3 Quick and "Clever" Games to understand Buying Property

Let's play some games today.

GAME 1:
Let's play>>>>

"Darts". I give you 3 darts and I take 20. You shoot first. I shoot second. Not fair? Of course not. I have more chances to increase my score.
In real world: Buyers going to open houses see maybe 10% of inventory available. Many don't open house.
Buyer's working thru mls.ca miss first 2 days of marketing of property-theres a lag buyers working w agents don't have.
Good agents have networks for "exclusive/non mls/no sign on property listings.
Advantage--guy with more darts and guy with Agent gets more chances to throw darts!

GAME 2:
"MARBLES"

One red marble and 10 white marbles get dropped on floor. Red marble is asking price of homes in this market that you're looking at.
White marbles are recent solds and recent asks and history of house you're interested in.
As a Buyer, you need to know the comps inside out. Have the others been reno'd? What are the reno's worth? What's the lot size? School district? What's history of house being marketed? How many times has it been marketed? How long did it take the first time around to sell? Were comps sold is similar market and how to adjust for smaller lot, mutual drives, south side of street, easements...etc.
Advantage--guy who has all his marbles together!

GAME 3:

"You're the Agent"!
Let's make up a scenario. Here it is:
House for sale. Ask 699k. Easement in back. Pool inground. Reno's done namely a family room addition. Mutual drive with pad park.
Do your best negotiating. My hunch is you're thinking price and closing date and deposit and you're gonna work you're magic to get a deal.Assuming it's not multiples (where other strategies come in)!
Hey...were you concerned at all about saving your ass here?
Did you consider the easement and the pool? Is it legal to have pool over easement?
Is family room addition legal?
Survey illustrate that?
Was the pad park legal?
So on top of the price, deposit and closing date...this scenario would call for quite a few clauses to protect you on closing or it could get costly.
Btw...if the house was assessed pre renos/additions...MPAC will msot certainly reassess and taxes will go up. But you knew that! There may be a need for a holdback here folks!!

My point...these are 3 quick games. In our world of buying and selling, there's a lot more. A dedicated and knowledgable buyer agent is a must and commission is priced into the house regardless--sunk cost so you might as well get the help you likely need!!

cheers----