Toronto Real Estate Report

What ever it takes

Under Promise, Over Deliver.  Go the extra mile.  Give it 110%  All cliche terms that express the concept of providing exceptional customer service.  In today's competitive market place, just saying you provide  this type of service isn't enough, you have to "put your money where your mouth is" and provide an exceptional customer EXPERIENCE.

As I was scraping paint off garage windows this week, in order to get the home I'm listing to show well, I thought this is and example of what differentiates one agent from another, in the vast Realtor population. 

Here is the situation:  In new home developments they cover the garage windows with a plastic film, and then paint the garage door.  When you move in you're suppose to peel the plastic off and reveal the window panes.  Unfortunately with this particular home, people are busy and they never got around to doing this.  Fast forward a few years, time to put the house on the market, and the plastic film & paint has been kind of baked on by the sun over the years. It doesn't look very good, and it's the first impression you get of the home.

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.  The home is beautiful inside, but the psychological impact when a potential buyer approaches the home would be that the home is not well cared for, which isn't the case.

So I called a window cleaning company, hired them to clean all the windows in the house and take care of removing the plastic film.  They cleaned the windows but called and said the couldn't remove the film.  I had a photographer showing up the next day at 10 am.  You know "pictures paint a thousand words", what was I to do?

Go to Home Depot of course, where they suggested a product called "Goof-Off 2" which removes plastic film.  Armed with a plastic scraper and the product, I showed up an hour before the photographer to take on the windows myself. I only got one set of window panes done in time for the photographer, but thanks to  Photo Shop all the windows look perfect in the picture.

An hour or so later, I was done! I would say this is going above and beyond the call of duty, but all in a days work as a committed Realtor.  Have a look at the before and after pictures of my handy work!

Now I need to get the feature sheet designed and printed, install the lock box, For Sale sign, input the listing, write the ads, host open houses, follow up with agents that show the property & negotiate the sale. Now the fun begins!

Disclose what you know

There are two types of physical defects that can affect a home, one is referred to as a patent defect and the other a latent defect.  As a seller you need to disclose what you know about your home. The difference is as follows:

Patent defect:an existing issue that can be easily observed when you are viewing the home or conducting a home inspection, such as visible wear and tear on the hardwood floors, efflorescence on the basement walls, or an eaves trough that has come disconnected from the exterior of them home.

Given that it is easily visible, the seller has no direct obligation to disclose, but the rule of thumb in real estate is “disclose, disclose, disclose”.  The Seller Property Information Sheet is designed to outline any issues the owner is aware of and can help to point things out that you may not have noticed.  A home inspection will take an in-depth look and further point out any “visible” defects, however it is “non-intrusive”, which means they can’t see behind the walls it there is any type of a “cover-up”.  If the seller does hide a defect, and this can be proven, they risk being sued for the cost of repairs & legal fees. Honesty is the best policy.

Latent defect: an existing issue that is hidden and not observable upon inspection.  If this defect renders the home uninhabitable, dangerous or unfit for a buyers intended purpose then the law indicates it must be disclosed.  Some examples would be problems with the structure, foundation, leaky roofs, wet basements, termites or other rodent infestation.

To read about a the lack of disclosure regarding a nude beach, click on the link Yourhome.ca
In my opinion if you know something about your home that could affect the buyers decision to purchase your home, such as the nude beach story, it should be disclosed.