Yossi’s 8 Tips on Buying & Selling Condos Assignments

Toronto expert Realtor Yossi Kaplan shares his best 8 tips for buyers and sellers of condo assignments.

What are Assignments?

In Toronto, Condo Assignments for Sale are common. When an investor purchases a Toronto condo, the developer may give the option for the investor to re-asissign (sell) the contract before completion. That is commonly called “Assignment Clause”. Assignments are essentially a “flip” – selling your condo prior to closing.

Reasons for Selling Assignments:

Why you as investor may consider selling your assignment?:

You no longer require the unit
You want to make quick profit
You wish to avoid closing costs and taking a mortgage
You do not want or need to own the condo anymore
Your life situation has changed
Someone has offered you a hefty sum – you decide to take it

Reasons for Buying Assignments:

Why do investors buy an assignment?

Building has sold out and you want to live there
You see an investment opportunity
The Assignment price is lower than the Market price
You need to close on a unit quick
You prefer a new unit, near-completion
You have cash available and found a great deal

Assignment Video 1: How to Buy and Sell Assignments

In this video, I discuss the basics of assignments. Watch it now:

Assignment Video 2: Why Your Assignment Did Not Sell?

In this video, I discuss the basics of assignments. Watch it now:

8 Tips on Buying and Selling Assignments

When it is time for you to buy or sell an assignment, you need to think, hard. Assignment selling is difficult, complicated and frankly, most attempts fail. I have been through many deals where even when the buyer and seller have already agreed, the deal still did not go through. The chances of posting your assignment on Kijiji and getting a buyer are slim. Your chances of listing with me are much better.

I’ll tell you this: Most of the assignment sellers I work with have already tried methods such as classifieds and other agents. It does not work. The simple reason is of course, that only dedicated professionals like myself can do this. Event most lawyers are not clear on the process, and many “kill the deal” bc they do not have the knowledge and experience necessary to transact assignments.

So here are my best 8 tips on buying and selling assignments. I hope you find them useful, and do me a favour, give me a quick call if you’re thinking about buying or selling these, I will take a look at your condo, and give you my honest and direct opinion, including, how long it’ll take, how much you’ll get, and how much it’ll cost you.

And now… my tips:

1 – Hire The Best Agent (Yossi)

Life is simple. You have a problem to solve, and you can go to an amateur or a proven professional. Which option will give you best chances of success?

For example, you have a terrible headache and you think there might be something wrong with you. Will you go to a health expert? or ask your neighbour?

When a lot of money is on the line, your money, will you take chances? Of course not. Call me first – I’ve successfully done it before and i’ll help you, too. Of course, you may try someone who is not an expert – perhaps you know them, perhaps they originally sold you the unit, a licensed relative or someone you saw online. Just think about the risks, and realize you have one chance. S pick the best agent right from the start – Yossi Kaplan, MBA

2 – List Immediately

Assignments are not allowed to be posted on MLS. The reasons (see my video for more info on that one) are:

The condo is not yours until Registration
Developers fear that you’ll undercut their prices

As a result, you need to make sure the maximum number of potential buyers can see your listings. It’s really simple list today, get higher chances. Wait 30 days, and you compete with many more sellers at the same project. More supply brings your price down… so go to work now.

3 – Don’t Overprice (Price Right)

Pricing Assignments is very tricky. Most assignment sellers have never sold or bought an. assignment before and operate on guess work, not working knowledge. In reality, assignments need to be priced slightly below market price to get the attention of the buyers. Sadly, and too frequently, Assignments sellers believe they can get unrealistic prices. Instead, they get a harsh lesson and end up selling their assignment for LESS that they could have – because someone else has a similar assignment to sell for less, and once that price is known, your price has to come down, too.

4 – Have The Right Network

Assignments are not allowed on MLS. How will you. advertise yours? Most sellers try classifieds, or a “cheap” agent first. Once that fails – and it always does – they start looking for a pro like Yossi Kaplan to sell their assignments.

By that time, more similar condo assignments are available, and you have to compete with additional sellers, everyone lowering their prices , competing for the few buyers. Your advantage is in the NETWORK – the ability to reach the most number of potential buyers.

Look at my network, can you do better?

Thousands of email contacts
Hundreds of Agent Contacts
Investor Lists
Popular Real Estate websites
Significant Social Media Presence – Twitter, Facebook, Insta
GREAT reputation
DAILY calls from investors looking for deals
Co-operating networks (using other networks to promote your listing)
and more! You’ll find out when you call me.

5 – INVEST in Your Marketing

Selling Assignments costs money. It costs a lot more than posting on MLS The work that I have do to in order to get your assignment posted is x10 than I have to do with re-sale condos.

Most sellers expect and are used to that agents take care of all upfront costs. If you expect someone to sell your assignment for cheap or free – it’s simply not going to happen. Selling Assignments take HUGE effort and resources. That costs the agent (me) money, time and a lot of sweat equity. understand that, and you’ll see why the costs are there. INVEST in your marketing – it is your ONLY chance.

6 – RADICAL SELLING

Sometimes, you MUST sell quickly. In this case, we need to purchase online ads on Google and Facebook to ensure that your condo assignment will get to the most number of investors as quickly as possible.

In that case, we can extend our marketing and offer you a high-volume advertising program. There is a bit of upfront cost, and in return you get x10 or x20 the volume.

Since you’re going to make $100,000 or more, or in an extreme case, risking LOSING $100,000 or more – this is a GREAT OPTION if you need to ensure the quick sale of your property. Contact Yossi for more info on this option. It is good.

7 – Realistic Expectations

Lets be REAL: selling a condo assignment is not like selling a loaf of bread. It takes time, effort, professional marketing and hours upon hours of work.

In addition, you might not have purchased the best unit, the market may be going down, , other assignors are selling similar units, etc. Have realistic expectations and understand the reality you are working in. It helps, a lot.

8 – Most Assignments Sell Last Minute

Yes, it is true. The very last minutes are when moat assignments sell. That is stressful, of course. Especially when you have to comepete with twenty other sellers of the same or similar unit. Have patience, do the work, hire the right people (Yossi) and work together with me to ensure that we get the riught deal for you. It will happen.

Conclusion

Toronto Condo Assignments are here and will be here to stay. You must hire the best people possible (Yossi), price well, have everything ready, use extra marketing if need be ($), and be prepared for all situations. That’s why we are here – we will guide you throughout the process from the initial consultation to the final closing of your deal. Have no fear – we are at your service.

– Yossi Kaplan, MBA

Assignment Links and Resources

Remember, some of my deals are never advertised… if you want to see them you must sign to the newsletter- that’s how the developers limit your option to market your assignments.

Follow these links for more information and available units:

#1 Newsletter – https://urbanrealtytoronto.com/newsletter

@YossiKaplan – https://twitter.com/YossiKaplan

Toronto Assignments – https://urbanrealtytoronto.com/category/assignments/

Luxury Assignments – https://yorkvilleluxuryrealestate.com/category/assignment-2/

Daily Listings – https://yossi.searchrealty.co/