A Losing Strategy: How To Win In Toronto's Real Estate Market

Competition has been a defining trend in Toronto’s real estate market for decades now. The supply is never enough for the constant demand for housing. As we’ve mentioned many times before, this has driven the prices in Toronto sky high forcing even fiercer competition and regular bidding wars on many properties. With so many buyers vying for their new home, it’s common to lose on offer night. An occurrence that often repeats for many buyers. How is it possible to stay positive in such a fierce and competitive market?

Let’s talk about losing first. Generally speaking, people like to win. The joy and triumph of achievement can be so satisfying that we often fear losing in any capacity. Let’s face it: losing sucks. However, losing is important. It is essential for your growth and development. It makes you re-assess yourself, look back and try to understand how to correct your mistakes for the future. Having a keen eye with self-reflection can be hugely beneficial.

In the face of losing constantly you need to be able to change your strategy and change your attitude. This applies to more than just real estate. Being able to adapt quickly in a high-stakes situation can be the difference between winning and losing. 

In real estate, you’re going up against multiple offers in a market of fierce and intense competition. If you don’t ever consider losing, you’ll never be able to win. Sure, losing on the first few attempts isn’t a big deal but if you’re constantly losing out in bidding wars, it’s time to re-assess. It can be demoralising and disheartening particularly when your offer isn’t even considered but it’s an important part of the process. Having an offer night with more than ten offers on the table is becoming the norm in Toronto’s real estate market. It’s time to learn and adapt to be one of the winners. 

Your real estate agent is one of your best resources in this situation. They know the market and they won’t lead you astray. If there’s multiple offers on the table, you have to be ready to listen. If you only assume you’ll win without adapting your strategy, you won’t have a chance. But if you reassess and change your strategy, you may be the winning offer. 

Losing may not be the optimal outcome but it can be helpful towards winning in the future. Take those losses on and learn from them. In a highly competitive market like Toronto real estate, you’ll find yourself on the losing end more often than the winning end. Adapt and change your mindset and you may find yourself winning far sooner than others.