TAMSIN McMAHON
Other

Zoocasa, the online discount real estate brokerage owned by Rogers Communications Inc., abruptly shut down, delivering another blow to consumers looking for low-cost options to buy and sell their homes.

The company sent notes to its real estate agent clients on Tuesday announcing that it was ending its agreements with real estate agents as of June 22, when it would shut down its website and would “cease to be registered and will be prohibited from trading in real estate as a brokerage.”

In an e-mailed statement, Rogers communications director Allison Fitton said the company shut down Zoocasa “as the business was no longer a fit with our [Rogers] overall plan for the company at large, and our core areas of focus.”

Those familiar with the operations said the company burned through millions of dollars but struggled to find enough customers.

The move by a multibillion-dollar telecommunications company into real estate sent shock waves through the industry, particularly once Zoocasa began offering buyers and sellers a 15-per-cent rebate on the commissions they paid to their agents, sparking ire among some in the industry and putting pressure on other brokerages to lower their fees to compete.

Zoocasa originally launched in 2008 with startup funding from Rogers and initially aimed to be a site where real estate agents would pay to advertise their services to buyers. Launched with much fanfare and a substantial budget, it expanded into a referral service that vetted real estate agents and let prospective buyers and sellers search for a real estate agent using detailed criteria, such as by language or type of property.

It modelled itself after U.S. websites such as Trulia or Zillow, which attract customers by offering data on home sales and detailed demographic information about neighbourhoods and price. But its use of Multiple Listings Service data ran afoul of real estate boards and in 2011 was sued by two real estate agents alleging copyright infringement.

Two years ago, the company applied for a licence to become its own brokerage, giving it access to home sales data directly from real estate boards. Among its most popular offerings was a daily newsletter with details of recent home sales. It shut down the newsletter in February, in the midst of a court battle between the Toronto Real Estate Board and the federal Competition Bureau over the ways in which brokers share sales data with the general public.

The original vision for Rogers was to be able to cross-sell its telecommunications services to homeowners, offering new buyers introductory discounted Internet and home-monitoring services as a way to expand its customer base. But insiders say that despite a hefty advertising and technology budget, the company never properly marketed its business and traffic to its website quickly began to fall off. One internal survey of visitors to the company’s website found fewer than half of customers knew Zoocasa was a referral service or that it offered a rebate on agents’ fees.

The demise of Zoocasa is another setback for those in the industry who have been pushing to expand the slate of low-fee online real estate services, many of which are trying to attract customers by providing them with detailed data about home sales in their neighbourhoods.

“This is another indication that the limitations that still exist in the industry relating to data prevent companies from operating meaningful lead-generating platforms,” said Lawrence Dale, a Toronto real estate lawyer and former group head of real estate sales at Zoocasa. “If you can’t give the consumers the information that they really want, they won’t bother coming to your website.”

© Copyright 2015 The Globe and Mail Inc.

Mike Howell
Van. Courier

With 8,000 families in Vancouver living in studio and one-bedroom apartments, city hall staff revealed Tuesday it is considering a city-wide rezoning policy to allow for the development of family housing near parks, schools and community centres.

Triggered by a shortage of three-bedroom units in a tight rental housing market and ownership of a home a distant dream for many, the city’s proposal looks to test the waters of neighbourhoods willing to allow new building forms such as townhouses and duplexes.

“This was a broad concept that was presented today for outlining the opportunities for affordable housing in other parts of the city,” said Brian Jackson, the city’s director of planning, in an interview with reporters following a presentation by housing staff to city council. “It’s the germination of the idea that has just started.”

Jackson emphasized “there are no grand plans to put this as an overlay across the city” or in specific neighbourhoods. He said the city has to first examine existing official community plans and zoning bylaws, along with reviewing what neighbourhoods previously indicated they could accommodate in terms of growth for rental and market housing.

City manager Penny Ballem noted the challenge of residents accepting change to their neighbourhoods, saying there was “mixed interest” from residents in discussions related to adopting new community plans in Grandview-Woodland, Marpole, the West End and Downtown Eastside. In Marpole, residents pushed back against large-scale rezoning plans for single-family home areas and Grandview-Woodland residents fought against proposed highrises and still haven’t finalized a community plan.

“We’ve got more work to do to understand — and help our public understand — what problems we’re trying to solve and what are the land economics of the possibilities,” said Ballem, noting the eventual shift of public acceptance of laneway houses and secondary suites. “The public are starting to realize that we do need more variety and there’s a journey we have to get them on, and the city has to understand and explain to them.”

Coun. Raymond Louie said he was concerned a new rezoning policy could lead to real estate speculation, as occurred with homeowners along Cambie and Granville agreeing to assemble their land as a big parcel to entice developers and make a bigger buck.

“I’m foreshadowing that we need to be very firm in how we go about this to ensure that we don’t have some individuals speculating because we know it’s rampant in our city,” he said, pointing to Mayor Gregor Robertson’s recent pitch to Premier Christy Clark for a speculation tax. “It will preclude family housing from ever occurring, if we don’t put that in place.”

Mukhtar Latif, the city’s housing director, said examining land prices will be part of the city’s ongoing work on developing policies to create family housing zones. Latif said measures will be put in place to “mitigate” land speculation but pointed out the city can’t prevent it.

Coun. Geoff Meggs said the city has already made some gains in allowing mixed housing in neighbourhoods. He pointed to the area between Heather and Oak streets, north of Douglas Park, which has a mix of townhouses, single-family homes and three-storey walk-ups. The area north of Broadway and west of Arbutus is another example of a mix of housing, he said.

“It’s important that when we talk about these zones that we indicate we’re moving forward from what I think has been a long established practice in certain neighbourhoods and we’ve had very successful outcomes,” Meggs said.

That shift in different types of housing is also evident in the city’s plans for the Cambie corridor, where planners want to include family-oriented housing such as townhouses, stacked townhouses and row housing as part of the development.

Other possible policy changes outlined Tuesday by the city’s housing staff included:

• Require social housing projects to have 50 per cent of units for families.
• Continue to allow co-housing projects.
• Research possibility of entry-level home ownership models to support families.
• Prioritize family housing on city property.
• Increase the current 25 per cent requirement for family housing in new developments to 35 per cent.

The policy proposals come two weeks after city council voted to continue with a controversial program that waives developers’ fees for construction of rental projects. Amendments to the Rental 100 program are aimed at encouraging the construction of three-bedroom units.

© 2015 Vancouver Courier

Don’t imagine visitors to your website care what you have to say. Here’s how to get your message across in an instant, by marketing expert Jeff Kee

Jeff Kee
Other

They’re Just Not That Into You… Yet

Unless it’s your grandmother looking at your website and beaming in pride, assume that your audience is not engaged and, at the same time, is too lazy at the same time to go through your lengthy content. Whether it be your bio, or the potentially least popular buyers/sellers guides, your first challenge is to grab their attention.

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah…

Wordy paragraphs will not be read. Many Realtors write from their own inside perspective. Unless the audience already has a specific interest in learning a new skill or absorbing information (news or tutorial websites are a good example), articles and paragraphs have very little impact.

First Impressions Matter

A purchasing decision made by a consumer is one of the most impulsive and immediate actions made. The first impression they feel as they land on your website can make or break the deal. If you lose them early on, that’s less exposure on your preciously designed brand. A long & drawn out paragraph is a perfect way to do that.

What’s The Core Message?

• What do you offer? You are a real estate agent. You sell homes. Perhaps you specialize in family homes, or luxury condos, for example.
• Where do you work? For example, West and North Vancouver.
• Who are you and Why should I care? You are an expert in your field and your neighbourhood.

How Do You Get The Message Across?

Denise Brown (Whistler) Sample:

Take Denise Brown, a Whistler Real Estate Agent, as an example. Her core messaging is “I deal with all types of homes in Whistler, BC. I’m a long term resident and Realtor with experience & local knowledge.”

VPG Realty Inc. Sample:

Another example is VPG Realty Inc., a Vancouver real estate brokerage with a client-centric approach, shunning the traditional celebritization of the agents with their headshots all over the place. Clients and listings are first in their approach.

Other Ways to Get the Message Across

• If you must have a longer paragraph for details or for SEO purposes, lead with a big, interesting heading at least.
• A humorous approach is always attention-grabbing – don’t be shy!
• Numbers, stats tend to exude authority.

• 98% Of My Listings Sold In 10 Days
• 8/10 Listing Sold Over Asking

Short and Sweet Is the Key

Always remember that people’s attention spans are increasingly short, while there’s more stimulus from all sorts of media around. Less is more when it comes to capturing the attention of people, and it can be done in a short period of time.

© 2015 Real Estate Weekly

Jordan Maxwell
Other

Ontario, Quebec and many parts of the Atlantic region continue to offset the effects of low oil prices in Canada as housing starts registered an increase from April to May.

“The small increase in the trend was primarily driven by higher multiple starts in Ontario, the Atlantic region, and Québec. Despite month-to-month variation in multiple starts, CMHC expects builders will continue to focus on managing inventory of completed but unsold units — inventory that is still above historical average,” Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist.

“(There will be a) slight moderation in housing starts in 2015 and 2016, reflecting a slowdown in housing market activity in oil-producing provinces that will partly be offset by increased activity in provinces that are seeing the positive impacts of low oil prices.”

The comments shed light on the complete picture being seen in Canada’s housing market as Central and Eastern provinces continue to enjoy the positive impacts of low interest rates and oil prices while Western provinces are being moderately affected in some markets.

In May, the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of urban starts increased in Atlantic Canada, Ontario and Québec, while it decreased in British Columbia and the Prairies. As a result, rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16,470 units.

The SAAR of starts in urban areas also increased by 10.8 per cent in May to 185,235 units. Multi-unit urban starts increased by 16.9 per cent to 126,367 units in May, while the single-detached urban starts segment essentially held steady at 58,868 units.

The standalone monthly SAAR was 201,705 units in May, up from 183,329 units in April. 

Copyright © 2015 Key Media Pty Ltd

 

Other

The rising cost of homes in our region is well-documented. Metro Vancouver home prices have increased nearly 80 per cent since 2005. Detached home prices have increased over 100 per cent. We worry about how our children can afford a home and how the most vulnerable among us can find basic shelter. These concerns have led to public debate about possible solutions. One suggestion is for government to introduce new taxes. Some believe government should tax non-Canadian investors who buy properties. Mayor Robertson believes there should be a “luxury housing” tax on the sale of the most expensive homes in Vancouver. We believe more taxes won’t help. Taxes bring unintended consequences. There’s little to no evidence that a luxury or foreign buyer tax would make homes more affordable. History tells us that taxes like this fail to have the desired impact and succeed in permanently adding to government coffers. In 1987, the provincial government implemented what was advertised as a “wealth tax”. It was supposed to apply to the sale of the most expensive five per cent of homes sold in BC. It’s been 28 years since that tax was introduced and the thresholds have never been adjusted for inflation.             Today, that tax is known as the Property Transfer Tax (PTT). It’s applied to 95 per cent of all residential property sales in the province. This tax makes housing less affordable. The home is where many people’s financial net worth resides. It’s one of the last major assets that residents can sell and not pay a tax on the revenue. A little mentioned fact is that we already have tax disincentives for foreign owners. If a foreign home owner wants to sell a property in Canada, they are unable to receive a capital gains exemption. The picture of affordability and home ownership is changing in Metro Vancouver. Our region’s affordability challenges are complicated and, unfortunately, there isn’t a single action that can solve them. Economists will tell you that offshore investment is a factor in today’s market. To what extent, no one has the data to know. What we do know is that local conditions have a much more significant impact. We live in one of the most beautiful, progressive and prosperous areas of the world. There are more people who want to live here than there are homes available. This causes prices to rise. The natural solution would be to create more supply, but we’re constrained by mountains to the north, an ocean to the west, and a border to the south. Despite the headlines, the majority of home sales in Metro Vancouver are not $1-million and beyond. Based on our Multiple Listing Service (MLS) statistics, nearly 70 per cent of all sales in the region last year were below $800,000. The price of condominiums today ranges between $200,000 and $600,000 depending on size and location. Townhomes range between $300,000 and $800,000 in the region. Detached homes in the City of Vancouver are at the high-end of our market. Recent activity has pushed homes on the Vancouver Westside above $2.5 million.             It’s a different story in neighbouring communities. The benchmark price of a detached home in Maple Ridge today is $499,100; in Ladner the benchmark price is $713,200; in Coquitlam the benchmark price is $845,400. Affordability challenges exist. But there are also more options and aspects to the story than is typically discussed in the media. Certainly more than the mayor is putting forward. Sincerely,  J. Darcy McLeod President of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver

© 2008-2014 Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver

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Cabin market “alive and well” in BC and across Canada, but some eastern BC areas affected by low energy prices, says annual recreational property report

Joannah Connolly
Other

The low loonie and historic low interest rates have contributed to a surge in recreational real estate activity this spring, after a slow start to the year, according to the 2015 Royal LePage Recreational Property Report released June 4.

Canadians who might have previously bought recreational property in the US are finding it too expensive with the low Canadian dollar, driving them to buy in within Canada instead, say the report.

On the flip side, the low loonie is attracting increased investment in recreational real estate from US and other overseas buyers.

Added to this are historic low mortgage interest rates that are driving buyers to act now if they want to get a vacation home.

These driving factors have largely offset the negative impact Canada’s depressed energy sector has had on the buying power of those in oil-dependent provinces – although there are notable effects of this in some border areas of eastern BC, where sales and prices are down, said the report.

However, Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage, insisted that the market was not largely adversely affected by low oil prices.

“In a roundabout way, the fall in oil prices is supporting the recreational property market this year,” said Soper. “Cheaper gasoline makes the prospect of a weekend commute to the lake a more affordable proposition. And cheap oil means a lower Canadian dollar, which has more people looking at Muskoka, Tremblant and the BC interior and fewer casting covetous glances at Florida and Arizona. We are even seeing money making its way north, particularly in British Columbia, Alberta and Atlantic Canada, as the strong US currency has increased American buying power.”

Royal LePage also identified key areas and typical prices for recreational real estate in each province.

Of the six areas in BC that were identified (South Cariboo, Cranbrook/Sparwood, Gulf Islands, Kelowna, Rathtrevor Beach and Vernon) the least expensive properties by far were found on the Gulf Islands. A typical waterfront lot on a BC Ferries-served island costs $100,000, said the report – 10 times less than the $1 million price tag a similar lakefront lot in Kelowna or Vernon.

© 2015 Real Estate Weekly

Jamie Henry
Other

Property speculators are in the spotlight in Vancouver where the city’s mayor Gregor Robertson wants action to curb the practice of flipping.

He also wants a new provincial tax on luxury homes and powers to tackle the issue of unoccupied homes.

Referring to the city’s “worst ever housing crisis,” Mayor Robertson wrote in a letter to B.C. premier Christy Clark that it is the province’s responsibility to curb property speculation from “the world’s wealthiest citizens.”

Copyright © 2015 Key Media Pty Ltd

Jamie Henry
Other

Sales of existing homes in the Ottawa market increased by 7.7 per cent in May compared to a year earlier.

Data from the Ottawa Real Estate Board show that there were 1,926 residential properties sold in the month, beating the month’s five-year average of 1,812.

Properties were on the market for an average of 72 days (down from 74 in April) and average sales prices were up by 2.6 per cent year-over-year to $411,791 for residential class (excluding condos, co-operatives, life leases and time shares) but down by 4.9 per cent for condos to $266,940.

David Oikle, president of OREB, said: “Properties are moving consistently and inventory remains plentiful, labelling the Ottawa market as a buyers’ market and allowing for average sale prices to remain very stable.” 

Copyright © 2015 Key Media Pty Ltd