Month: October 2015

3 Tips for selling your home or a condo in a “HOT” Vancouver market

Oleg Articles, For Sellers, Opinion, Tips

Miniature house with sold sign

Greater Vancouver market continues to be very active late into the fall of 2015. Metro Vancouver has a very strong sellers market, for the most part . That’s great news if you are planning to sell your house or a condo.

To find out if your neighbourhood and a property are in a sellers’ market you can contact me (or your real estate agent) directly or check the statistics here – the latest real estate market statistics for September 2015 from the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board. If your home is in fact in a “HOT” sellers’ market what is the best way of selling it and making sure that you don’t leave any money on the table?

  1. Price is everything.  One of the main services that your real estate agent provides is figuring out the exact value of your property. To figure out the value (price) of the property recent sales, available inventory and even tax assessments are all taken into account. Every agent has a different strategy to find the value of the property. I will share mine in another blog post. After the value of your property is established; take away 3-5% and that should be your listing price.  Listing your property 3-5% below market value is very important step. This will generate a lot of buyer interest.
  2. “Hold” your property for at least 5-7 days on the market. In a hot sellers’ market you will be receiving offers on the very first day your property is being listed. Accepting an offer on the first or second day of your property being listed is a mistake and will most likely cost you thousands of dollars. It is very important to hold off all offers for at least 5-7 days. This way your property will get appropriate market exposure.  Set a date for the offer presentation. More often than not your will have a bidding war. Buyers will be lining up to present their offers.
  3.  Do Friday showings and an open house on the weekend. There are circumstances where open houses are not an option. For example it’s against the strata bylaws. In these instances regular showings should be scheduled for the weekend.  Assuming you are able to host an open house you should definitely do it.  Friday showings will be mostly for the agents and for the buyers who can’t make it to the open houses on the weekend. The weekend open houses are what really sells the property. If you followed tip #1. You will have people lining up outside of your front door to view the property. More people = urgency = higher offers.

Ideally, you would want to follow this timeline in listing and selling your property for best results in a sellers’ market. Monday or Tuesday your property is live on MLS (with pictures and full description). Make sure that it’s priced 3-5% under the “market value”. No showings throughout the week until Friday. Friday, Saturday and Sunday showings and an open house. Create urgency and drive as many people to the open house as possible. Monday or Tuesday evening offers presentation. Have at least 3 offers and accept the most favorable one. Sounds easy right? The whole process is of course a little bit more complicated but this should give you a pretty good idea.

Make sure to consult with your real estate professional or call me directly 604-565-7052 before implementing any of the steps. Happy selling:)

Market statistics for September in Greater Vancouver

Oleg For Buyers, For Sellers, Statistics

rebgvcolour

Metro Vancouver home buyers compete for fewer home listings

Download real estate statistics here – REBGV-Stats-Package-for-Media-revised

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Metro Vancouver reached 3,345 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in September 2015. This represents a 14.5 per cent increase compared to the 2,922 sales recorded in September 2014, and a 0.5 per cent decrease compared to the 3,362 sales in August 2015.

Last month’s sales were 32.9 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month.

“Residential home sales have been trending at 25 to 30 per cent above the ten-year sales average for most of the year. The number of homes listed for sale hasn’t been keeping up with the demand,” Darcy McLeod, REBGV president said. “It’s this dynamic that’s placing upward pressure on home prices, particularly in the detached home market.”

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 4,846 in September. This represents a 7.9 per cent decline compared to the 5,259 new listings reported in September 2014.

The total number of properties listed for sale on the real estate board’s MLS® is 10,805, a 27 per cent decline compared to September 2014 and a 0.8 per cent decline compared to August 2015.

“At no point this year has the number of homes listed for sale exceeded 14,000, which is the first time this has occurred in the region since 2007,” McLeod said.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $722,300. This represents a 13.7 per cent increase compared to September 2014.

The sales-to-active-listings ratio in September was 31 per cent. Generally, analysts say that downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio declines below the 12 per cent mark, while home prices often experience upward pressure when it reaches 20 per cent, or higher, in a particular community for a sustained period of time.

Sales of detached properties in September 2015 reached 1,272, an increase of 0.2 per cent from the 1,270 detached sales recorded in September 2014, and a 24.3 per cent increase from the 1,023 units sold in September 2013. The benchmark price for a detached property in Metro Vancouver increased 18.9 per cent from September 2014 to $1,179,700.

Sales of apartment properties reached 1,529 in September 2015, an increase of 28.7 per cent compared to the 1,188 sales in September 2014, and an increase of 50.2 per cent compared to the 1,018 sales in September 2013. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased nine per cent from September 2014 to $415,100.

Attached property sales in September 2015 totalled 544, an increase of 17.2 per cent compared to the 464 sales in September 2014, and a 23.1 per cent increase from the 442 attached properties sold in September 2013. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 8.1 per cent between September 2014 and 2015 to $518,600.

– Source: http://www.rebgv.org/news-statistics/metro-vancouver-home-buyers-compete-fewer-home-listings#sthash.CSolRqiQ.dpuf

3 tips for buying real estate in a sellers’ market

Oleg For Buyers, Opinion, Tips

BuyingYourHomeinaSellersMarket

Vancouver has a very strong sellers’ market at the moment. Houses (pretty much in every Vancouver neighbouhood) and condos in Downtown and the Olympic Village area are selling within days. Other Lower Mainland cities such as: Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, some parts of Richmond, some parts of Surrey (Fraser Valley), North and West Vancouver have incredibly strong sellers’ markets as well. It isn’t uncommon for properties to have multiple offers and to sell over the asking price.

Some people argue that Vancouver is a real estate bubble. I am not going to argue that point. Although, my personal opinion is that we aren’t in a housing bubble. In fact I believe that the market has still quite a bit of room to come up before a small correction. More on that subject in another blog post.

So what defies a strong sellers’ market? Basically, if the sales ration (number of properties sold vs the number of properties listings) is over 20% we have a sellers’ market. According to the latest real estate statistics current sales ratio in Greater Vancouver is around 31%. The are a lot of buyers on the market “fighting” over a limited number of available properties.

It is certainly very frustrating to be a buyer in such market conditions. All of the power is in the hands of sellers. Here are my top 3 tips on deal with sellers’ market (as a buyer):

  1. Find a good real estate agent. It is a good idea to have a real estate agent representing your interests in any market condition.  Sellers’ market makes working with a realtor much more important. Real estate agents have access to listings 2-3 days before general public.  A good real estate agent will be able to tell you how much the property is worth (it’s very easy to overpay in a sellers’ market). Most importantly a good realtor will be able to guide you though each offer presentation. Be prepared to “lose” some multiple offer “bidding wars”.
  2. Get pre-approved. I usually advice my clients not to get pre-approved. However, searching for properties in a sellers’ market with a mortgage pre-approval is a good idea. First off, you will know your exact budget. Being pre-approved takes away a certain amount of stress. And lastly, you could always play the “no subjects offer” card. Although, you should be very careful with strategy. Make sure to talk to your agent about making offers without subjects. If you don’t have an agent feel free to call me 604 565 7052.
  3. Look at as many properties as possible. In the sellers’ market there isn’t a lot of inventory to preview. That makes looking at as many properties as possible even more important. Looking at many different houses or condos will get you familiar with the market. It will also make you more confident about making an offer on the property that you do like.

I hope you find these tips useful in your home search. Drink a cup of tea, take a deep breath and relax. Buying a property is a little stressful, sellers’ market adds a little to that stress. Be prepared for multiple offers. Be prepared to make offers on multiple properties. And be prepared to let some properties go. It is all part of the real estate buying process.

For more real estate related content follow me on social or check back on this blog. Please, share this with people that you think might find it useful. For real estate advice email me at [email protected] or call 604-565-7052.