Question:
We are considering selling our house ourselves and save the commission. We have friends who have done this on a local website and they had no problems. We have read in your columns that a REALTOR® is a professional trained in the buying and selling of real estate, and we understand that, but it really looks easy enough to us that we think we want to do it ourselves.  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We are thinking about changing our furnace in our older home, which presently has a boiler type furnace converted to gas, to a more efficient type of furnace. How would this affect our selling price, if we decide to sell, and would it be easier to put on the market?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
I am being transferred by my work to a different province. Can I claim my move as a tax deduction?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We have been looking at house with a REALTOR® over the past few weeks here. We have not been successful as of yet but I am concerned regarding the state of some of the homes I have looked at. When we sold our last home in British Columbia our REALTOR® advised us to clean our home and keep it clean while people were looking, and I am appalled at the condition that I am finding some of these houses in. I asked our REALTOR® about this and she said that she recommends to her clients exactly what we were told to do, but not all sellers follow that advice. I am astonished to find that sellers do not seem to care about the condition their home is in when others look at it. My question is will a clean home sell better than one that isn’t?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We are considering selling our home in the near future. We have been watching those home improvement shows on the television regarding getting your home ready to sell, and we are wondering if its true what they say regarding preparing to sell a house?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We are planning to sell our home in the near future. We have decided to use a real estate professional to assist with the selling of our home. Our question is, is there a set rate that REALTORS® charge for commission.  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We recently bought a new home. We had been dealing with a REALTOR®, but we had been checking out one of the “for sale by owner” websites and saw something on there we liked...  Read the rest of this question and the answer

Question:
Recently I have started to look for a house. I am always on the mls.ca website checking out properties as well as scanning real estate ads and real estate office windows. I have been working with a particular REALTOR® who has been very good at calling me about new listings. My question is should I be calling my REALTOR® if I see something advertised by another real estate firm?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We have had our house listed on the MLS® system for six months. We have had numerous showings but no offers. Our REALTOR® has been advising us the price is too high, and last week we considered his advice and drop our asking price substantially. With-in 2 days of the price reduction we had three offers, and we accepted the one for the full asking price now. Three days after we accepted our REALTOR® brought us an offer or our original asking price. My questions are twofold here, one can we take the newer offer even after accepting the other, and why did our REALTOR® bring this last offer to us?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We have had our home listed with a REALTOR® for several months now with no results. Houses in our neighborhood have also come up for sale and have sold. We have talked with our REALTOR®, Bill, who has been a family friend for years, and he tells us that our price is too high...  Read the rest of this question and the answer

Question:
The Moose Jaw Real Estate Board Inc did not receive any inquiries this week so I thought I would share with our readers an article I found. It was written by an anonymous author and its is called “ I am Real Estate”  Read this week's article

Question:
We recently listed our home with a local real estate company. In due time we received a note from the Moose Jaw Real Estate Board Inc. thanking us for using the services of a REALTOR®. Included with the letter was a copy of our listing for us to look over. I noticed that there is a part called local improvement levy which has zero beside it. Could you please explain what this is and why it is information needed on our home?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
Recently we decided to sell our home of 35 years. We phoned the Real Estate office we bought the home from, and not surprisingly the agent we dealt with had retired. We were put in contact with a truly delightful young lady named Linda who helped us in selling our home. Linda was a very professional and knowledgeable and she shoed us many ways to get our home ready for sale. The one concern we had was the number of times we had to sign papers. I am sure we signed different papers six or seven times. Is this a normal thing now in selling your house?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We recently wrote an offer with our REALTOR®, Steve, and it was accepted. We are very excited as this is our first home, and we felt very comfortable dealing with Steve. Steve was telling us about closing costs and although he did a great job on this I am still confused on the property tax costs. We understand that we have to pay our share but we would like to have an idea what that amount will be so we can have funds allocated when we see the lawyer. Please could you explain how the share in property tax is determined?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We have been looking for a home in town with a REALTOR® for about a week now. Nancy, our REALTOR®, will call us about a new listing; provide us with a copy of the listing so that we can drive by first, and if we like what we see she sets up an appointment to go see it. So far we have seen four houses we liked, but they were not exactly what we were looking for. Are we being too fussy, and are we driving Nancy crazy?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
Last year we purchased our first home. Our REALTOR®, Myrna, was extremely helpful. We expressed our concern that paying more than a house was worth was a worry for us as my husband is in a highly mobile job...  Read the rest of this question and the answer

Question:
A few months ago I phoned my REALTOR’S® office, and I was informed she was in a seminar for most of the day. My request was not urgent so I called her the next day and got the information I needed. My question is regarding this seminar that she was taking, the person who answered said Barb was in the CPD course. I never thought to ask her what this was but I read last week’s column and it reminded me of this. What is the CPD course?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
I am recently retired from my job and I am considering Real Estate as a career. Please provide me with some basic requirements and who I should contact to help with this decision.  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We recently worked with a REALTOR® on the purchase of our first home. The entire experience was very pleasant and we are very happy with the home we will be moving into. When we wrote up the contract to purchase Ken, our REALTOR®, asked us how much we were going to put down as a good faith deposit...  Read the rest of this question and the answer

Question:
We recently listed my mother’s house with a REALTOR®. She brought us all the papers to sign and included in them was a form she called a PCDS. Grace, the REALTOR, told us we need not fill out the form as we have never lived in the property. She drew a line across the page and wrote “seller never lived in property” and had us sign it. What did we sign? Should we have signed it?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
I am purchasing my first home, and my REALTOR® showed me a form with a bunch of inspections and things on it. Are these really necessary?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
We are working with a REALTOR® currenrly in buying a house. He has gone through the list of expenses we will incur in this purchase. One of the costs to us is a lawyer. Why do we need a lawyer when we are buying a home?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
I am interested in looking at a for sale by owner property, but I want to take my REALTOR® along for advice. Is this possible?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
A friend of my recently became a REALTOR®. My husband and I decided that we would like to look at some homes so we called her. Linda (not her real name) was very excited to show us property, and suggested we meet with her at her office one night during the week so she could go over some listing information with us on her computer...  Read the rest of this question and the answer

Question:
I have recently been to my banker and have been approved for a mortgage. Why should I use a REALTOR®?  Read the answer to this question

Question:
How do I choose a REALTOR® to sell my home?  Read the answer to this question

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The Moose Jaw Real Estate Board reserves the right to print only those questions that they deem appropriate. If you would like to have a personal response to your question include your name & address and a reply will be forwarded to you.

Address your inquires to:
Ask A REALTOR®
c/o Moose Jaw Real Estate Board
79 Hochelaga St. W.
Moose Jaw, SK
S6H 2E9