Rants & Reviews – Brent Jones, Real Estate Sales Representative – RE/MAX Niagara Realty Ltd., Brokerage – Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada

Is housing in Fort Erie affordable for the average family?

January 7, 2020 By Brent Jones

When I promote a new listing on Facebook, I often receive comments from local users like…

Housing prices in Fort Erie have gone crazy. I’ve lived and worked here all my life but I won’t be able to afford to retire here.

Or…

How are young families ever supposed to be able to buy their first house?

Or…

I’m barely getting by as it is. I’ll never be able to buy a home of my own.

You get the idea.

While concerns about affordable housing are perfectly valid — and I will touch on this later — I thought I’d take a moment to dive into what the average household (or family) can realistically afford in this area.

Are realtors in Ontario a bunch of greedy pigs?

August 2, 2019 By Brent Jones

Earlier this week, I met with a potential seller client to discuss listing his home for sale.

We had a conversation about commission and it went a little something like this:

Seller: What’s your fee?

Me: Six percent, if I thought your home would be difficult to sell. But, since I’m pretty confident I can sell your home relatively fast, I’ll only take five percent.

Seller: Five? (taps his fingers on the kitchen table, thinking) So, if you sell my house for $400,000, you get $20,000?

Me: I don’t get to keep all of it, but you’ve got the right idea.

Seller: That seems a bit…steep. Can you do any better, Brent?

Any better? Part of me wanted to reply with, “Better? Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what selling your home involves?”

But, of course, I was polite. I simply grabbed a pen and paper and began to break down for him exactly what a typical real estate transaction (in my market) looks like.Continue Reading

The Top Restaurants & Bars in Fort Erie, Ontario

June 18, 2019 By Brent Jones

When you’re new in town, it usually doesn’t take long to start picking favorites. And by favorites, of course, I’m referring to where to grab breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even a few drinks in between.

Since moving to town in 2014, my wife and I have tried eating (and drinking) just about everywhere we can. In part, because we love to support local businesses, but mostly because we really like to eat (and drink).

If you happen to enjoy a particular restaurant or bar and it doesn’t appear on this list, it might be because I either…

haven’t been there enough to form an opinion, or
I’ve been there and didn’t have a great experience.

In all likelihood, however, I simply forgot to include it. What can I say? For a small town, Fort Erie has a lot of options to choose from.

Here are my top picks (in no particular order).

Stirling’s Story: A Review of Dr. Jim Turpel and Upper Canada Animal Hospital

May 22, 2019 By Brent Jones

This is our dog, Stirling.

I know it’s probably not immediately obvious, but Stirling is a giant suck. He’ll be turning six on June 30, 2019, and you can find more photos and videos of him on Instagram.

After several months of intermittent limping (lameness), Stirling experienced a complete rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) in his hind right leg on May 3, 2019.

Is housing in Fort Erie affordable for the average family?

Are realtors in Ontario a bunch of greedy pigs?

The Top Restaurants & Bars in Fort Erie, Ontario

Stirling’s Story: A Review of Dr. Jim Turpel and Upper Canada Animal Hospital

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