Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 1,568 residential properties in April through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® system, compared with 1,530 in April 2011, an increase of 2.5 per cent.

April’s sales included 300 in the condominium property class, and 1,268 in the residential property class. The condominium property class includes any property, regardless of style (i.e. detached, semi-detached, apartment, stacked etc.), which is registered as a condominium, as well as properties which are co-operatives, life leases and timeshares. The residential property class includes all other residential properties.

“Sales in April indicate a steady Ottawa market as we sail through spring,” remarks Ansel Clarke, President of the Ottawa Real Estate Board. “Re-sale housing inventory is up by 6.9 per cent since last year, and interest rates continue to be low, indicating that Ottawa remains in a healthy, stable market.”

The average sale price of residential properties, including condominiums, sold in April in the Ottawa area was $364,077, an increase of 3.7 per cent over April 2011. The average sale price for a condominium-class property was $272,851, an increase of 6.7 per cent over April 2011. The average sale price of a residential-class property was $385,660, an increase of 2.6 per cent over April 2011. The Board cautions that average sale price information can be useful in establishing trends over time but should not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value. The average sale price is calculated based on the total dollar volume of all properties sold.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. (Jan. 26, 2012) – According to Nielsen and comScore Media Metrix, the two global leaders in digital measurement, Coldwell Banker branded websites had the highest number of unique visitors among all national real estate franchise brands for full-year 2011. This marks the second consecutive year that the Coldwell Banker brand ranked No. 1 in Web traffic among all real estate franchisors.

“The Coldwell Banker brand is clearly top of mind when consumers go online and search for a home,” said Michael Fischer, chief marketing officer, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “Consumers know our great brand and have shown a desire to utilize the suite of online tools seen throughout the Coldwell Banker network at the national and local levels.”

According to Nielson, Coldwell Banker websites had 17.5 million unique visitors in 2011, which was more than 28 percent higher than the next nearest franchise brand competitor (13.7 million). Similarly, Coldwell Banker branded websites (26.1 million unique visitors) had the highest Web traffic ranking among real estate franchisors in the comScore Media Metrix full-year ranking for 2011, easily outpacing its next nearest competitor by 21 percent (21.6 million unique visitors).

The Coldwell Banker brand continues to place an emphasis on developing its website into a hub for consumers to find and prepare for the home buying and selling process. Recent additions include the lifestyle search page and first time home buyer resource center.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC accessed the aforementioned information through its subscription to both Nielson and comScore Media Metrix. The rankings encompass all consumer Web traffic (unique visitors) to national and local websites operated by the franchise brands as well as by their franchisees.

Just as many people will not send a meal back even if it is lousy, many of your customers will not automatically tell you if they have not enjoyed something with your service. Its easy to ignore it but it will almost certainly cost you clients over time.

When I used to own my Second Cup I noticed that clients said thank you when you took there money and provided them with the product. My staff would then say your welcome. The client would sit and have there drink and then leave without any goodbye or feeling of connectivity. I noticed this very early on in my tenure of owning the shop so I instituted some changes and added it to my training of new employees. Basically we flipped it on it’s head. We started to say “Thank You” instead of “Your Welcome” Clients should be thanked when they purchase something from your business, they shouldnt have to thank you (altough I am always very thankful for my morning coffee!). As well we tried to say goodbye to every single client that leaves the building, even if you are shouting it at them while they walk out the door. It connects them to you and makes them want to come back again and again.

My point in all of this is that in Real Estate you sell someone a house or you sell their home for them and then they never hear from many of us again- no connection.

Here are 4 Quick Tips for staying connected.

1) Say Thank YOU! Do an in person Pop In to your clients new home, theres never a perfect time but make it happen for a quick unintrusive visit.

2) Get Feedback. Send a Hard Copy feedback form with a postage paid envelope to see how you did, ask people to be honest as you need to know what you weaknesses are. More then not people will be thrilled with your service and this provides another level of connectivity.

3) Call them. Clients dont need to hear from you every week but I would think 2 times per year would be a nice gesture to tell them you still care about their home and can help them at any time. This is generally our biggest weakness as life is busy. This is one of those items that takes planning and setting aside an hour twice a week to communicate with people.

4) Have a Client party once per year- simple pop in, appetizers with a few drinks and you will be amazed at how many people feel re-connected to you. This is also for you as you want to feel connected to your client base and really understand what people need.

Hope these tips help, somtimes the simplest things are the biggest challenges, but for the happiness of your clients and the growth of your business simple but consistent is best.

Chad Clost

One of the ultimate Whitehaven Lots, 70 x 119 backing on NCC. Custom home w a truly graceful layout that you will want to visit to get a feel for. Its just waiting to be transformed with it’s huge room sizes. 2748 sq ft (as per MPAC)4 BDRM, main family + Den. Clean, solid, well cared for w/ a South Yard & Inground Pool. Incredible family home, park at the corner, amazing schools, Ottawa River paths, central to everything.

One of the most important items for current and future value in a neighbourhood is the attractiveness of it’s schools. It would be similar to how Starbucks pounds it chest to the statistic that on average neighbourhoods see dramatic increases in value when they first arrive in a community. People love to live where brand names are and somewhat unfortunately this includes Schools.

Schools provide the very basis for a functional neighbourhood and since the inception of the Fraser Institute report they have gained considerable power in influencing where people want to live.  The Fraser institute works as it is not a Government funded institution so we should feel good that we are not being told what is good and bad by the Canadian Government.  Instead we have an independent think tank that seemingly uses variable measures to distinguish a rankof all of the schools in Canada.  I will admit as a parent, home owner and Real Estate agent that I rely on this information and use this information to assist my clients and children in their decisions.  I see what a good school can do for a neighbourhoods property values and like the Starbucks example it would be silly to ignore it from a logical point of view.

On the flip side you cant help but having a slightly skeptical outlook on the whole report as it is so dependant on the socio- economic status of the schools, the organization of the schools to focus on the areas being specifically tested and the willingness to bow to the pressure of being graded the same way as every other school in Canada.  Has education become simply a memorization of relevant information?   This is possibly leading to increased emphasis on that slice at the expense of other skills such as critical thinking and many others.

In the end whether a school is at the top or the bottom of the rankings it comes down to parenting, parent involvement at the school and support for the kids of all socio economic backgrounds. Yes it does affect property value, yes it is a starting point for understanding which schools are succeeding and possibly failing. However don’t let it be the only thing that influences where you live, community, transportation, work and general love of where you live should be an integral part in your decision making. There are great teachers at every school you just need to make the best of it.

Chad Clost