The Guy With The Dog

We learned this week that our team was a TOP 1% DONOR last year for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. The foundation is Canada’s largest public foundation dedicated exclusively to funding women’s shelters and violence prevention and education programs. We were happy to be amongst the 31 people/teams that make up the top 1% and we look forward to helping the foundation support abuse victims in our community in the coming years.

Here is how the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation describes their work on their webpage:

Because we believe in the importance of giving back to the community, Royal LePage is the only Canadian real estate company to have our own charitable foundation. All of the administrative costs of the Shelter Foundation are underwritten so that 100% of every dollar donated goes directly to helping our cause.

Royal LePage real estate agents and their clients are working to create safer homes and safer communities by contributing more than $10 million since 1999 to help women and children across Canada. Through donating a portion of their commission on the purchase or sale of your property, our agents are helping bring hope and provide shelter for those who need it most.

Our brokers, agents and staff also provide volunteer time and in-kind goods, and hold special community events to help raise funds and awareness to end family violence for more than 30,000 women and children who take refuge in a shelter each year.

To read brave stories of hope from families whose lives have been touched by abuse or to learn more about domestic violence, please visit us at www.shelterfoundation.ca.

There seems to be a lot of buzz these days about the alternatives to selling your home with a real estate agent or through a broker like myself. This idea of “for sale by owner” – often referred to as a FSBO – seems to have merit on the surface in that there appears to be all kinds of money to be saved in commissions. When one digs a little bit deeper, the reality of the situation is quite different.

People are often very caught up in commissions and they shop agents based on commissions charged and then calculate what they would save if they chose to list their own property. The problem is that there is an assumption that the seller will keep all of this money that is being saved for themselves. The challenge is uncovering all the unknown costs associated with going it alone, which are so often swept under the rug.

In fact, there are two groups of home buyers out there. There are those who choose to enlist the services of an agent so that they have representation, and those who avoid having an agent in hopes of pocketing all of the commissions that would otherwise be charged.

As a FSBO-seller, if you are lucky enough to come upon a buyer in group number one, you will have an agent who is a trainednegotiator and whose mandate is to get their buyer the best deal possible coming to you for his or her compensation in the sale. NOTE: The seller, in most cases of any home sale transaction, is responsible for paying both the listing agent (if there is one) AND the buyer(s)’ agent. Buyers rarely pay real estate fees. In this case you are at least half way into the commissions that you would have paid to have your home listed, but you have no one protecting your interests and you are doing your best to keep close to your list price against a trained professional. Not to mention, you have expenses to pay for marketing your home, lots of hiddencosts in your time, energy and resources, and – if you are smart – a higher degree of involvement from your lawyer so as to avoid numerous pitfalls that only experience and time can uncover.

Behind door number two, we have the buyer who loves the thrill of negotiation so much that they avoid help. They come to you and say, “I don’t have an agent so what is my price?”. Again, they want a big chunk of the savings that are to be had and now you have two opposing parties with no one in the middle to make sure things stay on track and follow a prescribed sequence. You can only imagine the outcome of some of these transactions. I challenge you to contact your lawyer and pose to him or her this question… Do they see more litigation amongst sales without professional representation, or less?

I propose a slightly altered question to all of this commission savings. As a home owner, I propose that you think in terms of net proceeds instead of commissions “saved”. The real question is how much money can I put in my pocket as the seller of this home? What method of selling my home will net me the most money? Commission rates quickly become less interesting. In fact, my team wins our clients more than $5000 dollars per transaction in net proceeds vs the average MLS result thanks to our ability to negotiate with other agents. This little fact alone uncovers the heart of the matter. The sale price of your home is dramatically effected by who is involved.

If you could pocket the commissions and generate the same sale price for your, home then frankly, you should. The reality is that by the time you give the buyer their portion of the savings, negotiate a little bit more off the top of the list price, pay for the marketing expenses of getting your home on the market, divert your attention from your life and living within your “sweet spot” to become a realtor for a period of time, open your door to complete strangers and manage the very real safety issues of doing so and tip toe through the myriad of legal issues that can (and do) arise, you may or may not have your home sold.

The next time you pull out your calculator and plug in a commission percentage on the value of your home, I challenge you to fill out the other side of the ledger and see where you land. The vast majority of property transactions happen through the full service brokerage system because that is where the highest net proceeds come from. As so many exceptionally successful people will tell you, when something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Some other resources to check out:
http://qna.mortgagenewsdaily.com/questions/for-sale-by-owner-advantages-and-disadvantages

http://ezinearticles.com/?Disadvantages-of-For-Sale-by-Owner&id=2499282

New Year’s Resolutions for Dogs

10) Try to understand that the cat is from Venus and I am from Mars.
9) I will no longer be beholden to the sound of the can opener.
PETA and tell them what that surgical-mask-wearing freak does to us when no one is around.
7) Take time from busy schedule to stop and smell the behinds.
6) Always scoot before licking.
5) Grow opposable thumb; break into pantry; decide for MYSELF how much food is *too* much.
4) Get out of the castle more, maybe swim counter-clockwise this year.
3) Jan. 1: Kill the sock!  Must kill the sock!
2) Jan. 2 – Dec. 31: Re-live victory over the sock.

And the NUMBER ONE New Year’s Resolutions Made By Dogs
1) I will NOT chase the darned stick unless I see it LEAVE HIS HAND.

We look forward to celebrating this event with our friends and clients every year. This year, the event fell on December 3rd. Thanks for coming out and thanks to Ian’s Evergreen Plantation for having us year after year.

You know, life has a way of providing perspective in some of the most interesting places. In this case, it was found in the back of an east-end warehouse where the Ottawa Snowsuit Fund operates. For a number of years, I have donated a snowsuit for every closed transaction we do in the year. We donate the suit on behalf of the client that we were fortunate enough to help to buy or sell real estate. This year we made it a little more personal. I am more than a little proud that the whole McCann Team joined me for a morning at the Snowsuit Fund warehouse. Our primary job was to help those that came in to get suits for their kids. It is quite the process. One must qualify for the program and the family pays ten dollars for every suit that they take home so that there is a sense of value attached to the suits. The Snowsuit Fund distributes 15,000 new suits and 5,000 used suits annually. The sheer numbers of those in need, the faces and the gratitude for a simple gesture of a few hours of our time — it makes you stop and think…

What a time we had at Wickedly Westboro. Thanks so much to all of you (four legged and two) who came out to be photographed in support of Hopeful Hearts Dog Rescue. We raised money for a great cause and captured some fantastic canine moments.

Thanks also goes to Laura Benn, pro photographer and Editor of PAWSH Magazine for spending her morning with us. Her work can be seen as we have posted the gallery of the top five finalists from the day on our Facebook page. Please visit it to vote for your favorite. Voting closes at midnight on Halloween. If you have your own photo of your dog in costume, there is still time to enter by sending your photo (along with your name and your dog’s name) in an email to bark@theyguywiththedog.com

First place takes a one hour pet portrait session with Laura Benn. Second and third place will win gift certificates to Masters ‘n Dogs (formerly Bark & Fitz) so you can spoil your prize-winning pooch. Of course, all three will walk away with the glory.

Winners will be contacted this week with the good news!

Good luck!