing the bids tonight.

With the market being where it is, our agent is recommending we offer 10-15k over asking. This would bring our bid to the very top of our budget. Is this simply an aggressive tactic to ensure we get the house leading to their (higher) commission? Is the agent just trying to help us get a house we want in a hot market?

Obviously we'd have inspection and financing conditions. We don't have any condition for possession / move in dates so I am thinking that even if we bid closer to asking, we might still have a chance?

skeet50 wrote: ↑ Seems like you don't trust your agent. This makes for a difficult working relationship.

It is difficult for anyone to answer your questions as we don't know the particulars of the house. I can tell you that I live in Orleans and when my next door neighbour listed recently he received an offer within 6 hours for $13k above asking. That offer was the first offer and he accepted it. The buyers had lost out in a previous bidding situation and wanted to nail down this one at the beginning.

In general, when there are competing offers, you should be prepared to offer your very best offer. For your very best offer, you need to look at the price, the deposit amount, the closing date, and the conditions. Look at it from the seller's point of view. You have 3 offers on the table and even if they are close in price, a higher deposit may indicate a more serious commitment and conditions like financing and home inspection can provide a potential out for the buyer. As a seller, if I had competing offers, I would look more favourably at those without financing and home inspection conditions.

But, you have to be comfortable with your decisions. If you need these conditions in your offer, be prepared to lose in a multiple offer situation.

cbalain wrote: ↑ Looking for some input / advice for a first time buyer. Listing went out yesterday for a house in the outskirts, setup appointment to go view today. Got a message from my agent stating that there are 2 other offers and that they would start reviewing the bids tonight.

With the market being where it is, our agent is recommending we offer 10-15k over asking. This would bring our bid to the very top of our budget. Is this simply an aggressive tactic to ensure we get the house leading to their (higher) commission? Is the agent just trying to help us get a house we want in a hot market?

Obviously we'd have inspection and financing conditions. We don't have any condition for possession / move in dates so I am thinking that even if we bid closer to asking, we might still have a chance?

cbalain wrote: ↑ Looking for some input / advice for a first time buyer. Listing went out yesterday for a house in the outskirts, setup appointment to go view today. Got a message from my agent stating that there are 2 other offers and that they would start reviewing the bids tonight.

With the market being where it is, our agent is recommending we offer 10-15k over asking. This would bring our bid to the very top of our budget. Is this simply an aggressive tactic to ensure we get the house leading to their (higher) commission? Is the agent just trying to help us get a house we want in a hot market?

Obviously we'd have inspection and financing conditions. We don't have any condition for possession / move in dates so I am thinking that even if we bid closer to asking, we might still have a chance?

cbalain wrote: ↑ Thanks for the response.

It's not necessarily that I don't trust my agent. But no one is in the business of not making / losing money. Would I rather get paid for all the work I do or just keep doing it and hope that I get something at the end? It can't be easy being a real estate agent.

As a first-time buyer, I'm just trying to make sure I get it right. It is a huge investment after all. It's more of a, "should I just take everything the agent says and go with it", or should I be doing some kind of due diligence by asking certain questions (info on comps in the area, resale, etc...) before going with that strategy?

cbalain wrote: ↑ Looking for some input / advice for a first time buyer. Listing went out yesterday for a house in the outskirts, setup appointment to go view today. Got a message from my agent stating that there are 2 other offers and that they would start reviewing the bids tonight.

With the market being where it is, our agent is recommending we offer 10-15k over asking. This would bring our bid to the very top of our budget. Is this simply an aggressive tactic to ensure we get the house leading to their (higher) commission? Is the agent just trying to help us get a house we want in a hot market?

Obviously we'd have inspection and financing conditions. We don't have any condition for possession / move in dates so I am thinking that even if we bid closer to asking, we might still have a chance?

cbalain wrote: ↑ Thanks for the response.

It's not necessarily that I don't trust my agent. But no one is in the business of not making / losing money. Would I rather get paid for all the work I do or just keep doing it and hope that I get something at the end? It can't be easy being a real estate agent.

As a first-time buyer, I'm just trying to make sure I get it right. It is a huge investment after all. It's more of a, "should I just take everything the agent says and go with it", or should I be doing some kind of due diligence by asking certain questions (info on comps in the area, resale, etc...) before going with that strategy?

skeet50 wrote: ↑ Always do your due diligence, and asking your questions here is a great option. I would definitely want comps prior to submitting the offer. As there are already two other offers on the home, your agent should have them for you now. I wouldn't wait until after I viewed the home and deciding on whether or not to put in an offer. No reason that you can't read comps prior to viewing the home.

Your agent should also be willing to show you examples of what homes listed for and what they eventually sold for so you can get an idea of the trend in the area. That can help you feel more comfortable in a multiple offer situation.

I do think though as a first time buyer your agent should be offering you all this - not waiting for your requests. Your agent should be preparing you for the situation this evening where you will have to move quickly if you are thinking of putting in an offer.

Good luck.

michelb wrote: ↑ From your statement, it sounds like you are saying your agent should be able to show you the other offers - just so it's clear, your agent will never be able to show you the other offers.

I'm assuming that you mean comparables not other offers but even those you have to take with a grain of salt. Real Estate is very much dictated by supply and demand. If 3 people want one house, it will likely sell to whoever is willing to pay the most and / or offers the best conditions so comparables might not be that reliable.

wiab89 wrote: ↑ Ah ok - we're talking different things here. You're talking about overall median, I'm just comparing against similar professions. I like the breakdown and distributions, as a fellow stats nerd I would agree with what you're saying on the average income of a homebuyer in the 2 cities.

Mostly I was just saying that doctors/nurses/pharmacists/engineers/accountants make basically the same in Ottawa as Toronto - of course the top end specialists in each field will probably migrate towards Toronto for opportunities and pay. But I think there is a lot of "untapped" growth potential in the Ottawa market because wages are comparatively high and prices are still within reach of most middle class professionals unlike Toronto.

cyberfreak123 wrote: ↑ I forgot to mention rising construction costs and development fees. it might be the result of qualified workers shortage , increase material cost and minimum wage hike. My sister works for a civil engineering firm in gatineau and she’s noticed substantial generalized higher costs for public works contracts since a year ago. She said all these increases will translate in higher price for new builds( in Gatineau). Herself she got the highest bump up of her salary since years.

michelb wrote: ↑ There's nothing strange about it; it was simply a flip (and the news articles refers to them as house-flippers). They bought in March, took 7 months to do the renovations, listed in November (arguably asking for too much). It didn't sell, so now are trying this strategy to maximize their return.

As mentioned above, I personally think they did a very nice job on the reno but that doesn't make the house worth $1.1 million. I suspect that they can sell for considerably less than still make a profit but it's too be expected that they want to try to maximize that profit.

I have to agree with you that I suspect they will not sell enough tickets to make this worthwhile. I thought I saw somewhere that they were hoping so sell 50,000 (might have just been in the comments though) and I suspect that they'll cancel the "lottery" if they don't sell 40,000 and I just don't see them selling that many "tickets". If nothing else, I don't have confidence that they'll run this honestly; anyone who knows any teachers knows the amount of time that you have to spent to review essays for a classroom and that's only for around 30. Now imagine how long it would take to review and rate 40,000 essays... I don't think anyone will be reading the majority of the letters. More likely, I suspect they'll just pick a letter at random, read it and if it's reasonable, make that person the winner otherwise pick another letter (or it's certainly possible they don't even actually care about the letter). My issue is that there's certainly a lot of opportunity for abuse and the house could certainly go to a friend or relative.

97gst wrote: ↑ LOL you're supposed to buy a ticket to support CHEO, not because it's a sound investment.

Having said that, yeah, it's pretty disappointing looking. I remember when the CHEO dream homes used to actually look like dream homes.
Now they're postage stamp lot track houses.

2 car garage? C'mon. Who "dreams" of winning the lottery and moving into a 2 car garage home on the far side of Stittsville?

cyberfreak123 wrote: ↑ Video showing the CHEO house:

Nice spacious house, but I'm not wow. If I win, I'll sell it. Too far for commuting to downtown.