Are You REALLY Ready to Buy?

There are many great Kelowna area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at 250-717-3133 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

At Vantage West, we take your questions and concerns very seriously. Today, we're going to continue answering some of the questions you have sent in:

Rob asks: Where are the buyers coming from right now?

Right now, 50% of all the transactions that take place are happening from people inside of our borders, locals moving from one property to another. The next big chunk of the market is Albertans, who represent about 25% of the sales. The next big chunk is the Northern British Columbia component - these are our resource workers who can live anywhere, but choose to live here because of the direct flights up to Fort McMurry. The other 10% to 15% of buyers are spread out between people from all over Canada, as well as international movers.

Randy asks: How can I increase my chances of getting multiple offers when selling my home? If I'm successful, how can I give myself enough time to review all the offers?
It's very common to see multiple offer situations in our current market. What we're doing to give that a higher chance of happening is setting a perfect price from the start. Then, we wait about a week before hitting the MLS to get pent-up demand for the property. We get really good pictures and staging before waiting to show it. Once the weekend hits, we use it as the first opportunity to show the home. Once we have that pent-up demand and people are starting to talk about making an offer, we let everyone know that we're not accepting offers until Monday night. This strategy creates an auction effect, making sure everyone has a chance to get an offer in and, usually, pushing the sales price above the original asking price.

Dan asks: Where do I find a complete list of distressed properties?

Going back to 2009 through 2011, there was a huge list of distressed properties, often with 150 or more homes for sale. That list has shrunk to about a third of that size, but we still have a great list of foreclosures, distressed sales, estate sales, and other great deals. If you would like a copy of that list, we could set you up to get automatically notified each time a new distressed property hits the market. If that's something you're interested in, just drop us a line - we would be happy to set you up on that.

If you need anything or have any other questions, keep them coming. I'm going to keep answering them here on our video blog, so you can make informed decisions in our marketplace. Thanks for the great questions, and let us know what we can do to help you maximize your real estate experience!

What Are the Most Pressing Questions in Real Estate?

There are many great Kelowna area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at 250-717-3133 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Recently, we sent out an email requesting you to send us a real estate question you've had on your mind. The response was fantastic, so today we'll answer some of the more pressing ones.

You offered to buy my house if it doesn't sell in 29 days - how do you set the price? Am I going to lose money?
This is a great question. Our 29-day sale guarantee starts with an appraisal and we set the price at the market value the appraiser gives us. We are confident that the combination of the right price and our state-of-the-art marketing will get your home sold. If it doesn't, we'll buy it at its appraised value.

What is the state of the market?
We get this question more than any other, and the answer changes along with the market. We're six years from the 2008 market crash and yet prices have not returned to 2007 levels. It helps to think about market cycles: from 2008 to 2012 we were in a recession, or a slump. From the end of 2012 until now, we've been in recovery mode. After this phase there will be a boom. What we're starting to see is an incremental price increase - in the last year, we've seen an appreciation rate of about 5%-6% and we expect to see an appreciation rate of about 6%-7% next year. When looking at the market from this vantage point, you can expect a booming market by the end of next year or the beginning of 2016. That's when we'll see 2007 prices again!

Is there an industry-wide consensus on how much longer rates will remain this low?
As I'm sure you're aware, interest rates have been at all-time lows for the last couple of years. The Bank of Canada meets about eight times a year to discuss many things, interest rates among them, and their next meeting is December 3. It's within the realm of possibility that interest rates will go up after the next meeting. Typically, they look at economic indicators to see whether it's safe to raise rates, and our market seems to be doing quite well right now. If rates rise even a quarter of a point, it could cost you. If you have a $400,000 home with an 80% mortgage, going from 3% to 3.25% would change your payment by roughly $40. That wouldn't much affect you if you have a fixed rate, but it will greatly affect those looking to purchase a home. That quarter of a point rise will cost the buyer as much $10,000 in spending power!


We're here to keep you in the loop, so you can make smart real estate moves when the time comes. If you would like more information on the topics covered today, or have another question you would like us to answer, don't hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email. We would be pleased to assist you!