Buyers be ready. Go to your banks, brokers, and re-evaluate your buying capacity. The market is changing from a sellers’ market to a balanced market. The buyers will begin to have more negotiation power, maybe not for every property, however, we have gone from 20 offers to 10 offers, now to 2 offers on most properties. Make the offer, the worst the seller will do is say “no”. Will we see massive price drops, I don’t believe so, will we see a slight correction, probably. I would be ready as properties are going to sit on the market a bit longer, agents are going to get aggressive when it comes to getting sellers to drop their price as they can’t afford to hold properties. The bigger agents, the ones that have been selling 100 per year will drop back as their ability to turn over properties and pay their team members will all but evaporate. Sellers, be wary of overpricing your property. Think about the bigger picture, think about the 35% increase we’ve had over the last 12 months. If you’re buying and selling in the same market, the property you’re buying will have the same market as you are selling in. If the property that you’re selling drops 5%, the property you’re buying will also drop 5%. If you price your property wrong at the start, the 5% can quickly drop to 10% as we know the longer a property is on the market, the less attractive it becomes and your negotiation power gets weaker. This isn’t to say a seller shouldn’t be patient in finding the right buyer, but you need to know when a good offer comes up to take it. Your agent should help you with this scenario. It’s imperative you make your property be seen by as many people as possible. Marketing and negotiation are the reasons you hire a real estate agent and now is when this stands up above all other factors (expensive car, nicely dressed, good hair style, great watch, awesome jewellery, etc) – focus on their ability to market and negotiate as if their life depended on it.