Posted by
paige on
July 29, 2010 |
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2 hours in the office, 2 hours at the beach, 2 hours at the office, 2 hours at the beach…
OK seriously, temperatures in Kelowna have been over 33 degrees celcius for more than a week. There have been a few forest fires… some more serious than others and there have been a whopping 14 sales on Kelowna’s lakeshore since the beginning of June, 2010! That’s amazing when you consider there has been 19 sales in TOTAL since January.
Overall, listings are up and sales are down. This is typically the time when savvy buyers are on the prowl and those looking for high end properties can often benefit the most. First time buyers seem to be completely gone right now with only one sale under $300,000 in the last 5 weeks and investors are just starting to get cranked up again after a month or two long hiatus.
Strategy for buying in this type of market has to be planned out in advance to maximize your dollar’s buying power. Last week I worked with some people who found 5 houses in a neighborhood that they particularly liked. We narrowed it down to #1-5 and made an offer on the first one. It was rejected. Plan A was to move onto number two, but after careful consideration, we decided to wait it out for a few days and let the sellers think we had moved on. Sure enough, a week later we were able to get an accepted offer on house #1 for almost $30,000 below what the last house in that neighborhood sold for… great deal!
Strategy for selling in this type of market also has to be very well thought out. Buyers are elusive and slow moving. In order to even attract a buyer to a point where they would consider making an offer, the price being asked has to be thought of as “exceptional”. Even then, most offers start off low. For those bargain hunting, they’ll usually move on if the low-ball isn’t accepted. For those that have found their “perfect home”, it may take some time, but usually they’ll come to the table and a fair price can be secured.
Thinking of buying or selling? Contact me to find out how my tried and proven strategies can work wonders for you.
Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
July 7, 2010 |
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Kelowna real estate sales are down again for the 2nd month in a row. In June there were 346 total sales and in May 378. Sale and listing stats up to June 2010 in Kelowna . What does this mean? It means that sellers have to to priced aggressively to attract the wary buyer.
The rush to beat the HST and lower locked in interest rates is over and the next batch of buyers are being very cautious and taking their time. Interestingly, product that has been typically moving quickly and priced under $400K is not moving much at all right now. In June there was 11 homes that sold over $800,000 and 9 of those were over $1,000,000. Haven’t seen those kind of numbers in a while.
Summer has arrived and will no doubt dispell the uncertainty that people are feeling… Kelowna, the best place on earth!
Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
June 22, 2010 |
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When I first moved to Kelowna over 20 years ago and began my real estate career here, one of the things you did to build your client base was make phone calls… a LOT of phone calls. I logged hundreds and hundreds of hours calling people out of the phone book asking if they or anyone they knew was thinking about buying or selling real estate. Seems ridiculous now, but back then there was success to be had if you could tough it out. After that I graduated to door knocking. The last door to see my knuckles was opened by a gentlman in underwear who seemed perfectly content to stand there chatting.
Last night I received a call. You probably know the one, right at dinner time and asking to speak to Mr. or Mrs. Guernsey. My last name gets terribly mis-pronounced sometimes … in a funny kind of way. This person asked if I was Mrs. “Going-say”. I laughed and said yes, remembering all those phone calls I had to make years ago. Note to self: Don’t do that again. This person would not stop talking and when I politely said I had to go, they talked right over me. Finally I hung up, feeling guilty. That same person called back last night 3 times. I went from feeling sympathetic to feeling choked that our space was invaded like that.
I haven’t “cold called” in decades and I wonder if new realtors do that. Would you respond positively to a realtor calling asking if you were interested in buying or selling real estate or would a text or tweet be more in line with todays world?
Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
June 18, 2010 |
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Went to a meeting the other day to listen to a speaker who ALWAYS has a positive take on Kelowna, our growth and our real estate. Rod Gibbings is a local financial planner who has a way of giving the all important reality check when we need it most. Our real estate market is changing and is leaning towards a buyers market again. There has been some press coverage that has painted a negative picture around this most recent shift. Rod started his talk with several pictures of the front page of a Canadian magazine whose titles over the years depicted and predicted doom and gloom in our economy and housing market. Most of these predictions were wrong and in fact, went very far the other way. Check out this revised projection graph from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Canada by far is the best place in the world!
I’ve heard a lot of predictions being thrown around about Kelowna real estate prices coming down 10% this year. No matter how you look at this, I just don’t see how that can actually happen. The BC Real Estate Council predicts sales to be 3% less than 2009 before climbing 4% in 2011. BCREA also predicts home prices will rise by 6% this year over last and remain static for the most part through 2011. Kelowna has usually done better historically than these predictions that lump BC numbers together. Link to Article.
If you’re thinking of buying or selling, please give me a call on my direct line at 250-862-6464.
Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
June 10, 2010 |
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The good, the bad, and the ugly have all been in Kelowna’s city chambers recently. Countless house and countless dollars have been spent by government, developers, and taxpayers trying to figure out what to do with the downtown core. Some great things have happened along the way, like using the old Willow Inn for a homeless shelter during the winter and huge numbers of people all talking about what they’d like to see there, but what HASN’T happened is any decision for anything.
Most people agree that something needs to be done. Revitalization will create opportunity for new and unique housing options,better entertainment and restaurants, access to the waterfront and all that goes with it… somewhere that young and old can hang out and feel safe. Granted it’s a big deal… definately not a plan to be taken lightly. There is a lot of real estate we’re talking about and a lot of ideas on what to do, but really, somehow SOMETHING has to happen after all this effort.
Link to Castanet Article
What do you think? Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
June 8, 2010 |
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We finally did it. We paid our penalty and renewed our variable rate mortgage with … another, lower, variable rate mortgage. Now the fun begins. Sleepless nights, nails bitten down, a few new sparklers on my head? No, I’m still banking on things staying relatively level with a few minor bumps upwards along the way. I keep this graph close by in case I start second guessing myself. I find professionally, that people I’ve worked with who have owned 3 or more houses go with variable, that those under 30 are choosing fixed rates, and those better than 50 have split opinions.
There is lots of chatter right now about the real estate market across Canada. Most centers are feeling the pinch of fewer buyers and Kelowna is no exception with our May sales down considerably over last year. The Canadian Real Estate Association has changed their earlier predictions and are calling for a cooling off period with a slight downward movement in prices. Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board’s released their May stats that show sales are down and listings are up. This period of time can be the perfect storm for those seriously wanting to make a move. The idea being that an aggressive listing price will make you stand out from the competition to draw those elusive buyers in. On a firm sale and with money in your jeans, start shopping. Shop hard and make offers… someone will be nervous enough right now to take it! In the scheme of things… do I think the tap will stay off for long? Nope, not in Kelowna.
Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
June 2, 2010 |
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The last 18 months has seen a number of my clients turn to real estate for investment purposes. When you’re considering this, there are 2 main points to consider:
1) Are you looking for rental income?
2) Are you looking for capital apreciation?
In Kelowna, if you shop well and take your time to negotiate the right price, you may be lucky enough to get both. With Kelowna’s vacancy rate the highest it’s been in a decade at around 2.5%, it typically hovers close to the 0 or 1% mark… very attractive for landlords. Prices and interest rates are also down. In other words, it’s possible to purchase a property where you can have the vast majority of your costs covered by the rental payment. As a basic rule of thumb, when I’m looking to invest personally, I look to see if my purchase price is covered 100% by the rental payment. For instance, I looked at a property the other day that I would pay $450K for. There are 3 rental units in it collecting $2700 per month. This would cover a mortgage of $450 at 5%. The extra costs, or write off’s, at the end of the year would be insurance, maintenance, and property tax. With the popularity of our market and the continued growth of our city, I believe that over time those write off’s will be offset by a capital appreciation making it all worthwhile.
For those looking at larger investments, most are searching for the elusive 8% cap rate. 5% is a real number right now in Kelowna and those that purchase are also expecting our market to pick up and surpass where it was at the peak in 08, ultimately raising the cap rate closer to the 8%. I recently sold a 5 plex for $850K. This property had a cap rate of slightly less than 5% but had lots of potential to raise that number and lots of investors wanting to snag that rare type of property. At the end of the day, it’s a great plan to have a loan that someone else pays for you leaving you with cash in your jeans.
If you have any questions or are curious about investing in Kelowna real estate, give me a call on my direct line at 250-862-6464.
Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
May 28, 2010 |
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Real estate in Kelowna can be full of twists and turns and after a rocky period over the last several months has really become quite stable in terms of prices and inventory. However, the last couple of days have been absolutely quiet. This is one of those wierd things that happen from time to time and in chatting with my fellow realtors, they’re finding the same thing… buyers taking more time to decide and very few calls for showings on well priced listings. Hmmm… hope this doesn’t last for long!
On the upside, and pointing to this being just a “glitch”, there have been 204 single family sales in the last 30 days compared to 206 last year same time. Turn that tap back on!
Here’s an interesting article from the Kelowna Daily Courier.
Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
May 20, 2010 |
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Bob Rennie, the condo king from Vancouver was here the other day to talk about the real estate market in BC. His opinion is that all the underlying factors are here to see continued growth and prosperity for British Columbia and certain more desirable areas like Kelowna, Vancouver Island, and Vancouver. In particular the fact that the whole world saw a lot of our province for the first time during the Olympics is important. Real estate should continue to be a strong and considerable investment when you consider that relatively speaking, Kelowna is considered inexpensive compared to other parts of the world and on the world stage we are only JUST on the radar. Condos in Vancouver are an oversaturated market as it is here. Fortunately for Kelowna though, a lot of the projects that were slated to be underway didn’t break dirt as the market started to feel the economic pinch of the recession we’ve just been through. This means that although there are a number of condos still available and competing with each other, the market for condos is becoming more stable, with those buildings having important ammenities contributing to lifestyle like proximity to shopping and leisure activities are selling first over those that have less that all the necessary fundamentals. CMHC has just released it’s spring housing market for Kelowna and it’s positive!
Talk to you soon…
Paige
Posted by
paige on
May 12, 2010 |
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Do you ever look at the real estate statistics for the Kelowna area? April was a much better month for sales than we have had for almost 2 years. Historically this time of year is always pretty good, but the sales were up over 25% from last year. What does this mean for Kelowna real estate? Sorry, but I don’t have my crystal ball handy, but looking back over the last year, statistics show that home sales do seem to be on an upward swing.
Check out my Statistics page for up-to-date numbers.
Thanks,
Paige
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