Choosing the \u201cbest\u201d blog posts of the year is an awkward exercise, right?<\/p>\n
Who am\u00a0I<\/em> to do the choosing, right?<\/p>\n It\u2019s sort of like somebody taking thirty photos of you, and then saying, \u201cPick the best one.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019d be highly biased, highly influenced, and you might see things that aren\u2019t there, while ignoring things that are.<\/p>\n I shared ninety-five<\/em> blog posts with the TRB readers in 2025, not including the two year-end posts that you\u2019ll read today and on Monday.\u00a0 Choosing the \u201cbest\u201d posts is incredibly subjective and also risks adding an element of bravado.<\/p>\n After all, who are we to critique, comment on, or celebrate our\u00a0own<\/em> work?<\/p>\n At the end of each year, when I look back at everything that I\u2019ve written, there are posts that will stand out to me, but often for different reasons.<\/p>\n Some received more comments from the readers than others.<\/p>\n Some ended up being controversial or divisive.<\/p>\n Some proved timely.<\/p>\n Some feel as though they\u2019ll age extremely well and come off as forward-thinking at some point down the line.<\/p>\n Some were fun, entertaining, and memorable.<\/p>\n And some just make me think, \u201cOh yeah, I really liked that one!\u201d<\/p>\n This year\u2019s collection of \u201cbest blogs\u201d could probably pick one from each of the above, but no matter how you slice it, let\u2019s just say that these are my \u201cfavourite blogs\u201d of 2025 for a variety of different reasons.<\/p>\n Now, an advanced warning:<\/p>\n This blog post, as well as Monday\u2019s will be very, very long!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n But how can you sum up an entire year in less than five thousand words, right? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Hope you enjoy!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Really?<\/p>\n This\u00a0<\/em>post?\u00a0 Worthy of a \u201ctop post of the year\u201d label?\u00a0 Surely, you jest!<\/p>\n At first glance, this might not seem like one of the best posts of the year.\u00a0 It\u2019s not controversial.\u00a0 It\u2019s not aligned with \u201chot button issues\u201d of the day.\u00a0 It\u2019s surely not all that memorable a post either.<\/p>\n But what this post\u00a0is<\/em>, is accurate.<\/p>\n And because there are so many infill houses being offered across the city right now, this post is a blueprint for would-be home buyers on how to analyze, predict, and understand builder pricing.<\/p>\n Of course, this is\u00a0also<\/em> a blueprint for builders in terms of \u201cwhat not to do.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s one of those blog posts that could have been titled, \u201cHow Not To Sell,\u201d and targeted towards the very builders that are doing the development and selling.<\/p>\n But builders aren\u2019t going to listen, and that\u2019s exactly why we\u2019re able to write this post in the first place.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a link to the post:<\/p>\n July 17th, 2025: Why Infill Home Builders Always Make The Same Mistakes<\/a><\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t believe I had never written this before.<\/p>\n I\u2019d\u00a0thought<\/em> things before.<\/p>\n I\u2019d\u00a0opined<\/em> these things before.<\/p>\n But I\u2019d never actually sat down to write a dedicated blog post to the madness that is \u201cbuilder pricing and strategy\u201d in the city of Toronto.\u00a0 And there\u2019s no \u201cstrategy\u201d in what they do, unless the strategy is to repeat the same mistakes, over and over.<\/p>\n Just think about it for a moment.\u00a0 Picture \u201cthat builder house\u201d in your neighbourhood.<\/p>\n Now, let me spoil the contents of the blog post for those of you who don\u2019t have time to read it\u2026<\/p>\n Builders do not typically build for users within that specific neighbourhood.<\/p>\n Builders often include features that are valued by other buyers, in other markets, but not this market, ie. pools, basement apartments, or particular design elements.<\/p>\n Builders overvalue items of less importance and undervalue items of greater importance.<\/p>\n Builders typically overvalue the home, list high, and reduce the price over time.<\/p>\n Builders don\u2019t understand that buyers assign a stigma to a house that isn\u2019t selling, and don\u2019t like being \u201cthat person\u201d who buys a house on its 4th listing after 11 months.<\/p>\n Builders don\u2019t understand the need for a \u201cstory\u201d or some element of character or warmth.<\/p>\n Builders typically hire out-of-area agents and don\u2019t realize this lowers the brand value in the eyes of the buyers.<\/p>\n Builders use very distinct, often ornate finishes that can clash with prevailing styles and trends within a specific neighbourhood.<\/p>\n Builder houses typically sell via the 2nd or 3rd listing agent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Now, here\u2019s the crazy thing, folks!<\/p>\n When I met \u201cBuilder Bob,\u201d or whatever I named him in the blog post, I actually sat down in the conference room at Bosley Real Estate and\u00a0presented<\/em> these points to him, one by one, in a PowerPoint presentation.<\/p>\n Not only that, I showed him examples for every single point.<\/p>\n My team and I politely passed on the opportunity to list the property for sale, as I explained in the blog.<\/p>\n And guess what happened after that?<\/p>\n He repeated every single one of these mistakes when he listed.<\/em><\/p>\n The property is still for sale, by the way.\u00a0 But that was never in doubt.<\/p>\n The reason that I consider this post to be one of my \u201cfavourites\u201d of the year is that I feel as though so many people can relate to this.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been a buyer at some point in the last decade, you\u2019ve come across these houses.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been a seller, you\u2019ve competed against these houses.<\/p>\n And even if you haven\u2019t been a market participant over the last little while, you\u2019ve most definitely seen examples of this in your neighbourhood, and you\u2019ve always wondered\u00a0why<\/em>.<\/p>\n Why<\/em> do builders do this?<\/p>\n Why do they\u00a0always\u00a0<\/em>do this, and why don\u2019t they learn from builders who have attempted to sell previously?<\/p>\n That\u2019s the one question I simply can\u2019t answer, except to say that it\u2019s simply in their nature.<\/p>\n Kind of like the fable about the scorpion and the frog<\/em>, as I wrote in the post.<\/p>\n Seriously, though \u2013 you should read it.\u00a0 Like, in eighty-six minutes when you\u2019re done reading today\u2019s opus\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n About one hour ago, I spoke to a reporter from\u00a0BBC News\u00a0<\/em>about the state of the Toronto condominium market.<\/p>\n It seems as though discussions about our market have now reached overseas.<\/p>\n We spoke for forty-eight minutes.\u00a0 I planned the call for when I was driving\u2026<\/p>\n A\u00a0lot<\/em> of subject matter was covered during that time, but one of the points I made that now rings true is the following:<\/p>\n Many people are to \u201cblame\u201d for what happened in our pre-construction condominium market; developers, lenders and banks, mortgage brokers, city planners, Toronto City Council, real estate agents, and real estate lawyers, just to name a few.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Years from now, books will be written about the pre-construction condominium collapse.\u00a0 Maybe we\u2019ll even see a movie\u00a0about<\/em> a book, like we saw with \u201cThe Big Short.\u201d<\/p>\n But for now, we\u2019re still finding our way through the mess, and before any mess is cleaned up, there\u2019s usually talk about who to blame.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, we learned that condominium developers were suing buyers who refused to close on their pre-construction condos, and I wrote about it on TRB.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a link to the post:<\/p>\n April 3rd, 2025: Developers Suing Pre-Construction Buyers: Who Is To Blame?<\/a><\/p>\n Earlier this year, two enterprising Toronto Star reporters dove headfirst into the savage world of developers suing buyers, and wrote an article detailing some 130 such lawsuits<\/em> at that time.\u00a0 They even found some of these buyers to go on the record, and that was the part that I found absolutely wild!<\/p>\n In my blog post, I asked the following:<\/p>\n Who is to blame:<\/p>\n 1) Evil, heartless, money-grubbing condominium developers with no soul, empathy, or ability to reason.<\/p>\n 2) Naive, stupid, arrogant, entitled, uneducated, wishful, irresponsible buyers with no critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Both options are obviously hyperbolic and exaggerated, but that further drives home the point.<\/p>\n This<\/em> is how most people see this debate.<\/p>\n As with everything else in the world today, there is simply no middle ground.<\/p>\n While many people want to blame developers for their actions, which seem anywhere from \u201cunfair\u201d to \u201ccruel,\u201d the content of the article shines a spotlight on how naive most buyers were.<\/p>\n In my blog post, I went through\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>the quotes in the Toronto Star article from the buyers who were interviewed, and highlighted just how absurd their thinking was.<\/p>\n For example, one quote said:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026knowing he could never qualify for the mortgage on the unit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As I detailed in the blog, I have no sympathy for a person who knew that he or she wouldn\u2019t qualify for a mortgage on a condo once it was completed in 4-5 years, but who purchased it anyway, with the plan to \u201cflip the paper.\u201d<\/p>\n Another example:<\/p>\n \u201cPeople don\u2019t lose money in real estate, they\u2019re not supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This<\/em> is what the book and\/or movie will be about.<\/p>\n And while you can blame developers for creating this system, blame real estate agents for selling the units to buyers, blame city officials for turning a blind eye to the practice so they could rake in billions of tax revenue, or blame an entire cast of other characters, surely it\u2019s the\u00a0buyers<\/em> who have to shoulder the majority of the blame, right?<\/p>\n Over the last fifteen years, I\u2019ve written so many blogs on pre-construction condominiums and offered so many crazy stories, experiences, or quotes\/comments, but this<\/em> blog post from April might have shone the largest spotlight on just how unsophisticated most pre-construction buyers are.<\/p>\n In the blog post, I pulled\u00a0sixteen\u00a0<\/em>quotes from the Toronto Star article and analyzed them individually.<\/p>\n With each additional quote, it should be very clear that most participants in the pre-construction condo \u201cgame\u201d over the last twenty years have had absolutely no clue what they were doing.<\/p>\n Many of them made money, but what\u2019s the difference between the person who bought in 2008 versus the person who bought in 2022?\u00a0 Other than\u00a0timing<\/em> and\u00a0profit<\/em>, can we really conclude that these folks are any different?<\/p>\n The scary part about this blog post and the contents therein is this: we\u2019ve only seen the\u00a0beginning<\/em> of litigation in this market segment.<\/p>\n 2026 is going to be a wild ride, and we\u2019ll read more stories like this one\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n What do you think of when you hear the word \u201cRealtor?\u201d<\/p>\n Wait.\u00a0 Undo.<\/p>\n Undo.\u00a0 Undo.\u00a0 Undo.<\/p>\n Damn.<\/p>\n It\u2019s too late, I already put it out there, and God only knows what you\u2019re thinking\u2026<\/p>\n Alright, so you\u2019re\u00a0probably<\/em> not picturing a stock image of a real estate agent that you\u2019d expect to find online, perhaps of a person shaking hands with two happy home-owners in front of their new house.\u00a0 I was in the TRREB Store the other day, and I saw these hats with the \u201cR\u201d logo for \u201cRealtor,\u201d as well as polo shirts with the Realtor<\/em> logo, and I thought, \u201cOh, that\u2019s<\/em> how organized real estate wants us to look\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Sure.\u00a0 Carrying a clipboard full of important \u201cnotes.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps a leather carry-all with business cards of our recommended lawyer, home inspector, and mortgage broker inside?\u00a0 Maybe the leather carry-all also doubles as a day planner<\/i>?<\/p>\n How profesh!<\/p>\n How\u00a0I\u00a0<\/em>picture a real estate agent and how\u00a0you<\/em> picture a real estate agent are probably very, very different, and how organized real estate pictures their version of this \u201cprofessional\u201d is likely symoblic at best and wilfully naive at worst, but I digress\u2026<\/p>\n Earlier this year, I was chatting with a colleague who has been in the business around the same amount of time as I have; two decades, give or take.\u00a0 We were talking about the current market conditions, how real estate agents are behaving within it, as well as how the market\u00a0used<\/em> to function three years ago, and he asked me this question:<\/p>\n \u201cWhere have all the sockless Realtors gone?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I didn\u2019t know it at the time, but he had just coined a term that I think is one of the most memorable real estate buzz-words of 2025.<\/p>\n He was being condescending, in case it\u2019s not obvious.<\/p>\n Yes, there\u00a0is<\/em> a style among men whereby they wear loafers with no socks, and yes, this is trendy, fashionable, and at times, very classy.<\/p>\n But his point was more about the\u00a0type<\/em> of real estate agent that was getting into the business between 2018 and 2022, and his off-the-cuff mention of \u201cSockless Realtors\u201d absolutely nailed it.<\/p>\n A few days later, I did a podcast on\u00a0Last Honest Realtor<\/em>, called \u201cThe Market Flip \u2018Nobody\u2019 Saw Coming: Where Did All The Sockless Realtors Go?\u201d<\/p>\n I had so much fun with this that I decided to include it on Toronto Realty Blog.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a link to the post:<\/p>\n April 24th, 2025: Where Have All The Sockless Realtors Gone?<\/a><\/p>\n As odd as it might seem for one of my \u201ctop posts of 2025\u201d to simply be an embedded\u00a0video<\/em> of my podcast, trust me when I say that this was also my favorite podcast of the year, and for good reason.<\/p>\n Just picture what I\u2019m describing, and you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a young man.<\/p>\n He\u2019s wearing loafers with no socks.<\/p>\n His pants are what we would have called a \u201cflood\u201d in the 80\u2019s, but he makes it cool.\u00a0 And they have a\u00a0cuff<\/em>.<\/p>\n He\u2019s wearing a knitted short-sleeve shirt.<\/p>\n He has some sort of designer belt.\u00a0 Hermes.\u00a0 Gucci.\u00a0 Louis Vuitton.\u00a0 Whatever is the most expensive, or\u00a0seems<\/em> the most expensive.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a v-neck that\u2019s more than \u201cplunging.\u201d\u00a0 If it went down any further, it would hit his belly button.<\/p>\n He\u2019s wearing a Rolex, or at least a watch that\u00a0says<\/em> \u201cRolex.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s either fake, which is pathetic, or it\u2019s real, which is more pathetic, since there\u2019s no way he can afford this.<\/p>\n He\u2019s only in his mid-20\u2019s but he\u2019s had \u201cwork done.\u201d<\/p>\n Not a single hair on his head is out of place.<\/p>\n He\u2019s got one of those \u201cCharlie Salinger beards,\u201d which fans of\u00a0Party of Five<\/em> will understand, while the rest of you have no clue what I\u2019m talking about, but that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible he\u2019s got veneers.<\/p>\n His Facebook and Instagram have hundreds of photos of him<\/em>, and you\u2019d have to search to find a picture of anybody or anything else.<\/p>\n There are\u00a0multiple<\/em> photos of him posing in front of a luxury car.<\/p>\n A typical Instagram story for him would be a photo of a bank draft for $100,000 with a caption that reads, \u201cAnother lucky client has bought a home,\u201d only the photo isn\u2019t\u00a0really\u00a0<\/em>of the bank draft, but rather it\u2019s of the\u00a0Richard Mille<\/em> watch he\u2019s showing with the hand that\u2019s holding the bak draft, and the\u00a0Mercedes\u00a0<\/em>logo on the steering wheel of the car that the bank draft is sitting on.<\/p>\n You know what I\u2019m talking about, right?<\/p>\n Look, I realize that the public has a low opinion of the average real estate agent, and for good reason.\u00a0 That\u2019s totally far.\u00a0 In fact, I spend so much of my time here on Toronto Realty Blog telling stories about bad actors in the industry that I receive complaints on a regular basis!\u00a0 But there\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>professionals in this profession, and some of the most brilliant and hardest-working people I\u2019ve ever met are folks that I call colleagues.<\/em><\/p>\n But then there\u2019s the\u00a0rest<\/em>.<\/p>\n And nowhere is this worse personified than with respect to the slew of new entrants to the industry between 2018 and 2022, most of whom are no longer in the business, or at best, are running on fumes.<\/p>\n These incompetent, uneducated, ass-clowns who came into the business in their early-20\u2019s, with no real-world training or knowledge, and ran around the city going to \u201claunch parties\u201d with developers, branding themselves \u201cCertified Platinum VIP Brokers,\u201d selling pre-construction<\/em> condos to impressionable buyers who relied on their agent as a\u00a0professional<\/em>, but eventually found them to be anything but.<\/p>\n It reminds me of \u201cThe Big Short.\u201d\u00a0 All these mortgage brokers providing \u201cNINJA loans,\u201d when only six months earlier, they were bartending at nightclubs.<\/p>\n Real estate was not immune to the moths attracted to flames.\u00a0 In fact, our light burned so bright that they came in droves, never seen before.<\/p>\n Sockless Realtors.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve all seen at least one of them\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Should I be bothered by the fact that my title isn\u2019t grammatically correct?<\/p>\n\n
5) Why Infill Home Builders Always Make The Same Mistakes<\/h3>\n
\n
4) \u201cDevelopers Suing Pre-Construction Buyers: Who Is To Blame?\u201d<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
3) \u201cWhere Have All The Sockless Realtors Gone?\u201d<\/h3>\n
\n
2) \u201cTop Ten People You Shouldn\u2019t Take Real Estate Advice From\u201d<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/torontorealtyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/HouseOfCardsInsights.jpg\")
<\/p>\n