Real Estate Blog & Resources

Did you know that Vancouver is 1 of the fastest growing tech hubs in North America along with Montreal & Toronto?  In fact, the number of tech workers has grown more than 65% in the last 5 years.  That's the good news.

The bad news is with that kind of growth, where does everyone live?  Finding housing in Vancouver, whether to buy or rent is a big challenge.  We want to attract good paying jobs that will in turn help our economy but without housing, we often lose out.

For the past few years I've worked with physicians who want to move here for great jobs but were unable to find any affordable housing & had to turn down job opportunities.

Vancouver needs to address this with at least increasing the number & faster permitting of new rental buildings to accomodate our growth.

I know it's a low bar these days but I'm always looking for some encouraging real estate news.  This week's is mortgage appraisals are coming in to support sale prices.

One could assume that in a time of market change & conservative financial institutions, that might not be the case.

Why are appraisal prices holding?  Most Sellers & realtors have gotten realistic if they are serious Sellers.  That affects list prices & sale prices which for the most part reflect current assessed values or just below.  Yes, some homes are selling over assessed value but there is always a reason, like major improvements or more than 1 interested Buyer.

With a change in the market you may hear some terms you haven't heard before.  There was no reason to use them in a Sellers' Market.  Today, there's a better chance that Buyers can find what they want to buy but....they don't know if they can sell their home.  

What to do???  "Subject to sale of Buyer's home" is a term that we're starting to see.  There are a couple of clauses that would be used in the contract to protect both Buyer & Seller.  It's not open ended & it's specific.  Clauses would include information like the address of the home, list price, length of time allowed for a sale, a shotgun clause for the Seller should another offer come in, etc.  Your experienced realtor can explain in more detail.  I expect to see this used more often as both Buyers & Sellers try to navigate a changing market.