It’s a hot market! As a result of the pandemic, consumers, including singles, couples, families, and even students are looking to live in larger homes with one or two offices to accommodate working parents and online learners.
 
From Whitby to Toronto, we are seeing bidding wars and multiple offers for homes across all segments and areas of the GTA, triggering a rise in sale prices. Condo prices are rising in Burlington, Halton Hills, Grimsby, Ancaster, and Hamilton, in general. Having only "multiple" offers became a big wave of buyers and a large number of offers per listing resulting in very high sale prices throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
 
These are some of the best ways to approach a hot market if you are considering buying in one.
Learn the Market.

1. View many properties in your segment and track their sold prices.

• Without a sound understanding of the market, you are likely to miss many opportunities as you try to be overly analytical about everything else. You will remain guided by your own views rather than a market viewpoint, and you will not be able to make any purchases because everything may seem too expensive or unrealistic.
• When you have learned the market, you have not just looked at a website to see the sold prices of properties; you have also taken into account the specifics of each property and the skill of accurately predicting what will be the minimum sale price for a property. When you are able to do that, you have successfully learned the market.
• It is not necessary for you to be an expert in real estate, you simply need to understand your own particular market, and your agent will assist you with the learning curve.

• There are several examples of trade-offs, such as price, location, and the degree of renovation.
• In a specific example: you may desire a turn-key home, but it may not fit your budget - when you buy a home with a trade-off, you experience must less competition in the whole buying process. Therefore, in the long run, you avoid bidding wars, end up paying less, and get the home you desire.
• Overpaying a few percentage points over market price with a belief that, within a few months, the house's price will appear low sounds crazy, and it is, as it is our market - but it has happened multiple times, where buyers paid perhaps $20 thousand more, and a few months later houses of the same type in the same neighbourhood are selling for over $50 thousand more. 

3. Be quick and react promptly, ideally BEFORE the weekend. 
If you do not have a home negotiated by Friday at 5 pm and it is a good home, more than likely there will be multiple offers. If the sellers don’t have any offers yet, they will get them or, at least, they will know they will receive multiple offers. Therefore, they will not accept just one offer unless it is ridiculously high. The importance of this point cannot be overstated. This is a make it or break it point for the overall purchasing strategy in a very hot market.

Simply stated, if you are not strategic, quick to act, and do not learn the market, you will not buy anything now, but you might buy something later on in one or two years at a price that is much higher. At the end of the day, you will be disappointed unless you choose to significantly overpay for your home, in which case you will buy something, but at an unnecessarily high price. Politicians, banks, or your real estate agent can all be blamed, but in a very hot market, only the sellers win! 
 
 At In Black and White Real Estate Team, we are here to partner with our clients during their real estate transitions. We continuously strive to match their evolving needs by bringing insight that makes a difference. We provide innovation, expert advice and we enable our clients to focus on what is important to them. 
If you are interested in buying a home, please give us the opportunity to show you all that we can do for you. Let us do the heavy lifting so that you can enjoy the experience.