While the next few weeks will reveal more about what Revelstoke’s spring real estate market will look like in this season of coronavirus, so far the numbers are looking comparable to previous years.
With 39 single-family homes listed in Revelstoke last week, that’s on par with the same period in years previous, says local realtor Tara Sutherland, with RE/MAX Revelstoke. And the several new listings added last week is another promising sign.
Of course, with spring and early summer typically the busiest time for real estate, local professionals will be watching to see how the season unfolds, she adds.
“Our inventory hasn’t changed much in the last year; it’s stayed pretty consistent,” says Sutherland, who has helped buyers and sellers with their residential and commercial real estate needs since 2014. Four single-family homes have also sold in the last 30 days.
Virtual options from start to finish
For home sellers and property buyers, the good news is that from start to finish, much of the real estate process is easily handled virtually. “We live in a really good time for that,” Sutherland says, pointing to options like virtual open houses, video options and secure electronic signing options.
“A large part of my job already is talking to people and answering their questions, which we often do by phone or email.”
Precautions are also in place when in-person visits are required.
“It’s really important to make sure both buyers and sellers are comfortable with a home showing,” Sutherland says. “We do our best to maintain our physical distance and minimize contact in the homes – wearing gloves and disinfecting our hands before and afterwards. And if I am showing a home, I ask my clients to let me open doors, turn on light switches and open the curtains, to reduce those touch points.”
What you can do right now
Sutherland encourages those interested in purchasing, whether that’s downsizing from their existing home, moving from a starter home to something larger, or a recreational property, to use this time to keep looking and fine-tune their wishlist – after all, there’s no telling when the perfect property will hit the market.
It’s also a good idea to contact your lender for pre-approval; and if you’ve had recent employment changes, you may also want to confirm any existing pre-approval is current, she suggests.
To learn more about buying and selling in Revelstoke, contact Tara Sutherland at 250-814-8677 or email tara@revelstoke-realty.com
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
