July’s Home Maintenance Checklist

It’s July and just like that, we are halfway through the year. We’re sure you’re wondering the same thing we are … Where has the time gone?! This is July’s Monthly Checklist – Today we want to focus on the things around the house that tend to be neglected, are prone to failing and leaving you stranded. FILTERS The first thing you’ll want do this month is replace or clean all of the filters throughout the house. This includes anything and everything from your furnace filter, vacuum filter, water filters (including the one in your fridge) and your range hood filter. You should ensure all of these filters are cleaned or replaced this month. WATER SUPPLY Test all of the shutoff valves in your water supply. Examples would be your toilets, sinks, bathroom vanity and kitchen; But most importantly, the main water supply shutoff to the house. If you ever find yourself stuck with a leak, the last thing you want is to have your main water supply seized. LOCKS Lastly, go out and get yourself some Quick Dry Graphite Lubricant and apply it to all of the keyholes throughout the doors around the home. This can include your front door, side door and garage doors. You may be using Bluetooth entry, keyless pad entry and/or garage door openers; But if these ever fail, you’ll find yourself having to use keys, and if those locks are seized, you’ll be in trouble! That’s it for this month’s checklist. Check back regularly for more great tips and advice and subscribe to our YouTube channel to ensure you don’t miss a video!

Traits of a Successful Real Estate Agent

The Thrill of the Sale Professional Sales People get a natural high out of the sale.  Negotiating the best price and terms in an offer fuel them; it’s a critical trait that separates professionals from amateurs.  We LOVE the definition of “Professional” below. It perfectly explains how a true professional is a bit of an outlier, one who possesses distinctive characteristics, work ethic and skill.  There are tens of thousands of Realtors in the GTA, only a tiny fraction of those would be considered professionals… do your homework! pro·fes·sion·al people who are paid to undertake a specialized set of tasks and orchestrate them with uncommon skill We’ve heard people say that they didn’t believe Realtors have sufficient motivation to negotiate a few extra thousand dollars on a deal because their compensation only changes marginally.  If this is the feeling you’re getting from the Real Estate Agent you’re considering, run. “A busy Real Estate Agent operates at a higher level of efficiency; they’re cool, collective and confident… Another thing that could negatively influence a person’s ability to negotiate is desperation.  Having no money in the bank, no cheques coming in, no leads in the pipeline can play a role in decision making. As a result, a desperate real estate agent could make poor decisions to close a deal rather than the right decisions to result in a more successful sale.  A busy Real Estate Agent naturally operates at a higher efficiency level; they’re calm, collective and confident; they’re running on all cylinders. As important as being a good Sales Person is, there are many other integral components in successfully buying or selling real estate.  A successful sale requires appropriately preparing a home, ensuring it looks its best and most functional, you want people to picture themselves enjoying the space. For more details on some of the tools and services we provide that ensure our clients are always successful, check out the KT Catalogue. Know Your Buyer Understanding buyer demographics enables us to stage accordingly and strategically advertise. With powerful targeted advertising tools through Social, we target individuals more likely to be interested in your home.  We can target based on personal interests, geographic location, life events, and more. Hire Right If you’re in the market to buy or sell a home, make sure you do your diligence.  Don’t necessarily gravitate to the signs you see in the neighbourhood, your family or your best friend’s referral.  Interview people, find out more about them and hire somebody capable of taking you through the process smoothly and successfully. This one decision got our clients an extra $10,000 ************************* The Kormendy Trott Team is an award-winning and top producing team of real estate agents servicing the GTA and surrounding areas.  Founders Ariel Kormendy and Adrian Trott started by exclusively working with clients buying and selling real estate in Milton, Ontario. They have since grown to include a world-class Real Estate Agents team, an in-house marketing department, and support staff.  The KT Team has expanded and now offer their value-driven and exceptional service to the rest of the GTA.  From Sonos speakers and Arlo video cameras to in-home digital and print marketing, your home will shine among the competition.  Learn more about them on social and email us to chat about your plans to move at info@kormendytrott.com For the best in Real Estate, Follow, Subscribe and Listen here: TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | Soundcloud

Turning $150,000 Under Asking to $38,000 OVER

SOLD OVER ASKING… This is a common phrase you will read on flyers, online ads, and social media posts, but what does it REALLY mean?  Often, it simply means a house was listed too low.  I remember when I showed a house for sale in Milton to clients — a home in my neighbourhood and one I knew well.  After viewing it, I specifically said that it would sell for about $80,000 over the asking price (otherwise known as MARKET VALUE).  Sure enough, a couple of weeks later, I got a letter in the mail saying “SOLD FOR $80,000 OVER ASKING”.  It’s a deceiving and shady tactic that real estate sales representatives do to make themselves look good. OUR LISTING… We recently sold a house for $1,038,000.  Before listing the house for sale, we completed a thorough market analysis and determined the market value to be $980,000.  Because there were very few comparable homes available, we decided to push the list price to $1,000,000, and, after thirty days, we sold it for $1,038,000. How we were so successful selling the house: We met with our clients almost two-years before listing their home for sale, and a good thing too because they had A LOT of work to do.  After living in their home for the better part of three decades, they had accumulated a lot of stuff. The home had served them well, and it was time for some freshening up.  After we completed a detailed staging/selling consultation, here’s what our clients did: Some SERIOUS decluttering New roof New windows Depersonalized Installed LED pot-lights Replaced old light switches and electrical outlets  (previously brass, swapped out for white) Painted the brick surround of a fireplace white (previously brown) Painted most of the home Finished renovating a partially completed three-piece bathroom in the basement Converted carpet stairs to oak w/ new railing Replaced carpet in upper hall w/ oak to match the stairs Natural oak trim painted white WE TOOK OVER… I won’t get into all of the work we put into the house, not to toot our own horn, but we did A LOT inside, outside, and online to ensure everyone fell in love with the house.  Check out our KT Catalogue for details on our services if you wish. THE SECRET… Here’s how we got $38,000 over asking and $58,000 over market value IN A MARKET WHERE IT WAS NOT COMMON.  Firstly, we received an offer after one week; the offer was $70,000 under asking. We subsequently negotiated the price up by $50,000, and we ultimately walked away from it. Three weeks later, we received another offer, this one for $150,000 UNDER asking.  We were excited! Not because of the value, because we now had sixty appointments through the house, busy open houses, and PLENTY of people to call. We contacted everyone who visited the house and made multiple attempts through various means to ensure that we connected with everyone.  As a result, we were able to generate two more offers.  The first offer got us excited for no reason other than the fact that we could leverage it… and it worked. There have been COUNTLESS times where we show a house and find out later that it sold without us being informed of an offer and many times where we receive an automated email informing us of an offer but no real effort made by the listing Realtor to probe further.  This is a crucial component of selling, and THIS is how you get top dollar (assuming you’ve followed all of our other advice leading up to this point!) BEFORE AND AFTER