New Westminster strata windup and sale finds solution in a bumpy market

Joanne Lee-Young
The Vancouver Sun

Just as strata owners at Kinnaird Place decided to sell their building because they couldn’t afford to take on major repairs, the market cooled, developers disappeared, the building’s land value slumped and a burst water main flooded units.

Former unit owner Mario Mameli stands outside Kinnaird Place at 65 First St. in New Westminster. Photo by Mike Bell /PNG

Kinnaird Place, an older residential building near New Westminster‘s downtown with 61 units recently sold for $22.7 million. The years-long saga leading to its strata winding up and sale of its building should be noted by anyone in units with major deficiencies to fix amidst rising costs and a volatile real estate market.

“That was a roller-coaster,” said Crystal Hunt, who bought her unit in 2015. “Things fluctuated so much, up and down, up and down.”

About a third of the owners were, like Hunt, first-time homebuyers with young families, getting into a rising market. Another third were owners who had been there for decades, dating back to when the building was built in 1984, with many on low and fixed incomes. The last group were renters, with the bulk paying grand-fathered, more affordable rates.

“There weren’t many who wanted to sell,” said Hunt, citing the building’s prime location in between the Pattullo and Alex Fraser bridges, with views of Mount Baker and overlooking the Fraser River, near downtown New Westminster, a park and transit.

But around 2016, it became apparent that the building needed some significant repairs and upgrades in the millions of dollars. The calculations were starting in the steep ballpark of a special levy of $80,000 for each unit, said Hunt.

“Is it reasonable to ask a 75-year-old woman (in this building) to cough up a hundred grand for a special levy?” said Gianmario Mameli, another owner, who bought his unit in 2016.

“Often, it’s a developer coming to the building,” said Hunt. “Ours was the other way around. We were trying to get ahead of things.”

“The strata council realized, ‘We can’t get the money we need to do the minimal work. How are we going to get more money?’” said Matt Nugent, a real estate broker with Macdonald Commercial.

So the strata engaged Nugent and three other brokers at Macdonald in August 2017 to find a buyer.

But, in March 2018, the B.C. government announced a new speculation and vacancy tax and an increase in its foreign buyers tax just as Ottawa’s new stress test was making it harder to get mortgages. All this threw a quick chill on the market.

“In the first quarter of 2018, (presale condo) sales were amazing,” said Nugent. “And then, in the second quarter, sales just dropped completely.”

Two developers with contracts signed to buy the building abruptly dropped out of their deals.

Then, in March 2019, as developers evaporated and the building’s land value was slumping, a nearby city water main burst.

“I had a bunch of people knock on my door: ‘You know, water is pouring in,” said Mameli. “I go downstairs and there’s a foot of water. I’m in my house coat, trying to help people get their stuff out.”

Residents in about 14 units had to move out for months because of the damage. A few tried to list their units for sale on their own, “and get out faster,” said Mameli, but a group of owners also appealed to city council and staff for help, explaining their bind.

In the end, the city presented an agreement that facilitated Merchant House Capital, a Victoria-based asset management group, being interested in buying the property through the process of the strata ending. It made provisions for renters to continue with Merchant, and for owners to stay if they wish to rent for a period of time after a sale.

In return, Merchant got some nuanced concessions from the city for its future development plans, exempting it from having to exclusively build rental in perpetuity on the prime site, according to CEO David Fullbrook.

“The strata was going to be caught in this limbo for several years,” said New Westminster mayor Jonathan Cote. “The city saw an opportunity to keep the affordable rental housing going as opposed to have the building be vacant or torn down until it can be re-developed.”

The only thing left to get through was seeing the process through the pandemic lockdown, starting in March 2020. At first, the strata couldn’t meet in person to vote on dissolving. It took until September for the Kinnaird Place strata to become the first-ever strata to wind up online. More than the needed 80 per cent of owners agreed and, eventually, all came on board. At the end of March, the sale completed. [email protected]

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© 2021 Vancouver Sun

Langley 5,040-square-foot industrial building sells for $2.3 million

Frontline Real Estate Services Inc.
Western Investor

The freestanding building, in the Aldergrove area, is zoned light-industrial and includes renovated office space

Frontline Real Estate Services Inc., Surrey, B.C., for Western Investor

Property type: Industrial building

Location: 3063 275A Street, Langley, B.C.

Property size: 5,040 square feet

Land size: 8,304 square feet

Zoning: MI-A (light industrial)

Sale price: $2.3 million

Date of sale: June 16, 2021

Brokerage: Frontline Real Estate Services Inc., Surrey, B.C.

Brokers: Todd Bohn and Brendan Hobbs

 

© 2021 Western Investor

Less than half-acre in Mission, B.C. fetches ask price of $762,500

London Pacific Property Agents Inc.
Western Investor

Potential residential development site near downtown Mission sold for more than double its assessed value.

London Pacific Property Agents Inc., Vancouver, for Western Investor

Property type: Land

Location: 32875-32891 View Avenue, Mission, B.C.

Land size: 20,310 square feet

Land size in acres: 0.46 acres

Zoning: MD465 (Multi-unit duplex)

BC Assessment Value (2021): $338,900

List price: $762,500

Sale price: $762,500

Date of sale: July 14, 2021

Brokerage: London Pacific Property Agents Inc., Vancouver.

Broker: Ari Gelmon

 

© 2021 Western Investor

Canada first-time buyers hit by new dilemma

Ephraim Vecina
other

The Canadian housing market’s bull run is proving increasingly costly for would-be buyers

In the current environment, many first-time buyers are wrestling with a troubling dilemma: go for mortgages that either permit them to borrow the funds needed for their down payment, or loans that provide cash back after the closing.

Sherry Corbitt, a broker based in Whitby, Toronto, said that her business is seeing more clients go for these unconventional loans, which bear a remarkable similarity to those seen in the United States just before the Great Financial Crisis of 2008.

However, Corbitt takes heart in the fundamental robustness of the Canadian housing market, which has so far defied all doomsaying predictions in its roughly 25-year run of buoyant conditions – including a 21% across-the-board price gain since the pandemic took hold, Bloomberg Economics reported.

“We’re never going to see what happened in the States,” Corbitt told Bloomberg. “It’s just not possible here.”

At the same time, the broker admitted that “a lot of first-time buyers are not ready,” with much of her transaction volume in the past year coming from former renters whose landlords have decided to sell their properties.

“‘Well if I have to be evicted, maybe now’s the time to buy,’” Corbitt quotes her clients as saying.

Read more: How did Canadians fare on mortgage payments during the pandemic?

The Bank of Canada is taking a more cautious tone, saying that consumers are taking on increasingly unsustainable debt loads.

“The initial equity stake – or down payment – is the most economically significant factor associated with future financial stress. Generally, a high loan-to-value ratio (a smaller equity share) increases the likelihood of falling behind on loan payments,” the central bank said in its latest Financial System Review.

“Previously introduced mortgage stress tests and higher interest rates had slowed the accumulation of household debt and improved the quality of mortgage borrowing leading into 2019,” the BoC added. “But since mid-2020 this trend has reversed. Some households have taken on significantly more mortgage debt, which is reflected in an increase in the share of new mortgages with high loan-to-income ratios.”

These trends are shaping up to be a potentially fatal risk to the market’s bull run.

“Key developments in the housing market – exceptionally strong demand relative to supply, rapidly rising prices, expectations becoming extrapolative – all point to growing imbalances compared with a year ago,” the bank’s report warned. “Increasing house prices relative to income contribute to rising leverage for homebuyers. Also, a misalignment of house prices in comparison to fundamentals can lead to a correction in prices in the future.”  

Copyright © 1996-2021 Key Media, Inc.

How will immigration impact the mortgage market as Canada opens up?

Fergal McAlinden
other

An industry president expects the effect to be steady rather than spectacular

In an otherwise flourishing mortgage market, the absence of one key demographic has been keenly noticed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: new immigrants, traditionally a significant contributor to mortgage demand in Canada.

The imposition of global travel restrictions, flight bans and border closures as the pandemic spread in late 2019 and early last year had a predictably stark impact on immigration levels. The number of new immigrants arriving into the country in 2020 plummeted to just 184,000 – some way off the government’s target of 341,000, and the lowest total since 1998.

In a clear recognition of the crucial role played by immigration in the Canadian economy, the federal government has announced plans to welcome over a million new immigrants to the country over the next three years: 401,000 this year, followed by 411,000 in 2022 and 421,000 in 2023.

Christine Xu (pictured top), president and owner of the MoneyBroker Canada brokerage, told Canadian Mortgage Professional that despite the strength of the mortgage market over the past year and a quarter, the adverse effect caused by lower levels of immigration was also apparent.

Read next: Navigating the Canadian mortgage market’s current challenges

“We can see the decrease of new immigrants, even students – it [has] a huge impact because the downtown condo market, for instance, is not that active,” she said. “Rental prices are decreasing, as there’s just not too many people working or studying downtown.”

With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau having indicated his intention to reopen the Canadian border to fully-vaccinated tourists and foreign travellers from the beginning of September (August 09 for US tourists and residents), hopes have risen that some degree of normality could be set to return in Canada’s immigration levels in the coming months.

Last month, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) economist Robert Hogue told The Georgia Straight that immigration could even serve as a “safety net” in the coming years against the possibility of a housing bubble developing in Canada.

Still, while new citizens and permanent residents hold sizeable purchasing power in Canada’s housing and mortgage markets, Xu noted that it could take some time for many to decide that it’s safe to travel – particularly from China, where reported new COVID-19 cases have fallen substantially in recent months.

“Hopefully, in September, the borders will be more open than now, and [the current situation] will change,” Xu said. “I think it will not be as hot as the beginning of the year.

“The new immigrant is a huge buying force in the country, especially in larger cities like Toronto and Vancouver, but I’m dealing with the Chinese immigrant [community] and lots of them are not in a hurry to come back. Right now, China is the safest place in the world regarding the COVID situation.”

Read next: What will happen when Canada reopens?

One sometimes overlooked area where immigration could still have a big impact for the rest of the year is the commercial sphere. While non-resident speculation taxes in Ontario and British Columbia have proven controversial, and are sometimes viewed as an impediment to building and supply, similar levies don’t apply to commercial property, making that an attractive prospect for foreign investors.

“Lots of investors are thinking about the commercial market,” Xu said. “For investors, there’s no foreign buyer’s tax if they’re on the commercial side, so it’s getting very active.”

A pandemic-era development that Xu believes is likely to continue as Canada’s reopening gathers pace is the shift away from the city that’s seen many homebuyers gravitate towards areas outside the country’s urban centres, particularly Toronto and Vancouver.

“Lots of people would never have [considered] remote working, but they now know that it’s a possibility,” she said. “There are also people who just realize they don’t need to be downtown anymore; they’re outside the GTA, it’s cheaper and there’s a bigger space – so why not? I think the trend will continue.”

Copyright © 1996-2021 Key Media, Inc.

Toronto-based real estate startup Properly raises $44 million with plans to expand across country

Stefanie Marotta
other

The funding round for Properly — which allows buyers to purchase a new home before listing their current property on the market — was led by U.S.-based Bain Capital

“Despite the fact that home values have doubled in Canada and that the percentage of commission has stayed the same, the actual experience to buy and own a home hasn’t evolved at all,” Properly co-founder and CEO Anshul Ruparell said. Photo by Cole Burston/Bloomberg

Real estate technology startup Properly Inc. has raised $44 million to expand across Canada as it bids to disrupt an industry “largely focused on serving itself.”

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The funding round for Toronto-based company — which allows buyers to purchase a new home before listing their current property on the market — was led by California-based Bain Capital Ventures. Boosted by surging demand in Toronto’s heated housing market during the pandemic, the round values Properly at $220 million.

Intact Ventures, the venture arm of Toronto-based insurance provider Intact Insurance Company Ltd. and real estate technology provider FCT participated in the round, as well as individual investors including Wealthsimple co-founder and chief executive officer Mike Katchen, Softbank Vision Fund partner Lydia Jett, Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff and Opendoor co-founder and CEO Eric Wu.

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The Toronto housing market, in which Properly operates, saw a surge of activity during the pandemic as homeowners sought more space and raced to lock in low interest rates. The boom translated to more business for the company as buyers facing an intensely competitive market sought out new resources in an industry that has been reluctant to change even as prices have been on a decade-long tear, Properly co-founder and CEO Anshul Ruparell said in an interview.

“There’s been very little focus on changing the way that things have been done,” Ruparell said. “Despite the fact that home values have doubled in Canada and that the percentage of commission has stayed the same, the actual experience to buy and own a home hasn’t evolved at all.”

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As with most real estate brokers, Properly charges five per cent commission on the sale price of the property. In addition, it provides sellers with a purchase agreement based on the equity in their home. The homeowners then provide their mortgage broker with the agreement to secure financing to purchase their new home before selling the existing property.

Properly has 90 days to sell the home before it are required to buy it themselves. If it sells the home for a higher price than the sale agreement, it refunds the customer the difference.

The Canadian market is long overdue for new ways of purchasing real estate, Bain partner Merritt Hummer told the Financial Post.

“There’s an even greater need for a Properly in Canada than there is in the U.S.,” Hummer said. “When we think about things like home prices growing really quickly and getting out of reach for consumers, or how difficult and onerous it is to secure a mortgage … those are some of the pain points that we’ve thought about a lot in the U.S., but they’re felt by Canadians to an even greater extent.”

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Ruparell grew up with real estate aficionados. When his grandfather immigrated to Canada in the 70s, he got his real estate license. And his father, brother and cousin all work in the industry. But Ruparell launched his career in finance, working his way through investment banking and venture capital before building and selling a few of his own startups in the United States.

After watching startups offer new ways for people to shop for and purchase homes in the U.S., Ruparell set his sights on the real estate market in Canada.

He co-founded Properly in 2018 with chief technology officer Craig Dunk, who co-created BlackBerry Messenger at BlackBerry Limited (then known as Research in Motion), and chief operating officer Sheldon McCormick, who launched Uber Technologies Inc.’s UberX platform in Canada.

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Since then, Properly’s team has grown from three employees to 60, with plans to triple its staff in the next year. It also employs 30 real estate agents.

While Ruparell would not disclose the number of customers that use Properly, he said that its customer base has grown almost 100 per cent per quarter in the past year. He plans to use the funding to expand across Canada, starting with Vancouver and other cities in Ontario in the next 12 months, and invest in new technology that will provide customers with tools to help them navigate the home buying process from beginning to end.

The expansion comes as concerns mount that the real estate market is in a bubble and could burst — something that could leave Properly on the hook for properties it has already purchased. Hummer said the company will need to be diligent in assessing the properties it agrees to purchase.

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“The thing that a company like Properly has to get right is that they have to understand how to value homes,” Hummer said. “There’s only a risk if they overpay for a home and then can’t sell it, but they’re going to have to put controls in place to ensure that they’re paying fair prices for homes and that they’ll be able to sell it to the market at a comparable price at which they buy it.”

As the startup looks to grab market share from the traditional real estate brokerages that dominate the industry, Ruparell says that the greatest barrier Properly faces is convincing potential customers to trust its services and technology while they make one of the most expensive purchases of their lives.

“Buying a home is one of the most significant milestones that somebody goes through in their life, and in almost all cases it’s one of the biggest financial commitments that they’re making, so the stakes are high and the cost of getting things wrong are high,” he said. “It’s about ensuring that our customers recognize that they’re not leaving anything on the table when choosing to work with Properly over a traditional agent.”

© 2021 Financial Post

July home sales drop for fifth straight month

WI Staff
Western Investor

Early Vancouver data shows sales down 17 per cent from June but low inventory may keep prices firm, analysts say

“Tepid” price drop expected if current trends persist. | Glacier Media files

Early Vancouver data shows sales down 17 per cent from June but low inventory may keep prices firm, analysts say

Early July data shows that housing sales are down across Greater Vancouver for the fifth straight month, but a corresponding drop in new listings may keep price corrections in check.

“Where have all the sellers gone?,” asked Kevin Skipworth, a partner in Dexter and Associates Realty of Vancouver, in noting that active listings had dropped 27 per cent as of mid-July from the same point a month earlier.

As of July 15, 2,491 new listings had been added to Multiple Listing Service of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, as compared to 3,405 as of June 15 and 3,758  in mid-May.

Total housing sales as of mid-July tallied 1,692 transactions, down 17 per cent from the 2,042 properties at the same time in June and 2,182 as of mid-May.

The lack of listings could signal a return to the “ultra-competitive market” seen earlier this year, Skipworth noted, with multiple buyers presenting bids to secure a home.

If the current trend continues, “we could see total active listings drop below 10,000 to start September for only the second time in the last 25 years,” Skipworth said.

Other analysts say an expected bounce back in new listings and resistance to skyrocketing prices will keep house prices in check.

Noting that Greater Vancouver detached-house prices had hit an all-time high average of $1.9 million in June, Dane Eitel of Eitel Insights does not expect much of a price correction in the face of slower sales.

Eitel anticipates a “tepid 8 per cent to 10 per cent correction” of prices in the bellwether detached house market.

 “That implies values to peak around the $2 million barrier and then backtrack to $1.83 million, the previous market peak,” he said, which was seen in May 2021.

Eitel said that the trend over several years has been for active listing to reach their highest annual level in August and September, suggesting the greater supply would also dampen expectations of a further price hike in the autumn.

Both Skipworth and Steve Saretsky a Vancouver realtor who publishes the online Saretsky Report on the housing market, agreed that townhouses are now the most sought-after listing on the market.

“The townhouse market in Greater Vancouver is officially the strongest segment,” Starksy said. “With many people getting priced out of single -family homes, townhouses have become the next best thing. Inventory is incredibly tight at just 1.9 months of supply available. The typical townhouse has increased by $140,200 over the past 12 months.”

© 2021 Western Investor

Darlene Hyde and Dan Morrison: Governments in Canada need to work together to solve current housing crisis

Darlene Hyde
The Vancouver Sun

Opinion: The federal government needs to prioritize this issue and plan for a rapidly growing Canada. A hindrance is the tendency of all three levels of government to act independently. These divided perspectives must be resolved.

Housing prices in B.C. have skyrocketed over the past year, as demand surged into undersupplied markets — a pattern observed across Canada. Photo by Mark Blinch /REUTERS

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that access to housing in this province and country is not where it needs to be. While solutions to our current housing supply crisis will undoubtedly come from widespread collaboration, the fix needs to start with government. A key question British Columbians as well as many others across the country are asking is if our three levels of government are doing enough when it comes to stabilizing the national housing market.

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The simple answer is no.

COVID-19 vaccine deployment across the country is a recent example of how governmental collaboration can effectively and powerfully respond to a crisis. We need that same type of collaborative approach to a strategy on housing supply that will make a true impact in municipalities across the nation.

Following months of a largely closed off Canada due to COVID-19, immigration to B.C. fell to its lowest point since 1989 and foreign investment into B.C. residential real estate declined to below one per cent of market volume. Yet, home prices continue to spike upwards, and demand remains high — especially here in B.C.

A major reason for the surge in demand is historically low interest rates. Adding to this, the COVID-19 remote-work structure has turned homes into a catch-all of offices, schools, gyms and living spaces; the desire and ability to move from the city to the suburbs has increased; and what better time to expand living space than when you’re at home 95 per cent of the time? Paired with this increased demand, housing inventory has been historically low, with many British Columbians hesitant to list their homes due in part to pandemic-related concerns. For example, the number of listings in the interior and on Vancouver Island are 50 to 60 per cent lower than needed for a balanced market in the long-term.

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As a result, housing prices in B.C. have skyrocketed over the past year, as demand surged into undersupplied markets; a pattern observed across Canada. While the most recent provincial sales statistics show market conditions are beginning to cool in many regions across B.C., this will not address the underlying cause of high prices, nor is it reason enough for governments to delay significant meaningful action on supply. If action isn’t taken, the next time the stars align for a hot market, we will find ourselves in a similar situation unless we act now.

In these market conditions, there is a tendency for action to take the shape of quick fixes. But simple solutions for complex problems don’t work. Adding more and varied housing options to meet the demand will make a major difference, and it will require significant long-term collaboration between all levels of government and the private sector.

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The B.C. government has allocated $2 billion in development financing through their HousingHub program to finance the construction of thousands of new homes for middle-income families. And to its credit, the federal government budgeted $2.5 billion, and reallocated an additional $1.3 billion to speed up the construction, repair, or support of 35,000 affordable housing units across the country. This will benefit young people and low-income Canadians, but it’s not nearly aggressive enough to address the overall shortage in housing supply.

There simply are not enough housing options available. We need a significant and sustained boost in housing stock to accommodate current and future demand. This has become a very visible crisis in B.C. Unless effective mechanisms are put in place to create the needed supply, affordability will continue to deteriorate.

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The federal government needs to prioritize this issue and provide a renewed national vision and housing strategy to adequately plan for a rapidly growing Canada. A hindrance to this ambition is the tendency of all three levels of government to act independently. Each has its own priorities and political agenda. These divided perspectives must be resolved, with collective recognition of the severity of the housing supply issue and joint action to rectify it.

Moving forward, the federal government needs to work closely with its provincial counterparts on national housing goals that break down to precise provincial goals and housing targets. The provinces in turn need to provide better resources, training, and guidance to municipalities around the development of their community plans. If all levels of government work with the same goal in mind and develop common best practices, major delays in the development approval process at the municipal level — which are currently a significant contributor to the current supply crisis — can be avoided.

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Strategically developed community plans that adapt national housing targets and plan out a realistic future to accommodate population growth and demographic changes are a needed standard across the province. With a concise strategy and clear outcomes that benefits their constituents, it should be easy for municipalities to get on board. But this relies on governments working together. Otherwise, we have a federal government dreaming big, without the message being accepted at the community-planning level.

An additional step to achieving a cohesive national housing strategy is to tie federal infrastructure investments to housing targets. This would help incentivize increased housing supply at the municipal level.

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High demand for housing isn’t likely to go away any time soon, with the Canadian government continuing to set ambitious yearly immigration targets for future years. This requires a parallel national housing supply strategy.

This is the time for the federal government to lead and better align all three levels of government into a coordinated housing approach that significantly expands housing supply targets of all types, where and when it’s needed. The final report by the Canada-British Columbia Expert Panel on the Future of Housing Supply and Affordability has just been released. In it, one of the five key calls to action is “Improving coordination among and within all orders of government.” Clearly this is a key aspect to tackling this complex national policy issue. Canada is a unique landscape. Across the country each province and municipality feels distinct. Yet in the end, we’re all Canadian. It’s time for our political leaders to work together to increase housing supply. And if they do, we will all benefit.

Darlene Hyde is CEO and Dan Morrison is chair of the B.C. Real Estate Association.

 

Letters to the editor should be sent to [email protected]. The editorial pages editor is Hardip Johal, who can be reached at [email protected].

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Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email [email protected].

© 2021 Vancouver Sun

Vancouver real estate analytics company launches its version of Zillow’s Zestimate

Pallavi Rao
other

 Offerland wants to create transparency in the housing market by empowering customers through data and insights

American real estate startup Zillow turned many heads on this side of the border when its Zestimate tool—which allows users to see the predicted value of homes—launched in Canada in 2018. 

Vancouver-based company Offerland is hoping for a similar result with its Zestimate-like tool, OfferValue. The company has partnered with two real estate listing portals (Fisherly and BCCondosAndHomes) to get OfferValue in front of more eyeballs.

Offerland is a data company, according to CEO and cofounder Hamidreza Etebarian. “We’re not trying to be Zillow,” says Etebarian, “We sell our data to companies like Zillow.”

Using their machine algorithmic-based projection models, users are given a market value of their homes, judge whether certain real estate is worth investing in, and learn how much rent they can ask for, from an “unbiased third-party,” says Etebarian.

Etebarian is also quick to point out that Offerland is not a listing portal, even if its marquee product, OfferValue, is essentially a Canadian version of Zestimate. 

OfferValue is a projection of how much a property is worth on the market based off a variety of data sources, including some “unconventional” ones like connectivity to public transport, traffic congestion, and distance from the beach.

The projected value is then tested against real sales that happen in the city, and the algorithm learns from errors if it makes them. All of this, Etebarian says, makes for a successful estimate each time.

“Our accuracy is at 96-plus percent,” he says, “which is six to seven percent more than our competitors.”

 

 

Credit: Offerland.ca

Users on Fisherly and BCCondosAndHomes can use the OfferValue tool on the platform for free, and Offerland receives an undisclosed percentage of the revenue generated on these platforms.

But real estate buyers and sellers aren’t their only customers. For the last two years, they’ve been selling their analysis to financial institutions.

“Banks use the home evaluation tool in their assessment and lending practices,” he says, “and we’re now working with three of the biggest financial institutions in Canada.” (Though Etebarian isn’t naming names.)

Aside from OfferValue, the company has also launched OfferRent, which gives renters an estimated quote as well as a real estate investment tool called OfferVest, which allows users to identify properties that would make good investments according to Offerland’s projections. 

In the projection, all costs, and expenses (including taxes, mortgages, utilities) are accounted for, and the estimate calculates whether a property will deliver a positive cash flow in the form of rent from the first month on the market.

“All property appreciates in five or ten years,” says Etebarian, “but we want people to make money today, not five years from now.”

Interested parties can sign up to OfferVest for free today and receive information about investment deals in an email or text. Launched in April, Etebarian says the product has gained significant traction.

“We have 120 subscribers already,” Etebarian says of the platform’s growth, “and five of them bought property in the last month.”

Business is good across the board for OfferValue, says Etebarian, especially since the company currently only operates in B.C. and Ontario. B.C.’s real estate market in particular hit record sales in the month of March this year, before tapering off but Etebarian is unperturbed by what this slight cool down means for his company.

“Real estate is like food,” he says, “people always need a place to live.”

Copyright © Canada Wide Media Limited

Travelling to or within Canada? The rules have changed. Here’s what you need to know

Sophia Harris
CBC Radio

 Travelling abroad? Coming home might be more complicated than you think. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Passport? Check. Plane ticket? Check. What about your vaccination documents and COVID-19 test results? Thanks to the pandemic, entering Canada now requires a lengthy checklist.

“You definitely have to be prepared and it’s not going to be the usual experience,” said Senka Dukovich of Toronto, who flew home from Croatia earlier this month. 

Even domestic travellers may face challenges when entering certain provinces. 

Here’s what you need to know about travelling to or within Canada, with the help of some Canadians who’ve already hit the road. 

Travelling to Canada

Anyone currently allowed to enter Canada can skip the 14-day quarantine if they meet the country’s requirements for being fully vaccinated. That means two doses of either the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson product, at least 14 days before arriving.

Most foreigners are still barred from entering Canada but, as of Aug. 9, fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents living in that country will be able to visit, and they won’t have to quarantine.

The federal government said it plans to allow fully vaccinated travellers from all other countries to enter Canada and skip quarantine on Sept. 7.

However, all fully vaccinated travellers allowed to enter still face other requirements. 

Dukovich, her husband Ted Read, and their five-year-old granddaughter Ksenija Callaghan, travelled to Croatia in June to visit family.

They had a two-day stopover in Paris before their final flight back to Canada on July 7, which meant the trio had to take COVID-19 tests during their stopover.  

 

Senka Dukovich, her husband Ted Read and granddaughter Ksenija Callaghan, travelled to home to Toronto on July 7 following a trip to Croatia. (Submitted by Senka Dukovich)

 

Travellers to Canada — even those who are fully vaccinated — must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test taken within 72 hours of arrival. Air passengers need to take the test within 72 hours of the scheduled departure time of their final direct flight to Canada.

Dukovich was pleased to discover that — at the time — France provided free COVID-19 tests.

“We got three COVID tests [for free] that would have cost at least $400,” she said. “No hassles, no waits, no appointment.”

However, Canadians departing France now won’t be so lucky; on July 7, the country stopped providing free tests to tourists outside the EU.

Travellers to Canada must submit their travel information to the federal government using the ArriveCAN app or by registering online within 72 hours before their arrival. 

“You had to upload documentation for both your first and second dose,” said Dukovich who submitted the family’s application from a hotel room in Paris. “We just had our phone, so you can imagine, trying to do this on the little phone.”

On arrival

When travellers finish inputting their information, they’re emailed a receipt to show a Canadian border officer upon arrival, along with their COVID-19 test results and any vaccination documents.

On July 9, Shawn Plancke, a Canadian who lives in Barcelona, flew to Halifax with his wife, Samantha McGuinness, and three children. He advises travellers to pack hard copies of their documents before departing for Canada. 

“I know this is going against society these days, but print it out,” he said. “I would not have wanted to be flipping through my phone [for documents].”

Currently, both land and air travellers will be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival in Canada, or be given a home test kit. The federal government provides the tests for free and travellers can pre-register online to save time. 

However, starting Aug. 9., fully vaccinated travellers will not need a post-arrival test unless they have been randomly selected to take one.

Dukovich and her family landed in Montreal. She said they received home test kits instead of an on-site test, because they had a connecting flight to Toronto.

“On the way out, they just handed us kits like they were giving you a lunch box,” said Dukovich. 

At home, she had to go online and be guided by a nurse via video conference who provided instructions including “counting down the seconds you have to have the swab in your nose,” said Dukovich. 

That same day, Purolator picked up the tests. 

Travelling with children 

Fully vaccinated travellers don’t have to quarantine while waiting for their test results. But Dukovich thought that she and her husband were required to, because their five-year-old granddaughter — who’s staying with them — isn’t vaccinated.

Children under 12 are currently not allowed to get vaccinated in Canada. 

It was only on day three of their quarantine that Dukovich learned from a quarantine officer that only her granddaughter had to quarantine. 

“That was a relief,” said Dukovich. “My husband and I are free to go out.”

Unvaccinated travellers — or those who got a vaccine currently not recognized by the Canadian government — must quarantine for 14 days. Those entering by air must also spend up to three of those days in a quarantine hotel — a rule that will end on Aug. 9. 

However, unvaccinated children under 18 can head home with their vaccinated parents. Currently, they must quarantine — even though their parents can leave the house. But that rule will also change on Aug. 9, when the government will start allowing unvaccinated children under 12 to skip quarantine — as long as they avoid group settings such as school, camps and daycares.

Travelling within Canada

The rules can also be complex for domestic travellers. 

Air passengers travelling within Canada don’t have to take a pre-arrival COVID-19 test.

However, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and the territories still require some inter-provincial travellers to quarantine.

The rules can vary depending on your vaccination status and/or where you’re travelling from. For example, most of the Atlantic provinces now allow travellers from within Atlantic Canada to enter, regardless of their vaccination status. 

The rest of Canada can skip quarantine in the Atlantic provinces if fully vaccinated or, in the case of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, have at least one dose. 

Fully vaccinated travellers can also skip quarantine in Manitoba and the territories. 

Manitoba, Yukon and the Atlantic provinces also exempt from quarantine unvaccinated children under 12 — if all their vaccinated guardians meet the exemption requirement. In Nova Scotia, the rule applies to unvaccinated children ages 18 and younger. 

However, because traveller Plancke and his family flew from Barcelona to Halifax, his three children must follow the current federal rules and quarantine for 14 days — despite that fact that both parents are fully vaccinated.  

“It’s quite confusing when you have strict stricter rules, federally, and then you have other rules provincially,” said Plancke. 

The provinces and territories listed here may have further requirements for tourists, so travellers to those regions should check the rules online before packing their bags.

For example, the Atlantic provinces require certain visitors to pre-register, and travellers to Nunavut must first get authorization. Also, the Northwest Territories still bars most leisure travellers.  

 

Fully vaccinated Shawn Plancke and his wife, Samantha McGuinness, were exempt from quarantine after entering Canada. But their three children were required to quarantine for 14 days. (Submitted by Shawn Plancke)

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