www.jenniferfoley.ca
www.themodernrealtors.com
MOMS IN REAL ESTATE | EPISODE 1 | WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE CANADIAN REAL ESTATE HOUSING MARKET | EAST TO WEST | WEST TO EAST |APRIL 9, 2021
WITH JENNIFER FOLEY, REAL ESTATE BROKER, RE/MAX ROUGE RIVER REALTY LTD BROKERAGE , BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO
AND
FAEINE GRANT - PREC, ABBOTSFORD, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
[inaudible 00:00:00]
Faeine:
Hi.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Hi. It's been so long.
Faeine:
It's been forever. How are you?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Good, good. So how is real estate and having babies?
Faeine:
Oh my gosh. It is crazy. So the first time around was like I had no idea what I was doing. And then, six years later, surprise, at 37 years old, I'm like, "Let's have another one. Why not, right?"
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
That's awesome.
Faeine:
You know what? This time around, it's like I was able to prepare for it so much better than the first time around. So I feel as though my entourage of support is just night and day difference which is great. And Jordan's such a good baby. He's such a good baby.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
That's awesome. Congratulations.
Faeine:
So it's good. It's really good.
Faeine:
I've had to hire a nanny, though, so we have... I swear, my life is chaotic. We've got school. We've got after-school care. I've got Jordan's daycare, and I've got an evening nanny for the first half of the week while Marty is working.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Well, you have to, right, because real estate is ongoing. You have to be on call, and everything else [crosstalk 00:01:11].
Faeine:
Totally. Exactly, exactly. And it's like, it's cute when you can take your baby to a showing every once in a while, but [crosstalk 00:01:21].
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
How does that work for you now? How does that work... so let's back it up a little bit. I work in Ontario, and I'm working just outside Toronto, about 30 minutes east of Toronto in an area called Durham region which is Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Bowmanville, Newcastle, those areas.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So, Faeine, where is it you're from?
Faeine:
Right. So I'm based out of Abbotsford which is about 45 minutes east of the city of Vancouver in British Columbia. And I cover, I want to say, Fraser Valley being deep valley. So I cover Abbotsford all the way up to Chilliwack and then the surrounding sort of areas in between. Used to be in Vancouver, but now I primarily focus on Abbotsford and Chilliwack and sort of the Fraser Valley region. Vancouver's too busy for me now.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So [crosstalk 00:02:16].
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Right? And [inaudible 00:02:16] then we become community resources because we're right there in the hub of things, and we know what's going on and all that other good stuff, right?
Faeine:
Exactly. Exactly. And I really like the small community feel. I was actually born and raised in Vancouver. And so now having spent 10 years in the Valley, I couldn't be happier. It just... it has a completely different way of... just a completely different feel in life. And it's nice to be... I think the biggest thing is that we're surrounded by mountains in nature here, so that's what a lot of people from other provinces, especially Alberta, they come to BC, and they're like, "Oh my gosh. It's so green. It's so... the mountains everywhere." And it's amazing what you take for granted, right?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So how long have you been living in the Fraser Valley area?
Faeine:
Going on 10 years.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
[crosstalk 00:03:07]. That's awesome. That's awesome. [crosstalk 00:03:11].
Faeine:
Born and raised in a big city, and then slowly over the years, I've kind of come farther and farther east.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So you and I, we were talking... well, I don't know. How long ago was it we started our video series and then kind of got busy, and work got busy, and we got sidetracked from it.
Faeine:
Gosh. I think what happened was the 2018 market, that the last time we kind of... we got... everybody got slammed with the 2018 market, and we were like, "What are we doing?" And it just became... life got so busy, and [crosstalk 00:03:43].
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
[crosstalk 00:03:43]. So what's happening in Abbotsford? What are you seeing?
Faeine:
The market? The market is very, very busy, overall. Obviously, it depends on exactly what type of property you're looking for, but the average home, I would say, is your basic... your single-family detached and then your townhouse. Those are the primary properties that are selling off the shelf and going into [crosstalk 00:04:17].
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
And hat's the same here. That's the same here. Single-family, two-story, and townhouses seem to be what is the big draw right now. And correct me if I'm wrong, but you're probably seeing a lot of people migrating out of Vancouver into the outlying areas because that's what we're seeing here because we're kind of a suburb outside of Toronto, then they're migrating, and they're coming out of the bigger cities, right? Is that what's your finding?
Faeine:
100%. 100%. That's exactly... so in and around Metro Vancouver, people are all of a sudden realizing that, "Hey, I can work from home now. I can have the backyard and sell my $2 million property in Vancouver and then [crosstalk 00:05:02]," right?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
And get a bigger house and a bigger property.
Faeine:
So-
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
[crosstalk 00:05:06] commute intermittently when they need to.
Faeine:
Exactly. Exactly. That's exactly right. And we've seen prices increase dramatically because of this over the last... I want to say, even since February and March, the last 30 to 60 days, prices have absolutely skyrocketed and so many people. It's great for people that are coming from outside of town because they're probably selling their property that is more expensive and then living the good life coming out here.
Faeine:
Yet, the people that are sort of just getting into the market or they're wanting to upgrade from, say, their townhouse to a condo, all local, they're the ones that I find are having the hardest time with this type of a market.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
And that typically seems to be across the board. I think in the province of Ontario, and I think across Canada, right, I think as a seller, sellers are happy to see people coming in and paying good money for their properties, but for local people that want to stay local and they start seeing the changes in the price, prices being elevated, then it makes them very hard to make that move.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So you keep seeing this domino effect where people are moving further and further east, or they're moving further and further west or north or south or wherever from the major city, and they're willing to commute because... well, and in some cases they have to, right, just to get into home ownership, right?
Faeine:
Right. I agree. 100%. And so in your area, if people are coming... if they're in your area to begin with, what areas are they going to? Do they have... how far are they going? Does it... are there still communities that are close enough around you? Do you have suburbs in where you're primarily located?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Not really because the region of Durham is made up of a number of towns and cities and it's the municipality, right? So what I'm finding is the majority of people are moving east, right, because if they move west, they were going back into Toronto. So the locals are moving east and basically going as far as an hour east.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So typically... and I'm finding too, there's a lot of retired people and people downsizing, and they're basically cashing out and looking for lifestyle in smaller communities where they can sell their house, say, for 800, try to buy a house for 400, which almost that 400 mark is getting near impossible, even in some of these outlying "cheaper areas" outside of our own area.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So things are changing. I think it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next six months here, especially with pricing and... because I'm starting to look at our own municipality where you can live 15 minutes west, and it's not all that much cheaper, right, because people have been paying more for prices further east. Anyhow, it'll be interesting to see what happens here.
Faeine:
I agree.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So I mean, I think there's some remnants of 2017 here. And if you recall, 2017 was that timeframe when it seemed like house prices were going up about 10,000 a day. I mean, that's not exact, but that was kind of what it felt like. And when you look at how fast prices went up in the last... well, what month are we now? April. So let's say the last six months even, right, and even the six months before that, prices were still going up. But the last six months, it seems to have really, really gone up fast. I mean, I don't have the exact percentages.
Faeine:
And especially after the pandemic, which, this time last year, we were all wondering what was going to happen. Nobody knew. Nobody had any clue as to what was going on, and the market literally stopped. I don't know if that was the same there, but it just completely stopped here. And nobody really knew what was going on. Prices dropped here for quite a bit.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
And they pulled back quite a bit, so [crosstalk 00:09:42].
Faeine:
And then as soon as things started to open up again, I know you guys are still very much under lockdown, but things have opened up.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
I just went into that province-wide lockdown on what was it? Friday? I don't even know. [crosstalk 00:09:57]. It was so weird. I went into Costco today because Costco now, they can't sell anything outside of groceries or just essential things or whatever it is. So all the clothing is blocked off by stacks of food and all this kind of stuff. You can't [crosstalk 00:10:17] any of the aisles. You can't buy... if you need a blender or you need any of that stuff, you can't get any of that stuff there which was kind of weird, but...
Faeine:
I bet.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
... I'm interested to go into Walmart and see what they've done too because they [inaudible 00:10:34] block off their toy aisle, all that kind of stuff, right?
Faeine:
Wow, really? My goodness. That's... I mean, I guess they do what they have to do, but I mean, that's a whole other topic of conversation in and of itself.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So we're finding that. I mean, there's some changes that the government is looking at doing which is sort of a little bit of a topic of conversation that I've had with a few people recently, where they're looking at changing the eligibility criteria for anybody that's on an uninsured mortgage. So the stress test, right? It's going to make it a little harder to... they're trying to cool off the market a little bit, so it'd be interesting to see.
Faeine:
Well, and I was talking with my business coach the other day, and we were trying to sort of replay the 2017, 2018 market and try and replay what events triggered the cool-down.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
[crosstalk 00:11:37].
Faeine:
And it was the stress test.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Government?
Faeine:
Government implemented the stress test as well as the foreign-buyers tax. I think the foreign-buyers tax was the first thing that came about, and-
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Was the stress test then as well, in 2017?
Faeine:
... what's that?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Did they did implement the stress test in 2017 as well?
Faeine:
Either 2017 or 2018. I can't remember which, but it was around that time, though.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Well, we'll see, right, so...
Faeine:
It'll be really interesting to see what happens.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Save your pennies for [crosstalk 00:12:12].
Faeine:
Exactly.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
I think it's about time for people that have some money to invest.
Faeine:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And so who are you finding? What are the challenges that a lot of your clients are facing? If they look at the sale or the value of their home and they say, "Oh my gosh. Look at the value of our home. We want to sell and move and [inaudible 00:12:39]." What challenges comes with that? So say you get that call, and you go over to your client's home, explain, "Yes, your home has gone up in value." And what's the next piece of advice that you give them from there?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
I thought you were going to say what would be their next question? A lot of times, they are wondering how they want to buy first before they sell, right? They want to know where they're going, so that's one of the biggest challenges.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So my response to that is that that's not going to work, really, in this marketplace unless you're in a position to buy two properties, and especially, right now with the market changing, I don't think it's solid real estate advice to give to somebody that, "Hey, just put an offer in on this property, and we'll get your house sold" when you don't know, right? The market's changing and can always change, and when it starts to get a little bit fragile, the way that... I should... maybe fragile is not a good word, but when you start to see glimpses of change in the market, as a realtor, it's a little bit... I don't want to be saying to them, "Do this," right?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So that is just... that would be the conversation. If you were a seller, that's what I'd be saying to you that I think that you basically have to make a decision about whether or not you want to sell and make this move, and whatever you decide, I'm okay with that. That's your decision, right? But, you have to realize that we're reverting back to the way things always were where people sold first and then bought, right?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
And the advantages is that you know how much money you've got to work with. You have a closing date to work towards. If you're worried about your house closing too fast, then we'll just negotiate the terms with that buyer and say, "Hey, you know what? Let's see if we can negotiate a longer close date. Let's try and negotiate something with the buyer that says that if we have a certain date on our agreement of purchase and sale that maybe we can extend that out, right, and have that already negotiated ahead of time that we have a window of time that we can change that fixed date to a different date." Does that make sense?
Faeine:
Absolutely. And that's key. And that's the same thing with me as well. I think that a lot of people are... they're seeing what they see on the media, and they think that the market is solid, solid, solid, and fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, and yes, you're going to for sure, for sure sell. And it's like, it's not that easy, though.
Faeine:
I don't know about you, but the few weeks before Easter, we noticed a very big change and rather than people getting 15 offers, maybe they'd be getting four or five? So [crosstalk 00:15:33].
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
And that's it. We're seeing that here too. [crosstalk 00:15:36].
Faeine:
Exactly. And I know that there was talk, and I forget where I saw this information, but a talk about perhaps interest rates rising up again. Did you hear that by chance? Have you heard talk of that?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Yup. And I think, too, I think the buyers are a bit fatigued. I think there's a lot of buyer fatigue out there, and the buyers just are like, "Well, had enough. Tired of seeing a house listed at 500, went into 650,000."
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Not just the buyers. I think the realtors too.
Faeine:
Exactly.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
I think the realtors... let's not just say the buyers. Let's be real. The realtors don't like when things happen like this either when you're on the buying side. It's great when you're on the selling side, and so I think there's a lot of fatigue going on there with... and they're just stepping back.
Faeine:
For sure. For sure. Well, it's not sustainable. If it just keeps rising and rising and rising, I mean, something's got to change. It can't keep going, right? Something is going to have to change in order to be able to return the cycle and sort of reset it back.
Faeine:
And I mean, we see these every five or six years of the business cycle, but I was actually surprised to see this busy of a market so soon after the 2017, 2018 market. I thought that we would be another two years out from seeing the surge like we're seeing right now. I've actually thought we would be seeing a bit of a... well, and I thought because of all of the real estate predictions, I was with the understanding that all of the predictions [inaudible 00:17:26] that 2021 would be a recession.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
I know, right, and COVID. But, you know what? Our mentor and head coach, Tom Ferry, says to us that COVID, like interest rates, would trump COVID, and that was in an interview that he did with, I can't think of her name, but anyhow, somebody that studies that stuff and basically, that's what they had said. And that was March of 2020 that they had this interview, and it was like, "I don't know," right? Sure enough, low interest rates. That's what fueled the market here, and people's buying power got really crazy.
Faeine:
Exactly. Exactly. I'll be happy to see slightly more of a balanced market. And mostly because, I mean, being in the industry, our business is based on relationships with buyers, and I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we genuinely care about our clients and their experience with real estate and experience with working with us and making that transition.
Faeine:
And it gets really [inaudible 00:18:50]. It gets very heavy when you keep writing offers with buyers, and they keep getting their hearts broken. I don't know about you. That affects me too, right?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
[crosstalk 00:19:01].
Faeine:
I can't wait until I start to get happy buyers again.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
[crosstalk 00:19:05] because you know what? Buying a home is very emotional, right? So we're not... our jobs are not to just help people, show them properties, and do the offer negotiations. I mean, we're there as their mentors and their advisors and the shoulder for them to lean into and cry on. Not during COVID, though, but... I'm just kidding, but-
Faeine:
Zoom cries. Zoom cries.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
... we're all of those things to them, right? We're the ones that listen to... we're like hairdressers. We hear everything that's going on. Well, not everything, but a lot of things, right, that's going on in their lives.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So no, it becomes very tiresome. That's why I said to you, I think the realtors get fatigued too, right, because it takes a lot of time, effort. You're trying to do the best for your client. You're advocating for them when you submit these offers. And it's hard because we're not getting face to face with sellers. I don't know about you, but I like to present my offers for my clients, and during these times, especially right now with our province on lockdown. Are you guys on lockdown? No.
Faeine:
There are... we're not in a complete lockdown, no. Our restrictions have, overall, been quite a bit more lenient than your side of the country, but they did just recently implement some new restrictions.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Ontario.
Faeine:
I believe this was last week, about a week ago. So we are on a very small period of time where everything is locking down. It's hard to know what's going to happen over the next little bit here, but from what I see in the media, our numbers are increasing. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see some other changes coming up pretty soon here.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Well then, we'll have lots of time for video.
Faeine:
Exactly. Exactly, right?
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
So, all you people that may be watching this, hit that Subscribe button, hit the Like button, give us some love. Come on, show us some love. Hit the Like button. Right?
Faeine:
And we'll link all of our social medias and YouTube and everything as well too.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
That's it. So we'll see you again. When are we going to do this again?
Faeine:
This time next week.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
All right. Well, there we go.
Faeine:
Weekly updates with Jen and Faeine.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
All right. Well, we were doing Wednesdays, What's Happening Wednesdays.
Faeine:
Wednesdays just don't really... Wednesdays don't work.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
Too busy.
Faeine:
Horrible jokes. I know, and I laugh at my own jokes. It's great.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
All right. Well, all right, so everybody, so tune in next Friday at 1:00, and we'll be looking forward to [crosstalk 00:22:01].
Faeine:
10:00 AM Eastern. Sorry, 10:00 AM Pacific time. 10:00 AM BC time.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
That's right. And 1:00 PM Eastern time. And if you guys have any questions or anything burning in your brains, then put them in the comments below, and we will try to answer them.
Jennifer Foley Realtor:
All right. Thanks, guys.
Faeine:
Awesome. Thanks, everyone. Bye.
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