This has already been in the news and all, but I thought I'd mention it here. I broke this on Twitter a few days ago actually, so if you are not following me there please do. Basically Onni Group, who usually does their own condo marketing, have partnered with MAC Marketing Solutions to sell off their existing inventory of condos in Port Moody (Suter Brook Village), Richmond (FLO), Port Coquitlam (South Verde), New Westminster (Victoria Hill) and Surrey (Escada).

Some examples of the deals available (given in a number of the papers) were:

* Richmond: A 900-square-foot two-bedroom unit originally priced at $472,900, or $525 per square foot, is now approximately $360,000, or $400 a square foot.

* Port Moody: A 1,106-square-foot two-bedroom-and-den originally priced at $453,900 is now approximately $340,000. A 655-square-foot studio originally priced at $319,900 is now $240,000, and a 990-square-foot wood frame two-bedroom originally priced at $419,900 is now approximately $315,000.

* Surrey: An 1,100-square-foot two-bedroom and den originally priced at $360,900 is now $260,000.

* New Westminster: A one-bedroom originally priced at $270,000 is now approximately $215,000.

* Port Coquitlam: A 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom originally priced at $389,900, or $390 a square foot, is now approximately $280,000, or $280 a square foot.

The marketing by MAC has been pretty lousy though with lots of misinformation (the papers all reported that there would be a one day sale in March, but they are actually selling the units this week) and a general lack of clarity on what is available and the process is going to work. Honestly I don't think they knew what the plan was when they started out.

Nonetheless these are obviously significant savings and whether or not they make these purchases the right ones for you is something you'll have to decide for yourself, or in consultation with a REALTOR. Feel free to email or call (604-916-4663) me and I would be happy to help you decide.

Matthew Collinge: Vancouver REALTOR®

The 14th Annual REALTORS® Care Blanket Drive is upon us!

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and it's members are asking you to make a donation - no matter how small - to the 2008 REALTORS® Care Blanket Drive. With winter just starting to settle in, local charitable organizations need our help more than ever to meet the demands of the growing number of homeless and working poor in our communities.

How you can help:

* Donate new or gently used clean blankets, sleeping bags, coats, warm clothes, scarves, hats, mitts; and new unused socks and underwear (men and women).

* If you can't drop off your donations, I can pick them up for you.

Together we can make this a warmer winter for everyone. This year, the Blanket Drive runs from Monday November 24 to Monday December 1. For a list of donation drop-off locations visit http://www.blanketdrive.ca/.

This post orininally appeared on my Vancouver Real Estate blog, the 604homesblog.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corportation, or CMHC, is now offering another down payment option to Canadian home buyers. This product, called Flex Down, offers buyers a "wider range of sources for their down payment such as borrowed funds and lender cash-back incentives."

They advertise this product as having the following features (these are quoted from CMHC):

• Available for Purchase Transactions
• Loan-to-Value ratios of 90.01% to 95%
• 1 – 2 unit residential properties
• Wider range of sources of down payment permitted
• Flexible financing options – single advance, progress advance and extended amortization periods are available
• Flexibilities available for the purchase of energy-efficient homes

and benefits (so are these):

• Helps Provide Earlier Access to Homeownership – with as little as 5% down using flexible sources of down payment.
  
• Flexible Down Payments – Wider range of sources of down payment permitted.
• Competitive Interest Rates – Access to CMHC insured financing, and as a result, competitive interest rates.
• Availability – Available coast-to-coast-to-coast with no set maximum loan amount.

This all sounds good but I at least with the cash back mortgages buyers to need to be careful about the rate as it can be significantly higher than it would with other mortgage products.

In this video I discuss how the quality of everything associated with the sale of your home will effect it's value. Lousy pictures equal less money, good pictures equal more money; crummy looking sign equals less money, good looking sign equals more money; poor staging, clutter, messy and dirty home equals less money, clean, tidy and staged equals more money. You get the idea. The video is below, I encourage your comments. The video player here is a bit weird. You can also watch this on tv.604homes.com or on my viddler page.

False Creek Real Estate Statistics

Wow! There are are some pretty remarkable numbers here this month. False Creek real estate got hit over the head with a 3 day old baguette this past month. Of the 14 units listed for sale in False Creek in October, NOT ONE, sold! There were only 4 units sold in the whole month and three of those were pre-paid leasehold units! All that being said the average, and median, list price to sale price ratio was a very healthy 98! Take a look at the stats below. I am hoping to add some sexy graphs soon, but I still have some learning to do on the spreadsheet programs.

LISTED IN FALSE CREEK IN OCTOBER

Freehold Strata Units Listed:  11 (20,6,28)
Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed: 2 (12,2,2)
Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Listed:  1  ( 2,0,1)
Total Units Listed: 14 (33,8,23)

Median list price: $539,450   ($549,000,$574,950,$599,000)

SOLD IN FALSE CREEK IN OCTOBER

(last 3 month's numbers in brackets)

Sold from listed in October: 0                                 

Freehold Strata Units Sold: 1 (4,28)
Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold: 3 (3,1,1)
Non Pre-paid Leasehold Strata Units Sold:  0 (0,0,0)
Total Units Sold:  4 (7,3,9)

Average Sold Price:  $384,600 ($541,214 ,$734,000)
Median Sold Price:  $374,950 ($545,000,$550,000)

List Price to Sold Price Ratio: 98%

Average Days on Market: 27 (21,71, 29)
Median Days on Market: 24 (12,61, 14)

Are you thinking ablout making a move in False Creek real estate?  I am always happy to answer your False Creek real estate questions.


This post orignally appeared on my False Creek blog, the False Creek Comet