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Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Facts regarding unlicensed assistants

Did you know? - Showing properties. Hosting open houses. Prospecting for buyers and sellers. These, and more, are among the duties that busy licensees may sometimes consider asking their unlicensed assistants to take care of for them. But in fact, these are services that only a licensed individual can perform. And paying an unlicensed person (even your eager-to-succeed assistant) to provide real estate services that require licensing is in violation of section 6-1 of the Council Rules.

http://www.recbc.ca/2015/02/february-2015-report-from-council-newsletter/#rules-of-engagement

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

There's still a place for mobile homes — Langley Township mayor

There's still a place for mobile homes — Langley Township mayor


Manufactured homes will have a place in the new Brookswood/Fernridge community plan, Mayor Jack Froese promised mobile home park residents at a question-and-answer session held in Township council chambers.
About 200 residents attended the May 8 session to ask questions about the proposal to more than double the number of people living in the south Langley community and the impact that will have on the seniors who live in mobile home communities.
“I know that whether we call them mobile, manufactured, or by any other name, these are your homes,” Mayor Froese said.
“We know that you have concerns about the future of your homes and we intend to take that into account and prepare the best plan possible.”
Township engineering and community development manager Ramin Seifi, long range planning manager Paul Crawford, and planner Lisa Moffatt fielded questions.
Residents were told the proposed plan will provide maximum protection of existing mobile home parks.
Tenants are also protected under provincial regulations and the Township’s Mobile Home Park Redevelopment Policy, the staffers said.
The meeting with the mobile home owners came after a series of open houses and workshops that were held earlier this year.
Brookswood/Fernridge currently has a population of 13,000. The new Griffith Neighbourhood Plan would increase the number of residents  to 40,000 people over the next three decades.
It’s estimated the Township has 35 to 40 per cent of all manufactured homes in the Metro Vancouver region.
Less than one per cent of Township housing is subsidized seniors’ or family housing, compared with nine per cent in the City of Langley and five per cent in Coquitlam.

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

B.C. assessments show strong appreciation in Vancouver single-family home values



Metro Vancouver homeowners have grown accustomed to healthy increases on their annual B.C. Assessment notices, which are now landing in mailboxes.
What’s new this year is that condo values are also rising in the region, after a few flat years that saw condo construction outpace homebuyer demand.
“Condominiums, that’s apartments and townhouses, up until 2014 had been relatively flat over three years,” said Cameron Muir, chief economist of the B.C. Real Estate Association.
Over 2014, however, Muir said condo sale prices have risen in step with inflation. Condo prices in Vancouver and its nearer suburbs were up about two per cent as of July, when B.C. Assessment sets its values for the next year’s assessment roll.
Single-family home values were up a more substantial 6.5 per cent, Muir said, but some of the condo valuations were a departure from the previous year.
“We’re probably looking, in Vancouver, at sales (increases) of 16 to 17 per cent in 2014,” Muir said, “so, there’s much stronger demand, and we’re also seeing inventory levels steadily decline.”
B.C. Assessment doesn’t produce average assessment values for property types in Lower Mainland markets but does highlight representative examples.
In Vancouver, a typical east-side two-bedroom apartment increased 4.7 per cent to $381,000, from $364,000 a year earlier.
On Vancouver’s west side, values for a typical two-bedroom apartment rose 7.5 per cent (to $616,000), in line with the growth in value of a detached home on a 33-foot lot (up 7.5 per cent to $1.575 million).
In its real estate assessments a year ago, B.C. Assessment had highlighted decreasing condominium values in the range of four to five per cent — the second consecutive year that condo prices declined or offered minimal increases.
“Changes within a plus or minus five per cent range, that’s what we categorize as stable,” said Dharmesh Sisodraker, B.C. Assessment’s deputy assessor for the Vancouver Sea to Sky region, which takes in Vancouver and the North Shore all the way to Whistler.
Assessments, which are used by municipalities to set property taxes, tend to lag the overall market by the time they are released.
In east Vancouver, a typical detached house on a 33-foot lot saw an increase of 11.3 per cent, to $993,000.
In Vancouver Heights, typical detached home prices rose five per cent to $955,000.
“(Condominium) prices are still under pressure versus detached homes, mostly because there is so much (condominium) product on the market,” explained Ray Harris, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, and the increases in condo prices are “sporadic.”
In Metro Vancouver, demand for new condos has been in high-growth areas linked to rapid transit, such as the Marine Gateway development at Cambie and Marine in Vancouver or the Metrotown and Brentwood town centres in Burnaby.
“If a complex is in demand and there are not a lot of units in the market, you can get more of a lift,” Harris said.
Suburbs such as Burnaby, Coquitlam and Port Moody — communities either on SkyTrain, or where SkyTrain is being built — are among those that have seen modest increases in the range of two to three per cent.
However, the gains weren’t shared equally and some spots still showed decreasing assessment values. B.C. Assessment cited an example at Simon Fraser University’s UniverCity development, where the assessed value of a two-bedroom highrise unit declined 2.5 per cent from 2014.
“There are a few pockets where values decreased slightly,” said Zina Weston, a deputy assessor for B.C. Assessment in its North Fraser region, which takes in the eastern suburbs closest to Vancouver.
“If there is a lot of building that comes on in a short period of time in a finite area, there might be some (downward) pressure on pricing,” Weston said.
Harris added that condo owners trying to re-sell are having a tougher time because developers are selling new units at lower prices than they would be if the market were stronger.
Condo values also declined in Fraser Valley suburbs from Langley to Chilliwack, where single-family home prices are in the reach of more buyers.
Dan Scarrow, a vice-president at Macdonald Realty in Vancouver, added that some municipalities are more encouraging to condo developers and “as a result of that, maybe some areas tend to get overbuilt.”
“Then, in some municipalities, say Vancouver, it is more difficult to get a project off the ground, but demand is actually quite high,” Scarrow added.
Markets that rely on recreational property sales — such as Whistler, the Okanagan and Kootenays, where sales collapsed and values declined following the 2008 recession — also took part in some of the rebound in 2015 assessments.
B.C. Assessment cited examples in Kelowna where assessments were up from four to seven per cent. In Whistler, a typical home in the White Gold area increased in value 7.4 per cent, to $1.06 million.


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/assessments+show+strong+appreciation+Vancouver+single+family+home+values/10697150/story.html#ixzz3O9qZ2S4H

Monday, 5 January 2015

FVREB - News Release: January 5, 2015

News Release: January 5, 2015

STEADY HOME SALES IN DECEMBER CAP SOLID YEAR FOR FRASER VALLEY REAL ESTATE
(Surrey, BC) – Fraser’s Valley’s real estate market returned to normal activity levels in 2014 with sales of single family detached homes leading the way.
Ray Werger, President of the Board, says, “It was a busy year for both buyers and sellers. In 2014, both sales and new listings were stronger in Fraser Valley compared to 2013 – most notably for detached homes and townhomes – with the result that we’ve returned to normal market activity for our region on par with our 10-year average.”
The Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) processed 15,840 sales in 2014, compared to 13,663 the previous year, an increase of 16 per cent. It also received 4 per cent more new listings during the same time period – 30,642 in 2014 compared to 29,338 in 2013. Over the year, the number of active listings for buyers to choose from dropped by 23 per cent going from 7,541 properties in December 2013 to 6,380 in December 2014.
According to Werger, sales during the month of December followed the same trend as every month in 2014 with sales surpassing the same month compared to 2013. “It was the third busiest December we’ve experienced in the last decade with sales almost keeping pace with the number of new listings.
“As a result, we’ve seen our inventory deplete, which is normal for this time of year however, our selection hasn’t been this low for almost eight years. We hope to see the usual influx of new listings during the first quarter of 2015 because we’re currently seeing a shortage of affordably priced single family detached homes in certain areas.”
In December, sales increased by 21 per cent, going from 890 in 2013 to 1,075 last month. New listings increased by 13 per cent in December compared to 2013 going from 1,013 to 1,147.
Home prices in December continued along the same trends as seen for most of 2014, with prices of single family detached homes continuing to rise; townhouse prices remaining steady, and apartment prices decreasing slightly. The MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI) benchmark price of a detached home in December was $573,100 an increase of 4.3 per cent compared to December 2013, when it was $549,500.
The MLS® HPI benchmark price of townhouses in December was $293,500 on par with $293,300 in December 2013. The benchmark price of apartments decreased year-over-year by 0.8 per cent, going from $192,600 in December 2013 to $191,100 in December 2014.