BC Assessment

BC Assessment is a crown corporation that sends out property assessments on an annual basis for property owners in BC. If you’re a home owner you would have recently received your assessment in the mail. I want to clear up some common misunderstandings about a home’s assessment value in relation to market value.

Assesment value does not equal market value!

BC Assessment adjusts the value of homes each year by looking at such factors as local sales data or improvements done with a permit. The value of the assessment is what they believe the home would have sold for in July the previous year.

BC Assessment does not visit each home in the province and give an individual appraisal of its saleability. There are factors which affect market value that BC Assessment does not take into consideration. These factors include: interior or exterior updates, proximity to amenities, traffic noise, indoor smells, decorating choices, extreme wear and tear, and availability of homes in the area.

Homes can sell far above or below their assessed value so it’s not a reliable indicator of what your home is worth. If you would like to know how much your home would sell for today, it is important you get a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) by a licensed REALTOR®

For more information on BC Assesment, please visit their website: http://www.bcassessment.bc.ca/

Gearing up for Real Estate Season

In the past couple weeks I’ve noticed a real change in the real estate energy in Victoria. People are buzzing about the approaching “real estate season” with the promise of many more listings this spring.

As of today, we have 2715 listings on the Victoria MLS system. At the end of January 2009 there were 3678 listings! So unless 963 new listings appear on the market in the next 6 days, we’re certainly low on inventory. What does this mean for buyers and sellers?

Right now we’re experiencing an interesting market. During 2009 consumers were quite nervous about moving because of the uncertain times ahead. At the same time, buyers were gearing up to purchase properties because interest rates are the lowest they’ve been in a very long time. So we’re left with a low inventory and a pent up demand of buyers. (Reminds me of a lesson from my first year micro economics class!) Low supply + high demand = increase in prices. We’re seeing an upward pressure on home prices (great for selling).

Buyers, on the other hand, are competing for the few listings which are available. Come spring, there will be many more choices and we should return to a balanced market. Interest rates are expected to stay low until the 4th quarter, so the cost of getting a mortgage will remain low.

The point I’m trying to make is, why wait until the spring to list your home? If you list, for example, in February and your home is priced right, you’re guaranteed to sell it. If you’re nervous about not finding the right type of property to move in to, you can set the completion date for April to give yourself lots of time to find the right place. Make sense?

Ahem, insert shameless self promotion

If you would like to know how much your home is worth, I do free market evaluations! Give me a call (250-384-7663) or send me an e-mail!

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Notice how low the amount of listing are in the above graph!



In this graph the grey bars represent the listings while the blue squares represent the sales. In December, the amount of new listings almost equals the amount of sales! To date, this January there are 925 new listings and only 267 sales.