The Hintze Team Blog

By: Elizabeth Weintraub, About.com

It's not uncommon for a first-time home buyer to say to me, "Gosh, just last week I called you about buying a home and now I'm in escrow! How did this happen so fast?"

The answer is it didn't. First time home buyers start the search long before most even realize it.

Here's what you can expect from your home shopping experience.

Figuring out the benefits

You should buy a home. That's what you've been hearing from friends and family, right? So, by now you have likely already weighed the benefits and decided that home ownership was the best decision for you. That's a major hurdle now passed. You are focused and certain. Good.

Defining Search Parameters

Almost 80% of all home searches today begin on the internet. With jsut a few clicks of the mouse, home buyers can search through hundreds of online listings, view virtual tours, and sort through dozens of photographs and aerial shots of neighbourhoods and homes. You've probably defined your goals and have a pretty good idea of the type of home and neighbourhood you want. By the time you reach your real estate agent's office, you are already halfway to home ownership.

How long should it take to find what you want?

In seller's markets, often I only show one home. After all, how many homes does one family need? A few buyers will look for years, but buyers who do that aren't motivated. A motivated buyer will find a home within two weeks. Most of my buyers find a home within two days.

Good real estate agents will listen to your wants and needs and arrange to show only those homes that fit your particular parameters. Your agent should preview homes before showing them to you as well.

How many Homes will you see?

Studies show that your memory dramatically improves after consumption of carbs and slows upon consumption of sugar. So, lay off the soft drinks and have a hearty meal of carbs before venturing out to tour homes. The average number of homes that I show to a buyer in one day is seven. Any more than that, and the brain is on overload. Therefore, don't expect to see 20 or 30 home; although it's physically possible to do so, you probably will not remember specific details about any of them.

The "Red shoes" experience

Women will relate to this. Say, you need a pair fo red shoes. You go to the mall. At the first shoe store, you find a fabulous pair of red shoes. You try them on. They fit perfectly. They are glamorous. Priced right, too. Do you buy them? Of course not! You go to every other store in the mall trying on red shoes until you are ready to drop from exhaustion. Then you return to the first store and buy those red shoes. Don't shop for a home that way. When you find the perfect home, buy it.

How to rate Inventory

*Bring a digital camera and begin each series of photos with a close up of the house number to identify where each group of home photos start and end.
*Take copious notes of unusual features, colours and design elements.
*Pay attention to the home's surroundings. What is next door? Do 2-storey homes tower over your single storey?
*Do you like the location? Is it near a park or power plant?
*Immediately after leaving, rate each home on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest.

View top choices a second time

After touring homes for a few days, you will probably instinctively know which one or two homes you would like to buy. Ask to see them again. You will see them with different eyes and notice elements that were overlooked the first go around.

At this point, your agent should call the listing agents to find out more about the sellers motivation and to double-check that an offer hasn't come in, making sure these homes are still available to purchase.

Making the Selection

I'll let you in on a little secret. I generally know which home a buyer is going to choose, and I suspect most other agents operate the same way. It's an intuition. But I make it a practice not to steer buyers, and I insist that buyers choose the home without interference from me. It's not my choice to make.

Real estate agents are required, however, to point out defects and should help buyers feel confident that the home selected meets the buyer's search parameters.

LORI MCLEOD
Globe and Mail Update
October 9, 2008 at 6:18 PM EDT


The real estate industry has gone into damage-control mode to try to quell fears Canada's housing market could enter into a U.S.-style freefall.

Industry representatives held a conference call Thursday to challenge a recent report by Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. that made headlines by suggesting Canada's housing market could be heading for the same perils as that of the United States.

“We want to draw attention to the fact that despite some recent stories that suggest the Canadian housing market is heading for a crash similar to the States, that just isn't in the cards,” Gregory Klump, chief economist at the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), said on the call.

The Merrill report created a stir, even prompting Prime Minister Stephen Harper to weigh in with the view Canada's housing and construction markets remain stronger than those of the U.S.

In a follow-up note Merrill economists David Wolf and Carolyn Kwan said they were not predicting a catastrophe for Canada like the one playing out in much of the United States, but chided anyone who is overlooking the market's risks.

“Given the emerging lessons of the U.S. and U.K. crises, and given the parallels that we believe exist in Canada, we cannot understand how one can dismiss the risk that an adverse feedback loop between the housing market and the financial sector could produce a rather worse outcome for both, in Canada, than the sanguine consensus currently expects,” they said in the follow-up report.

However, Bank of Nova Scotia economist Derek Holt said that while his company has been more bearish on the economy than many others, it had to “draw the line” when it came to the mounting fears about the health of Canada's housing market.

“I certainly don't want to be painted as the optimist .... It's just that we draw the line in terms of making any parallels with the U.S. banking and mortgage market experience,” Mr. Holt said on the call.

Scotiabank expects a continued downturn in the housing market, including a further decrease in construction and resale home sales activity, he added.

Low mortgage rates and more prudent lending regulations have helped prevent Canada from a U.S.-style meltdown, Jim Murphy, president of the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals, said on the call.

This includes the pending elimination of 40-year and zero-down payment mortgages when the government pulls its backing for these products on Oct. 15, he added.

In June, the average price of a resale home in Canada slipped for the first time year-over-year in more than nine years. Since then, the price declines have spread from Alberta into Vancouver and Toronto, causing fear the slowdown is now reflecting weaker economic conditions in addition to overshooting on price.

The Canadian market can't be painted with a broad brush, and varies widely not just by province and city, but even from community to community, Ann Bosley, vice-president of Toronto-based Bosley Real Estate Ltd., said on the call.

Parts of Toronto subject to big price run-ups and bidding wars last year, for example, are cooling more than other areas where price increases were more moderate, she said.

Real estate agents at Bosley have been fighting off misconceptions the Canadian market is currently mimicking that of the U.S., she said.

“My brokerage had calls saying ‘I want to buy a foreclosure.' I said ‘That's nice, go to Buffalo,'” Ms. Bosley said.