Posts Tagged ‘ottawa military realtor’

RELOCATION IT’S STRESSFUL. WE GET IT AND WE ARE HERE FOR YOU

BMO is the official bank of the Canadian Defense Community. This makes BMO and the Chris Scott Team a perfect fit for our military clients. We always have our client’s needs top of mind and strive to make each relocation as smooth as possible. We know the ins and outs of BGRS and know that during an HHT time is always of the essence. BMO has specific mortgage programs tailormade for military relocations that offer tight turnarounds on pre-approvals so you can rest easy during your HHT. We have a guest blog from our local Defense Mortgage Specialist Naween:

RELOCATION IT’S STRESSFUL. WE GET IT AND WE ARE HERE FOR YOU

Relocation is not a simple task. It’s very stressful. Leaving family, friends and a familiar environment is a daunting feeling. I have gone through 5 relocations myself, so I know the feeling. My biggest relocation was migrating to Canada. Moving 13,632 km, away from everything I knew for 23 years. The level of anxiety I had was through the roof, but I was also excited to start a new chapter with my wife. It took us time to settle, and we finally made Ottawa home. Bought our first home, had our first child and a new opportunity came along resulting in an out-of-city relocation. Two more relocations after we are back in Ottawa. Each relocation was stressful even though we had done it before. We had to tell ourselves it was ok to feel the way we did. The personal and professional growth I gained from them will not change my mind about doing it all over again. We became comfortable with meeting new people and making new friends with each move.

The biggest stress for us about relocating was finding a place to live. Temporary accommodations in hotels can only get you so far until the smell of eggs in the morning makes you sick. You have a limited amount of time to find a place that fits you and your family’s needs. This is where the expertise of a good realtor was a game changer. When we relocated to Sudbury for work, our house search revolved around a 9-month-olds schedule and needs. We had to think about daycare, schools (yes, it was a bit of a stretch to think of schools when our son was only 9 months), convenience to get to and from work, etc. New city, no support system to count on. We started our house search online in Ottawa and would send listings we wanted to see to our realtor having no idea about the areas. I remember to this day what our realtor said about a listing I sent. House looked great in pictures, well below our budget. Her exact words “We are not going to see that listing because you are not going to buy a home in that area. I don’t want Evan growing up in that neighborhood”. We soon came to realize that that neighbourhood was not suitable for kids, and the house was on a very busy street. I was reassured my realtor had my back and I was no longer stressed about finding the right home for our family. This is the same level of care and attention Chris Scott and his team bring to the table. They understand your needs and find properties to fit that need, so you don’t waste time.

Therefore, I am proud to align myself as the mortgage specialist assisting the clients of Chris and his team. They share the same values as I do, personally and professionally. Putting the client’s needs first vs getting a sale done. Focusing on advice and recommendations to protect you and your loved ones. Combining 6 years of mortgage experience, Chris and his team and BMO’s Defense Banking Program I am confident we can make your house purchase a stress-free experience.

If you have any questions about home financing or want to talk about my personal experience of relocation feel free to contact me. I am happy to answer any questions you have

Naween Thomas | Mortgage Specialist
(P) 613-709-0890

MILITARY SUCCESS STORIES

Ottawa is a very popular destination for military clients. Many come for a few years and get posted out only to return again with a promotion a few years down the road. With this type of short-term stay, you need to purchase at the right price to be able to sell with a nice profit when you get transferred out. Others may have their final stop in Ottawa and want to make sure they get a home that can suit their needs for years to come.

We thought we would share with you a few examples of homes we helped our military clients purchase in recent years and that they just sold this year:

Purchased in 2020 – $790,000
Sold in 2022 – $1,250,000

These clients sold their Fairwinds home with our team in 2017 and got transferred back to Ottawa in 2020, during a very challenging market for buyers. During their HHT they were clear they wanted to be back in Stittsville and find something with good value. The timing was not great as they were purchasing in a very fast sellers market. Our clients ended up competing in a multiple offer situation. It is important to note that we were not the highest offer in this multiple offer situation, but the seller wanted to work with us and sell to my clients. That one decision had an incredible impact for my clients. You can see what they bought it for back then and sold it for earlier this year.

Purchased in 2020 – $665,000
Sold in 2022 – $931,000

Another military client of ours purchased in 2020, during the same challenging market. They also wanted to live in, and ended up buying in Stittsville. This is a great example of how there are still deals to be had during a sellers market and we ended up getting a great deal for our buyers. The house needed new flooring on the main level and was passed up by other buyers because of this. Our clients were not phased by this small issue, they lived here for a few years, and then ended up getting new floors installed on the main floor. This small investment of a flooring project helped them capitalize on ideal conditions when they sold.

HHT’s are challenging and timing is everything, which is why having an experienced Realtor® on your side makes all of the difference when it comes to your biggest investment. We are here to help!

Selling with our approved BGRS Ottawa Team

Our team prides ourselves in taking great care of our military clients. A big part of that is helping our clients who relocate to Ottawa purchase homes that will sell easily and appreciate nicely by the time they get transferred out. Selecting the right home, neighborhood, and community are also essential for the enjoyment of your time here. In short we know how important your Ottawa HHT is to you and your family. The house you buy will also have implications down the road when you sell. We need to make sure you are getting the right home for your needs.

Selling with our military specialists

The sale process is seamless with our team because we understand BGRS and have the appropriate partners who are all approved service providers. We are also one of Ottawa’s most recognizable military teams. We have the buyers coming in on postings that we can match up with our listings. One of our strategies is that we send out letters to prospective sellers ahead of posting season to spread awareness of incoming military buyers and our ability to match buyers with sellers of off market listings. This makes the process even smoother for everyone.

Some service providers no longer dealing with BGRS

Many prominent lawyers have decided no longer to accept BGRS files due to the low fee they receive for service in relation to their standard rates. This is something that we will keep an eye on moving forward. We still have some great lawyers on the list. Some Realtors are also pushing back and not accepting military sellers. While others are scaling back their services that they provide when selling a military members home.

This is not the case with our team. We offer the same high level of service clients have come to expect from us. Here are a few of the things that we are offering to our military clients:

STAGING

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY

VIRTUAL TOURS

VIDEO

OTTAWA SPRING MARKET UPDATE

When relocating to another city it is important to know what is going on in that real estate market. We wanted to share our most recent update and video, to assist you with planning for your house hunting trip to Ottawa.

Things are picking up as we head into the Spring season. We have seen a 52% increase in transactions from January to February of 2022 via MLS. This is a strong indicator that the Spring market has sprung.

The number of new listings in February (1,762) offers some hope for prospective Buyers. At 4% higher than the five-year average and 12% higher than February 2021, it resulted in an almost 10% increase in residential-class property inventory compared to last year at this time.

There is hope that the trend of increased new listings will continue so that the housing stock can be replenished.

We are now sitting at less than a month’s worth of inventory, which is still looking like a seller’s market. This means buyers need to have all of their financing set up so that they can move quickly in this market.

Our team has strategies that can help both our buyers and our sellers in this type of market. Please reach out if you have any questions about the current market or anything else we can help with.

WE ARE PROACTIVE FOR OUR MILITARY CLIENTS

I know that one of the biggest challenges with real estate and house hunting in Ottawa is the lack of available homes for sale. Rest assured our team is doing everything we can to find off-market opportunities for our incoming military buyers. We were able to pair up a few military clients last year with off-market deals. We have just proactively sent out over 25,000 letters for this express purpose to our local communities.

The system does work. Here is an example:

A seller in Jackson Trails, Stittsville got in contact with us about selling their detached 4 bedroom home. On the outside, it looked like most others in the area. On the inside, the house was extremely cluttered. Writing that I almost feel like that is an understatement. Lots of religious artifacts throughout the house and it would have needed a total staging overhaul. I presented each option to the seller and they said they would consider an offer off market if they could get a very specific price. The price was about what they would have got if it was staged.

On the other side, our buyers were coming in as a military transfer from another Canadian base were getting fed up with the process of offering against 15-20 other offers. It can be overwhelming, to say the least. They were happy to pay a slight premium for the exclusivity of the deal. This allowed everyone to leave happy.

We also had another past military client sell exclusively to an international military transfer to Ottawa. Again, they had a price they wanted and we delivered. In both cases, the process was smooth with only one showing each. In both cases, the buyer did not actually see the home in person until we showed up on closing date. We took care of every detail of these purchases and sales for our clients. House hunting is stressful enough, add on top of that relocating to a new city, we pride ourselves on being there every step of the way.

In closing our team is proactive with trying to produce options for our military clients relocating to Ottawa. If you are posted to Ottawa feel free to get in touch with our team. We are here to help!

MILITARY HOMES SOLD 2019

Special thanks to all our 2019 Ottawa military clients who bought and sold with our team. Our house hunting trips took us to every corner of Ottawa and the surrounding area this year. Colin and I worked as a team to make sure everyone was well taken care of. It was a challenging Spring house hunting season in Ottawa but I am proud to say that everyone left with a house they were happy with. If you are relocating to Ottawa and need some assistance with your move always feel free to reach out.

HUNGER GAMES OF HOUSE HUNTING

It is no secret that Ottawa is the hottest housing market in the country right now. In Ottawa, one of the most active segments is the $400,000 to $480,000 price range. Our team was engaged by Heather and Byron who were relocating to Ottawa. Unfortunately for them, they were in this HUNGER GAMES price range. This is their story!

Day 1

We spent all day looking through various neighbourhoods in the city. We found a great house in Chapel Hill. It was a bit underpriced and judging by the multiple showings during our visit we knew it was going to be competitive. In the end we were notified there was 11 offers on the table! Let the games begin.

Offer 1 List Price $400,000 Our Bid $426,000 The winner was $451,000 with no conditions in the offer. 11 offers total.  We were told our offer was in the top 1/3 of offers.

Me learning the news:

Day 2

More viewings and a new listing came up in the afternoon that we are the very first buyers into see. Excited at potentially doing this quickly. It is a holiday Monday and we figure this gives us an advantage. Beauty house on Steeple Chase in Kanata. We have our offer in within hours of listing. Afterwards, 3 other offers come in that afternoon. We know we have to go high to secure it. We make a very strong offer.

Offer 2 List Price $489,900 Our Bid $521,000 We felt very good about our offer. Unfortunately, they get a higher offer and we lose out again! The hunger games continue…

Pretty sure this is what the seller looked like:

Day 3

Time is starting to play a factor here. We need to secure something. A listing comes on the market at 9:30 am in Stittsville. We are in the house at 10:30 am and can’t believe our luck! It is a beauty. It is grossly underpriced for today’s market. They basically priced it at last years numbers. We head back to the office to chat about it. Before we can do much the agent calls and they have an offer on the table already. An hour later they already have 4 offers. They are presenting that afternoon at 4:30 pm. This is a bit of a problem because another house we liked was presenting at 6:00 pm. What one do we choose? We ended up putting an expiry of our offer of 6:00 pm for the first one so if we lost we could pursue the next. We go way over asking on this one!

A surprising loss, time for a drink!

Offer 4 List Price $424,900 Our Bid $441,00 The house was really one of their favourites all along. We just didn’t want to overpay and felt our offer was a bit conservative. Funny that we were all not feeling overly confident on this one and then the call came in that the house was secured!! The hunger games were complete!!

WINNER!

AMAZING PROGRAM FOR VETERANS HEALING A MENTAL OR PHYSICAL INJURY

This is an amazing cause that one of our clients has spearheaded. Worth the read.

‘Military spouse creates scuba diving program for Veterans healing a mental or physical injury’

https://www.cmfmag.ca/progs_services/military-spouse-creates-scuba-diving-program-for-veterans-healing-a-mental-or-physical-injury/

OUR NEW CONCIERGE MOVING SERVICE!

Our team has just invested in a moving concierge program that will be a game changer for our clients. This new platform will assist our clients with everything from changing addresses, transferring home services, updating identification, and getting helpful advice. This can include anything from setting up short term Airbnb accommodations to organizing moving company quotes. Each client will have a dedicated concierge agent. We are completely committed to the client experience. We hope this new service will bring value to our clients and make the transition into the new home as easy as possible.

ROCKLAND OR ORLÉANS: HHT DECISION

House hunting trips can be challenging for buyers who are not familiar with Ottawa. We really only have a few days to explore its neighbourhoods and secure a house. In the east end of Ottawa, many of my military clients are comparing the markets of Orleans and Rockland. Here is a brief summary of the two locations:

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