BYOB

When there’s this many houses on the market in Victoria, it drives me crazy how much crap you have to sift through to get to the gems. What’s worse is that every price range is the same. You think the jump from $450 to $650 would be an improvement, but it isn’t. I just wish when searching our MLS we had a little tick box for Junk [ ] or Gem [ ] and that the realtors who selected had to be honest.

I’m sick of reading things like “Quaint little charmer in desirable neighbourhood” when in reality it translates into a 1940s 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home with original oil tank, knob and tube wiring, 800 square feet, possibly structural issues on a tiny lot that backs on to the highway. Why don’t you just write “BYOB”... Bring Your Own Bulldozer

Moral of the story: use a buyer’s agent to buy property; you’ll save yourself a lot of time and frustration.

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.