I’m sure you’ve heard that interest Rates are increasing in Canada…so what does this mean for you? This week we will share what you need to know about how interest rate hikes will affect the Saskatoon Real Estate Market.
This week, for the first time since 2018, the Bank of Canada raised its key lending rate by 25 basis points to try to control the growing rate of inflation.
You may be wondering what this means to you?
In the coming days, banks and other financial institutions will likely increase their prime lending rate. RBC and TD Bank already hiked their prime rates to 2.7% from 2.45% effective March 3.
Variable Rate Mortgage
If you currently have a variable-rate mortgage, you will start to see your rates increase with a slightly higher monthly payment.
Fixed Variable Rate Mortgage
If you have a fixed variable-mortgage payment, more of your payment will go towards interest rather than towards the principal.
Fixed Rate Mortgage
If you are currently locked into a fixed-rate mortgage you won’t see any change to your monthly payments until you go to renew your mortgage at the end of your term.
New Buyers
If you're a new buyer looking to get a new mortgage, you shouldn’t worry too much at this point. Your buying power is still likely strong even with the rate increases, and interest rates are still lower than they were pre-pandemic. The increase you might see in your monthly payment is still relatively small. For example, the average $500,000 mortgage holder will only pay an extra $58 per month moas a result of the latest hike.
As always, if you have any questions about the real estate market, feel free to get in touch with us.
If you’ve been considering buying or selling a home in Saskatoon and surrounding area, there are some KEY things you need to know about the real estate market right now!
The stats from January are in, here are two key points to know right now:
1) Inventories are REALLY LOW.
As of February 1st, there were only 848 active listings on the MLS. 436 are single family homes and 416 are condos.
To compare, on February 1st of 2021, there were 1026 active listings on the MLS and 496 of those were single family homes. That’s a reduction in listings of almost 12% compared to last year - and we thought listings were low at this time last year!
2) Sales are staying strong despite low inventories
In January there were 244 sales for the month. This number is down about 11% compared to the same time in 2021, but if you consider the lack of inventory we are experiencing right now this number is still very strong. In fact, this is still higher than sales in January of 2020 where we only saw 219 sales that month.
What does this mean for a seller?
When you combine those two factors - lack of supply and high demand, it creates the ideal conditions to sell your home and the value for your home is increased. If you’ve been considering selling your home, do not hesitate. Let's talk about getting it on the market now to take advantage of the current market conditions.
What does this mean for a buyer?
Lack of supply does make it a bit trickier to find exactly what you're looking for on the market. One strategy that you might want to consider in this market is buying or building a new home with a reputable home builder.
Jamie and Ross have represented North Prairie Developments at the Meadows in Rosewood for the past 4 years. They have a large supply of new lots and floor plans that are available.
When you buy a new home through a builder, compared to buying a used home, you will likely have to compromise less and you will get more of what you want since you can choose the layout and finishings that suit your needs.
You also get the benefit of everything being shiny and new and having a new home warranty protecting your investment. This means that if you experience issues with your home it will be covered by your warranty within a certain time period.
You can either buy a pre-built spec home or build a home with a builder. When you buy a spec home, because it is fully developed and available to be purchased with an immediate possession, you won’t have the opportunity to customize the home to your taste or specifications.
If you choose to build a home with North Prairie Developments it typically takes around 6 months to build. You will get to choose from a variety of floorplans at various sizes, price points and you will also likely get to select some of the finishings that you want to see in your dream home. Keep in mind that not all builders allow those custom changes.
If you are looking to sell your existing home and buy or build a new home, you should work with someone who knows the in’s and out’s of the home building process.
Jamie and Ross both have extensive knowledge of residential home construction and renovations. Ross has over 25 years experience in residential construction and Jamie started his career as a journeyman carpenter.
After working as a carpenter, Jamie eventually decided to transition his skills and knowledge of residential construction into real estate. Jamie has been specializing in new home sales with various home builders over the past 12 years.
As Realtors who specialize in new home sales, Jamie and Ross can help you navigate the planning and building process, strategically plan when to list your existing home and help to negotiate a possession date that will work within the time frame of your new home build. This way you can seamlessly transition from one home to the next.
If you are interested in getting any more information on how to get started, please reach out to us and we’d be happy to help!
If you’ve been thinking about selling your property in Saskatoon or the surrounding areas, this is the time to pull the trigger. Keep watching and we’ll explain the two main reasons why…
Going into early 2022, inventories of single family homes will be EXTREMELY low, sales volumes are staying VERY high for this time of year, and interest rates are still low…for now. Which means that the value of your home RIGHT NOW may be worth more than it’s going to be for the foreseeable future.
Let’s break this down for you…
Reason #1 - Low Inventories of single family homes
When we look at the current market stats in Saskatoon, it is evident that there is an extreme shortage of single family listings on the market. As of December 7th, there were only 985 active listings on the MLS and only 520 of those are single family homes. This is 105 fewer single family homes listed than there were at the beginning of December in 2020, which is a decrease in single family listings of around 16.8%.
We expect this shortage of inventory to continue into the first quarter of 2022, but we will see more homes hitting the market in the spring as we usually do, which is why your home will have less competition right now than it might in the future.
Reason #2 for listing your home now - Demand is high
There are still lots of buyers out there looking for good quality single family homes. The stats show that home sales are up 29% year to date compared to 2020. We are also hearing that interest rates are likely going to be increasing several times in the new year due to the high inflation rates, so that's putting additional pressure and urgency on buyers to purchase a home sooner rather than later.
The next several months will have the least amount of inventory and the highest demand that we might see over the next year. When you combine those two factors - lack of supply and high demand, it creates the ideal conditions to sell your home and the value for your home is increased. So again, if you’ve been considering selling your home, do not hesitate. Let's talk about getting it on the market now to take advantage of the current market conditions.
Well, that's it for now. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a very happy new year. We will see you in 2022!
With the cooler temperatures outside, you would normally expect to see the real estate market cool off...but that is definitely not what we are seeing this month.
As of November 22, there were 1095 active listings on the MLS. 600 were single family homes, 495 were condos, and 317 of those condos were apartment style. This is a very low number of listings for this time of the year. To compare, single family homes were down -55% compared to this same time in 2019, and listings were down -22% compared to this same time last year.
We believe that this low level of active listings will continue to decrease. We expect around 71 listings to expire in the next week, and we’ve been seeing over 100 sales per week for the last several weeks. The volume of new listings is not keeping up with the volume of new sales.
This means that if you have a property to sell in this market, it will be competing against fewer homes in the market. Which means your house will likely have more interest and sell quicker.
Sales have also continued to be very strong as we head into winter. As of November 22, there were 302 sales for the month of November. This is up +64% compared to this same time in 2019, and up +19% compared to last year at this time.
We commonly hear from clients that they think they should wait until spring to get their home on the market...but December is actually a great month to sell your home.
Historically, because there are fewer listings on the market, December has some of the highest Sales-to-List ratios of the year. Sales-to-list ratios measure supply and demand by simply dividing the number of sales by the number of new listings. It is a good indicator of the speed at which homes are selling.
When you average out the sales-to-list ratios for the last 3 years, you have an average overall sales-to-list ratio of 42.4%, but in December the average goes up to 61.2%.
This means, over the last three years, December has provided homeowners a 18.8% greater opportunity to sell their home compared to the rest of the year.
Based on the even lower number of listings we’ve seen in November compared to the last couple of years, we may find that this December proves to be a great month to sell your home.
There is still time to get your home on the market to take advantage of the December upswing. If you have any questions about this info, or the current market conditions, we would be happy to go over everything with you.
We’ve recently seen several national news headlines talking about how Canada’s housing market is “overheated” and how we should expect a market correction very soon.
One example was a recent report written by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) which stated that the “Canadian housing market has moved from a moderate to a high degree of vulnerability and that the change was prompted by the detection of price acceleration alongside persistent overvaluation imbalances.”
Although these warnings are likely warranted on a national level, we wanted to explain that when you focus more locally, into the Saskatoon real estate market specifically, the statistics definitely tell a different story.
National news media, and reports like the one from CMHC are largely based on statistics that come from the major cities in Canada like Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal. Comparatively, Saskatoon’s market is like a little island of calm amongst all of the madness.
Saskatoon’s market has undoubtedly been HOT since COVID-19 hit. 2020 saw a record high number of sales and 2021 has been even busier. As of October 3rd, the number of homes sold is up 34% compared to the same time in 2020.
Even though our market is busy, our market is still relatively stable. CMHC considers an unbalanced market to have around an 85 per cent sales to listing ratio, which is close to where Toronto and Vancouver are at, but Saskatoon is more in the 60 per cent range.
Also, we don’t have an excess of inventories in Saskatoon. There were 1338 active MLS listings as of Oct 3rd. There were 651 new listings in September which is down -20% for the month compared to September 2020.
Also, average prices are definitely up, but nothing compared to other major cities in Canada. The average sales price in Saskatoon was $362,973 as of October 3rd, which is up +5% compared to this same time in 2020.
The point we wanted to make is that sometimes you have to dig a little deeper into the National news headlines. You might hear that Canada’s housing market is headed for trouble, but when you zoom into Saskatoon’s statistics, our market conditions are actually much more favourable.
This is why it's always best to reach out to us if you see an article on the news and you have questions as to how it relates to our local market. We are happy to go over the data with you to give you a more accurate picture of our market landscape.
Here are the stats from the past month in Saskatoon…
In August, there were 492 homes sold, which represents an increase in sales of 7% compared to August 2020, where we saw 460 sales.
Currently there are approximately 1401 active listings on the MLS. Out of the total listings 821 are single family homes 583 are condos. Out of the 583 condos 204 are townhouses and 365 are apartment style.
735 new listings were posted in August which is down 5.8% compared to August 2020, where we saw 780 new listings.
The average sale price in August 2021 was $365,071. This is an increase of almost +6% YTD compared to this same time in 2020.
In Real Estate, we often talk about there being two main busy seasons each year. The first one is typically from March to the end of June and the second one is from September to the end of October. Now that summer holidays are over, and kids are back in school, people are looking to move before the weather gets cold and they are too busy with the holiday season.
As a seller, this makes it a good time to have your property on the market as there is an increase in buyers looking for homes.
As a buyer, this is a good time to purchase a home as there is still a relatively large supply of inventory in the market, and there's more to choose from than there might be in the cold winter months ahead.
Even though we aren’t quite ready for summer to be over, we are getting closer to cooler temperatures and the fall real estate season in Saskatoon. We are going to share what we can expect from the rest of the summer real estate market and how we think it might change as we move into the fall.
But first, Let's look at the stats from the past month...
In July, there were 488 homes sold, which represents a slight decrease in sales of 10.8% compared to July 2020, where we saw 547 sales. Keep in mind that sales in July 2020 were extremely high, and even the 488 sales we saw this month is still 25% more than July 2019. Even though this is the first month in 2021 where sales have been down a bit, compared to a regular year, like between 2017 - 2019, these sales volumes would still be considered very strong.
Currently there are approximately 1464 active listings on the MLS. 758 of those were new listings posted in July which is down 7% compared to July 2020, where we saw 816 new listings.
The average sale price in July 2021 was $366,416. This is an increase of almost +7% YTD compared to this same time in 2020.
In the first half of 2021, we saw an extremely HOT sellers market in Saskatoon with high sales volumes and low listing inventories.
With more and more restrictions being lifted in Saskatoon, things are starting to feel a bit more normal. We are starting to see people get back to their regular routines by going out to dinner more regularly, planning fall and winter vacations and spending more money on entertainment. This increase in spending may be resulting in less funds available to spend on real estate and might be contributing to sales slowing down a bit.
This is good news for buyers, because based on the rules of supply and demand, if sales start to slow down, and inventories start to rise, that creates a greater selection of homes to choose from in Saskatoon for buyers. So if you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on buying a new house, this fall might be the perfect time to start searching for your dream home. Reach out to us and we would be happy to get a plan in place to start your home search.
For sellers, low interest rates continue to support a strong sales market. There are lots of potential buyers looking to upsize, downsize, or to buy their first home.
As always, if you would like any information on buying or selling your home in Saskatoon, don’t hesitate to contact either one of us.
Summer is almost officially here, and the weather is getting hotter in Saskatoon! Can we expect the summer real estate market to stay hot as well?
Our Summer 2021 Real Estate Market Preview is here! We are going to review the stats from the past month, and share our predictions for the summer season, and what you need to know if you plan to buy or sell.
Let’s take a look at the stats from May 2021...
Home sales are very strong
In May, there were 576 home sales which represents an increase in sales of +77% compared to May 2020 where we only saw 326 sales.
This is the third month in a row where sales have been over 500 homes - there were 570 sales in March, 550 in April and now 576 in May. This is an unusually high volume of consistent sales. The big question is, will this be able to continue?
If we try to determine the possible underlying cause for these consistently strong sales volumes, we could use the theory that COVID-19 has left many people with more disposable income right now as they aren’t spending money on things like vacations and going out. People have also been at home more, and have become more aware of some of the limitations to their existing spaces, like a lack of home office space, or recreation space. More people have the money available right now to consider upgrading their space to something that solves those problems.
This means that when things start to return to normal, with more vaccinations, and the relaxing of all of the restrictions, and people start spending what they used to spend, or more, on vacations and going out, this could result in less funds available to spend on property.
This leads to our prediction that this strong market will likely continue over the next couple of summer months while COVID-19 restrictions are still in effect, but as things relax in the fall we could see a softening of the market.
Inventories are going up
2021 started with extremely low listing Inventories, but we have seen an increasing number of listings being added to the MLS each month. There are currently approximately 1544 active listings on the MLS. There were 1015 new listings posted in May which is up +34% compared to May 2020, where we only saw 755 new listings.
When you consider the supply and demand equation, the more listings there are available in the market, the more competition there is for your property. If the number of listings continues to rise, this will eventually slow down the sellers market a bit. But we don’t expect to see this until closer to the fall.
Home prices surge
We’ve also seen a consistent surge in home prices over the last several months. In January, we started the year with an average sales price of $348,352, then $353,542 in February, $362,222 in March, $372,532 in April, and then $386,578 in May. May’s average sales price is an increase of almost +7.6% MTD compared to May 2020.
Part of the reason for this surge in average home prices is the significant increase in sales in homes over $750,000. In May, there were 6 homes sold that were worth over a million dollars. This is an unusually high volume of sales in that price category for one month. This increase in high worth property sales, does influence the average sales price overall.
So...after reviewing the stats from May, and our predictions for the rest of the summer, what does this mean for you as a buyer or seller?
What does this mean for you?
As a seller, it means that you should consider getting your home on the market sooner rather than later, as right now is still an IDEAL time to list your home in Saskatoon.
We are optimistic that this hot market will likely continue over the next few summer months, but once things start returning to normal we predict it might be hard for these current market conditions to continue. So to reiterate NOW is the time to get your home listed! Don’t wait!
For buyers, we are seeing more and more listings being posted to the MLS. This means there continues to be more selection for you to choose from when searching for your dream home. We can help guide you in the offer process to ensure you have the best chance of getting the home you want, when you find it.
As always, if you would like any information on buying or selling your home, or about the real estate market in general in Saskatoon, don’t hesitate to contact either of us.
Has the idea of buying an investment property ever crossed your mind?
Maybe you’d like a place to rent out and have someone else pay some or all of your mortgage while you build equity in a tangible real estate asset, or perhaps as a home for your child to live in.
Whatever your reason, investing in an additional property (or multiple properties) can be a good way to accomplish those goals, but there are also some key considerations before you dive in.
Aside from the potential challenge of finding a good tenant, there are some financing hurdles that you should be aware of.
Mortgage Rules for Investment Properties
While there are many Canadian lenders that will finance rental properties, the Department of Finance tightened mortgage lending criteria as part of its rule changes introduced in 2016.
That included eliminating mortgage default insurance, for certain mortgage types, including those for investment properties with less than 5 units.
As a result, you need at least 20% down to purchase a non-owner-occupied rental property. If you plan to live in one of the units, then you can put down as little as 5% (5% on the valued that is less than $500,000, and 10% on the portion above that amount).
Another factor to consider is the number of units the building has. Those with four units or less are typically zoned residential, so qualifying for a mortgage would be similar to the one on your principal residence. Multi-unit properties with five or more units are generally zoned commercial and involve a different type of qualification for a commercial mortgage, which I can advise you about.
Mortgage Rates for Investment Properties
Because the best mortgage rates are generally reserved for those putting down less than 20% or more than 35% of the property value, rates for investment properties (which require at least 20% down) are sometimes priced a little bit higher.
Most lenders will also upcharge at least 10 to 20 bps more for non-owner-occupied rental properties, as they entail some additional risk. For one, if the borrower came into financial trouble, they’re more likely to prioritize payments on their principal residence before payments on their rental property.
Fixed or Variable for an Investment Property?
This is probably the most commonly asked mortgage question for homebuyers, but it’s a particularly important consideration for investment property owners.
The majority of mortgage holders in Canada opt for the stability of a fixed mortgage rate—72%, or 4.45 million borrowers, according to the latest data from Mortgage Professionals Canada.
But many investment property owners will tell you that a variable rate is the way to go thanks to the flexibility they offer. One of the biggest advantages of a variable rate is a lower prepayment penalty of just three months’ interest should you need to sell or if you want to pay down your mortgage more quickly than the annual prepayment privileges permit.
I Can Help
Everybody’s situation is unique, and no advice applies to everyone equally. If you’re interested in exploring your options relating to buying an investment property, be sure to contact me and I can review your personal situation and offer custom-tailored solutions.
2021 started off with a very busy real estate market in Saskatoon. We want to share why we think this means it's the perfect time to sell your home in Saskatoon, and what you need to know about the real estate market right now as a buyer.
Sales volumes and average sales prices have steadily increased and home inventories have continued to stay low in Saskatoon. Let’s take a look at the stats.
In April, there were 550 home sales which represents a staggering increase in sales of +159% compared to April 2020 where we only saw 213 sales. But keep in mind that this number is highly exaggerated as our real estate market was heavily impacted by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last April and this skews the numbers dramatically. To get a more accurate sense of how the market is doing, we should compare the home sales from April 2021 to home sales from April 2019, where we saw 380 sales, which is an increase of +45.5% compared to 2021. This is still a significant increase and demonstrates how strong the market is performing.
Inventories have also stayed fairly low over the last several months due to high sales volumes, but we have seen an increasing number of listings being added to the MLS. There are currently approximately 1400 active listings on the MLS. There were 958 new listings posted in April which is up +96.3% compared to April 2020, where we only saw 470 new listings. But again, to get a more realistic picture, we should actually compare these numbers to April 2019 where we saw 777 new listings posted which compared to April 2021, is only an increase of +23.3%.
We’ve also seen a consistent surge in home prices over the last several months. In January, we started the year with an average sales price of $348,352, then $353,542 in February, $362,222 in March, and then in April it was up to $372,532. April’s average sales price is an increase of almost +8.3% YTD compared to April 2020 and an increase of +10.4% YTD compared to April 2019.
So...after several consistent months of these HOT market conditions, what does this mean for you right now as a buyer or seller?
It means that it is an IDEAL time to sell your home in Saskatoon. The combination of elevated average sales prices, extremely high sales volumes and low listing inventories has created the perfect storm for sellers. Especially, if you have a home that fits into a couple of specific categories in the market.
Homes between 350K - 500K are in VERY short supply right now with a 1.7 months supply. Anything below a 3 months supply is considered to be a sellers market in that price range. We are consistently seeing homes in this range sell extremely quickly and with multiple offers. If you have a home to sell in this price range, do not hesitate because NOW is the time to get it on the market. It will sell fairly quickly.
In April, there were 90 homes sold between 500K - 750K. This is a historically high volume of sales in this price range. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to sell your home in this price range, NOW is the time to take the leap and get it on the market.
We are optimistic that this hot market will likely continue over the next couple of spring/summer months, but once things start returning to normal with more and more vaccinations, and temperatures start to drop in the fall, it's hard to predict if these market conditions will be able to continue. So to reiterate NOW is the time to get your home listed!
Now more than ever before, with the market as hot as it is right now, it’s important to rely on a realtor you trust for guidance.
For buyers, we have been seeing multiple offer situations, and some homes selling over ask. We can help guide you in the offer process to ensure you have the best chance of getting the home you want, when you find it.
For sellers, in this vibrant market, we will help you create an effective strategy for marketing, pricing, and negotiations, as transactions aren’t as cut and dry as they might have been before.
As always, if you would like any information on buying or selling your home, or about the real estate market in general in Saskatoon, don’t hesitate to contact either of us.
OSFI (Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions) has propose a change to the uninsured stress test rate. OSFI regulates and supervises more than 400 federally regulated financial institutions (80% of all mortgage lenders). They do not watch over provincial credit unions and private lenders. OSFI reports to parliament through the Minister of Finance and regulates the conventional space.
Proposed change - Effective June 1st the qualifying rate for conventional (uninsured) mortgages will be based on a stress test of 5.25%
Note that Department of Finance regulates insured mortgages who currently have a stress test rate of 4.79%
Timeline - On May 7th the public was invited to provide feedback to the change. By May 24th the feedback will be taken into consideration and the final amendments will be made. As of June 1st the changes will take effect.
What does this mean to clients?
• If you have a signed accepted offer dated prior to June 1, 2021, your mortgage broker can submit and qualify using 4.79% It will not matter when the closing date is or if its insured or uninsured.
• If you have a signed accepted offer dated June 1st or later, your mortgage broker will be qualifying you using 5.25% on conventional files (20% + down payment) and 4.79% on insured files (***this may change) We are hearing whispers that the insured files will be changing to the 5.25% stress test as well but have had no confirmation of it as of yet.
When looking at the numbers and running the scenarios, there will be approximately a 5% decline in buying power.
So for instance: Teacher & research assistant have a combined income of $143K Today: 4.79% conventional @ 30 yr AM – would qualify for $735K June 1: 5.25% conventional @ 30 yr AM – would qualify for $700K
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me.
Spring has finally sprung, and we’ve come to the end of the first quarter of 2021. This year has already proven to be an extremely busy one in the Saskatoon Real Estate Market.
We are commonly asked the same question by many of our clients:
“We’re ready to start looking to buy a new home...what are the next steps we should take?”
So we thought we would take some time to go over the initial steps you need to take in the house hunting process. But first, let's quickly go over the stats that were just released from March. One thing to keep in mind when looking at these stats, is that in March of last year we experienced the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Saskatoon Market Statistics - March 2021
Last month, there were 570 sales, which is +297 more sales compared to March of 2020.
There were +926 new listings posted to the MLS in March, which is up +53.8% for the month compared to 324 new listings in March of 2020.
There were 1278 active listings in Saskatoon as of April 5th, 2021. 639 are single family homes, and 639 are condos. Out of the 639 single family homes, 401 are on the eastside and 238 are on the westside.
Home prices are up +7.34% compared to this time last year. The average sale price is $356,505.
All of these stats demonstrate what a busy market we are currently experiencing. So, if you’re ready to buy a new home in this market, you need to be aware of what your next steps should be.
Did you know, when you work with us to purchase a home, you will not need to pay any fees for our services on the purchase. The home seller actually pays the full commission for the services of both their own listing agent and the buyer's agent.
Ok, so what is the first step in the house hunting process?
Step 1 - Get Pre-approved
We often have clients come to us who are ready to buy a new home and they may have arbitrarily chosen a maximum purchase price. But this number isn’t always based on what they can afford or what they might actually be approved for.
So we highly recommend getting pre-approved for a mortgage before you even start your house hunt. This will help you determine your price range of homes you should be targeting in your search.
Your lender will look at your income, your debts and the cash you have available for a down payment. You will have to provide documentation to prove your income and credit history. Based on this information your lender will be able to advise you on your maximum purchase price. But you should also discuss with them, what that purchase price looks like as a monthly payment, and what you are realistically comfortable spending every month.
Your lender will provide you with a mortgage pre-approval in writing (it will likely be valid for 90 or 120 days) and will generally include an interest rate guarantee.
Step 2 - Refine your wishlist
Taking the time to identify what your needs and wants are is a critical step in the house hunting process.
Distinguishing between what is must-have, and what is a nice-to-have will help you narrow down your search and help you to determine which is the right house to put an offer on.
Step 3 - Start the search online
Starting to explore listings online can help you adjust your expectations on what you might actually get in a home within your price point in the current market.
Once you have determined your budget and wishlist for your ideal home search, we will set you up with an auto-email. This is a customized search of the entire MLS database for listings that match your criteria. Once the system finds a listing that matches your criteria, you will receive an email with a link to your own personal portal to view the listing data. This will ensure that you are notified immediately when a matching property comes on the market so that you won’t risk missing out on the perfect home.
We have also developed relationships over the years with an extensive network of seller's agents in Saskatoon. We are always keeping an eye out for homes that might work for you, even if they haven’t hit the market yet.
You can also start looking at listings online for yourself.
Realtor.ca is a website owned and managed by the Canadian Real Estate Association. The website allows you to search for available properties for sale directly from the MLS. It is good to note that the realtor.ca website is usually a day or two behind what’s happening in the market, so you are better off getting listings sent to you directly from us, but it can still be a good tool to explore what’s available in the market.
On our website, www.taitrealestate.ca we have a great MLS listing search tool that is super easy to use and includes a lot more information than what you’ll find on realtor.ca.
Step 4 - Start viewing in person
Now that you know your budget, you’ve defined your wishlist, and you’ve done your research on what to expect from the current market, you are in the best position to start viewing homes more seriously.
A property can look perfect on paper, and you can be lured in by the glossy photos, but you won’t really know if it's the right home for you until you check it out in person.
Once you’ve identified some listings that you think match your wishlist, we will contact the selling agents directly to set up appointments for us to view the homes. To view a listing in person, you have to be accompanied by a licensed Realtor. This is your opportunity to get a feel for the neighbourhood, the location, and ask any questions you might have about the property.
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The above information is from sources deemed reliable but should not be relied upon without independent verification.
The information presented here is for general interest only, no guarantees apply.
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