Ontario Home Buyers Say They Would Want to See More of a Home If the Price Was Right, Research Shows

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - September 16, 2015) - A large majority of Ontarians -- three out of four -- planning to buy a home in the next two years say that the listing price has a big impact on whether they want to see more of a home, shows research from the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA).

"Setting the sales price is one of the most difficult and critical steps in the home-selling process," says Pat Verge, president of OREA. "If you set your price too high, many prospective buyers won't even look at the property. If you set it too low, you could miss out on thousands of dollars. The objective, then, is to choose a price that is neither too low nor too high."

Realtors use a process known as Comparative Market Analysis to determine a home's market value. That is, they compare a property to similar homes that have sold recently or are currently on the market. Realtors also take into account other factors, such as the mood of the market, the market's current strength or weakness, rising or dropping interest rates, employment rates, buyer confidence and competition with other homes to arrive at a realistic asking price.

"The first few weeks of the listing are the most important," says Verge. "The average time on market varies from area to area. However, regardless of the area, the first few weeks of any listing are important for establishing a good first impression and drawing interest. For eager buyers in a market with tight inventory levels, new listings are highly anticipated, and you can be sure that they will be paying attention to the price among other factors."

The research, conducted by Ipsos Reid and commissioned by OREA for its Ontario Home Ownership Index, a semi-annual province-wide research study, also found that the features on the listing sheet (56%) and interior photos (55%) have a big impact on a buyer's decision to want to see more of a home. Aspects like the average household income of the neighbourhood (22%), the age distribution of the neighbourhood (23%) and proximity to a highway (29%) had the least impact.

Tips for fall home sellers:
In addition to choosing the right list price for your home, creating curb appeal does a lot to attract buyers say Ontario Realtors. To ensure your home stands out and gets noticed for the right reasons this fall, Verge recommends taking care of these simple steps before listing:

• Cut: Make sure trees and bushes are neatly trimmed.
• Clear: Remove leaves and sticks from gutters. Make sure the lawn is mowed, leaves are raked and weeds are removed.
• Clean: Wash windows, pressure-wash dirty siding and decks, and kill mould and mildew on the house, sidewalks, roof and driveway.
• Paint: A fresh coat of paint will transform your front door and provide a more welcoming entrance.
• Primp: Add a boost of colour to your garden with fall bloomers like mums and pansies.
• Upgrade: Change out-dated locks and handles on your front door, replace rusty fixtures and add lighting to the front porch and yard.

For more results from the Ontario Home Ownership Index, visit www.orea.com

Methodology
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between May 20^th and 24^th, 2015, on behalf of the Ontario Real Estate Association. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Ontarians from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/-3.5 percentage points of what the results would be had all adults in Ontario been surveyed.

About The Ontario Home Ownership Index
The Ontario Home Ownership Index is designed to reflect Ontarians' overall views of the residential real estate market in Ontario, and incorporates measures such as Ontarians' perceptions of whether the market in their neighbourhood, city, and Ontario, respectively, have improved or worsened in the last year and looking ahead into the future, whether home ownership is important to them and whether it is a good investment in the long-term. The first wave of the index, conducted in the fall 2013, was set to a baseline of 100 points.

About the Ontario Real Estate Association
The Ontario Real Estate Association represents 60,000 brokers and salespeople who are members of the 40 real estate boards throughout the province. OREA serves its REALTOR® members through a wide variety of professional publications, educational programs, advocacy, and other services. www.OREA.com

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