BC Home Sales Edge Lower in MayVancouver, BC – June 15, 2011.
The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) residential unit sales in the province edged down one per cent to 7,857 units in May compared to the same month last year.
The average MLS® residential price climbed 20 per cent to $596,872 last month compared to May 2010.“Tighter mortgage rules, tepid employment growth and advance buying during the first quarter kept BC home sales on a lower note in May,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “However, recent downward pressure on mortgage interest rates is expected to provide some incentive to consumers over the summer months.”
Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume increased 15 per cent to $20.1 billion, compared to the same period last year. Residential unit sales edged back one per cent to 34,191 units, while the average MLS® residential price rose 16.5 per cent to$588,857 over the same period.
*Courtesy of BCREA
This spring it was my great pleasure to have participated on the planning committee of Art Attire 2011. The wearable art fashion show was a fundraiser for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Providing local textiles and fabric artists the opportunity to showcase their amazing work at the gallery. The show was SPECTACULAR!
Now in its second year the event highlights the talents and creativity of local artists and designers.
Thank you to all the artists and volunteers who made this evening a great success and to Jen Steele Photography for taking amazing photos of the night!
There are a variety of rating systems available to eco-consious buyers, here is a quick list with definitions, and links:
1. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and was originally designed for commercial buildings, but is now used for residential energy rating as well. LEED Canada for Homes is the body “that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes”. Builders earn points that represent the style of construction used, and the ongoing use of the home after completion. Depending on the level of points earned a home is rated as LEED Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum (highest rating available). This rating can be both costly and time consuming to achieve, but is a great representation of a home’s actual impact on the environment.
2. EnerGuide Rating System is a ”standard measure of your home’s energy performance. It shows exactly how energy efficient your home is” (Natural Resource Canada). A home’s energy efficiency level is rated somewhere between 0-100, and the rating of 100 represents a fully airtight and well insulated home. This rating system measures how much power a home uses.
(Chart courtesy of Natural Resource Canada Website)
3. ENERGY STAR home has an EnerGuide rating of 80 or better and typically contains ENERGY STAR products throughout the home. ENERGY STAR for New Homes initiative promotes guidelines that builders can use to construct energy efficient new homes. ENERGY STAR for New Homes uses the same logo as the familiar labeling program for appliances and electronics and is a quick way to judge whether a home is energy efficient or not.
4. BuiltGreen™ is a third party certified home rating system and the EnerGuide Rating System is part of the certification process. This certification process is used in Alberta, BC and Ontario. Built Green Certification is less expensive and time consuming than LEED certification and this is a more common designation for homes in Victoria to have, but also promoting the use of resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, construction practices and products.
4. R2000 is a voluntary energy efficiency standard for new house. Is was developed by Natural Resources Canada in cooperation with Canadian home-building professionals and the housing industry and has existed since the early 1980s. This system not only considers the energy usage of the home, but the indoor air quality of the property.
5. Power Smart New Home is a BC Hydro program that “supports the nationally accepted EnerGuide rating systems by providing financial incentives and cooperative marketing to new residential home construction. A Power Smart home, will enjoy increased comfort and decreased operating costs for the lifetime of the home and will be a good selling feature in the future”. (BC Hydro Website)
For more information or details on how these ratings affect the market value of a home please contact us.
Home for the Honeymoon is an international wedding registry that allows couples to register for a down payment on a purchase towards a new home.
Home for the Honeymoon is launching a new blog that will not only feature professional and sound home purchasing advice from highly experienced Realtors, but also wedding musings and inspiration tips as well as real wedding documentation and discussion.
In honour of the blog launch, Home for the Honeymoon has set a goal to reach 1,000 “likes” on Facebook and we really need your help!
You and your honey could win a free cruise!
All you have to do is send Home for the Honeymoon a picture of you and your bride or groom with a short blurb on why the two of you deserve a free honeymoon, as well as “like” us on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/HomefortheHoneymoon) by July 1st!
Please send all entries via email to info@HomefortheHoneymoon.com.
Contest ends July 10th!
Home for the Honeymoon stipulates that 2 individuals will win the cruise – Port fees are not included. This contest is only valid in North America. Home for the Honeymoon reserves the right to use all contest entries on promotional media with contestant’s consent.
Gather your paperwork ahead of time
You’ll be way ahead of other buyers who are scrambling at the last minute. Your real estate agent will be able to let sellers know that you are ready to purchase and this can be a negotiation tool in your favour. Here is a list of paperwork that most lenders will need to approve your mortgage.
Confirmation of down payment
- Savings or investment account statements from within the last 90 days
- Sale of an existing property — a copy of the sale agreement
- If your down payment funds are a gift from your family— a gift letter
- Statement of withdrawal from RRSP through Home Buyer’s Plan
Employment verification:
- Copy of latest 2 pay slips
- T4
- Letter of employment
- T1 General
- Notice of Assessment (NOA)
- If self-employed ask your lender exactly what other information they will need you to provide
As part of the application process, you’ll be asked what some of the projected expenses relating to the property are, such as taxes, heating costs, condo fees, and whether you will be using the property to live in or generate income. You’ll also need to provide a void cheque.
What an amazing weekend spent enjoying the sunshine in a delightful pocket of the city. Sitting on the balcony of our listing at 365 Waterfront was absolute bliss. Beautiful greenery all around, casual walking and biking traffic and not to mention peek-a-boo views of the gorge water way. If it wasn’t for all of the guests that stopped by to visit our stunning new listing I would have forgotten I was working.
365 Waterfront is beyond a doubt one of this city’s gems. The finishes in the building are among the highest quality available and pricing is very reasonable. The finishing features you’ll find include: white oak wide plank flooring, granite counter tops, spa like bathrooms with deep soaker tubs and separate glass encased showers, floor to ceiling windows all in concrete and steel construction. Those marvelous suites that face the water are awe-inspiring but there isn’t a bad spot in the building. If you don’t look onto the water you are overlooking the Galloping goose trail or a beautiful tree lined street.
A modern yet inviting foyer greets entrants into the building and will surely make this hot spot a wonderful place to call home. If your tastes call for only the best quality building materials and a modern clean design with a flow that still invokes that comfy home feeling then 365 Waterfront is perfect! Call us today to arrange a private viewing of this hot spot in Victoria.
Buying revenue property as part of your overall investment strategy is a great idea. Holding valuable properties can help you build wealth over time.
All to often however we hear stories of landlords who have had bad experiences renting out their homes or condos.
Many times these bad experiences can be avoided if the landlords have the right resources available to them. One such resource for BC landlords is ROMS BC short for The Residential Owners and Managers Society of BC.
The mission of ROMS BC is to provide services, products and representation to help it’s members succeed as rental owners. ROMS BC serves and represents over 2,300 members who collectively manage more than 50,000 residential rental units throughout British Columbia. They have all sort of helpful things like rental application forms which facilitate credit checks on applicants, tenancy agreement forms and they can perform credit checks on your applicants. The knowledgeable staff can also answer legal questions and offering operational advice.
Taking the time to properly vet those who apply for tenancy is a key element to having a good rental experience. Make sure that your applicants’ references check out and perform a credit check. With attention to these details and the right advise and resources at your command you too can benefit from owning rental property.
The World Partnership Walk is Canada’s largest annual event dedicated to raising funds and increasing awareness to fight global poverty.
The walk was held in Vancouver, Toronto and Victoria at Beacon Hill Park and raised $2 million dollars for the world’s poor.
We were touched to hear the guest of honour Naz Rayani address the crowd. All of the energy he brought to organizing this among many walks in Victoria was inspiring.
Manning the mini golf station with the folks from Prospect Lake Golf Course was a blast!
We were thrilled to support such a fantastic event and be a part of this tremendous fundraising effort!
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is Canada’s national housing agency and provide excellent housing market information. Each quarter a report is made available that provides an overview of Victoria’s housing market, and the most recent report was made available today!
I wanted to provide you with some quick highlight of the report, and one of the available charts that is available online.
Victoria Highlights:
- the resale market is expected to remain in balanced territory(neither a seller’s nor buyer’s market)
- average resale prices will stabilize in 2011 and 2012
- MLS prices across all property types are projected to decrease by 2% in 2011, and then increase again in 2012 by about 1%
- the average price of single detached homes is projected to rise by 2.1% in 2011 compared to 2010
- the volume of MLS sales are projected to increase by 8.6% in 2011 compared to 2010
- economic and demographic factors will support possible housing demand in the region
Much more information is available online at CMHC or by contacting Patricia or myself. We would be happy to discuss future trends and today’s real estate market with you in more detail.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Victoria is an excellent resource for REALTORS and consumers to stay up to date with local stats. Each Monday the board releases an excellent summery of the month to date sales numbers.
Both Patricia and I believe that careful market research and analysis is the key to smart real estate investing and so we want to offer the below table as a resource for visitors to our blog. If you have any questions or would like more details information please contact us.
Here are the month-to-date number for this past week:
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