JeffreyStark

 June 1st, Paul Vieira, Financial Post  

OTTAWA -- For the first time in nearly three years, the Bank of Canada on Tuesday hiked its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.50%, as the domestic economy rebounds strongly against the backdrop of an "uneven" global recovery.
However, it signalled in its accompanying statement there is "considerable uncertainty" in the economic outlook given fiscal and financial unrest in Europe. As a result, further rate hikes "have to be weighed carefully" against global and domestic developments.
"This decision still leaves considerable monetary stimulus in place, consistent with achieving the 2% inflation target in light of the significant excess supply in Canada, the strength of domestic spending and the uneven global recovery," the central bank, led by governor Mark Carney, said.
That led some analysts to suggest there is no guarantee the central bank would raise rates again at its next scheduled meeting in mid-July.
"The July meeting is not a slam dunk," said Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York. "The downside risk is causing policymakers to lower the hawkish sails."
The statement's ambiguous, cautious tone led to a pullback in short-term bond yields and a US1¢ drop in the Canadian dollar. Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said it was as if the central bank was "almost bending over backward to indicate that this is not necessarily the start of a relentless campaign to crank rates higher."
Still, with the move, the Canadian central bank becomes the first among its Group of Seven peers to raise rates, and one of the few industrialized countries to do so. The last time the Bank of Canada raised its benchmark rate was in July of 2007.
The move signals higher borrowing costs for households and businesses that have loans tied to prime rates charged by chartered banks. (Prime tends to move in unison with the central bank's benchmark rate.)

The decision emerged a day after Statistics Canada reported the domestic economy reported its strongest quarterly performance in over a decade, as GDP expanded by a robust 6.1% in the three-month period ended March 31. The economy benefited from strong consumer spending, a robust goods-producing sector and an aggressive rebuilding of inventories by businesses.
There was a tug of war of sorts in the marketplace in the days leading up to Tuesday's decision about whether the Bank of Canada would pull the trigger and raise rates. A set of stronger-than-expected economic data, from retails sales to inflation, suggested a rate hike was warranted. Countering that, however, was market uncertainty over the spillover of fiscal problems in certain southern European nations, and the health of that continent's banking system.
In the end, the central opted to raise its key rate, and begin the process of withdraw extraordinary stimulus from the economy. But the Bank of Canada's statement explaining the rate hike went to some length to acknowledge the present risks to the global and domestic outlook.
"The global economic recovery is proceeding but is increasingly uneven across countries," the central bank said, noting the strong momentum in emerging economies and the "possibility" of renewed weakness in Europe.
The recovery in "most" developed economies remains "heavily dependent" on low interest rates and government spending, it added.

Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=3096853#ixzz0pcxzDvSr  

If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-290-7890 or email me at jeff@jeffreystark.net

2300 Kingsway East Vancouver

Just visited the new project at 2300 Kingsway. For you that remember, not too long ago the site was a home of the Eldorado Hotel and Bar. Great swinging place. A little on a border line as to the type of customers that used to frequent the bar, but a good place for some fun.

Well now, Wall Financial has kicked of through Bob Rennie Marketing a two building project with a high rise at the corner of nanuimo and Kingsway and the smaller building along the Kingsway. The project has a nice functional design, it is right on a bus line and only a few blocks to the Nanaimo SkyTrain station. Functional floor plans are complimented with nice finishes, gas cook top ranges, stainless steel appliances etc.

The interesting fact is that most of the suites are small in size, and most will be bought by investors and rented out or bought by first time buyers who will eventually outgrow them and move on.

There is a good number of suites available for around and under $200,000. These are junior studio+flex space at around 450 s.f. Parking included with most.
According to current rentals you could rent one of these for $1000.

Roughly calculated, if you put a down payment of $60,000 (30%) and assuming the rates go up and by the time the project is finished in couple of years, you have to pay an extra point and get a 5 year mortgage at $5.39%, your payments would be around $845 p.m. Ad to that the strata fee and taxes, estimated at $150 t0 $160 per month, your rental should cover your expenses.

After 5 years you will have paid down your mortgage by some $15,000. With an original investment of $60,000 you have received a 25% return. Not bad!  All you need is to have the market price increase by 12% or better to cover your purchase taxes-HST. Possible? In 5 years? I think so.

If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-290-7890 or email me at jeff@jeffreystark.net

Things are changing and the Buyers are slowly getting the upper hand. A you can see from the attached graph, most of the properties are taking more than 5 months to sell.

The graph represents the months it takes to sell a home or a condo ion various areas of Greater Vancouver.
Five months being a balanced market and anything above that means that the inventory levels have increased and more competition is on the market.

Bad news for the sellers? Not really. Properties will always sell, even in a tough market, just not above the market values.

Even at the lowest point of the past short real estate recession locally, there were properties that sold. Currently we are at the highest value levels we have ever seen around here. If have had your home for a few years, you will make a nice profit, and if you are moving to another property in the area, being a move up, or move down, you will get a good deal also.

For the Sellers it means that they have to be more realistic as to where they price their properties and do whatever they have to to maximize the best return on the sale.

They Buyers will not probably make multiple offers, because there is a good selection. They will take their time.
The Sellers will have to keep their homes in pristine conditions with good curb appeal and provide complete information about their home.

Good idea  is to have an inspection done by a certified and now, required to be licensed in BC, home inspections specialist, before the home is put up for sale. The report may indicate some easy fixes to the home that may otherwise rise Buyers suspicions and delay their decisions. Small investment that may pay off with a better return and avoid  inspection traps, you should know about.

If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-290-7890 or email me at jeff@jeffreystark.net

For a list with pictures of Burnaby 2 bed/2bath condos in a price range between $250k and $500k visit:
http://www.burnabybestbuys.com

Best way to resolve issues with the Strata Council is to make sure you have up to date bylaws and request a meeting. I serve on a Starta council and we have issues also. Most times if they are presented in writing, (which they should be), we give them consideration and response.

This case is a little different. Read on.

Dear Condo Smarts: I don't know who to turn to. I bought a condo in Vancouver in February, moved in with my dog on March 15, and March 20 began to receive threatening letters from the strata about my dog. It claims the strata has a "no pets" rule, and that I have to either get rid of my dog or move. Before I purchased, I requested information about the strata corporation, and my agent was given the strata website and password to access the minutes of the strata meetings, bylaws and rules of the strata corporation, as well as other information, including a maintenance and building report done in 2008. Absolutely nothing indicated on the website that pets were prohibited and that there was a no-pets rule. As the information we received was provided by the agent, doesn't the strata have to abide by the information that individual disclosed to a buyer? I admit that since talking to my lawyer, I should have requested a copy of a Form B Information certificate before I bought. Now what am I supposed to do? - Frankie D.

Dear Frankie: While online information may be helpful in investigating a strata corporation, it may also be seriously misleading. The blame is not entirely yours however, as the strata corporation, through its agent, provided you with access to the strata corporation's current records, and nothing was disclosed in those records at the time regarding the prohibition of pets.

You should have been advised to obtain an information certificate, and to obtain a registered copy of the bylaw amendments. Relying solely on the information posted to the website, you only viewed dated materials. Had you obtained a copy of the registered bylaws through the Land Title Registry, you would have immediately noticed that the strata amended its bylaws in December of 2009, adopting a bylaw that prohibits pets. Unfortunately, the website had not been updated since Nov. 15, 2009, so the information posted was inaccurate.

The other challenge for the strata is that while the manager provides the access-code information, the website is actually maintained by the strata council. The manager was not advised that the council has not been maintaining the website, and as of April 30, the same dated material is still posted on the site. If a website is only archived information, then it should provide dated signatures to identify the periods of information posted. If the website is active current information, it should have a "real person" or company you can contact to obtain written verification of the claims or data posted on a website.

By Tony Gioventu of CHOA, in Province May 9th, 2010

The CHOA website, for example, hosts over 600 information bulletins and articles, all of which are routinely reviewed and updated for changes in legislation, contact information, access to links, changes in case law, or regulations that impact strata corporations.

I have assisted over a 1000 buyers in purchasing strata property.
If you are thinking of buying strata property, give me a call. My services are FREE and it could save you a lot of hassle and money 

If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-290-7890 or email me at jeff@jeffreystark.net

Earth Day? It sounds so, so kind of big. How can we be earth friendly? What do we need to do?

And can we, in our little ways really affect the earth eco systems.

Well, we can. We don't have to do deprive ourselves of anything, reaslly. We just need to act more responsibly and cut a little here and there. Little things done by a lot of people will make a difference.

You don't have to become solar or grow your own food, but here are some things you can do;

1  Green up your appliances. Next time you need to by appliances or if you have old ones, maybe you should switch to the green "Energy Star" type. There are local government programs with rebates and it probably wouldn't cost you very much, but you can realize big savings in energy consumption

2  Watch the temperature - almost half the home's energy goes to heating and cooling.

3  Save water - install an aerator on the kitchen faucet and save up to 50% of water
                      install a low-flow toilet. They use only 1.6 gal, (just over 6 litres)
                      or adjust the flow valve to let less water in to the tank

4  Clean Green - One of the best books I like and used it's cleaning suggestions in,
                      Haley' Cleaning Hints, which uses inexpensive everyday items to clean.
                      Amazing what you can do without using the expensive cleraning solutions bought 
                      at your local stores.

5  Use energy efficient lights and light bulbs

6  Save a tree, use less paper  - Use recycled paper products and ones with less virgin
                      pulp in it's contents.

7  Want hardwood floors? - Did you know that bamboo is a better choice? Bamboo ages in 4-6
                      years and hardwood forests take 50-100 years to mature.

8  Reduce use of plastics - from shopping bags to sandwich plastic bags, find an alternate
                     eco friendly product.

9  Use healthier paint - avoid use of solvent base paints as they release toxic fumes into
                      the atmosphere.

10  Garden green - use composting. Use native plants in your garden, perennials are better
                     than annuals. Stop using chemical pesticides as better options are available.
                     Remember the DDT? We are still paying the price even though it has been out
                     of use for some time.
                                           

These are just some ways we can help and get greener. So don't stop now just because the earth days is just a day on the calendar.

Keep contributing in small ways every day, and we will all be better for it.

If you are looking to Buy or to Sell real estate in Vancouver area, give me a call. My consultations are FREE. The benefits to You, may be worth a lot of money.
Call Jeff Stark at 604-290-7890 or email me at jeff@jeffreystark.net