Repost from Jerome Trail of The Mortgage Trail

The narrative around the economy and housing market has changed fast, hasn’t it? We went from Fear of Missing Out to just plain F.E.A.R. overnight. Neither are true of course, but the media is in the anxiety business and they have the ear of your clients. 

When buyers feel they have options, they ask questions

Buyers can now be choosy about properties. Not only that, but they can expect that a reasonable, fair-market-value offer will be accepted. They don’t need to go through the emotional process of losing to bully bids or the anxiety of a counter-offer that's at the top of their budget. This is a big change from the past few years. 

Buyers can exhale and attach conditions to their offer that protect them. They can buy not because they have to, but because they want to. 

Buyers who aren’t driven by desperation ask more questions. 

Surprisingly, Canadians are not knowledgeable about real estate. An recent survey from TD revealed that: 

• 52% of Canadians are not knowledgeable about Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC)

• 40% are not knowledgeable about the difference between Variable and fixed interest rates

• 33% are not knowledgeable about how rising interest rates will impact their mortgage maturity

• 40% don’t understand how the mortgage pre-approval process works

• 27% of Canadians declare they are not knowledgeable about what other costs are involved in buying a home

These are just two of the silver linings in the economic storm. And really, they are just storm clouds at the moment.