Benchmark Real Estate Strategy

Be honest...
what was the biggest myth or misconception about real estate that you believed to be true until you finally went through your first purchase?

It’s time to open part of my playbook. When analyzing the market stats, I always start with these four items before diving deeper where needed:

1)Volume of sales - helps gauge market size and how many buyers are out there. Also a good indication of volume of showings and potential desperation on both clients and agents’ ends.

2) How prices are behaving - Because you have to go where the puck is going. In some markets you’d need to use a grain of salt, or many, as a small sample size can get results skewed by a couple of very high or very low price points.

3) How successful are listings (most people I meet with are surprised when I show them that even in a hot market, the success rate for listings is often around the 50-60% mark). Regardless of this fun fact, knowing if success rates are declining or improving can help you anticipate what may happen to current and upcoming inventory.

4) Inventory and its implications on the balance of power between sellers and buyers. It should provide a decent starting point in regards to how aggressive of a negotiation stance you may take without hurting your chances at closing the gap between buyers and sellers.

I also look at these markets first:
Condos in Toronto
Detached inToronto
Detached in Etobicoke
Detached in Mississauga
Detached in Oakville
and Detached in Burlington

because these are the markets I most focus on but also because other asset types often don’t have enough volume of sales to have statistically valid figures to draw conclusions from. I am not a big fan of mixing them all together like what you’ve probably been used to from more general reports (i.e. combining all GTA, all asset types - the numbers end up making no sense at all).

Please note these 4 figures are just a starting set of indicators and not meant to be a complete analysis - much more goes into shaping the kind of market knowledge that’s required for optimal decision-making.

I’ll be getting these reports out monthly and will have more details and context in the newsletter. DM me the word NEWSLETTER with your email address and I’ll make sure you get it. Alternatively, you can send me your questions here if you have any.