The Golfi Real Estate Show

Don't Do Ghost Offers & The Housing Price Forecast For The Year | The Golfi Real Estate Show - Hamilton Edition (April 17)

April 19, 2021 Rob Golfi Season 3 Episode 37
The Golfi Real Estate Show
Don't Do Ghost Offers & The Housing Price Forecast For The Year | The Golfi Real Estate Show - Hamilton Edition (April 17)
Show Notes Transcript

On this week's Hamilton edition of The Golfi Real Estate Show, Rob Golfi and CHML host Rick Zamperin talk about bully offers, the price of lumber, housing prices predicted to continue upward, and a new trend called a ghost offer and why you shouldn't be doing them.

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Good morning Hamilton. This is Rob Golfi with the Golfi Team. Welcome to the golf, the real estate show Hamilton edition with host Rick Zambrano. Yes. Thanks for joining us here on 900. CHML Rob, good day to you. Once again, another, a busy week in Hamilton, Burlington.

Niagara GTA  across Canada, around the world in real estate. It is certainly a busy time in your sector. And we're going to dive into some hot topics this week, including what's happening locally.  Things are still happening, although maybe not at the rapid pace as they were  just a couple of weeks ago.

We'll dive into some numbers that I know our listeners like to hear. We'll talk about bully offers. Andy's now the time to take a bully offer, we'll also get into the price of lumber. If you've noticed if you've been out in a boat  w I know we're under a stay at home order, but people are still getting, you know, supplies as they're doing home Renno is because while they're stuck at home, they got to do something.

If you've checked out the price of lumber lately, sticker shock, extraordinary. We'll also talk about  house price forecasting for Canada for this year.  The prediction is  well, continuing to go up in terms of the price, and also talk about ghost offers and. What you need to know if you're selling your home privately.

If we have some time at the end of the show, we will certainly get into that for the hottest listings in town. And if you want to sell your home for a price that is comfortable for you for a price that you know, the Golfi Team is going to get go online to Rob Golfi.com. That's Rob G O L F i.com. They're all over social media.

Follow the Golfi Team on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And if you're in the market to sell your home, you got to call Hamilton and Burlington's number one Remax team in volume and unit sales. The phone number is (905) 575-7700.  Rob, maybe we'll start with what's happening in the Hamilton Burlington marketplace.

There's a bit of a change happening right now. There is a slight little change happening. So I did a report on the first 14 days of this month. And  it showed that in  in Hamilton, in  the first 14 days of March of this year, 516 homes were sold, and this is Hamilton surrounding areas. And the first two weeks of  April 1st 14 days as 458.

So it's just. Down about 11% in a Mount of  transactions, but we're down 2% month  first two weeks of    April versus two weeks. So first two weeks of March of this year. So  in March  the first two weeks  the average sale price in the Hamilton's running areas was 793,000. And in April, well, which was just this past week  779,000.

So it's a 2% decrease in average sale price from last month to this month. So there is a little bit of a change happening. So, and the same thing happened in Burlington. It's almost identical.  Last month  in March the first two weeks. Burlington. The average sale price is 1,142,268.  This month  in April 1,113,876.

Down 2% average sale. It's just a slight indicator.  We don't know what it is.  We know that  things are changing.  We know that  it's  and then the appointment center also, I, I  I sent you  Rick  I think from the appointment center from the fourth to the 10th and then March 7th to the 13th and you could see appointments are down.

 If we're, we're almost looking at the same week as  last year  last month. So appointments are down a little bit, not too much. And  so what, what  we have hearing  Ontario has been a state of emergency. I don't know if that's the case  for  close to a month due to COVID-19 market activity slowed down tremendously.

And  the broker    we're, we're keeping up with  up-to-date with this online. Blog series. So what it is is we're checking to see if a lockdown is making a factor because of this. And I think it could be    you know, th there is a  a spike in the pandemic, people getting COVID. Now I'm starting to hear people that I know that had it, so that's, and that before it wasn't, but yeah, it's funny how it's coming closer and closer.

So this is the third wave, I guess we're doing the other thing about this market is  agents aren't reading  their listing. So  like we have a listing, a couple of things out there. We're not holding offers. So we get a call, we get an email from an agent and  and it's just a regular listing. We put it up for 669, nine, and he sends us an email.

So w  when are you holding offers? I'm going, we're not like, like, if you read the list thing, so see how we conditioned all the agents, right. All the agents, aren't reading the list there. They're assuming that every list, I think that goes up on the market, you're holding offers and it's not the case.

We're not holding offers as much on listings right now. We, we, we did a slight change in the last two weeks because we know the market's changing. We know there's buyer fatigue out there. We know people. Or frustrated.  And  and it's  it's, it's, you know, it's tough. It's tough out there. So the sellers right now, the ones that we're thinking and thinking and thinking they want to sell and they want to see their tulips grow and there two looks look, make their house look better.

Well, those two lifts will cost them. Well, right now we can show you it's a 2%. So 2% of the million dollars cost $20,000  by not putting their house up earlier than they did now. So  but anyway  I still don't think  I, I just think it's just a little bit of an adjustment.  It's just a slight change.

 But I do feel the market is cooling off. Our inventory is moving up and  and, and, and changes are happening. And  it's  It, it is  it is  it is  gonna be a little bit of a change for the sellers out there that  they want to get the same prices that enables that one thing that sticks out to me in the  in the price changed.

I'm just looking at Hamilton in the surrounding area to start with. We know that  as you mentioned, a 2% price difference from the first two weeks of March compared to the first two weeks of April  when you look at the top five price ranges in Hamilton  the current week, the top price range is six 50 to $700,000.

 The previous week was between one and $2 million. So it might be a bit of a reason why the, the, the price difference has, you know, come down just a smidge.  But at the same time, could this be, could this be maybe the cusp of not necessarily a price correction, but just a price of a recalibration, so to speak?

Yeah, exactly. It's it's it? I don't think it's anything to worry about. I think even, even if we're at the, a balanced market, the market's still strong. We're still up. I mean, overall I think in the area  year over year from  I guess February of last year to versus February of this year, we're 25% up.

Like that's a lot that's, that's unheard of. And  so we're still up. And even if there's a fluctuation of one or 2%, it's not. Are you gonna to, to be cautious or anything like that. But I do feel the market is going to start leveling off. Like it just, you know, Rick, you just can't keep going up and up and up.

It just, there's gotta be a ceiling someplace. And I think we, that feeling we hit in March. And now we're just kinda gonna coast bend and you're gonna see inventory climbing and see houses. Days on market are going to be a little longer.  I, and  you know, so it's just, you know, now we're going back to a normal, real estate market where buyers and sellers have time to breathe.

You're going to start seeing people, having, doing their home inspections, all that kind of stuff. And    in, in, in, in it, and now it's risk.  Also  regarding  like we're talking about bully offers, you know what I mean? That's also a big risk. So do you take it or do you wait? And sometimes the day you wait, you get nothing.

So, this is like, I dunno, like, is it like weighing the prices right. Or whatever, you know what I mean? Like you, you got this now that you want to wait for door. Number two, if you slide door, number two, you may end up getting less or something bigger. You just don't know. And that's, that's the hard, the hard gamble that you take in this market right now.

  We're going to dive into the bully, offer a situation in a couple of minutes, but I do want to ask one further question about the appointment center and the number of appointments that we saw in March. They were absolutely through the roof and in April, there's still a bit of a dip, but still much higher than any previous April's.

 Do you expect that a rush of appointments to continue? Is there also an expectation that they're going to come down a little bit too? I think the appointments will come down from  this year, but there will always going to be greater than previous years. I think it's just going to slightly cool down a bit, because a lot of people have bought there's a lot of buyers that just are sitting on the sidelines now just waiting to see what the market's going to do.

And  but I still think the appointments will.  Still be stronger than  years in the past. We'll still hit record numbers on appointments, but, but earlier this year from January, February, and March, it's good.  I think it will be hard to beat those numbers  when it comes to appointments. And, but mind you, we're still strong.

We're still good. There's still record number  numbers for appointments from previous years in the same timeframe. Yeah. I mean, they're not even close when comparing 20, 21 to 2020, or even 2019 and 2018. I mean, the numbers are absolutely astronomical case in point  appointments up 814%. That's that's not a typo 814% year over year and 136% from 2019.

 And that means that not only did the market bounce back from the first lockdown, but we far exceeded even a typical March. So this spring has been just absolutely nuts. It has been. And when I look on my board in front of my office  I, I look at  like March's numbers of 2019 and  April's numbers of 2019 when I, for my personal reference, because last year when we had the shutdown in the middle of  March, April was also a big shutdown, like April was, was a tough month.

So it's kind of hard to gauge.  Like April over April or March over March. I go based on two years ago. Cause we had, we had good record numbers two years ago and I try to follow that gauge, especially in the spring and the first six months of this market, like this year, I don't go by the first six months of last year.

I go to the first six months of 2019 so that I know  I'm progressing or not. But  yeah, absolutely. I don't follow follow the first six months of last year, we've got a minute left in this opening segment. Are you still seeing some buyer fatigue out there? Yes  buyer fatigue is still out there.  They're more cautious now.

 They've been beat up quite a bit, and so they're very experienced to buyers and, but frustrated Bryant buyers and  but it, that that'll, that'll slowly go away because things they'll they'll have time coming up soon  to buy houses, but the market's still will be strong though. If you have a question for the TA Golfi Team or a topic idea for a future program, you can email questions@robGolfi.com.

Again, that's questions at Rob Golfi, u.com. When we come back, should you take a bully offer today? We'll also get into the cost of lumber. It is making the cost of building a home or even renovating your home. Extremely pricey that in a whole lot more still to come here on the Gulf, the real estate show Hamilton addition on 900.

CHML okay. We got 16. Welcome back. This is the Golfi real estate show Hamilton addition on 900. CHML my name's Rick Sam Brin on the line. Once again is Rob Golfi sales representative with Remax is Kurtman Realty. The Golfi Team. You can call Hamilton and Burlington's number one Remax team in volume and unit sales at (905) 575-7700.

That number again is (905) 575-7700. online@robGolfi.com. That's Rob G O L F i.com. Don't forget golf. It gets it sold and they do so in a safe manner during the COVID-19 pandemic follow the Golfi Team on social media, via Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. And if you have a question for the Golfi Team or you would like us to tackle a topic on a future program, send them an email questions@robGolfi.com.

Again, that's questions at Rob Golfi. Dot com still to come. We'll talk about ghost offers the cost of making or the cost of a lumber, making the cost of building a home or renovating one extremely pricey. But let's talk about bully offers. We referenced it in our opening segment a little bit before we get into whether or not people should take a bully offer, maybe refresh our memories on what a bully offer is.

So a bully offer is when you have a house that you put up for sale and you indicate that you are going to take. Offers five days from the day it hits the market. It was five days for agents to  show the house clients and they get to  you know, look at it is time, gives them time to do the comparables.

And then on the, on the fifth day, when the house  the agent has it set for  to get receive offers  they, they either will  send an off or sell. And then we always inform me agent, you know, we have two offers, three, four up to, you know, whatever as many offers as you have. So that's what  normally is doing it.

And sometimes in the listing, it says on there no preemptive offers. So that actually protects not only, it also protects the seller, but also protects other agents that are viewing it. It says that we, we know that we, we're not going to get jumped all of a sudden, and somebody is going to submit an offer prior to the oper date, which would be a bully offer because it says we, you can't do that on the listing, but sometimes people still do.

And then if they do, you have to inform all the agents, it becomes a law. It becomes, you've got to make sure you have your paperwork in order, because if one person's missed. And he didn't get a chance to submit an offer and he wasn't informed that there was a bully or a preemptive offer. Then there could be a lot of trouble for the agent there that's  that has the house listed.

So  a lot of times they'll do. Yeah. So now bully offers usually sometimes people come in. A lot of different factors when the market was super, super hot, somebody will come in sometimes 150, 200,000 because they want to make sure they get it and it's, and it, it becomes very enticing. And now the homeowner has to make a decision.

Do you want to go for this or do you want to  you know, wait and see what's going to happen on the offer date. So sometimes the offer date could be lower in the guidance. A lot of times. That does submit the preemptive or the bully offer. He may not come back on that date. He goes, here's my here's my best offer.

And they come in usually pretty good and they're pretty strong. And it, it, it, it plays at plays games. It plays games on your head because now you're going, okay, wait a minute. We've got 150. If we wait till the offer date, are we going to get more or, or whatever. So you don't know. So the last listing I put up for sale.

I put in, we were holding offers for five days, but I didn't put down no preemptive offers. So I am getting calls from people, AE agents telling me, you know, Hey, are you looking at Bulli offers? I said, sure. Bring it in. We'll look at it. I'm not saying we're going to take it, but  but bring it in. So.  I may get one coming  this week.

So I, so I'm giving the opportunity for somebody to bring a bully offer. And because on the day of, of  of opera presentation, we may not get that many people. Cause I know the market's changing. This market is changing so fast. So you have to adapt and change your  strategic ways of doing business so that you can represent your sellers the right way so that they don't lose.

They, you want them to win, even though the market's cooled a little bit. Regarding preemptive offers. I got a couple of questions about this. Basically the bully offer. When it, when it says on the listing, no preemptive offers, can someone still make a bully offer? Is it legal to do so? And is it legal to accept it?

It, it, it it's, you're not supposed to, but you still can. You still can do it. You still can do it. It's just basically saying guys, come on, stay away. Don't don't bother me, but there's always that aggressive agent that'll come in and say, Hey, listen, here's. He's throwing down some big numbers and you have to make a decision, but a lot of times they'll call you.

Will you look at a preemptive offer and some agents say no.  Like w the last listing I listed, I, I, I allowing people to put bully offers in. Do you see how it see how it comes and see, and we still may say no to it. If they know we're going to wait till that day. So I'm, I'm giving me, I left the door open for either way  without putting no preemptive operas on there, the current market.

Now in a bit of a metamorphosis here, it's changing a little bit. Our bully offers more or less common.  Bully offers  were more common  last year, but then after, because there were so many offers and so many things happen, everybody started putting no preemptive offers  because people were getting, they were getting nervous and scared and upset because they didn't know what to take.

A preemptive offer or wait to the offer date. And some people got upset because now the offer date came there. Weren't  the offers weren't as high and sometimes they were even greater. So I mean, the more people competing with each other  the, the higher, the number and w what's happening is a lot of people get caught up into putting offers when they're in competition, they seem to forget that, Hey, listen, there's there's value on this property.

And sometimes they go overboard on their price. So preemptive offers. Sometimes it gives them time to think. Isn't time to say, Hey, listen, we're going to give you this much money. We know it's worth this much. We're going to give you this much more. And  in the, let's see if you want to take it now. Now today, as we speak as the middle of April, I, I strategically changed the way I'm doing things.

I've got a couple listings that we didn't put a hold offers a high end listing in one mediocre listed like medium price range in the 600 range. And also in the 500 range and, and houses are, are, are listed at the market value. I enlisted under market value and we're getting showings and those houses are staying on the market.

For 10 days, 20 days on the market. So it's given people a chance to get in, but now people are scared when a regular listing is being lifted without holding offers. They're like, Whoa, wait a minute. What's going on here? I'm used to having to compete against, you know, 20 other people and that's not happening now.

So it just. Like, like you almost have to train these, train the agents out there and make sure they read the listing and they're not reading the listing. Wow. And because there's a lot of good opportunities starting to come out there for a lot of buyers and, and, and, but when the buyers are looking, it doesn't, it may not say on the listing for the  for the public to see that they're holding offers, it's only on the realtor remarks, but now if he's not relaying that to his client, Well, the client doesn't know.

So, so there's  so th there are good, good opportunities right now, and you're going to start seeing more and more. Our inventory has increased also.  So that's telling us that  the market's slightly, slightly changing a bit. So let's paint this scenario for our listeners. There's a home  on a  for sale on the mountain.

It's listed at seven 50.  You know, you're holding offers a bully offer comes in for 900,000.  Does that price now go to the other realtors or the other agents to say, Hey, you know, you've got to beat this offer or are you now strictly dealing with that bully offer coming in? No. So what happens is if that $900,000 offer comes in, now I go to the other agents and say, Hey, we've got a bully offer.

Are you we're dealing with it?  Let's say tonight at nine o'clock, let's say it's two o'clock in the afternoon. Are you interested in bringing an offer in on this property? Cause you got to do it, but you gotta do it by tonight. We're not waiting for the next two days. So they have to come now. Now basically we made them.

Scramble and try it. And if they are coming in with an opera, they got to come in a lot sooner than later. And  so then that $900,000 offer. And the reason is because it's such a good offer, my advice to the clients that, you know, what. Let's say it's a four level back split. There's no way I would pay like 900,000 for four little bachelor.

We got to make sure we get a big deposit on this because if they can't, if their bank say no, it doesn't matter. We've got a large deposit on this house. He's not going to walk away from it. He will have to either borrow more money or figure a way to close this deal because otherwise he's going to lose, let's say a hundred thousand dollars deposit.

 So, but that's how you push the other agents  to bring in an offer. Cause everybody goes by their schedule, right? You're saying, Hey, buy this day, you know? So he puts it, he puts it in his schedule that we're dealing with the offers at that time. But when you're telling an agent the scramble, you got let less than six hours to put an opera together, sometimes it gets pretty hairy.

Yeah. So it really, it really accelerates the process. It accelerates the process. And, but it also eliminates other agents  to view the property because maybe, maybe this offer came in on a Friday and you got bookings on Saturday and Sunday that  now these guys can't get through, so they may not have the opportunity to even.

Look at the house or even submitted an offer and they probably would have submitted an offer if they did see the house. So there's the, you know what I mean? Like that's why I like, you know, a lot of times if you list a house on a Wednesday or Thursday and  you want to make sure that it gets the maximum exposure.

Cause we know a lot of showings happen on the weekend. We get a lot of the Toronto people they're coming in on the weekends, the few of the properties they're not coming in during the week because it's, you know, it's just either they're working or whatever they're doing. So we, I want to give them the opportunity on a Saturday and Sunday to view the property.

And then I deal with the offers on it Monday. So everybody has seen it and people, you know, are happy and if you're not interested, great, if you're are interested. Fantastic. But  but taking a bullet the opera on a Friday, when you list it on a Wednesday or Thursday is you gotta be, it better be a good opera, but it'd be a strong bully offer because  something outrageous that you'd need or expect.

And  you know, and then that's, that's when you push the plate. Hm. So at the end of the day, should you take a bully offer today back to our original claim?  I would, depending on the price on that one there for 900 on a seven 50, and it's like, yes, I would, I would, I would advise my clients, but I would make them make the decision  which decision to make, I'd say.

This is a great offer. I know the agent  if he's a reparable agent, we've got the deposit. Usually if it's somebody submitting a bully offer, the best thing for them to do is submit a deposit with it. Now, you know, you've got cash in hand. You can't walk away from the deal.  You can't walk away from deal regardless, but, but you've got cash in hand and  then it's sold and it's stress is all over with.

And  but, or you could, you know, it's just, I always give the opera. I always let the. Seller make the decision. And  so, and then sometimes you get somebody upset. You'll get  an agent that's upset because they didn't get a chance and you know what they do, and they shouldn't do this. And sometimes they do this out of spite, you know, either the whole  the buyer or somebody will go to the homeowner, Hey, we would've paid you way more money than that, which is not, not.

But not the truth. They do that out of spite because they didn't get a chance or they lost out on, on, on the offer or they didn't get a chance to do anything. So sometimes they do that and it's sad that they do that because now they cause confusion for the seller and it, and they should never, ever do that.

It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the seller because, you know, they're, they're celebrating, they're happy that they got, you know, a price that's well over asking and yeah, to do that. It's pretty heinous, pretty vicious. It is, it is, it is in this market. It's a lot of ugly things have come out and usually like, you have no idea, like  how vicious it is out there.

 Agents get upset, they call it, you know, they, they get, they scream at you cause they lost out by $2,000. They said, why don't you give me a second chance while we gave you a chance? And, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, you know, what do you do? Like, it just, it's just, you lose, you lose, that's all there's too.

And  but it, it's starting to, it's certain to balance out soon. And  I understand, I understand, like, I mean, we've got clients that lost out, you know, they've been 20 offers on homes and 20 different homes and, and they lose out and they, they they're sick and tired of this market. They're so sick and tired.

So.  I mean, we're living through two different things in this market, the pandemic and the  the real estate prices going up like crazy in saying that I, you know, I can clearly get the sense that there are a lot of people who are, they have that buyer fatigue. They are tired of losing out, you know, time after time after time.

Are they now looking elsewhere? Are they, are they looking to the Niagara? Is, are they looking to the brand foods of the world? Are they looking elsewhere? Absolutely. And it's funny how the wave goes like, so I'll talk to my, you know  real estate brands in the GTA, Mississauga and down, and they're about two weeks ahead of us.

 When it comes to  like what's happening in the marketplace and the Agra is probably a month away from the GTA. So you still, you know what I mean? Like the great thing about working a lot of different markets from the Burlington through the Nagra and Branford area is, is that we can dictate not dictate, but we can actually, we know what the trend is happening.

Like, like I like in Hamilton right now. I I'll I'll hold offers depending on the price point. It never falls. I'll definitely hold offers. And if, if, if the client trusts me in, in, in pushing it, I got one in there to falls right now listed at 500.  It was on the market for one day and we already got a question.

Are you  take a bully offers? I said, send it through. We'll look at it. And if we like it, then we'll inform all the other agents, but, but we're holding operas till Monday. But the thing is, it just depends where you are in this, the city center or the town or wherever you are. And it depends, you know, like the trend that's happening.

So  Like two, three weeks ago. I knew things were changing in Toronto because I was talking to agents out there. We'll be here. It's happening now is Nagra it's going to happen in a couple of weeks. So Niagara right now is hot. So if you're a seller in Niagara and you're listening to this, I would get rolling because there's not much time left.

If you really want to  take advantage of what's been happening in the, in the first three first quarter of this year. And you're going to want to get rolling with the Golfi Team. Rob Golfi.com is the website the phone number (905) 575-7700. That's nine Oh five. Five seven five seven seven zero zero.

Follow the Golfi Team on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as well. We've got about a minute before our next segment  comes and goes  Royal, the page forecasting, the aggregate price of a home in Canada will increase 13 and a half percent to 800, $5,000 by the fourth quarter of this year, compared to the same time last year  returned to pre pandemic levels of immigration.

The vaccine roll-outs impact on economic stability and confidence in the labor market. And continued low interest rates, support home price growth. And it goes on to say that this current state of, of real estate boom is going to exceed or extend well into 2022.  That's certainly good news for, you know, guys like you in the, and, and, and home sellers for sure.

Oh yeah. It's  I. It's just the inventory. That's all, it's all about low inventory out there. And, and there's not that, and the funny thing is there's not that many immigrants coming in, so it's just, there's a lack, lack of inventory. Yeah. Wait till the doors of flood open and the immigration numbers go up.

When we come back, we're going to talk about the cost of lumber and how it's impacting home building. And. Home renovating that and ghost offers as well. Talk about that. When the Golfi real estate show Hamilton addition continues 900. CHML okay. We got six minutes here. You are listening to the Golfi real estate show Hamilton edition on 900.

CHML. My name is Roxanne prin on the line. Once again, live from one. Mark Lind is Rob Golfi sales representative with Remax is government Realty. The Golfi Team. Call them today (905) 575-7700. At Hamilton and Burlington's number one Remax team in volume and unit sales. The phone number again, (905) 575-7700.

online@robGolfi.com. That's Rob G O L F i.com and follow the Golfi Team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you have a question for the Golfi Team or a topic idea for a future program, send them an email questions@robGolfi.com. Again, that's questions@robGolfi.com in a few minutes, we'll talk about a scary new trend being dubbed, a ghost offer sounds kind of spooky.

Maybe we should just save that topic for the Halloween edition. Maybe it'll make a return in, in October, but the cost of lumber  for those of you who've been to your local hardware store or a lumberyard or whatever the case is  sticker shock is probably an understatement because the cost of a two by four.

Has doubled in the last two, three years. And obviously the pandemic is a major part of that. And that's really impacting home building and renovating homes. Yes. So builders now have      a clause in their contracts indicating that if, if, if price of  cost of materials goes up, it gets put onto the  To the buyer.

Wow. So, so really when you go buy a house now, because like, because the builders have no idea where we're lumber and brick and everything else, what, what, what it's going to be because in six months it could change. So, and they, they sign a contract with you and nine months later, they start digging and they build well, that cost of that home for that builder could be.

$30,000 more. So, so not like it's a scary, it's a scary time, Alyssa, unless you've got a definite price on your, on your  on your home that you're buying and you're saying, Hey, okay, I'm buying this house for 900,000. There's not going to be any increases, anything like that. And okay. But if you're, if you don't know if there's going to be an inflation price on, on material like that $900,000 house could be $980,000.

Well, you're, you've been pre-approved and approved to buy a house for 900,000 that can hurt you. So you gotta be careful when you look at that contract, when you're buying a new home that you, you fill that out. Now, the cost they're saying here, just in lumber, just in lumber, on a townhouse. $10,000 more.

That's just the lumber. Forget about the tile, the bathrooms, the kitchens, all that kind of stuff. That's just the lumber on a townhouse. So, so can you imagine if you're going to build a custom home and you're thinking, Hey, I want to build my home, my custom home. Do you know, do you know what happens to people when they build now?

And they have a budget? They don't even have enough money to give them the finishes that they want. And that's what makes the house, it's the finishes. It's not the rough, it's not, it's not the two by fours, but going up to Joyce, the brick on the old side. Yes, it is the exterior look. But when it comes to the inside on the flooring, the trim.

The bathrooms, the kitchen  the, the crown molding, all those things. They are, it's going to cost you more. So you got to whatever you think it's going to cost you, you better add another 10, 20, maybe 40%, because it's going to cause by the time you guys are hitting that stage, you're going to, you're going to find, we can't afford this and you're going to be stopped.

And the banks aren't going to give you any more money because you ran out of money and they're going to say, sorry, you're, you know, So you gotta be very, very careful and you better know your numbers. If you're building a custom home or have a big budget and just be prepared for it. So whatever you're guaranteed from your bank to get, try to get 20% more on top of that lead, that lead that cushion there for yourself, because you're going to need it.

That's a great point because  whether it's a custom home or, or a home that has been built years ago, you know, a home needs to have good bones, but it's not necessarily the good bones that is going to dictate how much that, that home is going to be worth. You know, it's it's, yeah. Those finer finishes, you know, what the kitchen looks like and all that kind of stuff.

 Even, even with, you know, many more people working from home  you know, maybe building a home office they've been impacted by  you know, the, the price of lumber as well. But for those who are thinking about.  Putting their home on the market and they want to do some renovations. It may not be worth them doing that because the price of lumber may not translate into a good return on investment at the end of the day.

Oh, that's right. Because  it, it may cost them too much to build an addition or, or whatever. It just, it, it totally depends. They better, they better know they better do their homework and not just start and start. Okay. Well, let's put an addition on, and then all of a sudden you start working on it and  now you're finding out, well, I didn't know.

Building my house was going to cost me $30,000 more in lumber. And I, and I know I've seen it and I've heard it from people that are building. They had no clue. I I'll give you a true story here. A husband didn't tell his wife that the lumber to build their house was $30,000 more. Then what they thought it would be.

He goes like salt. So he was just going to wait until the bill came in. Mike's going to take care of it. So he didn't want to face, he didn't want to face the rats from his wife prior, prior, like at that moment he says, well, I'll just wait till it happens. And then he'll act like he surprised too. So, but, but he, he knew, he knew the cost of lumber was going to be more and he didn't tell his wife and his wife is.

Perico and, and, and she did, she did, she, she had no clue. So building is, you know, you gotta be very, very careful and get your pricing in order, as the saying goes, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. And  one of the thing on the lumber  officials in the industry really have no idea when it's going to be back to normal.

So that's, you know, a scary part.  Talk about scary. We're going to talk about  ghost offers. What are they.  You'll find out when we come back here on the Golfi real estate show Hamilton edition on 900. CHML. And one more go round here on the Golfi real estate show Hamilton edition on 900. CHML Rick San Fran.

Along with Rob Golfi sales representative with Remax is Gartman Realty. The Golfi Team. You can call Hamilton and Burlington's number one, Remax team and volume and unit sales. Nine Oh five. Five seven five 7,700 that's (905) 575-7700. Follow the Golfi Team on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, Heather, online@robGolfi.com.

That's Rob G O L F i.com. Have a topic idea or a question for the Golfi Team. Send them an email questions@robGolfi.com. There's a scary new trend being dumbed, a ghost offer. Earlier in the show, we talked about bully offer. What's a ghost offer. Ghost offers are when a buyer is putting three, four operas on three.

Three or four different houses. So they shouldn't be doing that at the same time. They shouldn't be doing that. What they're doing in a realtor should not advise him or should be doing this for them. They should put one offer at a time. Let let's say, let's say there's five houses that they, they looked at and out of the five there's three of them that the buyer loves.

And he doesn't want to wait til, see if he gets this one and go to the next one. Sometimes all the opera dates are on the same day. All the opera dates are on the same day. So what happens is, is he puts three offers on three different houses that's and what happened and, and, and he's hoping that well, whatever which one I get, that's the one I buy, but what happens if he gets accepted offer on two or all three houses?

Now you've got a problem. Now, this guy. That put, you know  or girl, whatever puts an opera on this house  on three houses and gets all three he's he's bound to a contract now. Yes, he may not, he may not have a deposit for the other two. He's going to pick the one that he wants, but he's got it. You're still obligated by that.

And you know what, and it becomes a messy situation. And  you know, like he signed under contract, so there's lawsuits going on. He, he affected the price on that with somebody else that could have gotten it. And there was a lot of issues. So, so agents should not be doing this, but sometimes they are. And you don't want to deal with somebody like that because they're going to get you in a lot of trouble and you've gotta be very, very careful.

Just work one opera at a time. You make the irrevocable on your contract to this time. If you don't get it, then you go onto the next one. You don't put three offers in on the same day, same night. And. And praying weights because you may get lucky or unlucky and end up buying three houses. So you cannot run away without giving a deposit because you still can get sued because you signed under seal with that contract.

Talk about upsetting the Apple cart, because now you have three home sellers who are thinking, well, I got a deal and two of them don't and maybe three of them yet. Yeah, absolutely. And, and, and you heard the dynamics of, of the seller and the, you know, like they could have taken the other offer, which was just as good.

And  they took yours because they trusted you and bringing an opera in. Yeah, it's, it's sad. That's like I said, this market brings in all the ugly and you gotta know how to weed it out. . Find out about it because we question the agent, we like what? We don't just take any opera. We don't take a piece of paper.

We'd never met. We never met the agent before and never met the buyer and say and say, Hey, Oh yeah, yours looks great. Like, we want to know, do you have a deposit in your hand for this? Do you like, where's your client from what? You know? Cause we do research on this. Like, like I'll check for my clients to say, if they see if they own a house.

 I'll go and I'll scan on my, on the system because we have access to information that we can check and you know, who owns properties or not. So I'll check is that my job is to find as much information and do my due diligence for my seller to make sure that the offer that we pick. Is the right one for them and that's going to close.

So, you know, and if you've got a realtor, that's going to be, you know, not doing his job the right way and not following the code of ethics, then we got problems out there so that realtor could be in a lot of trouble too, because if he's putting three offers on three different properties, Believe me, it'll come out, it'll come out of the woodwork and he'll heal.

He could lose his license for that. I know what you need to know if you're selling your home privately. We got a couple of minutes left in the show and  if you're like me and  and receiving  almost on a weekly basis, flyers and pamphlets in the mail about selling your house privately, including one that says I'm an experienced investor, interested in buying properties in your area.

We are an honest team that has a good, and then crossed out great offer for sellers. We are not realtors. So you won't pay any commissions or fees. What should people know about partnering with these types of individuals? The reason why they got these elk, because they're getting way better deals than if it was on the MLS people.

Be careful, these things here, the reason why they're putting them out, because they they're taking possession of your house. Let's say on the first of the month. And they're in there. And they're putting it up for sale with a realtor on the fifth of the month, and they're getting a hundred, $200,000 more.

So be very careful when you're getting something like this in your mailbox saying, Hey, you know, we want to buy your house. We're investors and everything. Be very careful because they're not going to give you what the market will give you. Put your house on the open market. Let the world know that your house is for sale and then let the people come through and look at it and let them bid for it.

And you'll get the highest price for your house. If anything, get a free home evaluation by calling the Golfi Team and UNO five five seven, five 7,700 and find out what your home is really worth. Online, Rob Golfi.com. That's Rob G O L F i.com and follow the Golfi Team on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

And Hey, you can listen to our show online through Spotify, iTunes, Google podcast, Stitcher, and many more. Just search for the golfing real estate show in your favorite podcast platform and hit the follow button. So you never miss an episode, Rob, thanks again for fantastic program. And thank you for listening to the Golfi real estate show.

We're back next Saturday at nine on 900. CHML. Nicely done. Good. Nice and fast. Yeah, it was a good one.