As REALTORS®, we are tasked with both the sales and marketing aspects of moving properties. Members of the public at large are protected by legislation and professional ethics codes designed to keep our advertising truthful and accurate. We are not allowed to misrepresent a property we have listed for sale.

I was reading the Ubertor Blog this morning, and Steve had posted about agents using Photoshop software to clean up and edit an image used in marketing a property. It is one thing to adjust lighting levels or “airbrush” out a cat or dirty laundry that was inadvertently captured in a frame. It is another altogether to remove power lines from a view shot, add a tree, or change the colour of a house. I think we can all agree this would run afoul of REALTOR® ethics codes and consumer protection legislation.

How much is too much? I regularly touch up my photos. I increase brightness, colour saturation, and I will often edit out items that shouldn’t be there, such as Fido or a vacuum cleaner left in the shot. I would never grossly misrepresent a property, however.

What about this ad I found on digg.com?

Would people actually believe this miracle cream works so well as to turn a dried out raisin into a bunch of fresh ripe grapes? Better be careful with this one… use too much and you’ll degenerate back into a fetus.

-Tim Ayres

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Tagged: advertising | ethics | marketing | realtor | truth

When I updated my bathroom, I installed an in-floor heating system. It was really easy and not at all expensive to install. Basically, you roll out the electric heating mat underneath your floor covering (in my case, slate tile), and have an electrician wire it to your power source. Simple!

It’s been my favourite feature by far. Nice warm floors in the bathroom after stepping out of the shower. Well, I found a great use for the floors today other than keeping tootsies warm. My girlfriend has been upset with me for leaving my stinky hockey gear in the spare room for a couple of days after use to dry out. Compounded with that, I’ve got company coming from out of town that need the spare room, and I’ve got hockey on Sunday. No way I’m skating in wet gear. What’s a guy with limited space and time to do?

Solution: crank up the thermostat for the bathroom floor and lay out the gear on the floor! I left the house at 8:00 this morning. By the time I returned at 3:00 everything was dry. Problem solved. Give it a try!

Another tip: Leave your towel on the heated floor while you’re in the tub or shower. Nice and toasty after you get out!

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tagged: floors | gear | heated tile | hockey | tips

As expected, Bank of Canada cuts the key lending rate by 1/4 per cent.

The Bank of Canada this morning announced its expected 1/4% cut in Canada’s mortgage-rate setting overnight lending rate. The anticipated move is made to ensure that the Canadian economy continues to grow, despite continuing struggles in the world economy dealing with the fallout of the credit crisis brought on by the housing meltdown in the United States. Borrowers in Canada can expect their lending institutions to lower their mortgage rates in the coming weeks, and variable rate mortgages should decrease as well.

There was a highly-sensationalized story reported last week that the major banks may not follow the Bank Of Canada’s monetary policy and would instead keep rates where they are, thereby increasing profitability in the wake of tightening credit availability. This is unlikely, and was denied by the major banks the following day. All it would take would be one institution to offer the lower rate, and competition being what it is, the other banks would be forced into line.

This is good news for homeowners and potential buyers. The outlook for inflation is below the 2% target rate, and is expected to stay this way until the end of 2009. The increased competition in retail sales brought on by price cuts due to the high Canadian dollar has slowed inflation to the point where it will be below 1.5% by mid year. To stimulate aggregate demand (overall spending in the economy) to return inflation to the target 2%, the Bank will likely continue to adjust downward the interest rate over the coming year.

With housing price growth expected to cool this year, and interest rates remaining stable or lowering, the erosion of housing affordability we have witnessed over the past few years should slow somewhat.

The full Bank of Canada news release can be found here.

The US Federal Reserve, in charge of setting monetary policy for our southern cousins, has meanwhile slashed rates 3/4%, the biggest cut in 23 years in an effort to ward off the threat of a U.S. recession.

-Tim Ayres

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Popularity: 15% [?]

Tagged: affordability | bank | Canada | fed | interest rate | monetary | mortgage | policy | rates

West Shore Professionals Hosting Free Event

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 6:00 P.M.

Your Hosts:

	Jeremy Kimm, Certified Financial Planner. Jeremy will explain how to take advantage of investment, government programs and tax strategies to help you quickly “create” a down payment on your first home.
	Alexis Mills, Accredited Mortgage Professional. Alexis will spell out the different financing options that have become available, and how the services of a mortgage broker can get you better interest rates than the banks and credit unions. Alexis has access to over 50 different lenders, making them compete for your business.
	Tim Ayres, REALTOR®. Tim will go through the home-buying process, step by step, explaining all the details and de-mystifying this exciting and important time in your life. Tim will show you how you can be the first to know about property deals when they become available!

If you’re planning to stop paying rent in 2008, you simply can’t afford to miss this free seminar. From savings to sun decks, closets to closing, you’ll leave empowered with knowledge you can use!

Tuesday, January 29th at 6:00PM
At the West Shore Investor’s Group Office
201-630 Goldstream Ave

Space is limited; please call Tim at 642-6361 or e-mail to reserve your spot!

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Tagged: Buying | financing | first time | free | information | mortgage | Real Estate | seminar | talk

Wine and Real Estate – Is There A Difference?

A recent study that was reported in the Times Colonist this morning suggests that people are highly influenced on their perceptions of quality by the price, which suggests that by simply pricing a particular product higher could influence its target market into perceiving it as higher quality than it actually is.

The study involved red wine – cabernet sauvignon – priced from $5 per bottle to $90 per bottle. Partcipants were given samples of the wine and asked to report on how pleasurable the experience was, while at the same time being measured for brain activity in the pleasure centre of the brain, the medial orbitofrontal cortex. The study indicated that the mere expectation of quality – being told the price of the wine to be sampled – caused the participants to report the experience as more pleasurable and created brain activity in the pleasure centre.

This got me thinking about how this could apply to real estate. Studies show that properly prepared homes sell faster and for more money. Some services will even furnish your empty investment property – called “staging” – to prepare it to wow buyers and sell for top dollar quickly. Any good REALTOR® should be able to show you how to prepare your home to sell.

But the principles in the study apply the other way around. Can you simply price your home higher than your neighbours and have buyers perceive it as higher quality? Market economics would suggest that you could not – but have you seen this, driving around a neighbourhood with a price list in hand? Will discerning buyers be attracted to your house, simply because it’s priced higher than the others around it? Will they assume it’s built better, has better features, is in a slightly more desirable location than its comparables?

In any market, there is a home that is priced higher than the homes around it. And often it sells just as quickly as the lower-priced homes. I think it is safe to assume that the market forces of supply and demand will prevent anyone from overpricing their homes just to attract high-end buyers. The higher-priced home must have had something about it that made it more valuable than the others.

The more intangible aspects of wine (the subtle differences which only a true connoisseur would notice) make it more susceptible to this kind of price-influenced perception than housing. Homes and real estate have more tangible features such as fixtures and finishing, decks, landscaping, views, etc. that even the first-time home buyer can discern.

What do you think? Comment below!

-Tim Ayres

P.S.: For a humourous look at  this concept, check out this video from Penn & Teller’s BULLSHIT! show (warning: profanity). Fast forward to 3:10 or so for the wine bit, but the whole video is the same concept with food. They do a similar show about bottled water.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Tagged: BC | marketing | price | quality | Real Estate | Sooke | staging | study | tim ayres | Victoria | wine

Victoria area to get New RapidBus BC service from Douglas Street Corridor to Langford.

The Provincial Government announced its new $14 Billion transit plan for British Columbia, some of which has been previously announced or funded. The announcement can be found here.

Of particular note for Victoria and Langford/West Shore residents was the plan for new “RapidBusBC” service from Douglas Street to Langford. While many in the area had been hoping for a rail-based rapid transit service from Downtown to the West Shore, BC Transit envisions a fleet of dedicated, high-efficiency, high-capacity buses with dedicated, and in some cases, separate lanes – enabling the buses to offer point-to-point rapid transit service, seamlessly integrating with existing transit infrastructure.

Note the **OVERPASSES** at Admirals and Mackenzie… wonder if THAT would ever happen…

The other picture show the much-contended Douglas Street bus lane corridor proposal, already causing havoc with local business owners.

Don’t hold your breath on these proposals, however – the plan is for next decade… 2020-2030.

You can read the whole transportation plan here.

However long it takes, at least it shows initiative on the part of the government to make transit more efficient and to increase ridership to make it easier to get around in the region. As the West Shore and beyond continue to grow, commuting time will become an increasingly important issue for home owners and real estate consumers.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke and Langford Real Estate Expert

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tagged: BC | BC Transit | Bus | Douglas | government | Langford | Lower Mainland | RapidBus BC | SkyTrain | transit | transportation plan | Vancouver | Victoria

Grant now available to properties over $1M

The Government of British Columbia announced today that it was increasing the threshold for the Home Owner Grant program from $950,000 to $1,050,000, in accordance with its goal to ensure that 95% of homeowners in British Columbia qualify for the basic grant.

British Columbia’s 2008 assessment roll, released January 1st, has increased approximately 16% over the previous year. The Home Owner Grant helps owners who live in their homes offset the municipal taxes paid each July. The current basic grant is $570, and additional grants are available for seniors and the disabled.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke and Victoria BC Real Estate Expert 

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tagged: BC | government | home owner grant | property | taxes | threshold

2007 surprised us all as an exceptionally strong year for home sales in the provincial real estate market. I think if you had asked me at the end of 2006 if I thought that 2007 would break any records for home sales, I would have told you (politely) that you were crazy. Below is the news release from the BC Real Estate Association, along with a link to detailed statistics. -Tim

BC Home Sales Smash Record Book

Vancouver, BC – January 11, 2008.British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports residential sales volume on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in BC climbed 19.5 per cent to $45.1 billion in 2007, the highest level ever recorded. Residential unit sales increased 6.4 per cent to 102,811 units in 2007, only the second time BC home sales have exceeded the 100,000 unit mark (a total of 106,310 homes traded hands in 2005). The average MLS® residential price in the province reached a record $439,121 in 2007, up 12.3 per cent from 2006.

“Strong consumer demand buoyed by employment growth, rising wages and migration was a significant factor in BC’s housing markets last year,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “In the province’s major urban centres, sales activity reflected increasing demand for condominium apartments and townhouses. The largest gains in home prices occurred in the Kamloops, Okanagan and Kootenay markets where a legion of recreation, retiree and investment buyers put pressure on existing home inventories.”

“BC housing markets will experience less frenetic activity in 2008,” noted Muir. “Eroding affordability, rising new home completions adding to inventories and weaker economic growth are expected to provide a moderating influence this year.”

MLS® residential sales volume in December increased 24.2 per cent to $2.19 billion compared to the same period last year. Residential unit sales climbed 8.8 per cent to 4,791 units over the same period. The average residential sales price rose 14.2 per cent to $457,825 in December compared to December 2006.

For more information, including detailed statistics, follow this link: www.bcrea.bc.ca/news_room/2007-12.pdf

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Tagged: 2007 | 2008 predictions | BC | homes | housing bubble | housing market | Real Estate | yearly statistics

I’ve been meaning to blog about Microsoft’s Surface technology for a while now, but a video from TechCrunch this morning (below) has reminded me how utterly cool this is. The concept was conceived in 2001 and the first prototype was in 2003, so it’s nothing new, but we have yet to see any sort of large-scale rollout.

The implications for real estate technology are huge. Imagine one of these units in your office. Your clients and prospects would no doubt be wowed by the seamless integration of all the aspects of your business, and the novel way it was presented to them. Watch the videos below. The first is a YouTube video from a year or so ago which shows some of the neat features, and the second is the TechCrunch video [it's kind of loud!] from this week’s CES show, going on in Las Vegas, which helps explain how it works and clarify some of the differences between this technology and other multi-touch interfaces. More commentary after the videos.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.451119&w=425&h=350&fv=] from www.techcrunch.com posted with vodpod

One of the most exciting features of this technology is how it differs from other touch-screen interfaces. There are no embedded capacitors in the surface which means that unlike most touch-screen displays, you don’t have to baby it. The surface is hard plastic, so things can be dropped on it, spilled on it, and generally moved about without fear of damaging the sensitivity of the interface. This is important in our real estate world. We all know how office equipment can get used and abused. One would assume that a badly scratched surface would inhibit touch sensitivity, but some special polish or tabletop replacement would be a relatively inexpensive repair, since it is just a plastic surface.

Imagine meeting some buyers at your office. You fire up the Surface, drag about the pictures of the listings they’re interested in, and then let the system plan out a driving route, text-message the listing agents to make the appointments, and then transfer all the information to your mobile phone or PDA to guide you there along the way! While you drive, the text message confirmations come to your phone/PDA, turning the listing map points from yellow to green or red, indicating that the showings are confirmed or denied.

The clients are ready to offer. Back at the office, the purchase contracts are laid out on the Surface computer. All information is pulled from WebForms, as you are already familiar with. The clients read over the contract, sign using any object (a pen, pencil, their finger, etc), and you drag the contract across the table to the e-mail or fax icon. Away it goes to the other agent. Now you can flick it across to the printer icon to get the clients a hard copy.

These are but two exciting possibilities for this technology in the real estate world. I’m sure you could think of many more. As we move away from the traditional mouse/keyboard interfaces and into the ever-increasing world of multi-touch computing, expect more and more innovation and technology to make your life and work easier, and admittedly, more fun.

-Tim Ayres

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tagged: CES 2008 | Future | innovation | Microsoft | Multi-touch | New Technology | Real Estate | realtors | Surface | TechCrunch | technology | Touch Screen | YouTube

Year-end and December 2007 Statistics Released

The Victoria Real Estate Board has released the December 2007 and year-end statistics:

Real Estate Records Broken in 2007

The value of all property transactions through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) hit a new record of over $4.1 billion in 2007, up from $3.3 billion in 2006. The value of single family home sales was over $2.5 billion while the value of condominium sales was over $756 million. Victoria Real Estate Board President Tony Joe noted that both sales and prices for all major property types increased last year. “Last year was another exceptional year for the local real estate market. The total number of sales increased over 12 per cent while the overall average price for single family homes rose 8.5 per cent; the average for condominiums rose over 11 per cent and the average for townhomes rose 10.5 per cent,” said Joe.

Meantime, the sale of 14 single family homes in Greater Victoria over $1 million pushed the average price to a new record high of $624,450 last month [Note: The sale of an island completed last month for $7 M, which would have skewed the average considerably - Tim] ; the median price, however, was considerably lower at $536,000. “It’s always important to bear in mind that the average price in a given month can often be significantly affected by the sale of high-priced homes,” noted Joe. The six-month average for single family homes in December was $581,419.

The average price of all condominiums sold in December was $332,793; the average for the last six months was $319,980. The median was again lower at $292,900. The average price for townhomes sold last month was $445,960; the average for the last six-months was $415,648. The median price was $387,900.

There were 408 MLS® sales last month, up from 385 sales in December of last year. There were 623 sales in November. Sales last month included 202 single family homes, 120 condominiums, 46 townhomes and 8 manufactured homes.

There were 2,799 properties listed for sale on the MLS® system at the end of last month, up from the 2,650 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

At the end of 2006, listings had been steadily increasing, and sales were lower than the booming year of 2005. Everyone was on edge for expectations for 2007. The year surprised us all, with interest rates rising by one-quarter per cent and then being cut by that one-quarter in December. Steady, low interest rates breed consumer confidence and keep home ownership possible as increasing prices erode affordability. An increase in good-paying jobs, record-low unemployment, and migration and investment from out of the area all helped to push the market to record heights this past year.

What does 2008 hold? I see steady price increases, but on a slower, more moderate scale. As prices increase, affordability continues to be eroded. The Bank of Canada meets on Jan 22, with David Dodge expected to announce a cut in interest rates as his final duty before stepping down as governor. The continued diversification of the local economy, with more high-tech jobs and the decline in tourism from the U.S. being replaced with domestic and international visitors, will drive migration to this corner of the country and keeps our market on sound financial footing.

Sorry, bubble-blowers, there just isn’t one here to burst.

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Tagged: 2007 | 2008 | BC | bubble | December | housing | interest rate | MLS | predictions | Real Estate | Sooke | Statistics | Victoria | year-end