We love working with first-time homebuyers and Mohit & Kriti were no different!
There’s no question that doesn’t deserve a speedy, respectful, and informative response.
I remember very well that sense of ‘this is the home for Mohit & Kriti,’ and am so glad it worked out!
As I mentioned in today’s intro, it’s important that you know we’re not just marketing, but that we really do deliver on the client experience.
Last month we had the pleasure of presenting our friends, Kyle & Jenna, with the keys to their brand new home in Willoughby. We’ve worked together for years and years at this stage, which made their review so meaningful, especially as they’ve experienced working with us in an extreme seller’s market and also in an extreme buyer’s market.
Here’s what they had to say:
If you’re trying to decide on who to trust with one of the larger decisions in your life, then allow me to encourage you to stop searching, and contact David and the Team at the David Smith Homes Group, the Best Realtor in Langley.
They are not only incredible human beings, but are also gifted Realtors who really do stand by their motto: “People over property. Always.” Throughout a year-long process, they remained organized, systematic, patient, gracious, and always professional. In the world of Real Estate transactions, I felt like they worked like a well-oiled machine.
We trusted David with our initial purchase 5 years ago in a market that was incredibly unforgiving. Subject-free offers were common, and we were at a loss as to how we would navigate climbing prices. Fast forward to this year when we decided to make an attempt at upgrading, David’s service was once again put to the test in a completely different market.
Through the entire process of selling our current home, and upgrading to something for our growing family, David was kind, patient, and intentionally honest. Never once did he promise something that he couldn’t deliver, and he certainly didn’t ever push us to lower our asking price beyond what we were comfortable with.
We’d ask David a question, and he or a team member would get back to us with an answer within the hour. They worked for us tirelessly in a market that was flooded with inventory. They helped us understand the benefit to selling first, and then looking for our purchase, and helped us navigate the anxiety brought on with that with great care. Our questions and concerns were welcomed and encouraged, and at every step of the way, any concerns we had were addressed immediately.
David, Kandace, and the rest of the team, Jenna and I are truly so grateful and thankful for your influence, your care, your kindness, and your professionalism, and we’re so grateful for your help in getting us into our wonderful home. We wish you all the best, and are excited for where the future will take us. – Kyle & Jenna
Thank you, Kyle & Jenna! We’re so happy for you!
Over 90% of our business at David Smith Homes Group comes from introductions or ‘referrals,’ in fact it’s what our whole business is built around.
Instead of us spending tens of thousands of dollars trying to secure new clients, we like to invest in performing well for our current clients and also in thanking the source of those introductions.
We’re launching a new program in 2025 to say ‘THANK YOU’ in a real tangible way, if you introduce us to a friend, family member, colleague, team mate, whatever… and they purchase and/or sell a home with us in the following year, we’ll pay YOU $500.
Reach out to david@davidsmithhomes.ca if you have any questions about this program or any introductions to make!
Why ‘Get the Listing to Get the Price Reduction’ Is Costing Sellers More Than They Know
Years ago, I heard a phrase from ‘an industry leader.’ He said it matter-of-factly, like it was just the way things were done:
“Get the listing to get the price reduction.”
I’ve never forgotten it – it shocked me at the time, and every time I’ve run into it since it’s grieved me to see what it does to the people on the receiving end.
How It Works & Why It Persists
The strategy is simple: an agent wins a listing by telling the seller what they want to hear – a high price estimate – rather than giving an honest market assessment. Once the listing is secured, the agent manages a gradual retreat toward reality through a series of conversations about price reductions. Sometimes agents will call it “buying the listing.” Whatever anyway calls it, the mechanics are the same.
It persists because it works – for the agent, in the short term. Win the listing, get the commission when it eventually sells. The seller’s experience along the way is someone else’s problem. And sellers often don’t realize they’ve been played until months into a painful process, when inertia has set in and starting over feels like admitting defeat.
The Real Cost
In any market, overpricing a listing is costly. In a downtrending market, it can be devastating to a seller’s outcome.
When a home is listed above market value, it attracts limited showings. The home sits. Days on market accumulate. Meanwhile, in a falling market, the comps that justified last month’s price are being replaced by lower ones. The seller isn’t just failing to sell – they’re falling behind.
Every week a home sits overpriced in a downtrending market,
the seller is fighting two battles at once: the stigma of sitting and
the erosion of market value beneath them.
A home with 60 or 90 days on market and multiple price reductions sends a signal to buyers – even when nothing is wrong with the property. Buyers start wondering what others saw and passed on. They lowball. Or they scroll right by. The seller who listed at $1,050,000 when the honest number was $940,000 often ends up – four months and two price reductions later – selling for less than a correct day-one price would have achieved, plus the added carrying costs of months of additional mortgage and tax.
Right now, in the Lower Mainland, sellers pricing based on peak comparables or emotional attachment are facing a real reckoning. The buyers are there. But they have inventory and patience, and they’re not going to overpay.
The Part That’s Actually Dishonest
Not every agent who overprices a listing is acting in bad faith. Some are too optimistic. Some can’t hold their ground under seller pressure. But the deliberate version – pricing high to win the listing, fully intending to manage reductions later – is knowingly telling a client something you don’t believe in order to secure their business. I’d say that’s a problem.
And the damage isn’t only financial. Sellers who go through this feel blindsided – and they should. The trust that’s supposed to be the foundation of the relationship was used to win a contract, not to serve the client.
What Honest Representation Looks Like
I’m not arguing that sellers don’t have the right to list wherever they want. They do. But it has to be an informed decision.
Our job is to give sellers my honest professional opinion before they decide – and to hold it even when they push back. If a seller wants to list above our recommended price, we’ll respect that choice. But they’re going to know, clearly and on the record, that we believe we’re priced above market. And before the sign goes in the yard, we’ll have a plan for what happens if the first two weeks confirm it.
The price reduction conversation belongs before the listing goes live – not six weeks in when everyone is frustrated and the market has moved.
The Bottom Line
The cruelest thing an agent can do is tell a seller what they want to hear, collect the listing, and then walk them through a slow and painful education in market reality – while their equity quietly erodes.
There is a version of this process where the seller is treated as a partner, given honest information, and allowed to make fully informed decisions. And there is a version where they’re told a number that wins the listing. Those are not the same thing. When you’re choosing who to trust with the largest financial transaction of your year – maybe your decade – it’s worth knowing which version you’re getting. Reach out to us today for a fair market value assessment based in real market data.
One of the best things about serving clients in this industry for nearly a decade is the lasting relationships.
Tim & Tara were two of our first clients, and are now repeat clients, having also introduced us to members of their own family.
Thanks for being not just clients, but champions, Tim & Tara!
Bad News Bears
We’ve got to know our ‘go-to’ home inspectors over the last decade and they’re no longer offended when we start a home inspection by calling them ‘bad news bears.’
Thankfully home inspections are back as part of a regular real estate transaction; those years without home inspection subjects were stressful due to the many unknowns.
The entire purpose of an inspection is for an inspector to meticulously work their way through a property and document every crack, drip, worn-out component, and deferred maintenance item they can find.
The kind of inspectors we recommend don’t sugarcoat things. They deliver the news exactly as the potential purchasers expect… honestly and with support in the form of a report often reaching 70-90 pages including pictures, moisture meter readings, heat camera images, and more.
What Happens After Inspection?
Now that home inspections are back, on a near weekly basis we find ourselves explaining to buyers the options they have following inspection. There are always, always issues. We even advise home inspections on brand new homes, and good inspectors always find something. The key isn’t whether issues exist – it’s figuring out what they mean for your transaction.
So! Let’s review our potential responses following a home inspection report together:
1. Walk Away
Sometimes the inspection uncovers problems serious enough that walking away is the right call.
I’ll never forget a call from a home inspector half an hour into an inspection saying, ‘if you send me home now I won’t charge the clients…’ It turns out the seller had hidden jacks in a stack of cardboard boxes in the garage, literally holding up a joist that supported the whole second floor!
Structural issues, major water damage, significant foundation concerns – these can turn a dream home into a money pit fast. If the numbers don’t work and the risk is too high, you are well within your rights to walk away. No deposit has been paid. There is no further liability to worry about. Time to move on.
2. Negotiate on Repairs
If the issues are significant but fixable, particularly if they were ‘latent,’ i.e. we couldn’t have expected to uncover them during our 15 minute showing, we can go back to the sellers and ask them to address specific items before closing.
This works best when there are clear, definable repairs – a leaking roof, a faulty furnace, organic growth in the attic, active leaks… we’ll identify what matters most and make a targeted ask for repair/maintenance by a licensed professional and for a receipt of the work to be provided.
3. Negotiate on Price
Sometimes sellers don’t want to deal with repairs – and that’s fine as long as it’s not an ongoing issue that would cause further damage. Instead of asking them to fix things, we occasionally are able to negotiate a price reduction that reflects the cost of the work that needs to happen. This gives you the control to manage the repairs yourself, hire your own trades, and do it on your own schedule.
4. Build a To-Do List
Not every item on an inspection report is a deal-changer. Minor maintenance items – normal wear and tear, small fixes, cosmetic stuff – are all part of buying a home, unless it’s literally a brand new one straight from the developer.
In these cases, we use the report as a planning tool. You know exactly what you’re walking into, you can budget accordingly, and you move forward with your eyes wide open.
If it’s an item a strata would be responsible for, we can always ask the current owner to report to them for their own ‘to-do’ list around the complex.
Home Inspections Are Back
Frankly, we’re relieved home inspections are back and that home buyers have the opportunity to really understand what they’re purchasing.
If you’re looking for a real estate team that will protect your best interests before, during, and after home inspection we’re the ones to call.
This year was a little different for us as we walked the Fort-To-Fort Trail together instead of at the official CNOY event due to a calendar clash, but honestly… we had a fantastic time, a highlight of the year so far.
Thank you, genuinely, to each person who walked with us, donated to our team, shared our fundraising page, or simply cheered us on. The Coldest Night of the Year is one of our favourite events of the year precisely because of the community it brings together around a cause that matters deeply.
Fundraising was certainly noticably harder this year but we were happy to support Storehouse and partner with them in their overall fundraising efforts.
Every dollar raised supports Storehouse Society‘s vital programs serving the most vulnerable in our community – from the food bank to hot meal programs and Christmas hampers.
For those of you that have followed us for a while, you’ll know we’re committed to Community Involvement, having now raised well over $100,000 for our non-profit partners. We’re so grateful for your ongoing generosity and can’t wait to do it all again next year. If you’d like to be on the invite list for 2027, just reply to this email and we’ll make sure you’re included.
People Over Property, Always.
A DISCOUNT FOR YOU! – DAVIDSMITH2026 is now live for 10% off all season long.
With Spring comes the start of the Canadian Premier League Season, so when our partners, Vancouver FC, reached out to ask if they could feature us in Episode 1 of their new ‘Fan Stories’ video series, we said yes without hesitation. What Vancouver FC has built right here in Langley is spectacular, in just four years we’ve gone from non-existence to playing the Continental Champions in Mexico last month – we were there!
We’ve shared lots of our story with VFC here, but if you wanted more in-depth details, the video above captures some of the stories well – and you get to see us all squirm on camera a bit.
As club sponsors and genuinely passionate supporters, we couldn’t be prouder of what this organisation has become. Season 4 is right around the corner and we can’t wait to see you at Willoughby!
The match calendar can be found here, or just reach out to me directly!
And don’t forget the discount code, DAVIDSMITH2026
Let’s Go Eagles! 🦅
