How REALTORS® Help?

Posted by admin | May 18th, 2010
buying new homes, Gatineau, How Realtors Help, New Home Alert, New Home Ottawa, online home research, Ottawa Home Builders | No Comments »

Many of you have probably seen the ads running on television promoting the website http://www.howrealtorshelp.ca/. I (Seb Lessard- CEO of New Home Alert) visited the website and found it to be very insightful and easy to navigate. I recommend to everyone entertaining the idea of buying or selling a home to take a look at the website to learn more about the important role of a REALTOR® during the purchasing and selling process. Visitors to the website can find very practical tools (forms and checklists) they can download and use before and during their house hunting experience.

The one thing missing on the http://www.howrealtorshelp.ca/ website is information about buying a new home (pre-construction) and the role of a REALTOR® if one chooses a new construction rather than a resale home.

With 9 out of 10 future home buyers using the web to start their research for their next home, many of them are now finding the choice in new homes available by local homebuilders. In Ottawa and Gatineau, the www.newhomealert.ca website presents more than 1,500 new home listings in over 100 residential communities. Can a REALTOR® help their home buyer clients uncover the choice available? Would it be beneficial for home buyers to have a REALTOR® assist them with buying a new home? You bet!

With “MLS like” search engines catering to the residential construction industry (such as www.newhomealert.ca) and the ‘for sale by owner’ industry (such as www.grapevine.ca), it may be time for REALTORS® to start learning about the role they can play to assist home buyers looking to buy a home not represented by a real estate agent.
There’s no doubt about it, REALTORS® really do have a wealth of knowledge to share with their clients, and their participation in a transaction alleviates many of the hardships involved. With easy to access information via web and mobile technologies, REALTORS® can rise to the top of their very competitive field by simply being able to help in all aspects of their local housing market.

The real estate game will drastically change for real estate agents with the imminent changes to the MLS service and the REALTORS® loss of its exclusive use. Add to this, emerging services where home buyers can find more web resources they can use and in no time, we could see the role of a REALTOR® diminish in importance…unless they become more multi-faceted in the expert knowledge they can share with their clients. Maybe that’s how the role of a REALTOR® will be defined in the future.  Just a thought!

Russell, Ontario – Home of the beautiful Milan

Posted by admin | May 6th, 2010
Corvinelli Homes, John Corvinelli, Milan model Home, New Homes Ottawa, Ottawa Home Builder, Russell ON, Solidex Place | 2 Comments »

As I (Gen Tremblay), sit down with long-time home builder John Corvinelli and his sales representative Tanya at a local diner in Russell, Ontario, I realize how very familiar everyone and everything seems around me. Why do I feel so at home in this place? Why do all of these smiley faces look familiar? As I listen to John and Tanya describe their daily lives in this very quaint village, I realize that the people of Russell, including John and Tanya, have everything to do with that ‘homey’ feeling.

Driving just 30 minutes east of Ottawa to get to Russell, I appreciate this time to unwind and relax before meeting with Corvinelli Homes. So what takes me there? The beautiful Milan home model in the residential community of Solidex Place. Chris Dunn of Reality Homes and I are there to shoot a video tour of this beautiful 1,700 sqft bungalow. John gives us a personal tour of the home, and describes his home with such pride, as if he had nailed every single nail himself. And then just like a magician pulls a trick from his hat, he starts to talk passionately about the energy-efficient features in all of his homes and the awards he has won for building green homes. Now he’s talkin’, so much so that this deserves its own blog posting. Stay tuned…

I’ve always been attracted to bungalows, but The Milan is a winner for me. I’ll let you see for yourself. Enjoy the video!

Mission: Get to know Ottawa Home Builders

Posted by admin | May 6th, 2010
New Home Alert, New Home Builders, New Homes Ottawa, Ottawa Home Builders, Ottawa New Home Builders, President New Home Alert | No Comments »

My first blog posting…ever! I’m a bit nervous, but I’ll get over it! I’m Gen Tremblay, President of NewHomeAlert.ca, and my goal with this blog is to share with you the experiences that I have with our local home builders as I develop relationships with them. What I’m learning is that there is a face behind each builder, and each one of them has a story. But most importantly, somewhere in Ottawa, I think there is a builder that is building the perfect house for you, in your ideal neighbourhood. So my mission is to give you insight on these builders and hopefully help you in your home purchasing decisions.

When I first started out with New Home Alert, I didn’t know the size of the Ottawa new home industry. I could only name five home builders in Ottawa (who shall remain nameless). I’m pretty sure if we compared lists, we would have the same names. So now I’m learning, and my personal commitment is to bring you a series of insightful blog postings, short and sweet. And the first one follows.