Happy 2020 everyone!

Hope you all had a great holiday or are going on one soon!

Last year real estate in Ottawa was rather abnormal with an increased number of sales year-over-year with fewer listings available resulting in pretty good increases in average price and crazy situations with multiple offers.  Quite a few of our sellers sold here to move to BC and this was a great year for doing that given the conditions of both markets.

That's not to say our prices have gone crazy the likes of Vancouver or Toronto, but they have increased with both the average home and condo prices increasing 9%. Ottawa has historically averaged 4.5 to 5% increases for the past 70 years or so. There were only 4 years where it actually decreased and the highest decrease was only 4.5%.  We did have a few years starting in 2012 though with only 1 and 2% increases, but the last year and a half has brought prices back up to what they would have been if we just stayed with the typical 4.5 to 5% increase.  So, in reality, we are at normal pricing for what is to be expected in Ottawa.

Last year when listing non-condo properties we typically did the research to decide on the market price (we never list under market by the way as there is no need to do that ), picked the date that we wanted to receive offers, let the clients choose the winner and in most cases received multiple offers with many of the sellers essentially being able to entirely cover their real estate commissions out of the overage. 

This year looks to be starting out pretty much the same - and many agents are attempting to do the same thing but with varied success.  Virtually every listing that is now coming on the market specifying an offer date with the hopes of multiple offers on that date but their reality doesn't necessarily match that.

If I look at the last three weeks of Ottawa sales, out of 117 sales only 40 have sold above asking and some have sold for significantly less.  So pricing and presentation is definitely key!

Wishing you all a great January!  As always if we can help you or answer any questions along the way don't hesitate to contact us.
 

Cheers,
     Eric and Steve

Dezeen's top 10 architecture trends of 2019
(India Block, dezeen.com)
From Notre-Dame re-imagined to reflective architecture to focus on climate change, there was lots of controversy.  And although she passed away in 2016, Zaha Hadid's legacy lives on. 2019 was the year that many of the amazing projects the British-Iraqi architect had designed were completed posthumously.   ...read more...

    ...read more...

2020 Color Trends in Interior Design
(2020spaces.com)
There's some great colour ideas in this article if you're looking to update your home. "Champagne is replacing the cool greys which have been dominating the world of interior design for years."   Be aware though that many of the colours recommended in the article are quite saturated and may therefore be more work to apply and more work to replace.  Also, neutral colours are always recommended for selling.   ...read more...

The Safe Way to Cancel a Credit Card
(Michelle Black, investopedia.com)
You may have heard the advice: Never cancel a credit card account or you could damage your credit scores. And while it is true that closing a credit card might be hard on your credit scores, that isn’t always the case... ...read more...

You might also be interested in (some overlap in ideas, but some different):
- 7 Quick Ways to Raise Your Credit Score
- 7 ways to improve your credit score 
 

Humans Are the Leading Cause of Self-Driving Car Accidents
(Don Reisinger, fortune.com)
This study, which spans 2014 through 2018, found that when the self-driving cars were in autonomous mode and driving on their own, 38 incidents occurred while moving. In all but one of those cases, the accidents were caused by humans. Axios also found that of 24 incidents when autonomous mode was on and the vehicle was stopped—none of them was caused by the self-driving technology.  The tech follows the laws.  But human drivers can be aggressive, take risks, and... ...read more...