Generate more income in 7 steps

Telelisting Staff
other

Cold calling is an essential part of the sales process. Real estate cold calling is more than picking up the phone and dialing a random number. Here are the 7 steps to cold calling that will generate more profits for you:

1. Set goals : A good goal might be to make calls for an hour each day and meet a new prospect in person each week.

 

2. Be professional: People always respond better to enthusiasm and empathy. The more time you spend listening to your prospects, the better you will be able to address their issues.

 

3. Provide a service: Cold calling is about building your business, but remember that you are providing a service through your experience, training and knowledge.

 

4. Prepare yourself: Get comfortable, practice your phone scripts with a friend or colleague.

 

5. Start calling: Make sure you are focused and in a quiet place. It is also important to take notes of your calls and responses.

 

6. Get past the “no’s”: If you are cold calling, you will hear a lot of “no’s”. If you are afraid of that word, you won’t get very far. Remember, you will achieve success one yes at a time!

 

7. Follow-up: Be prepared to take the next step with prospects to continue the conversation.

 

Remember, cold calling is essential to growing your success!

 

© 2022 Telelisting.net, All rights reserved

 

 

 

 

How is activity in the Greater Vancouver region shaping up?

Ephraim Vecina
other

Housing industry association reveals the latest in the market

Home sales in Greater Vancouver returned to more “historically typical” levels in April, according to the region’s housing industry association.

The latest data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver showed that the market saw a total of 3,232 sales last month.

However, while this was 1.5% above the 10-year sales average for the month, this was also a marked decline from the 4,344 transactions in March and the 4,908 sales in April 2021, the REBGV said.

The region had 6,107 new listings – including detached, attached, and apartment properties – last month, down by 8.5% monthly and down by 23.1% annually.

Read more: Vancouver approves hike to empty homes tax

Together, these trends represent a much-needed respite for would-be home buyers, who would now have more time to make decisions, secure financing, and conduct home inspections, said REBGV chair Daniel John.

 The composite benchmark price for all residential properties across the Metro Vancouver market reached nearly $1.375 million, having increased by 1% from March and by 18.9% from April 2021, the REBGV said.

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Toronto home sales plummet 27% in April

Fergal McAlinden
other

The city’s home price index also posted its first monthly decline since 2020

Sales in Toronto’s housing market dropped 27% in April compared with the previous month and posted a 41% year-over-year decline over the same time last year, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).

April sales totalled 8,008 compared with 10,939 in March and 13,613 in April 2021, TRREB said, with the home price index dropping by 1.6% over March – the first time it’s fallen since October 2020.

That index, which adjusts for pricing volatility, came in at just over $1.35 million in April, while the average home price for Greater Toronto was $1.2 million, a decline from the previous month’s figure of $1.3 million (although still around 15% higher than April last year).

In a statement, the board indicated that recent interest rate increases had likely had a strong cooling effect on the market.

“It certainly appears that the Bank of Canada is achieving its goal of slowing consumer spending as it fights high inflation,” TRREB president Kevin Crigger said. “Negotiated mortgage rates rose sharply over the past four weeks, prompting some buyers to delay their purchase.”

The so-called 905 – an urban area surrounding Toronto – accounted for the most significant decline, TRREB said, as sales of detached homes in that area plummeted around 47% compared with the previous year with townhouse sales down 44%.

Competition will probably remain strong enough between buyers to impel further price growth compared with last year, TRREB’s chief market analyst Jason Mercer said, although “the annual pace of growth will moderate in the coming months.”

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Toronto home sales plunge and prices slide as rising borrowing rates bite

Stephanie Hughes
The Vancouver Sun

Average home price slips to $1.254 million

Toronto home prices slid three per cent in April from the month before.

Toronto home prices slid three per cent on a month-over-month basis and sales slowed significantly in April as rising interest rates started to weigh more heavily on the housing market.

While the average home price of $1.254 million was still up 15 per cent from last year, sales were off 41 per cent from last April and down 27 per cent from the month prior, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Wednesday.

“Based on the trends observed in the April housing market, it certainly appears that the Bank of Canada is achieving its goal of slowing consumer spending as it fights high inflation,” said TRREB president Kevin Crigger in a press release. “Moving forward, it will be interesting to see the balance the Bank of Canada strikes between combatting inflation versus stunting economic growth and related government revenues as we continue to recover from and pay for pandemic-related programs.”

In its fight against the highest inflation rate in decades, the Bank of Canada has so far raised its key rate 75 basis points to one per cent. These rate increases have started to ripple throughout the mortgage market, raising the cost of borrowing.

However, the tight supply of homes is still expected to put some upward pressure on prices compared to last year.

“Despite slower sales, market conditions remained tight enough to support higher selling prices compared to last year,” said TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer in a release. “However, in line with TRREB’s forecast, there is evidence of buyers responding to increased choice in the marketplace, with the average and benchmark prices dipping month-over-month.”

Mercer added that he anticipates there should be enough buyer competition to keep price growth strong compared to 2021, though the pace of growth will start to moderate over the next few months.

The supply issue is one that Canada’s leading housing authority is looking at. In the first in a series of reports on the topic, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation this week noted that supply was not keeping up with population growth in Canada’s largest cities, particularly in places like Toronto.

The combination of low supply and steady demand from immigration may be one reason not everyone is seeing a slowdown.

Cailey Heaps, president and chief executive officer at Toronto-based Heaps Estrin Real Estate Team told the Financial Post her team is not seeing as great a shift in the market as is suggested in TRREB’s latest findings.

“This is really incongruent with our experience right now,” Heaps said. “We’re not seeing a slowdown to the extent that … this release would have you think.”

Heaps pointed to regional data from Toronto-based firm Realosophy showing the Toronto area seeing a 14 per cent decline in sales from March to April. She added the figures are being skewed by the surrounding 905 region, though she is still seeing strength in that area too.

“The spring market does feel like it has life still,” Heaps said. “I think it’s being fuelled by lack of inventory and obviously immigration numbers, and the uniqueness of the product that Toronto buyers are looking for keeps them in the marketplace.”

 

© 2022 Vancouver Sun, 

Optical store’s struggles bring Vancouver small-business challenges into focus

Glen Korstom
Western Investor

Vandalism, red tape, inflation, online competition among hurdles facing local entrepreneurs

Vandals have broken windows at Azra Kamrudin and Anar Mawji’s Abasa Optical store four times since early 2020.

That is more than in any comparable time in the 32 years since the sisters founded their eyewear boutique. 

One incident caused about $10,000 worth of damage, as thieves broke into the store and stole merchandise while breaking eyewear frames. 

The sisters paid a $1,500 deductible and claimed that damage on their insurance. They financed the other more minor incidents out of their own pocket because the insurance company stopped covering them, Kamrudin told BIV.

“We take our frames down from the showcase every night before we close up,” she said. “We haven’t had a break-in since we started doing that.”

The women also installed movable metal caging that they wrap around display cases.

Lawlessness on the streets is only one of many challenges that the women face. Homeless people sometimes camp outside the store or next to their door, which deters potential customers.

The women sometimes ask their building’s manager to urge the street dwellers to move along. 

“Sometimes we have asked them ourselves, but we stopped doing that because we’ve had a couple of aggressive people,” she said. 

Sometimes Abasa Optical staff have to wash away urine from the store’s exterior.

Suppliers have raised prices for designer eyewear frames and for the lenses that Abasa Optical staff then custom-cut on site. 

“Our business is quite competitive, and the prices have gone up, but we dare not raise ours,” Kamrudin said. “You raise prices a few dollars and you could lose that customer.”

There have been some glitches getting supplies because of supply-chain outages, she added.

The women do not sell their eyewear online, and instead aim to be known as a boutique that has some frame brands that are not widely available, such as Theo and Face a Face.

One challenge in not selling eyewear online is that the women have to play by a different set of rules, which can put them at a disadvantage, Kamrudin said. 

Online competitors allow customers to plug in whatever prescription details they want. Online sites also offer online eye exams, and online ways for customers to determine the distance between their pupils.

“If somebody comes into the store without a prescription, and says verbally, ‘I need a minus 250, minus 250’ – exactly the same as what they would do online – I couldn’t sell them the contacts or glasses,” she said.

“Legally, I can’t. I have to have the person produce a prescription and then I must take all the measurements of the customer’s cornea. I have all these rules that I must abide by, according to the College of Opticians of British Columbia.”

She said the situation has “hamstrung” the business and is comparable to someone being able to self-authorize controlled painkillers if they buy them online, but needing a prescription if they want to get them from a pharmacy. 

“A contact lens is a medical device,” she said.  •

[email protected]

twitter.com/GlenKorstrom  

 

© 2022 Western Investor

Great News for Buyers – Home Prices are Dropping in the GTA: TRREB

Patti Cosgarea
other

Following the Bank of Canada’s interest rate increase, we are finally seeing the red hot Toronto market begin to cool down, making way for buyers who have been wary of entering the competitive market.  Some cities are leading the way in terms of becoming more affordable and opening up opportunities for those sitting on the fence. Below are the four most affordable cities in the GTA based on average composite home price index (HPI).  

• Read: Reality Check: Interest Rates Are Rising, Securing a Mortgage Rate Now is Best for Buyers 

Home Prices are Becoming more Affordable Across Toronto and the GTA 

The April 2022 numbers from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) show that the Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark was down in comparison to the March level, with the average selling price being $1,254,436 in April, compared to $1,300,082 in March. This is great news for buyers, especially those that have locked in a pre-approved mortgage rate. 

• Read: 7 Houses Under $900,000 For Sale in Mississauga

The majority of homes sold were townhouses and detached, with more than 1000 townhouse sales and over 2700 detached home sales in the GTA. The average price was $997,416 and $1,526,791 respectively, a year-over-year price increase of 20% and 16.8%. Month-over-month, the average price of townhouses fell by 7.6% in April, and detached homes by 6.5%. In the City of Toronto, the majority of sales were condo apartments, with an average sale price of $820,835.

“It is anticipated that there will be enough competition between buyers to support continued price growth relative to 2021, but the annual pace of growth will moderate in the coming months,” said TRREB Chief Market Analyst, Jason Mercer. This signals a more balanced market and the time for motivated buyers to make their move.  

The Four Most Affordable Cities in the GTA Right Now

Here are the four cities with the most affordable average price in the GTA as of April 2022. 

Brock

The leader on our list of most affordable cities in the GTA is Brock. The average price was $857,224 in April, meaning that Brock homes can be scooped up for $200,000 less than the GTA average. There were 13 home sales and 51 new listings. This led to the sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR), the measure of available inventory and new listings entering the market, of 69.2%.

Essa

Second on our list is Essa. The average price was $918,126 in April, which much to the delight of buyers is $170,000 less than the average in the GTA. There were a total of 39 sales and 96 new listings, for a SNLR of 68%. 

Oshawa

The average price in Oshawa was $936,561. It was a busy month for real  estate in the city, with the average home price coming in $150,000 below the GTA average, there were 296 sales and 636 new listings, for a SNLR of 75.5%. 

Orangeville

Last on our list is Orangeville. Coming in $150,000 below the GTA average, Orangeville’s average price in April was $938,711. There were 64 sales in April and 118 new listings, for a SNLR of 76.6%. 

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Strata industrial planned as Port Coquitlam site sells for $10.65 million

Diane Strandberg
Western Investor

A five-acre property in the Dominion Triangle area of Port Coquitlam will be developed with small-bay warehouse units.

 At more than $2 million per acre, this Port Coquitlam property (590 Dominion Ave.) is slated for light industrial.Lee and Associates

More warehouses and more jobs could be coming soon to Port Coquitlam, after a developer snapped up one of the last big parcels of land in the Dominion Triangle.

The property, located at 590 Dominion Ave., was sold for $10.65 million to a private company, according to commercial real estate broker, Lee and Associates, and the development will be a small-bay industrial strata project.

Orion Construction will build the development.

The Dominion Triangle is becoming a growing hub for Greater Vancouver foodies looking for a new place to go. Commissary kitchens, such as Gong You Kitchen, coffee shops, such as the massive coffee roastery and café C Market, and Earthling Café, which sells French pastries, as well as craft beer businesses, such as Boardwalk Brewing, have located there in recent months

Close to the Traboulay PoCo Trail, the Dominion Triangle area has also become a destination for cyclists, who drop by some of the new businesses to check out the latest craft beer.

Other major businesses in the area include Walmart, Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Shoppers Drug Mart, Mark’s Work Warehouse, Starbucks, CIBC, RBC, Costco and McDonald’s.

Successful projects nearby include Rivers Edge Business Park (Conwest), Riverwood Business Park (Circadian), the Fremont Indigo (Mosaic) neighbourhood, and Fremont Village (Onni), a mix of housing and retail.

Vancouver commercial real estate firm Lee and Associates brokered the deal for $10.65 million, slightly under the $11.25 million asking price, according to Sebastian Espinosa, industrial real estate specialist with the Vancouver company.

The deal, which closed in February, shows the value of the land in Port Coquitlam’s newest industrial area.

“The property sold for near its asking price however it is a challenging property due to the (BC) Hydro right of way, therefore some consideration of this was reflected in the sale price,” Espinosa explained in an email to the Tri-City News.

Still, the five-acre property bordered by Seaborne, Fremont and Dominion avenues sold for over $2 million per acre.

Espinosa, who is a partner and vice-president of industrial, said land suitable for industrial development is in high demand and scarce, due to land availability zoning, agricultural land regulation, and other constraints.

“We have a major shortage of industrial space in the Metro-Vancouver market with vacancy rates at all-time lows, sitting at 0.80%. In the Tri-Cities it gets even tighter with vacancy rates at approximately 0.5%,” Espinosa stated.

“It makes it difficult to get supply brought to the market, therefore increasing costs to tenants/users alike, reflected in rising industrial rents, which ultimately gets passed down to the consumer as increased prices or inflation.”

The Dominion Triangle is located in the northeastern quadrant of Port Coquitlam, north of Lougheed Highway, south of Dominion Avenue, and west of the Pitt River.

 

© 2022 Western Investor

Saskatchewan minimum wage set to soar this fall

Western Investor Staff
Western Investor

Saskatchewan’s minimum wage will rise 10 per cent to $13 per hour on Oct. 1.

 Saskatchewan’s Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan announced a hike to the province’s minimum wage, effective Oct. 1.Photo by Larissa Kurz/SASKTODAY.ca

Saskatchewan minimum wage-earners are getting a raise.

The provincial government announced May 3 that the province’s minimum wage will increase from $11.81 per hour to $13 per hour on Oct. 1. The hike, an increase of 10.1 percent, will be followed by increases to $14 per hour on Oct. 1, 2023 and to $15 per hour on Oct. 1, 2024.

“World events continue to put upward pressure on the cost of living in Saskatchewan and across Canada,” Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan said in a media release Tuesday. “Our government is committed to ensuring life is affordable for our low-income residents by increasing the minimum wage over the next three years. This commitment to affordability will support Saskatchewan workers, and ensure Saskatchewan is the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”

Global forces have conspired to push Canada’s inflation rate in March to a new 31-year high of 6.7 per cent.

According to the Retail Council of Canada, Saskatchewan currently has the lowest minimum wage in the country.

Nunavut leads the way at $16 per hour, followed by Yukon ($15.70), Northwest Territories ($15.20), British Columbia ($15.20), Alberta ($15), Ontario ($15), Quebec ($14.25), Prince Edward Island ($13.70), Nova Scotia ($13.35), Newfoundland and Labrador ($13.20), New Brunswick ($12.75), Manitoba ($11.95) and Saskatchewan ($11.81).

B.C.’s minimum wage is set to rise to $15.65 an hour on June 1, part of a new system that indexes the hourly minimum to inflation.

However, if nothing else changes between now and Oct. 1, Saskatchewan will still have the third-lowest minimum wage among the provinces and territories after its increase.

According to Statistics Canada, approximately 3 per cent of Saskatchewan workers received minimum wage in 2018, the latest year for which statistics are available.

The provincial government’s media release said the planned increases over the next three years “reflect a market adjustment, rather than using the province’s traditional indexation formula.”

That formula gives equal weight to changes to the Consumer Price Index and the average hourly wage for Saskatchewan.

According to Statistics Canada, the average hourly wage for employees paid by the hour in Saskatchewan last year, excluding overtime was $27.01. This was the median for all provinces and territories.

The province says the planned increases will align workers’ pay with changing market forces.

“As we continue to grow Saskatchewan, we want to attract quality investments and jobs so that all citizens can benefit,” Morgan said. “Making this change to the minimum wage is a step in that direction.”

 

© 2022 Western Investor

Metro Vancouver home sales plunge 34 per cent from last year

Western Investor Staff
Western Investor

 April sales also down 25.6 per cent from March as month-over-month prices increases stall at a lofty high

House on East 40 Street, Vancouver, listed May 3 at $2.19 million, a price close to Metro’s new benchmark detached house price of $2,139,200. | REW.Ca / Royal LePage

The benchmark price of a home in Greater Vancouver in April inched up just 1 per cent from March as sales dropped more than 25 per cent and were down more than a third from a year earlier.

The composite price, at $1,374,500, however, remains the highest of any Metro region in Canada.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that home sales totalled 3,232 in April 2022, a 34.1 per cent decrease from the 4,908 sales in April 2021, and a 25.6 per cent decrease from the 4,344 homes sold in March 2022.

Last month’s sales were 1.5 per cent above the 10-year April sales average.

 “So far this spring, we’ve seen home sales ease down from the record-breaking pace of the last year,” said Daniel John, REBGV chairman.

There were 6,107 detached, attached and apartment properties newly listed for sale across Metro Vancouver in April 2022, down 23.1 per cent compared to April 2021 and an 8.5 per cent decrease compared to March 2022 when 6,673 homes were listed. The total number of homes currently listed for sale on the multiple listing system is 8,796, a 14.1 per cent decrease compared to April 2021 and a 15.3 per cent increase compared to March 2022, when 7,628 properties were available..

“This is not last year’s real estate market,” noted Kevin Skipworth, partner and broker with Dexter Associates Realty, Vancouver, who noted that rising interest rates and government legislation have helped to dampen demand.

For all property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for April 2022 was 36.7 per cent. By property type, the ratio is 25.3 per cent for detached homes, 47.1 per cent for townhomes, and 45 per cent for apartments.

Sales of detached houses saw the biggest decline, plunging 41.9 per cent from April of 2021, though the benchmark house price, at $2,139,200, was up nearly 21 per cent year over year and 1 per cent higher than in March 2022.

Sales of condo apartments reached 1,692 in April 2022, a 26.1 per cent decrease compared to the 2,289 sales in April 2021. The benchmark price of an apartment home is $844,700. This represents a 16 per cent increase from April 2021 and a 1.1 per cent increase compared to March 2022.

Townhome sales in April 2022 totalled 578, a 40 per cent decrease compared to the 964 sales in April 2021. The benchmark price of an attached home is $1,150,500. This represents a 25 per cent increase from April 2021 and a 1.1 per cent increase compared to March 2022.

In past month, British Columbia announced it would bring in a “cooling-off” period to allow homebuyers to walk away from a purchase without penalty within a time frame yet to be set; and the City of Vancouver increased its empty home tax to 5 per cent.  In April, the Bank of Canada increased the overnight lending rate 50 basis points to 1 per cent, which immediately increased mortgage interest rates. Further rate hikes are expected.

“We could be heading to a complacent market,” suggested Skipworth. “A slowdown that awaits the next real estate super cycle.”

 

© 2022 Western Investor

This BC market has seen its first market slowdown in nearly two year…

Ephraim Vecina
other

However, the cooling trend might actually prove beneficial for would-be home buyers
Fraser Valley’s monthly sales activity has fallen below the 10-year average for the first time in nearly two years, according to the region’s housing industry association.
A total of 1,637 home sales transpired in Fraser Valley in April, representing a drop of 36.6% monthly and a decline of 45.7% annually.
“We would typically see a flurry of activity around this time of the year,” said Sandra Benz, president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. “However, that’s not been the case so far. While it’s still too early to say whether this trend will endure, the slowing of sales combined with an increase in active listings is helping to restore a semblance of balance to the market, which is encouraging for home buyers.”
The region saw 3,622 new listings in April, down by 20.9% from March and down by 27.8% from April 2021. Total active inventory stood at 5,387, which was 14.6% higher on a monthly basis.
Read more: Is Canada’s urban exodus on the wane?
As for benchmark prices, single-family properties stood at $1.731 million (up by 33.8% year over year), while townhomes were at $902,500 (up by 38.3%). Apartments saw their benchmark grow by 35.6% annually to reach $649,500 in April.
Baldev Gill, CEO of the FVREB, said that the Bank of Canada’s rate hikes will play a major role in market dynamics over the foreseeable future.
“In fact, we’re already back to rate levels we haven’t seen since 2019. This will put an added burden on homebuyers, particularly on first-timers, who will have to meet more stringent stress test conditions,” Gill said.
“Ultimately, this will likely result in a decrease in demand, which may slow price growth. However, it will do 
little to resolve the underlying issue of low inventory.”

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