real estate Archives - Tania Ellerbeck

The End of Double-Ending

“Double-ending” refers to a situation where a single real estate broker represents both the Seller and the Buyer in a residential real estate transaction. It’s a practice that has long raised concerns about the broker’s ability to act in the best interests of both sets of clients. Changes to the Quebec Real Estate Brokerage Act will effectively put an end to the practice of double-ending.

Pre-Listing Building Inspection

Recently, I had a client comment that she hadn’t realized how much work a real estate broker does after the offer to purchase is accepted. Getting a signed offer is just one part of the sales process. Getting from the signed offer to the notary’s office to finalize the transaction is just as important – […]

Sellers Declaration

The Sellers declaration is what I like to call a CYA form (cover your a..) It is a form for the seller to declare to best of his knowledge, everything he knows of importance about his home to a buyer. It is to protect the seller, buyer and real estate broker so everything is transparent. […]

Why Listing High Can Backfire

“Let’s try it at a higher price first, then reduce to the broker’s suggested price later if we need to.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard clients say this. While it is a pricing strategy that gets used a lot, in my experience, it isn’t usually the best one. Say your experienced […]

Certificate of Location; What is it Really?

A Certificate of Location is a document, prepared by a land surveyor(arpenteur), consisting of a plan(map) and report on the current situation and state of immovable (the piece of land and all things attached to it, house, shed, servitudes) with respect to titles, lot regulations, zoning regulations and municipal bylaws. In the standard Quebec Brokerage […]

Preparing for visits

The most common complaint I hear from sellers is the need to keep their house clean and ready for visits. More than a few clients have told me they wish they could just move out until their house is sold! Preparing your house for visits by potential buyers is extremely important and yet, I’ve seen […]

Conditions of Acceptance – The Promise to Purchase Deadline

When you’re ready to make an offer on a property, your real estate broker will help you fill in a Promise to Purchase to present to the seller. In this document, you specify the price you want to pay, any applicable conditions and the deadline for responding. Until this deadline passes, you are legally bound […]

7 Things to do before you buy a home

Buying a home is a big investment, so make sure you do it right! Here are 7 things you should do before writing an offer on your dream home: Find out what your budget is! Get pre-approved by a mortgage lender. This is a great exercise as it gives you an idea of just how […]

Why it’s Important to Hire a Professional Building Inspector

Building inspections Since the dawn of Holmes on Homes and every other real estate related TV show, buyers have started to feel that they are building inspectors. Uncle Joe may have renovated 5 homes in the last 10 years but he is not up to date on codes and local issues. Professional building inspectors inspect […]