While some regions in Ontario have seen a slight cooling off in the surging housing market, Guelph’s housing market has steamrolled ahead with properties selling attracting dozens of bids and going for well above asking.
The housing market has turned even more in favour of sellers, with some properties with homes being sold that have not been staged or even cleaned.
In late March a property in Guelph was listed for $642,999.
The photos of the property showed considerable damage to the interior of the structure.
Stephen Sinclair, the property listing agent and broker with Accsell Realty Inc. said the owner of this particular property had passed away, so the sale was sold through the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee.
“I didn't want to sugarcoat the listing at all,” said Sinclair. “If I do and people show up expecting something better than what's there I’ve wasted their time and that’s not what I am here to do.”
According to Sinclair, the property was listed conservatively, and this listing goes to show how few properties are hitting the market in this price range.
In one room the roof had begun to cave in, the carpets were unusable and the kitchen area was in serious need of deep cleaning, the stove, fridge and floors were covered in filth.
The listing photos did not try to hide the damage to the house, with the description offering this property as a “1,508 Sq Ft 3 Bed 2 bath side split is the gem you've been longing for.”
That house sold in roughly two weeks for $760,000 - a handsome over asking price of $117,001.
The home was listed with a lot size of 50 feet by 100 feet.
The property is listed as a three bed and two bath.
As for who is purchasing these properties, the range can be from investors looking to add a property to their portfolio to first-time home buyers looking to capitalize on an opportunity.
“It’s sometimes speculators, investors or sometimes I believe in this case users who are having a hard time getting into the market,” said Sinclair. “So, they're finding something that is relatively affordable, and I understand relative is kind of an odd word to use, they might have family or the knowledge themselves to fix it up.”
