Local Kamloops News

Curb appeal can increase or decrease a home’s value by 30%

How do you deal with a neighbour who does not look after their property like you when you are going to list your home for sale?

Neighbour disputes can arise from a variety of circumstances. The best way to tackle a dispute with a neighbour is to talk it out and find a mutually agreeable solution. If the dispute is not resolved through constructive talks, there are legal remedies to address them. Note that suing a neighbour in court may be a lengthy, stressful, and costly process, but it is an option to exercise when all else fails. 

The most common types of neighbour disputes arise from:

• Untidy premises;
• Nose complaints;
• Mishandling of dogs and other pets;

There is an important part of taking on a home renovation -- the building permit.

You may know of friends who have had their basements finished over the past few years and maybe none have obtained a building permit first. They assumed that since the renovation did not extend beyond the existing walls of their home, they were free to make any changes they wished. According to Ray Leclair, a real estate lawyer your friends have been breaking the law.

"It's a municipal by-law under building code," he says. "The impact of it is that there could be a fine for the homeowner or the municipality can say remove the structure or they'll condemn the property."

Most of us realize that major renovations such as building an addition to a home require a

Everyone wants to live in a beautiful home.

We all a house that attracts compliments from friends and family. It is a proud feeling, indeed, when you stay in a home that is the envy of entire neighborhood. Owning such a home, however, is no piece of cake. Even if not too much, it still does require a certain amount of effort, time and knowledge to keep it well-maintained and updated.

People who live in houses with front yards or lawns need to be more patient and careful about taking good care of the grass and foliage and keep it free of uninvited pests, insects and rodents.

Enhancing the curb appeal of your home is all about increasing the visual appeal of your front yard or lawn, which in turn, elevates the overall splendor of your home

The spring home-buying season is in full swing.

But there is just one problem: Low housing inventory in most price points of the market.

And no matter how much the demand is there and how much lenders are willing lend, it means little if there are no houses to buy.

As a result, the few houses left end up being fought over in multiple offers, leaving many borrowers without a house.

Here are a few tips that may help you win a multiple offer situation:

1. Offer Full Price or More. Money is a major factor in a seller’s decision, but not the only one.
2. Good sized deposit. Show the seller you are committed with a good sized deposit to stand by your “word” (purchase agreement) to buy the home.
3. Cash is King. Go in with cash if possible to

The two most important elements of selling a home have always been 1.) Price and 2.) Condition but maybe today there is a third factor.

MARKETING can be equally -and sometimes more- important when selling a home as price and condition. Professional marketing is the secret sauce that sells homes! There are more options to market a home than ever before. The way a home is marketed online determines how much attention it gets as in cases where homes that were priced too high end up in multiple offer situations due to impressive marketing presentations online. On the opposite side there are homes that sell for less than they are worth due to poor marketing efforts.  When people start to sell their home most of the time they haven't thought much about the

Getting your home purchase or the sale of your Kamloops Property right there are a few simple steps to making it as stress free as possible.

BUYING A HOME IN KAMLOOPS

A step at a time: Before seriously house hunting, have your mortgage financing in place, says Kent Browne, broker of record with Royal LePage Team Realty in Ottawa. Make sure you also have roughly two per cent of the anticipated purchase price set aside in cash for legal fees, land transfer tax and other expenses.

Preparation: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s free, downloadable 72-page guide Buying a Home walks you through the entire house-hunting and -buying process. There's also a condominium guide: http://cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/index.cfm.

Browne suggests scouting

If you’re selling a home in Kamloops, you’ll want the best possible representation.

Buying a home is a big step, but then again, so is selling a property. The most important thing when listing a home is finding the right real estate agent to get you the most money possible and ensure a smooth, stress-free process.

Before You Start to sell your Kamloops Home

First off all sellers should take a look at the Working with a REALTOR® brochure, available on the BC Real Estate Association website (bcrea.bc.ca). This is a great introduction to what a certified REALTOR® does, what their legal and fiduciary duties are, and how you can best work with one.

Interviewing Kamloops Real Estate Agents

To ensure your agent is the right fit for you, sellers

Province focuses affordability towards Canadian buyers of new homes, paid for by hiked luxury home tax;also promises collection of data on overseas buyers

It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-time buyer or not – the province is focusing the much-needed affordability measures in its 2016 BC Budget towards buyers of newly built entry-level homes, Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced February 16.

In an unexpected move, which had been widely predicted to be a cut in Property Transfer Tax (PTT) specifically for first-time buyers, de Jong announced that buyers of new homes up to $750,000 in value will no longer have to pay PTT (although GST still applies), effective February 17. This exemption is available to Canadian citizens and permanent residents

This is it! This is where I want to live. I'm home suite home. Why? Because this master suite is perfect. It's sweeter than all the other suites.

Just look at the cove ceilings, the quarter sawn oak floors, the fabulous panelled and architecturally detailed wall treatments. It is gorgeous, clean, organized, but warm and inviting. The antique glass doors are sensational. There are curved walls and niches designed for display.

And in the bathroom are sleek and sophisticated tiles and sconces. The floors are heated so that I can step out of a piping hot shower and still be oblivious to -15C weather outside. Not to mention, it looks like hardwood but is actually grey textured porcelain. But back to that shower; it looks divine - a glass steam shower with

After years of making a house a home it becomes full of memories and emotions — not to mention stuff — which are not the features buyers are interested in when a homeowner decides to put the property on the market.

As home buyers have become more savvy with regard to what they can get for their money, staging has increased in popularity, helping homeowners to not only sell their home quickly but also to get top dollar.

"Because homeowners are attached to their homes there is so much emotion attached to it," said Tracey Jones, owner of Victoria's ReMarkable ReDesign Styling and Staging.

"We come in as fresh eyes. We're not attached to a homeowners' belongings. Homeowners become blind to their own surroundings."

Jones began her business in 2007