The Duke Pod: Real Estate Stories

Hi Everyone With so many changes in the market since the Spring of 2023, with interest rates being at an all-time high after 20 years, buyers are struggling to be able to afford a home. Seemingly more and more homeowner has struggled to make sense of their situations and home ownership and skyrocketing prices of the common good as well as mortgages have forced many to try to downsize or sell their homes. As of now the amount of homes in most markets is now up to 4+ Months of inventory, creeping into the buyer's market territory. Just for reference, the Spring had about 1.5 months of inventory when it was moving well. The real estate market has slowed to a snail's pace. Many homes, few buyers and so much propaganda and unknown about where the market is heading, often educated people are throwing out works like market crash, foreclosures and other terms that are making consumers scared, and waiting it out. With that in mind, the end of 2023 was been dreadful when attempting to sell. It is clear at this point that 2024 will be much of the same unless consumers become more confident that buying is the right choice, in other words, this market sticks and people get used to it. With that in mind selling a property is very difficult. Here are my 4 tips to help you become a successful seller in this pseudo-buyer's market. 1. Should you even get into the market? Do your research, look at realistic prices, and understand that we are low. Could it get worse? Yes. But It will also get better. With a high probability of interest rates dropping in the middle of 2024, staying out of this market if you can help it and waiting for late 2024 or 2025 just could be the best idea. However, if you do not have a choice and need to sell, these other 3 tips will help you dramatically. 2. Price aggressively. Review sold listings only from the last 2-3 weeks, then carefully examine the homes similar to yours. Find some or at least one that is one the market, the same or better. Chances are you have to be at their price or most likely a little lower to have a chance to sell. 3. Be patient. Buyers now have all the power. With so few buyers even active, it could easily take weeks to sell your home. Stay patient, pick a good plan, and stick to it. Just understand this is not a fast process. Buyers have too many options, stick with your plan and ideally, they circle back to your home, if priced aggressively, and buy it! 4. Avoid any major renovation with selling in mind. The market is depreciating. Making a new kitchen or bathroom are fantastic renovations to enjoy, but you will not get your money back. Stick to cleaning, decluttering, and fixing minor issues such as paint, patching holes etc. These are not expensive and can be done yourself often. Avoid any major renovations and just stick to pricing correctly with what you currently have! Good luck out there! Filip

Hello Inventory in the Greater Toronto Area for homes is around 4.2 Months, bordering a buyer's market. Condos are already a buyer's market at around 6 Months of inventory. All of a sudden selling a home has become increasingly difficult and competitive. With so few buyers interested in buying right now and even fewer who are comfortable and qualify with today's high-interest rates. The Zoocasa report in October shows that on average there is a 20% discrepancy for listings between what they are listed for and what is the actually selling price (Today's fair market value). In some cities the discrepancy is as high as 40% now! Reviewing the next rate cuts as probably in the 3rd quarter of 2024, or potentially spring along with continuious high immigration rates. My prediction is the market will remain a borderline buyers market in late spring of 2024. With a rate cut, the market may finally start to breathe in the fall of 2024. With potential further rate cuts after that, assuming the first one happens, then the market will return to a more standard one in the Spring of 2025 with lots of interest and movement we were accustomed to. It would appear that if you were a buyer, you have the next 8 months to capitalize on a great deal before the potential of the next market shift. For sellers, if you need to sell, you will have to price at a current fair market value. The first potential for more demand appears to be in the fall of 2024. Prices may start to rebound somewhat in the Spring of 2025! Let's see if time is kind to this prediction in 2024 and 2025!

Hi Everyone, In this episode we examine the trends in the Canadian real estate market from the last 3 months, examining only the Ontario and specifically GTA areas. - Inventory is up to 4 months - balanced market and potentially a buyers market. -Toronto condos and condos in the general area are already in a buyer's market for almost 6 months of inventory. - Fair market prices are down, which means prices are trending downward. - What it's like in the trenches- how it feels helping active buyers and sellers. We also examine the immigration and housing affordability trends. The x-factor for 2024 is how many people will be forced to sell when approaching mortgage renewals. To be determined if the spring market is going to help or the same slow market we are in now!

It's October 31st, 2023. This ninja is ready to take his little ninjas trick or treating, but something is on his mind. After a nearly full year of 2023, the real estate market in Canada has a rather bleak outcome at the moment. For the first time in years, it is impossible to tell if the home prices will actually increase again anytime soon. Foreclosures are up 400%. Some Homeowners cannot even sell their homes anymore as inventory is shooting up. Consumer purchases are way down, and high interest rates keeping them down. People are very concerned if they can still keep their homes in the future when they have to renew their mortgages. And for the first time in seemingly forever, owning rental properties is not as cool as it used to be. Here is everything I have seen out there in the last month and why the real estate market is where it is right now. Filip Hajduk dukerealtyhomes.com info@dukerealtyhomes.com Re/max Real estate Centre 647 460 0911

A Picture is worth 1000 Words. I heard that many times over my lifetime and it can defiantly be true, some photos more than others. These days with our Hyper Aggressive, low supply seller's market in Ontario Real Estate, I am suggesting buyers be totally prepared if they want to secure and "win" a new home. Their first home or their dream home. This includes adding a family photo and a letter to the sellers with each offer. The point is to get a nice family photo, a friendly letter about why the home is great for them and what they loved about it and convert the sellers to have a slight rooting interest in the buyers. It is not going to work every time. However today's story just happened last week, and that picture and letter were worth thousands of saved dollars as it directly helped our buyers secure their dream home. My buyers were ultimately able to win their dream home, using a strong offer, picture and letter even though they were not the "highest" offer! Listen to hear how it went and how it could help you one day. Filip Hajduk Cloud Realty Duke Realty Homes info@dukerealtyhomes.com dukerealtyhomes.com

Todays Real Estate Market in ONTARIO is a Hyper aggressive seller's market. With high demand and VERY low inventory, buying a house is very very hard. Here are 4 tips that will help you and give you an edge with your offers. 1. Find a way to remove all your conditions, mainly financing and home inspection. The video explains tips on how you can do this. In a seller's market, clean offers is king! 2. Look at last weeks sold comparables and add 25k to have a winning bid. Looking at sales from 2-3 months ago is too late. You have to look at the most recent sale and go over that price. If you won't your competition will. If you do not want to, then try with your best offer regardless. This is just a formula for winning. 3. If the listing says "Sellers will entertain preemptive offers" Call the listing agent and see what they want. 4. Get Personable: Tell the Sellers and their agent everything that is great about you as the buyer, send them a picture, and/or write the sellers a letter. Most sellers will like this approach and at least root for you. This increases your odds of winning. If you want any advice how to win an offer, get in touch with us! Good luck out there! Filip Hajduk Info@dukerealtyhomes.com dukerealtyhomes.com cloud Realty Brokerage 647 460 0911 SHOW LESS

Real estate in Canada and other parts of the work just got nutty. Prices are skyrocketing. For some that own real estate, their property (properties) have helped make them a lot of money. In this episode, we talk about the various steps and general tips from start to finish about owning 1 or more investments properties. 1. Figure out your finances and get a mortgage approval 2. Look at many investments and figure you the best ones for your budget. 3. Put in lots of offers! 10-1 ratio of offers to accepted offers. 4. Single-family vs Duplex vs Multiresidential pros and cons 5. How to maintain the investment 6. Different strategies to use your investment to help continuously grow your real estate portfolio Enjoy! Filip Hajduk Info@dukerealtyhomes.com @filip.hajduk 647 460 0911

The pandemic has brought home bidding wars non stop. Here are my tips for successful winning won. 1. What to keep in mind when you visit the home. Do I need financing for this home? Do I need an inspection? 2. Prepare a high deposit ie 5% is good 3. Please the listing agent 4. Tell the listing agent about how your clients are a great fit and send them a picture of the family 5. Make sure you are prepared by doing your research. Happy hunting friends Filip Hajduk Dukerealtyhomes.com 647 460 0911 Real Estate agent Cloud realty brokerage info@dukerealtyhomes.com

Welcome. When looking to invest in real estate here in Canada, you are most likely going to buy a resale home on the residential real estate market, or a pre-construction home or unit from a builder. Here are 8 differences between the two purchases you should know to help you make the best decision and investment. 1. Buying used vs new 2. Preconstruction is buying a floor plan. Resale homes you can walk in and feel the home! 3. Pre- Construction homes are 5-15% more expensive 4. Pre- Construction requires limited mortgage information 5. Long closing vs short closings 6. New builds will have additional developmental charges 7. Assignment clauses 8. Pre- Construction units have a 10-day cooling-off period, no questions asked Cheers, Filip Duke Real Estate 352 Hinton Terrace, Milton, ON L9E 1E1 Phone: 647-460-0911 Website: https://dukerealtyhomes.com Contact: info@dukerealtyhomes.com

Hi Everyone. Real estate in Canada, especially the GTA has been such a hot topic for so long. For as long as the pandemic has been around, the real estate market has held its hand, continuing a seller's market in such a strong desire for housing over the last year and a half! We examine 2 clients that purchased homes and climbed the real estate ladder to be able to do a lot more with their lives and financial abilities because of those purchases years ago. This takes time, however, one day you can cash in. One client was able to use his increased equity from a home he purchased last year. He purchased that home for just under $600,000 and with some conversation with his bank, he is able to refinance that home which is now, one year later, worth around $900,000 and buy a second home. One recent client, while looking for a second, investment home, put in an offer on a home that needed some love. It was listed very low and ended up with 15 offers selling 20k over our budget (it sold $620,000). Then another home that was better, needs minimal work, just had 2 offers and we found out, it could be had for $605,000 which was 15k less than the fixer-upper. We put in that offer, got the home and today are feeling lucky. Were we just lucky or just on top of things, pounced when we should! A special congratulations to that client for his first investment home!

Hello, In this real estate episode about a house we sold in Brampton, Ontario, we convinced the clients to improve their home before listing. They are a typical family with 2 young children, and although the house was actually not chaotic, it needed a few touches so they could get top market value. The walls were red and orange, lots of hand marks and so on. A fresh coat of paint, changing the walls to neutral off White was in order. The painting quote was $2600. Also the home had 9 Foot ceilings and all old builder grade lights. Those do not go hand and hand. We told them if they bought and installed new modern, yet not expensive lighting, this would make the home look more luxurious, rich and a cut above other similar homes. Purchasing and installation were about $1000. Staging: The whole main floor was staged, as the vendor has minimal furniture. The furniture that they did have was old and badly scratched. We moved some of the furniture they wanted to keep into the garage, throughout the rest and staged the whole main floor. This fee cost about $2500 but it was included in the commission package. We also cleaned the home with cleaners, just before professional photos/video. Go ahead and check out how all these changes made a huge difference in getting a lot of buyers into the home and generate so much interest. Youtube: 8 Maddybeth cres Brampton to see the finished results. It was listed for $1,099,000 with other similar homes selling for about 1.5 Million ($1,150,000) and we received 5 offers. Since this is a seller's market, property presenting the home was a difference of almost $90,000 dollars! It sold for $1,220,000! All that hard work to get the home ready was definitely worth it with some very happy sellers

Hello, welcome to the new proposed, 95% chance it's happening, Mortgage stress test which could and probably will affect the rest of the 2021 Real Estate market in some way, shape or form! No, this is not an April fools joke, however, early in April, it was announced that the mortgage stress test will increase from 4.79% to 5.25% effective June 1st 2021. Essentially this means every buyer will have 5% less borrowing power from June 1st and on. There may some exceptions if you already have a firm approval that is dated pasted June 1st, then maybe you will have a little extra time to lock in the higher purchase power. This announcement is an attempt to slow down the very hot real estate market in Ontario, however, it may most likely affect first time home buyers the most, even though the stress test is normal for all mortgages today. When the stress test was introduced in 2017, it did actually change the market, eventually. 2018 and 2019 were known as more neutral markets. Although it did slow down the market, at first there was a flurry of activity for buyers and sellers to get their deals done as soon as possible, and get their purchases done before the changes. Then when it was in effect, the market slowed down and It took until the end of 2019, basically 2 years later for the market to finally get back to a seller's market, where we currently still stand. What does this mean: For buyers. You still have until June 1st to purchase a home with the current lower stress test. Essentially you have until June 1st to use your additional 5% of mortgage allowance from lenders. After that you will have 5% less, you may have to settle on a lesser home or lesser market if you got priced out. Think of being approved for $25,000-$50,000 less. Alternatively, if you wait until after June 1st, let's say the middle of the summer, there is historical evidence that the market may slow down because of this, and the market will be less competitive, which includes more homes to choose from. We shall see if that happens again. For Sellers: You will have more buyers with deeper pockets until June 1st, meaning sell now. If you do not care then you can also benefit from that potentially softened market when buying in the summer and coming months. One very important point for SELLERS. There is a hypothetical chance that you have until June 1st to sell for maximum market value when buyers have deeper pockets, and then post June 1st, buy something in a softened, less competitive market. So how many of you want to sell high and buy low? It may be possible if you act quickly! Enjoy. info@dukerealtyhomes.com dukerealtyhomes.com

Remember the year 2013? Nelson Mandela passed away, Boston Marathon bombings, and Rob Ford admiting to smoking crack to refresh your memories. Also, home prices dropped 3-4.5% in the Greater Toronto and Vancouver areas. People started to panic and many heads used the terms market crash and housing bubble. Since then home prices have doubled and tripled! During the Covid Pandemic, home prices climbed another 16.5% nationally in Canada and ranged in towns and cities from 5%- 40% appreciation! In this episode, we example the factors why the prices climbed so heavily and demand was never higher. We also give our 2 cents for what may happen post-pandemic as well as our advice for first time home buyers and want to be investors. Enjoy!

Hi Eveyone, So many people I know have moved out of the city and into one of the smaller towns due to covid and working at home. Smaller cities have really picked up in popularity as well as price. That also means that condos in the downtown core have not been in demand for a while, this may finally be changing. With the real estate market exploding and many freehold homes up 30% from the beginning of 2020, homes have become unaffordable for many people. In addition to that concept, many buyers are now priced out of their preferred types of homes and area. That just leaves the condo market. By default, buyers are now looking at condos as the next alternative to affordable living. Freehold homes are 2.5X more expensive than condos at this time. Historically that number has only been 2x. This means that 2021 could be the year of the condo and if supply and demand collide, there is a 20-24% appreciation growth opportunity for condos. If that ends up being true then everyone should go out and buy a condo as soon as they can, whether they are a first time home buyer, investor or in the game for a while. Any $500,000 condo could be $600,000+ be sometime in 2022. Do not get left behind.

Hello Everyone. Robert Kiyosaki wrote a very famous book on personal finance called, Rich dad Poor dad. He had two fathers that gave him complete different advice. One of them used that advice to become very wealthy and the other became poor. This is a unique episode which we dive deep into this book I just read, we used examples to discuss the Rat race and how to acquire assets in real estate that will make you money, in the long term and in cash flow. The rat race is a concept that your assets provide you with enough cash to cover your overall expenses. If your monthly expenses are $3000, then you need enough assets to gain you $3000 a month in cash flow. If you accomplish this you are weathly. It takes a lot of time so it's a race to accomplish this before you need to retire! There are many, many people that have accomplished this and it takes A LOT of time, A LOT of hard work, A LOT of Education and A LOT of dedication. I am going to give you guys some examples of how I gained a few assets and go over tips and suggestions on how to acquire real estate, what to do with it and how to acquire more over time. We also review Robert's 10 tips on how to get started 1. Find your Spirit (I call this finding your why) 2. Make Sound daily choices, educate yourself! 3. Master skills and then master others 4. Pay yourself first 5. Choice your friends carefully 6. Pay your Trades well 7. Get something for nothing 8. Use Assets to buy luxuries 9. Choose a hero 10. Teacher others Always remember: Fortune favours the bold!

Hi Everyone. All of a sudden I feel like 10 Million dollars. I would have said a million but with inflation, a million just does not seem like a lot anymore. I just finished the David Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge which was March 5-7th, so it ended yesterday! I ran 4 miles (6.5km) every 4 hours, including 4 am for 48 hours. Overcoming this gruelling, difficult endurance test was incredible. However, this is a real estate podcast, and while I was posting on social each run I finished, I also sold 2 homes by the time I ran my last mile Sunday evening! In this episode, we take you through a townhouse in Mississauga yesterday. The fact that we received a few offers and the home was sold for way more then the client's expectations tells nothing about what happened behind the scenes. We had to do a lot of get it ready, such as tell the clients how to declutter, staging, cleaning and so on. A lot of prep work went behind the scenes. The lovely clients have 2 kids under 3, I have 2 under 4, so I know how it is to live like that. Its a blessing but the house was a mess, clothes everywhere, so many extra items and so on. One major, yet subtle change we suggested revolved around the lighting. The house had a lot of old, builder-grade lights. They made it look dated, while the home overall was nice. By swapping a few out for Costco priced chandeliers, maybe $100 each, giving the house a better, brighter and illuminating feel. It gave the home a flavour of elegance and in my opinion, helped make them a few thousand more at a fraction of their investment cost of those lights. The home definitely looked amazing in the photos and video. Find out more and how you should organize your home's lighting to make the home also look like 10 million dollars. Here is a link to my website for the home we are discussing, including the video and some pictures. https://dukerealtyhomes.com/property/37-35-ceremonial-dr-mississauga-for-sale-a-lovely-3-bed-4-baths-in-prime-location-by-huro-eglinton/ Enjoy!

Greetings friends, This is my 8th day on the 75Hard program and my body, mind and soul are all feeling it. Beat down like a coal miner working 16 hours shifts, I carry on, aiming for 75 straight days of gruelling, disciplined, good choices to make me the best version of myself. It may also the best Covid Medicine out there, sort of. What is 75 Hard? Let us talk about it briefly here! It may blow your mind. After that, we discuss how a client of mine purchased a home without looking at it, last week. What is the ramification of doing something like that, how does that even happen, is it crazy or just nuts!? I will tell you my thoughts from this experience and 2 other similar instances that have happened so far in my career. The results may surprise you. Tune in for some fun conversation and real estate stories!

Greetings friends, This week we had the honour to host special guest Amy Flowers​ from Milton's own Amy Flowers team who took some time in her business schedule to discuss some real estate! We had the pleasure of asking her about her Team along with tips on managing a real estate team as big as hers, and perhaps as small as yours! One of her philosophies that has to lead to great success is having more admit staff than actually real estate agents! Shifting into today's events, we discuss the current Real estate Seller's market. We ask her is it the RIGHT time to sell? What are some tips for buyers if they want to enter the market this year and where will this crazy market go? Amy shares some innovation of how her team is battling Covid concerns. They are helping sellers with a place to go when there are seemingly hundreds of visitors at their house daily, the LOFT. Finally, we discuss her insight into the best way to treat your real estate career, which is to treat it like a business! She also provides some great advice on how a new agent can make it in this dog eat dog business! Thank you, Amy, for coming on the show. Enjoy the episode!

Greetings This week we are joined by Joleen Constantis the owner of a very successful interior design company called Volumes of space. Check out their company and team on Instagram and on her website, volumesofspace.com! In this episode we discuss 1. What is volumes of space and what services they provide for interior and exterior Design 2. Her team design team 3. Her construction team along with recommending contractors that will make sure your renovation is done right as well as by code! 4. How to work well with other trades professionals. 5. What you didn't know: Designers know how to draw designs and to work with permits 6. Which renovations need permits and more! 7. Which Colors to use to sell. What colours they like in 2021! 8. Renovation trends for 2021. These include - Urgent need for home office space instead of rooms, - Home gyms - Basement dwellings for homes with multifamilies. 9. Designs that are common and which ones are not that designers would love to work on! 10. How to handle any budget for a project. 11. When should you actually hire an interior designer for your renovation 12. Some fun stories and tips! As always, stay tuned for the bloopers, this time for some behind the scene stuff!

Greetings, Mike Penny, a great colleague, friend and professional with GMP Properties made some time to come on the show and provide us wonderful property management tips as well as step by step instructions on how to best acquire a wonderful tenant. We also go deep in the world of property management providing valuable advice for people who own rentals or want to own an investment property in the future. In this episode we discuss - GMP Properties: Their history and their company - How to Aquire the best tenant you can - The 4 steps to successful Tenant Screening - How to advertise a unit for rent and where - What do to when a tenant does not pay rent - How to properly evict a tenant and how long can it take - What to keep in mind with your properties in the long run - Some insight into managing properties during the pandemic. - Advice for landlords - Some great stories for everyone! - And more! Stay tuned to the end for a couple Bloopers!