Displaying blog entries 11-20 of 70
Here's a link to the info on one of the events Realtors do to support the community. There's also a short video. If anyone is interested we would be happy to accept donations and pass them along to help people much less fortunate than ourselves.
Our address is 13-201 Morrissey Road, Port Moody (in Suterbrook Village).
A stressful part of putting your home on the market is trying to figure out what to fix and upgrade to get the very best price. An experienced agent will recommend projects to consider and ones to avoid. After all, just because you put money into a renovation project doesn’t mean you will recoup the money in a sale.
In many cases, smaller-scale renovation projects recoup more of their initial cost than larger, pricier ones. For example, a minor $20,000 kitchen upgrade and a more expensive $60,000 upgrade will give about the same percentage returns of value on resale.
Surprisingly, exterior upgrades can recoup more of their costs than interior renovations -- a trend that’s been building for the past five years. A new entry door (and garage doors if necessary) will not only add value but it will improve the Buyers first impressions. Likewise, sliding doors and windows offer a good return on investment.
Interior improvements retaining the most value include remodeling a little used space like an attic or basement. And of course, painting and installing new flooring where necessary not only adds value but makes a home more saleable.
A homeowners’ needs and budgets will dictate their choice of home-improvement projects.
Not too high and not too low. Price it right and it will go!
Determining the price of your home is both a science and an art and we think we do it well.
Here are a few things we've learned over the years.
Factors that DO affect a property's value:
In October the sales to listing ratio shifted slightly upward to 15% placing us in the bottom end of a balanced market (rather than a Buyers market). The number of units sold (2,317) is almost the same as October 2010 and the second lowest selling October in the last 10 years.
The number of new listings (4,374) is about the same as the 10 year average and the total number of properties currently listed in Greater Vancouver is 15,377. October is the first month in 2011 that the number of listings decreased from the previous month. Although property values are up from the beginning of the year, they have edged downward from their peak in June.
Price Stability + a Healthy Inventory = More Selection and More Time for Buyers to make a decision.
Market conditions vary from depending on the area and property type.
Please contact us with any questions.
According to a panel of speakers at a recent Board of Trade event, there is not a real estate bubble in Vancouver but rather the lack of clear transitional rules leading up to the return of the provincial sales tax are having a negative effect on the our industry.
That was the message delivered by the panel of three real estate industry experts, including the Board’ President-Elect Eugen Klein, to a packed house at the Board of Trade’s Bubble Trouble event on October 21. Other panelists included Ward McAllister, president of Ledingham McAllister Properties, and Richard Wozny, of Site Economics Ltd. The panel was moderated by David Podmore, CEO of Concert Properties Ltd.
Each of the speakers presented information that helped to set the overall picture of what they consider to be a solid overall market that is not in the midst of a bubble. But they directed their strongest comments towards the impact that the lack of transitional rules is having on the market right now.
“Potential buyers, especially the under-25 group, are sitting on the sidelines,” said Klein. “It’s also affecting home renovation projects with HST on them because consumers don’t know what to do.”
McAllister was the most vocal in his criticisms, noting that he and his company have been “literally begging” the provincial government for transitional rules since the results of the referendum to repeal the HST were announced.
“What is amazing to me is that it took the government three days to bring this new tax in and now they are telling us it is going to take up to 18 months to unravel,” said McAllister. “This is really hurting us in the new home business because of the uncertainty.”
Both Klein and McAllister noted that they are seeing developers taking on a portion, or even all, of the HST on their product to try and remove that uncertainty for potential buyers.
Other information provided by the speakers suggested that the Metro Vancouver real estate market is healthy and stable.
Wozny forecasted that low interest rates will hold steady into the foreseeable future, which will translate into continuing sales, and McAllister highlighted immigration data that shows that approximately 52,700 immigrants will move to British Columbia in 2011. Of that total, some 42,000 will move into the Metro Vancouver area, meaning that the need for new housing will remain strong.
Klein pointed to steady residential sales driven by high-end property demand in Richmond, West Vancouver and the Westside of Vancouver. He also updated major commercial projects that will add approximately five million square feet of retail space and 1.5 million square feet of office space to Metro Vancouver by 2015.
“Putting the residential and commercial real estate sectors in perspective, the Lower Mainland remains a very desirable place to live and work,” said Klein
As was universally anticipated, the Bank of Canada opted to hold its target overnight rate at 1 per cent this morning. Ongoing uncertainty in the Euro-zone continues to weigh heavily on the Bank's outlook. In its statement accompanying the interest rate decision, it was noted that the bank is now projecting a contained Euro-crisis, but also a brief recession in the Euro-area due to ongoing deleveraging and fiscal austerity. The Bank also expects continued weakness, but no recession, in the United States through the first half of 2012 before a resumption of stronger growth. Given various challenges in the global economy, the Bank of Canada trimmed its outlook for Canadian economic growth to 2.1 per cent in 2011, 1.9 per cent in 2012 and 2.9 per cent in 2013 which is in line with our own forecast. On inflation, the Bank now expects slack in the economy to persist longer than originally forecast, leading to a closing of the output gap at the end of 2013. This implies softer than expected inflation in coming quarters, with consumer price growth moderating before returning to the Bank's 2 per cent target by the end of 2013.
Overall, this morning's statement shows a very cautious Bank of Canada that is unlikely to make any significant movements on interest rates over the next two to three quarters. Further monetary tightening will be highly contingent on a brighter growth outlook in the United States and a credible solution to the Euro sovereign debt crisis. Therefore we expect the Bank of Canada to remain on the sidelines through the end of 2011 and the first half of 2012.
Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission. BCREA makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of this information.
Consistent increase in listings and fewer home sales over the summer months has helped move the Greater Vancouver housing market into the upper end of a Buyers market(at a 14% sales to listing ratio). Although there was very little change from the number of home sales a compared with 2010, it was the third lowest September in the last 10 years. On the other hand Sellers remain active and this September produced the third highest number of listings in the same time period.
There are now over 16,000 current listings - a figure which has increased every month throughout the year. Prices rose in the first half of this year but they have edged down slightly since hitting a peak in June. These factors combine to give home Buyers more selection and more time to make decisions. Right now the average time to sell a home in Greater Vancouver is just over 50 days - but this varies with different types of property and different locations.
The statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver show our market to be in a balanced position. There were 2,571 sales in July. This is up 14% from July of last year but down 21% from June 2011.
Buyer activity eased in July but Sellers were active. There were 5,097 new listings bringing the overall total to 15,226 (a total which has increased each month this year).
Looking at a historical perspective, last month the listings were 8.6% higher while the sales were 17.3% lower than the 10 year average. Because Sellers continue to out pace Buyers our market has shifted to a balanced condition. This factor is determined by the 'sales to active listings ratio' which measures housing supply and demand. Ours is at 16.9% where 15%-20% is generally considered by analysts to be balanced. Above that a Sellers market occurs and below that Buyers market takes shape.
Over the last 12 months the benchmark prices increased as follows:
Detached homes +13.3%
Condos +4.5%
Townhomes +6.9%
The average sale time for homes in July was 41 days.
Hello Everyone,
Well we have what you have been waiting for....the winner from the colouring contest at Port Moody's annual Golden Spike Days event over the July 1st weekend at Rocky Point Park.
The winner was a lovely girl named Sarah who was picked in the draw from the coloring contest. We would like to thank all that participated in this event and made it the huge success that it was.
We look forward to next year and more coloring contests to come.
We were pleased to be part of Port Moody's annual Golden Spike Days event over the July 1st weekend at Rocky Point Park.
Endless entertainment, a cooperative weather man, loads of activities for families and, of course, the beer garden all contributed to make this event very successful.
At our tent we offered children face painting, a bean bag toss game-including a prize-and our colouring contest. Stay tuned for the colouring contest draw on July 16 for a basket filled with summer fun activities
!
Displaying blog entries 11-20 of 70
