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Entering the real estate market? Leave Uncle Mort at home

Be an informed, active buyer or seller, and work with a REALTOR you trust
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Niels Madsen and David Langlois, realtors with MacDonald Realty.

Everyone has an Uncle Mort. He may actually be your uncle, some other relative, or a family friend. What every Uncle Mort has in common is that they know everything there is to know about house construction, real estate, real estate agents, banks, the government, the alien conspiracy and the fake moon landing.

He is also a source of real estate advice for a lot of buyers and sellers.

There is a perceived lack of quality sources of information regarding real estate markets and the real estate process. Buyers and sellers often grasp at any source of information as they find themselves adrift in a sea of misleading and nonsensical market statistics, economic forecasts, market guru prognostications, deceptive marketing practices and indifferent consumer protection.

Uncle Mort’s influence comes about because he is so personally certain of what he knows, so absolutely positive of his position, that in the stressful situation of buying or selling real estate he starts to make sense. Never mind that you normally wouldn’t take his advice on anything, let alone the most important financial transaction of your life.

These are not normal times and the man is just so sure of himself.

It doesn’t matter that he has lived in the same house for 40 years, he obviously knows how markets work and how agents are going to get you. He knows how badly built every house is regardless of the fact that the man hasn’t even looked at a hammer in 30 years, let alone picked one up and built anything. He has friends who have and he’ll tell you all about it, and in your weakened mental state he starts to look like a beacon of common sense in a world gone mad.

Snap out of it. Realize that Uncle Mort and his amazing ability to sense faulty electrical systems by sense of smell alone is not helping you. Do not listen to the horror stories of friends of friends buying a house and discovering it had a troll living in the attic. Don’t take to heart his eyeball assessment of the two-year-old deck that is definitely going to need replacement, or his gut feeling that the foundation is sinking. Ignore his opinion that houses today are built of paper and glue.

Uncle Mort will hold you back, make you second-guess yourself and he will rob you of the confidence you’re going to need to be an active, informed participant in the real estate process. You don’t need him.

Be an informed and active buyer or seller

Real estate isn’t rocket science. You can be an informed and active buyer or seller if you apply your own good common sense and work with a REALTOR you can trust. Your agent should be providing you with clear, unbiased market data so that it should be straightforward enough to make sense of it yourself. If that’s not happening then get a better agent.

Trust yourself and leave Uncle Mort at home.

To learn more, visit madsenlanglois.com or contact Niels Madsen and David Langlois at 250-388-5882.

Related Reading: Choosing the Victoria Neighbourhood that’s right for you

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Don’t rely on ‘Uncle Mort’ for your real estate advice.