We frequently tell our kids “don’t sweat the small stuff”. Unless you are representing a Buyer on a bid night in Toronto these days….
The Toronto market continues to be “erratic, outrageous, confusing, unpredictable…” the list of adjectives goes on. Toronto’s best and busiest agents are all over it, navigating and calculating around the clock with sleeves rolled-up (and camaraderie, of course) as bid nights are back and don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon - now that the BOC has held the interest rate. Exhale!
For all our analytical clients and friends who are left-brained like Paul, our Market Handbook has all the data compiled for your viewing. Right down to the last ‘detail’. If you are right-brained heavy and like to story-tell like me, here are some summed-up real life snippets from bid nights last week.
Last week, we had four bid nights for Buyers. We won two, lost one, and one withdrew their bid last minute. The two that won - won due to the details. The ‘small stuff’. The things I typically tell our children not to sweat. These bid nights, we brought the deposits in hand. We brought the personal Buyers Note to accompany the Offers (we have witnessed this make a difference time and time again for the Sellers as the Listing Agents on the other side of the table). The financing, due diligence, correspondence with a lawyer in advance, and Market Value Analysis were full-proof and complete, with the ability and flexibility to improve their Offer depending on the circumstances as they evolve on the bid nights. Sometimes you don’t know exactly what to expect. In these cases we were competing against 20 offers for one home, and 6 for the other.
These Buyers were ready. They were in it to win it, with every last detail down pact. Including enough Market knowledge and house-hunting time invested in advance of their bids. And that’s how they got it. That’s how they both got their family homes. The small details made the big difference. In our experience, they almost always do.
To caveat the above, I should mention that ‘winning’ does not mean emotionally overbidding the Market Value of the house. It does not mean ‘win’ at all costs. Be prepared. Know your numbers. Have flexibility, knowledge, and understanding. When you are competing - all these things matter. And it is our job to make sure you have everything you need to win the house that you want.
These next couple of weeks we sit at the other side of the table, representing Sellers on their bid nights. At this time, bid nights seem to be dominating the inventory, specifically in the Toronto starter/investor condo market (500k-600k). Unless the market sees a glut of inventory come out after the March break, bid nights may be here to stay.
Stay tuned.
Cari and Paul
416-723-2372