Every time the market takes a dip and sales slow down a few  things happen in our Realtor community.

Discount brokers go out of business. the number of fringe Realtors leave the business, and sellers start paying bonuses.

Bonuses? For selling your property? We already get paid for the services we provide the sellers, who pay whatever negotiated commissions they agree on. The way it works, if you are selling the property, the selling commission is split between the seller's and the buyer's agents.

But in this kind of market, I am sure you have noticed certain inducements. Developers usually throw in either cash or other inducem,ents to help sell their properties, and home sellers seem to follow suit, I assume on their Realtors suggestion or just by thinking that that extra few thousand dollars may induce the buyers agent to bring in a buyer.

For your information, home sellers inducements are not public. They are usually directed at other agents to help bring in the buyers.
Why is that necessary? If your property is properly priced there should be no need for any cash inducements to Realtors, of all people, to bring in Buyers. That is their job, after all.
As a Buyer, you deserve a Realtor service that presents you with all the best deals that match what you are looking for, and not just the ones someone thinks you should look at and buy.
If you knew that there was a substantial bonus to the realtor on a home he is trying to sell you, would that make a difference? Of course it would. You may want to know why is a bonus being paid to a Realtor when you are the one buying the home.
In all fairness, when the offer is written, all inducements and bonuses that are being paid, either to the Buyer or a Realtor, must be disclosed. But only at that time.

Woukld you be excited about the listing if your agent said, before taking you to the property, You know Mr. Buyer, I would like to show you this property because I can make an extra $10,000 for selling you this home.
You don't think it happens?

Recently I received a flayer with 2 properties, (same agent), each one offering the selling Realtor a $50,000 bonus.
Both properties were listyed at the same price of $1,750,000. The bonus equals almost 3% of the selling price.

One of the properties was on the market for over 70 days and than terminated. This property was overpriced and it looks like the seller just went fishing to see what will happen. What about the agent that took the listing? Did he explain the market conditions to the seller? Was a proper CMA conducted? Buyers are not stupid and their agents know where the market is. Waste of time for both the agent and the seller.

The other property, sold within a month. The property sold for almost $300,000 under list price, in line with other properties selling in the area, so the bonus offer didn't do anything other than, if the seller paid it, just extra money out of the sellers pocket. The property sold because it was a unique property that would appeal to certain buyer who is willing to pay and buy now. Again, it only proves that if the property is properly priced, it will sell in any market.

Moral of the story? You don't need to pay abonus to sell your property. The buyers agent is alrady getting paid by the seller anyway. Best solution, price the property to the market. Good deals always sell.

  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 me; Jeff Stark, 604-506-8481 or email; jeff@jeffreystark.net

With all the talk of collapsing house prices and the housing market going down the tube, I decided to have a look at what is happening to house prices in the three most interesting markets.
Obviously, Vancouver prices are the highest. But you know, other than the few months in the middle of this year, Vancouver prices have been pretty steady. There are always ups and downs and adjustments, according to supply and demand in real estate as in any other business.

But, given a choice, where would you like to live?

Cold Calgary or steamy Toronto?? 

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 at 604-506-8481 or email jeff@jeffreystark.net

If you are shopping for a condo, than you may be interested in what is avaiable.

Here is a quick review of the listings for a typical 2 bedroom 2 bathroom condo, in some of the Lower Mainland communities

Burnaby total of 445 listings

Low five:

High five:

Vancouver West - Downtown, total of 226  listings

Low five:

Top five:

Richmond toal of 458 listings

Low five:

Top five:

 In spite of all the bad news around, life still goes on. There are sellers that need to sell and buyers that need to buy.
As we can see from the above, there are good deals around and great buying opportunities.
In this kind of the market, the best deals can be made if you are moving up.

If you are thinkung of moving up, let us show you how you can save a lot of money now.
Call me anytime. Jeff Stark at 604-506-8481 

The following article from the Vancouver Sun, Friday Edition, December 5th, 2008

In recent months, economists have had the unenviable task of trying to calculate the direction the housing market is likely to take, factoring in things like unemployment rates, population and immigration figures, economic growth, mortgage rates, and that most nebulous of criteria, consumer confidence.

They agree that the decrease in housing sales and prices bears little relation to the economic indicators in British Columbia. What has changed is public perception of our financial security, triggered by the troubled global financial markets.

As realtors, people are asking us to help make sense of the housing market.

Sellers are asking if the market value of their home is decreasing. Buyers want to know if they should wait for further price reductions. Homeowners not in the market to buy or sell want to understand the impact on their equity, which may affect decisions like plans for renovations.

Investors are asking about short-term impact -- is it a good time to buy, renovate, and re-sell for a profit? And long-term impact -- is quality real estate now available at lower prices? First-time buyers want to know how much they need for a down payment, whether they can afford the monthly mortgage payment, and if they can get financing in these uncertain times. There are no easy answers. Around the Lower Mainland's kitchen tables, realtors are helping people assess their individual situations.

read more....

A review of the recent sales and listings in the Lower Mainland areas, shows a slow down in the time it takes to sell an average condo property.
The time to seel depends on the number of current listings, versus the number of sales, averaged monthly for the last 6 months.

This absorption rate does not translate directly into what the prices are doing, but obviously if there are large number of listings, and sellers that must sell, the prices will be affected.

Buyers can take a little longer to find their ideal home, and for anyone looking to move up into a larger home, this is the ideal time to do it.

Check out the changes from our previous report on September 23rd.

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.

Jeff Stark, 604-506-8481