edgey

We are moving house in Winnipeg but i presume this thread will be relevant for all provinces. Is it just me or is it really frustrating trying find a new house and sell your own. With the bidding wars going on at the moment it is difficult to find a house you like (and can afford) when you are not sure what your own house will sell for. i know the system in the UK was floored but at least you knew pretty much the asking and selling prices of property you were viewing. If you have $230,000 to spend you really need to view houses in the $190-200,000 range.

Biiiiink

I was completely used to that system, coming from Scotland where houses are listed tens, even hundreds of thousands under what the vendor would actually accept for them.

Has your realtor given you an idea of what yours will achieve? A minimum you should take?

edgey

We are using the same realtor that purchased our house for us two years ago. He has given an idea of what we can expect but even he admits it's what happens on the day. We viewed a house last weekend in Southdale that was listed at $199,000........it sold for $260,000.

Grah

Well follow you own advise and shop for what you expect yours to sell for. Because if you get more you'll probably have to pay that amount more on the new one.

What area are you moving too?

MB-Realtor

I'm afraid this is a really big problem at the moment, and there is no magic formula anyone can offer to figure out what value to go in at. The selling price is dependant on the most desperate bidder with the deepest pockets, and no one can pre-guess what that is.

There is only one approach, that is to bid the maximum that you can afford on a house you want, eventually you will be successful, but you and your Realtor could suffer through many unsuccessful bids.

This is the advice I'm giving all my clients:-

A word of warning, you need to understand that you will most probably end up paying more than the house would normally be worth in a balanced market. The asking price should be close to what the estimated market value is (your Realtor can check this for you before you bid). If the market returns to normal (Normal in Winnipeg is a Buyers market) you may not even achieve that price (the asking price) if you try to re-sell within the next few years.

If you are going to buy the home and not have to re-sell for several years then going over asking should not be too much of a problem, if you think you may have to sell within the next year or two............ well you need to go in with your eyes open to the possible problems.

But Houses are a bit like buses, eventually one will turn up for you.

Good Luck