Today's home buying journey has changed since the pandemic. Are you ready?
For the longest time, Montrealers looking to buy or sell a secondary residence followed the same basic path: Host or visit a multitude of open houses, go back to see properties that seemed interesting and then take some time to think about it before making an offer to purchase. Then the coronavirus came, accelerating the landscape shift of the real estate industry.
“Before the pandemic, buying a second property was a medium- to long-term project: You had no pressure because you already had a house, the kids were in school and you took your time. Now, the tables have turned,” says Marie-piers Barsalou, a real estate broker with Sotheby’s International Realty Québec in Lac-brome and partner in Groupe Barsalou-meunier alongside broker Johanne Meunier.
Eastern Townships and Mont-tremblant area properties are selling way above list price in days. For buyers and sellers, this new reality means having to make lightning-quick decisions.
“There’s never been a more important time to have an experienced broker by your side to guide you through the process,’’ notes Daniel Dagenais, regional director for Quebec for Sotheby’s International Realty Canada.
A CHANGING LIFESTYLE
Supply and demand have changed dramatically in the past year, and it’s a seller’s market, says Herbert Ratsch, a broker with Sotheby’s International Realty Québec in the Mont-tremblant area.
“There’s also been a big culture shift between working from home and working from the country, with people realizing that home can be the country, where you have much more space, and are therefore less impacted by the pandemic,” he explains.
People who want to work, ski and hike in the same day are looking for upscale properties surrounded by nature.
“In the luxury market, if you’re a skier for six months in the winter, ski in/ski out is important to you. If you’re a summer water-skiing, sailing, lake person, you want lakefront. If you can get both in a four-season property, that’s the home run,” he says.
“Buyers are acquiring homes they can drive to and use in a reverse way: Our old lifestyle was five days in the city, fight traffic, two days in the country, fight traffic, and get back into the rat race Monday morning. That’s done. Now it’s five days in the country, then drive back after traffic to do two days of meetings in the city,” says Ratsch.
“Our clientele usually consists of a considerable percentage of international buyers, but since 2020, we’ve mostly dealt with Canadian buyers,” adds Dagenais.
BUYERS AND SELLERS NEED TO BE READY TO MOVE FAST
Because of how rapidly transactions are happening, marketing secondary properties needs to be creative and comprehensive, notes Ratsch. That’s when a broker’s know-how comes into play.
“Buyers want facts before making a purchasing decision, so you need to have the market intelligence,” he explains. “I do a full market report for the property with all the comparables and then list the property within realistic parameters. Buyers want to know what the last five sales were in an area, how much it was per acre or per foot on the lakefront, and how the sell percentage compares to the city evaluation.”
Today high-end property brokers must be tech savvy and offer professional photography, including drone images, floor plans, and video walkthroughs of the house, says Dagenais, because that’s what sells
homes, sometimes sight unseen.
Eastern Townships homes within an hour’s drive of Montreal – such as Bromont, Knowlton, Sutton and Magog – are being snapped up, and bidding wars are common, so buyers must be organized well in advance of their home search, says Meunier. That means being pre-approved for funds or having them available.
Barsalou encourages buyers to approach the home buying process with clear boundaries because in a bidding war, emotions run high.
“We’re seeing a lot of all-cash offers, so have everything in place,” agrees Ratsch. “Buyers have to accept to pay a COVID premium of 20 to 25 per cent.”
BE FLEXIBLE ABOUT INSPECTIONS AND CLOSING DATES
Home inspections are working differently now, too: While brokers would never push a buyer to waive that condition in their offer to purchase, sometimes it
makes more sense for sellers to do pre-sale home inspections so the deal goes more smoothly and everything is
transparent.
Another new reality is the length of time between an accepted offer and taking possession, says Barsalou. In the past, a 30-, 60- or 90-day closing was the norm.
“Now, we’ve seen vendors saying, ‘If you want my house, you’ll need to wait 10-12 months, because I’m building a new house.’ This is something that we were not seeing at all before the pandemic,” notes Barsalou. Other sellers want to vacate immediately, so buyers need to anticipate all kinds of potential situations.
“Work with a broker that you trust, somebody with experience who is familiar with the market you’re considering, and that will represent your best interests,” she says.
Whether you want a mountain cottage or a turnkey waterfront chalet, Dagenais agrees that having a seasoned broker with strong negotiation skills by your side is especially crucial.
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