Sooke Community and Real Estate Blog 642Blog.ca

Popularity: 17% [?]

Tagged: Affordable Housing | BC | Condo | Development | Happy Valley | Langford | Strata | Townhouse | Victoria

News Release from the BC Real Estate Association:

For immediate release

Home Prices Rise Modestly in Vancouver and Victoria Vancouver, BC – November 21, 2007. British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports residential sales volume on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in BC climbed 23.5 per cent to $3.40 billion in October, compared to the same month last year. Residential unit sales increased 12.8 per cent to 7,358 units during the same period. The average MLS® residential price hit $462,912, up 9.5 per cent from October 2006.*

“While home sales continue at a brisk pace, prices in Vancouver and Victoria are climbing at a more moderate rate,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. Compared to October 2006, the average sales price increased 7.8 per cent in both markets. Fraser Valley and Chilliwack prices climbed 6.2 and 6.3 per cent, respectively, during the same period. “Eroding affordability is providing less upward pressure on home prices in both Victoria and the Lower Mainland, as many first-time buyers no longer have the financial wherewithal to bid up prices,” added Muir.

In contrast to the South Coast’s major urban areas, home prices in the interior and northern markets continue a rapid ascent. “The Okanagan, Kamloops and Kootenay markets are benefiting from strong demand from retiree, investor and recreation buyers,” noted Muir. “Abundant natural amenities and relatively low prices are drawing considerable attention from empty nesters around the province and across the country.”

“Housing markets in the north that are receiving new investment in resource extraction and transportation are performing well,” added Muir. “However, sluggish US demand for softwood lumber is impacting housing demand in many communities.” The average sales price of a home in the BC Northern Real Estate Board area rose 11.3 per cent last month compared to October 2006. In the Northern Lights Real Estate Board area, the average home sales price climbed 18.5 per cent during the same period.For the complete news release, including detailed statistics, follow this link: www.bcrea.bc.ca/news_room/2007-10.pdf .

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tagged: BC | BCREA | prices | Real Estate | sales | Statistics | Vancouver | Victoria

Not exactly Victoria-related, but kind of about real estate!

Too cool not to post on my blog! This was taken from the filmmaker’s Yaletown Condo. Vancouver Real Estate is all about condos downtown – wonder how much the view from this place costs!

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 3% [?]

Every job has its perks, here’s one in real estate.

One of the true joys in my working life is when I get to work with people I know. As  REALTORS®, we are constantly promoting ourselves and our services, and are honoured to get the business of strangers who like what our marketing materials say. I am much more honoured when a close friend or relative seeks my professional advice and service in such a major, life-changing decision.

A friend that retains your services places in you a great deal of trust, as any client would. I would argue that the level of trust is even higher – that person is more vulnerable than an arms-length client since he or she knows you already and doesn’t want to jeopardize the relationship you have by – oh, I don’t know – firing/suing your ass if you screw up. They also trust you more than any other client and will always take what you say as the absolute truth – unless you’re in the habit of lying to your friends.

Recently, Jay and Seana, a couple I met shortly after relocating to the Island in 2005 decided to sell their Langford townhouse and move into a single family dwelling. Shameless plug: Jay, a photographer and graphic designer, and Seana, a professional writer, operate a graphic and web design firm, EdgeFlow Media. EdgeFlow has done web and print design packages for several real estate agents and developers, including Tuscany Village. Seana also works at Carmanah Technologies.

After guiding them through the quick sale of their townhouse, we set out to find them and their two Jack Russell Terriers a new home. After searching in Langford, Colwood, and View Royal, they fell in love with a beautiful, nearly new two-level home in Sooke! Despite not having read my blog post about 10 reasons to move to Sooke, they just couldn’t turn down the value in the housing out here. So now my friends are my neighbours, too!

Just one of the many reasons I love my job!

-Tim Ayres 

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tagged: Friends | musings | perks | Personal | Real Estate | realtors | Sooke

I don’t think you’d find a real estate professional in the Victoria area who’d tell you they expected 2007 to outperform 2006. Everyone said the market was plateauing, that we should expect properties to sit on the market for months, and see price reductions left, right and center. The doomsday prophets predicted the credit problems in the United States would cause the so-called bubble to burst, and that sellers would be scrambling to offload their burdens. But, as the MLS® statistics show month after month, the market continues to surprise us. Here is the latest MLS® statistics report from the Victoria Real Estate Board.

Real Estate Sales Soar in October

November 1, 2007

Sales of homes and other properties in the Greater Victoria area soared 20 percent in October compared to the same month a year ago. There were 708 sales through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in October, up from the 590 sales in the same month a year ago. There were 632 sales in September of this year. Meantime, prices for single family homes moderated somewhat while prices for condominiums and townhomes showed little change.

Victoria Real Estate Board President, Bev McIvor, says the strong sales and stable prices show continued consumer confidence in the market. “Sales last month were the highest for October since 2003 and so far this year sales are running nearly 13 per cent higher than the first 10 months of 2006.” McIvor added that it’s normal for overall prices to fluctuate on a month-to-month basis depending on the properties that sell in a given month. “While the average price of single family homes moderated slightly last month, the overall average price so far this year is over seven percent higher than at the end of last year.”

The average price of single family homes sold in October was $556,222; the six-month average for single family homes was $570,454. The median price was considerably lower at $495,000. The average price of all condominiums sold in October was $343,334; the average for the last six months was $321,993. The median was again lower at $291,000. The average price of all townhomes sold last month was $407,031; the six month average was $404,163. The median price was $369,950.

MLS® sales last month included 375 single family homes, 196 condominiums, 79 townhomes and 22 manufactured homes.

There were 3,311 properties listed for sale on the MLS® system at the end of last month, down slightly from the 3,426 properties in the same month a year ago.

Summary Report and Graphs

Monthly Sales Summary
Average Selling Price Graphs
Active Listings, New Listings and Sales Graphs

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 12% [?]

Tagged: affordability | REALTORS® | VREB

Real Estate Sales Soar in October

Sales of homes and other properties in the Greater Victoria area soared 20 percent in October compared to the same month a year ago. There were 708 sales through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in October, up from the 590 sales in the same month a year ago. There were 632 sales in September of this year. Meantime, prices for single family homes moderated somewhat while prices for condominiums and townhomes showed little change.

Victoria Real Estate Board President, Bev McIvor, says the strong sales and stable prices show continued consumer confidence in the market. “Sales last month were the highest for October since 2003 and so far this year sales are running nearly 13 per cent higher than the first 10 months of 2006.” McIvor added that it’s normal for overall prices to fluctuate on a month-to-month basis depending on the properties that sell in a given month. “While the average price of single family homes moderated slightly last month, the overall average price so far this year is over seven percent higher than at the end of last year.”

The average price of single family homes sold in October was $556,222; the six-month average for single family homes was $570,454. The median price was considerably lower at $495,000. The average price of all condominiums sold in October was $343,334; the average for the last six months was $321,993. The median was again lower at $291,000. The average price of all townhomes sold last month was $407,031; the six month average was $404,163. The median price was $369,950.

MLS® sales last month included 375 single family homes, 196 condominiums, 79 townhomes and 22 manufactured homes.

There were 3,311 properties listed for sale on the MLS® system at the end of last month, down slightly from the 3,426 properties in the same month a year ago.

Summary Report

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tagged: 2007 | BC | October | Real Estate | Statistics | Victoria

How much time do you spend on spam every day?

As the resident geek in the office, I’m constantly asked by my fellow agents: “How can I get rid of all this junk e-mail?!” From shady business propositions to uhh… equipment enhancers, there is no shortage of spam out there.

As REALTORS®, we want to promote ourselves as much as possible. This includes publishing our e-mail addresses in as many places as possible. It’s no surprise, then, that we get a large volume of unsolicited messages. Spammers use ‘crawlers’ or ‘robots’ – automated programs to crawl the web and harvest unsuspecting e-mail addresses to sell or use. Some people mask their addresses as images, or in a cryptic format to fool the spam bots. For example, I could write my address as tim ([AT]) selling sooke dot ca. A regular internet user would probably be able to reconstruct it into a real address. However, a casual user [and potential client] might actually enter that into their e-mail program when contacting you – and frustration would ensue, possibly causing them to move on to another agent.

So what is the solution? Since I switched to Gmail, Google’s free web-based e-mail system, I’ve only had a handful of these messages, due to Google’s spam-fighting technology. Even more frustrating for our profession, which is extremely time-sensitive, is when well-meaning spam filters block messages that were actually meant to get through – the dreaded ‘false positive.’ When prospective clients are e-mailing 20 or 30 agents, it’s often the first to respond that gets the business. Why disadvantage yourself with misdirected e-mails? This is only one of many features of Gmail that make it great, which I will post about in a separate post. Click here to read about other Gmail topics I’ve posted about in the past.

But how does it work? Check out this video from the Gmail Anti-Spam Squad:

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tagged: geek estate | gmail | Google | Internet | REALTORS® | spam | Tech Tips | Video