109
Spring 2014
Escarpment Magazine
There is something that virtually everyCanadianknows about virtually
every other Canadian.
In truth, we love to complain about it. Ok...we have long coldwinters.
Theworld knows this and I suspect wewouldbe forgiven for complainingabout it. But then spring comes
andwecomplainabout the rain. Then thesummercomesandwecomplainabout theheat. I think that talking
about theweathermay rival hockeyasour national pastime.
As Iwrite this, winter is finally transitioning into spring, and it was agreat winter. However, even I, a skier
andgreat loverof theseason,wassick todeathofwinter,andwas thankful springhadarrived. The reasons
aremany,but chiefamong them is that IamaREALTOR
®
and ifyouwereaREALTOR
®
inSouthernGeorgian
Bay thiswinter, itwas tough.
Themarket, asyouwill read furtheron,wasoff abit in the first quarter,
andmost REALTORS
®
you speak toblame the sometimesharshwinter
conditions for thequietermarket. For example, our brokeragehad to
re-task admin on2winter Saturdays as wewere sobusy cancelling
showings that hadbeen bookedover the course of aweek. People
simplycouldnotgetouton the roads. It ishard tosellahome if theBuy-
ers can’t see it.
Here is thegoodnews. ThesameREALTOR
®
thatpoints to theweather
for the slower first-quarter, is probably bullish on prospects for the
spring. Anecdotally, it seems tomeas Iwrite thispiece, thingsarepick-
ingup...a lot.
They say that Spring is a season of change, and the saying couldbe
taken from thegeneral to the specific —we could say that Spring is a
season for change in real estate. Springcleaning is something that vir-
tuallyeveryonedoes. De-clutteringhere,planting there.Anewcoatof
paint, cleaning thewindows. Wealldo it,but it isnothingmorenor less
thanpeoplemakinganeffort to
improve their real estate. Not
everyone isconsciously thinking
of adding value to real estate
when we improve it. We do
these things for our own rea-
sons. A new shed might be
erected because you are tired
of trippingover the lawnmower
every time you go to the
garage. A coat of paint on the
porch might hide the horrible
colour your husband chose 3
yearsagowhileyouwereona
girl’s trip. Regardless of intent,
theact of improving real estate
usuallyaddsvalue insomeway,
shapeor form.
Thepeoplewhoareconsciously looking toaddvalueare theproperty
ownerswhoare looking tocapitalizeonausually robust springmarket.
Their springcleaningeffortsareundertaken toposition their realestate
in thebestpossible light for thebevyofBuyers thatarestarting tocome
outof theirwinterhibernation rightabout now. Ifyou lookat thedollar
sales chart attached to this article, youwill note the steep climb that
takesplaceasweheadoutofwinter intospring,and thesharpdecline
that is traditional aswehead intowinter from fall.
Thereareusually littleblipsalong theway, suchasduring summer va-
cation timewhenpeoplearemore interested inbeingnear the lakeor
on their bikeor thegolf course to thinkabout buying. Or, asmore re-
centlyexperienced,whenBuyerscouldnotbrave thewinter roadcon-
ditions toget out to lookat real estate.
It is theseblips that causeanomalies in the tempoof our market. The
important thing tonotehere is tempo. Short-termweatherpatternsmay
havean immediatepositiveor negativeeffect on thenumbers, but the
fundamentalsare still there.
Was thewintermarket inSouthernGeorgianBay this year somewhat
hamperedbyweather? We think so. Itmightbe thatpeoplecouldnot
get out to lookat interestingproperties, ormaybe theywere toobusy
skiing to thinkabout it. Long-termhowever isadifferent story. IfaBuyer
is sittingon the fenceaboutbuyinga ski chalet,mighta fantasticwinter
push them off the fence and advance their plans to purchase? Ab-
solutely. We see it all the time.
We are the premiere4-season
playground inOntario. People
love it up here, andagreat ski
season,agreat ridingseason,a
greatgolf season,a lovely sum-
mer andapicturesque fall are
allmajor contributing factors to
thegrowthof thearea,andmo-
tivationofmanyBuyers. Spring
is really thestartof thenewyear
for real estate inour area, and
theBuyerswhodidn’t get out in
thewinter, should emergewith
the flowers.
MLS
®
dollar sales in January
were down28%, similarly unit
salesactivityalsodropped27% from theprioryear. Themonthof Feb-
ruary posted an 11% increase inMLS
®
dollar sales volume for the
montheven thoughunit sales for themonthdeclined14%. February’s
sales volumewas bolsteredby increased sales activity inmost price
ranges above$500,000 thus offsetting the reducednumber of prop-
erties sold.
*
escarpment
®
MARKET
watch
NUMBERS...
by
Desmond vonTeichman
Broker of Record,
Owner Royal Le Page
LocationsNorth Realty, Brokerage
REAL ESTATE
