I’m going to cover several topics in this blog. The first one is an interesting survey from the Toronto Real estate board on exactly how many sales the average Toronto realtor does each year. I think the numbers might surprise you. I also offer my opinion on these mega Real Estate expos that are being held in Toronto and Vancouver and how the only ones who are making money with these are the promoters.  

Every day on the MLS I see sellers who are easily leaving $10’s of thousands of $$$$ on the table in their final selling price because of several glaring mistakes. The main one is selling their home with a tenancy agreement in place. If the sellers were properly educated and informed on what they were doing and how it’s limiting the potential buyers for their home they would never list like this. There are many ways to get the tenant to leave legally and on their terms. Which would allow you to list and sell the home vacant and for far more money.

The numbers are finally out on the Vancouver Empty Homes Tax and they are underwhelming, in my opinion. As expected, the city of Vancouver has brought in far less money than they originally promised. Turns out there were far fewer empty homes that what they thought. Even worse, after you deduct the cost of implementing and maintaining the program the total amount collected so far is only 7 million dollars. Has it boosted rental supply...NO. Has it brought down condo prices.. NOT YET. Interest rate hikes and more mortgage tightening will be the cause of that. In other words this new empty homes tax is exactly what I said it was 8 months ago when it was first introduced. A Giant Tax Grab!

The Vancouver condo market continues to remain in a strong Sellers Market with prices still rising in the under $900K price category. Most 1 bedroom units are selling over asking with multiple offers. The higher you move up the price ladder the more it balances out but in most cases still favours the seller. Condo inventory remains near record lows and that’s what’s keeping the prices rising slowly or holding firm in the face of slower sales. Remember sales to active listings is the only stat that matters and we are running at well over 60% on that metric (anything over 20% is considered a sellers market. The starter detached market remains balanced on the under 1.5 million starter homes with prices off about 5 to 10% from their peak ...

Time for another one of my motivational messages on the importance of a long term holding period when investing in Real Estate and stocks. Buying and holding quality assets like Vancouver Real Estate and high quality dividend paying equities is guaranteed to produce incredible returns. Focusing on the passive income your portfolio produces as opposed to the day to day price will help you stay the course.

The numbers don’t lie. In the past several months we have had a number of reports that have pegged the number of Foreign buyers in Vancouver at around 5 to 6% . The Vancouver Real Estate board added a citizenship declaration to all purchase and sale contracts over a year ago so these numbers are being tracked closely. The vast majority of the Chinese buyers in Vancouver either have their full Canadian citizenship or their PRS. Now that the NDP has increased the FBT to 20 % I’m going to predict that the next set of numbers will be under 3%.

We're now into our most active time of the year for Real Estate sales in Vancouver. If you're thinking about selling your home this Spring or Summer, I want to remind you about how critical it is to select your Realtor wisely. Do your homework, interview at least 2 for the job and above all else make sure you hire an experienced listing and marketing pro. Especially in this current market where condos are selling over asking price and receiving multiple offers. <p>I also want to tell sellers for about the 5th time in the past 4 years to stop the madness! DO NOT sell your condo with your tenant still living in the unit. There are many ways we can legally and easily have your tenancy terminated before you sell and net you a much higher ...

I’m hearing that the NDP is looking to add new measures to cool the Vancouver Real Estate market. One of the possible next steps might be to change the Strata Act to make it mandatory that all Stratas allow some units to be rented.

In this blog I explain why you always need an 8 to 10 year holding period especially when you're buying in the late stages of an unprecedented bull market in prices.

In this blog I will talk about when it makes sense to renovate a home and how much to spend on the reno.