New look, New website!!!

Take a look at the new site....sherib.ca
Things are the same but simplified!

We are a Balanced Market here in the Fraser Valley!

News Release: May 2, 2014 BALANCED MARKET CONDITIONS IN THE FRASER VALLEY (Surrey, BC) – The growth in sales on Fraser Valley’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) outpaced the growth in new inventory in April, propelling the market into solid balanced conditions. In April, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s total sales volume increased by 8 per cent year over year and 17 per cent compared to March while new listings saw a 7 per cent increase compared to April 2013 and a 13 per cent increase compared to the previous month. Ray Werger, president of the Board, says, “There’s a lot of optimism right now. It will take a few more months of numbers, but our 2014 market is already on track to outperform last year. “A measurement we rely on to gauge the health of the housing market is the ratio between sales and active listings and in April that number was the highest it’s been in our region in three years. Last month, that ratio for both single family detached homes and townhomes was 21 per cent, meaning for every 100 homes available, 21 sold. That’s a strong, balanced market.” Werger adds that demand for apartments in the Fraser Valley remained softer. “In some of our areas we have an oversupply of condos and you’ll see that reflected in prices. Generally, prices of benchmark or typical apartments have decreased over the past year. However, both buyers and sellers need to be aware that it depends on the community and the age and quality of the condo.” In April, the benchmark price of single family detached homes in the Fraser Valley was $566,000, an increase of 3.4 per cent compared to $547,300 during the same month last year. For townhouses, the benchmark price was $298,700, virtually unchanged compared to $299,100 in April 2013 and the benchmark price of apartments was $196,300, a decrease of 3.7 per cent compared to $203,900 in April of last year. In April, the Board processed a total of 1,470 sales through its MLS® compared to 1,366 sales in April 2013 and 1,259 sales in March; and, received 3,153 new listings last month compared to 2,951 new listings received during April 2013. The number of active listings reached 9,400, 7 per cent more than were available in March however 6 per cent fewer than were available during April of last year. In April, the number of days on average to sell a detached home in the Fraser Valley was 43; 47 for townhomes; and, 59 days on average for an apartment. All, four days faster than they were in April 2013.

Vancouver Sun Westcoast Homes Publishes a Sale!

The Vancouver Sun featured a home Sheri Brown, Realtor for Surrey and Delta in the Bought/Sold Section of the Westcoast Homes By Nicola Way. View the link here! This townhome sold in just 4 days for 99% of the list price. Another successful sale for Sheri Brown and happy Sellers!

RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award

I was thrilled to find out at the beginning of 2014, that I am receiving the RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award! Thanks to all my clients over the years for your support and who helped this be possible. I look forward to many more years helping people with their real estate needs.

Sheri Brown is one of 32 of the Most Popular Realtors giving Home Buying Tips!

I was excited to be chosen to participate in an Article on Home Buyer Nation entiled "32 Home Buying Tips from Some of the World’s Most Popular Realtors" by Scott Riley. This is an interesting article in which there are 32 unique and uncommon tips for the New Home Buyer. In addition to myself, there are three agents from the hit TV Show "Million Dollar Listing" as well who give their tips! Sheri Brown's tip is Tip #25! Check it out here!

Fraser Valley Real Estate getting busy!

Continued improvement in Fraser Valley’s housing market SURREY, BC – Buyers and sellers continued to show greater confidence in the market last month as home sales on the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) edged closer to typical levels. The Board processed 1,258 sales in August, an increase of 17 per cent compared to the 1,073 sales in August of last year however, the volume remains 13 per cent below the 10-year average for the month. Ron Todson, President of the Board, explains, “The best way to describe our market currently is one of continued, modest improvement as buyers and sellers become more confident." “In the last month in the Fraser Valley, we’ve seen an increase in sellers willing to accept an offer subject to another sale, we’re seeing fewer deals collapse and we’re seeing more move-up buyers, either improving on the size or quality of their existing home. These are all indicators of a return to a more typical, stable market.” In terms of inventory, the Board received 2,353 new listings in August, a decrease of 2 per cent compared to the 2,406 new listings received during the same month last year – leaving the volume of active properties at 10,127 a decrease of 2 per cent compared to August 2012. Todson says, “An important measure of the balance between housing supply and demand is the number of months it would take to sell our existing inventory. We’re currently sitting at eight months’ supply in the Fraser Valley, indicating a balanced market, which is also being reflected in the stability of home prices. “Home prices generally remain unchanged or down slightly from a year ago; however, do check with your local REALTOR® if you’re in need of specific values because the range between property type and community can be sizeable.” In August, the benchmark price of single family detached homes in the Fraser Valley was $551,000, virtually on par with $551,400 during the same month last year. For townhouses, the benchmark price was $298,200, a decrease of 1.6 per cent compared to $303,000 in August 2012 and the benchmark price of apartments was $203,900, 1.3 per cent less than in August 2012 when it was $206,600. It's a good time to get out there and find your dream home!

New Listing!! 214-9682 134th Street only $188,000

Fantastic and bright corner end unit! Backing on to the back of the building overlooking a green area, very quiet and good location. Two large bedrooms and a bathroom. Newer appliances with ceramic top stove and tri-clean quiet dishwasher. Newer lighting, crown molding and updated paint! Tiled floor in the bathroom and kitchen area. Large and spacious floorplan at over 1011 sq ft. Walking distance to skytrain, hospital, shopping and schools! Call today for more info!!

A Fun moment with the Team!

Filming our latest video at the new listing in Surrey the team was busy filming and taking pics! It was another sunny day in Surrey!

Lower inventory keeps home prices in check as ‘slow but steady’ market continues Says The FVREB

April, 03 2013 09:38:56 am, by FVREB Categories: Statistics In March, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board processed 1,128 sales on its Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®), a 20 per cent decrease compared to the 1,412 sales during the same month last year, and a 24 per cent increase compared to February’s 913 sales. The Board also received 11 per cent fewer new listings in March compared to last year – 2,736 compared to 3,066 – keeping inventory in check. March finished with 9,503 active listings, 1.5 per cent fewer than March of last year and 3.5 per cent fewer than the 9,832 available during March of 2009; the highest volume of active listings for that month in the last decade. Ron Todson, President of the Board, explains, “Although we saw a typical spring uptick in activity from February to March, our sales remained at about 70 per cent of the norm for March and our new listings came in at 90 per cent of what the Board would typically receive. “Because inventory levels are in check, prices are staying in check.” In March, the benchmark price of single family detached homes in the Fraser Valley was $544,300, an increase of 0.6 per cent compared to $541,300 during the same month last year. For townhouses, the benchmark price was $298,200, a decrease of 1.7 per cent compared to $303,400 in March 2012 and the benchmark price of apartments was $204,200, an increase of 0.8 per cent compared to $202,500 in March 2012. Todson adds, “Inventory levels are not as high as they need to be to put significant downward pressure on prices of the benchmark, or ‘typical’ home. These are homes that have characteristics most common to houses in a given community. “In fact, we’re seeing the reverse happen. Benchmark prices for all three main property types in the Fraser Valley increased in value during the first quarter of 2013. Since January, detached homes are up by 1 per cent, townhomes by 0.6 per cent; and apartments by 2 per cent.”

7 Habits of Highly Effective Home Buyers

7 Habits of Highly Effective Home Buyers Effective Habit #1: Get pre-qualified (or pre-approved) for a loan You can’t effectively search for homes if you don’t know how much home you can afford. In today’s lending environment, it is crucial to know BEFORE you begin a home search what type of mortgage, and how much of a mortgage you can get. It is crucial to work with a good lender throughout the home buying process. If you don’t know a lender, ask your agent for a few recommendations. Interview a couple of lenders and pick one and stick with them. Few things add more stress and headache to a real estate sales transaction than changing lenders mid-stream. Find a lender that won’t just tell you the maximum amount of a mortgage you can get, rather find one that understands that qualifying for a certain amount and being able to make the payments are two different things. Effective Habit #2: Define your must haves, like to haves, and can not haves Determine what you MUST have in a home. Then determine what you would LIKE to have in a home. Talk to your agent about these things. Don’t forget to include what you CAN’T have in a home — that will often be more important than anything else. Don’t know exactly what you must/like/can’t have in a home? That’s OK, it happens ALL the time. Your agent can help you by showing you different homes with different features to help you get a better understanding of what you’d like in a home. But at some point you are going to have to make decisions and not wander aimlessly about, looking at any home that may possibly fit some undefined set of criteria. That would be a waste of your time, and the time of your agent, the home sellers, your lender and everyone else that is involved in a real estate transaction. Effective Habit #3: Be realistic Buying a short sale and expecting the owner to make a bunch of repairs (or any repairs)? Good luck with that. Buying a home and thinking if the home inspector finds anything wrong with it, i’m not buying the house? Well you might as well stop right now because I can assure your there aren’t any homes where the inspector finds nothing to report. Get your brand new built to your order home constructed and an inspector will find some items to address (and yes, you should get a new build home inspected — more than once). Effective Habit #4: Be flexible As a home buyer, it is important to be flexible. Unless you are having a home built to your exact specifications, it’s very unlikely that you will find the absolutely perfect home for you. Maybe you find a home that has everything except the perfect kind of flooring, colors, cabinets, whatever. If you have some flexibility built into your must haves and likes, you will find the entire process much less painful. Understand that in most cases there is a living breathing human being involved in the other side of your transaction. Home sellers are people too. Nit-picking them to death in negotiations and repairs isn’t likely to do much good and could quite possibly do harm. This isn’t to say you should cave to every demand the sellers make. You should stand firm on things that really matter and be flexible where you can be in order to move the transaction along. Effective Habit #5: Understand the home buying process You don’t need to understand every nuance of the home buying process — that is your agent’s job. But the more you do understand, the less stressful and mystifying the process will be. Trust me, buying a home is a stressful event. Anything you can do to reduce that stress will go a long way not just toward saving your sanity but in helping ensure the transaction moves to closing. One of the most important things to understand is your purchase contract. There are two parties to a real estate contract — you the buyer, and the seller. Regardless of exactly who/what owns the home you are buying, you are entering into a legally binding contract when you have your offer accepted, and there are obligations that contract binds you to do. There are timelines that must be complied with, and if they are not, you can suffer some pretty serious / expensive consequences. Your agent, your lawyer, your lender, your title company, the appraiser — all will work diligently to ensure a successful closing, but ultimately they are not parties to the contract. YOU need to (with advice from your agent and/or attorney) understand all the terms and conditions of your contract. It is also helpful to understand the escrow, appraisal and lending processes. The successful completion of each of these are fundamental to your closing on your new home. Do not be afraid to ask your agent questions. Lots of questions. Be advised that everyone in the process tends to toss about terms and acronyms that only those dealing with this stuf fon a daily basis understand. Sometimes we forget we’re speaking in a different language. Don’t be shy. If there’s a term you don’t understand, ask. Effective Habit #6: Be responsible As a home buyer, you are going to have to work with a lot of different people in order to make sure your transaction progresses and ultimately closes. Yes, your agent will take on the burden of most of this, but you are still ultimately responsible for your actions. You are (most likely) financing your new home. As such, it makes sense that you need to be responsible for maintaining your credit worthiness while your mortgage is being processed. Listen to your agent and lender and don’t go buying a car before your mortgage processing is done (yes, I’ve seen it happen). In fact, don’t buy anything on credit without speaking to your lender. And if you think you can quit your job a week before closing and still get that mortgage, think again (yep, seen that too). When you are looking at potential homes, be responsible and respectful that you are in someone else’s home. It’s OK to look in their closets, to flip light switches, to turn on the stove. But be responsible and leave the home in exactly the same condition you found it in. Much of this habit really boils down to two things: 1) use common sense; and 2) treat others how you expect to be treated. Effective Habit #7: Have fun! Take a look around at lists of “life’s most stressful events” and you’ll see things like taking on new debt, financial change, moving — that’s buying a house folks. You are about to enter into one of the singel largest financial transactions of your life. Stress is a given. But buying a home is also an exciting time! There isn’t a law that requires you to mope around, dreading every moment. There’s nothing wrong with having fun during the process. Hopefully you’ve selected an agent that you enjoy working with. Ditto for your lender. That doesn’t mean you all need to participate in group hugs or go camping together and join hands around the campfire singing Kum Ba Ya. But it’s OK to laugh, to enjoy yourself, to have a little fun in the process. Thompson, Jay. "7 Habits of Highly Effective Home Buyers." The Phoenix Real Estate Guy. N.p., 26 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Jan. 2013.

Another New listing!

A new listing, 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom on the ground floor in beautiful South Slope Burnaby. For $5000 under assessed value at $220,000 this is a great buy. Close to Skytrain and shopping. The building backs onto a nice greenspace and close to walking trails. Ready for your new paint colours and to move in! Call today for your private viewing!

Good News for the New Year! 2013 will be another great year for Real Estate.

In todays paper an article came out saying "Single Family Homes are still winners in property price race!" Also, from last week "Buyers waiting for a housing bubble to burst could be waiting a long time." The market from all indications, as per the BC Real Estate Association says it's unlikly that the prices will drop dramatically and we will start to see stronger sales in the next few months. There is strong growth in full time jobs and interest rates still being at a historic low are said to remain that way for the time being. It's a great time to start thinking about listing your home or getting it ready for the Spring Market coming. If you would like more info please feel free to call Sheri Brown at 604-590-4888 or sheri@sheribassociates.ca

Listings are starting to populate the area!

This week alone Sheri Brown & Associates have three new listings, including this one here in Sunshine Hills. It's been a busy week getting back after Sheri got married in September. The work doesn't stop and this is the time of year to take full advantage of the new product coming out! In the latest Fraser Valley Real Estate Board stats state that house prices remain resilient after lower sales prices in the summer. "In August, sales on the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) ranked the third lowest for the month in the last decade – after 2008 and 2010" What's to come? The economy is still strong, interest rates are great and more product coming out. There is still an active market if you are priced well and have the property ready for showing. If you want to find out what your home is worth call Sheri today.

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"

Awards won at RE/MAX Convention

I was very excited to goto Vegas this past week and receive an award for my high sales volume for 2011. 2012 is starting off to be a fantastic year ahead as well! RE/MAX also won awards from JD Power & Associates for Best Customer Service for both Buyers and Sellers. I am very proud to be a part of this great company! The spring is upon us and it's a great time to think about getting into the Market. Call or email is you would like more information.

The Market is now Moving!

Over the Christmas season we had a typical slow down for listings and sales. However January has taken off with a lot of activity. Market evaluations are happening several times a week right now for people preparing for the spring market. You can get a jump on the market right now if you thought about listing a little before March. Sheri Brown & Associates has a new great listings this week. There is nothing else available in this area quite like this home. A four bedroom family home at 10972 63A Ave is a GREEN home. Enery Efficient with a 78 Energuide rating! The kitchen and bathroom have been tastefully decorated and re done. This truely is a gorgeous updated home. The first Open House is on Sunday the 29th of Jan 2-4pm. Or you can call Sheri. If you want more info on what's happening with the market as well feel free to pop an email to sheri@sheribassociates.ca

Sunstone..North Delta's newest Community now has a website.

I am very pleased to partner with a great Realtor in my office, Kendra Ballendine, on this new website, Sunstone Listings.ca This is a great resource to find out about the area, the clubhouse, the latest hot listings. If you're thinking of selling in the area, we can help. Check out the new site today!

FrogBox's: A new way to move!

Recently I referred a client to FrogBox, this is an amazing company that delivers hard boxes with lids to your home, you pack, then unpack and they pick up. How simple is that! An amazing way to safe time and effort in finding cardboard boxes and helping save the environment. Check them out at www.frogbox.com

Our First Radio Real Estate Show on the Internet!

Check out the Latest North Delta Market update

My Realty TV.ca update

North Delta had a busy August with 50 sales of detached homes in the month. Sales Price ranged from $345000 to
862,800 dollars. For sellers, good quality and ready to be shown properties with a sharp list price are finding a red sold sticker on the sign very quickly.
There are currently 182 homes in all areas of North Delta for Buyers to choose from. Prices for homes currently listed start at $390 thousand for a cute starter rancher in Annieville up to 1.5 million for a luxury home in Sunshine Hills with an Exclusive Summit Crescent address. Typically we have not seen too many homes in the plus million mark in North Delta in the last few years, but as of late more luxury properties have been popping up. There are currently 18 homes over $800 thousand with five of those being over the million dollar mark. This can be attributed mainly to older homes in the Sunshine Hills area having been substantially renovated and newer larger homes such as the Sunstone Development in Delsom. The Vancouver population is also discovering how central and easy the commute can be to places such as Richmond, Vancouver or going the opposite way out to the valley. North Delta is a great central location!
For Buyers who are looking for easy townhouse or condo living there are 45 units available on the market as we speak. If you want more information about the fabulous North Delta area and Real Estate I would love to help you. This is Sheri Brown for My Realty TV.ca