Have you heard that “nothing lasts forever?” I’m sure you have. Have you thought about that at all in relation to the current real estate market in Southern Ontario? I’m not here to put a damper on things or bring you down, however, it might be worth just a moment of your time.
Markets change. It’s a fact. No one wants to hear that the good times will end, but they do and will. Then they will go back to being good. That’s life. Get used to it. This is a great time to pick the brain of a more experienced agent who has seen a recession. Can you imagine the knowledge and insight you can get from them? This would put you way ahead of your competition when that time comes.
I should have taken my own advice. And I come from a family in real estate! I lived through a recession. Before it came, I was in my late 20s and selling homes in a market where the average age of a buyer was 40. To say it was difficult is an understatement. But I was doing very well for a 27-year-old making six figures at the time and having a blast. If you had told me that I would wake up one day and it would all be wiped away I would not have believed you.
But it did. It really did. The sales just stopped, the income was cut in half, then in half again! I was blindsided by the recession of the early ’90s. What a rough time, to say the least. But here I am almost 30 years later and look at the market today.
I never gave up, never quit, never tried another career. I knew in my gut this too couldn’t last forever and that I had to weather the storm. Working through that recession gave me a chance to build on my career and take it to another level. The knowledge of how markets change was priceless. I survived.
You can too. It will happen, just be prepared.
Jeffrey Wagman is a partner and broker of record at Forest Hill Real Estate in Toronto. He sells homes and condominiums in the central Toronto market and is consistently ranked in the top one per cent of all real estate salespeople in Toronto.
