Market trends are crazy and unpredictable right now!

From competing offers of 20 to houses having $200,000 price reductions, we live in an unpredictable market! The highest records sales have been reported in the last few months and it appears now to be slowing slightly.
 I have heard many crazy stories about homes and condos selling in one day. I personally sold my own condo in one day with competing offers in May. A far cry from what we experienced last year with what I call the "Condo Slump". With houses going crazy, condos and townhouses are the only property new buyers can afford. 
We are living in a crazy feverish buying frenzy world, where housing prices and rents are out of control. All you have to do in tune in to the radio or see the news to hear the stories!

New Condo and Townhouse Maintenance Videos!

Check this out! Have a condo or townhouse? Well there are new videos that have been produced to help you maintain your property and why it's important to invest in these tasks through your strata fees. The Videos on You Tube now include "Clading, paints and stains, decks and balconies and building envelope maintenance"

"But it has High Strata Fees!"

Buying a townhouse or a condo can be a more affordable alternative to the higher prices of houses. The number one concern I have from clients lately is the cost of the "Strata Fee" or "Maintenance Fee".

I have had quite a few listings with a higher fee in the last few years and this has caused some concern from Buyers as well as hesitation from putting pen to paper making an offer. The fee depends largely on the age of the building, what is included (ie: gas and heat), if it has a fitness centre or pool and the size of the unit. The bigger the unit the larger the fee as it is based on square footage.

If the heat and gas is included a Buyer should take this into consideration as you would not have that monthly bill. If the property has a fitness centre you can give notice at the gym and take advantage of the facilities at your doorstep!

Most importantly if the building is older and it has a rather low fee you may want to closely look at the contingency and what repairs have been done to upkeep the building. You may be paying lower monthly costs, but if there is no plan to save for the raining day repairs or major overhaul of something such as a roof, the owners may be hit with a whopping Special Assessment!

In a newer building the fees will generally start out lower, just be aware this may not be the case forever. Take into consideration if you did own your own home, as time goes on and as the house gets older you would have to put in more money over the years to replace and upgrade things such as windows, furnace, roof, painting and much much more. A Strata Fee is a way to save this money aside for those repairs in advance and also to keep the regular upkeep of the grounds to lessen the maintenance costs and keep the property looking great. There are advantages to paying a Strata Fee and living the condo/townhome lifestyle!

A New condo Project in North Delta?

I have found out some very exciting and interesting information! There may be some building going on in the area of 115th and 84th in North Delta soon, that is if the residents will approve this new Develpoment. The project is slated to be a 24 unit small low rise building geared for Seniors and Empty Nesters. It's supposed to have all the amentities for the Senior population such as extra large hallways and optional hand rails in the bathrooms. The last condos/townhomes built in the area were in 1990, we've only had about 100 units built since then. I was very excited to hear about this project, but even more so to learn it was for the Senior type of client. There are so many Seniors I know that are still trying to maintain a 2000 sq foot Delta homeas they do not want to move from all they have know for the last 30 years. Let's cross our fingers and hope this project can get approved for our Community!