“It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Bittersweet.
The wonderful and the terrible.
This month, we lost someone who was inexorably and forever tied to me. It is heartbreaking. There are no words for grief, because you run out of words. Words seem frivolous and wanting in the face of the empty.
And I am all about the words.
The tragic and the beautiful.
In the midst of the gut wrenching sadness there is such gorgeous happiness.
It’s the strangest thing.
Suddenly you remember a moment, from when you were camping under the stars at Turkey Point
Or at a party making out in a closet and it’s like a little piece of candy….It’s so sweet and short.
I had some clients take me out for dinner this month. As we ate at the restaurant, their very tolerant little boy, (around 2 years old), would throw things on the floor and eat some things and wriggle in his seat and sometimes cry out for things he couldn’t reach.
And then….suddenly he would break out into the most delightful of smiles that would warm the cold heart of Hades. It made me understand why parents can tolerate almost everything. It made me understand why pain is so entwined with pleasure.
This month I have many buyers who are chomping at the bit to buy real estate. We have been feverishly looking at all the options, some mediocre and some exquisite. I have offered this month on places with 15 other buyers and offered well and yet lost out just as grandly. This of course makes my buyers more hungry and the market is starving for more product. I have lost out this month with clients on condos that have been on the market for only 1 day and poof !! ….They are gone. If you are thinking of selling your condo, I say don’t wait. Any condo, anywhere in the GTA….People are mad for condos this year. Condos are often more financially attainable than houses in the city ? There are a lot of people who bought pre construction condos a couple years ago, who are smiling to themselves at the money they have accrued in equity in such a short time. If you have a house for sale and it’s in the sweet spot under a million and it has 4 walls and some curb appeal, again you are smiling. There seem to be buyers lined up around the block like it’s the film festival and George Clooney is in town. So to my sellers who are sitting on their prospective fences…if you think you are in these categories I urge you to get off that fence, take your phone from your pocket and call me.
To those buying this year… I say stay the course !
More will come on the market. It always does.
You will find just the right home for YOU. It may take awhile… You may have to give up something to get something else. People find out pretty quickly what they must have and what can be shaved away. But you will find it.
One of the most interesting things that seems to be happening this year is that even in multiple offer situations, often the final selling price doesn’t seem completely out of whack. This could be that the new mortgage rules are dampening the wildness of over paying. It is very possibly due to the foreign buyer tax and a further dampening of that outrageous offer fervor. There seem to be alot of offers still, and things are going well above asking but the baseball is staying in the park….. Infield home runs you would call it.
My clients with the toddler….after a busy offer date disappointment, they got their new home with a little negotiation. Painful and then Delicious.
One of my seller’s sold his house this month that he had lived in for 25 years. It was under a million. It was on the market 5 days and he had 5 offers and it went for well over asking…. but not 200 or 300 over asking. He bought himself a condo in Rosedale. It was difficult for him to leave the familiar that he had known for so long. Now that he has, a new life path opens up before him. He will visit a different library down different streets. He will use the elevator and park underground. Who knows, he may even find himself lounging a bit in the back gardens. He will miss the way things were, but a new way will be forged in the untouched fields of the valley that lies beside a highway. Someone is sure to build a new house where his once stood. The construction fence is already up ! Bitter sweet
Bitter sweet.
If we never have the bitter, can we ever appreciate the sweet ?
Do you remember Milli Vanilli ?
Joy and Pain
Sunshine and Rain
Say it again.

BitterSweet

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