Make sure all is clean, decluttered

Michele Oberoi
Province

You Must be prepaed to work to sell your home, say experts. CANWEST

Spring and early summer is the prime time for flowers, patios and moving.

“The first flower of spring is a ‘For Sale’ sign,” says Ottawa real estate broker Bill Renaud of Re/Max. One reason is cabin fever that results from several months stuck inside over the winter, Renaud says. “We become critical of our environment.”

No matter the reason for selling a home, the process can be difficult.

“It’s not easy. It’s a stressful process,” says Renaud. “I don’t think people go into it lightly.” Going in informed makes all the difference. “I’m the ‘shock absorber,'” he says, describing one of a realtor’s many roles in the house-selling adventure.

To begin, Royal LePage broker Joan Smith advises home sellers to have a good plan. Sellers should ask themselves, ‘What am I doing here? How long do I want my house on the market? What do I need to do?’

“It’s no different from anything else,” she says. A solid plan is particularly important for those who choose to sell their homes themselves, says Smith.

For the majority of sellers, however, “it’s important to have an agent that knows the neighbourhood,” says Renaud. “Listen to your gut instincts. You have to feel comfortable with that person.” Renaud also suggests checking the realtor’s references and experience.

“You must work in order to sell [your home],” adds veteran real- estate broker Neta Clarke of Royal LePage, who is celebrating her 50th year in the business. A good realtor “should go through the home and see what condition it’s in,” says Clarke. The realtor should make suggestions for repairs and changes and should obtain a list of comparable sales in the area in order to help determine a correct price for the home.

In order to prepare a home for public viewing, a realtor may call in a house stager — a person who visually prepares a home for resale by removing clutter, rearranging furniture and even repairing and redecorating in order to give the home a welcoming, clean look.

“I do my own staging,” says Smith, adding it’s important to keep in mind people still have to live in the home while it’s on the market.

“The place must be very clean and it should have curb appeal,” says Clarke, who advises sellers to get rid of extra furniture and family pictures and to make sure cupboards are clean and the basement is spic and span. “If the home is untidy, it doesn’t show as well.”

Once the price has been set and the home is in viewing condition, homeowners must make their home available for viewing.

“The first 21 days are the most important,” says Renaud. “The longer [the house] is on the market, the farther it will sell from the asking price.” If the home doesn’t sell after this time, Smith says the homeowner and realtor should sit down again and discuss the price.

There are several reasons why homes don’t sell: not enough exposure, poor condition, lack of floorplan conformity, or bad location all play a role. All three agents agree the main reason homes don’t sell is the pricetag but Renaud says simply lowering the price isn’t always the solution.

“There may be structural damage,” says Renaud.

Tips for homeowners wishing to sell their homes

People tend to buy a home based on 30-per-cent logic, and 70-per-cent emotion. If you’re thinking of selling your home, here’s helpful advice:

-Spring may not be the best time for selling all property types, or properties in all areas. Speak to a realtor for professional advice on the best time to sell.

-Little extras: Homeowners with extras, such as backyard pools or waterfront access, should make sure these areas are clean, open and operational.

-Emotion: List the top 10 things you love about your home. Chances are a buyer will love many of the same things.

-Light: If there’s a light, turn it on, even during the day, but especially at night. Seeing house lights glowing adds an extra helping of warmth.

-Remember, less is more: If you can’t decide if a room is too cluttered, then it probably is.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Choice spots

Jeani Read
Province

Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and the Okanagan remain the most popular buyer targets in B.C. for recreational and retirement property. But buyer attention is going a lot farther afield than these traditional Big Three. Here is a rundown of choice choices, according the experts.

– Interest is increasing in the likes of even the once-distant Queen Charlotte Islands — one of the best buys still available, says Rudy Nielsen, president and founder of NIHO Land & Cattle Company and Landcor Data Corp. of New Westminster. There are still 600-ft. oceanfront parcels available around the $300,000 and up mark, he says. As well, places like Burns Lake, previously ignored as too off-the-beaten path, are heating up. Five-acre serviced lots can still be found for $25,000, but prices are starting to climb, he warns.

– Cowichan Lake is another area that has taken off and shows how quickly prices and values can change in the recreational sector, Nielsen says. “Today, a serviced one-acre lot will cost $500,000 to $700,000. Two years ago they were selling for $150,000.”

– There are good B.C. buys if you do your homework. For instance, one-acre lots west of Prince George in the Cluculz Lake area are selling for approximately $50,000 plus. Compare that to smaller lots in Merritt — within the “golden circle” of Vancouver accessibility — at $500,000 and more.

– In the Okanagan, anything within whistling distance of Kelowna is in the million-dollar-plus territory. If your mind is absolutely set on the southern Interior, look around Penticton, where wood-frame condominiums start at around $175,000, a relative bargain, says Nielsen. “It’s still a bit of a sleeper and properties there are still fairly affordable compared with Kelowna, where it is very difficult to find something under $1 million.”

Jennifer Podmore of MCP Intelligence concurs. “Penticton gets higher values for resort recreation property. One of the reasons Osoyoos and Penticton are hot is they have better access to beaches (than Kelowna). Penticton basically has walk-out beaches.”

– Among Podmore’s top picks are Rossland, Fernie, Nelson and Revelstoke, where you can get bigger acreage for less outlay. Next, she expects the whole Salmon Arm/Shuswap area to heat up.

“The Shuswaps were hot a few years ago, but looking at the land values in the Shuswaps and places like Monte Creek — they’re far undervalued compared to the Okanagan.”

As well, Cranbrook is the gateway to B.C.’s playgrounds from the east, and Windermere, Fairmont Hot Springs and Radium are starting to take off. Popular, too, is the entire Kootenay region, including Kimberly.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Easier access makes B.C. hot all over – Anything within 45 minutes of an airport is being snapped up

Jeani Read and Ashley Ford; With files by Alex Frazer-Harrison
Province

From the shores of Tofino to the mountainside resorts of the Columbia Valley, B.C. buyers seek out new areas for their recreation properties, and B.C. continues to attract buyers not just from this province, but also from Alberta and the U.S.

“The world has discovered B.C. It really has, and that is not going to change,” says Rudy Nielsen, founder of New Westminster-based Landcor Data Corp. “But 94 per cent of sales are still to British Columbians.”

From Vancouver Island to the Kootenays, developers are expecting another big year.

“In a word, it’s busy,” says Peggy Prill, a market analyst with the Victoria office of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Elton Ash, regional vice-president of Re/Max of Western Canada, which produces an annual recreational property survey, sees no end to the strong demand. And, he says, “the last of the baby boomers won’t be seen until 2013. That is where the greatest extent of the wealth is and they will continue to buy.”

“Two years ago I could have told you what spots were hot,” says Jennifer Podmore of MCP Intelligence, an industry resource that does everything from monitoring sales sites and development applications to following market trends. “Then, there were a few hot spots where you had to buy,” she says. “Now anything within 700 kilometres of Calgary or Vancouver is hot. Now you’ve got everything.”

The shift from hot spots to a whole hot province is all about access.

“The Kelowna airport has surpassed its 10-year plan and is now implementing its 2021 plan to extend the runways to accommodate 747s so you can get a direct flight from London,” says Podmore. “Cranbrook is getting an international airport. And (towns such as) Windermere and Creston — they all have little airports. Airlines such as WestJet and Pacific Coastal Airlines have done a lot. Anything within 45 minutes of any airport is a hot spot in B.C.”

Even without the airlines, points out Podmore, “Part of (the experience) is the journey. The regions are being so well identified. You pick up wine in the Okanagan, buy borscht in Grand Forks, go for a swim in Christina Lake.”

Nielsen agrees more buyers now seem prepared to go farther afield. The traditional rule-of-thumb on prices is, the closer to a major urban centre, the higher the cost.

The majority of buyers seek a four-hour driving distance from a big city like Vancouver or Calgary. He calls this the “golden circle.” But, he says, that is changing and if you are willing to drive six to eight hours or more, as increasing numbers of investors seem to be, property and land become a whole lot cheaper.

More frequent float and light plane service to many formerly remote areas is also having an impact on people’s buying intentions, says Nielsen.

The increased transportation results “in a lot more discovery,” says Podmore. “That’s what an escalated market does. It’s made people figure out what they really love about where they go. When that pocket gets too pricey, people will go looking for the next best thing. Now they can look for the 10 next best things.”

New developments continue to spring up across the province. The Columbia Valley region is still a powerful magnet for developers and consumers.

“I think this area will continue to grow aggressively over the next few years,” says Michael Dalzell, director of resort sales and marketing for Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden, which recently announced plans for a major ski-in ski-out townhome community called Aspens at Kicking Horse.

Dalzell says there are still some bargains to be had in the recreation property market. For example, Aspens’ townhomes are expected to start in the $265,000 range. And the rise of fractional ownership has placed even higher-end luxury properties within the affordability range of many consumers.

Podmore now thinks of B. C. as a giant international recreation and retirement playground, and a 12-month-a-year playground to boot.

“What really changed us was Whistler,” she says. “It made us think differently about the Rockies and the Kootenays as not just skiing, but as a summer resort, too — sometimes more summer than winter now. It made us think of B.C. as a year-round resort.”

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Sending homeless to other parts of B.C. a possibility

John Bermingham
Province

Protesters demand more housing for the poor during a march in the Downtown Eastside last October. Provincial Housing Minister Rich Coleman says his Liberal government has implemented numerous policies to address the lack of social housing. Photograph by : Jason Payne, The Province

Provincial Housing Minister Rich Coleman says the eventual answer for the homeless of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is relocation — to another B.C. community.

Towns in the Fraser Valley and the Interior offer a better chance at an escape from the addiction cycle that leads to homelessness, Coleman told The Province in a wide-ranging interview about the job he faces.

Communities who object to taking in those now gravitating overwhelmingly to Vancouver’s streets will get little of his sympathy if they try to keep the poor and troubled from their midst, Coleman added.

“The Downtown Eastside is going to have to change,” he said.

“Over time, it frankly needs to disperse its problems out of that one particular area of the city.

“We can’t put all the services for these folks in one place, because we’re creating our own self-fulfilling prophecy.”

As for the not-in-my-backyard syndrome he anticipates in areas where people may land, Coleman conceded that “we have communities that have difficulty dealing with some homeless issues.”

“Leadership has to be taken on this issue,” he said. “People with mental health [issues] and addictions shouldn’t be stereotyped. You have to give it a chance.”

Coleman himself has taken the lead in many of the housing debates now raging in the public sphere.

He does so after years of accusations that his Liberal government was ignoring the swelling ranks of homeless in Canada’s poorest neighbourhood.

In describing the challenge before him, Coleman said he wants to not only house the homeless but ultimately get them back into the mainstream.

“I wanted to change the philosophy within government from what I call ribbon-cutting to helping people,” said Coleman, casting his eye over a view of the city’s central waterfront. “You need to focus on the client and the person to help.”

In April, the province paid $37 million for 10 single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotels in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The move was aimed at protecting almost 600 rooms from being converted into condos or backpacker hostels.

Coleman said he wants to turn the SROs into supportive housing that would provide rooms for Vancouver’s hard-to-house by providing them with the supports they need. The hotels are now being fixed up; non-profit groups will be contracted to manage them.

The hotel purchases stunned many anti-poverty activists.

“It was a big surprise,” said David Eby, a housing advocate with the Pivot Legal Society. “That was definitely a big change of policy.”

Eby was also surprised in February when the Liberals boosted welfare rates by up to 20 per cent — or $100 a month — and the shelter allowance by $50, from $325 to $375 a month.

Still, Eby said, problems remain because the government writes cheques to the hotels without pressuring landlords to fix them up.

Coleman focused instead on the good he said his ministry is doing:

– In his two years as minister, he said, he saw his annual housing budget hiked by $200 million.

– The province already supports about 6,000 housing units in the Downtown Eastside, which also gets the largest chunk of Vancouver’s annual $127 million in housing funds, he noted.

– Last winter, Coleman’s ministry funded emergency beds at churches in the Downtown Eastside and made cold-weather shelter beds year-round, he said.

– It hired outreach workers to connect with the homeless and get them to the supports they need, like medical and social assistance, he said.

– Some 2,000 units of social housing are planned for B.C., including 200 units at Woodward’s and another 100-odd at 55 East Hastings.

– The ministry gave more than $11 million to the Salvation Army to run transition housing for 85 at-risk residents at Grace Mansion at 596 East Hastings.

– The ministry is also lining up 300 new units on sites owned by the City of Vancouver, including a pilot project of 100 controversial “small suites.” The rooms, which measure 18 square metres, contain a bed, washroom and kitchenette.

Critics say they’re an insult to the poor. Coleman’s answer: “The same people who don’t like that are happy to put someone in a single-room-occupancy hotel in a 10-by-10 room with no washroom.”

As for anti-poverty groups who talk of mass evictions prior to the 2010 Olympics, Coleman said they’re fear-mongering.

“I think those comments from those groups are the most disingenuous and dishonest comments that anybody makes in housing in B.C.,” he said. “I don’t know of anybody who would want to mass-evict a building for 14 days.”

Finally, to the anti-poverty advocates who want 3,200 more units of social housing by 2010, Coleman said he doesn’t want to re-invent social-housing “projects.”

“I would rather have those 1,500 people integrated into the housing market,” he said.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Tony Gioventu
Province

Dear Condo Smarts:

Your recent columns on buying and selling raised a serious question for our strata.

As president of our strata corporation, I am often requested to complete a Form B and Form F for sales transactions.

At the 11th hour, one realtor requested the documents with 24-hours’ notice.

We advised her there was a rush charge for the documents and were met with hostility. She refused to pay for any documentation.

The realtor accused us of being in contempt of the Act and that we would be responsible for the loss of the sale, so we provided the documents at no cost to avoid the conflict.

Why should strata corporations and property mangers have to drop everything at the last minute for a realtor or buyer who couldn’t have been bothered with giving us notice in time?

Shouldn’t we be able to charge for the service?

— Diane Roy, Kelowna

Dear Diane:

When a buyer, seller or agent requests sales-transaction documents, Form B or Form F, the strata corporation must provide them within one week.

The strata may charge a maximum of $15 for a Form F, $35 for a Form B and 25 cents per copy.

If they are requested in shorter notice, the strata corporation or manager charges whatever has been determined to cover the cost of the rush fee.

Rush fees are frequently set in the bylaws of the strata and must be set out in the agent’s agreement with the strata.

If the buyer/seller or agent is prepared to only pay the minimum fee, then the strata’s only obligation is to provide them in one week.

Rush fees, depending on the amount of information and notice period, range anywhere from $25-$500 and the strata corporation is not obliged to release them until the fees are paid.

Minutes, contracts and records of a strata are separate and the strata may only charge 25 cents per page per copy and only has to provide them in 14 days.

If buyers, sellers or their agents or conveyors make rush requests, they need to be prepared to pay the price and advise their clients of the additional costs because they failed to request the information in a timely manner.

Strata corporations and managers are not required to drop everything at the last minute without cost just because someone left it to the last minute.

The loss of a sale under these circumstances is not the fault of the strata.

Tony Gioventu is the executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association (CHOA). Contact CHOA at 604-584-2462 or toll-free 1-877-353-2462, go to www.choa.bc.ca, fax 604-515-9643, email [email protected]

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Sun

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Genworth Financial Canada also says pace of increases will slow

MICHAEL KANE
Sun

The average price of new housing, whether single detached or multi- family, will cross the $ 700,000 threshold next year in Greater Vancouver, and the following year for the rest of British Columbia, a study shows.

By 2011, new housing in the Vancouver region will be nudging $ 800,000 on average. Across B. C. it is expected to top $ 760,000.

However, that still spells relief from the red- hot pace of price increases over the past three years, according to Genworth Financial Canada, a mortgage insurance company.

Over the next four years Genworth anticipates the pace of price increases for new homes will slow to about 4. 3 per cent annually in Greater Vancouver and 4.1 per cent annually elsewhere in B. C.

Over the same period resale price increases will average 6.6 per cent in Greater Vancouver and 6.2 per cent in the rest of the province.

The relief for prospective buyers comes from comparing these increases to last year’s sizzling 20- per- cent surge in resale home prices in Greater Vancouver and 17.8 per cent elsewhere in B. C.

“ We’re seeing what looks like more manageable growth over the next half- decade in what is still a great housing market,” Genworth president Peter Vukanovich said in a release.

The Summer 2007 Metropolitan Housing Outlook forecasts slightly slower demand will reduce this year’s rate of price increases in B. C. to 5.9 per cent for new homes, to an average price of $ 648,150. Resale homes in B. C. are forecast to increase 9.2 per cent to an average $ 426,558.

In Greater Vancouver, new home prices are expected to rise by seven per cent this year to an average of $ 673,706, compared to a 6.9- per- cent average hike last year. Growth in resale Vancouver home prices is forecast at 11.7 per cent this year to $ 569,689.

Looking ahead, the study says new housing prices in Greater Vancouver will average $ 708,759 next year, climbing to $ 739,980 in 2009, $ 768,732 in 2010, and $ 795,608 in 2011.

Resale prices in Greater Vancouver are forecast to average $ 623,927 next year, $ 668,632 in 2009, $ 705,057 in 2010, and $ 733,932 in 2011.

Across British Columbia, new housing will average $ 678,822 next year, $ 707,898 in 2009, $ 735,198 in 2010, and $ 761,045 in 2011, while resale prices will average $ 463,379 next year, $ 494,254 in 2009, $ 519,999 in 2010, and $ 541,297 in 2011.

In Victoria, new home prices will be virtually flat this year, rising only 1.2 per cent to an average $ 470,717, the study says.

Victoria saw big new home price increases of 9.1 per cent in 2004 and 7.9 per cent in 2005, cooling to 3.8 per cent last year. Genworth says the market looks steady and strong through 2011 with price increases averaging four per cent annually.

Victoria’s resale market continues to grow, with prices forecast to increase 8.1 per cent this year to an average $ 461,119. That’s down from price jumps of 11.6 per cent last year, 17.2 per cent in 2005 and 16.2 per cent in 2004.

Genworth says Victoria resale home price increases will average 5.6 per cent annually through 2011.

The Metropolitan Housing Outlook, published Thursday, is conducted in partnership with the Conference Board of Canada and based on data from a number of sources including the Bank of Canada, the Canadian Real Estate Association and Statistics Canada.

Sun

The scene is set. Azure blue water and sky, luxury homes set on a natural bluff. Some residences set amid a 40-acre vineyard, others in a hidden glen. Such is The Rise, a unique and quite remarkable 735-acre master-planned resort community at the head of Lake Okanagan, just west of Vernon’s city centre.

But that’s only the beginning. Add to this an 18-hole Fred Couples Signature golf course, an on-site estate winery scheduled to produce 35,000 cases of organic wine each year, a boutique hotel, a village centre offering shops and services and you start to get the picture. A truly inspiring place that within the next eight years will accommodate more than 1,200 residences, from villa townhomes and condominiums to elegant single-family homes.

Given The Rise’s exceptional qualities, 40 of its first sites were purchased in an astonishing 90 minutes. Clearview, launched two years ago, has sold out and Sagecroft, last year’s release which includes both homesites and villas, is now approximately 70 per cent sold. Its third and most exclusive neighbourhood, Watermark, is offering 25 homesites which face further south in a fabulous perspective that overlooks the length of Okanagan Lake.

Bob Anderson, marketing director for The Rise, calls Watermark’s stunning sites on a natural bluff “the best lakeview lots we will ever have.” Attesting to this is the strong response, buyers coming not only from various parts of the Okanagan Valley but also from Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

Leona Snider is president and CEO of Okanagan Hills Development Corporation, the company behind the master-planned resort community. “It’s exciting,” she says, “that our vision of creating a world-class community that showcases the natural beauty of the Okanagan is now a reality. We called it The Rise because it literally makes you feel as if you are on the top of the world.”

Golf pro Fred Couples visited The Rise earlier this month to see for himself the par 72, 7,000-yard championship course that bears his name, perched more than 1,000 feet above the north arms of Okanagan Lake. He was visibly impressed. To date, the back nine holes have been seeded and some limited play – homeowners and founding members only — is expected later this summer, with a grand opening scheduled for May 2008.

For more information, contact The Rise at: 1-866-400-8488, or check the website: www.therise.ca.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Garage merges Victorian, Depression pair, promises lean and linear residency

Michael Sasges
Sun

The Garage new-home project is the “third pass” over three centuries by a builder and developer at the Gastown properties involved. The dates of the previous passes were 1889 and 1930 for the first and 1970 for the second, when the Garage properties were incorporated into the Gaolor’s Mews restoration project. The Salient “pass” in this century will add a four-storey modernist glass cube to the top of the properties, retain the existing office space on the second floor of the properties and reassert the retail presence at grade.

GARAGE

Project location: Gastown

Project size: 34 residences

Residence size: 586 sq. ft. — 1,771 sq. ft.

Prices: From the middle $300,000’s

Presentation centre: 12 Water St.

Hours: Noon — 5 p.m. daily

Telephone: 604-689-LOFT

Web: moderngarage.ca

Developer: The Salient Group

Architect: Acton Ostry

Interior designer: Evoke Interiors

Tentative occupancy: Early 2009

– – –

When the 34 Garage apartments are sold — and they are more likely to sell quickly than slowly — their developer will have sold about 185 new homes in old buildings in Vancouver’s Victory Square and Gastown neighbourhoods in four years.

The immediate purpose of our interview was the latest rehabilitation-and-conversion project by Salient, but Robert Fung took a short detour to share what he’s learned about inserting new homes into old buildings in the seven years since he started Salient.

Back then, he did not know if the new-home market would share his enthusiasm, not for Vancouver’s Victorian and Edwardian buildings, but for the neighbourhoods in which they are located.

The Paris Block, the last conversion Salient brought to market, consists of 29 apartments in a 100-year-old, six-storey brick building located on Hastings Street, a half block east of the Woodward’s project. It sold out in less than three hours last month.

Fung now knows he is not alone in his Victory Square and Gastown enthusiasms.

Then, he did not know how consuming of time and treasure conversion could be. “I thought it would be less expensive, that the process would be easier. I now know that whatever you think you know at the outset isn’t enough.”

The Garage and the Paris Block were preceded by (1) the Terminus, created from the Terminus and Grand hotels (2) the Bowman Block, on Beatty Street (3) and the Taylor Building, like the Garage and the Terminus projects, a Water Street address.

The Flack Block, kitty-corner to Victory Square at Hastings and Cambie, is a Salient property now under rehabilitation and conversion into commercial spaces.

The Garage homes will be inserted into two buildings: the Cordage Building — it housed an early rope-making operation, Canadian Western Cordage, built in 1889 — and the Nagel Brothers garage, built in the 1930s and one of the first parking garages and service stations in Vancouver.

Garage architect Acton Ostry, interior designer Evoke, and builder Haebler are also the team players of the Terminus, currently under construction.

Not to stretch an attractive metaphor in the Garage sales literature too, too far, but these three, along with Salient, are the shamans of a “tribe” organized not around kinship, but around cultural beliefs, this one residency to modern homes in old buildings.

The four companies involved in the Garage make the tribal expression possible. And that’s why it might be fitting — more or less — to think of them as shamans, as the men and women who facilitate the expressions of this particular tribe’s believes.

At the Garage, tribal expression took a while for its ready-for-market annunciation, Robert Fung reports, but he hopes it was worth the wait.

”What’s being done at the Garage went through a variety of different forms, of different ways of dealing with the project, and we came up with what we think is the best balance of new construction over existing heritage buildings, the best way to bring them to together, to create highly livable spaces that will be really practical, really unique and a really strong architectural statement in this area.

”I think it is probably one of the most challenging additions to, or rehabilitation of, any heritage building in the city of Vancouver. I believe the only thing that would come close would be the Wosk Centre for Dialogue, which SFU did, which is well beyond the boundaries of what anybody else has attempted.

”One of the things that we pride ourselves on is to come up with buildings that are unique, that will carry very good value for our buyers, for the long term, that they will become icons. This one, out of the gate, is already strongly iconic; it’s been received really well.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007