Team Toledo... The Only Real Estate Solution for You!

There are several practices you can partake in on a daily basis to help conserve some of your hard-earned cash. You may find the following list will help you have more money left over at the end of each month to put towards anything from home renovations to your children’s education to investing:

1. Find a credit card with a lower interest rate. There’s no sense collecting air miles or other such points if you find you’re having difficulty paying off your monthly bills. Credit cards are, after all, only useful if you avoid paying interest on unpaid monthly balances. And there’s not much point in paying 20% interest when you don’t have to. If you start shopping around among several credit card providers and discover a better rate than your current provider is offering, ask your credit card provider to lower your rate since you’ve found a better deal elsewhere. They may be willing to negotiate when they risk losing your business.
2. Throw away your bank card and leave your credit card at home. ATM charges can add up and it’s hard to live on a budget if you keep paying for things on credit. Or, try only using your bank card once between pay cheques. That will help you budget your money accordingly.
3. Do your food shopping at discount stores. Discount stores may be more crowded and offer less selection than your local higher-end grocery chain, and you’ll have to pay a quarter for the cart and bag your own groceries, but you’ll see a payoff at the cash register. If you’re shopping for a larger family, try buying in bulk.
4. Start packing your own lunch. Not only is restaurant food expensive, but how many times have you ordered ‘just anything’ off the menu because you were really hungry? By packing your own lunch, you’ll not only save money, but you’re also likely to save in the calorie department as well.
5. Bring a coffee maker or kettle to work. With coffee ranging anywhere from $1 to $5 a cup (depending on cup size, exoticness of brew and the franchise from which it is purchased), some people are dropping anywhere from $20 to $200 a month just to stay caffeinated. Don’t believe it? Try this: bring your own coffee to work, make it yourself and put the money you would have spent in a jar on your desk. At the end of the month, empty the jar and see how much you’ve saved.
6. Cancel your gym membership. Go for a walk or run around your neighbourhood or office instead. After all, spring is almost upon us. If it’s muscle you’re trying to amass, then start doing push ups in your bedroom, invest in a chin-up bar and start walking up and down multiple flights of stairs. You don’t need to spend $50-$150 a month to stay active.
7. Got kids? Forget shopping at Baby Gap. Buy children’s clothing at discount retailers or department stores. Better yet, call everyone you know with young kids, bring them all together and swap anything from shoes to strollers to clothes and toys.
8. Find free or low-cost activities for your kids. School board parenting centres and city recreation programs are good places to start.
9. If you’re getting $100 a month from the government for child care, try your best to keep banking it in a high-interest savings account for your child’s future. Saving can be hard, especially in these times, but a few dollars a month can go a long way over the course of 20 years.
10. Itemize your monthly expenses and allocate money for each by placing it in marked envelopes. If you only want to spend $50 this month on entertainment, then put $50 in an envelope marked “Entertainment” and use it to entertain yourself. Once the money’s spent, that’s it.
11. Instead of an expensive vacation to the tropics this year, why not try a "staycation"? A trip to the theater or a local sports venue is infinitely less expensive than a sunburn and you’ll be infinitely less depressed when you return to work the next day.
12. Review your monthly plans for phone, wireless, Internet and television services. In general, households are paying significant sums for features that aren’t even being used. That includes everything from digital TV channel packages to wireless voice and data plans. Paying $30 a month for six gigabytes of data for your iPhone might seem like a good deal, but not if you’re only using 50 megabytes to occasionally check your e-mail and surf the web. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for a better deal from your current provider if they want to keep you as a customer – particularly if you subscribe to multiple services and have done some comparison shopping. If long distance phone calls are costing you a fortune, you might want to think about signing up for one of those $5 a month zero-cent per minute long distance plans, especially if you’re currently paying 25 cents a minute on your cell phone.

How do you cut back to save money...? Any tips for the rest of us...?

Thanks,

 Scott Ziegler

If you’ve been thinking about buying a revenue property, given the current lending environment and the slower real estate market – which has shifted to a buyers’ market – there are several reasons why now may be an ideal time.

Interest rates have also been dropping to historic lows as of late, which should help you more easily obtain financing for your revenue property.

And although the real estate market slowdown has seen prices drop and interest rates dip, rental income has not wavered – making now an optimal time to start building your revenue property portfolio or continue adding to your existing list of properties.

During a buyers’ market in the real estate cycle, sellers are far more flexible and willing to work with you because they are most likely not receiving much traffic through their doors, let alone being bogged down with multiple offers. And in cases where property has been on the market for quite some time, negotiating a sales price should offer you even more added flexibility.

And when it comes to choosing a revenue property that meets your needs, now is also a great time because the inventory of available properties is plentiful. You will have multiple properties to look at and not be rushed into making a hasty decision with a long list of other buyers ready to make a purchase.

Another bonus is that, should you wish to make changes to your revenue property, tradesmen who do renovations aren’t as busy as they used to be. As a result, these tradesmen are now answering their phones on the first ring, showing up when they say they will and offering much more competitive pricing.

In order to take advantage of this opportunity, the key is to work with me – a residential revenue specialist - who is an expert in this niche and can provide you with a wealth of knowledge and ongoing information that will help you make informed investment decisions and feel at ease throughout each purchase.

Call anytime...

Scott Ziegler
Re/Max Saskatoon
306.230.1070

But with most of Canada suffering from devastating job losses, this cold province is becoming exactly that.

It's an asterisk to the entire country when it comes to the economic climate, and Premier Brad Wall is shouting it as loud as he can.

"It's a great time to come to Saskatchewan," said Wall, who even called the Toronto Star newspaper to tout his province's economic success and let Ontarians know there were jobs for the taking.

"For those who are losing their jobs, we need them to know we have thousands of jobs open right now in both the private and public sector," Wall said. "We have a powerful story to tell, a story of success and that's something we want to share with those who are struggling."

Wall's province is one of the exceptions to the unemployment increases battering provinces across Canada. Saskatchewan's unemployment rate fell to 4.1 percent in January from 4.2 percent in December, making it the only province recording a decline. In Ontario and the city of Toronto, unemployment rates rose to 7.2 percent and 8.5 percent respectively. To the west, British Columbia shed 68,000 full-time jobs in January. More Saskatchewan jobs should be on the way. To stave off any possible recession, Wall announced a $500 million infrastructure "booster shot" to help keep the economy strong.

"All across the country, industries are getting quite ill," Wall said. "We aren't immune to it. We see some impacts in terms of layoffs and new vehicle purchases slowing off, and so we want to be proactive in staying ahead of the curve."

On Tuesday, the Conference Board of Canada released a report that said Saskatchewan will likely continue to lead the nation in economic growth in 2009 because of the infrastructure investment and tax reductions.

The province has also been reaping the benefits of an influx from nearby Alberta. When the government in Alberta decided to raise the oil royalty rates, oil exploration and expedition companies decided to move their operations to Saskatchewan in hopes of making more money.

With the province's growing opportunities, David Montgomery, president of Calgary's Qwest Haven Relocation Services, said he is moving more people to Saskatchewan each day.

"Alberta has always been the gravy train of oil," said Montgomery, who is also a former resident of Regina, the capitol and second-largest city in Saskatchewan. "But with the new royalties, oil companies are saying 'Why stay here and make less when the opportunities right next door are even better?' Many other companies may start to follow suit."

Montgomery said people looking to move have said that cheaper land and insurance prices are among the other reasons they are headed to Saskatchewan.

"There, government insurance is cheaper than anywhere else in the country and it comes with your license plates," he said. "With the amount of jobs, cheaper opportunities and great way of life, the government there has made it very attractive to move there."

That means more business for Wall's province and more jobs coming to the area.

Not that there's a shortage of jobs. On Tuesday night there were nearly 6,000 private- and public-sector jobs on the Web site Saskjobs.ca.

A constant stream of revenue from oil production and exports also buoys the economy in the province.

Saskatchewan falls just behind Alberta, as the largest oil exporter in Canada, and Wall's province sends more oil to the United States than Kuwait. Wall said the province is the leader in uranium production and produces a third of the world's potash.

The province continues to keep ahead of the curve, Wall said, finding ways to diversify its resources and embark on ambitious green projects and new oil projects. The province is working with Montana on a $212 million climate change initiative that would create the first major greenhouse gas storage project in North America. The carbon dioxide from coal-fueled power plants would be stored in the ground in Montana and later be withdrawn for use in oil production.

Wall also said what may be the largest discovery of sweet, light crude oil in the southeast part of the province means it could have even more oil to work with. The Bakken Formation could potentially have 413 billion barrels of oil, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That would be another huge untapped revenue gold mine.

Despite the growth of nearly all sectors across the board, Wall cautioned that it is possible his province may see economic stress, just later in the game than other places.

"We need to be circumspect and prudent about promoting our province," he said. "We are not immune; we do see the impacts. It isn't some sort of panacea or answer to economic questions that don't exist elsewhere. We are a bit of an asterisk that says there is some stress, but it's relatively calm here."

Wall encouraged people not to count out a move to the province based on stereotypes that it is "only winter here," and "all of the land is just rolling hills."

"'It's a beautiful, big place where life is great and right now there's also opportunity," he said. "I'm very, very biased, but I can't imagine a place I'd rather be, especially with what's going on economically around the world."

Source CNN.com

Scott Ziegler

So what do you think about that...?

Hi there, it's Ivan Toledo.  I just came across this article and, like many of you potential buyers and sellers in today's market, have been wondering just what to make of things.  At the same time that so many economic indicators in provinces other than Saskatchewan are in a downturn and, yes, some--like Ontario and the heavily U.S. influenced market sectors-- are in an apparent freefall, it's natural to look to information that gives us hope for the future.  Despite mountains of negative press, and even some--although very few-- of our local folk are seemingly in a negative frame of mind, we at Team Toledo will continue to endeavour to find news that will help you, our clients and future clients, find some grounding to weather the storm. We as a Team continue to believe in the Saskatoon market, and though some may disagree, the 7% jump alone in house prices in January 2009 sends the message that it's definitely NOT OVER for Saskatoon.  I personally also find that getting information from professionals or experienced people in the markets will give you more peace of mind, rather than just relying on someone's off-the-cuff comments in our ever increasing "Blogosphere".  We're the people that believe the glass to be half full, not half empty. So with that in mind, check this article out from a February 2009 article in Newsweek, reporting among other things, that the Canadian banking system, in stark contrast to our U.S. neighbors, has been running on much surer footing for a number of years.  Something I also didn't know is our 12 past years of budget surpluses.  Although our governments, both federal and provincial will have to release some of the goodies in the coffers to help us through, it's obviously better to have the money to spend on economic stimulus, rather than have to borrow it like our neighbors to the south.  Read on for yourself.....

NEWSWEEK - Published Feb 2009, by Fareed Zakaria

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative-Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1-compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1.

The legendary editor of The New Republic, Michael Kinsley, once held a "Boring Headline Contest" and decided that the winner was "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." Twenty-two years later, the magazine was rescued from its economic troubles by a Canadian media company, which should have taught us Americans to be a bit more humble. Now there is even more striking evidence of Canada's virtues. Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it's Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, Britain's 44th.

Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the 15th-largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the fifth-largest. It hasn't grown in size; the others have all shrunk.

So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense. Over the past 15 years, as the United States and Europe loosened regulations on their financial industries, the Canadians refused to follow suit, seeing the old rules as useful shock absorbers. Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1-compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1 and European banks at a frightening 61 to 1. Partly this reflects Canada's more risk-averse business culture, but it is also a product of old-fashioned rules on banking.

Canada has also been shielded from the worst aspects of this crisis because its housing prices have not fluctuated as wildly as those in the United States. Home prices are down 25 percent in the United States, but only half as much in Canada. Why? Well, the Canadian tax code does not provide the massive incentive for overconsumption that the U.S. code does: interest on your mortgage isn't deductible up north. In addition, home loans in the United States are "non-recourse," which basically means that if you go belly up on a bad mortgage, it's mostly the bank's problem. In Canada, it's yours. Ah, but you've heard American politicians wax eloquent on the need for these expensive programs-interest deductibility alone costs the federal government $100 billion a year-because they allow the average Joe to fulfill the American Dream of owning a home. Sixty-eight percent of Americans own their own homes. And the rate of Canadian homeownership? It's 68.4 percent.

Canada has been remarkably responsible over the past decade or so. It has had 12 years of budget surpluses, and can now spend money to fuel a recovery from a strong position. The government has restructured the national pension system, placing it on a firm fiscal footing, unlike our own insolvent Social Security. Its health-care system is cheaper than America's by far (accounting for 9.7 percent of GDP, versus 15.2 percent here), and yet does better on all major indexes. Life expectancy in Canada is 81 years, versus 78 in the United States; "healthy life expectancy" is 72 years, versus 69. American car companies have moved so many jobs to Canada to take advantage of lower health-care costs that since 2004, Ontario and not Michigan has been North America's largest car-producing region.

I could go on. The U.S. currently has a brain-dead immigration system. We issue a small number of work visas and green cards, turning away from our shores thousands of talented students who want to stay and work here. Canada, by contrast, has no limit on the number of skilled migrants who can move to the country. They can apply on their own for a Canadian Skilled Worker Visa, which allows them to become perfectly legal "permanent residents" in Canada-no need for a sponsoring employer, or even a job. Visas are awarded based on education level, work experience, age and language abilities. If a prospective immigrant earns 67 points out of 100 total (holding a Ph.D. is worth 25 points, for instance), he or she can become a full-time, legal resident of Canada.

Companies are noticing. In 2007 Microsoft, frustrated by its inability to hire foreign graduate students in the United States, decided to open a research center in Vancouver. The company's announcement noted that it would staff the center with "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." So the brightest Chinese and Indian software engineers are attracted to the United States, trained by American universities, then thrown out of the country and picked up by Canada-where most of them will work, innovate and pay taxes for the rest of their lives.

If President Obama is looking for smart government, there is much he, and all of us, could learn from our quiet-OK, sometimes boring-neighbor to the north. Meanwhile, in the councils of the financial world, Canada is pushing for new rules for financial institutions that would reflect its approach. This strikes me as, well, a worthwhile Canadian initiative.

Good economic times in Saskatchewan have already had many homeowners ordering new windows, landscaping their yards and fixing up basements.

Now Ottawa hopes to keep those home renovations rolling -- and kick-start them in other parts of the country -- by covering some of the costs.

The federal government's new, temporary home renovation tax credit, worth up to $1,350, is meant to spur spending as the country as a whole grapples with a recession.

The recent boom in Saskatchewan, however, has put pressure on renovation and landscaping businesses facing a shortage of skilled workers. Even so, Alan Thomarat, chief executive officer for the Canadian Home Builders' Association in Saskatchewan, said he expects people who want to take advantage of the tax credit during the limited time it's being made available will still be able to do so.

But Thomarat cautioned homeowners must be mindful not to be taken advantage of by "underground" contractors trying to cash in. He suggested a system of checks and balances be put in place to protect homeowners looking to make use of the new credit.

Some busy businesses in Saskatchewan -- which has so far escaped the brunt of the economic downturn -- say the added incentive to proceed with home improvement projects may encourage homeowners who have been sitting on the fence.

"I think it's a reasonable incentive," said Bill Allen, owner and manager of Wilson Windows of Regina.

"What it's going to do, I think, is stimulate those people that are procrastinators and they're going to do some work, (but) it's just going to motivate them to get on with it."

The program offers a 15 per cent income tax credit on eligible home renovation expenditures for work performed, or for goods acquired, after Jan. 27 and before Feb. 1, 2010. The credit may be claimed on the portion of eligible expenditures exceeding $1,000, but not more than $10,000 -- for a maximum of $1,350 in tax relief.

But such programs carry little benefit to the overall Canadian economy, said Eric Howe, an economist at the University of Saskatchewan.

"If you were to spend more in Saskatchewan, an infrastructure project would be a much, much better way of the government spending their money."

(REGINA LEADER-POST)

What do you think? Are you planning any renovations JUST to take advantage of these tax credits???

 We welcome your comments.       

Scott

Conference Board of Canada makes projections

Happy new year.

 Now the 2009 is upon us i thought it would be a great time to shed some NEW light on the Saskatoon Real Estate market. There has been a lot of media coverage over the last 6 months and most of it down right awful. I however have to disagree with most of it. You see most of the coverage has surrounded Canada as a whole, but in our little corner of the market in Saskatchewan and more specifically in Saskatoon, we are doing just fine.

6 months ago we had as many as 1900+ listings on the market in areas 1-5. Today we are down to 1138. Thats a huge drop and it even more significant because we are now moving into our prime selling season. So you buyers out there don't delay or you will be sorry.

Let me break it down by price range for you;

$0 - $99,999 - There is a total of 11 listings - In this price rang you are pretty limited. There are some great newly redone condos on the west side. Some trailers (Mobile homes) on the east side. Also some small (600 SQFT or less) houses in the hood.

$100,000-$199,999 - There is a total of 220 listings. Clearly in this price range there is more choice, so it would seem. 90% of these listings are condos (apartment style). The rest are a mix of smaller house on the west side (all communities) and Quite small east side homes.

$200,000-$299,999 - There is a total of 363 listings - This is the money price range. A very good mix in here. Again a fair amount of condos, but a nice range of townhouses, apartment with underground parking, and townhouse with attached garages. We now move into some great properties in area 5 and some goos character homes in Area 4. Also its a move up east side market.

$300,000-$399,999 - There are 308 listings. - WOW, this is the best range yet. This range with get you into almost every area in Saskatoon. There are lots of great properties in area 1 form brand new in Stonebridge to Willow Grove, to developed in Lakeridge, and classic in Nutana, all the way up to the north end. This is a very nice price range to be shopping in, Congrats.

$400,000-$499,999 - There are 140 listings. - Obviously this is slightly less attainable market for some, but those who are looking here will find some great buys. This price range is heavily loaded with properties in Arbor Creek, Erindale and the whole upper east side. You will get a nice place in Briarwood as well. Basically this will get you a lot of house anywhere you want to live.

$500,000+ - There are 96 listings. This price range is loaded with new properties, properties in Briarwood, and big homes in Arbor Creek. You certainly get a lot of house here, with all the options.

Here you go Saskatoon. Every listing is available to you. Now heres the catch, with the spring market already showing signs of heating up, DO NOT DELAY, in making a move. Our team has an in house mortgage specialist for your pre-approvals, a in house lawyer with discounted fees just for our team, and home inspectors, contractors anything you need we are Team Toledo, your one stop shop for Saskatoon real estate.

Scott Ziegler
230.1070

I'd love to here from you, just call anytime.

Oh by the way, I'm never to busy for any of your referrals.

SASKATOON, CANADA - Even in the face of a possible global economic slow down, the Saskatoon region continues to lead the country as the fastest growing city in Canada, with the retail and wholesale trade and construction sectors pushing the projected gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2008 to 5.2 per cent.

 In addition to these findings, the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) quarter 3 report indicates approximately 2,000 more people were working in the region during July, August and September 2008 than the same time period in 2007.

The population growth also increased in the region over the summer, with people moving to the city in advance of finding work. Residential construction investment in the region has continued to outperform 2007 numbers. Permit values are 25 per cent higher than in the 3rd quarter of last year, due to heightened construction activity in the cities surrounding communities. Additionally, the value of nonresidential construction investment grew by 300 per cent compared to the 3rd quarter of 2007, with regional commercial and industrial building investment driving the market.

"we are a part of a global business community," says Alan Migneault, CEO of SREDA. "We will see some impact from the global financial turmoil, but the quarter 3 results continue to demonstrate strong fundamentals that will help make our economy resilient in the coming months."

SREDA is an independent economic development agency which works with the business community to build and grow the Saskatoon region's economy.

To view or download the full report with full graphs please download the PDF from this post.

Story from Saskatoon Region Ass. of Realtors.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Feel free to drop me an email.

Scott Ziegler

Re/Max Saskatoon

I need some feedback here. Click here for the beginning of the saga. 

Well the possession date is fast approaching and it is time to move out. Wow what a surprise. Up until now the few other times I've moved it has just been myself. Now i have my wifes things and 2 dogs to move out. For those who know my wife ( or any dog nut ) we have a lot of dog stuff. So needless to say there is lots of stuff.

The one good thing about this whole process is that it has been a real eye opener for me as far as my business is concerned. For all the buying and selling i have been apart of its neat to see it from the prospective of a client.

So we started packing and packing and packing then stacking because we started early. When the day came we rented a U-haul so we only had to make one or 2 trips ( hahaha 5 trips later). Just try to find someone to help on that day too, good luck.

So we spent the entire day loading and unloading and finally we were able to finish. Now all that is left is to clean the house up so the new owners feel like they are home when they walk into the house.

 Wow from start to finish it sure was a roller coaster ride of emotions and then memories, excitement, anxiety, the whole nine yards. Now we are out and living with the mother-in-laws until our new house is ready in February. Thats should be fun, I'm sure some of you could tell me some stories. Please do!

I'm really glad i was able to go through the process because now i truly have a better understanding of what clients go through. I think it is going to make me a much better agent.

Please feel free to drop me a line anytime. I would love to hear from you.

Thanks,

Scott Ziegler

Part 1 - The Reno
Part 2 - The Listing

Part 3 - The Offer

Now that we have been through the physical labor of getting the place ready for sale. The emotional toil of waiting and praying that a good offer will come, its now time to see what we got. So as i mentioned in earlier posts we wanted to try our house on the open market for a few days with delayed offer presentation. After many showings 2 days of a busy open house it was now offer day and offer time. But wait, did we even get anything...

Earlier in the day i called and touched base with every agent who came through the property, to see if their clients had any interest in the property. Most said they loved the property and would consider offering, but did not want to compete. In all honesty I was a little surprised by this. So after a few phone calls to my wife letting her know that she better not get to excited about multiple offers, a few prayers it was offer time.

The phone rings and lowe and behold, an agent...with an offer... Praise God! The one and only offer we received. In our prayers we kept saying we only need one, we only need one, but we wanted it to be the right one. So i picked Theresa up from work,, at this point she was sure we did not get an offer. When she got into the car with exuberance in my voice I said " We got one!!!" She then was also quite excited. So off to the office we went to review it. We need to wait for a half and hour until it was officially offer time, and once 6:30 rolled around we tore into that envelop and away we went.

We were initially pleased with the offer we got, it was for $370,000 and had no conditions. It did have a smalled deposit than we liked considering it was a delayed possession until the end of June. So I called the other agent Ol' Bubbly Bear and we re negotiated a bigger deposit.

Now if you have been following along you are probably thinking wow, they got $30,000 over asking price. That is true however the numbers told me the house was worth anywhere from $350 - 370K. So in actuality we got very close to what it was worth. Again this made us quite happy. The weird thing is that we are now living in someone else's home, theoretically. I guess the good thing is that if there is a small problem, its no big deal because its no longer mine. Other than cleaning and general upkeep, we don't plan on doing another thing to the house, we feel we have done enough.

We are now well on our way to building our new house and couldn't be more pleased with our agent ;) and all the hard work he put into our house.

 Thanks for following along, it was an emotional time in our lives, but you know its funny once we got that offer and no conditions and the sold sign was up, things just seemed to go back to normal.

 Please feel free to drop me a line anytime. I am always available for you.

Thanks,
Scott ZIegler
230-1070

Part 2 - The Listing 

Continued from Part 1 - The Reno

Ok. So now that the house is in tip top shape its time to call the real estate agent and get this house on the market. Oh wait, I am the agent. So as I do with every property I have to run the numbers, to see what the actual value of the house is. It's funny when I talk to clients I always tell them not to get emotionally attached to a dollar figure to early because it can crush them if they don't get it. Easier said than done. We thought "Oh ya we can get $400K for this place, look at it is awesome". After seeing some real crappy houses listed around the $320-330K mark and selling for just under $400K we thought this was going to be a slam dunk. The actual value of the house in my mind was around the $360-380K mark give or take. So we decided to try the market with no presentations of offers and list and a Conservative $339,900 to generate some interest.

With the listing papers in hand my wife and I sat down and started drawing up the documents. Now I have been through this countless times, but this was a first for Theresa. So as we went along I explained everything just as I would to a regular client so she knew exactly what she was signing. After we got the final signatures we celebrated with a high five! To be perfectly honest with all of you it was quite and exciting time. This was also a first for me selling a personal residence.

 Now it was time to carry on like i would any listing. I have a specific marketing plan i use for all properties that has been very successful in the past so no need to deviate from the plan. I took the pictures, sorted out the bad from the good and posted everything to my site. 2 hours later i had painted the house in the perfect light, and we were ready to advertise to the masses. First thing in the morning we both went to the computer to see what it looked like, as if I didn't know, i put it there and with huge smiles and excitement in our voices, our house was "ON THE MARKET!" woowhoo.

Wow what a gamete of emotions you go through when selling a home. I was completely taken by surprise, I figured because I've been through this time and time again it wouldn't affect me. I was wrong. The excitement of seeing it on the internet, the nervousness as it hit the MLS market, the anticipation of waiting for the phone to ring, the anxiety of the open house, the sometimes gut wrenching nerves waiting for offer presentation day. And finally the offer.

 I can truly say I will go into a listing presentation differently next time. I have a much better appreciation of what my sellers are going through. I also think I have to change a few things, change some of my approach to the selling process, and definitely be sure i am on my game the next time I list a property. The cool thing is i believe this is going make me a better agent, and thats good for everybody.

Thanks for following along. I would be interested to know how some of you felt during the listing process. Also to know how your agent handled your listing.

 Now for Part 3 - The Offer.

Thanks,
Scott Ziegler

My own house sale Part 1 - The Reno

Hello all.

Well this is it. Me and my wife have decided to sell our first house for an opportunity to build in Stone Bridge. It was not an easy decision, we love our area Greystone Heights and our neighbours are fantastic, and the location 2 doors from a park on a quiet street are definite bonuses. We just felt that this was the timing for the build.

 We have owned the house for nearly 3 years and have been slowly renovating it for that time. We got the bulk of the work done early 06-07 but the last few things seemed to drag on. You know you get busy and the fact of the matter is you stop noticing those little finishing things left undone. A base board here some caulking there. As an agent we stress to our clients that those are the little things that make the difference from a good house to a great listing.

 So it began. March 1st, we had 1 month to whip our house into shape. After we went room to room we realized that there was quite a lot to do to get the house show ready. Window coverings, paint touch ups, door knobs and hinges, railings to put up, base boards to finish, and lots and lots of clutter to clear out and a deep cleaning. Don't you just love a move to chuck out all those years of crap you have laying around. Nothing put a bigger smile on my face than to say "Chuck it!" We brought in some professional cleaners and i can honestly say my house has never looked so good.

Well one month later April 2 we are ready to list out house. It has been a real eye opening experience. The next time a client re-lives the story with me of how they got there house ready for sale i will be able to share in the joy of finally having it done and ready to go.

Now you would think at this point i would be prepared to draw up a listing and get the ball rolling. I was not prepared for the emotions that come with getting your house ready to sell. We sat there once it was all finished looking around marveling at all the hard work we put into getting it ready, all the good times and not so good times we had there, and whether we were making the right decision. In the end we are confident that we want to move forward with.... Part 2 - The listing.

Stay tuned as the saga continues.

If you care to follow along in my personal experience in selling my own home from a complicated stand point of the owner/agent i would love to hear some personal stories of what you went through in the various stages of selling, starting with "The reno"

 Thanks.
Scott Ziegler

By nature I'm not one to brag or boost of myself or our team. It's another thing when some does it for you. Re/Max Saskatoon and Team Toledo are very proud of our accomplishments over the last year (2007)! At our annual awards in Vancouver B.C last week we picked up some very significant awards and acknowledgments.

Ask anyone and they will agree when you think Real Estate you think Re/Max!
Re/Max Saskatoon continues to be the leader in Saskatoon real estate... Allow me to demonstrate.

Saskatoon Market Share - The dollar volume of each company divided by the number of agents. Putting all brokerages on a level playing field.
Re/Max Saskatoon - 40%
Halmark - 15%
Realty Executives 14%
Sutton 8%
Royal Lepage 5%
Balance of the rest of the Saskatoon Real Estate companies 2%
Coldwell banker 1%
Prudential 1%
Now that's something to be proud of !!!

Our team, Team Toledo was also given some hardware.
As a team ;
PLATINUM CLUB Award
Re/max Saskatoon's "website of the year" - As you will see it was not for the having the most flashy site it was based on the following; How we presented our listings, home much traffic we got to our site and what we did with the traffic once it got there. How we used the marketing tools available to us on our site. For having streaming video and full video tours on our site. We are very proud of this award especially because, if we have 40% of the market share at Re/max and we have the best website in the company, that speaks volumes !!!

Individually Scott Ziegler also took home Re/Max Saskatoon 2007 Rookie of the year award, which He is very proud of.