Top 10 blog posts

2016

Top 10 blog posts of 2016

At this time of year, I like to look back and see which blog posts performed best. Every year, I like to do a top 10. As a real estate blogger it is important to me to know what sort of posts get the most eyeballs. It is important to give the people what they want.

They may not be the best, but they are the top

#1 What will 2016 be like for Kitchener Waterloo real estate market?

Prediction posts always do well. Everyone wants to peek into the future. This post said,Things are solid here and are predicted to stay that way for the coming years.’

That was a bit of an understatement.

#2 What you should know before moving to Kitchener Waterloo

I’m surprised that this was the #2 post in terms of popularity last year. It was a fun post to write but the information is very general and hence not that useful. Here’s an example, “If you want to live the urban life with coffeeshops and nightlife we have that in Uptown, midtown and downtown. If you want a suburban life with kids on bicycles and a SUV in the driveway, we have that too.”

#3 Good to great neighbourhoods for investors/buyers.

Neighbourhoods are more important than houses. You can change your house, but you cannot change your neighbourhood. This post was aimed at first time homebuyers with the thought of an investment component in their home. Here’s what I wrote, ‘I work with lots of first time home buyers who look at real estate as both an investment and a place to live. They are the fourth kind of investor.’

#4 Neighbourhoods and associations

More about the importance of neighbourhoods. ‘I used to say that you can improve your home but you can’t improve your neighbourhood. That’s not exactly true. Neighbourhoods can be improved and they have been improving all over town often through neighbourhood associations.’

#5 10 Reasons investment in Kitchener Waterloo real estate is a good idea.

It is a list. Here is one of the points: ‘Our local real estate market is described as being stable with continued growth. Sales volumes are up year over year. Prices are up year over year. Our market isn’t crazy like Toronto or Vancouver.’

#6 KW has changed a lot. What is it like to live here now?

This post discusses a bunch of things that those who move here will need to know. ‘Visit the weekend farmer’s markets. Trust me on this.’

#7 The Marshall Report podcast and the Kitchener Waterloo real estate news

My efforts on line in 2016 were mostly around the new podcast. I launched it and did 46 weekly episodes in the first season.

#8 Kitchener Waterloo welcomes Toronto investors.

The first line says it all: ‘Although their intentions are muddleheaded and based not on good information, Toronto investors are actually great for our local real estate market.’ 

This blog post was a reaction to a newspaper article that was highly erroneous.

#9 4 reasons why Kitchener Waterloo’s real estate won’t crash in 2016.

This is another popular ‘prediction post’. The reasons are:

Supply and demand

The economy

Mortgage rates

Bubbles sell newspapers

#10 Why do realtors price their listings too high?

This one is actually my favourite of the top ten. As a long time realtor, I see new realtors and home sellers make this mistake all the time. As it turns out, with the market we experienced this year, you had to work pretty hard to price your listing too high, but some still did.

 

More from Keith Marshall
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *