About Vancouver's West End

I Received a Referral from LA- Thanks to Active Rain!

What would you do if you received a phone call from the Real Estate Staging Association's Stager of the Year, asking if you could help out one of her family members? Well, I'll tell you what I did. I nearly plum well fainted!

"Hello Sally, this is Annie Pinsker-Brown calling".

"Sally? Sally?...are you there?".

"Oh, hi, Annie", I replied weakly (remember, I'd just fainted)! Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating just a teensy weensy little bit, but you get the idea.

Turns out Annie had a family member living in British Columbia, who wanted to sell her downtown Vancouver property, and Annie thought of me. I first "met" Annie online, here at Active Rain. I love the work she posts here, and can relate to her west coast style. Eventually, I met Annie in "3D" so to speak, at the RESA Conference this past January in Vegas, where Annie won the RESA Stager of the Year, and I won the Rookie Stager of the Year for Canada. It was a pleasure to meet Annie in person, and she really is as nice as she appears online!

Not only was I thrilled to be styling this hip, young condo in downtown Vancouver, but I also met the Realtor, Todd Allan, who is a fantastic guy. Turns out Todd had another townhouse he was just listing, and asked me to stage that property also. Wouldn't you know it, with his great sales expertise, and my staging abilities, that townhouse sold very quickly for over asking! To quote a line from the movie Casablanca, "I feel this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"!

Thank you Annie, thank you Todd, and thank you, Active Rain!

Here is a quick video and a few Before & After shots of the condo we staged:

What a great weekend we just had - beautiful weather - a bike ride with my dad - and to top it off, a great building inspection that resulted in a firmed up sale! Congratulations to my very happy buyers! You guys are gonna love it!!

The West End was good to me this weekend, that's for sure!!

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of visiting Vancouver (yet!) - let me tell you about our West End. Located on the downtown pinisula, it's bordered by our downtown area on one side, Stanley Park on the other, and surrounded by water on the other sides. I love it here! It's filled with low rise buildings (many that are 100+ years old), big trees, and a feeling of calm that one doesn't usually find in a big city.

The West End is a short walk to Robson Street (GREAT SHOPPING) - Davie Street (A very open minded community) - Denman Street (Shops and Restaurants and THE place to watch our Fireworks Competition and the Pride Parade in the last week of July.

This weekend - my Papa (Yes, I call him Papa, don't make fun!) and I had the pleasure of taking our first bike ride together around Stanley Park. Stanley park is a 1,001 acres (Useless trivia fact here - it's 10% bigger than New York's Central Park). It's beautiful - I LOVE this bike ride - although this weekend was a little too busy for my liking - there was a music festival going on as well so the park was bustling!!

I decided to get a bit of it on video - I was making my Dad nervous holding my phone up while I was biking so I had to stop... but here's a little bit of our bike ride - as well as our quick break to watch this amazing artist, Kent Avery who balances rocks. He's kind of famous in Vancouver... very cool stuff!

I hope you enjoy my first little video... thought I had to share this beautiful city with you! Come for a visit!!

West End real estate analysis saw January listings and sales up, compared to December, leaving the supply stable at less than 3 months. Listings and sales similar to Jan’09. The days on the market for condos that sold dropped from 41 to 28. The average selling price steady at $544,000. The sales under $500,000 up from 51% to 61% and the sales over $1M increased. The list price to sale price ratio is 98% . Listings - 162. 17 listed under $300,000 (including 1 under $200,000). 32 listed between $300,000 and $400,000. 30 listed between $400,000 and $500,000(up from 14 last month) ,39 listed between $500,000 and $1M. 28 listed between $1M & $2M. 13 listed over $2M (doubled from last month) Least expensive -$209,00 for a leasehold studio Most expensive - $5,780,000 for 4500 sq-ft in Shangri-la. View it Supply 2009(months) - Nov 2.6, Oct 2.6, Sept 2.6. Aug 2.7 months, Jul 2.1, Jun 2.2, May 5.2, Apr 3.2, Mar 4.5, Feb 8, Jan 9.7 Supply 2010 - Jan 2.8 2008 Listings - Jan 168, Feb 172 , Apr 232 , May 241 , June 235, July 235, Aug 246, Sept 257, Oct 268, Nov 281, Dec 242

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Fifteen years ago i received a phone call from an owner of a condo West of Denman inquiring about the value. Although I have talked to him many times on the phone and more recently by email, we had not met until last Fall and when he emailed me a couple of days ago to meet again I guessed he was ready to sell his condo.

It's a bright and spacious 733sf l bedroom & den s.w. corner with insuite laundry and gas fireplace. Rentals permitted, 1 pet ok, and second one with permission. Engineered walnut floors. Features 2 balconies, s/s appliances, tiled entrance and backsplash. Parking and locker. Nothing to do but come home to your new Stanley Park condo. Original owner. Chilco park is a very well managed strata building. $489,000

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West End real estate analysis saw January listings and sales up, compared to December, leaving the supply stable at less than 3 months. Listings and sales similar to Jan'09. The days on the market for condos that sold dropped from 41 to 28. The average selling price steady at $544,000. The sales under $500,000 up from 51% to 61% and the sales over $1M increased. The list price to sale price ratio is 98% .

Listings - 162. 17 listed under $300,000 (including 1 under $200,000). 32 listed between $300,000 and $400,000. 30 listed between $400,000 and $500,000(up from 14 last month) ,39 listed between $500,000 and $1M. 28 listed between $1M & $2M. 13 listed over $2M (doubled from last month)

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