About Central Toronto Real Estate Toronto Star: Living the high life Financial Post: Location, location, location Toronto Star: It's little things Toronto Star: Upturn in home market
Sold signs are a leitmotif for Elli Davis, the queen of closings. For the past 12 years she has been the top-ranked seller of homes in Canada. Which means she has generated the highest dollar sales. Which means she possesses singular status in a city where the housing market, buoyed by a heady stock market, is hot and what your house is worth on paper once again is deemed civilized dinner party chatter.
These days Toronto houses routinely sell in less than a week, often for more than the asking price. Recently a house needing major work was bid up $89,000 over the $299,000 ask. An all-time-high price for a house in Toronto this decade -- $6.9-million -- occurred Oct. 1. "Wish it had been my listing," says Elli Davis, who is easygoing with a bit of parry and thrust about her. She tells another agent on speakerphone that an offer is going to be signed back. "If it's going to die, let it die in your court."
She's also traumatized by the idea of living life in a new, unfamiliar setting. "I know every nail in that house," she says softly. Elli Davis handles her with the delicacy of the primary school teacher she was before she got her licence in 1983. "You have to be ready inside," she consoles her. "I'm going to take you to the right places. When we find something, it'll give you the impetus to move. You'll be so happy." There's no hard sell, one of the reasons Elli Davis is so effective. That and the fact she works 24-7. Lunch was two Fig Newtons in the car and h alf a bottle of Fruitopia...
Elli Davis deftly channels Lynne's expectations. "We have to establish if you want a building versus a townhouse," she says. "Maybe the answer is a condo townhouse." Lynne nods. "I think I'd be depressed in an apartment."
Elli Davis motions to a house. A private sale. They're asking in the nines, real estate talk for the $900,000s. "Good luck to them," she says. She's not a fan of private sales. "They tend to be priced unrealistically," she says.
Elli Davis doesn't waste time on too much introspection. There's no hokum about the social significance of her work. She remembers her first sale. A condo. It went for $140,000. "I was so excited. I thought, 'That was fun. It wasn't that hard.' " This year Davis has closed sales on over 100 properties. She has 25 listings on the go at the moment. Four are in negotiation; by the end of the day two will have sold. She won't say what her commission structure is; 5% is fairly standard, but top performers often cut a better deal.
