Sooke Community and Real Estate Blog 642Blog.ca

Pardon the Pun:

This is not a digital manipulation. It is an actual house in France called Maison dans les Roches (House Between the Rocks) de Plougrescant. I believe it is located in the Brittany region. Beyond that I wasn’t able to dig up a lot of information on it. Pretty fascinating, though.

Tim Ayres

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tagged: bizarre | Europe | France | granite | house | photo | rocks | sea | unusual

Google’s popular web-based e-mail app gets an upgrade.

The geeks have been calling for it quite literally since Gmail’s inception a few years ago. Yahoo! Mail already offers it. Now IMAP is finally here. What is so exciting? Well, anyone who has been using Gmail as their primary e-mail account (like me!) and accesses it from a multitude of locations (home, office, on their smartphone, etc) has had the problem that what you do in one location is never synced up with what you do in another. For example, if I sort through 50 e-mails that I’ve downloaded into Outlook from my Gmail account (POP access) at home, those e-mails will still be unsorted in the web-based view when I log in at the office.

With IMAP access, your e-mail client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, etc) maintains a constant connection to your e-mail account and updates things instantly as you go, allowing you to work both online and offline. So, messages you delete are moved to trash on the server at the same time as you do it on your home PC. Messages you compose and save as a draft on your BlackBerry are saved as a draft on the server, at home, and anywhere else you access your e-mail. It doesn’t take long to recognize how much more useful this makes Gmail, especially for those power users that get a tonne of e-mail every day.

Oh yeah, and it’s all still free. We love Google.

Read more about IMAP and Gmail on the official Gmail Blog

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tagged: email | gmail | Google | imap | Internet | outlook | pop3 | Tech Tips | webmail

Popularity: 16% [?]

Tagged: BC | Development | houses | housing | Seniors | Sooke | Strata | Sun River Estates | Sunriver | Townhome | Townhouse | Victoria

More good news from the BC Real Estate Association about market conditions. It seems that 2007 is looking more like 2005 than 2006. Continued strong numbers like this is great news for all involved in the housing market.

Vancouver, BC – October 18, 2007.

British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports residential sales volume on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in BC climbed 20 per cent to $3.42 billion in September, compared to the same month last year. Residential unit sales increased 6.8 per cent to 7,687 units during the same period. The average MLS® residential price reached $445,205, up 12.3 per cent from September 2006.

“Housing demand hasn’t let up after a record-breaking summer,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “While the number of homes for sale has increased since last year, the sales-to-active-listings ratio has remained unchanged. This means homebuyers are snapping up additional inventory at the same pace, and upward pressure on home prices is continuing.”

Strong economic conditions are underpinning BC home sales,” noted Muir. “Robust job growth, low unemployment and rising wages and salaries are bolstering consumer demand.” More than 70,000 jobs have been created in the province over the last year, while the unemployment rate hovers near an historic low. The average weekly wage in BC climbed 3.3 per cent in September, compared to the same month last year.

Year to date, MLS® dollar volume increased 18 per cent to $36 billion compared to the same period last year. Residential sales rose 4.9 per cent to 82,627 units, while the average residential price climbed 12.5 per cent to $436,062.

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tagged: 2007 | BC | BCREA | homes | houses | MLS | prices | properties | Real Estate | September

When’s the last time you backed up your data?

As most of you readers know, I’m pretty good with computers. I’ve built a few and it’s no big deal to be to swap out components, install new equipment or repair something that’s not right. Saturday I went to my computer to check e-mail, and it wasn’t working. The screens were blank, and nothing I did brought the computer back to life. So I opened up the machine and looked inside, and noticed that the only thing that was getting power was the fan. No power to the main board or drives. Only one thing can cause this – and the burnt-electronic smell emanating from it confirmed my suspicion – dead power supply. No big deal – they go every now and then and they’re cheap and easy to replace. I managed to find a computer store open on a Sunday – Mother Computers in Victoria.

So I got home, happy to be fixing my problem so easily and cheaply. I installed the new power supply, plugged in all the drives and powered it up. Something wasn’t right. My main hard disk wasn’t being recognized and the computer wouldn’t boot Windows. So I tried re-booting and changing some settings.

Then – it happened. With a sickening pfizz-sound, a bright flash, and the acrid smell of burning electronics, The Unthinkable happened. My primary hard drive had died a horrifying death. I quickly unplugged the computer and pulled the drive from its bay in the computer, but it was too late. The circuit board on the back of the drive (this controls the drive and tells the computer how to access the information on it) was fried.

So. On this drive was: Windows, and my real estate folder, which contains files and contact information for every one of the clients I have worked with in the last 3 years, personal photos, music, games. And now it’s gone.

What are my options? Eat the loss, and move on. Or, I could pay a professional forensic data service to recover my data, but this is prohibitively expensive, at around $2,000.

Luckily, most of my data was backed up. I only lost about 3 months worth of files. And of course all client information and contracts, documents, etc, are in paper form anyway, so there’s another backup. All of my Outlook contacts were backed up in my PDA, as well as my calendar and schedule of appointments. Basically, the only stuff I can’t get back right now are the new portraits, advertisements, and marketing material I have done since the last backup. But I won’t give up: I researched my particular drive, and found a company that sells the controller chips identical to the one that burnt out on my drive for $20. According to all the information I read, I should be able to access the drive once the new chip gets here. I’ll keep you posted.

Besides the backup, what really saved me was Gmail. Google’s free webmail service has so much storage capacity (and it’s constantly increasing) that you never have to delete an e-mail. Coincidentally, I started using Gmail about the time of my last backup of my e-mails. So, combined with my backup data and Gmail, I ended up not losing a single e-mail (and all of the contacts, leads, and other important stuff contained therein). I can’t speak enough praise about Gmail. In fact, I’m going to write a separate post about it sometime.

All in all, the worst part of this disaster was restoring all the data. I bought a new hard drive Monday morning, and by Monday evening, I had most of my software re-installed (it’s very time consuming to install Windows and MS Office and all the other stuff that you’ve got).

So how can you avoid disaster? BACK. UP. How can you back up your data easily? You can buy or even download some backup software. Do a Google search for it. Or, do what I did. Costco had a smokin’ deal on a 500gb Western Digital MyBook external hard drive. 500GB is huge! (I was there the other day and they had a 1 terabyte version – twice the size of my 500 gigabyte) It even has built-in software. All you do is plug it in and it automatically installs the software and runs a wizard to help you back up your files. When the unthinkable happens, run the file on the external drive, and you’re back in business.

Don’t delay – back up your stuff today.

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tagged: backup | data | pain | REALTORS® | recovery | suffering | Tech Tips

Incumbent Randi Masters is joined by newcomers John Smith and Carol Crabb

October 9th, 2007 saw a good voter turnout for the annual general meeting and election of the Victoria Real Estate Board, held in the ballroom in the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort and Spa in Victoria. Candidates Tim Ayres, Randi Masters, Dave Hillmer, Blake Moreau, Carol Crabb, John Smith, Wendy Moreton, and Dennis Fimrite all gave convincing and entertaining speeches.

In the end, only three positions were available, and the membership bestowed the honours of Directorship on Randi Masters – elected to a second term, Carol Crabb, and John Smith. All are now tasked with helping guide the future direction of the Board.

We were also informed and entertained by President-Elect Tony Joe’s speech on the direction for 2008. Focus will be on green real estate and how we can better serve the public by learning more about green building and sustainable development.

Such a large voter turnout for the election is further proof of an active membership of professionals who truly care about the direction of the Board and its impact on their business and their community. We are lucky to belong to such a fine, progressive organization, and are a model for boards across Canada.

On a personal note, I found the event to be a great learning experience, and appreciate all the support and compliments I received from the membership, and management at Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty, who supported my campaign for Director. I look forward to running again next year.

-Tim Ayres 

Popularity: 23% [?]

Tagged: Board News | Election | REALTORS® | VREB

Free online videos offer buying and selling tips, staging advice, and more.

Canada’s premier source for real estate information, Royal LePage, has launched a brand new website, www.royallepagetv.ca, where you can view a series of informative videos on how to sell or how to buy real estate. Specifically, the videos point out how the use of a Royal LePage Agent makes selling or buying your greatest financial asset a lot easier.

This is a first for a Canadian real estate company. Many companies in the U.S. have already embraced the idea of Web 2.0 and real estate while we have not gone so far. Royal LePage has always been an industry leader in providing top-quality high tech selling and marketing tools for its agents. I have uploaded the videos to YouTube for embedding into web pages and blogs.

Here is the first episode of the selling series:

See my YouTube Channel for the rest of the videos.

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tagged: Canada | how-to | Internet | marketing | REALTORS® | tips | videos | web 2.0

Third Annual Event supporting The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

On Wednesday, September 19th, our office held our annual charity golf mixer event at Cedar Hill Golf Course in Victoria. It was a perfect day – bright and sunny, not too hot or too cold. Everyone had a great time – from the avid golfers to the inexperienced hacks. Best of all, we raised $18,235 for our Shelter Foundation, which benefits local shelters and programmes for women and children.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Melinda, Tammi, and Marlene from the Sooke Office

Oliver from the Sooke Office takes a shot at Tiger Woods

Melinda in Action!

-Tim Ayres -Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tagged: charity | Community | events | Golf | Quality of Life | REALTORS® | REALTORS® Care

Sometimes, even the best in business can lose their composure.

I’ve been told I have thick skin in business. In my previous job in the travel/tourism industry, I handled abuse and complaints by customers on a daily basis, and it never got to me. This is a skill that’s become invaluable to me in the real estate world. I am able to remain calm and collected and can still speak slowly and clearly when the other party is getting defensive or emotional.

Which brings me to an offer I wrote yesterday. The buyer is a good friend of mine from back in high school who recently came back into town and wants to buy a condo. We went looking at a few units, and found one that would work. Now, this friend is very inexperienced with real estate and how it all works, so I spent a lot of time with him, explaining every clause in great detail – something I love to do with first-timers.

So, we wrote an offer. Now, the unit in particular had just been re-listed at a somewhat lower price, after having been on the market for 4 months. In our market lately, any condo priced right should be gone within 2 weeks of hitting the market. We offered what my client and I felt was a decent price. It was within 12 percent of the asking price of the property. Other terms included very quick possession (the owner has already taken possession of her next home), a large deposit, and easy financing.

Within minutes of faxing it to the listing agent, I received a phone call. This particular agent, in an untactful and rude voice informed me that the offer was too low and would not be presented, and that “in a market like this, it’s ridiculous!” Now, as we all know, we’re obligated to present all offers. I was told the client had instructed that offers lower than a certain amount would not be considered. Fair enough. I asked for a fax about this from the client, and reminded the agent that all offers must be presented. I had honestly thought that while our offer was too low to be accepted outright, that we would be able to negotiate something.

After all, isn’t that the reason we’re here? To take the emotion out of strictly business dealings. To provide advice. By getting defensive and rude with me, this other agent put emotion back into the equation. The seller was insulted, I was told. I find that even with lower offers, it all depends on how you approach the seller. They can get emotional – we all know that. But if dealt with in a professional, business-like manner, you can take the emotion out of what should be a strictly business deal – that is your job.

I have never advised a seller to turn down an offer outright. What is the point? The seller wants to sell – the buyer wants to buy. Negotiate. You’d be surprised how many deals you can save that you thought had no chance of coming together.

In the end, the deal fell apart because of an issue unrelated to price. It would have been like any other deal that doesn’t work out. The contract would have been filed away, and we’d keep searching. But now I’ll always remember the other agent, and the unprofessional and rude demeanor in this transaction.

Be nice, agents!

-Tim Ayres – Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty

Popularity: 4% [?]

Radius Victoria Presentation Centre Opens 

Urban Village offers many amenities for condo owners, business in downtown Victoria, BC.

Over the past 5-8 years, many new construction projects have been built in the Victoria area. Still more are now under construction or have been planned. One project that has captured my interest more than others is the Radius project in Downtown (OK, well slightly uptown) Victoria.

Planned as an Urban Village, its Developer touts the project as a true mixed-used development, with commercial and office space, recreation facilities, and of course, new condominiums. The idea is that it creates a whole neighbourhood – everything a person could need – within the city block upon which it’s built. You can live, work, and play all within walking distance.

Obviously, a selling feature of this project is the green-ness of it, reducing carbon emissions and so on. When you think about it, this is more than marketing hype or exploiting the current “green wave” in construction and, well, basically every other consumer product out there. An urban village is a great idea. It will create a sustainable, complete community. Imagine being able to walk out of the residential tower, grab a coffee at the shop in “Caledonia Mews,” a 15,000 sqft retail shopping plaza planned for the development, and then off to work in the office tower in the same block. Add to that the environmentally-friendly building materials and systems, and you’ve got something pretty special.

The trend these days in mixed use and residential developments is amenities - all those nice extras like gyms, spas, and recreation rooms for residents to use. I must admit, some of the ideas are a bit out-there! The commercials and ads in the paper talk of a rooftop labyrinth, an orchard, and rooftop gardens. The gardens are a neat idea -one of the things city-dwellers miss out on is the ability to grow your own vegetables and herbs. But the labyrinth?

The University of Canada West will have a campus in the development, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in arts, science, business, and manangement.

And finally, the 14-storey office tower, with 185,000 square feet of class A office space is a much-needed addition to the Victoria business community. Many firms would love to expand or relocate to the area, bringing with them the kind of jobs that are going to attract (and keep) people in the community. The problem is there is nowhere to put them. Office vacancies are virtually zero in this city, and developers are only now starting to catch up. It’s no surprise that the office space is 45% leased already. A major tenant is the BC Land Title and Survey Authority which has agreed to lease a 40,000 sqft space to replace its cramped and not-as-accessible digs on Burdett.

I hope this project is a smashing success, and that more developers will build similar projects all over our region. The condos are priced from $250,000 – not a luxury price tag like so many other projects in the city. This is a shining example of the future of developments, and we are lucky to have the future started right here in Victoria.

-Tim Ayres – Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty

Popularity: 12% [?]

Tagged: BC | commercial | Condo | condominium | green building | land titles | office space | projects | Radius | Real Estate | Sustainability | urban village | Victoria