Buying a House featuring Kindra Sowden

EPISODE SUMMARY

If you're looking for some tips on the home buying process, this episode is for you! Kindra Sowden is one of Saskatoon's top Realtors and she gives some great advice when it comes to making one of the biggest purchases of your life. No pressure….

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TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE

1. All things buying a house 
2. Reasons you might want to use a realtor
3. Assembling your home purchase dream team 
4. Step-by-step process of a home purchase 
5. Ways to make sure you make a good decision on one of the biggest purchases of your life 

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Kindra Sowden - Website


OTHER EPISODES

6. Insuring Your Most Valuable Asset

9. Do I Really Need a Will?  An Interview with Elizabeth Williamson


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Transcript

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S2E3 Buying a House  

Evan: Hello, and welcome to episode three of season two of the Canadian Money Roadmap podcast. I'm your host, Evan Neufeld. Today, I'm speaking with Kindra Sowden, consistently one of the top residential realtors based out of Saskatoon. We'll be discussing all things related to buying a house, including the reasons why you might want to use a realtor, the step-by-step process of a home purchase, and some ways to make sure you make a good decision on one of the biggest purchases you'll ever make. 

So, Kindra, thanks so much for joining me.  

Kindra: Thanks for having me, Evan. 

Evan: Okay, so in the intro I described you as a realtor, but I've also heard the term real estate agent before, is there a difference? There is? Okay can you tell me the difference. 

Kindra: Often the terms are used interchangeably, but there is actually a difference. I know I've even called myself a real estate agent, often the public that's kind of what they relate to. 

They don't really know there is a difference, but there is. So a realtor is a licensed professional who guides people through the home buying and home selling process through organized real estate. Now there are real estate agents and the way I like to describe them are salespeople. So maybe they work with the home builder.  They represent strictly that home builder, they can sign the contracts and they finish it from there. But a realtor is actually a member of CREA, which is our Canadian Real Estate Association. We pay annual membership fees. We have to abide by a code of ethics and we participate in continuing education throughout the year to maintain our status as a member of the real estate association.  So there is a difference. Most of it just comes to accreditation.  

Evan: So kind of like in our industry, where we can have Accredited Financial Planners versus, investment salespeople or representatives or things like that. Okay, so if I'm looking for someone to help me purchase a house, would someone represented by any of the major brokerages be a realtor typically? 

Kindra: Yes. If you're associated with a brokerage, you will, majority of cases have the realtor with the registered symbol on it as well to show that you are a member of the Canadian Real Estate Association and gone through all that accreditation.  

Evan: Gotcha. Okay. So when it comes to buying a house, I can look on MLS myself and I can kind of poke around and see what kind of house I’d like and some of the features and all that kind of stuff.  But why would I want to use a realtor for a home purchase. 

Kindra: So there's obviously a ton of options and reasons why you would want to do that, but I could give you, but the biggest thing and  the most general aspect of why I can maybe advocate for using a realtor is you don't know what you don't know.  And there are so many things that a realtor actually does throughout a real estate transaction related to due diligence that most people aren't even aware of. We don't necessarily need to tell you every little thing we're doing, but it comes on both sides. Like how do you know a seller actually has the right to sell that property, right? A real fair question, like number one and right off the bat. There are a few examples now, myself, if I'm giving a personal example before I became a realtor, I sold a property without using a real estate agent or a realtor, I guess I should say. Now looking back on that transaction as a realtor, there are a lot of things that could have easily gone wrong and that I did not do correctly.  We got lucky that it worked out. But yeah, the biggest thing is you don't know what you don't know. An example of this is I know somebody who went and bought a Lake lot, and they thought they were buying two acres. They purchased it privately, went through the lawyers, everything was done, exchange cash, titles there.  Only to find out later that they didn't actually buy two acres, they bought three quarters of an acre and that makes a big difference in value right there.  But they were on the land and you think, well, how do you not know what three quarters of an acre is compared to two acres? There is a huge hill on this property.  It was distorted and some people really don't know how big those lots feel, right? What does an acre even feel like? So those are things that, you know, should have been picked up. Had they used a realtor. It never would have got to that in the first place.   

Evan: Very interesting.  So the things that you don't know might be pretty obvious to a trained eye. 

Kindra: Exactly. Yeah. That's why we go through organized real estate. Like we have sets of rules and bylaws and practices that we follow for a reason.  

Evan: Okay. So it is possible to purchase or sell a home privately, but your risk of getting something wrong is much higher without a silver second thought if you will.  

Kindra: 100%. That pretty much sums it up right. 

Evan: Now if someone's looking to buy a house, now we could talk about maybe COVID specific things these days and so this may be different, but if someone's looking to buy a house, what are the steps involved from saying “I'm just kind of looking around and I'm kind of sick of my roommates maybe I should start looking for a place” or, “Oh, we've got the third baby on the way. Maybe we should get a bigger home”,  So what are the steps involved from going from that stage to actually picking up the keys and moving in?  

Kindra: There's quite a few, but I think the first thing where you want to start is you need to assemble your home buying dream team.  And I use the word team for a reason. It typically starts with finding either a realtor or a mortgage specialist. You can do either, or lots of times people get recommendations from their friends or family on one or the other, sometimes both, which is totally fine, but reach out to one of those two people. 

The first thing you want to do is get your mortgage. Pre-approved make sure you can buy, make sure you can sell and then purchase. And if so, how you're going to do that. So the mortgage pre-approval is great. If you reach out to a realtor first 99% of the time, they should be asking you if you're working with the mortgage specialist or broker at that time. 

And if not, they can make a recommendation. So you want to make sure that those two people specifically are working really well together because throughout the course of your transaction, they're going to have interactions as well to make sure that you're getting the best advice and guidance on both sides and everyone's being kept in the loop as things progress. From there you start your search. So you find a realtor and how you find a realtor. There's lots of us, right? You really want to find somebody who works well with you. And we're not all the same. We all offer different services, just strictly based on who we are as people. 

So you want to ask yourself, do I like and trust this person, do I want to spend time with this person? Because you will spend time with that person. Can you confide in them and ultimately, do they have your best interest at heart? So you really want to make sure if you're not feeling that from your realtor or your mortgage broker specialist, maybe you want to find somebody who you feel does have those qualities. 

Evan: Maybe before we go too much further. What if you're in a situation where you've kind of been looking around with a realtor and you say, I don't know if this is really a good fit. Is there a contractual obligation or even you know, like an unwritten code of like, well we started this and we're going to finish it. 

How does that work actually? 

Kindra: Great question because this does happen. There's two situations. One, some realtors will make you sign a buyer's brokerage contract saying I'm committing to working with you for X amount of time. It kind of protects the realtor in their relationship with the buyer because we spend a lot of time with our buyers. 

They can obviously go ahead and purchase with somebody else. And we have no compensation for our time. So some agents will sign a buyer's brokerage, some will not. I typically, I don't think I've ever signed a buyer's brokerage because I'm of the opinion where if it's not working out for either one of us that's okay. Right. You know, for both me and for the buyer, it needs to work for both of us, but so there can be a contractual obligation. Just depending on how that initial relationship was set up. Right. But yeah, ultimately being upfront and honest with each other is the best policy.  

Evan: That's a good rule of thumb when it comes to most things in life, but especially when it comes to money and big purchases. 

Kindra:  You don't want to feel resentment or animosity or tension when it comes to this. There's enough of that. You want to make sure you're working well with somebody. So if it's not, speak up.  

Evan: Right. Okay, so you found a realtor. 

Kindra: Yeah and then you get to start searching.  Typically online is where people start. You can have listings sent to you that meet your search criteria as well, ongoing conversations with your realtor. Just to kind of see what's out there and go look at houses. What they look like online is way different than what they look like in person. 

For various reasons and both good and bad, they could look terrible online just based on photos and you walk in and it's actually an amazing home and vice versa. The photography is fantastic. You walk in and the photography is really hidden a lot of the flaws of a home as well. So get a feel for a house because how you feel in a house is ultimately the biggest selling point. 

Evan: Kindra and I are chuckling here a little bit because when Becky and I were looking for our house and Kindra was helping us.  We had a few of these, my dad might refer to them as wrong numbers. It really pays and Kindra, this is your advice to us make sure you see a lot of homes, so you know what you don't want. Because it's pretty easy to figure out the things that you do want, lots of natural light and I want a brick fireplace and whatever, but until you start seeing a variety of places, it's like, Oh, maybe I don't want a hundred-year-old wood floors. 

Kindra: Yeah, exactly. So that's actually really good advice. So once you find that house, that's when it's time to negotiate. You want to know, is that how much it's actually worth what they're asking for it?  And as a realtor, just like I would do for a listing for my buyers, I'm going to do a market evaluation on that home. I'm going to show them comparable properties, what they've sold for, what the market's doing right now and make adjustments accordingly. Before we start negotiating, I give them a range of what I think it's worth. 

And then we discuss the strategy on how we're going to get there in terms of offers we're going to put together. Once the deal is negotiated, you have a conditional sale and then you have conditions to meet. So even though you got your mortgage pre-approved, you have to get it a firm approval on it now. 

The bank needs to approve the home that you're buying. Make sure everything is still accurate from when you first got your pre-approval. So you may need to submit some more documents to your mortgage broker and of course there's things like home inspections, Permit holes,  gas line locates and reviewing property condition disclosure statements to make sure you're a hundred percent comfortable buying this property now that you have more information about it. 

Evan: Now you mentioned something about home inspections there. If you're buying a new construction, do you still recommend getting a home inspection done? Because you know, the city or the local governing bodies should have been doing inspections along the way. So is it necessary to have a third party come in? 

Kindra: I always recommend they do. I had clients walk away from a brand-new build because of the items and discrepancies that were found in a home inspection. It didn't give them the confidence that that was a well-built home. Yeah. And even for talking Warman and Martinsville too, they have different.. 

Evan: For our listeners outside of Saskatchewan, these are smaller towns just out of Saskatoon.  

Kindra: Right, thank you. So those are different municipalities who have different I guess building codes that they abide by too, or their inspections are different or sometimes done privately. It can really vary, but everyone, I would a hundred percent recommend it.  Especially during big building booms, like we had quite a few years ago where houses were going up like crazy, city inspectors were overwhelmed. They came sometimes, not saying this happened, but this is an assumption I'm making, they came to a property. They said, yeah, it looks good. Don't forget to pull the installation in and here's your stamp that it's all done and I'm moving out to the next home. Well, those home buyers purchased that home and a few years later found out they had no insulation in their attic. So these things do happen. A home inspection would have caught that instantly. So, I always tell clients too with inspections, you're always going to get either a home tip or identify something or maintenance suggestion.  That's probably going to save you the cost of that home inspection down the road sometime. You know, you're going to learn something about your home that you didn't know.  

Once you have all that done, your mortgage is approved.  The whole instruction is fine. You're ready to actually buy the house. Then we've made it firm and final. We remove our conditions, so, yep. The sold sign goes up, it gets marked on MLS. You are moving in, in a couple of weeks, couple months, whatever it looks like. And then there's things to do between that time. 

So you're setting up utilities, your insurance, preparing for your move, ordering furniture and meeting with your lawyer. This is another part of your home buying dream team and often clients don't have lawyers. I do have real estate lawyers that I can refer clients to, to close that transaction, but that's where you're going to sign your mortgage documents or the purchase contract, bring the rest of your deposit down payment money to the table and get ready for that possession day.  

Evan: So the lawyer is where a lot of the money's actually changing hands. So it's not, you're not talking to the seller. You're not doing that specifically with your realtor. Most of the actual money stuff happens with the lawyers, is that correct?  

Kindra: Yep. That is correct. That's where everything gets checked over interest rates or mortgage rate, mortgages documents are perfected, making sure everything's correct. There are sometimes some errors. So this is kind of like that last step before you actually get the keys to make sure everything is perfect. 

Evan: Right. And there was an interesting thing in our build. I'm not sure if you remember this, but essentially, we thought we were getting a round a sink and there was a square sink put in. If we wanted to change that we would have had to get a brand-new countertop and things like that. And it's a big Island, so it would have been a bit of an ordeal and so we said, well, instead of delaying things even further, we'd be okay with financial compensation. And so again, the lawyer was involved there. Yeah, I think you were involved with speaking with the builder for us.  

Kindra: Yep. Again, the dream team comes into play. We're all communicating with the each other.  I do remember that.  

Evan: Yeah. And then the check went to the lawyer and then they sent it on to us from there. So there's always an intermediary.  

Kindra: Yeah. You have representation throughout the entire process. You're never alone. Right. And you never have to interact with that seller directly either, which is kind of a relief for a lot of people, because when you're talking money and homes and emotions and all of these things, and some transactions go really smoothly and others are a complete train wreck, it just, it varies, but you always have representation,  

Evan: Yeah. Now, maybe this is more of a comment than a question, but because of those things, if you personally know the seller, I think that's almost a better argument to use a realtor. So there's less risk of damaging a personal relationship from having to have hard conversations with a person a hundred percent. Yeah. Have you seen that happen? 

Kindra: I have seen that happen before. Especially we live in you know, a city that's not overly large by any means. And people know other people. And often I go into homes with buyers and they see pictures on the walls. This is so and so's house. And remember them, we Oh yeah. 

And we really like it. Oh. And we know why they're moving. And like, there's all of these things that come into play and if they like it, but they maybe don't think that it's worth what they're asking for. It's can get a little bit sticky. So there's sometimes the option to put an undisclosed name on an offer just to keep that emotional, like, relationship aspect of it. 

But yeah, it can get, it can get tricky sometimes.  

Evan: So I got you off your train of thought here. So we're, we're at the lawyers. The money has changed hands. 

Kindra: Yep. And then possession date. Okay. So then as the seller's realtor, they'll get a phone call from the lawyer, say keys are releasable.  All the trust conditions are met. The home buyers can have the keys to the home. And then typically you will meet your realtor there, do a walkthrough of the home to make sure it still looks like how you saw it last. There's no big holes in the walls. There's everything that was in the contract negotiated is still there. If there's any issues on that day we have lawyers available. Your realtor is available to be that communication piece for you as well.  

Evan: I'm thinking of a hypothetical situation where the seller leaves a bunch of junk and you don't want to deal with it. What's your recourse there? Do you just say, yeah, it's mine now, just get rid of it. 

Kindra: It can vary, depending on the situation, depending on what's there, I often take some of the stuff out myself. Like if there's extra boxes or just kind of little bits of junk that are left behind, That's fine. But in an ideal situation, seller's representative or realtor goes and does a walk through prior to possession day to make sure all those things are out. 

If it's pretty major. Yeah. You can go and try and have some recourse. Usually it's done through realtors and we cooperate pretty well for the most part to come together to remove that stuff, whether or no we're actually paying to have it removed for our clients because we want this experience to be great for them. 

And nothing ruins a possession date more than a filthy home and stuff left behind. Like it just leaves a dark cloud over the whole experience, even though everything could have been great. So I try my best to do that. My husband Nathan has been employed to come over with the truck and load some stuff up and do a dump run every now and then.  But for the most part, it doesn't happen that often.  

Evan: Okay. Well that's a good overview of start to finish. Is there anything else there that you wanted to cover on that? 

Kindra: There's obviously a million details in between, but a good overview. That's kind of the process.  

Evan: Okay, so during COVID here has any part of that process in particular changed? Maybe just for showings or things like that, maybe there's fewer people in the house where you have to make sure to book appointments, as opposed to just showing up for an open house or things like that, or what is all changed. 

Kindra:  So it's ever changing of course, with everything else. However open houses currently are not allowed. Just trying to really reduce the traffic coming in and out.  

Evan: And an open house versus a showing, an open house is when there's a sign out front and I show up on a Saturday afternoon and just walk in the front door, realtor will be there, take a look around the house and leave. 

Kindra: Right. So those are on pause right now, so yeah, there are definitely new protocols in place for COVID. We have a questionnaire, both buyer and seller fill out same if they've been exposed or have any symptoms related to COVID and then we make sure both parties are okay with each other coming into their homes or viewing their home vice versa.  And then from there, we're always wearing masks. We have hand sanitizer and the number of people allowed in a showing are generally being restricted to the actual buyers. So mum and dad coming is not really an opportunity right now. Just because we're trying to really minimize it and keep our buyers who are serious, coming through the door. Virtual tours have also been on the uptick right now. So you can actually do a 3d virtual tour from the comfort of your own home. So you can really get to see the floor plan and how the home flows. To see if that's an option for you to go and see it in person too. 

So we're really trying to minimize the number of in-person showings to just strictly, really serious people.  

Evan: Right. Okay. And so, because we have listeners across Canada and all these health protocols are provincially specific. I think this is another good argument to look for a realtor in your local communities, so they can actually make sure that your home buying process is safe and that you don't get in trouble for just showing up to a house or things like that.  

Kindra: That's right.  

Evan: So Becky and I, we bought new and we also looked at a bunch of fixer-uppers. I'm not a handy person per se. I know what I'm good at. It's not renovations, so when people kind of weigh that, buying new versus a fixer upper, do you have any tips or potential trouble spots that some people might run into with either one? 

Kindra: Absolutely. As with most things in real estate, there's always, you know, one side of a coin and then another, but I guess when you're considering buying new, there are extra costs that you should expect. 

These should not be unexpected. There are things like once you move in, you have a brand-new home everything's taken care of. You can rest assured that there's no issues there. But then you have things like landscaping, maybe blinds, air conditioning, driveways, decks, sprinklers planning, the landscaping, planning the drainage and these things often cost more than people anticipate. 

And they think, Oh, that's fine. I'll pick away at it over the next few years, which many, many people do, but often it'll be about 10 years and you'd be like, Oh, we haven't had that driveway that we said we were always going to get.  So things to consider, like if you're buying brand new and you have pets, you're probably going to want to fence right away.  If you're there out in the backyard, you also have neighbors, maybe you're the first to move in. You don't have neighbors on either side of you and you're contemplating, well, I want a fence. Well, okay. If you don't have neighbors and you go ahead and put your fence up and it is what it is,  

Evan: Like we have, we're on an Island. 

Kindra: Yeah. It's just you. And sometimes you do have neighbors and then you need to, not need to, but it's generally good to go on chat with your neighbor, say, Hey, here's what we're thinking for a fence. And they could agree with you and grade split the cost, which is fantastic. They could disagree with you and they could want something different too. 

It really, it, you just, you have to think about those things and just be okay. Like if things don't always work out the way you want them to. With older homes too and if you're an HGTV type of person, and I'm not saying that real estate is like HGTV in a 30 minute segment, but when you're renovating an old home, there's always unexpected costs and you're starting to open up walls you have to deal with what's behind them.  

Evan: This is another situation of you don't know what you don't know.  

Kindra: A hundred percent.  Even the most seasoned veteran when it comes to renos will often come across something that they haven't encountered before. So you just have to have contingencies because the snowball effect can really take place in those things. 

Oh, we just want to open up this wall and make it open concept and then there's electrical and HVAC and all of the things. Oh, there's a post in that wall. Oh, well now it's not quite as open concept as we wanted, so you have to be able to adapt, but it's really important to have a contingency plan, both monetarily and with concerns to your time as well, because things often take longer than you think,  

Evan: So if you're thinking about doing renovations in an older home, Or even not so old, but it's just, I don't like the way that looks. I don't like the flooring or whatever the case may be. Make sure you don't overextend yourself on your budget when you're planning the renovations so that if something, or if, and when something goes sideways, you aren't completely exposed or having to go into more debt or put a ”I can put another 5,000 on the credit card”, You know, we want to try to avoid those types of things.  

Kindra: It's really easy to do that. A classic case. I see all the time as people are like, Oh yeah, we'll just put new flooring down, but then you also need potentially new baseboards and they don't budget for that. So really looking at it as a whole and all the little things because those are where you can get a stray.  

Evan: So that's buying new versus something more of a fixer upper. Another one that I have people asking me all the time. I'm sure you get it 10 times more than me. Then buying a condo versus a standalone house. I know condos often have condo fees, but sometimes they have amenities that come along with that. Sometimes they'll shovel for you and all that kind of stuff. But what are some of the costs involved are some of the risks with going either way?  

Kindra: So with condos generally and when people buy them, it can often be a lifestyle decision too. And yes, there are condo fees, so there's extra fees per month. 

However, they take care of some of the things that you don't have to do. You don't have to necessarily shovel the walks or take care of the exterior. All the common areas are generally clean for you. All of those things often they will include some utilities as well. Water's generally always included in most cases.  But also heat can be included as well, building envelope, insurance, as well is included. So your costs while they're higher with regards to condo fees, there's some added benefit in there for you as well. In terms of homes, you're responsible for everything. On the outside, on the inside repairs, condos, you're kind of dry wall in as your responsibility.  Houses, everything's your responsibility. So you've got all of the utilities, your home insurance is going to be more than if you were in a condo. So there's, there's a give and take. Pros and cons to each.  

Evan: What about ability to resell? And this is very market specific. If we're talking about condo in downtown Toronto, it's different than a condo in the suburbs of Saskatoon, but what is your experience been like on resale, but maybe just specifically to our market, I don't need you to speculate on other markets, but in, in our market here. What's that been like for resale value? 

Kindra: Yeah. So there's always a market, regardless of what type of property you have. It can just be very price dependent in most cases. So in recent years, if we're talking about Saskatoon and the condo market, condo owners have been hit pretty hard.  We haven't had an overdevelopment of builders buying or building condos and lots of inventory sitting on the market. So the resale was competing against brand new. Brand new started to see a drop in the number of buyers. So they started dropping their prices, which then really forced resell owners to drop their prices and we had quite a high inventory of condos in recent months, I think mainly due to COVID and people wanting their own place. That has shifted quite dramatically now and we're seeing condos selling quite quickly. So it really just depends and same with the house market. There's always a market for houses and we're going to see valleys fluctuate depending with supply and demand, just like anything else in our  

Evan: Right. So as things fluctuate in value, as the market changes and things like that, there's no rules. Like it's never, condos are bad and houses are good.  

Kindra: That's right. There's no hard and fast rule about it. 

Evan: So using a realtor to get a good lay of the land in your market might help you make a better decision on something that's, that's good for you and your timeline.  If it's just you and a partner or just you and a dog, or, you know, all those different things that can make or break your decision on that kind of thing. 

Kindra: You really have to look at where you are in your life, what your needs and wants are, what your future looks like and plan accordingly. I know there were a few years there where you know, parents would be buying condos for their kids to go to university and that didn't necessarily pay off like it did in years past. Now when I sit down and I chat with people, I want to know what their timelines are, because if I go, well we thought in years past we could buy a house, hang on it for a year or two, make a profit and move.  That's not the case anymore necessarily in our specific markets. So it's constantly changing, constantly fluctuating and that's why you really have to have somebody that you trust to advise you on those things and take your personal situation into consideration. I'm happy to tell you if I think it's a good option to buy, or if you should maybe just stick to renting or, you know, couch surfing for better, whatever that looks like.  I think just getting honest advice is the best policy.  

Evan: So I want to go back to the HGTV thing. I'm not an HGTV watcher at all and so maybe people that watch those channels all the time, know the answer to this question already, but in terms of adding value to your existing home, maybe in preparation to sell it or maybe you're just thinking long-term or something like that when you're buying a new home. But what are some of the features that buyers are typically looking for in a new home? So an existing homeowner can maybe make those renovations.  

Kindra: So to make a bit of a blanket statement, but kitchens and bathrooms are where you want to invest. If you're going to be renovating your home, typically you're going to get the highest return on those. But generally in this market, anyway, you're not going to get a hundred percent of that value back. 

It can vary, of course there's a million variables. But yeah, kitchens, bathrooms is where it's at. However, Paint and cleanliness go a very long way and keeping your property well maintained is the best way to retain value in your home. It can be, you know, dated 1985, but pristine. There's going to be somebody who recognizes that value and will pay. 

Evan: Because if you're looking at a place that's dirty and you know, it's like, Oh, it has a lot of dings in that wall and all these kinds of things. It kind of begs the question of what's below the surface that you're not seeing. 

Kindra: Exactly. It's the little things that people like, Wow, they didn't take care of that, what are the larger items? The more expensive items. They must not have done those either, even if it's not the case.  

Evan: So basic property maintenance is number one, number two are kitchens and bathrooms. Finally here, I kind of know your answer to this, but I'm sure you get it all the time.  But is there a good time to buy or sell a house.  

Kindra: So often people feel the spring is the best time to be in the market, whether you're a buyer or seller and there is an uptick in activity there. However, for me. The best time to buy or sell is when you are ready to buy or sell, not what the market dictates you should be doing at that time. 

And there are various market factors that come into play here. So for instance, if you sell high, you also have to buy high. If you sell low, you have to buy low. It's all relative. There's not just one way is the best way. So when you're ready and then you can talk to your realtor and who can maybe advise you on, Hey, now's not the best time, but you know what? In a couple months, like let's work on getting your house ready to go. You're ready to go. Then that's a good time in the market. Here's what we're seeing right now, based on that I would recommend this timeframe.  

Evan: So if you're changing markets or changing you know, going from a house to downsizing to a condo or things like that, I'm sure. 

The answer changes based on that, you know, it's like, okay, well now the house prices are really high. And condo prices are kind of beaten down right now. If you're looking to downsize. Yeah. This actually is a good time. That's right. But it's very market specific. 

Kindra: Yeah. And it's constantly changing. Like it's always changing.  So, you know, you can stay in touch with your realtor, your advisor, and just keep a pulse on the market. And what's good for you. If it's on your radar, check in with your realtor. There's nothing wrong with that. That's what we're here for. 

Evan: Awesome. Well, thanks for the very practical conversation here.  I think there's lots of good advice for our listeners here. Do you have anything else that you want to add in closing as it relates to purchasing a home or using a realtor?  

Kindra: I think just the most important thing I touched on this earlier is just building that team that you trust and can confide in.  That's the biggest thing. You don't want to go through this experience feeling anything less than completely confident and taken care of. I think that's the biggest thing.  

Evan: Awesome. Thanks, so much for joining me, Kindra. I appreciate it. 

Kindra: Thank you for having me, Evan. 

Thanks for joining me today on the Canadian Money Roadmap Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, I'd really appreciate if you left me a review on Apple podcasts with your biggest takeaway. If you have questions or ideas for topics you'd like me to discuss on future episodes, please reach out via my contact info in the show notes. 

This podcast is intended to be educational in nature, and you should always consult your financial, tax and legal advisors before making changes to your financial plan.  Any rates of return discussed are historical or hypothetical and are to be used for educational purposes only.   Evan Neufeld is a Qualified Associate Financial Planner and Registered Investment Fund Advisor.  Mutual funds are provided through Sterling Mutuals Inc.