Kamloops Real Estate Blog

Selling Your Home: For Sale By Owner

January 22, 2009 Kirsten Mason Information For Sellers

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FSBO Many people don’t realize that selling a home is a complicated, time-consuming process. With numerous factors to consider such as open houses, advertising, pricing, negotiating and handling the numerous kinds of inquiries, it can be very exhausting and even worse – unfruitful. Many homeowners report the familiar grief after an open house: “I got lots of people, but most were just looking.” “They wanted it for next to nothing.”

You may be thinking, “Why would I need a Realtor to sell my home?” Let me give you just a few of the key reasons why a For Sale By Owners need Help in today’s difficult market:

1. Without working day in and day out in the real estate market it is quite unlikely that a FSBO will have complete understanding about pricing. Often a seller is forced to reduce the price and may have to accept less money for the home than the seller would have received had he or she started at the right price. When a Realtor goes to work with you, they ensure you will receive the most current market stats along with a thorough market analysis report to place your home in a solid market position.

2. A property depreciates the longer it is on the market. Many owners fail to take advantage of this excitement by limiting the market to their immediate contacts and advertising. Ensure your home is advertised 24 hours a day until it is sold. Realtors use a home selling system that is constantly being tested and improved to ensure your home is exposed to the largest pool of QUALIFIED buyers.

3. The two most common people who prey on FSBO’s are:

– #1. Investors / Bargain Hunters: these are people who are looking to capitalize on a FSBO’S lack of negotiating experience and market knowledge to score their next deal. Any time a buyer doesn’t buy from a store or through a sales person they expect to pay substantially less. In a sense they would expect to save the sales commissions or profits that would normally go to a sales person or store owner. Why should someone do all the work a salesperson would do and still pay the same price? For example if the seller is trying to save six percent and the buyer is trying to save six percent, now they are 12 percent apart!

– #2. People who can’t qualify to buy your home: These people will often approach FSBO’s because they have had previous financial difficulties and would want the owner to finance them. While for the right person, this could be a profitable investment, most sellers need to pull as much equity out of the property as possible to be able to move on with their next home.

4. It is important to ensure that only prospects who can qualify are introduced to your home. This eliminates the hassle of “lookers” and non-serious buyers and reduces the chance of strangers who may have activities in mind other than buying a house will come. Realtors often also have some of the best mortgage brokers in the industry working with their team who can pull the necessary strings to help finance a purchase.

5. Did you realize that any time a private seller is away from home, the home is off of the Market? It is important that someone will always be available to handle and follow up with inquiries during both peak hours and off-peak hours.

6. A seller selling privately can expect to put a minimum of 80 hours “work” into the project, without a guaranteed result. This does not account for out-of –pocket expenditures such as advertising, lawn signs, etc. Selling a home can be extremely stressful! Often FSBO’s don’t have the time available to take care of the details, from the first step of marketing to the final sale, because you have a life outside of the sale of your home.

In past markets it was very easy for a For Sale By Owner to sell their home. By all means, if you can do it on your own, go for it! Don’t wait around for a prolonged period of time and hope for that qualified buyer to walk in your door. I have found in the past few months many FSBO’s have had a lot of inquiries about Rent to own options. This sometimes is possible and works for the seller, but not often.

For Sale By OwnerThere are a lot of sellers trying to sell their homes today, that have the advertising power and exposure behind them because they are listed on the MLS with a Realtor. The majority of buyers begin their search on the internet, including FSBO sites, unfortunately the bulk of the current listings exist on the MLS. Once buyers begin their search they often pick a Realtor to help them, they do this because Realtors are free for buyers. Buyers do not have to pay a fee to work with a Realtor and often Realtors have the most qualified buyers.

Selling your home For Sale By Owner is difficult, but can be done. Give it a try and if you get frustrated interview Realtors and find the right one for you.

B.C. Assessment Information and How It Affects Your Property.

January 19, 2009 Kirsten Mason B.C. Real Estate News

For the 2009 Property Assessment Roll only, BC Assessment will be providing property owners with the market value of properties as of both July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008. The lower of these two values will become the 2009 assessed value for most properties.

On November 27, 2008, the provincial government passed the Economic Incentive and Stabilization Statutes Amendment Act (Bill 45), which provides special valuation rules for the purpose of the 2009 tax year only. Part 3 of Bill 45 provides that properties valued at market value will, on the 2009 assessment roll, be valued at the actual value calculated using either a July 1, 2007 or July 1, 2008 valuation date, whichever is lower. This initiative is part of the B.C. Government’s economic strategy to provide stability and predictability to British Columbians in response to the downturn in the real estate market which began mid-2008

About 94 per cent of property owners in British Columbia will see an identical or lower assessed value on their 2009 notice compared to 2008. Eighty-two per cent of BC’s 1.85 million properties will reflect last year’s assessed value. Another 12 per cent of properties will be assessed at July 1, 2008 values because that value is lower than July 1, 2007. The remaining six percent have undergone changes that are described online.

If you were wondering if your property taxes were decreasing this is not necessarily the case. BC Assessment does not have a direct role in setting property taxes. Taxing authorities (municipalities, regional districts) set their tax rates for property taxes based on their budget requirements.

For further information or questions about your property assessment visit BC Assessment online here.

East Barriere Lake Real Estate Information

January 18, 2009 Kirsten Mason Surrounding Communities

For up to date Barriere, Kamloops and surrounding area homes for sale click here.

East Barriere Lake is located less than an hour north east of Kamloops. This lake is one of the last undeveloped lakes in the interior of British Columbia. East Barriere Lake is clean, full of fish and uncrowded. It is a beautiful lake that boasts a variety of activities year round. It’s shallow bay and warm waters make water skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, kayaking, swimming, canoeing and fishing very popular activities in the warmer months. The shores are sandy, surrounded by beautiful scenery to hike for hours makes this lake an undiscovered gem. For those who love to fish, East Barriere has plenty of rainbow trout. There are 100’s of kilometers of logging roads and off road trails for dirt biking and ATV’s in the spring, summer and fall. There are many winter activities to enjoy such as snowmobiling, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating on the lake and sledding.

East Barriere’s elevation is only 2,100 feet above sea level. The Max. depth of the lake is 302 feet with a mean depth of 156 feet. East Barriere Lake is approximately 10 Km long. The average summer water temperatures are between 75 – 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

Shuswap Highlands is a residential/recreational area on East Barriere lake where the lots are freehold parcels all belonging to a strata. Water and sewer system included in the strata. Telephone, internet & hydro are available to this area bringing the convenience of city life to the outdoors. There are a variety of homes located both on the lake shore and set back from the water. There are a lot of log homes custom cabins in this area. There is a shared sandy beach at the foot of the lake, as well as a boat launch, grassy recreational area and boat moorage. The access road to the development is plowed in the winter making it easier for property owners to access their homes.

The Sands is a leasehold area of East Barriere Lake. The Sands is directly beside Shuswap highlands (to the east) and covers a large part of the southern shoreline of the lake. There are many private beaches and beautiful log homes along this stretch.

Currently there are a number of properties for sale on East Barriere lake. There is a prime building lot that is located in the Shuswap Highlands. It sits at the foot of the popular South East bay of the lake and has beautiful views up the stretch of the lake. There is direct access to the shared beach and the boat moorage is seconds away. This lot is the only lot available in Shuswap Highlands. Properties with newer cabins on them in this development go anywhere from $450,000 +.

There are also eight waterfront building lots, and 19 water view sites. These properties are priced from $125,000 to $250,000. Roads, water and sewer are in for these properties. These properties are located on the north side of the lake.

To get more information about these properties on East Barriere lake or any other lake front properties click here.

East Barriere Lake

Wakeboarding on East Barriere Lake

East Barriere Lake looking East

Moorage at Shuswap Highlands @ East Barriere Lake

Surrounding Wilderness at East Barriere Lake

View of the frozen lake in January looking North East

Looking towards the West bay of East Barriere Lake (The Sands & Shuswap Highlands)

Canadian Foreclosure Info Takes Some Digging

January 16, 2009 Kirsten Mason Foreclosure Information

Kamloops and area home listings including judicial sales and foreclosed properties click here.

I found this article below that details foreclosures in B.C. We really have seen very little foreclosure action in the Kamloops housing market. It has been announced recently that B.C. is not immune to this recession and job losses, the drop in property values and the amount of debt carried by individuals is increasing. This extra pressure on individuals and families will definitely cause those who are highly leveraged to sell either on their own to prevent a foreclosure (where the lender will force the sale) or the lender will foreclose on the property. It is expected that we will see more foreclosures in Kamloops in the months to come, but nothing like we have seen in the U.S. due to many factors that are different with our lending system here in Canada. Read more below…

Media reports from the United States routinely list a litany of horrors about the number of foreclosures. According to an August 4 New York Times report, 8.41 percent of subprime-mortgage loans from 2005 were in arrears by 90 days or more or in foreclosure in the month of June. Of subprime-mortgage loans from 2007, 16.6 percent were delinquent, according to the report.

This is creating huge problems for U.S. real-estate lenders, who have to put properties in foreclosure and then find a buyer in a market that is already glutted with distress sales.

Fortunately, in B.C. there haven’t been nearly as many foreclosures, which are legal processes in court to extinguish all rights, title, and interest in an owner’s property so that it can be sold to pay a lien against it.

According to the Canadian Bankers Association, just 0.15 percent of B.C. residential mortgages were in arrears in April, the latest month for which figures are available. This is quite low when compared with other months dating back to 1990. The percentage of mortgages in arrears peaked in May 1999 at 0.66 percent—more than four times the most recent figure.

Vancouver real-estate educator and foreclosure researcher Kap Hiroti told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview that he expects the number of B.C. foreclosures to increase—but only because the numbers are so low. He noted that some high-risk borrowers who’ve previously relied on alternative-financing companies are finding themselves in trouble because those lenders have abandoned the market.

“What that means is that you’ve got people who’ve got a mortgage one or two years ago,” Hiroti said. “They’re coming up for renewal, and that company cannot renew because they pulled out of the market. Usually, they’re very highly leveraged loans.”

Those cases, however, are the exception to the current market norm here. Hiroti pointed out another difference between the U.S. and Canada when it comes to foreclosures: south of the border, information is readily available. In Canada, it’s much more difficult to find data on properties that are about to enter foreclosure proceedings.

ForeclosureList.ca, a Web site owned by Hiroti, does the legwork in digging up information on foreclosures. He explained that a foreclosure typically begins when a lender issues a demand letter to a property owner seeking repayment of a debt. If the borrower doesn’t respond appropriately, the next step is for the lender to file a legal document called a petition in B.C. Supreme Court.

The petition lays out the particulars, and normally asks for a court order quashing the owner’s rights, title, and interest in a property. At this point, the owner has a chance to file a response, which sets the legal wheels in motion. Prior to any judicial rulings, the owner still has control over the property and can usually sell it without obtaining permission from the lender.

Hiroti said his company compiles information from these petitions and distributes it for $99 per month to subscribers, most of whom are real-estate investors. He estimated that there are approximately 20 foreclosure petitions filed in B.C. Supreme Court each week. Doing this research isn’t cheap. In B.C., it costs $8 to research a court file and $1 per page to photocopy documents.

Ordinarily, a judge or a master of the B.C. Supreme Court will issue a decree nisi, which may require owners to pay down the debt within six months. Hiroti said the next step is for a judge or a master to issue an order for the conduct of sale. “That’s where they actually bring a realtor onboard,” he commented.

The agent has to list the property for market value on the Multiple Listing Service. Once an offer is made, the court must approve the sale. It can be a time-consuming process, which is why Hiroti thinks it’s useful for investors to find out about foreclosures much earlier in the process.

So can a buyer get a better deal by approaching a property owner who has just received a petition? “It’s a good question,” Hiroti responded. “There is the potential.”

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