Montreal Real Estate Blog » Deya Bautista

December 2011: Year Ends with More Sales

Deya Bautista — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:03:49 +0000

December marks the 7th consecutive monthly increase in existing-home sales. Compared to sales from December 2010, in 2011 there were 7% more sales according to the Greater Montréal Real Estate Board (GMREB).

From all the areas that had increases; Vaudreuil-Soulanges (+39%), North Shore (+28%), Laval (+9%) and the South Shore (+2%). Only the Island of Montréal had a decrease in sales (-4%).

Sales increased for all property categories.

Single-family homes 8%
Condominiums 6% and
Plexes 3%.

In terms of prices…

Single-family homes had a decrease in median price (-1%) to reach $260,000.
The median price of condominiums increased by 2% to reach $222,000,
Median price of Plexes went up by 5%, reaching $405,950.

In a nutshell, The Island of Montreal had more listings and less sales in December 2011.

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Posted By: Deya Bautista - Real Estate Broker working as part of the McGill Immobilier team. Specializing in high end condos in downtown and Old Montreal. For buying or selling contact Deya at: 514.917.7889 http://montrealrealestateblog.com/

Q & A: How Many Buying Brokers Can You Hire?

Deya Bautista — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:46:51 +0000

This is the first freshly written post of 2012. I hope you all had a great new years!
Today we’re posting a video shot last month, and here we discuss how many agents/brokers you (the potential buyer) can employ when looking for a property.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqDSNkCPEgs

A reader sent me the question on What’s the limit amount of agents a buyer can work with. My answer is: you can work with as many as you want, as long as you haven’t signed a buyer’s brokerage contract. Something you should know: we brokers share the same database (MLS), so chances are, if you’re working with multiple brokers, you will end up getting emails from all the brokers employed containing the same listings. [if you're giving all brokers the same search criteria]

The idea is to get fast results, right? Having to go through so many people to get the same results seems counterproductive. My suggestion: meet a few agents first, but work with the one (or two) that you like the most, the ones that gives you the best service/results. Keep in mind, however, that once you decide to make an offer in a place, you will have to commit to working with one broker, for that transaction.

Transparency is also encouraged. If you are already working with a broker, when approaching a new one, please be clear and let them know where you stand.

Further questions and comments? Feel free to send me an email.

More videos are now available at the Montreal Real Estate Blog

The Comparative Market Analysis: CMA

Deya Bautista — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:30:41 +0000

A comparative market analysis (CMA) is an evaluation tool used by real estate agent’s, based on local listing and sales data, to determine the probable sale price of a property in the current market.

Who can use this information?

Both sellers and buyers alike.
Home sellers can use a CMA to help determine a list price.
Buyers can use it to help them determine the offer price on a property they want to buy.

How accurate is this analysis?

Depending on the quality of the data; the listings used for comparison should ideally be located in the neighborhood, and they should be as similar as possible to the subject property.

Comparative elements:

Property Type (condo, two storey houses, split level,etc);
Numbers of rooms;
Size of the living area and/or building size;
Year built;
Garage or parking spaces;
Basement: finished, semi-finished or unfinished;
Other similar features such as: fireplaces, inground pool, air conditioning, etc.

To determine the probable sale price of a property, the CMA will use the recent sales from the last 6 months. If the current market is changing rapidly, six months may be too long a time frame, in this case, 3 to 4 month sales records will be used as a reference.

The CMA should also include information about currently available comparable listings, as well as information about properties that did not sell during their listing period. These are called expired listings.

For sellers, active listings would be your competition once your home is on the market. How you price your property relative to the competition is critical to your home-selling success.

Thinking of selling your home? Contact us today for a free home evaluation!

Get more home selling tips: subscribe to the Montreal Real Estate Blog!

2011 almost gone. Happy New Year: 2012!

Deya Bautista — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:28:24 +0000

It may strike you as an odd type of image, given the fact that it is quite white and cold outside. But the truth is, I will be in Barbados for two weeks as of January 1st . Don’t hate me for it.

So this is what the first day of 2012 will look like in a few hours. And I am so counting the minutes.

In review, 2011 was a year of many changes and challenges. And of many blessings as well. I had a great year as a debutant “mom”. Slowed my pace to enjoy the little things that really matters: Family life. Friendship and travel.

Earlier this year I took my (then) four month old little girl back to my homeland, got in touch with old friends from childhood in Venezuela, and here in Montreal, I reconnected with old friends from my college days.

Business wise: I came back this summers after taking a year off, to attend the new challenge of a new born. And now, work is slowing taking a bigger space in my schedule. I’m easing into it, though. No rush. Priorities have changed. The new word here is: Balance. Easier said than done, of course. But we try everyday :)

And so with the new year, I wish you all the most productive, balanced and life-fulfilling year ever. May you work hard and attain your goals. And most importantly: may you be happy while achieving them.

And while we’re on the topic of goals…
What are your top 3 goals for 2012? – leave me our comments below ;)

Warm wishes to all. And happy new year!

Video Blog, Episode Four: BANK Project in Old Montreal

Deya Bautista — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:34:08 +0000

This is something I have been looking forward to shooting since the summer time, when I was first told about the development!
I present to you a video tour of one of the hottest projects in Old Montreal at this moment.

BANK Condo Project offers us 43 units of high-end design, a graceful mix of the historic and the modern.
I had a small interview with Mickael Chaput, Real Estate Broker with McGill Immobilier and he gives us the insights of the projects architecture, features, sizes and prices.

Here is the video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05R7mYeglo8

{Special thanks to Mickael Chaput for giving us the tour and to Patrice Groleaux for the video editing job. Merci!}

If you’re not able to view it from your inbox, here is the permalink.

More information on this project, visit McGill Immobilier website.

How’s the Market? Montreal Sales and Prices November 2011

Deya Bautista — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:40:41 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKp12Mv-oFs

The november numbers are out already!

This time from the Montreal Real Estate Board. We had 3% more sales than in Nov 2010.
All property types had sales increase and prices went up by 4%.

Watch the video to get the details. I’m still working on the transcript!
If you’re not able to watch the video from your email, here is the permalink:

http://montrealrealestateblog.com/market-stats-nov2011/

Review: Tools for Work – Epson WorkForce 845

Deya Bautista — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:30:16 +0000

An Epson rep sent me an email a few weeks back asking me if I would like to have a free printer in exchange of a review. Not a bad deal, I thought, I get to test drive (and keep) one of their latest model and write about it at the same time. Which it kinda takes care of two things at once, since:

My other printer is about 3 years old. – Still good, just a little *on the slow side*, due to old age.
And
I need to create blog content.

So, it seems like a win-win situation

I just took it out of the box and thought it would take me a while to set it all up. Alas it did not. It took me merely 6 minutes to get the whole thing running. Yes, I timed it.

And here are my thoughts about it:

Perfect for my home office as it’s an ALL in One (you know: scanner, copy, fax, etc) AND…this is the best part…is has wifi. No need to attach it to my computer. I sent a test print from my iPad and it worked instantly. Sweet.

Compact minimalist design, no fancy buttons sticking out. Instead they have a very sleek touch screen that gives you every instruction you need to set it up properly.

The scanner is pretty fast. Surprisingly so. And it comes with 3 different settings – from simple to very professional. Lots of options on the last one.

Front paper loading trays. Which you can keep closed and maintain the clean look (no white and messy papers sticking out). Love it.

It says it lets you print directly from your memory card. Just stick the card on the printer slot and voila. Personally, I had to use my computer as a bridge for this one. The LCD screen didn’t display the images I wanted to print from the memory card. So is this feature not working properly? Or was it me? That remains a mystery.

Oh, and before I forget. It has a wicked two sided printing feature. Bonus.

The fax however, I wasn’t able to try it out since I don’t have a fax line at home. I will let you check that out on your own.

The printer is called Workforce 845 by Epson. I like it, I’m definitely replacing my old printer, and I think it’s worth the $200 bucks they’re asking for. Let’s hope the ink is not so expensive, because as you know, that’s where they get you. So, that’s all for now

End of review :)

The MLS upgrades to Realtors.ca: website review