THIS ISSUE: Season's Greetings / Fixtures vs. Chattels / Real-Estate Year ARCHIVES: www.privatelist.com/newsletter.htm SEASON'S GREETINGS Seasons's greetings to everyone out there, even realtors! For your enjoyment, here's a little piece I put together on the hoopla surrounding the new millenium . . . FIXTURES vs. CHATTELS Anything that might cause conflict or confusion in the transfer of your property to a buyer should be dealt with as early as possible in the process and should be written into your formal sales agreement. One such issue concerns what stays with the property and what goes, which brings up the distinction between fixtures and chattels. If you need to use a tool - even just a screwdriver - to remove an object from the premises, it's considered a fixture and is assumed to remain with the property unless specifically stated otherwise in your sales contract. Examples: a chandelier, a mirror screwed to the wall, curtain tracks and various built-ins. A chattel on the other hand is moveable property - anything you could take away without the use of tools. Examples: furniture, curtains and drapes, and appliances. Of course, the devil is in the details. Your venetian blinds may be supported by brackets screwed to the inside window-frame, but the blinds themselves are locked into the brackets by a little stop which can be slid out without tools. Are the blinds fixtures or chattels? Given the uncertainty, they're whatever you say they are - so put it in writing! Included in your marketing folder should be a list of chattels that stay (such as appliances) and fixtures that go (such as a favorite chandelier). Make sure you mention these items when you show buyers through the home, and - most important - specifically list them in the purchase contract. You can use chattels as an "extra" to induce an offer - appliances being an obvious example, of particular interest to first-time buyers with a cash shortage. But who knows? If prospects seems at all covetous of that rec room pool table you never use, perhaps it will become a negotiating point . . . In any case, the general rule is: chattels go, fixtures stay, and anything that could possibly lead to a misunderstanding is put in writing. THE REAL-ESTATE YEAR With thoughts turning to Christmas/New Year get-togethers with friends and family, a lot of home-buyers and sellers are pulling back and waiting for the spring to renew their efforts. Traditionally, the last quarter of the year is the least active for real-estate, with December statistics pulling down the quarterly average. But the effect can be heavy or moderate, depending on a lot of factors - such as mortgage rates, expectations for the future, the state of the economy and even the weather. Across Canada, 10,000 - 15,000 dwellings sell in December, and some buyers prefer to look in the off-season, on the assumption that anyone advertising at that time will be highly-motivated to sell. The first and second quarters of the year (January - June) are traditionally the most active, being fairly balanced as to listing activity and favoring April-June in terms of sales. With lots of buyers around, this is the time to be selling privately: DO NOT make the mistake of handing your property to a realtor in the busiest buying season (January - June) just because you failed to get your sale in December! The third quarter - July, August and September - gets its fair share of both listings and sales - about 25% of the annual total. In other words, the spring/summer's larger share of the pie comes largely at the expense of the winter, with the fall basically neutral. What does all this mean to you as a seller? It depends on your reason for selling. If you can pick your time, issues like vacations, gardening season, school enrollments or local conditions may outweigh these market generalizations. On the other hand, if you've just bought another home or been transferred out of province, you need to get the job done NOW! But even if your selling in the hottest sellers' market in years, you'll enjoy the highest net proceeds if you
*How do you use the advertising of others? Find out by reading our services page. FRIENDLY REMINDERS . . . It's important to maintain an active marketing focus until your property is sold. Just an hour every week-end, spent reviewing progress to date and mapping out a response, can pay real dividends. Therefore, each e-mail version of PrivateList PROACTIVE ends with a series of reminders, and links to tips and tools for your on-going campaign. To access these resources, press here.
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