2020 has been an absolutely strange year.  At the beginning of the year (in Winnipeg) at least there were rumblings of the Coronavirus in Asia and I don’t think we were prepared for what the next few months would bring.  With early spring/summer seeing the first cases in Canada and Manitoba there were predictions for the Winnipeg real estate market of a complete decline in sales and home values.  From this REALTOR®’s perspective that couldn’t have been further from the actual scenario.  With homes consistently selling for over list price in multiple offer bidding wars throughout the city it became clear early on that this year would not be the same as many previous.

As an observation on the market I believe a large proportion of the reason for these bidding wars has been a higher number of people who are currently in a smaller property, whether that be renting an apartment, or just living in a smaller home have realized that they wanted something with some more space to allow for working from home, home schooling and general isolation due to our situation with the coronavirus. This has brought out a massive demand for similar property options around Winnipeg, while the amount of homes actually going up for sale has decreased approximately 30% on average compared to 2019.  This has limited the amount of options available to the people looking to purchase and has created our heated bidding and offer system, and also increasing home prices significantly versus the same time last year.

That being said we have also seen issues with appraisal values due to the overpayment of properties, we have seen plenty of banks who offered pre-approvals not give financing to the same clients after an offer was presented on homes.  It seems like even though there is demand for homes there are still barriers to entry into the market during this pandemic. 

Some things to note during this pandemic are that the real estate industry is listed as an essential service and as such we are still operating, but not as usual.  Some of the new systems in place during this pandemic include new guidelines and rules for how to view a property, who can view a property and also when you can view a property.  Below are some guidelines for potential purchasers or sellers that have changed due to the Coronavirus:

1. PREAPPROVAL

• If you want to tour a property, ensure you have a valid, recent (withing the last 1-2 months) pre-approval in place.  Agents are required to pre-qualify buyers before showing them a property and it is in your best interest to know what you can afford especially with all of the bidding wars happening on properties

2. WHO can view a home?

• The Winnipeg Realtors rules for viewing homes have changed and only 2 people (not including the realtor) are allowed in a home at a viewing.  Also, only the people who are going to be on title for the home should be viewing the property.

3. When can you view a property?

• With the new COVID-19 rules we as realtors are not allowed to overlap any showings with other groups.  This means that now you are required to book a viewing (in 30 min intervals) and to go through the property as quickly as possible.  The goal is to limit the amount of touching and overlap between people in any given property.

4. Additional requirements

• Some additional requirements for viewing properties include a requirement to fill out a COVID-19 declaration form.  This for is required for EACH viewing of any home. If you view 5 homes you need to complete 5 disclosures.  These ensure that you are healthy, have not had an opportunity to trace infect yourself or anyone else if you have been exposed to the coronavirus.

The big things to take away from this new system is to get yourself pre-approved prior to any requests with a realtor, ensure that if you are sick you are not viewing properties, and to not unnecessarily tour properties during the pandemic.

If you have any real estate related questions about the new rules, or want to know any other information on the current market feel free to contact us. 

#AgentLogan

Logan Queen

Tel: (204) 226-1261
Email: Logan@JenniferQueen.com

Typically, I love to write blogs about new real estate trends, or how you can maximize your real estate knowledge, but today I wanted to share with you something I discovered this last year that I owe a lot of my success to, in real estate as well as in life.

Last year, on December 4^th 2018, I wrote a letter to myself, as my future self. It began, “Dear Ashton Augert…. What a year it has been”. I have to admit, I felt a little silly and not to mention skeptical as I wrote the first few lines. I thought to myself “There is no way ANY of these things are going to happen”. But before I go on, I should first let you know where I was a year ago…

I had just made the big decision to move from my previous brokerage to my current brokerage, and had just began my career with the Jennifer Queen Team.  I had always wanted to be on a team, and when the phone rang with the opportunity of the lifetime, I didn’t hesitate to jump on board. Although I was still fairly new to the business, I was starting to gain confidence in the Realtor I was becoming, and was so excited to be able to join a very successful team, but still had a lot to learn. I had also just recently purchased my first home and was newly engaged. Life was starting to go in the direction I wanted it to, but there were still so many unknowns and goals I wanted to fulfill in the upcoming year.

That was when a little birdie (cough,cough Jen), challenged me to write a letter to myself, as my future self, writing about all of the great successes I had achieved that year. So now here I was, sitting there, writing a letter to myself and thinking, what do I want to achieve this year? And this is what I wanted to share with you. Some of the goals I wrote were so small, that they almost seemed silly to write down on paper, others were so far-fetched at that moment in my life that they seemed more like dreams for another lifetime or at least not feasible in the next year! But the important thing was, that by writing these goals down, and visualizing them as my own future, I was now committed to, at the very minimum, attempting to try to fulfill them (even though I still felt a little silly for doing so).

When I was done writing, I read the letter one last time, signed it Ashton Humphreys (my future last name) and folded it away in a drawer to forget about until the next year.

As I’m sure a lot of you could agree, 2019 came and went in a blink of an eye. Life has a way of making you forget how in only a short period of time, so much can change. Sitting back and reading the letter I had written myself; I couldn’t help but feel proud. The person who wrote that letter a year ago would be amazed to see that I had actually done most of the things I had said I would do, not to mention blew some of them out of the park! We had done the renovations on the house we were planning on doing, our wedding went (mostly) as planned, I sold more houses then I had written down (which seemed unattainable to me at the time) and we did have our new little fur baby. The best part about all of it was it now gave me the motivation to dream bigger.

So, here is my advice to you:

Celebrate the small successes: No goal is too small, seeing the small achievements throughout the year gives you the fuel to reach for those bigger ones. If you don’t quite reach that big goal you set at least you can see that there are so many other things you have achieved, giving you the motivation to keep going.  

Set achievable, yet difficult goals:  Push yourself, if you think you can put aside $5000.00 this year for a down payment, why not shoot for $6000.00? When I say achievable, I mean something that you realistically could achieve. If you are a real estate agent setting a goal of selling 50 houses this year, that is achievable. If you are a real estate agent and your goal for the year is to perform open heart surgery, not so achievable (you get the point). 

Make yourself accountable: By writing down your goals, you will now have to face yourself when the time comes. Just imagine how great you will feel opening that letter a year later and seeing it there in your own writing, all the great things you have accomplished. You may also want to give a copy of your letter to a trusted friend or family member if you need a little more accountability, whatever works for you to keep yourself on track.

Have a good support system: By surrounding yourself with people who also want you to achieve your goals and believe in you will make it that much easier. You don’t have to achieve these on your own.

Reward yourself: It is ok to be proud of yourself. You did it! Give yourself a pat on the back... or maybe treat yourself to that spa day you have been dreaming about. Whatever it is, you deserve it.

Keep going: If you didn’t quite reach the goals you set for yourself this year, keep going. Don’t set the bar lower now because you are afraid of failure. Use it as fuel to motivate you further.

We all have goals; some are smaller such as learning to touch your toes and others are so big that you may not achieve them for years to come. At the Jennifer Queen Team, we truly believe setting goals is the perfect recipe for success. Every Monday we go around the table setting achievable goals for our work and personal lives for that week. The accountability aspect, as well as writing them down motivates us to do the things we may otherwise have brushed off. Setting goals, whether it be weekly, monthly or yearly helps you stay on track.

So, if you are wanting to buy a house in the next year, write it down. If you are wanting to save $300 more dollars a month, write it down. If you are wanting to go see the Eifel tower, you guessed it, write it down. You never know what your subconscious will grab hold of. When you open that letter a year later, you may just be surprised with things you have achieved.

Without that letter to myself, I would not have realized all the small successes I have made throughout the year. It has really given me the fuel to give 2020 all I’ve got. Try it, what’s the worst that could happen?

“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.” —Mark Victor Hansen

#AgentAshton

Ashton Augert

Phone: (204) 781-1767
Email: Ashton@JenniferQueen.com