BY HUGH MCKENNA, THE CANADIAN PRESS APRIL 17, 2013

Homeowners risk coughing up big bucks if they're also smokers, according a survey of Ontario real estate agents and brokers.

The survey found that smoking in the home can reduce the value of the property on resale by up to 29 per cent.

The study was sponsored by Pfizer Canada, a pharmaceutical company whose products include a smoking cessation medication.

It estimates a potential loss of up to $107,000 on a home in Ontario, where the average price is around $369,000.

The study found that an overwhelming majority of 401 real estate agents and brokers in the survey agreed that it is more difficult to sell a home where owners have smoked.

More than half of respondents - 56 per cent - said most buyers are less likely to purchase a home where people have smoked, and 27 per cent said most buyers are unwilling to buy a home where people have smoked.

In Canada, an estimated 15 per cent of homes have at least one regular smoker. The survey was conducted between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6 and is considered accurate 19 times out of 20 within a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

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More than 20 interested buyers and Realtors missed out on this new listing!  It's not as much as a buyers market as many think.  Often, new listings are well priced and sell very quickly.  It's time to get off the fence.

For over a year now, Karl, Tori, and Mark of the Preferred Homes Team have been saving our clients time and winning more competitive offers by taking advantage of the speed, security, and accuracy of electronic contracts & signatures.  Our clients don't have to go through the hassle of printing & scanning contracts back to us, and they have told us that they love it!  There are no more late night evening visits to get that initial to finalize a contact!

We're such strong believes in our DocuSign system system that we have been giving presentations to other Realtor groups and doing all that we can to promote the benefits to others.

Today, we were absolutely thrilled to hear the Canadian Real Estate Association has adopted DocuSign nationally.  If you are already working with the Preferred Homes Team you are already benefiting.  If not, it's time to either switch to us, or ask your Realtor to sign up with DocuSign and start saving you time and hassle.  

Click here to learn more:

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The results for the last week were a little better for both single family homes and condos in terms of the number of properties sold.  However, as I have been saying every week this spring, the homes that are selling are selling because they are priced properly for today's market.  That means at a lower price than the property would have sold for last year.  This is backed up clearly by looking at the data.  Houses that have been on the market for a month or more are generally not selling unless there is a price correction.  Newly listed properties, ones that are priced well, are selling very quickly.  So, if you have a home to sell, the news is actually very good!  Properly price your home and you will definitely find a buyer.  You will likely sell for a bit less than you would like, but you will make that back up when you buy!

Here are the raw results for the last 30 days:

Over the last 30 days, 274 single family houses were sold, up by 24 houses from last week.  The median price is up $3,875 to $518,875. The average house was on the market for 34 days.  In the same time period, 125 condos were sold, up by 4 condos from last week.  The median price is up $8,500 to $280,000. The average condo was on the market for 55 days.

There are now 2,045 houses for sale, up by 38 from last week.  Condo inventory has risen by 34 to 941 suites.

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