Crazy or what?

Of all the zany things happening in Toronto’s real estate market last week, perhaps the most mind-boggling was the melee that erupted over a pleasant yet unremarkable condo unit near Yonge and Davisville. Seven parties leapt into the competition and pushed the sale price to $420,000 – or 8% above the asking price of $389,000! I am totally flabbergasted by this! I would never in this market tell a buyer to get involved in a bidding war on a condo. A nice house in Riverdale/Leslieville maybe – but not a condo. But it could be an outlier. The point is that the market is extremely erratic at the moment. The numbers from the Toronto Real Estate Board show that sales edged up 2.4% in the GTA in the first half of January compared with the same period last year. The average selling price rose by 4% in the same period. But the market was – and continues to be – choppy and weird. Some properties stagnate for weeks and then sell at a significant discount of the asking price, while others sell overnight for more. Still…. there are a million cookie-cutter condos out there that no one cares about. So, that condo multiple bid was a real head scratcher to me. Some buyers are speculating that prices may fall and wonder if they should wait. But others are willing to move if they see the right property. They want that security that the market isn’t going to totally fall out of bed. I don’t believe it will. My advice? Set a realistic asking price instead of setting an eye-catching price in the hope of sparking a bidding war. But don’t ask too much. Prices have softened a bit since last spring. If you’re way too high, people will ignore you and buy something that’s not. And buyers? Always know that if the price seems too low, it probably is and the agent is working for multiple bids….all good, and fair, but have your Top Price in mind before going to battle and don’t go over it. I won’t ever push a client to do that, though I will counsel if I feel they are low balling too much and insulting a client right out of a good dialogue. Perhaps it’s been the lack of snow in January that may have helped the market for sellers because house hunters had no trouble tramping around. And the arctic temperatures this week didn’t deter the buyers of 76 Langley Ave. in Riverdale. The home, priced at $949,000, sold Tuesday night for $1,129,000. No, that’s not a typo. So much for the impending real estate crash, huh? But the volatile nature of the market makes it difficult for us agents to predict how the spring will shape up.