Condo Smarts
Vancouver Province February 14th, 2010

DearCondoSmarts: Ourstratahad a flood before the holidays where an overloaded washing machine went manic and soaked three units in our building. The council was contacted; it made arrangements for restoration and we had fans in hallways and holes cut in the walls for dryers. The owners were impressed that it happened so quickly.

As for the owner with the manic washing machine, she just received a bill for the deductible amount of $5,000. She was about to pay it, but noticed the bill was not from the insurance company, so called the insurer to see the insurance invoice. Council refused to file the claim and we'venowfoundoutthecouncilhired themselves to do the restoration work and bill it back to the owner.

There was no adjuster involved, and no report on the scope of the work done, or if even all the restoration was complete. One owner is still left with a wet, stained ceiling and no one coming to her aid. Is it a conflict of interest when council members pay themselves?

Dear Liz: Conflict of interest is a common bone of contention in strata corporations when the council executes decisions that result in personal benefits without the consent of the strata owners or exempting the benefited strata council member. The Strata Property Act says in part: "A council member who has a direct or indirect interest in a contract or transaction with the strata or decision that is a subject being addressed by the strata ... must 1) disclose fully and promptly to the council the nature and extent of the interest 2) abstain from voting on the transaction or matter, and 3) leave thecouncilmeetingwiththecontract, transaction or matter is discussed and while the remaining council votes on the contract, transaction or matter."

Here are the basics. Strata council must act in the best interest of the strata corporation; they cannot be compensatedfortheirdutiesascouncil members without the approval of the corporation, either in the budget, in the bylaws or by approved 3/4 vote at a general meeting; and a council member cannot vote on the awarding of a contract, transaction, or matter where he or she has some sort of direct or indirect personal or beneficial gain. Strata council can determine who it contracts with, and that could include a council member, but is that person qualified? Would it be a prudent decision to contract with a council member who may not be qualified, covered by WCB, insured or even competent to perform the work? Were the repairs and restoration completed properly?

In addition, the owner affected by the alleged deductible claim likely also now has a problem with her own insurance company's willingness to cover the deductible claim, as it is not a deductible, but an invoice from the strata corporation of a related repair. Council members who try to cut corners on the cost of claims or whoattempttocompensateeachother for any of the strata council duties without the strata approval are just opening the door for conflicts.

Tony Gioventu is executive-director of the Condominium Home Owners' Association. Send questions to him at tony@choa.bc.ca

If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-506-8481 or email me at jeff@jeffreystark.net

An unusual and different view of the city and it's Olympic venues.

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Don't miss this.

Jeff

  If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-506-8481 or email me at jeff@jeffreystark.net

We may not have a lot of snow around and we already have early spring blooms. we are nevertheless excited about being host to the Winter Olympic games.

There is plenty of snow in whistler and it should be a great event.

I am sure, that we are very sorry to hear of the unfortunate accident in which Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia Republic died in a luge training accident.
We pray for him and his family.

Vancouver everchanging face welcomes worls visitors to these, OUR;

VANCOUVER 2010 OLYMPIC GAMES

Enjoy and come back soon!

If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-506-8481 or email me at jeff@jeffreystark.net

Here we are. Another year has gone by and we have seen the most drastic ups and downs in local real estate in some time.

Is it over? Will it level off for some time? Will the rates go up?

Questions, questions and more questions. No one has the righ answer, but everyone is ready to give you an opinion. I love the expwerst. Doom and gloom wass predicted by the so called experts for the Canadian real estate market in Octobwr and November, by some US real estae market gurus.

Well it didn't come to pass. Why? Simple. You can't paint the whole worlds with the same brush. Juast because the US mortgage lenders and greedy financial instituions drove the US housing market into a recession, at a cost of millions of dollars and much pain and suffering to the general public, they had no idea or knowledge of how the Canadian real estate market and it's lending policies work.

But they were THE gurus. And a lot of people believed them.

I didn't, and in my February 27th, 2009 post, I suggested to get ready to buy. The conditions are ideal, get approved and  cock your gun. By the end of March, the market is moving and the buyers who were ready got tremendous deals.

So if I was to predict the market for next year, here is what I would say.

If you are thinking of buying get approved and find the best deal you can with a help of a good knowlegeable buyers agent. They are free and can save you money. Buy now. Make sure your choice is sound and has a future upside to it. Are there places like that now? Absolutely!

I believe with the rates where they are now, up and at least to the end of June, this is a great period to buy. Increased rates will bring additional costs andd higher mortgage payments. And I also think that the prices can go up another 3-5% in 2010. For 2011, the guru's have already said that we should expect higbher prices.

So much for now.

I wish everyone the very best in health and hapiness!

So, go and BUY a HOUSE!

If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-506-8481or email me at

http://www.jeffreystark.net