This was the last property Amy Barratt and I listed, a really well maintained duplex on Valiquette St. in western Verdun. It has two two-bedroom apartments, with the unfinished but high, dry and clean basement accessible from the ground floor. It also has a nice fenced yard.
I had meant to feature it on my blog, but never got the chance. We signed the contract with the vendor on a Tuesday, spent Wednesday taking photos and measurements and entering the information on the Montreal Real Estate Board's computerized MLS. (A loooooong process). We started getting calls on Thursday. By Saturday we had an accepted offer. The whole thing was wrapped up - inspection and financing included - within 12 days.
The vendors are pleased. We got them just about 97 per cent of their asking price without any unpleasantness, hostility or anxiety. The buyers are a nice couple expecting their first baby. They plan to finish the basement and to use the rent from the upstairs unit to offset their mortgage.
I wish I had ten more of these duplexes to sell.
Prices are gonna take a knock now that rates are up. Good luck explaining to vendors that yesterdays prices are unrealistic today.
ReplyDeleteAh Kristian, how you do love to stir the pot. Ask any vendor in Verdun whether they would rather have yesterday's prices or today's and the answer would be unanimous.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few neighborhoods in Montreal where prices seem to be immune to fluctuations in interest rates or the doings of the economy. The People's Republic of the Plateau, which should have its own area code and monetary system, is one. NDG's Monkland Village, is another.
Verdun, which is close to downtown, benefits from two metro stops (three if you count Jolicoeur just over the aqueduct) broad, green and pleasant streets, lots of parks and public waterfront, continues to benefit from rising property values that remain within reach for the average buyer.
Montreal buyers seek value and as long as they do, neighborhoods like Verdun will be all right.
Values may not continue to increase at the rate they have over the last year, but prices are not coming down. In my experience it's the buyers, not the sellers, who want yesterday's prices. And what about all those people who've been talking about buying for 20 years but kept waiting for prices to come down... how did that work out?
ReplyDelete