Wes Smith's Real Estate Blog: Nanaimo & Vancouver Island

May Long Weekend Open Houses!

Fri, 18 May 2012 21:33:00 GMT

Lots of open houses this weekend! Come on out and visit us! Click FULL STORY for full list!

SATURDAY, MAY 18th

10:30 AM -12 PM

529 Asteria Place, NANAIMO - 2 BDRM/ 2 BATH + GARAGE Townhouse just of downtown. $229,900.

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24873514

11 AM - 2 PM

609 Taylor Crescent, LADYSMITH - 3 BDRM/ 2 BATH + DOUBLE GARAGE rancher on cul-de-sac. $369,900

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-23201914

1 PM - 2:30 PM

5 Durham Street, NANAIMO - 2 BDRM + DEN + "MANCAVE" + FULL UNFINISHED BASEMENT. $269.900.

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24761344

3 PM - 5 PM

209 4TH Street, NANAIMO - 5 BDRM + 3 BATH + GARAGE + 1/3 ACRE LOT HALF DUPLEX. JUST RENOVATED. $324,900.

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24816779

SUNDAY, MAY 19th

10:30 AM -12 PM

95 Princess Street, NANAIMO - 2 BDRM + 1 BATH + 2 bonus rooms + LIVING RM + FAMILY RM. Renovated. $259,900

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24426264

11:30 AM - 2 PM

212 Cilaire Drive, NANAIMO 3 BDRM + 3 BDRM Departure Bay renovated home $389,900

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-22190783

1 PM - 2:30 PM

1240 Okanagan Place, NANAIMO 4 BDRM + 3 BATH home in College Heights with views. Great Price! $359,900.

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24744814

3:15 PM - 5 PM

3204 Uplands Drive, NANAIMO 4 BDRM + 2 BATH renovated home near Departure Bay. Amazing private yard. $339,900

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24664114

MONDAY, MAY 20th

10:30 AM -12 PM

529 Asteria Place, NANAIMO - 2 BDRM/ 2 BATH + GARAGE Townhouse just of downtown. $229,900.

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24873514

11:30 AM - 2 PM

898 Townsite Road, NANAIMO 2 BDRM starter house near hospital area. Renovated. $214,900

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24426184

1:30 PM - 3:30 PM

6342 Savary Street, NANAIMO 2 BDRM + 2 BATH + DOUBLE GARAGE rancher townhome. Renovated. Adult Community. $329,900

http://wessmith.ca/mylistings.html/details-24697524

NEW Tourism Nanaimo Video

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:51:00 GMT

This is a brand new video from tourism Nanaimo. This gives a pretty good feel of what it is like to live in Nanaimo - especially during the summer months.

There is also a downloadable PDF booklet about Nanaimo - which is great!

http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/55014

New NANAIMO Tourism Guide (PDF)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:32:00 GMT

The new 2012 Nanaimo Tourism Guide is available for download as a PDF. It is also available in print form at local tourist attractions, BC Ferries, restaurants, hotels, etc.

This year's guide is a HUGE improvement over what has been published in previous years. In my opinion, this new booklet perfectly captures the what Nanaimo is really like.

If you have friends thinking about relocating into this area (or visiting this area), please use the Facebook, Google+, or Twitter links to send them a copy.

PDF file can be found HERE

What Does "Sold" Smell Like?

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:32:00 GMT

By Shannon and Tamara Stone

We just finished the REMAX office tour where we went and previewed a lot of new listings this morning.

I was inspired to write about the importance of smell in the sale of a home. In life, whether you are meeting a person for the first time, or a home, so much depends on that first impression.

When a home smells clean it gives you the sense that it’s well taken care of and inviting. When a home has cooking, pet or other odors it can be a major turn off.

Some of the properties we viewed this morning smelled wonderful: like fresh bread or lemony clean… and then there were a few that smelled… well… NOT FRESH.

In this hyper-competitive market, buyers have many different options to choose from. If your home is for sale, make sure it smells great!

Here are some tips:

1) Keep a package of ready-to-bake croissants or cookies in your fridge and pop them in the oven 30 mins before you have a showing.

2) A small dish of vinegar does an incredible job of absorbing odors – tuck one where it won’t be seen.

3) Avoid the highly scented plug-in air fresheners as they are often overpowering and tend to cause the buyer to wonder what you are covering up.

4) Our Dad taught us a great trick: drop a few drops of vanilla extract onto your stove burner and turn it on low for a few minutes – smells just like fresh baking.

Happy Selling (and smelling)!

Mortgage War Means Good News For Homeowners

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:30:00 GMT

Good news! The mortgage wars are back. Bad news! The mortgage wars are back. It all depends on your perspective.

If you’re an aspiring homeowner or you want to refinance to pay off back-breaking credit card debt, thelatest battle of the banks for market share is a terrific opportunity.

If you’re Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, it’s a slap in the face. You’re the most influential financial person in the country and you’ve been spending a lot of time during the past two years warning Canadians about the dangers of their ever-increasing debt levels. And what is the banking oligarchy doing in response? Thumbing their collective noses at you by encouraging people to take on even more debt!

The latest cat fight for mortgage market share couldn’t have come at a better time for prospective borrowers. The spring housing season is just starting to heat up and prices stubbornly continue at record highs despite alarm bells that the bubble could burst any time soon. In this climate, any break on mortgage rates that makes your dream home more affordable is welcome.

The mortgage market is a Wild West show right now. The banks are aggressively undercutting one another to build their business before the low-interest window closes. Bank of Montreal kicked off the latest round of rate-cutting by offering a five-year closed mortgage at 2.99 per cent and an even more eye-popping 10-year rate of 3.99 per cent.

Royal Bank has countered with an “all the frills” four-year fixed rate of 2.99 per cent with amortizations up to 30 years. That translates into a monthly payment of $1,260 on a $300,000 loan. By comparison, at 5 per cent the monthly carrying cost would be just over $1,600. Royal even offers to pay the switching costs if you move your business from another financial institution. Talk about dog-eat-dog!

Most other banks are offering similar deals just to stay in the game. For the moment, this is a true buyer’s market for borrowers but it may not last long. Some of the deals have fixed termination dates (e.g. March 28 for BMO’s 10-year 3.99 per cent rate). Others could be pulled at any time.

Meanwhile, in Ottawa, Carney must be seething. The last thing he wants to see is Canadians jacking up their household debt to income ratios even more. But short of intervening directly in the private sector, which he would be reluctant to do except under extreme circumstances, his hands are pretty much tied.

He’d love to raise the key overnight target rate from its current level of 1 per cent but for the moment he’s a prisoner of the domestic economy and international forces. The recovery is still fragile and the high loonie continues to hurt our export markets. Still, you can bet he’ll make a move at the first possible opportunity.

Do you remember in high school when your English teacher would make you parse lines from Shakespeare? That’s what economists do when the Bank of Canada issues its interest rate statements. They dissect every line, looking for clues that indicate any subtle shifts in position that might suggest a move up or down in the near future. They found several such clues in the March 8 announcement that the overnight rate would remain unchanged for now.

“The heightened uncertainty around the global economic outlook has decreased in the weeks since the Bank released its January Monetary Policy Report (MPR),” the statement said. “With tentative signs of stabilization in European bank funding and sovereign debt markets, conditions in global financial markets have improved and risk aversion has decreased.”

Reduced global uncertainty. Signs of stability in Europe. Global financial markets looking better. Less risk aversion. Hmm.

The statement went on: “Canadian household spending is expected to remain high relative to GDP as households add to their debt burden, which remains the biggest domestic risk.”

It doesn’t take an economist to read between the lines here. With the global economy improving and household debt “the biggest domestic risk” interest rate increases are on the way sooner rather than later.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s pledge to hold its rates at record lows until 2014 is a problem because it means a Canadian rate increase will probably push the loonie even higher. But Carney may be prepared to live with that to try to shake the country out of its debt spiral.

So if you are thinking about borrowing money, my advice is to act now. The window may be closing faster than you think. And here’s another tip. Take the longest low-rate option you can find. You may not see anything like it again in your lifetime.

Gordon Pape is editor and publisher of the Internet Wealth Builder newsletter. His website iswww.BuildingWealth.ca