What do you think about the pictures that real estate agents use in their marketing materials, on their web sites, etc.?

A recent consumer focus group felt that pictures are a huge factor in determining whether they would click on an ad of an agent or not, and whether they would use that agent for their real estate needs.

So, my question to you, the owners of, buyers of, and sellers of real estate in and around milton ontario, is ‘how much importance do you place on the picture of the person you are considering hiring to represent you?’

Here’s a picture of me, taken by me, that most of the people I know does a far better job of capturing the essence of who I really am than any of the pictures I currently use in my business.

What do you think?

When you buy YOUR next home in milton ontario, you have some things that you are really looking for; we’re thinking that this fabulous home has those things, and maybe even more!

Rare to find is a 4-bedroom home at this price-point; even rarer is all 4 bedrooms are a great size for youngsters or teens alike. I’m thinking that you want 2 full, 5-piece bathrooms, the ensuite having a separate soaker tub, instead of those tiny regular tubs and 2 sinks – well, you’ll find that here too. In fact, the Master bedroom also has a pair of Her’s & Her’s closets! Guys, if you’re lucky, she’ll share with you. Want room for a computer nook? There’s room on the upper hallway. Oh yes, let’s not forget that there are California shutters throughout the house!

How about the main floor having a Family Room AND a Living Room AND a Dining Room AND a Breakfast Area AND a Breakfast Bar? Yep, yep, yep, yep, and yep – we got ‘em all!

Walkout to the yard, that is finished with beautiful perennials, situated for evening sun, and not so big that you’ll have to spend all your free time taking care of it. That’s my kind of living – is it yours?

Take a look at all the pictures, picture how much you’ll enjoy sitting on your front porch, watching the world go by; think how great it will be to come inside directly from the garage, and start placing your furniture, coz this baby’s got it all!

Oh, and as a special bonus (hey, that’s what they say on those HGTV shows!), the basement is huge, will make a fantastic rec. room, and is unspolied so you can develop it however you want!

Seriously, what more could you want in a house that is priced to attract immediate attention, offers, and ACTION! A GREAT first action would be to go check out the full listing at our real estate web site, AllMiltonHomes.com

So, take action now, call me today, and make this one YOUR new home.

I’m always looking for new tools and in

formation to help consumers in their home buying journey. Yesterday, I learned of an online seminar all about the Ontario New Home Warranty program, administered by Tarion. Tarion is just launching it’s online seminar series, with their first offer, Understanding Warranty Coverage.

This seminar will be helpful, not only to those considering buying a new home but also those of you who bought a home with a Tarion warranty still in effect.

Check out the seminar by clicking on the picture below.

Take a look, and please leave a comment with your feedback on this information.

Are you enjoying this wonderful Summer time of the year? Certainly, the folks who are taking advantage of the strength of the housing market to sell their home are enjoying it! Just look at this first chart, the Weeks of Supply & the Absorption Rate. Weeks of Supply means how many weeks it would take for all the houses to sell if the current rate of sales continued and no new listings came on the market. Absorption Rate is the percentage of available listings that sold in the time period. So, from a seller’s perspective, the lower the Weeks of Supply number is (currently it is 3 weeks) and the higher the Absorption Rate is in the Milton Ontario real estate market (which is currently 34.9%), the better it is for selling a home. Click the image to view it full-size.

A pretty powerful way to view what is happening in the local real estate market. If you’d like a longer-term view of what has been happening, see this recent post. And here’s a view of what has happened on a quarterly basis in the area covered by the Oakville-Milton Real Estate Board: Click the image to view full-size.

Now let’s look at the breakdown of the milton ontario real estate market numbers for the week ending July 31st, 2009.

First, the weekly summary of listings, solds and expired listings, by price range. This chart reveals a number of things to the casual observer, such as the most active price range for the week being the $300,000 to $325,000 range. In this range, virtually all of the available properties sold, with just one remaining on the market. Is your home in this range? Let’s get it on the market now and get you a fantastic price!

This chart also shows an average days to sell of 19, however, removing the couple of anomalies, that number becomes 6 days, from the time the listing was signed, through when the house gets onto the MLS and when all conditions are removed. SIX DAYS! That is extremely fast, perhaps too fast? Look for a follow-up post on this thought in the next couple of days. Removing those same anomalies also causes the average list-to-sell ratio to rise to 99.9%! Are houses perhaps being listed at too low of a price? Just a thought.

The next chart shows the Annual Summary of Total Market Activity for the Milton Ontario real estate market. Compare the averages down each column for an historical perspective.

Seeing the number of sales in milton ontario for the week jump by 60% over the previous week could lead one to conclude that people are listening to the warnings of interest rates going up. It could lead to that conclusion, I’m not saying that is the cause.

The final chart is included so you have a graphical representation of the ongoing activity - it’s easier to see the trend in a line-graph than to just see the numbers. Click the image to view full-size.

There is a lot more information and background conclusions that can be drawn from this data – if you are thinking of selling your milton ontario home, you need the complete picture of the real estate market. Call me, Chris Newell, at 905-208-7002 and we can set a time to discuss it.