Greetings from Vantage West Realty

 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 here in Kelowna, BC, we have 8 outside agents, 2 inside sales agents and 5 support staff. Our total sales volume lies in the $120-$150 million range, and we expect to do roughly 300 transactions this year, or at least that's the goal. Average sales price in the area is $420,000.

Also, a majority of the business that we get comes from the online marketing that we invest in. We have multiple systems and strategies to generate leads (anywhere from 500-600 leads per month). We also get our leads from referrals and walk-in clients. 

Some of the things I'd like to harp on during the Mastermind group is how we have refined our hiring process here at Vantage West. We've really reversed our recruiting process to find better talent. We do an event-style process once a quarter where 20-30 individuals show up and from there we can pick the most qualified candidate possible. 

Also, the systems that we employ here allow our team members to be successful in what they do. Our director of operations used to be on a real estate board that did over 600 transactions per year, and with that kind of volume you really need good systems in place. Our director brought a lot of those same systems when we hired him here, and they're worth speaking to me about. 

I look forward to meeting you all. I think there are a lot of great individuals in this group and we all have a great opportunity to learn from each other. I hope I can bring some value to the table as well.

See you in Napa!

What's the Best Investment in Kelowna?

 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.

Hello, and welcome back! Today, we're going to continue answering some of the questions we've been receiving!

Joey asks: What's the difference between an illegal suite and a legal suite?

The first thing you need to know is that an illegal suite is not the opposite of a legal suite. An "illegal suite" is really just an unauthorized accommodation. About 90% of suites in Kelowna are unauthorized accommodations, and Kelowna has a less than 1% vacancy rate. In other words, there's really no indication that they're looking to crack down on these suites. One thing to keep in mind is that you're at the mercy of your neighbors when you own an unauthorized suite - you have to keep your tenants' cars off the road, make sure they're not being loud, and anything else that may affect your neighbors' enjoyment of the property. If there is a problem and the neighbors report it, you could be fined or the suite could be decommissioned, so you have to be careful about that. 

Rob asks: If I have $500,000 to invest, where should I put it and why? 

Recently, I've been very big on apartment buildings, but lately they've been hard to find. However, you can get a pretty solid return on a regular, single-family home. I wouldn't just take $500,000 and put it down on one home, but I would leverage it 4-to-1 and put together a $2.5 million portfolio, which would bring me a cash-on-cash return of around 20%. I would look for properties that are renting for around $2,500 a month, which would net about $100,000 per year. Once you have $2.5 million in real estate, and after the market gets back to where it was, rising 10% over the next couple years, you'll make another quarter million dollars. In short, find four or five solid investment properties and let the market do its thing! 

Scott asks: Where is square footage trending? 

The era of McMansions is behind us. People aren't looking for 5,000 square foot homes anymore; they want really nicely appointed smaller homes around 2,000 square feet with nice finishing, fixtures, technology, and some of the new, cutting edge building practices. People who are building homes today are more lifestyle-driven than ego-driven. Additionally, outdoor living spaces go a long way toward adding value to homes, and homeowners love them for their continuity. 

I want to thank everyone for sending us their questions - we always love to hear from you. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email so we can answer them in a future video!

Thanks, and have a great day!

How we helped Kelly find a home by going above and beyond every day

 
"He was a great Realtor. I got pretty much everything that I wanted. I had to find a place within a three month period of time, and almost every single day, I went looking for houses with him. I would say he went above and beyond every single day!"

How we helped Nick with his real estate transactions with our hard work

 
"Everything was good. They were very helpful. Jerry did a good job. We had to finalize the deal within two weeks, and he worked hard on his end to make sure everything went through. He got it done!"