Outdoor Features that Help Sell Houses

Whether it’s a deck, landscaping or a pool, the features in your outdoor space make a big difference when selling a home – even in winter.

Effortless is Best

People lead busy lives, and Barbara says this is reflected in how most house hunters perceive outdoor features. A stunning outdoor space that requires a lot of effort to maintain can be a tough sell. “We all admire large, beautiful gardens, but how many people want to dedicate the time and money to maintaining them?” The same applies to outdoor features that incur high maintenance costs. “A lot of people see a swimming pool as a liability more than an asset,” Barbara explains.

On the other hand, ready to go, practical features such as a

Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) residential sales in the province are expected to reach 100,000 units in 2015 for only the third time on record. This will also be the first time since 2007 that BC home sales surpass the ten year average. The surge in housing demand is broad-based across most BC regions, with nine of 11 boards expecting an increase in unit sales ranging from 10 to 26 per cent over 2014 levels. A record 106,300 homes traded hands on the BC MLS® during 2005.

The housing market is being underpinned by strong economic growth, improving labour markets, population growth and persistently low mortgage interest rates. British Columbia can boast the best performing economy in the country this year. Real GDP growth of 2.5 per cent this year and

Based on value, momentum, economic strength and rental income potential...

Anyone who’s been to or lived in Edmonton will tell you: the big West Ed Mall isn’t the city’s main attraction. “There’s so much more to Edmonton,” explains Mark Slobodan, realtor with RE/MAX Excellence. Considered the blue collar city of Alberta’s oil patch, much of the wealth comes from tradespeople who work in the oil sands. But locals also know that the city has the distinction of being Alberta’s cultural, governmental and educational centre. The University of Alberta (UofA) makes its home here, and the city’s famous nickname—“Canada’s Festival City”—is due, in part, to the vast number of festivals that are part of the city’s thriving arts scene, most of which is centred

Ever wondered where’s the best place to live in Canada? MoneySense knows.

After months of sifting through reports from Environics Analytics, Statistics Canada and other data providers, MoneySense released their annual report on the best places to live in Canada in 2015.

“In a country that measures 6,521km across, with massively different economic regions and seven distinct climate zones, you can imagine it’s a ton to digest,” writes Mark Brown, the Reports and Rankings Editor at MoneySense. “We carefully weigh dozens of factors to geta  big picture of the overall health of 209 communities across the county.”

Considering 34 different factors, MoneySense believes that there’s a strong correlation between the economics of a city and the type of life

A friend of mine sold her Toronto house because prices were so high. She didn't want to get caught in the downdraft. 

If you've been listening to all the warnings from foreign banks about a Canadian house price crash, that sounds smart. But before you congratulate my chum on her forethought, you should know she made that decision several years ago.

Of course, since then Toronto house prices have only continued their dramatic rise. Although Toronto and Vancouver lead the way with soaring real estate, prices in many other Canadian cities continue to rise. 

In the face of a series of recent reports of houses selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars over their asking prices, I thought it a good time to look at why all the gloom-mongers have been

Kamloops housing market 'surged' during first part of 2015

KAMLOOPS – With more houses being built and home-buyers spending more the Kamloops housing market is off to a very good start in 2015.

According to Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation single-unit housing starts in Kamloops 'surged' in the first three months of 2015. The report from the corporation shows every category of housing start grew during the first quarter, with the exception of rental apartments. The first quarter of 2015 saw just one rental unit built, compared to 88 in 2014. 

The corporation notes there is a provincial trend towards multi-family dwellings and the trend is seen in Kamloops as well, where the number of starts on semi-detached homes tripled. Single-family

Land transfer tax has become a powerful source of income for the province of British Columbia. In 2013/14 property transfer tax is expected to generate approximately $740 million.

Critics of the tax argue that increasing real estate values have distorted the original purpose of the Property Transfer Tax Act. However, making adjustments to the land transfer tax system and maintaining critically important tax dollars, at the same time, has presented a long-standing conundrum for legislators.

The Chamber applauds the recent 2014 provincial budget initiative to raise the threshold of properties that qualify for the grant thus reducing the cost of Property Transfer Tax (PTT) for first time home buyers (FTHB) in British Columbia. This is an important

The B.C. housing market is on fire — and not just in Vancouver

It’s not only the country’s most expensive market that is on fire in British Columbia, more homes traded hands throughout the province in March than in eight years.

The British Columbia Real Estate Association said Thursday that 9,101 homes were sold through the Multiple Listing Service last month, a 37.6 per cent increase in sales from a year ago. The total dollar volume was $5.8 billion, a 57.1% increase from a year ago while average prices climbed 14.1 per cent during the period to $641,799.

The Vancouver story has been well documented and the provincial statistics bear out the strength of that market. Greater Vancouver, where the average price of a home sold in March reached

There are plenty of questions surrounding B.C.'s real estate market in 2015 (though that may actually be a good thing). Fortunately, amid all the uncertainty, some sectors seem poised to outperform

To stock market investors, the phrase “wall of worry” refers to the negative factors that a market must surmount if it is to keep ascending. The wall can sometimes prevent other people from making sound decisions, possibly to the benefit of the investor.

Well, the wall of worry also pertains to the purchase of four walls, especially just now. For example, here are two questions, identical except for the preamble: With property valuations high and returns on investment low, and this at a time when resource industries are stumbling, is 2015 the right time

New numbers suggest the B.C. housing market is failing to keep pace with inward migration, presenting investors with the kind of opportunity many thought was lost.

“There are 40,000 people moving to B.C. every year, mostly from overseas,” says Ozzie Jurock of Jurock Case Real Estate Action Group.

“That in turn, according to CMHC, creates a household formation of 30,000 units that we need to have every single year, either in rental values or new ownership. In the lower mainland alone, we have 19,090 new households formed, and it is expected to increase at that rate to 2018.”

The BCREA’s monthly data predicts housing starts to be slightly below 30,000 units in 2015, at 28,700, while residential sales are forecast to increase 1.2 per cent to 84,900 units