December 2016

If you have been thinking about selling your home, you probably heard that it’s best to wait until spring.

Many people think of the spring as the best time to sell their home because people are not overwhelmed with the holidays. Plus, school is just coming to an end in the spring, making it the ideal time to relocate your family. If you want to sell your house before the holidays, here’s how to do it fast.

Take Advantage of Less Competition

One of the biggest perks of selling your home right before or during the holiday season is less competition. In general, most people wait until spring to list their homes. What this means for you is that there are going to be fewer houses for buyers to look at, increasing the competition in your favor.

Looking to buy or sell a home in Kamloops? Need to get a great Kamloops Realtor?

Will you be looking to sell your property in the next year? Want to know the essential qualities of a great real estate agent? Need to know how to identify agents with these qualities? If your answers to these questions is YES then read on and learn how to get the right Realtor.

When seeking real estate agents, experts agree that locating a good agent will make a difference in your real estate experience. Good inspectors, contractors, attorneys and other professionals are also important for the same reason.

No one asking a real estate agent if they are efficient, honest or knowledgeable has ever heard an agent say “No.” They will say, “Yes,” because they believe

Step 1 and 2 – Decide If You’re Ready To Buy And Hire A Realtor®

Let me start by saying there are more (way more) than nine steps to buying a house but, the purpose of this post is to give home buyers a general overview of the process. There’s no blog post or infographic in the world that can replace the expertise of a local Realtor® and once you’re decided you’re ready to buy a house the very next step is to find an agent that is highly recommended, actively representing buyers, and someone who you feel comfortable with. Talk with friends and co-workers about their buying experience and if they had a great one ask for their agents contact info. If you aren’t sure if you’re ready you can always reach out to an agent and talk with them, get your

Absolutely!

Are we just saying this to get you to sign a listing contract with us? No way.

Let’s be honest, our job as Realtors is to make a living, right? The only way to make a healthy living in real estate is by creating strong relationships with clients, which is contrary to the popular belief of just selling more homes. Reason being, we are after referrals; the only way of earning a referral is by doing an outstanding job.

When we advise clients to list their home during winter months, it’s because we firmly believe that it’s in their best interests. We’re not being salesman, because like we said above, we are in the business of creating strong relationships.

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Buyers move for two

Real estate trends vary a little from year to year

Sometimes it’s a buyer’s market, and other times sellers are favored. Knowing what is going on in financial and investment sectors can often signal you whether it’s time to buy or sell. 2016 is in it's the last quarter with some very low inventory available in Kamloops, we are seeing homes in the average price range and lower are selling fasteroften going into multiple offer situations. Millennials (born between 1982 and 2002) are finally beginning to invest in real estate in larger numbers, which should continue to rise. This is still a year that favors both buyers and sellers in various markets.

The Millennials

As more and more Millennials are considering their future retirement, eighty-percent

Canada’s rental vacancy rate edged up in 2016

Mainly due to the supply of apartments increasing, but rental housing was harder to find in Vancouver and Toronto, where a long housing boom has driven real estate investment and a condo building boom.

Canada’s vacancy rate increased to 3.4 per cent in October from 3.3 per cent a year earlier, as the number of new units hitting the market outpaced the rise in occupancy, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said on Monday.

The vacancy rate is the percentage of all available units in a rental property, such as a hotel or apartment complex, that are vacant or unoccupied at a particular time. It is the opposite of the occupancy rate, which is the percentage of units in a rental property that are occupied.

Toronto-Dominion is raising mortgage rates again

This time the lender is going much farther than its recent hikes.

Starting December 1, all fixed rate mortgages that take more than 25 years to pay back will cost borrowers an extra 10 basis points, or 0.1 per cent. TD is also implementing an extra cost for mortgages on rental properties, charging borrowers 25 basis points more.

The changes follow Royal Bank of Canada’s precedent-setting decision early in November to hike rates, and to also charge more for lengthy mortgages. The latter move marked the first time such a policy was implemented in Canada.

In response, TD increased its own fixed-mortgage rates a week later, but took a more measured approach. Royal Bank hiked its fixed five-year