When writing an offer on a property in BC we use what is called a Contract of Purchase and Sale. Your offer will contain 5 important elements: The price, the deposit amount, (5% of the purchase amount is standard), subject conditions, dates and finally inclusions and exclusions. In other words what is included in the sale price, for example all the appliances, and what is not, like an antique chandelier.   If you want to voice your opinion or get in touch with Owen, please email owen@owenbigland.com and visit http://www.owenbigland.com for all his Inside Edge Real Estate video blogs.

I can't stress how important it is for buyers to not get too caught up in what appears to be a high maintenance fee on a condo or townhouse. I sometimes see buyers exclude a property from their search just because they think the monthly maintenance fees seem high without asking some questions on what that monthly Maint is covering.One of the first things you need to ask if you're buying a Strata property in Richmond is if the home is on metered water. This alone can add over $70 a month to your fees. Other important questions to ask: Is it hot water heat? If it is, then heat and hot water would also be included in your monthly fee. Finally how much money is going into the contingency fund each month and what's the current balance o ...

Before you ever put an offer on a property you're going to want your Realtor to obtain a copy of the title search for that property from the land titles office. The title search contains some vital information that you will need to know such as:Who the registered owner or owners of the property are.  What type of encumbrances are charged against the title. There are 2 types: Financial - The most common being a bank where the owner has a mortgage. Financial charges are fairly easy to remove from title. The second type is a  physical encumbrance, these usually can never be removed from title. They are known as Inter Alia or they run with the land. It's critical that your Realtor do some investigating on these physical charges against ...

Had a tweet from a financial newspaper last week asking me for my single best piece of advice for a person on their road to achieving financial security. I could give about a hundred that I've learned over the years but if i could only give one it would be to start early. Save and buy your principal residence as soon as you can. Preferably in your 20's or early 30's. Time and compounding are on your side when you get into the market at an early age. The reverse is true when you wait until your mid 40's or later. The same can be said for your RRSP and TFSA accounts. Get started on them as soon as you can. You don't need to be maxing them out just get some money in there and working for you early.

One of the biggest advantages in buying Real Estate over other types of investments is the use of leverage. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who has amassed any sizeable net worth without the use of leverage. Buying your principal residence and taking out a mortgage to buy it is one of the purest and safest forms of leverage available.

Buyers and sellers need to be aware that insurance risk on the purchase of a property transfers from the seller to the new buyer at 12 midnight on the completion date. Not the dates of possession, as some people seem to think. So it's important that you have your insurance start on that date. As an extra precaution I always recommend to my selling clients that they keep their insurance one extra day til the end of possession date just to play it safe.

Market activity in Vancouver and Richmond is heating up. Here's a quick video that will outline the main expenses when it comes to buying or selling Real Estate in the province of British Columbia. On the selling side your largest expense will usually be your Realtor selling commissions. On the buying side it will be the Property transfer tax.

Some good tax news for a change. The provincial government has announced an increase to the Property Transfer Tax exemption for first time buyers. You can now buy a home up to $475,000 and not have to pay the PTT. The previous threshold was $425,000. There is a partial exemption for homes priced up to $500,000.

One of the biggest concerns that many sellers have is what do I do first? Do I sell my home then buy? Or do i buy first then sell? How does a subject to sale clause work? And what is a time clause? In a perfect world you could simply buy your new home then put your existing home on the market and sell it. Unfortunately, unless you have a ton of cash in the bank and own your existing house free and clear this can be difficult. In-term financing or bridge loans are usually only granted once you have an accepted offer on your home and subjects have been removed. In this video I will explain the various options that are available and the pros and cons to accepting a subject to sale offer. For most people the best way to go is to list y ...

This is part 2 of my series on selecting a Realtor and the questions you need to ask. Last week I talked about passive marketing and how important it is that your Realtor has a passive marketing program in place. Selling Real Estate is all about exposure and if you want maximum exposure you should expect your Realtor to deliver both an active and passive marketing program. A few more things you need to ask are: What has this Realtor recently sold in the area that is comparable to your property? What was the list price and final selling price and how many days did it take to sell? How does this sale price compare to other recent sales?  Is it higher or lower? This can reveal quite a bit about the Realtor's marketing ability and thei ...