Raise your hand if the current Vancouver real estate market has you feeling like the woman above! You are not alone.
Just today I am looking at a Vancitybuzz headline that reads "Kitsliano home sells for $735,000 over aking price, sets new record". Inside the article Thomas Davidoff with UBC's Sauder School of Business is quoted as saying "These prices are getting pretty freaking nuts in my opinion". I don't disagree with him. BUT let's talk about the media's role in this market with three examples.
- Same scenario as above. Home sells for record price well over listing price. My first question is to understand how the home was priced in the first place. Any home will sell for the price it's going to sell for. However if a home is in a popular location or price point then it may be priced lower than expected to draw attention or multiple buyers and therefore potentially well over asking. If a home is priced at what the realtor believes to be market value then the demand may not be as high and or you may have someone who just LOVES the lot, the home or the area and bids high over list price anyhow. Please note that not all homes are selling over list price. The story sells media which sells advertisements which makes someone money!
- Putting mortgage brokers and realtors in a bad light. You don't stop the good driver on the street to pat them on the back and say hey, great left turn you just did there. No. You honk and scream out to the car that just cut you off. Same idea in the media when there someone who decides to do something unethical or illegal, the media picks up the story and allows for the headline to mislead the readers which paints our whole industry with the same bad brush. My professional association's President & CEO felt compelled to write an open letter just the other week to the Globe & Mail to point out the inaccuracy of an article they had written. The market is nuts and buyers and sellers...YOU...need to be guided through the process without wondering if you are working with someone you can't trust.
- The language used to describe this market. "Freaking nuts" as used in the article quoted above, "crazy", "frenzied" and we are all feeding into it. The sellers, buyers, realtors and mortgage brokers. I don't disagree however I want to point out that everyone is looking for a reason why, an explanation, someone to blame or get angry with. This isn't happening TO us it's just the way the market is right now. If we choose to take a step back and not act as the market as a whole is acting perhaps it may calm slightly.
So the ugly truth about real estate is, and only ever will be, what we make it out to be. What the media makes it out to be. Don't educate yourself on one point of view alone and take it as truth because it's published in a reputable newspaper, magazine or online. It's all simply one point of view. Educate yourself with a team of professionals that are involved in the market day to day and give yourself the best opportunity to make the right real estate decisions. Even if it's to decide not to buy because it's too 'freaking nuts'!