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.”

Buying a Home Under power Lines? Check this out!

Having a home under power lines can be a concern, or can it? Check this cool website out for some useful information! Electric and Magnetic Fields

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"