As the last of the children return to school from warm beaches and snowy hills we are reminded of our obligations as parents to teach our children to be kind to others. Under no circumstances do we permit bullying from our children to their peers. Of course, as adult Realtors we rarely take our own good advice and are constantly talking about Bully offers as the way to get a jump on hot listings before the set offer date.  Now don’t get me wrong, like all good adults when we are doing something so obviously wrong as being a Bully we take the mature step of re-naming the process to something much more socially acceptable, in this case the ‘Pre-emptive’ offer.

Excuse us if we seem a little distracted this month but we normally reserve our March Madness for that basketball tournament going on south of the border. Cinderella stories are all the rage when talking college basketball, but here in the Toronto market she can make it to the big event but never seems to catch the prince. Seeing your team get knocked out of the tournament can be maddening but at least you know that if they work hard and persevere they will be back next year. With competition in purchasing as strong as it has been all year, the real estatemarket is producing more losers than winners

Before we begin, we just want to say that this insight is going to be HUGE! It’s probably the best one so far. Quiet frankly it will blow all the other ones out of the water. It is literally amazing. Actually, it’s not just amazing...it’s INCREDIBLE. We know that you will be think it is the most brilliant report on Toronto’s real estate market EVER. Quiet frankly it is so astonishing that we thought about keeping it a secret just in case it fell into the wrong hands. Security is very important to us so please make sure that before you pass it around to your friends, they have been properly vetted.

Normally we aren't the superstitious types but if listings don't improve quickly we may be forced to throw salt over our shoulders, walk backwards under ladders or burn sage in our offices to break the spell. Generally speaking January is a slow month for new listings but demand is high and the weather has been kind so we were expecting a faster release of new properties on the market. Sellers and buyers alike might just be feeling the pinch of new mortgage rules and increased land transfer taxes.