Buying and Selling a home is a complex undertaking. Hiring a full service professional Realtor will help save you time and money. We will determine your needs and work with you buying or selling your home. We will guide you every step of the say to make your real estate experience stress-free and a pleasant one.
Below you can research online Vancouver westside detached homes that are listed for sale on the MLS System:
The internet has greatly expanded the search for homes by home buyers and sellers. You can find a list of Vancouver homes for sale via the MLS system in Greater Vancouver. Google Map Search enable geographical search by neighborhoods. By entering the municipality and your search criteria, and when the "search button" is pressed, you will see a list of homes for sale.
Thninking of buying a Vancouver home?
Good homes are selling fast, and by the time you find a suitable home, it may already have an accepted offer from another buyer. Working with a Buyer Agent helps greatly in finding the home your want to buy. You can benefit from the "first move advantage" of viewing the new listings and make your offer before other buyers.
You can use an online mls search site like RealEstateRichmond.com and Vancouver-Realestates.com to search for homes listed for sale on the MLS system. You may choose to find a Vancouver Realtor and work with your Realtor to look for the home that is right for you.
For neighborhood information, and recent activities in a Vancouver neighborhood, you will need to contact a local Vancouver Realtor for guidance. You will get the best results working with a Buyer Agent who has an intimate knowledge on new listings in the market.
Richmond real estate is now back to a seller's market now
After 4 months of surge in sales and lack of new inventory in the market, sellers are now back in control and home prices are heading up again. The months of inventory below confirmed the market is experiencing strong buyer interest, and home prices are gaining ground.
The latest month of inventory or supply/demand as shown below confirmed strong buying pressure which will help boost home sellin prices. The housing market report for Richmond showing the list /sale ratios for detached homes, townhomes and condos can be viewed here.
Price Range
# Active Listings
# Av. sale (3 mth)
No. Months
400,000 - 500,000
9
3
3.00
500,001 - 600,000
74
25
2.96
600,001 - 700,000
143
48
2.98
700,001 - 800,00
91
30
3.03
800,001 - 900.000
50
17
2.94
900,001 - 1,00,000
42
14
3.00
1,000,001 - 1,500,000
135
45
3.00
1,500,001 - 2,000,000
43
14
3.07
2,000,001 - 3,500,000
14
5
2.80
Total Sales
601
201
2.99
Know what your are buying
Buyers are required to make a quick decision as there are other buyers likely to beat them to the homes they are interested to buy. Sellers are now not too flexible in their price negotiation as they know they market will catch up on the prices they want. As a buyer, you need to be ready and being pre-approved for a mortgage gives you an edge to buy with confidence.
The market has now turned in favour of the sellers. You either have to move your offer price up to meet seller's price, or hope for better luck with another home seller. Unfortunately, other home sellers may be equally firm on their selling prices.
If you are searching for homes for sale, you can use my website here to check out the homes listed for sale on the MLS system. You can contact me at 604-721-4817 to search for homes meeting your requirements. Or, email me.
Some home owners are keen to build their own dream homes. If building your own home appeals to you, you can get the help from one of the many new home builders in Richmond.
Not only you can save money building your home, you also get the features you want for your dream home.
Taking the first step
Work with a Richmond Realtor, who can help walk you through the process of finding a building lot and line-up a home builder for you. Meet with some Richmond builders who construct houses that are similar in size, quality, and features to the home you want. You will have a fair idea as to the cost to build your own home. It is important to know exactly what is included in the price - your builder can provide a list showing the materials that will be used.
Cost of building lot
In Richmond most building lots for new homes are from old homes that are bought for their lot values. These homes are torn down to make way for the contrauction of new homes. Your building lot cost may varies from $500,000 to $650,000 for a lot in a prime west Richmond neighborhood. In desirable neighborhoods like Granville, Riverdale and Broadmoor, the cost for building lot around 8,000 sq ft may range from $600,000 to $650,000. In Richmond Seafair area, lot prices may range from $500,000 to $550,000.
The construction cost may varies depending on the size of the home, the floor plan and features you want to have in the house.
The cost per square foot is derived fromteh construction estimate divided by the square footage of the new home you want to build. A typical 3,700 sq ft new home in Rchmond may cost $480,000 to $500,000.
The cost per square foot is often higher for a small home than a larger home. When building a larger home, the cost of expensive items like furnace and kitchen is spread over more square footage. Consequently, a larger home may have a lower square footage cost than a smaller home.
Build to suit
This approach involves using a Realtor to locate an older home that will be used as the building lot for the new home, and a home builder undertaking the construction of your new home. You can pick the floor-plan from existing blue-prints, and provide the features you like to have for your home. Financing for new home construction can be arranged with a local bank. Typically, 3 draws each around one-third of the construction cost is paid out as the home is being completed in stages.
For more information on building your own million dollar home in Richmond, you can contact me at 604-721-4817 for a discussion.
Sales of detached, attached and apartments in Richmond continued to improve, from 199 and 337 in February and March to 429 in April 2009. With more buyers and fewer homes for sale in recent months, the Greater Vancouver housing market has entered a more moderate and balanced state. Declining supply
For the past 6 months, new listings for detached, attached and apartment properties declined in Greater Vancouver. Total listings for April 2009 was down 33.7 per cent compared to April 2008, when 7,010 new units were listed.
The total number of property listings on the Multiple Listing Service, while slightly down compared to last month, remains unchanged compared to the same period in 2008.
Market over-supply and poor economic conditions
The spring surge in market activities could be attributed to anemic sales during the winter months, and aggressive interest rates cuts by the Bank of Canada in recent weeks. The market is now left with homes that were passed over by home buyers. These homes may be over-priced or not as appealing to home buyers.
There are motivated buyers looking for good homes fairly priced showing up on the market. This may not happen as home sellers are holding off listing their homes at today's prices. The lack of good qualify listings coming onto the market will result in lower sales activities in the coming weeks.
The supply of homes is still high in relation to the demand. The next few quarters outlook for the Richmond housing market is likely to remain moderate, and home prices under pressure to decline more gradually due to market oversupply and deteriorating economic conditions.
Affordability is still a problem
Home buyers, including many first-time buyers were attracted to enter the market due to low interest rates, good supply of housing and a considerably lower cost mortgage compared to recent years. However, housing affordability is still a problem for many home buyers.
Richmond's real estate market activities over the past 3 months registered a rebounce in sales. The table below summarized the past 3 months (February 01, 2008 to April 30, 2009) sales of Richmond detached homes. The active listing figures posted were the number of homes listed for sale as of first week of May, 2008.
It is generally accepted that an absorption rate (list/sale ratio) around 6 months inventory represents a neutral or balanced market.
Market improving
Currently, homes below $600,000 were in demand and this could be attributed to these homes being more affordable. Higher sales activities the past 3 months for homes in the $800,001 to $1,000,000 range helped to keep the listing and sale ratio in balance. However, homes over 1.5 million are taking a much longer time to sell.
The latest housing market report for Richmond can be viewed here.
If you like to have more information on the current real estate market in Richmond, South Vancouver of Burnaby, kindly contact me at 604-721-4817 or email me.
There are some signs on the Richmond home prices stabalizing. Sales activities over the past few weeks definitely showed significant improvement as the REBGV's March sales data for Richmond picked up further with total sales improved 69% to 337 homes as compared to the previous month sale of 199 homes. On a year-over-year basis, this was a drop of 20% from the 427 homes sold the same month in 2008.
Home sellers and buyers are watching the market closely to see if the market will stabalize.
Will this be a pause before home prices continue going lower? The market remained fairly active with more deals being done these past few weeks.
More severe price decline for older homes
Overall, Richmond home prices dropped in the range of 12% to 15% from their peaks in late 2007. Seasonaly, each year's spring season from March to May is the most active months for real estate sale transactions. An analysis on the sales of older detached homes in Richmond showed that homes under $700,000 declined around 22% from their peaks.
The improvement in the past 2 months' sales helped to improve the supply / demand (list to sale) ratio greatly from 13 to around 9 months at the end of March, 2009. The market is now more balanced, and the slide in home prices may be stabilized for now. The low mortgage rates help to make homes more affordable now. However, many home buyers are finding it difficult to get financing from their banks. This could be due to more stringent under-writing by Canadian banks.
It is still a buyer's market
Whether home prices will hold at the present level, or subject to further price decline will depend on how the supply and demand of homes will play out over the next few months. Homes below $600,000 are in demand with just around 4.5 months supply of homes. The supply for homes above $600,000 is relatively high - at around 10 months supply, and million dollar homes take a much longer time to sell - 13 months supply. Weak sellers for these homes are likely to come under pressure to sell.
My take on the market
Selling pressure will continue to be experienced by home sellers. If more new listings come onto the market and the pace of home sales slow down in the coming months, home prices will continue to decline.
Selling your home in 30 days or less in today's market needs careful planning and execution of your marketing plan. You have to understand the market and position your home as a "great deal" to home buyers.
Past sale information
The sales data for Richmond detached homes from Jan 01 to March 15, 2009 revealed some very interesting information. Out of 255 homes sold during this period, 64 homes or 25% of them were sold in 30 days or less!
These 64 homes were just 3% of the homes that were successfully sold.
If you want to sell your home in 30 days or less, you just have to follow the success stories of other home sellers.
Successful home selling system
All Richmond real estate success stories are centered on:
- Right pricing - good preparation of your home - superior execution of marketing plan
You can sell your home quickly... and at market price.
A decisive and aggressive pricing strategy will help to sell your home sooner. Find out how you can sell your home in 30 days or less
Townhousesare more affordable than detached homes and offer larger living areas than condos to accommodate their families. Richmond townhouses range in built up areas from the smaller 1,200 to 2,000 square feet living. The selling prices for Richmond townhouses may be from $300,000 to $750,000, depending on the size, age and location.
Richmond townhouses that have 3 bedrooms with average living area between 1,450 to $1600 square feet are in great demand. Such units generally are priced between $390,000 to $450,000 for older units. Newer townhouses are now selling at higher price range between $500,000 to $650,000.
One of the most desirable Richmond neighborhoods known as Terra Nova has many townhomes between 6 to 15 years old listed for sale on the MLS.
Some of the older Richmond townhouse complexes are in demand as these are two-level townhomes with more spacious open floor plans and play areas for young kids. These strata townhouse complexes also have more shrubs, trees and landscape yards. Some of the popular west Richmond townhouses are Timberwood Village, Mariners Village, Kingfisher Road, Tiffany Blvd, Minoru Blvd, AbercrombieDrive, etc.
If you are planning to buy or sell your townhouse in Richmond, you are welcome to contact me for a discussion, or email me.
Successful sale of your Richmond home in today's market require right pricing and great execution of your marketing plan. In today's market, an average home takes up to 9 months to sell! Use a marketing system that can help you sell your home in 30 days or less.
Pricing to sell
Right pricing is the key to selling your Richmond home in a buyer's market. In a soft market where house prices are dropping 1 to 2% a month, you have a better chance of selling your home by pricing it at least 5% lower than market value. Find out why - the pricing game part 1 and part 2.
Current Sales Activities
The table below summarized the past 6 months (June 01, 2008 to to-date) sales of Richmond detached homes under various price categories. The active listing figures were number of homes listed for sale as of December 25, 2008.
It is generally accepted that an absorption rate (list/sale ratio) around 6 months inventory represents a neutral or balanced market. The absorption rates as shown below confirmed that the market prices for detached homes over $500,000 in Richmond are under pressure to decline further.
Price Range
# Active Listings
# Av. sale(6 mth)
No. Months
400,000 - 500,000
11
19
3.48
500,001 - 600,000
112
72
9.33
600,001 - 700,000
175
86
12.21
700,001 - 800,00
140
67
12.53
800,001 - 900.000
76
22
20.71
900,001 - 1,00,000
50
23
12.98
1,000,001 - 1,500,000
140
57
14.74
1,500,001 - 2,000,000
45
11
24.59
2,000,001 - 3,500,000
8
2
24.24
Total Sales
757
359
12.62
Currently, homes below $500,000 were in demand and this could be attributed to these homes being more affordable. Homes in the $800,001 to $900,000 range were found to take up to 21 months to sell. Similarly, sellers of million dollar homes over $1,500,000 could take up to 24 months to sell.
If you like to have more information on the current real estate market in Richmond, South Vancouver of Burnaby, kindly contact me at 604-721-4817 or email me.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.