This has already been in the news and all, but I thought I'd mention it here. I broke this on Twitter a few days ago actually, so if you are not following me there please do. Basically Onni Group, who usually does their own condo marketing, have partnered with MAC Marketing Solutions to sell off their existing inventory of condos in Port Moody (Suter Brook Village), Richmond (FLO), Port Coquitlam (South Verde), New Westminster (Victoria Hill) and Surrey (Escada).
Some examples of the deals available (given in a number of the papers) were:
* Richmond: A 900-square-foot two-bedroom unit originally priced at $472,900, or $525 per square foot, is now approximately $360,000, or $400 a square foot.
* Port Moody: A 1,106-square-foot two-bedroom-and-den originally priced at $453,900 is now approximately $340,000. A 655-square-foot studio originally priced at $319,900 is now $240,000, and a 990-square-foot wood frame two-bedroom originally priced at $419,900 is now approximately $315,000.
* Surrey: An 1,100-square-foot two-bedroom and den originally priced at $360,900 is now $260,000.
* New Westminster: A one-bedroom originally priced at $270,000 is now approximately $215,000.
* Port Coquitlam: A 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom originally priced at $389,900, or $390 a square foot, is now approximately $280,000, or $280 a square foot.
The marketing by MAC has been pretty lousy though with lots of misinformation (the papers all reported that there would be a one day sale in March, but they are actually selling the units this week) and a general lack of clarity on what is available and the process is going to work. Honestly I don't think they knew what the plan was when they started out.
Nonetheless these are obviously significant savings and whether or not they make these purchases the right ones for you is something you'll have to decide for yourself, or in consultation with a REALTOR. Feel free to email or call (604-916-4663) me and I would be happy to help you decide.
The 14th Annual REALTORS® Care Blanket Drive is upon us!
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and it's members are asking you to make a donation - no matter how small - to the 2008 REALTORS® Care Blanket Drive. With winter just starting to settle in, local charitable organizations need our help more than ever to meet the demands of the growing number of homeless and working poor in our communities.
How you can help:
* Donate new or gently used clean blankets, sleeping bags, coats, warm clothes, scarves, hats, mitts; and new unused socks and underwear (men and women).
* If you can't drop off your donations, I can pick them up for you.
Together we can make this a warmer winter for everyone. This year, the Blanket Drive runs from Monday November 24 to Monday December 1. For a list of donation drop-off locations visit http://www.blanketdrive.ca/.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corportation, or CMHC, is now offering another down payment option to Canadian home buyers. This product, called Flex Down, offers buyers a "wider range of sources for their down payment such as borrowed funds and lender cash-back incentives."
They advertise this product as having the following features (these are quoted from CMHC):
Available for Purchase Transactions
Loan-to-Value ratios of 90.01% to 95%
1 – 2 unit residential properties
Wider range of sources of down payment permitted
Flexible financing options – single advance, progress advance and extended amortization periods are available
Flexibilities available for the purchase of energy-efficient homes
and benefits (so are these):
Helps Provide Earlier Access to Homeownership – with as little as 5% down using flexible sources of down payment.
Flexible Down Payments – Wider range of sources of down payment permitted.
Competitive Interest Rates – Access to CMHC insured financing, and as a result, competitive interest rates.
Availability – Available coast-to-coast-to-coast with no set maximum loan amount.
This all sounds good but I at least with the cash back mortgages buyers to need to be careful about the rate as it can be significantly higher than it would with other mortgage products.
In this video I discuss how the quality of everything associated with the sale of your home will effect it's value. Lousy pictures equal less money, good pictures equal more money; crummy looking sign equals less money, good looking sign equals more money; poor staging, clutter, messy and dirty home equals less money, clean, tidy and staged equals more money. You get the idea. The video is below, I encourage your comments. The video player here is a bit weird. You can also watch this on tv.604homes.com or on my viddler page.
Wow! There are are some pretty remarkable numbers here this month. False Creek real estate got hit over the head with a 3 day old baguette this past month. Of the 14 units listed for sale in False Creek in October, NOT ONE, sold! There were only 4 units sold in the whole month and three of those were pre-paid leasehold units! All that being said the average, and median, list price to sale price ratio was a very healthy 98! Take a look at the stats below. I am hoping to add some sexy graphs soon, but I still have some learning to do on the spreadsheet programs.
LISTED IN FALSE CREEK IN OCTOBER
Freehold Strata Units Listed: 11 (20,6,28) Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 2 (12,2,2) Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 1 ( 2,0,1) Total Units Listed: 14 (33,8,23)
Median list price: $539,450 ($549,000,$574,950,$599,000)
SOLD IN FALSE CREEK IN OCTOBER
(last 3 month's numbers in brackets)
Sold from listed in October: 0
Freehold Strata Units Sold: 1 (4,28) Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 3 (3,1,1) Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 0 (0,0,0) Total Units Sold: 4 (7,3,9)
Average Sold Price: $384,600 ($541,214 ,$734,000) Median Sold Price: $374,950 ($545,000,$550,000)
List Price to Sold Price Ratio: 98%
Average Days on Market: 27 (21,71, 29) Median Days on Market: 24 (12,61, 14)
Are you thinking ablout making a move in False Creek real estate? I am always happy to answer your False Creek real estate questions.
This post orignally appeared on my False Creek blog, the False Creek Comet
Oyama Sausage Company Canadian Cheese Festival - November 7,8,9
I haven't got a lot of info on this one, but next Friday, Saturday & Sunday is the Canadian Cheese Festival at the Oyama Sausage Company (annoying flash site) in the Granville Island Market. The Oyama Sausage Co. is one of our family's favourite stops in the market with their free samples and delicious nitratrate free deli meats and sausages. I am sure the cheese is excellent too, but the kids don't appreciate that kind of thing yet. I am hoping to have more info on this one soon.
This post originally appearred on my False Creek blog, the False Creek Comet.
Feng Shui in New York- BEDROOMS and Interior Design
As a Feng Shui practitioner in Manhattan and Long Island, I love seeing the different spaces in both apartments and homes. It's interesting that many of the Principles of Feng Shuido NOT go along with the principles ofInterior Design and it's also interesting to me that more Interior Designers, Decorators and Home Stagers are more interested In Feng Shui then ever before. The differences we share are often in BEDROOMS.
This room in Smithtown Long Island in New York was in a spacious, three bedroom home. It was furnished by an Interior Design student who was looking for love (among some other issues). In Interior design you are taught to think in ODD numbers---threes or fives for example.
In Feng Shui, particularly in the bedroom and partnership areas, we are thought to think in TWOS. Two people, two statues, two candles as twos signify a partnership and three, well, is a crowd! We don't want to bring a third person into our relationship.
A Lovely Bedroom--Without Feng Shui Principles
We also think in the color PINK for romance. While this doesn't mean you have to paint your entire room pink, throw pillows, candles and flowers can be added to almost any color scheme to represent pink.
We also need to allow someone to come into our life by creating room for new energy-and a new person. Having one side of a bed up against the wall goes against Feng Shui principles for this very reason...there is no ROOM for a new person. In Feng Shui and Bedrooms in particular, we need BALANCE, something this room is lacking. Cleaning out one drawer and part of your closet (it likely needs it anyway) is also a good decision.
As a Feng Shui Consultant, we also want to see our clients "backed-up" in life....and in their bedrooms and offices. A solid headboard (wood is best so it doesn't pick up any EMF's) is recommended. And choose your artwork carefully.
Back to our bedroom in Feng Shui. This is a lovely room but NOT a room that employs Feng Shui principles. It's not uncommon for me to see a light go off in one of my client's when they have been taught SO differently but are able to understand WHY Feng Shui Consultants view things the way they do---and they're off to make some changes!
*Ifyou've read this long, one more piece of advice. We are looking for a PARTNER, not a power play situation...keeps your "twos" in the SAME SIZE : )
Authored by Carole Provenzale, Feng Shui Long Island & New York- Manhattan, all rights reserved
I am tired of hearing news reports recounting how people are scared. They are scared of rising costs, of higher gas prices (even though they are dramatically lower than they were just weeks ago). of losing their jobs or homes, of paying their bills, of going to the doctor, of getting older, of ____________(fill in the blank).
This type of fear is paralyzing. It is the exact opposite of enabling and empowering.
In sales, some people are scared of making a presentation, of cold calling, of making phone calls, of failing.
This won't do.
There are things we can change. There are things we can't.
Nothing wrong in having a healthy respect for something. I'm not "scared" of skydiving, but I can't imagine myself ever doing it and I certainly can go my entire life without ever doing it.
Sometimes, fear comes from the unknown - of not being able to see a way to cope with a situation or resolve it. It doesn't need to be paralyzing, gripping, or all-consuming, however.
Sometimes, fear comes from having a victim mentality - that people are unable to rise above what is happening to them.
We have the power to change our circumstances and most importantly how we respond (not "react") to what is happening, what we are going through, or what we are facing.
They say that knowledge is power, so let's work on those areas where we feel a little weak.
Let's be bold and show the way for others who need our example and the ability to draw off our strength.
The False Creek Watershed Society is hosting the Salmon Celebration as part of BC Rivers Day on Spetember 28th. The Salmon Celebration BC Rivers Day The event is set to take place from 12:00 - 4:30pm at Vanier Park and promises to great fun, and educational too.There is even a parade at 1:00pm.
I haven't been to one of these events for a few years, but the last one we went to was great. There will be "Entertainment, Crafts, Food, Storytelling, Environmental Fair, Local Musicians, Wooden Boat Building, Stilt Walking, Exhibits and First Nations Participation."
You can read all about The Salmon Celebration and all the other events the Society puts on their website. It is always good for us city dwellers to realize what was here before they paved this paradise.
A blog about Matt's life as a REALTOR in Vancouver. Vancouver real estate market info. and updates, city info and anecdotes about and my life and business in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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.
A Lovely Bedroom--Without Feng Shui Principles
nowledge is power, so let's work on those areas where we feel a little weak.
BC Rivers Day on Spetember 28th. The Salmon Celebration BC Rivers Day The event is set to take place from 12:00 - 4:30pm at Vanier Park and promises to great fun, and educational too.There is even a parade at 1:00pm.
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