Did you know that a potential buyer of a new home in walking into the developer's pre-sale office without a professional REALTOR® is compromising their position by automatically limiting their representation?
It is not possible for the developer's agent to fulfill all the duties to both parties in a situation where, what is called, a limited dual agency relationship has been agreed to.
Don't be confused or misled about the role of a full-service REALTOR® and how you will benefit.
Far too often new home buyer's sign up for a "V.I.P." pre-registration, and then not realizing all of the consequences, consent to Limited Dual Agency in writing.
Perhaps this explains why so many new home buyers don't feel so "V.I.P." after the fact, and protest; not that any good generally comes from complaining then though.
It may be a new condo, but I will always recommend a Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) for the buyer's protection. I will also recommend this CBC Marketplace video: Condo Crunch.
New home buyers often need help with many things, including completing their due diligence; making arrangements with other professionals, i.e. Lawyers, Mortgage Brokers, etc., is just one example.
My job as a REALTOR® is to protect the best interests of the buyer while ensuring that they receive the best possible representation available, and let's be clear, this representation is limited in a Limited Dual Agency arrangement.
Considering that real estate transactions may be among the largest investment decisions made by a buyer, using the professional services of a full-time REALTOR® is a smart business decision.
I live by the golden rule by doing unto others as I would have them do unto me; you don't need to compromise your situation.
Please contact me for a completely free, no-obligation consultation to see just how I can best serve you. You might want to start here.
Following the latest Bank of Canada's overnight rate cut from 1.50% to 1.00%, Canada's banks have cut their prime lending rates by a half-point to a record low of three per cent, and reduced some fixed and floating-rate mortgages.
The answer home buyers' will be seeking surrounding this all-time low interest rate, will be how this is going to affect medium and longer-term mortgage rates?
The City of Port Moody wants to hear your feedback on the draft policies and proposed land use changes.
Since the Official Community Plan (OCP) review process began, hundreds of community members shared their own vision and provided input for the future of Port Moody.
As a result of this, updated OCP policies have been drafted and await your final feedback at upcoming community meetings scheduled in Port Moody as follows:
Monday, January 19, Glenayre Community Centre
Thursday, January 22, Heritage Mountain Community Centre
Monday, January 26, Wellness Room, Recreation Complex
Wednesday, January 28, Old Orchard Hall
Thursday, February 5, Kyle Community Centre
A series of 4 maps showing the proposed land use changes under consideration as part of this next phase of OCP consultation are now available for viewing. Copies of the maps, revised draft policies (January 2009), OCP reports, and public comments can be viewed at the reception desk at Port Moody City Hall, at the Planning counter on the 2nd floor and in the library at the reference desk inside the white OCP Consultation Summary binder.
Registration for all meetings begins at 6:30pm, followed by a short presentation and focus group feedback session from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.
As a resident of the historic Moody Centre I plan on participating to get an understanding of how the revitalization will be shaped by the adoption of this OCP.
This is a very exciting time for Port Moody as the Evergreen Line and Murray Clarke Connector finally come to the forefront. I encourage all my Port Moody neighbours to attend a session and get involved.
On September 30, 2008, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) had a total of 22,605 active listings. This recent high may have caused some panic because there were only 13,574 listings exactly one year earlier.
Yesterday I did a XPROP search for all REBGV active listings and this is what I found:
As David Clayton-Thomas lyricized,"What goes up must come down"; to 14,258!
The selection that was available to buyers just 3 1/2 months ago has now diminished considerably (as in a 36.9% drop).
Speaking to some of my Prudential Realtor colleagues who have been through a market downturn or two, there's a general consensus that this sudden drop was mainly as a result of expired and terminated listings of sellers who weren't really selling at all.
These owners were "feeling out the market" to see if they could get unrealistic prices on the tail of the long sellers market we went through, and it seems that many Realtors accommodated their false hopes by accepting over-priced listings.
Where are we now? more here [...]
Canada's Investigative Consumer Show, Marketplace, and Mike Holmes, HGTV's contractor of Holmes on Homes, collaborated for a CBC episode entitled, "New Home Nightmares".
Although it only scratches the surface, this production demonstrates how the legislative system in Canada is badly broken leaving home buying consumers at the mercy of unscrupulous home builders and developers, and ineffective protection agencies and government.
As inadequate as the minimum standards of the building code are (Holmes calls it, "minimum code crap".), they are still not being met, nor are they being properly enforced.
The negligence on behalf of government is so widespread consumers are believing that home warranty protection in Canada is for the builder.
Holmes says, "inspectors should be fired, builders should be in jail". more here [...]
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Are REALTORS® at a point of competitive convergence? “Commoditization” makes it difficult to be unique. Example: besides John Grasty who else has Ø Expired Listings?
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