1835 replies to this topic

[jonny]

South downtown comes to mind. The Falls, the Marriott, Aria, Astoria and Belvedere, Parkside... it's getting so damn seedy down there what with all that densification.

 

Downtown could potentially become seedy - at some as yet undetermined point in the future - so we better not do anything. Nope, sitting on our hands is the only safe path.

[johnk]

We should not sit on our hands.
Pass an anti-seedy bylaw now!

[VicHockeyFan]

Stories like this make me laugh.

 

http://news.national...ir-asking-price

 

This story is not about a bidding war.  It's about a real estate agent that is so incompetent they nearly lost their client a million dollars, and a client that had held the property so long (they were inexperienced in the current market), they lost sight of what real estate values should be.

[lanforod]

The story doesn't actually say that the property was listed too low. They said they listed it low enough to get a bidding war essentially, and were expecting around 3.5 million sale price. If that is what they were expecting, they wouldn't have accepted an offer at asking price. Sounds like the realtor knew what he/she was doing, actually, it is a sellers market.

[Mike K.]

Interesting that there is no mention of Scott Piercy and James Leblanc being former realtors with Sotheby's. The article does mention that Shelby Donald was involved with Sotheby's, though.

 

Engel & Völkers office opens in Victoria

 

VICTORIA, British Columbia (June 11, 2015) – The office of Engel & Völkers, an international real estate brokerage, opens in Victoria today. Great timing as the industry is flourishing in the region. Launched by realtors and business partners Scott Piercy, James LeBlanc and Shelby Donald, the new headquarters is located at 735 Humboldt Street.    

 

“The response to the company since we began in January has been phenomenal,” said Piercy. “We’ve had the two highest dollar value sales for a home and condominium, and our growing clientele has enthusiastically supported our new venture.”

 

The opening event, which will be attended by Engel & Völkers’ New York-based chief operating officer, Jim Ramsay, and vice president, Tom Kuntz, will include 150 guests and represent owners of some of the most beautiful homes in the area.

 

LeBlanc, Piercy and Donald have also opened a branch office of the well-known firm in Nanaimo, with new office premises expected to be open in July.  Realtors Brian Danyliw and Wendy Langelo lead operations, and represent clients from the Cowichan Valley through Qualicum Beach.

 

“It is a thrill to be joining a firm that has such a high-level of international experience in premium real estate,” said Donald. “Although we have many high-end listings, we are also a neighbourhood realtor; many of the properties we sell are family homes at a variety of price points throughout the city.”

 

Piercy, LeBlanc and Donald have each had long real estate careers in Victoria. Donald is a partner and the managing broker at Engel & Völkers’ Victoria office. She was most recently the owner and managing broker of Sovi Properties, and in the past held managing broker roles at Victoria’s Sotheby’s International Realty office, and Equitex Realty.

 

LeBlanc and Piercy have had extensive careers in real estate.  Piercy has worked around the world, including in Australia and Costa Rica. LeBlanc has a 20-year career as a licensed realtor and is thrilled to be an owner in this premium service brand. This dynamic team has developed their reputation dealing in luxury and waterfront homes over seven years working together in Victoria. They have now partnered with Donald to build something locally owned but internationally renowned.

 

About Engel & Völkers

Engel & Völkers is one of the world’s leading service companies in the provision of high quality residential, commercial real estate, yachts and aircraft in the premium segment. The company has more than 5,900 employees in 39 countries, who strive to uphold core values of competence, exclusivity and passion. Engel & Völkers is the only German company among the top 100 franchise companies in the world. The company has around 570 shops specializing in high-end residential real estate and 65 commercial offices, which provide office, retail and industrial space, investment properties, residential and commercial buildings and property portfolios.

 

[29er Radio]

The story doesn't actually say that the property was listed too low. They said they listed it low enough to get a bidding war essentially, and were expecting around 3.5 million sale price. If that is what they were expecting, they wouldn't have accepted an offer at asking price. Sounds like the realtor knew what he/she was doing, actually, it is a sellers market.

 I have to agree with lanforod. if you are lucky enough to create an auction like setting for a property, then you can feel fairly certain that you got the best dollar at that moment. Listing it at the "right" price may not garner an offer and in this market particularly, a house without an offer in a week or so, is deemed over priced.

 

I held an open house in ffld many years back and we had over 100 people go through and only one offer which was slightly below asking. The sellers take was they had an amazing open house with 100 people who were interested. The reality was 100 people viewed it and only one offered and 99 didn't want to buy at the price.  

 

In this instance, at that moment, the realtor created a situation where the highest price was achieved. 

[VicHockeyFan]

But under this logic, shouldn't all agents list their homes for $1?  Surely they will get hundreds of competing offers.

 

Somehow I don't think my real estate office and board would be happy if I did that with every listing.  Nor would they likely be be happy if every home I listed I listed at 25% lower than the expected sale price, which is what happened in this case.

[lanforod]

Every use case is different. But in this case, the Realtor did far better than expected. Certainly not incompetent, like you posted.

[LJ]

Interesting that there is no mention of Scott Piercy and James Leblanc being former realtors with Sotheby's. The article does mention that Shelby Donald was involved with Sotheby's, though.

They didn't leave under the best of terms.

[pherthyl]

But under this logic, shouldn't all agents list their homes for $1? Surely they will get hundreds of competing offers.

Somehow I don't think my real estate office and board would be happy if I did that with every listing. Nor would they likely be be happy if every home I listed I listed at 25% lower than the expected sale price, which is what happened in this case.

Listing under market value is pretty common. See it in Victoria all the time. Even in an extremely slow market like we had a couple years back there are always a few places that go over asking. Who knows if it gets a higher price, but it definitely gets an immediate sale.

[gumgum]

So this house just went up for sale on Linden @ Oxford in S. Fairfield. I find it interesting because it was up for sale and was sold a few short years ago for ~$450K and the general consensus among many on VV that the price was outrageous. It's now up for sale again for $680K. As far as I can tell very little has been done since the last purchase.

[phx]

Asking more than $100,000 over assessed value is a real stretch.

[LJ]

Those 97 year olds are too tough, gotta get the youngsters.

[VicHockeyFan]

 

People camp out for weeks to buy a condo in Langley

 

The lineup started two weeks ago and some are even paying others to keep their spot

 

 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...3568946?cmp=rss

[pikabu]

How to find the names of owners of a property?

The acreage next to my home has sold and i would like to know the new owners' names.

Do I request a State of Title Certificate? I know the PID  and legal description.

[MarkoJ]

How to find the names of owners of a property?

The acreage next to my home has sold and i would like to know the new owners' names.

Do I request a State of Title Certificate? I know the PID  and legal description.

 

BC Land Title, provide PID number and pay $11 and they will give you a copy of the title.

[Rob Randall]

GARY MASON

Oversight of British Columbia’s housing market is a sham

GARY MASON

VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, May 31, 2016 8:24PM EDT

Last updated Wednesday, Jun. 01, 2016 9:56AM EDT

 

http://www.theglobea...rticle30227434/

What a complete and utter sham this whole industry is. We have three separate real estate associations in the province, all over-lapping. We have real estate boards and the provincial real estate council, all with the power to discipline real estate agents. In practice, all are lame, ineffective overseers of an industry that has failed repeatedly to put the consumer first.

At the heart of the problem are real estate boards (B.C. has 11) that derive their power from the local MLS systems, which they control.

Why boards are allowed to control these listings fails me. The Competition Bureau of Canada takes a similar view. The bureau argues that realtor boards limit competition and artificially keep costs high by preventing the public from having access to data on the Multiple Listing Service, which is used for the preponderance of real estate transactions in this country.

Edited by Rob Randall, 01 June 2016 - 11:07 AM.

[LJ]

Billion dollar fund manager comes out of retirement to bet against the Canadian housing market...

 

https://betterdwelli...an-real-estate/

[SusanJones]

B.C. land registry crashes as people rush to close deals before new tax

http://www.vancouver...2510/story.html

The holiday long weekend means offices are closed on Monday and the tax takes effect on a Tuesday

".........ealtors and lawyers were reporting brisk business Friday because of the short notice, which the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has complained bitterly about.

“Hundreds of British Columbians head into the B.C. Day long weekend facing stress and uncertainty concerning the largest financial transaction of their lives because of the provincial government’s abrupt intervention into the Metro Vancouver housing market this week,” said Dan Morrison, the president of the board, in a statement.

Realtors had argued for an exemption that would allow previously negotiated deals to be exempted from the tax, but the Liberal government of Christy Clark rejected that request.

“The Premier’s decision not to exempt transactions where home sellers have an accepted contract in place, with a non-Canadian buyer, that will not close before Aug. 2 is needlessly causing real harm to real people,” Morrison said. “Our members are scrambling to try and help people understand how their personal and financial situations have been impacted.”..........

[dasmo]

I thought it was a small percentage that were foreign buyers. Now it's crashing the system as they rush to close their deals. Perhaps selling out our land on the international money market was a bigger problem than previously illustrated....