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Pris Han - Founder of Carefree Home Sold Realty Inc., Brokerage
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Pris Han - Founder of Carefree Home Sold Realty., Brokerage
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Real all 5-star reviews left by our past clients
We found Priscilla through her YouTube channel. As a first-time buyer, we relayed on Priscilla and her team for many steps. Priscilla always provided us with informative details of each property we were interested in and answered our questions efficiently. Our offer to the place we purchased recently was actually rejected at the first offer, but Priscilla was very diligent in negotiating the deal with the seller. In the end, the seller is willing to lower the price within our budget. Priscilla’s full knowledge of the real estate market and passion for her clients made our first-time purchase experience smooth and pleasant.
- Sheila Yihua Hu -
Priscilla recommended we take the advantage of the Home Buyer’s plan which is one of the unique offerings by Priscilla. Within the 18 months time frame and her smart strategy, we were able to sell our condo at an unexpected great price with no commission (just a $500 administrative fee). I don’t think so any realtor offers such unique services wherein the buyer can sell their house within 18 months with almost no commission. I’d highly recommend working with Priscilla as she comes with a great experience by understanding the client’s requirements and then creating a plan towards that goal.
- Madhur Chawla -
Priscilla and her team were very passionate and professional to deal with sales of our condo. She always provided updates on any process and issues communicated with potential buyers. She tried to work together and her response on any requests was replied to us in seconds, regardless of the time difference in different time zone. I really appreciate for her and her team's efforts made the result successful. I would have no hesitation in recommending Priscilla and her team, always supportive and very professional.
- Stephen W -
I never thought that in a very short span of time, my family and I could be able to find and purchase a home that suits our budget and definitely a nice place. This is because Tracey's dedication to helped us is unconditional. She clearly answered and explained all my questions and always on time. As a first-time home buyer, I feel very confident in every decision I make because of her guidance. Part of my satisfaction with her service, I highly recommend her to my circle of friends and family. I am thankful to Priscilla for introducing me to Tracey. More power to your team.
- Hannah Shane Esteban -
Real Estate Guides
The ultimate one-stop guide for all of your home buying and selling needs in the Greater Toronto Area
Ultimate Buyer's Guide
- How to Pick a Competent & Reliable Toronto Real Estate Agent
- Getting the Best Mortgage
- How to Find ALL Properties Matching Your Need
- Best Practices for the Property Showing
- Making an Offer on a Toronto Home
- What Happens After Your Offer is Accepted
- What Happens on the Closing Day
Ultimate Seller's Guide
- How to Pick & Interview Listing Real Estate Agent
- Listing Plan & Listing Agreement
- Ready Your Home for Showings
- Review and Pick the Best Offer with the Assistance From Your Real Estate Agent
- Closing & Collecting Your Money From the Home Sale
GTA Market Trend
Greater Toronto Area's housing prices have always been a core concern for many residents. This is not only true for residents of the Greater Toronto Area, but also for newcomers to Canada. Let's take a look at some of the main driving factors of GTA's housing market.
Choosing a Reliable and Professional Toronto Real Estate Agent
When buying or selling a house in the Greater Toronto Area, the majority of buyers and sellers enlist the help of a Toronto real estate agent to represent them. Real estate transitions are often the largest, yet least frequent, financial transactions in most people’s lives. The average person may lack the necessary knowledge and experience in the complex real estate market, making professional assistance crucial. Without it, the already lengthy and intricate process can become even more daunting, potentially leading to significant financial losses.
Therefore, it is best to enlist the help of a professional Toronto real estate agent for your next real estate transaction, just as one would seek the help of a doctor when unwell, rather than attempting self-treatment.
However, with close to 70,000 real estate agents in the Greater Toronto Area, it can be challenging to find the right one. Among the 70,000 real estate agents, almost 80% of them complete 3 or fewer transactions per year and are largely inexperienced. The knowledge, experience, and skill level of Toronto real estate agents can vary significantly, and competent real estate agents often only engage in exclusive representations. Thus, finding a sincere, professional, and dedicated Toronto real estate agent is paramount.
Picking a Seller's/Listing Real Estate Agent
The One with the Most Powerful Marketing Program
Toronto is the largest city in North America when it comes to real estate transactions. At any given time, each home is competing with thousands of other homes for the buyers’ attention. Selling your home is much like holding an auction, the trick to selling your home fast and for top dollar is to attract as many potential buyers as possible. This can only be accomplished through an efficient and robust marketing program!
Integrated marketing exposure brings more potential buyers to your doorstep, which means more offers on your home, and a better chance for you to receive a top-dollar offer. With that being said, it’s now clear that a powerful marketing program is crucial to selling your home for the best result.
The vast majority of Toronto real estate agents’ only ‘market activity’ for their listings is simply uploading it to Toronto Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and then waiting for buyers to take the bait. This kind of listing service does not bring more exposure to the home nor does it help homeowners sell their home for more money. In a market where the sellers are constantly competing against each other, choosing the Toronto real estate agent with the most powerful marketing program is crucial to selling your home for the best price!
The following are suggested steps for selecting a listing real estate agent in Toronto:
a) Research the real estate agent candidate's reputation through their social media, check on platforms such as Google, Yelp, and Facebook to see other people’s reviews.
b) Assess their professionalism by checking if they ever published any industry-related blogs or videos, if so, you can definitely tell their professionalism by their published content.
Below are some of the things a home seller should consider and questions to ask each of the real estate agent candidates.
a) Is the candidate capable of systematically and thoroughly introducing their listing service? A real estate agent’s ability to present themselves is often a good indicator of the level of service they are capable of delivering.
b) Check if each candidate has a detailed and specific marketing plan for promoting the property that’s beyond listing it on MLS. What platforms do these candidates use? What kind of marketing activities do they plan to run? What kind of exposure will they bring to the property? What kind of experience and success did they have in the past? These are all great questions to keep in mind, the better the candidates can respond to these questions, the more likely this candidate is a competent Toronto real estate agent.
c) Does each candidate have an existing database of potential buyers? How did they build up this database? How big is the database? How is the quality of the potential buyers?
d) Confirm if each candidate has any sort of ‘written’ performance guarantees? Such as communication guarantee, your home sold guarantee, etc. These must be written guarantees that are truthful and realistic. Don’t believe someone that promises the moon and stars without anything backing their claims.
e) Ask each candidate about their annual transaction volume, past sales history, and if they have a team. Although solo real estate agents can definitely provide exceptional service, a full-time real estate agent with a dedicated supporting team is often much more skilled. An experienced full-time real estate agent with a supporting team has more experience, they are more likely to help sellers negotiate the best price possible. Teams are often more responsive and well-rounded with talents across various aspects of a real estate transaction.
f) In Toronto and throughout Canada, the work of a real estate agent is as much a professional field as that of a lawyer or accountant. Even if the candidate is someone within the personal sphere, their professionalism and ability must be vetted thoroughly. They may not rip the seller off, and honesty and integrity are definitely important, but it's not sufficient. An honest but incompetent real estate agent can be just as costly to the seller as a dishonest real estate agent.
The next step will be to determine and select an appropriate Toronto real estate agent to represent you in the sale of your home. An exclusive listing agreement will need to be signed before the real estate agent can market your home to the general public.
Overall, the main criterion in selecting the right real estate agent to represent you in the sale of your home is their ability to effectively promote your home and their overall professionalism.
Trap Warning ⚠️:
Some sellers mistakenly believe that choosing a Toronto real estate agent is solely determined by the sale price they quote. This can be a BIG mistake. It is important to understand that the market dictates the selling price of a property, not the agent. A real estate agent can only use their marketing capability & negotiation to maximize the market price or even slightly higher than the market, but it will never be 30% above the current market.
Selecting a real estate agent solely based on the highest sale price quote, without substantial evidence such as comparable sales in the neighbourhood and consideration of market trends, is a risky move. Not only may the seller be presented with an inflated price with the sole intention to get their listing, overpriced homes often stay on the market for an extensive period of time and end up selling for LOWER than the market price.
Ultimately, sellers should be more concerned with how the real estate agent plans to sell the property and the effectiveness of their marketing and promotional strategies. The agent who excels in advertising and marketing the property is the one most likely to secure the highest price under the same market conditions.
a) In the Greater Toronto Area, buyers typically don't have to pay a commission to their real estate agent, instead, sellers pay for both buyer's & seller's real estate agent's commission. The commission is included in the property's listing price. The most common commission rate offered to the buyers' agents in Greater Toronto Area is 2.5% of the sale price. (And Yes, taxes are extra.)
b) The real estate agent will agree on the commission to be paid to the buyer's broker when signing the Seller's Representation Agreement Listing Agreement with the seller. This information is displayed in the Co-operating Brokerage Commission (CB Comm) section of the listing information for the buyer's real estate agent to view. It is the seller's freedom to pay the buyer's broker a commission, and while it is common to pay 2.5%, the seller may choose to pay only 2.25%, or less, or even only $1, meaning the seller does not pay the buyer's broker a commission, leaving the buyer to cover the buyer's broker's commission. Note that the downside of this is that for some Toronto real estate agents who only charge a commission based on the amount specified in the MLS, such a commission structure would be a disincentive to show the property. However, if the listing (seller) agent has a strong ability to attract buyers, or if the market is a strong seller's market, this could potentially save the seller commission. Also, some buyer's brokers have already set a commission for their services when they sign an agency agreement with their buyer's client. If this amount exceeds the seller's stipulation, the buyer can either make up the buyer's brokerage commission on their own, or they can engage the buyer's broker to negotiate with the seller to have the seller pay it. At this point, the seller needs to ensure that the net selling price, including the buyer's commission, still meets their expectations.
c) In the Greater Toronto Area, the more common seller's brokerage commission is currently 1.5% to 2%. However, in the Asian market, especially the Chinese market, realtor commissions tend to be lower or include services that are available in the mainstream market for an additional fee, such as staging upholstery. It is the common desire of all sellers to get good value for money, but please keep in mind that when searching for low commission brokerage services in Toronto, it is important to stick to the points mentioned above in the interview session and not sacrifice quality of service. Sellers need to look at the net benefit. A good marketing campaign can lead to more and better offers, which often ends up being far more profitable than the commission savings offered by a discount broker. The quality of a candidate real estate agent's marketing program, not the amount of commission, is the only indicator of a seller's agent!
Select buyers from Toronto real estate agents - who can find great value dark offers and ensure real-time communication, always online
Here, before we hand-hold you on how to pick a professional, sincere and reliable real estate agent when buying or selling a home in Toronto, let's first understand how Toronto real estate transactions and real estate agents operate.
In the Greater Toronto Area, and throughout Canada, listings are open and shared. The vast majority of listings on the market are centralized in a central database that is visible to all real estate agents registered with the local real estate board. For example, when buying a home in Toronto, this shared database is the Toronto Real Estate Board TREB's Multiple Listing Service, MLS, a multiple listing system. Instead of hiring multiple real estate agents to access more listings, a buyer's dedicated Toronto real estate agent can find all eligible homes in the shared listings as long as the buyer clearly and completely communicates their buying needs.
Why Buyers Should Hire a Dedicated Buyer's Agent Why is it not advisable to have multiple real estate agents at the same time? What are the risks of trading on your own? URL
So let's get started!
a) Understand broker reputation and check the quantity and quality of, for example, Google reviews.
b) Check for professionalism, e.g. whether there are frequent articles, videos published in the field of real estate. If so, identify a few candidates for interview based on the professionalism of their content
a) When interviewing Toronto real estate agents, look for a systematic and detailed presentation of the services offered by the candidate. The more formal (e.g., a PowerPoint presentation) and specific the broker's presentation is, the more prepared he or she is and the more likely he or she is to present the same quality of service later
b) Does the search include more than just the open listings on the MLS, but also cover the more valuable dark listings, foreclosures, bank homes and other exclusive listings? Top Toronto real estate agents with high transaction volume and wide access often have access to some great value dark listings outside of the MLS open listings.
c) There are guarantee promises for the service process and final result, such as: real-time communication promise within 24 hours, home buying satisfaction guarantee promise, home price saving guarantee, etc. And, these promises are not just verbal but written to better protect the buyer's interest.
d) Ask about the real estate agent's transaction volume, whether he or she has a team, and the size of the team. While a small broker is just as likely to provide good service, a full time broker is obviously more professional than an amateur Part-time broker. A team of Toronto real estate agents with a high volume of transactions has more experience in selecting and negotiating properties than an individual agent who only does one or two transactions a year. And, a team with customer service is also more likely to be able to communicate in real time and respond quickly than an individual agent. A solo real estate agent only needs to have just one client on hand and can't take care of the other clients. For buyers, on the other hand, in the unlikely event that they come across a good property, action is required to race against time.
e) In Toronto, and Canada as a whole, the job of a real estate agent is the same as that of a lawyer or an accountant, a professional field, and a skilled job. Even if the candidate is an acquaintance such as a relative or friend, the vetting should be just as careful. Acquaintances may be able to put people at ease and not be cheated. But honesty is important but not enough, and an honest but incompetent Toronto real estate agent can cost a buyer just as much.
f) The buyer selects and identifies a suitable Toronto real estate agent based on the results of the interview. By signing a Buyer Representation Agreement, the real estate agent becomes the exclusive representative of the buyer in the process of finding and buying a home in Toronto.
a) Generally, when buying a home in Toronto, buyers do not pay a real estate agent's commission. The buyer's brokerage commission is paid by the seller. The seller's brokerage commission to the buyer is included in the listing price of the property and is not paid separately by the buyer. Currently, the most common commission paid by sellers to buyers' real estate agents in the Greater Toronto Area is 2.5% of the closing price. However, sometimes you can see 2.25% or even less. In extremely rare cases, sellers may pay the buyer's agent only $1, meaning the seller does not pay the buyer's agent's commission, leaving the buyer to cover the buyer's agent's commission.
b) When buying a home in Toronto, the real estate agent will specify the buyer's agent's commission when signing the Buyer Representation Agreement with the buyer. Sometimes the buyer's agent writes "Per MLS Listing" in the commission section, i.e., according to the seller's stipulations on the listing. This is actually a very lax practice. Ostensibly the buyer's agent has to pay whatever the seller pays, sometimes even as little as $1. With a small commission burden, the price of such a property may be more affordable, to put it mildly. However, even though all Toronto real estate agents must enforce the regulated fiduciary duty (fiduciary duty), there is a clear lack of incentive for buyer's agents to recommend such properties when there is no income at all. Therefore, to avoid conflicts of interest, professional real estate agents will specify the buyer's brokerage commission to be charged, say 2.5%, at the time of signing the service agreement. At that point, even in the case of $1, the buyer's agent can either ask the buyer to make up the amount or ask the seller to adjust the sale price to include the 2.5% buyer's brokerage commission. With a set commission, the buyer's agent will not be swayed by personal interests and will be able to recommend and purchase a property with the buyer's interests in mind.
c) It is not uncommon in the Asian market in Toronto, especially in the Chinese market, for real estate agents to give rebates to buyers: after a successful purchase, some buyers' agents take a portion of the commission and return it to the buyer's client. The rebate may seem like a benefit to the buyer, which has led to the rebate strength becoming the only indicator that some buyers are looking for when selecting a real estate agent to represent their interests, but it is often the opposite. Don't be unconvinced, but let's look at the reasons for this: choosing a property is the biggest purchase many guests will make in their lifetime, and for owner-occupiers, the home is most closely connected to their daily lives. Buying a property that you are happy with is the ultimate expectation, not saving a few thousand dollars. Toronto real estate brokers who give back commission often lack other means of competition and have no choice but to squeeze their income, such as: lack of clients, inability to provide value-added services, inability to improve service quality and feedback speed due to lack of manpower...etc. On the contrary, real estate agents who do not rebate but still stand on the competition are often superior in the end result they present to their clients, and the overall benefit is inevitably greater than the amount of the commission rebate. Therefore, buyers who are focused on the end result must follow closely the points mentioned above in the interview session to carefully choose the real estate agent who will buy a home in Toronto and represent them, rather than patronizing who has the higher rebate. Imagine why buyers don't skip the real estate agent to buy a home on their own if saving on commission is most important? Obviously because of the desire for professional service. That's why professionalism is the only criterion for picking a real estate agent!
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Hey, Toronto Realtors!
Earn $50,000 more in commissions than you have in the last 12 months, or I will make up the difference.