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.   

Often in an Estate sale there is Real Estate property that needs to be sold.  This is  always a difficult time for family members, and having the added responsibility of the

sale of property and or of a home can be very taxing on everyone.   Often times the family’s employs a particular company to handle the Estate event for them, but it is nice to separate the Real Estate dealings and have the option to work with a local experienced

Real Estate Agent who has had the opportunity to help sell many estate properties in the

North Okanagan within B.C. Canada.

If you are not aware, I am very connected to the senior population in the North Okanagan and participate actively in many senior organizations and events.  Many times a senior chooses to relocate into a seniors housing community, and is then left with the job of selling their home.  If you are left with the responsibility to deal with the sale of property for a parent or close friend, I would be very pleased to sit down with you over a cup of coffee and discuss the possibilities with you. 

Here is a great entrepreneurial spirit, an Armstrong woman Audrey Webster is seeking a zoning and official community plan bylaw amendment for a large housing development on her property.   She is investigating building 72 apartment units and a four-family dwelling on her property in the 2900 block of Wood Avenue.  The property is less than an acre, and the present zoning is an R4 residential apartment and multi-family, CR country residential and R1 residential low density single family. 

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.

Europeans are traveling to the Okanagan Valley for their vacations, over and over again, and

many are planning to move here through the skilled workers program or by coming in as

entrepreneurs.  As part of the Okanagan Valley Economic Development Society, Kevin Poole,

attended a number of trade shows in the Netherlands, Belgium and Britain.  The goal of

course is to increase European investment in the Okanagan Valley, that brings with it new

businesses, and support to the Real Estate housing market.   

The  Bank of Montreal reported that Canada's housing market could tumble.  We are reaching

the limits of sustainability and the market needs moderation.   Housing prices are rising

very quickly and will soon enter the red zone.  Economist Sal Guatieri has indicated that to

balance this off, to control pricing nationwide, increasing interest rates may be the only

resource to take in correcting this senario.   Home prices rose a whopping 20% in the Metro 

Vancouver and Burnaby area, and 10% in the Norh Okanagan making prices an all-time high.  Since income earned is rising

14% slower than the cost of houses, purchasing becomes the most challenging it has ever

been. The price-to-income ratio in British Columbia is not on the same playing field,

causing mortgage payments for the typical owner consumer to be 35 percent of thier

dispposable household income.  Introducing higher interest rates tends to stabilize home

prices and keep them from rising too fast, so expect to see some of that this Spring.  Too

possibilites are prevelent here, one rates remain too low for too long, it could create a

housing bubble, and if rates rise too quickly it could cause prices to crash.  The Capital

Economics group has been warning the financial institutions that it would only take a pin-

prick of rising interest rates to set of the collapse.  They also state that the key

indicators around housing were at historic highs, and could fall 25 - 35 percent in the next

three years, if housing and mortgage rates continue to rise. As long as the Banking

Institutions don't raise interest rates too quickly most private sector analysis say  we

should see a soft landing rather than a crash.

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.

Residential Housing Sales are targeted to rise by five percent in 2011, stabilizing the  Real Estate market substantially.   According to the latest economic analysis housing prices are expected to rise by five percent in 2011.  Mortgage rates are maintaining a uniform trend keeping new purchases realistic for first time buyers.   The biggest hurtle for new home buyers is of course raising the down payment for a home.  With Okanagan homes selling anywhere between $250,000 and $350,000  for first time purchasers, that makes for a challenge.  

If you are considering purchasing a home in the Armstrong, Enderby, Vernon, Lumby or Levington areas of the Okanagan within the B.C., Canada, I can help you identify a comfortable price range for you to consider.