Jeff Gingerich - Blog - Jeff Gingerich

Recent Blog Posts by Jeff Gingerich
I get Air Miles when I sell my home in Kitchener Waterloo? Many of my clients are pleasantly surprised when I tell them they'll receive Air Miles travel miles when they sell their Kitchener Waterloo home. In fact, if they are buying real estate in Kitchener Waterloo, they also receive Air Miles. Choose your Realtor carefully as unfortunately, the offer only applies to Century 21 clients and not to those buying a Century 21 home ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on May 19, 2012		More
Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Update November 2011 Residential real estate sales in Kitchener Waterloo fell year-over-year with 330 recorded through the MLS this November and 367 in November 2010. However, much like October, the decline can be attributed to plummeting new home sales. Just 19 new homes sold in November 2011 through MLS versus 49 and 63 in the previous Novembers. Resale homes sold in November homes totalled ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on December 5, 2011		More
Kitchener Waterloo Power of Sale Report March 2011 There were no bargains to be had in March as brisk Kitchener Waterloo residential MLS sales carried over to power of sale activity. There were 10 properties sold under power of sale in March. The average list price to sale price ratio was 99% and the average days on the market for these sales was just 27. The Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal and Firstline/CIBC ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on April 16, 2011		More
When Is The Best Time To Sell My Kitchener Waterloo Home? First-time sellers of Kitchener Waterloo real estate often struggle with this question. Twenty-two years of selling real estate has taught me there is an ideal time to sell every home. Choosing the wrong time of the year to sell can cost a seller thousands of dollars in hard earned equity. Other times, it can result in an expired listing or a ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on April 6, 2011		More
How do CMHC changes affect Kitchener Waterloo First Time Buyers? Buying your first home in Kitchener Waterloo can be confusing enough. Recently, the federal government made 3 changes to mortgage policy through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation(CMHC) that created further confusion. While I read a great deal about the changes, the analysis of the impact of the changes was sorely lacking. So if I'm a first time buyer in ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on January 22, 2011		More
When Selling Your House, Should You Get 3 Opinions? At the risk of sounding self-serving, the answer is no. While conventional wisdom suggests you have 3 agents in to price your home, there is a potential pitfall to this approach. It's human nature to want to get as much as possible when selling your home. Unfortunately, the simple act of having 3 Realtors in to price your home will often result in an inflated asking price. ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on January 4, 2011		More
Kitchener Waterloo Power of Sale Report October 2010 In sharp contrast to era of "foreclosure-gate" in the United States, residential power of sale activity in Kitchener Waterloo continues to represent a small percentage of the market. Active listings under power of sale on the Kitchener-Waterloo MLS totalled 15 as of mid-November which equalled October's total. Of note, 93% are in Kitchener and 7% in ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on November 16, 2010		More
The Funny Side of Real Estate Real estate is a serious business and part of our job for our clients is to alleviate stress. One way to accomplish this is through laughter. While listening and laughing to Century 21 Colonial's Kelly Lantz get "punked" by a local radio station, I was reminded of my own moment of real estate apprehension. It was a cold January day in 1996. I was the "duty" agent ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on September 11, 2010		More
When You Pay Too Little, You Sometimes Lose Everything The home pictured above is currently for sale in the wonderful Westvale neighbourhood of Waterloo(note I'm biased as I live there). While attending an open house, I spoke with the listing agent who related a curious story to me. It seems in an effort to save commission, the seller initially chose a discount real estate brokerage to market the home. During one of the ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on July 13, 2010		More
Will you be the next victim of a For Sale By Owner? The sign above brings a bit of levity to the topic of For Sale By Owners(FSBO). First, what is a For Sale By Owner? This is a seller trying to sell their property without the use of a real estate agent. The most common reason is to avoid paying a commission to a Realtor. Many will "co-operate" and pay a commission to a buyer's agent and some refuse to pay anything. However, ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on May 31, 2010		More
Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Update April 2010 Real estate sales in Kitchener-Waterloo continued a strong surge as April's 539 residential MLS sales represented an 11%increase over the 487 sales in April 2009. The average sale price of $285,643 spiked nearly 10% over last April's average of $259,802. The market still favours sellers as they received, on average, 98.7% of their asking price. The average days on market was ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on May 14, 2010		More
I'm Just Saying... Part 2 I had the good fortune to visit Vancouver for the Century 21 Canada Conference this fall. It certainly is a beautiful city and I can definitely see the appeal of living there. However, I struggle with the cost of housing. Here is a current example. The home above is listed for sale at $795,000. It's described as "that perfect fixer upper in an amazing ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on December 8, 2009		More
Let's Tell It Like It Is I get irritated when I see Realtors make misrepresentations in advertising. Unfortunately, they appear all too often and the reason is a lack of accountability. Gone are the days when the broker manager had to approve your ad copy before it saw the light of day. Today, I read about a great new listing that included among the features "backs on greenbelt". For many, this ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on August 10, 2009		More
Kitchener-Waterloo Sales Continue To Surprise Residential real estate in June 2009 provided a bit of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy economy. Kitchener-Waterloo shows approx. 569 sales through the Multiple Listing Service which surpassed June 2008's total of 564. Of note, 75% of sales were under $300 000 and new construction accounted for only 6% of the totals. The average days on the market ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on July 3, 2009		More
Recession Proof Your Housing In my last post, we looked at the consequences of higher interest rates upon the renewal of your mortgage. Here are 10 tips designed to protect you from becoming overextended financially in this event. 1. Don't buy too much home. Avoid the temptation to overspend based on what you qualify for. Downsize your expectations and upgrade when you have more equity. Remember ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on July 3, 2009		More
I'm Just Saying... As Realtors, we are certainly thankful for the resurgent real estate market Canada-wide. Low interest rates have been instrumental in increasing affordability to entice first-time buyers into the market. Real estate is local so let's look at a typical scenario in Kitchener-Waterloo. A couple buy a detached home for $250 000 with 5% down and get a 4% mortgage with a 5 year ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on June 25, 2009		More
Irrational Exuberance? The Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board reports 527 residential sales in K-W for May 2009 representing a 9% increase over May 2008 sales. The average price declined year-over-year by 1.4% to $261,628. Right about now you're probably thinking "What about the Recession?" This increase in sales is being driven by low interest rates resulting in increased affordability. ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on June 9, 2009		More
It's Caveat Emptor When Buying Privately Caveat emptor comes from Latin and embodies the principle of "let the buyer beware". When I think back to the tough times in real estate in the early '90's, I remember a number of new clients forced to sell who had bought a private sale during the good times in 1989-90. An analysis of their situation often revealed a number of issues. In many cases, they had overpaid ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on June 5, 2009		More
A Tale of 2 Markets Residential sales in Kitchener-Waterloo for the first 2 weeks of May show a 15% increase over the same period in May 2008. Of note, out of 257 sales recorded by the Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board, 199 were under $300 000. The supply of homes in this price range is shrinking rapidly due to high activity from first-time buyers. Average days on ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on May 21, 2009		More
Who's Minding the Fort? Home security was the topic this morning at an education seminar offered by the Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board. Kitchener-Waterloo Realtors in attendance were provided with excellent information from Divisional Inspector Doug Sheppard of the Waterloo Region Police Service. He indicated most break-ins are committed by males under 25 and the 3 things they're typically ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on May 5, 2009		More
Chicken Little There's an old fable about a chicken who thinks the sky is falling because he got hit in the head with a falling acorn. The moral of this fable is to have courage and not to be a "chicken". This "disaster is imminent" message is a common theme in the media today. It appears the residents of Waterloo Region know better. In what can best be described as a stable market, ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on April 3, 2009		More
Wild Horses There is an emerging trend for city folk to become town and country folk. The reasons for this trend are many and varied. For some, it comes down to price - more house and land for less money and lower property taxes. For others, they want to escape - the houses that are too close together, the noise, traffic, air pollution, litter and crime. Others see their ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on March 30, 2009		More
February 2009 Sales for Kitchener-Waterloo Preliminary sales figures for February 2009 point to mixed results. The Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board saw 290 residential sales which paled by comparison to the 405 sales in February 2008. This equates to approx. a 28% decline in unit sales making it the lowest total recorded in this decade. However, in my opinion, the glass is half full. Active listings ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on March 3, 2009		More
How's The Market? In my daily travels, the people I meet are primarily concerned with my response to this very important question. As homeowners, we all have a very significant stake in the health of our local real estate market. My analysis says that there are quite a number of positive factors for Waterloo Region real estate. The supply of homes coming on the market remains stable. The average ... Posted by Jeff Gingerich on February 27, 2009		More

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