Winnipeg’s real estate market has definitely slowed down from it’s crazy days of April and May. That’s NOT to say that multiple offers are not happening any more… they are! Nicely updated, and correctly priced houses and condos are still getting lots of showings and offers.
Just these days, instead of getting 50 to 60 showings, we’ll get a dozen to 20. And instead of 30 offers, we might ‘only’ get 5. But those five offers are still highly competitive, and desirable properties WILL sell on the ‘offers date’, often at 10’s of thousands above asking.
So here is how it works:
A new listing comes on the market, and the comments will show: “Showings start on (date), and offers on (date)”… usually 4 or 5 days down the road. Like this:
And then the crazyness begins. Real estate buyer agents will book appointments to see the listing with their buyers, which is easily accommodated. The crazier part is when the listing agent gets an anonymous request like :
“Call Kevin….wants to see the property at 123 Smith Street today!”
Most listing agents are busy working with their clients, and many of these types of requests will go unanswered. Why? Because the listing agent:
- Doesn’t know the caller
- Doesnt know if he/she is pre-approved
- Doesnt know if the listing actually suits the callers needs
- Doesnt’ know if the caller will actually show up (it happens too often)
- The caller might even have their own agent, but doesn’t want to ‘bother them.’
So how does someone like ‘Kevin’ get to see the house? The answer is easy: Get their own buyer-agent. The process is really simple. Find an agent, either by getting a referral from a friend, or checking the google reviews. If you called me, and we met, I would then:
- Make sure you are pre-approved by a good lender (if necessary)
- Get your ID for the necessary government forms
- Set up a search for the right type, price range and location of property you are interested in.
From then on, any listing becomes like an Open House for the buyer. We can easily make appointments to suit our time schedule, and don’t need to bother the listing agent, who will not be present when we go into the home. Now, the listing agent is relatively certain that my buyer is pre-approved, ready to go, and interested in exactly the type of home we are looking at. Easy-peazy.
Best of all, I don’t charge for the service, as the listing has already set aside a fee for me and any other buyer agent who would bring the successful offer for the property.
