Well, first thing’s first – how the hell am I going to write my “teaser” in one or two short lines? Brevity has never been, nor ever will become, an attribute of mine. That space above the fold was always my opportunity to lead, engage, attract, tease, trick, or regale!
Alas, I’ll just have to make do with a smaller introduction which makes the whole site look a lot cleaner!
And that’s really what the new layout was about; making things look a bit cleaner.
Or should I say, a little more 2018, and a little less 2006.
I’ve never been one to accept change.
Whether it was moving houses when I was 12-years-old (even though I was moving to a house twice as large, in a better area), or switching from a Blackberry to an iPhone (why did I wait so long?), or downloading the MLS app on my phone and scrapping the keychain-authenticator (I was the very last TREB agent to do this), or even switching from a paper/padfolio day-planner to an online calendar…………which I have yet to do…
…I have never been good with change.
My beloved Toronto Realty Blog, which many of you might find zero fault with, has looked old, stale, and outdated for quite some time.
I brought a new layout online in the summer of 2016, but as I was told by many, it was basically just the same red and white version iteration as before, with a few subtle changes, a bit of moving column A to column B, and removing the disastrous colours in the “TRB Channels” I had below the fold.
I suppose I’ve come a long way since 2007.
Here’s my very first masthead:
And then my “updated” second version:
Wow, they’re just, like, so different!
But that is what used to represent change to me.
I started the blog in June of 2007, and within months, I already had major formatting issues.
On Internet Explorer (this was before Google Chrome and Firefox got a bigger market share, not to mention Mac users), which back at the time represented about 60% of my users, the masthead would not display properly, and was actually showing at the bottom of the blog……….for about 12 months.
Yes, 12 months. Before I finally thought, “I wonder if anybody other than the guy I found on Craigslist, and paid $500 to, could work on my website.”
The masthead and the menu bar running across the top of the home page were both lost below sea. But it didn’t seem to matter, because my following was somewhat underground back then. People seemed to like the imperfection of the site, as it almost underscored how rare it was to find a licensed real estate agent opining about shady developers, or misleading sales tactics.
But eventually, as I said, I had to get the site fixed.
And that’s where the beautiful second version of TRB, that you see above, came into play. Oh, just so different from the first! But at least everything was in the right place.
And this was well before you’d ever access a website on your phone. My 2008 Blackberry could barely load the blog. All the users were on desktops.
But the second version was cleaner overall, and oh – the new logo! Yes! I finally decided to scrap the puffy, orange, first-font-I-randomly-chose lettering, and get a logo.
I had this idea that I was “putting my stamp” on the city, and I thought this looked really cool:
Just as my Mom told me I was cool in Grade 9, when I sat home instead of going to parties, I told myself this was cool in 2008-09 when I had some random part-timer in my office draw it, likely in Paint.
It wasn’t until the summer of 2013 that I made another change.
Raise your hand if you’ve been around since this version:
In hindsight, it looks awful, right?
But at the time, it was supposed to be a “window into my mind.”
Coffee, a blackberry, keys on the desk, and old-fashioned paper day-planner, all strewn across a hardwood floor, in a city where everybody seemed to be obsessed with hardwood floors.
The “Top Posts Of The Month” was a leading feature, since I was starting to see 20-30 comments with regularity, and I felt that more people were coming back to read what others were saying.
Eventually I grew tired of this, and wanted something cleaner, which was ironic, given the whole idea behind this layout was to “jazz it up.”
When I launched the new version somewhere around 2014, I was surprised by the response! Readers were actually telling me they like the old version, which made me realize that I wasn’t the only one averse to change.
The new version was cleaner, and easier to navigate, with way more features, and it had multiple ways to find the same thing, no matter what you were looking for.
But as I would soon learn, and as I fully expect with today’s new launch, readers just don’t like change!
Here’s the 2014 version:
Of course the top wasn’t cut off, but my archives are only so perfect.
So compare this to the wood-flooring-version, and how can somebody say they don’t like it?
Well, like I said, the consensus always seems to be, “What you had before was fine. Why bother changing?”
Then in 2016, for some odd reason, I decided to launch a “new” layout, that was more of the same:
That’s the site you all knew and (hopefully) loved, until this week.
Boy, it really really was similar to the 2014 version.
In any event, this time around, I really wanted to get with the times.
I wanted something that made me uncomfortable, and I found it during my first meeting with my team – when I said, “Not a chance,” and walked out.
And that’s when I knew it made sense.
I had to change. I had to get more modern.
And I had to risk being “too salesy,” as a close friend of mine called the mock-up when I showed it to him two months ago.
But you know what? It’s out of necessity.
Would you believe it if I told you that many people who email me don’t know I’m a real estate agent?
True story.
I get a slew of emails every week, and not just from buyers and sellers who want to be come clients. I get at least 2-3 people who are looking to get into real estate and want advice, I get 2-3 people who had interesting experiences in real estate and want to share, I get 2-3 people who know I’m a real estate agent, and used another agent for their transaction, but are really hoping I’ll spend some time to consider their situation and give them advice, and then, above all else, I always get at least one email from somebody who needs my help, pleads with me to call or email, and then is surprised to find out I’m a real estate agent.
Just last Friday, I spoke to a woman who was asking for advice on two condos in her target area, and eventually said, “My Realtor thinks the maintenance fees aren’t a problem in either building.” I told her, “You should have mentioned you’re working with a Realtor, because I don’t want to interfere.” She said, “Oh, I didn’t know you were a Realtor.”
Yes. Really. This does happen.
So because I knew I was going to write this blog when the new site launched this week, I asked her, “What did you think this site was?’
She said, “Well, I was just Googling ‘maintenance fees’ and I found it, so, I dunno, I guess I thought it was like a public support page?”
What the hell is a public support page? Is that even a thing?
So yes, you could label TRB V6.0 “more salesy,” but not because I am trying to attract more business, but because I think people should know who I am, what I do, what services I provide, etc. Just like any business, selling any good or service.
But that’s just me being self-conscious. Overall, I love the new look and feel. It’s very modern, sleek, dare I speak the over-used buzz-word, “sharp,” and above all – clean.
The blog itself won’t change in format.
New posts will still be published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with Pick5 on Thursday.
The big changes are in the form of additions to the site, specifically new features.
First and foremost, we have a listings portal. This is, like what you will find online, 100% up-to-date and complete. And like what you will find online – it doesn’t take 24 hours to populate new listings, like the archaic www.realtor.ca that CREA shoves down our throats.
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when a wee-blogger like myself has new listings posted before our public MLS, but that’s a topic for another day.
The listings will have sales trends for each neighbourhood and/or building in which that listing resides, as well as amenity information, open house info, etc.
I’ve also scrapped a few features, starting with “ASK TRB,” which was my previous brainchild, thinking that readers would take the opportunity to start their own thread. But as you saw from last Friday’s blog about “MLS Musings,” when the readers want to start a thread – they just do it in the current blog!
I also scrapped the “Featured Listings,” ie. the Hot House of The Week, Hot Loft of The Week, etc. I deliberately have not updated this section since January, because I wanted to see how long it would take for a reader to email me, since readers will literally email me when I’ve used a semi-colon incorrectly. But guess what? Nobody emailed me! So it’s like I thought: nobody uses that feature.
Many of the regular readers will be VERY happy to see that I’ve re-ordered the comments section, so that the first comment appears, well, first, and subsequent comments below. This was a major sticking point back in the summer of 2016 when I first launched, although part of me thinks you’ll all be so used to it, that you’ll complain now that I’ve switched it back.
But the big addition to TRB is something that no other real estate agent in Toronto can offer.
I call it the “Data Hub.”
Let’s say that I wanted to know the average price of a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, semi-detached house that sold specifically in the “Danforth Village” community of TREB District “E03,” between January 1st, 2018, and March 31st, 2018.
Right now, I would go to the back-end of MLS (which of course you guys don’t have), and I would search accordingly.
I would then copy and paste all those sales into Microsoft Excel, clean the data and use the AVERAGE function on the “Sold Price” column.
That’s a lot of work.
And it’s work that you guys can’t do.
But what if you could?
Folks, let me introduce you to the TRB Data Hub.
I will admit that the functionality takes some getting used to (ie. holding CTRL to select multiple sections, using the map versus using the auto-complete for areas, etc), but give it a shot, and play around with it.
Over the next two months, I want you guys to use this feature, and give me your feedback.
As it stands now, we have only “Beds,” “Baths,” and “Parking” for the drop-down options, but as I said – we’re working on it.
We plan to add features as we move along, but wanted to get this launched for you folks to play around with.
As cheezy as this might sounds, I view Toronto Realty Blog as a community that I have built over eleven years, and many of the readers and users have been around for a long, long time. I value the input of the readers more than you’ll ever understand. I might write the blogs, but it’s the users that truly make TRB all that it is.
So that’s it, folks.
I welcome your feedback, even if you liked the previous version more, which is what everybody has said after every change.
Dan
at 5:04 pm
First?
Site looks great.
I think the meet the team photo’s is actually my favourite easter egg.
I know you are still working on the kinks here, but is there a reason the data hub defaults to Rosedale as the selected neighbourhood?
It also appears, there may be some issues on the back-end in accessing the sold listings. Even when you are logged in, it still appears locked and prompts you to re-enter your information.
ed
at 5:26 pm
You’re using the word ‘folks’ a lot. Reminds me of Doug Ford. Just kidding.
I promise to play around with your data hub.
Doesn’t anyone email you to hire you?
Ed
at 5:35 pm
couple things I noticed right away.
When on the home page I see the number of comments for the current blog posting but I should be able to click on that icon to go straight to the comments.
Secondly I went to data hub, selected a neighbourhood and it only gave me the option to look a 2 or 3 baths.
Third. Going back to the comments again my name and email does not populate automatically (it doesn’t recognize me as it did the first time)
Ed
at 5:38 pm
After posting my reply to my own comment I had to hit ‘page back’ to return to the site.
Did you get someone off Craigslist again?
David Fleming
at 4:14 pm
Hi Ed,
We’ve installed a hyperlink on the “comments bubble” that will take you down to the comments section of the blog. This was a feature we had in the older version, which was overlooked this time around. Thanks for the head’s up!
David Fleming
at 5:31 pm
Hi Again, Ed,
Your comment on the data hub – regarding the neighbourhood “only” giving you the option of a 2-bath, or 3-bath. This means that for that particular neighbourhood, in the time frame you have specified, for that property type, there are no 1-bath, or 4-bath sales.
It’s meant to be efficient, albeit perhaps confusing without my explanation!
RPG
at 9:26 pm
Your “ask TRB” posts still show in the Categories. I guess to make an omelet you gotta break a few eggs. Work in progress, we all get it.
Great layout though overall! Very modern and I might even use the word sharp too! Congrats!
David Fleming
at 4:50 pm
Hi RPG,
The “ASK TRB” posts will be deleted, and I also noticed that there’s a category for “What’s Hot This Week” which there shouldn’t be. These listings go back years, and it’s not fair to have people’s homes, with photos, avaialble on the Internet. I’ll also delete “Uncategorized” which shouldn’t be there.
I’ll be replacing these with “MLS Musings,” which have always been filed under “Photos Of The Week,” a new category called “Market Stats,” since so many of my posts are statistical conversations, but end up being filed under “Business,” and then a third category that right now, escapes me.
If anybody has an idea for a new category, based on the typical subject matter you find on TRB, let me know!
Waterloon
at 9:27 pm
Got to say I don’t like the automatic left-to-right scrolling through the most recent posts (I realize this is “de rigueur” for cool websites). Invariably it changes to the next one a half-second before I click on it, meaning I miss my choice and have to go back. Not a big deal, guess I’ll just have to work on my timing.
Appraiser
at 9:02 am
Teranet Index data released today:
“As in May, prices were up in 10 of the 11 metropolitan markets surveyed, led by Ottawa-Gatineau (2.0%), Hamilton (1.8%), Edmonton (1.5%), Victoria (1.3%), Toronto (1.2%) and Halifax (1.0%).”
“Over the first half of the year the Toronto index rose at an annual rate of 5.7%. For the condo segment the rate was 12.1%.”
Chris
at 9:40 am
“Though large at first glance, the increase was the third-smallest for June in the last 14 years. If we ignore the seasonal component of monthly variations, we cannot speak of a soaring index. The latest run of monthly increases is merely a recovery of ground lost in the second half of last year. The composite index is now barely above its previous peak of August 2017.
The market furthest from its previous peak was Toronto, down 4.8% from its reading of last July.”
Maybe read the entire release next time, appraiser. Good try though!
Appraiser
at 3:00 pm
Still positive data. I know that’s hard to swallow for perma-bears.
Where’s the crash?
Try harder.
Much harder.
Chris
at 4:25 pm
Hardly positive. The release explains as much. Perhaps you could read things in their entirety?
Thanks for the suggestion, but I don’t feel the need to “try harder”. But you go right on ahead copy+pasting every single tidbit and quote you can find to support your position (while ignoring/omitting anything that doesn’t suit your narrative). Very productive use of your time!
Appraiser
at 4:33 pm
Where’s the crash?
Stop having a hissy-fit and learn to accept reality.
10 of 11 major markets up for 2 months in a row.
It’s simple.
You do really need to try much much harder.
Facts are facts after all, even if hard to swallow.
Chris
at 4:44 pm
10 of 11 markets? Oh so now you’re suddenly concerned with Ottawa-Gatineau, Edmonton, Victoria, Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Winnipeg? Unlikely.
To your two months of gains, do you need a refresher on the seasonality of real estate, and why month-over-month isn’t a very good metric? Happy to explain this to you. Maybe we can go over ROI as well, as you previously said you didn’t understand that either.
Sorry if my pointing our your errors sounds like a hissyfit. However, you’ll notice that unlike you, I haven’t resorted to name calling, profanity, etc. So, I would question your assertion that I’m having a “hissyfit”. Do you just assume that everyone commenting here is as emotional as you? Are housingbear, Ralph, and I all constantly in a state of “hissyfits”? Odd.
Chris
at 9:41 am
Redesign looks great.
Only thing on my wish-list would be the ability to edit comments. I know I’m not alone in making typos and other mistakes, only to have to comment again to correct them. Editing would be preferable.
Waterloon
at 10:54 am
I enthusiastically second the motion.
David Fleming
at 4:14 pm
Hi Chris,
We looked into this, but the only way to allow you to edit the comment would be to have every user get their own login, and if I required users to log in to post comments, most wouldn’t do it.
Chris
at 4:20 pm
Fair enough; for the time being, I will stick to posting additional correction comments!
Kyle
at 2:28 pm
Here’s my feedback:
– The new look and multiple ways to navigate are great.
– I’m kind of glad the hot listings of the week are gone.
– Glad you’re including your team, i always suspected there were some mystery elves in the background. nice to see them get credit.
– Data Hub is great, i see this as being super-useful for buyers trying to figure out where they want to buy and where they can afford.
– I like the real time listings too, In a market where houses can sell in under a week, it is inexcusable that the public mls site has listing data that could be a day or two stale.
Some things i wish for:
– Comment box was bigger, can’t see what i’ve typed without scrolling (or maybe i just type too much)
– Comment text was in a more visible colour
Keep up the great work, David….and team!
David Fleming
at 4:16 pm
Hi Kyle,
The comment box being bigger, and comment font, are easy fixes. We’ll get on that. Thx!
lui
at 6:43 pm
David why not let other agents at your office offer their opinion in regards to topics and “stories” about their clients.I know they can create their own blog but it’s always good to have a second opinion.What happen to your video walk arounds of condos,haven’t seen one lately.
Appraiser
at 7:35 pm
John Pasalis
@JohnPasalis
Jul 10
“If the real estate bears out there can point me to any recent analysis (past 3 months) that argues why Toronto’s housing market is going to get worse in 2018, I’d appreciate it. Curious to read what others are finding because I don’t see any downward trend.”
Any comments @ Chris? No foot-stomping or hissy fits ok, just facts. Well?
Chris
at 9:16 pm
Did you forget to read all of the comments that responded to that tweet, already addressing his question?
For example:
“Well sales volume is down, prices are down, active inventory is increasing, interest rates are tightening, we had a massive FOMO blow-off that pulled demand from future years, we are expensive compared to our peers, we have massive building underway, sentiment change is real.“
Once more, I would suggest you read things in their entirety, before you rush over here in your haste to post another lil tidbit.
Appraiser
at 9:28 am
Well, prices are NOT down according to all the recent data and inventory is chronically low with 1.9 months of inventory in the 416. Try again.
Just the facts now, spare us the “sentiment” and “FOMO” voodoo.
Chris
at 9:51 am
http://torontorealestatecharts.com/2018/07/08/june-2018-detached-city-of-toronto/
Here are some facts for you, as of June 2018.
City of Toronto Detached Prices YoY
Average: -2.3%
Median: -4.6%
Benchmark: -7.1%
City of Toronto Detached Prices MoM (since you seem to place a lot of stock on monthly movements)
Average: -5.0%
Median: -10.7%
Benchmark: -0.4%
Sales Volume of 885 (second lowest since 2012, just a hair above last year)
Active Listings of 2,260 (second highest since 2012)
SALR of 35%
Expand this to the entire GTA (data above is 416 only) and the picture becomes even less rosy.
But hey, downtown condos are still doing well, so I guess you’ve got that to hang your hat on at least?
Chris
at 10:09 am
Oh and to your point that “sentiment” and “FOMO” are voodoo:
“So for all of the above reasons, you think GTA house prices will be trending down in the near future?…Fair enough!!”
– John Pasalis, July 10th in response to the quote I posted above
Ralph Cramdown
at 11:23 am
These sales volumes are so dry. They’re killing me. Credit creation is so dry. It’s killing me. GTA new home sales are so dry. They’re killing me, too.
Let’s go to Youtube…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7YwmG49FVY&feature=youtu.be&t=8
JL
at 12:52 pm
Data Hub has a lot of potential. Definitely need a filter option to select between “condo” and “non-condo”, though.
PKpark
at 2:02 pm
Sorry, but I don’t see what’s so bearish (or bullish) about someone’s favourite data point being “barely above its previous peak of August 2017” or “up for two months in a row” or “any recent analysis (past 3 months) that argues why Toronto’s housing market is going to get worse” or “a hair above last year” or “we cannot speak of a soaring index” (who needs “soaring”?). Maybe the “perma-boths” out there can enlighten me.
Chris
at 2:19 pm
To be honest, the market seems to be a pretty mixed bag right now, at least from my perspective.
Some areas, home types, price points, etc. are doing very well, others not so much. Detached homes in Markham are languishing while condos in Downtown Toronto are hot.
I’ve said time and again, I am bearish in my outlook, primarily due to a number of factors such as affordability, climbing interest rates, the B20 stress test, capital outflow restrictions in China, foreign buyer taxes, decreasing speculative demand, changing sentiment, high household debt, etc., but there are factors like strong employment growth, economic expansion, immigration, etc. that I appreciate make a bullish case for real estate. I just don’t think they outweigh the negatives.
What you are seeing recently, from the likes of myself, HousingBear, and Ralph Cramdown, are an antithesis to appraiser’s unabashed market cheer-leading. If I were in your shoes, I would ignore all of us, explore the facts and data for yourself, and form your own opinion.
Housing Bear
at 2:35 pm
I wouldn’t call myself a perma bear. Only jumped to the dark side in early 2017, do plan on getting back in eventually. That being said, I think you are absolutely right about any short term numbers. Little bumps up or down should be taken with a grain of salt. My bear case rest on household debt levels, housing prices that are very detached from long term fundamentals; price to income, DSR, price to rent (although rents have been gaining some ground recently) Combined with RE and related industries accounting for an enormous amount of GDP and employment growth over the past decade, and most importantly, the reversal of unprecedented easy money policies; record low rates held down for years + quantitative easing + enormous capital flowing from China (I believe a lot more of this money is actually debt than people realize).
Could we have another big spike up in the short term? Sure, but I think this would be very short lived (AKA bull trap) . The money tide is now working against the market for the first time in decades, we have record new condos in the pipeline. 50% at least of which are “reserved” by investors, many of whom are cash flow negative. The total number of individuals who own more than one (two or several) properties has tripled in the last decade.
Raising rates = less money to spend on other areas of the economy.
Slowing market = less income for RE agents, RE lawyers, staging companies ETC. If we are building too many condos, the construction workers get wacked too in a couple years. How many people in these industries have doubled or tripled down on the market.
All of the above = Recession and correction………. these two things can turn into a negative feedback loop. How bad either of those get depends on how much bad debt is out there.
Then there is the Trump wild card to the south that could make things a lot worse.
Housing Bear
at 2:42 pm
A few things that could make me wrong. Debt levels are actually very sustainable across the aggregates, the US economy can sustain a big run and we are able to offset a big chunk of our economic dependence on housing with exports, we get sustainable wage inflation for a while to make debt loads easier to manage
Chris
at 3:14 pm
Agreed on pretty well all of that. I forgot to mention Trump in my negative factors. Steel and aluminum tariffs, auto tariffs a possibility. He’s a real wild-card in this whole situation.
But, your potential boosts to real estate are fair as well.
Anyways, I think it’s far too soon to say “the market has crashed!” or “there is no crash, back to the moon we go!”. It will take time to see how all of these factors impact the market moving forward. Anyone shouting slogans like these should really just be disregarded.
BJA
at 11:06 pm
Agreed. Repeatedly asking (rhetorically) “Where’s the crash?” contributes nothing to the discussion.
Housing Bear
at 2:48 pm
And great new layout David!!
Looks good from PC and mobile
Kyle
at 3:24 pm
Tsk, tsk David, very sneaky how you didn’t mention at all one of the best new features of your site.
David Fleming
at 7:33 pm
@ Kyle
Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the best new feature?!?!?!
Kyle
at 8:47 pm
Begins with an “s” and ends in a “s” and rhymes with “gold prices”. Is that feature working yet? And if so, how far is the look back period? I registered but haven’t received my confirmation/activation email yet.
Chroscklh
at 7:58 pm
My friend, good luck with new blog – yes is maybe ‘salesy’ but is provide much information helpful to people. I enjoy this one yes. You know, I get proud when think about freedom this country – back home my country, internet must be printed out daily and approved by Chief Propaganda Officer and he slow as well. I write Craigslist add to sell bear cub, it no go online for 7 year. By that time cub is part of family and even have job.
David Fleming
at 7:34 pm
@ Chroscklh
Where have you been? Great to have you back!
Believe it or not, a Chroscklh-sighting on TRB is actually talked about in my household, and circle of friends.
A
at 11:51 pm
Nice re-design, David! The data hub is really useful. Maybe the map can be enlarged?
Thanks as always for writing informative materials.
Laura
at 1:24 pm
The new site looks great!
Joel
at 7:19 pm
The Pick5 videos are no longer viewable on a smart tv and the used to be. When I put in he password nothing loads. Perhaps you can look into a fix for this.
Aggy
at 2:01 am
Wow! Great to find a post with such a clear meessga!