Like many expanding couples, my girlfriend and I recently ventured into the real estate jungle. The one where the predators are nice baby boomers eager to sell to a young family who will love the neighborhood and continue to take care of their home.
Between the preys, the confrontation is merciless. Upbidding until the last moment; waiver of conditions, however deemed essential, such as the legal warranty or pre-purchase inspection; moving letters to sellers in which everyone competes to show how good people we are: in the few hours between visiting a house and the opening of offers, everything is possible!
Desperate
In my case, the story ends well: we quickly found what we could afford. For many people, however, the quest for the “perfect home with at least three bedrooms and a courtyard not too far from the center” is an obstacle course that spans months, if not years.
Until, all too often, the desperate buyer ends up going over their price, waiving several conditions, and potentially getting into financial trouble.
With the pandemic, it’s worse. Confined teleworkers, people have cut back on travel and restaurants, everyone wants to expand and downtown areas are not popular. It will come back, but for now, the median price of single-family homes has jumped $ 100,000 in one year in the Montreal area, a manifestation of still poorly measured inflation.
Good time to sell!
The Self-Regulatory Agency of Real Estate Brokerage and the Chambre des notaires are concerned that many buyers are waiving the pre-purchase conditions. MP Catherine Fournier proposes to make them mandatory and to establish a legal period between the posting of a property and the acceptance of an offer to purchase, just to be able to reflect before passing the mortgage on your neck.
We’ll see what happens, but right now, it’s a great time to sell a bungalow in the suburbs or to buy a condo in the center.
It interests you ? I just have one for sale!
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