Vancouver Real Estate

ONNI Liquidation Sale

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:40:49 -0600

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.

Matthew Collinge: Vancouver REALTOR®

The 14th Annual REALTORS® Care Blanket Drive is upon us!

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:10:22 -0600

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/.

This post orininally appeared on my Vancouver Real Estate blog, the 604homesblog.

Flex Down Payment - Another Downpayment Option for Vancouver (and Canadian) Homebuyers

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:19:12 -0600

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.

Selling Your Vancouver Homes? Everything Effects The Price!

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:10:53 -0600

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.

False Creek Real Estate Statistics - October 2008

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:17:31 -0600

False Creek Real Estate Statistics

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

Vancouver Real Estate in the Papers

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:09:20 -0500

Vancouver real esate is a favourite topic for the local papers and today was not different, but remember their primary goal is selling newspapers.

Correction: The survey that was quoted as being by CMHC was actually by the Royal Bank, RBC

Canadian Cheese Festival at the Oyama Sausage Company in the Granville Island Market

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:03:20 -0500

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 New York--The BEDROOM

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:41:57 -0500

This is so important in Vancouver.

Via Carole Provenzale Owner, Feng Shui Long Island & New York :

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 Shui do NOT go along with the principles of Interior 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!

*If you'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

http://www.FengShuiLI.com

We can't afford to be scared

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:08:04 -0500

What a great post. Don't be scared of the things you can't change!

Via Steve Hoffacker - Real Estate Sales & Marketing Consulting and Strategies:

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.

----

For more information on my coaching services or sales tips visit my website stevehoffacker.com or my blog homesalesinsights.com.

The Salmon Celebration at Vanier Park

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:38:37 -0500

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.

This post originally appeared on False Creek blog, the False Creek Comet.

July 2008 False Creek Real Estate Update

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:23:29 -0500

So late getting this out, but I wanted to get these numbers done so we can have something to compare to next month. The market continues to see more inventory and lower sales. Here in False Creek all the numbers are quite low and so the month-to-month numbers vary quite dramatically. I will have to start doing a quarterly re-cap I think so we can get a better idea of what is really happening in False Creek real estate. Nonetheless here are July's numbers. August's are coming soon.

LISTED IN FALSE CREEK IN JULY (last 2 month's numbers in brackets)

Freehold Strata Units Listed: 28 (14,22)
Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 2 (7,9)
Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 1 (2,2)

Total Units Listed: 31 (23,33)

Median list price: $599,000

Total Listings Available as of July 30th: 65 (56,61)

SOLD IN FALSE CREEK IN JULY (last 3 month's numbers in brackets)

Sold from listed in July: 4

Freehold Strata Units Sold: 8 (5,6,7)
Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 1 (1,3,4)
Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 0 (0,0,1)

Total Units Sold: 9 (11,9,12)

Average Sold Price: $620,300 ($490,781)
Median sold price: $575,000 ($490,000)

Average Sold DOM: 29 (37,24,21)
Median Sold DOM: 14 (26,17,14)

Absorption Rate: 7.2 months (5.09,6.7) What is the absorption rate. It is the number of months that it would take to absorb, or sell, the present inventory of homes for sale.

If you have any questions about False Creek real estate please let me know.

This post originally appeared on my blog the False Creek Comet.

"Nice House Baby" by Neil Brooks of C21 Arizona Foothills (1:59 min)

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:44:55 -0500

I am "re-blogging" this post. This is something new here on Active Rain and I hope I am doing it correctly.

This video is hilarious and may even help sell this house. What do you think?

Via ActiveRain Video:

Fraser - Mountain View Area Home for Sale, Vancouver, BC

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:09:31 -0500

• 2,250 sq. ft., 3 bath, 7 bdrm 3 story "3 bedrooms up" - $849,000 CAD - Room to Grow!

Fraser Street, Vancouver - Lovingly renovated this Fraser – Mountain View area home offers everything your family is looking for inside AND out. Enter through the front garden gate, stop and enjoy the landscaping, have a seat on the garden bench. Entering the house the LIVING ROOM is warm and inviting with its oak floors with walnut inlay. The KITCHEN is bright and spacious and features a large farm-style sink, heated tile floors, lots of cupboard space, and a beautifully tiled backsplash. The main floor bath (4 pieces) features an antique English dresser turned vanity. Also on the main floor are two bedrooms.

UPSTAIRS, you will find 3 bedrooms including a spacious MASTER with built-in closets and your own sitting area. There is a cheater ensuite and the other two bedrooms are perfect for the kids. In the basement there is a separate 2 bedroom suite with a large great room and lots of natural light.

In the BACKYARD you will find an oasis offering an outdoor living room, a children’s play house that matches your new home, and just enough of a lawn to keep everyone happy. The single GARAGE is spacious enough for a vehicle and storage, and there is a single carport too.

The Mountain View neighourhood is warm and welcoming and has great community spirit. Vancouver's first "country lane" is just around the corner and there are many traffic calming features. Grays Park offers tennis, basketball and lawn bowling as well as a playground and wading pool. Visit the shops on Fraser St. or walk over to Main St. or the new King Edward Village (featuring a library and Save-on Foods). Schools are nearby and there are regular neighbourhood events. There is a community bbq in the country lane this August. We hope you can make it.

Property information

Great Vancouver Neighbourhoods - Mountain View

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:56:24 -0500

Great Vancouver Neighbourhoods - Mountain View

Mountain View

Vancouver is a city of neighbourhoods they say. I am not sure who "they" are, but "they" are right. One of the nicest and most under appreciated is the Mountain View neighbourhood. Mountain View is a loosely defined area either side of Fraser St from about King Edward Ave. up to E. 41st. The name Mountain View is most closely associated with the City of Vancouver's cemetary (I see you can now search for where someone is buried using the Mountain View cemetary application on VanMap) and the area does boast some amazing mountain views.

Community Spirit

The community spirit in this area is quite remarkable and the neighbourhood assoication has their own blog and Facebook group. Recent events have included Mountain View's Keep Vancouver Spectacular block party, the McBride Annex Elementary School Spring Fair, and the Earth Hour Hot Chocolate Party.

Country Lane

Mountain View is also home to the first of the Country Lane's to built in Vancouver. You can learn more about the city's country lanes on their website and about Mountain View's country lane on the the blog.Grays Park

Coming up in August they will having a community bbq in the country lane.

Parks

Grays Park is the neighbourhood park and it is a wonderful place with tennis courts, basketball courts, a playground, picnic shelter, wading pool (they are campaigning for an upgrade to spray park) and it is also home to the Vancouver South Lawn Bowling Club.

Mountain View Banners Bayview Food Market Picnic shelter at Grays Park Grays Park lawn bowling Slow down kids at play Traffic calmed streets Slow down more kids at play

False Creek Real Estate Statistics - June 2008

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:50:37 -0500

So what happened with False Creek real estate (this is for False Creek South) in June. I must apologize for taking so long to get this out this month. Despite the doom and gloom in the local papers though it was a pretty good month for False Creek real estate. Inventory dropped compared to May and a couple more homes were sold than in May. False Creek does look great in the sun and that can't have hurt. The stats were skewed a bit this month by the listing of the some of the units at the new Lumen development on the MLS®.

LISTED IN FALSE CREEK IN JUNE (last month's numbers in brackets)

Freehold Strata Units Listed: 14 (22)
Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 7 (9)
Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 2 (actually 1, but there was one listed as a "non-prepaid non strata" and I am pretty sure it is a strata so we'll say 2) (2)
Total Units Listed: 23 (33)

Total Listings Available as of June 30th: 56 (61)

SOLD IN FALSE CREEK IN JUNE (last two month's numbers in brackets)

Freehold Strata Units Sold: 5 (6,7)
Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 6 (3,4)
Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 0, (0,1)
Total Units Sold: 11 (9,12)

Average Days on Market: 37 (24,21)
Median Days on Market: 26 (17,14)

Average Sold Price: $490,781
Median Sold Price: $490,000

Absorption Rate: 5.09 months (6.7)
What is the absorption rate. It is the number of months that it would take to absorb, or sell, the present inventory of homes for sale.

If you have any questions about False Creek real estate or a topic you'd like to see covered on the Comet please let me know. If you are interested in seeing what is for sale in False Creek you can always search for False Creek real estate here.

This post originally appeared on my False Creek neighbourhood blog, the False Creek Comet.

False Creek Things To Do - New Works: All over the Map Dance Festival

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:36:42 -0500

New Works is a Vancouver based dance company that "really likes dance. A lot." That is according to the New Works website. Their mission statement is:

To produce and present performance events for the public, and to build audiences for diverse dance forms locally, nationally and internationally. To also provide support to emerging, mid-career and senior dance artists and managers of all cultural traditions in the development of their careers.

New Works is bringing their fun attitude towards dance to Granville Island the next 4 Sundays (at 2pm), and twice in August, with the All Over The Map dance series. All performances take place at Ron Basford Park (beside Performance Works), on the east side of Granville Island.

Here is the schedule:

July 6 World Dance and Music: Silk Road Music and Friends
July 13 African Dance and Music: Miyanda and Kunaka
July 20 Polynesian Dance and Music: Langley Ukulele Ensemble & Kauhane Polynesian Dancers
July 27 Hip Hop: SOULdiers’ Dance
August 17 Flamenco: Mozaico Flamenco Dance Theatre
August 24 First Nations Dance and Music: Dancers of Damelahamid

ENJOY!

This post originally appeared on my False Creek blog, the False Creek Comet.

False Creek is Full of Poo, err Fecal Coliform

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:57:57 -0500

You probably heard about this already, but just in case you haven't I thought I'd better mention it. There is a lot of poo, err fecal coliform (learn more about fecal coliforms on wikipedia) in False Creek, especially at the east end of the creek.

The Vancouver Sun was all over this yesterday with the story on the front page of the West Coast News section entitled False Creek coliform count soars. Bottom line don't put your body in False Creek and especially not your eyes, ears or nose. It seems the "green" development in South East False Creek had done something to cause raw sewage to be flowing into the creek.

This post originally appeared on my False Creek neighbourhood blog, The False Creek Comet.

Vancouve REALTORS Beware of Weirdos

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:53:20 -0500

Okay maybe there is a better name for them, but please read the following anecdote from one of my colleagues about the scary expeience she had last weekend. Ladies don't be going out in the forest alone!

My daughter was with me, and we were just opening a listing on West Broadway, when a fellow came in with us. Appears he had been waiting... We went about opening, and turning on lights, however as soon as I was ready to give him my full attention, he fired off aggressive questions, such as "And so what issues does the Building Engineers Report highlight in this building"? etc., very confrontational throughout our short conversation...I asked him why he was so upset, and he said he had recently had an Offer and Inspection on a property in New Westminster that had turned out to be a leaky condo...He continued for a few minutes and upon learning that I did not know how large the roof was on this building, he stormed out... I watched him from the window, leave the building, and noticed that he was not carrying our data sheet we had given him...In the past, I have had experience where someone would write something nasty, and post it in the Lobby or whatever, so I asked my daughter to go down and check his route, to make sure he had not left any rude or crude messages....She went out to the hall where we had left our shoes to find he had spit in them...

He was a scary, but well dressed clean cut guy....but that rude act was aggressive.

He was very clean cut, 5 ft 9 or 10 " ,late twenties to early thirties, very fit...looked like he worked out regularly, well dressed, short fair hair, striped good quality shirt and beige pants...carried a digital camera.

I reported this to the Board on Monday morning and they said I should let my office know also...

Ok be careful out there everyone.

Vancouver Real Estate Prices Rise While Supply Also Rises

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:02:50 -0600

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) released their February 2008 statistics yesterday with the headline "Housing options broaden for buyers in February". Sales across all categories (detached, attached and condominiums) were down 6.2% compared to February 2007 while listings were up 26.2% compared to February 2007. New listings were actually 21.2% higher than February 20006 so I see no cause for panic.

As the headline says this the recipe for a more balanced market, but may or may not be the start of any kind of significant change in the market. Real estate is local, very, very local. Vancouver East saw a year over year increase in listings last month, but Vancouver West actually saw numbers about the same as last year. Multiple offers are still common in Vancouver, as are sales prices well above the list price

Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver president Brian Napthali had this to say:

"We continue to see the market rebalance, particularly with detached properties, where listings climb and sales either hold or decline slightly," says REBGV president Brian Naphtali. "This shift increases buyer options and allows people more time to make decisions when purchasing a home."

The report also mentioned these:

Bright spots in Greater Vancouver in January 2008 compared to January 2007:
Detached:
West Vancouver/Howe Sound..... up 16.7 per cent (56 units sold up from 48)
Whistler/Pemberton........................ up 100 per cent (10 units sold up from 5)
Port Moody/Belcarra................... up 22.7 per cent (27 units sold up from 22)
Attached:
New Westminster......................... up 216.7 per cent (19 units sold up from 6)
Port Coquitlam............................ up 68.4 per cent (32 units sold up from 19)
Apartments:
Burnaby..................................... up 9.5 per cent (150 units sold up from 137)
Whistler/Pemberton....................... up 62.5 per cent (13 units sold up from 8)
Port Moody/Belcarra................... up 27.6 per cent (37 units sold up from 29)

This post originally appeared on my Vancouver real estate blog, the 604homesblog.

Another Vancouver Condo Project Cancelled: The Sophia

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:52:11 -0600

CBC reported the other day that Bill Eden's Eden Developments had stopped construction of its only active development, the Sophia. In a situation eerily similar to the Riverbend development that cancelled the contracts of pre-sale buyers earlier this year The Sophia, located in Mount Pleasant, was nearing completion and now it looks like pre-sale buyers who bought 2-3 years ago may be forced to buy back in at today's prices if they wish to keep their units, and if they can afford too.

I have a thank a few people for the heads-up on this one. Firstly a commenter, the mysterious mr. x, from my post about the cancelling of Eden Developments other projects, the Elyse and Montgomery Estates, mentioned this on the 21st, and yesterday I first found news of the CBC story (which I can't find on their site) about this on Yatter Matters. Thanks guys, and good luck to you Sophia pre-sale and especially assignment buyers.

This story originally appeared on my Vancouver real estate blog, the 604homesblog.

How Effective Is Your Homepage at Converting Visitors to Leads?

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:54:49 -0600

Last night I attended a Vancouver marketing un-conference called Case Camp. The event was very interesting and I chatted to some of the same people I had met at Tuesday night's Third Tuesday event. There were some interesting presentations and I won't bore you with a run down of them all. They weren't boring at all, but I am sure that me writing about them would be. Case Camp presents marketing case studies, but each one is only 8 minutes and then there are two minutes.

TWO OF THEM MENTIONED IT

The most interesting and real estate tech related thing I learned was mentioned by two of the presentations. They both mentioned the same tool and I thought that it could be very useful to realtors looking at the design of their website home, or landing, page. The first presentation I wasn't too organized for and wasn't taking notes so I can't tell you who was giving the presentation and where she worked. I'll try to find out who she was.

The second presentation was by Chris Goward of a company called Wind Tunnel. Their slogan is "Squeezing more value from your website" and that is what realtors® are always trying to do. Getting the visitors there is hard enough, but whats the point if they look around and then leave. We are here it make a living, not as a community resource. Thats what we pay taxes to the city for. So Chris and Wind Tunnel were looking at redesigning a companies homepage in order to get more visitors to register for their trial software.

WHAT WAS IT?

What both of these presentations mentioned that the tool that they used to test these sites was the FREE Google Website Optimizer. First you will have to decide what it is you want to your site visitors to do. You want them to leave their information, but what are you going to offer in return. Most likely this will be to register for your IDX or VOW for access to MLS® listing info. You will then have to create two test pages to see which one Google says is the most effective at converting visitors into leads.

Good Luck!

BC Real Estate Convention: A One Stop Real Estate Shop

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:08:05 -0600

This is the 4th year for the BC Real Estate Convention and it has gotten bigger every year. It must be the cost of admission. It is free!

There will be exhibitors from many different real estate related fields, including developers both local and international), lenders, renovators, insurers, and of course some REALTORs will be there as well. My office, Royal LePage Westside will be there and you can find me there from 4-6pm on Tuesday, February 26th. There are a series of free seminars throughout the day each day as well, but I can't find the schedule online.

The Vancouver Sun wrote a piece on the convention that was quite enthusiastic. The convention's own website is quite good, but annoyingly keeps asking me to install Korean characters on my PC and I have no use for them. Just click cancel if it happens to you and move on.

Say hi if you are there. I'd love to meet you.

This post originally appeared on my Vancouver real estate blog: the 604homesblog.

False Creek Festivals: Winterruption

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:54:14 -0600

The Winterruption festival starts tomorrow on Granville Island. There are great sounding activities, performances, art and music happening all around the island from Thursday through Sunday the 24th.

Some of the highlights that struck me were:

Family Winter Carnival False Creek Community Centre
Sunday 10:30AM-12:00PM - $5 per family member, children under 1 are free

Children's Activities Kids Zone
Workshops: Saturday & Sunday 10:30AM - 4:30 PM FREE

Market Arts Granville Island Public Market
Saturday & Sunday 11AM, 1PM & 3PM - FREE

Video Winterruption Workshop
Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design Theatre 301
Saturday 10AM-4PM, Sunday 10AM-2:30PM, Screening & Celebration 2PM - FREE

Vancouver Writes
Performance Works
Thursday 7:30PM - $20 adults, $18 Seniors & Students

Panel Painting
Net Loft, 1663 Duranleau Street
Saturday & Sunday 11AM-5:30PM - FREE

Aerial Dance: Cold Hands, Warm Heart
Under the Bridge
Saturday & Sunday - 10 min sets between 5:45 - 7PM - FREE

Cirkids' Perfect World Festival Garage
Saturday & Sunday 12PM & 1:30PM - FREE

You can find more information on the Winterruption festival on their website. There are pages for Activities, Art, Music and Performances. There is even a guide on how to get there by car, bus, bike and even boat. If you are having trouble dressing yourself they even have suggestions on what to wear.

This post origianlly appeared on my all False Creek neighbourhood blog, the False Creek Comet. Go there for pics and links to the Winterruption festival events.

Valentines Day in False Creek

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:21:32 -0600

Living in False Creek certainly makes getting something for your Valentine really easy. Just head on down to Granville Island.

Do you need flowers? Of course you do! There are two great florists in the Public Market at Granville Island. The easiest to find is the Granville Island Florist at the south east entrance to the market. They are also the only one with a website so the get the link love. The other is the V & J Plant Shop (604-689-4439) at the other end of the market closer to Bridges Restaurant. Both have beautiful flowers on display everyday and can do something custom for you if you like. My wife and I had our wedding flowers done at V & J some years ago now and they were lovely, but I really don't think you can go wrong.

Now you've got the flowers you need a gift as well. There are lots of great places on the Island of course, Crash, beside the Dragon shop, on the way down to The Sandbar, always has an interesting array of gift ideas. They also do not have a website. :- ( . Got a few more bucks to splash around then just head across the street from the market to Circle Craft in the Net Loft. There you will find an amazing assortment of handcrafted items from craftspeople from across B.C.

There was also a great chocolatiere at a day-table in the market yesterday when I was there, but I don't have their name handy. Look for them at the food court end of the market near the V & J Plant Shop. Oh, I found them (thank you google). They are called ChocolaTas and produce some incredible all natural chocolates. Take a look at the website, they are beautiful chocolates.

While you are down there see if you can get a reservation for dinner as well. My favourite on the island is the aforementioned Sandbar. Nice ambience, very nice food, but won't brake the bank, and if you are lucky (and if you've left it this long you probably won't be) and get a good table a view of the Creek.

Okay don't let your Valentine down and I'll see you there tomorrow because I am not done my shopping yet either.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

What to Blog About: There isn't enough time for all the ideas

Matthew Collinge REALTOR®, Vancouver Real Estate (Royal LePage Westside) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:16:46 -0600

Living in a big city never have any shortage of ideas for things to blog about. There are new stats and reports from the MLS® (yes, Canadian REALTORs® own the trademark on the term MLS® in Canada), the banks and various local and national organizations almost every week and sometimes 2-3 a week.

Then there are events around town. There are festivals and big industry shows (boat show, car show, golf show, outdoors show, motorcycle show) happening constantly. I just can't keep up. I kept forgetting to blog about the boat show last week and I just never got to it and now its over. No if you don't live in a bog city then you may not have some of these options.

But you do have lots of other options and the added benefit that people around town might even get to recognize you. There are something like 13,000 REALTORs® in Metro Vancouver so I am unlikely to be noticed about town. I have created a new hyper-local blog about my neighbourhood, False Creek. Today I was down at the local community centre and took a look at the notice board and there was all sorts of blog post ideas right there in front of me. Notices for neighbourhood association meeting, exercise classes, clubs, parent groups. So I pulled out by handy camera phone and snapped pucs of the all the notices that I thought were useful and now I have a nice, if slightly blurry (1.3 megapixel), list of things to blog about and pics to add to the posts too.

I am sure there must be a similar place in your city, town, or neighbourhood (or neighbOrhood). Check it out and then get down to writing. This is the kind of topuc that will help broaden you readership and build those relationships in the community. And once you've written your post be sure to email the company, club, etc that you've blogged about to let them know you've given them the shout out.

Another idea that I had yesterday as the family and I headed out to pool was to feature ideas for family outings with description and photo record of your outing. So I grabbed the camera as I headed out the door (last because I was working on a blog post) and took some pics getting the kids in the van, some shots of this beautiful new pool that we were going to, ~~some shots in the change rooms~~ (hahaha, just kidding, I put then camera away in the lobby) and lastly a nice shot (i hope) of the sun setting as we packed them back into the van for the ride home.

Isn't this a cool building?

Happy Blogging!