Well there is never a dull day in Toronto Real Estate land… As you may have heard starting now the Toronto, Barrie, Hamilton, Oakville and Cottage Country boards will be required to share sold prices. Buyers, sellers and real estate followers will have access to data on selling activity such as prices of sold, listed but not sold and sold but not closed properties and land.
So is there a downside for consumers? Per our industry Code of Ethics it has always been our duty to protect the privacy of our clients which we will no longer have the option to do and our friends, colleagues, family and neighbours will know what we paid and sold our homes for.
The plus side is clear…if you love real estate info you won’t necessarily have to call me to find out what your neighbour’s house sold for UNLESS you would like some context with the number. The principle value determining factors such as lot size, renovations, competing houses for sale that week , the condo development planned for behind the property, damaging over or underpriced and the smell of the basement will not be evident in the data feed.
Companies like Zillow and Trulio will also use this sold data to generate automated appraisals . The technology uses sqaure footage, lot size and number of bedrooms/bathrooms but NOT major value factors such as quality of one street over another, school disctrict or neighbourhood boundaries. Their business model is to collect data from the site users and sell those leads to the highest bidding agent or company. As the old saying goes, beware of anything valuable that is "free".
When it comes to a move in real life when it counts we can navigate the recent activity together to determine what worked and didn’t in the context of all the factors named above and equally important the mood of the market at the time. For now enjoy the access to information if you are interested and please get in touch for clarity and answers anytime.
Consultations and advice are always free of charge and confidential.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy fall,
Lisa
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