Elspeth Manning

Interest is rising and awareness is rising in building or buying dome homes since many have survived unscathed through both hurricanes and tornados.   One realtor was so impressed he offered to buy a lady’s dome home and she said “I won’t sell it, the feeling of security is incredible”. 

Dome homes are very energy-efficient, due to its round, aerodynamic shape, and it is also this feature that gives it’s success rate during natural disasters.   They can be purchased in “Kits” and range in cost, the basic frame starts at around $5,000 and the full kit, including siding, ranges more toward $75,000.   

The Coffee Party for Hospice is a campaign that raises awareness, generates support and

raises fund for the Hospice House community.  The campaign runs from February 15th to

March 31, 2011 and has been a very successful and enjoyable fundraiser in the past. 

The proceeds form the "Coffee Party for Hospice" directly support their volunteer

programs who contribute more than 12,000 hours annually to quality end-of-life care at

Hospice House and surrounding community.  These volunteer programs are supported by the generosity of the community. 

The Hospice House has posted these three ways you can participate:

3 ways to participate in the Coffee Party for Hospice:

1. We invite you to host a party in support of our volunteer programs and to raise awareness of hospice services available in our community. With a donation of $10 per guest, this fundraiser has the potential of raising over $136,000. For more information as to how you can participate contact cherie@nohs.ca.

2. Purchase a regular coffee from the Sprouted Fig, 3407-30th Avenue (Across from Nature's Fare) and $1.62 will be donated to Hospice House

3. Make an on-line donation may be made on line in lieu of hosting or attending a coffee party.

Here is a link to find out more: Hospice House Coffee Party.

I am closely associated with Hospice House and can answer any questions you may have regarding home sale options.

We all know that when we want to sell our home through a Realtor, we sign a listing contract.  Only recently has it been more recently acknowledged that the buyer should also have buyers contract.  Realtors have traditionally dedicated their loyalty to the seller due to a sense of duty since they are the ones who are paying their fees.  Well that is not totally true either since it is the buyer’s money that pays the seller who then pays the Realtor.  Since then it takes the buyers money to make the sale, is seems only right that they have the same rights equivalent to the sellers. 

Here are some benefits to having a buyer’s exclusive buyer agency agreement:

-         When you work with a Realtor to purchase a home, you too want commitment and loyalty to their time and professional knowledge of the area you are interested in buying in.

-         You expect to receive new listings as they show up in your area with details like the title documents, strata documents.

-         Your Realtor should bring you sold comparables, other homes that have sold in the region so you can do a responsible comparison when deciding on your offer price.

-         They have the ability to negotiate a private sale on your behalf that may contain specific requests.

 The bottom line here is that you the buyer can get some protection when your time and interest for purchase are priorities to your life needs, and also indicates to the Realtor that you are serious about moving forward with a purchase.  Having your bargaining position protected by dealing with only one Realtor will give you his/her undivided attention in meeting your purchasing needs.   This also make a statement to you that the Realtor you have chosen has put in writing that they will be loyal and focused on finding you a home that meets your personal requirements.

With homes now ranging in the mid $200,000 to $400,000 dollar range in the North Okanagan areas, within B.C. Canada, this technique will be a great asset to anyone beginning the home shopping process.   Please contact me and I will walk you through the benefits of Loyalty Realtor Attention.

 If you ever though you would like to live in a mansion well you can now purchase the Iconic Casa Mia in Southwest Marine Drive overlooking the Fraser River, in Vancouver.  It is listed for a sweet $10.5 Million, has 20, 782 square feet, was built in 1932 for George Reifel.  He made his fame in the liquor industry as a rum runner during Prohibition.

John Mackie toured this mansion in 2007, and documented these details: "The house has an entrance hall with a dramatic vaulted ceiling that curves from one end of the house to the other end, and in the middle is a grand staircase, that swoops around a two-storey high rotunda.  At the top is a “coffered Elizabethan ceiling”, which include small portraits of people.  The rotunda is lit by an amazing five-foot-tall chandelier that blends the art deco and arts and crafts styles.  Casa Mia has its own ballroom in the basement, complete with a sprung dance floor, men's and women's washrooms and a stage.  The Casa Mia ballroom was done in the art deco style, and is virtually unchanged.  The walls are golden, and there are subtle deco bas relief sculptures on the walls.  The bathrooms are simply dazzling - the walls in the men's washroom are painted black, and are decorated with a golden Indian chief shooting a golden arrow at a golden stag.  Many of the rooms have wood paneled walls, are a very large.  There are several fireplaces in the home, including one that is intricately carved and bears the name MacLean, after a doctor who owned the house in the late 1960's.  The real showpiece is up in the third floor tower.  Originally a storage space, when Jane Reifel was born in 1938 her dad brought some artists up from Walt Disney's studios in California to remake it into "Dopey's Room," a playroom featuring murals of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to grab a show piece home, if for whatever reason this is out of your price range, I'm sure I can find you a dream home right here in the North Okanagan in the B.C. Interior of Canada. 

In the annual RBC Homeownership Study undertaken by the Royal Bank of Canada, almost three-quarters of Canadians, or 73 percent, believe that they or their families are well- positioned in the event of tumbling home prices.  The survey indicated that Canadians in general were very confident they have the means necessary to weather a drop in house prices and that they are being responsible in paying down their mortgages. 

In the North Okanagan home sales have stabalized and investment is a reliable option.  Many analysts believe that the household debt is out of control with their debt ratio.

Canadians strongly believe that real estate investment in Canada is the best choice when making large investments, and Marcia Moffat, RBC Head of Home Equity Financing, found these statistics comforting when the home purchase may very well be the largest investment one makes in their lifetime.   She believes that the stability in the economy keeping employment on a reliable track with rising incomes has created this confidence.   

Fewer Canadian said it was better to buy now than wait, as rising home prices were the No. 1 concern surrounding a home purchase, and secondly rising mortgages rates.

Well yes, anyone can reduce their mortgage by thousands of dollars, and this is not a

secret.  You can reduce your credit cards altogether as well, you can quit buying 52" TV's

and the list goes on and on.  The key word to doing any of the above is discipline with your spending habits, especially in the North Okanagan of B.C. Canada.  But with all the increases in the cost of living, sometimes it is the little things that bring a bit of pleasure or reward for all the hard work we do. With gas prices on the verge of soaring through the roof, water priced up 30%, grocery prices rising monthly, and even clothing costs especially cotton items, just to name a few, it begins to catch up on your "extra money". 

Yes you can take a lunch instead of buy a lunch, bike to work instead of drive to work,

busing to work will save you on parking fees and auto maintenance, all these ways can reduce your expendable income in small increments.

So it all boils down to "Do I want to enjoy some pleasures while I am paying of my 25 year mortgage, or do I simply want to be debt free"!  The stress of keeping up with a home and repairs, and upgrades seems enough to deal with, take away the few new things that makes you feel it's all worth while, and well life becomes just work and no pleasure.

Real Estate sales are showing signs of stability and remain steady for the coming 2011 market.  Better economic and employment conditions are expected to improve during the first quarter of 2011.  Howard Neufeld, with the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB), indicates that sales are trending upwards as long as the revised lending criteria doesn’t tighten the cost and availability of credit.

The OMREB Board are now documenting per regions where home buyers are coming from in the North Okanagan.  In the past 5 months (57%) have come from Alberta;  (14 %) from the Lower Mainland/Vancouver Island areas; (13% from Saskatchewan/Manitoba; (2 %) from Eastern Canada/Maritimes) and (4%) from outside of Canada.  Brenda Moshansky,  president of the OMREB believes understanding these kinds of statistics can help reveal not only market dynamics but also identify which factors actually drive local demand. 

When someone upgrades to a new or larger home, it leaves room for their smaller older home to be available for a new home buyers.  Inevitably the economy environment and local employment opportunities directly influence decisions for Real Estate purchases.