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Ray Grant Recalls Early Real Estate Roots In Severna Park

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By Zach Sparks

Ray Grant’s heyday as a real estate agent looks nothing like the real estate market today. Back in the 1950s, prospective clients would walk into his office on Baltimore & Annapolis Boulevard, browse listings displayed on the wall, and finalize the deal using a two-page carbon copy contract, unlike today’s 50-plus page contracts.

That was nearly 70 years ago. Ray, who turns 98 years old on April 19, still has a sharp memory of those days.

Before he joined the real estate industry, Ray flew torpedo bombers and dive bombers in the Navy. He served from April 1943 to November 1945, missing World War II. He then went to college and was selling insurance around the Washington beltway in 1945 when he received a call from his father, Raymond Grant, a Baltimore City resident who purchased a waterfront lot for $1,500 in Linstead on the Severn.

Raymond asked his son to move to Severna Park and buy the lot next to his for $2,500. Ray’s response? “I don’t even have a girlfriend. What do I need a lot for?” That would soon change when Ray married Ruth Porter in 1947 and eventually built a home nearby in the community of Olde Severna Park.

While Ray was still in college, a Baltimore real estate broker, Colonel Rutherford, encouraged both him and his father to pursue a career in real estate. After getting their licenses in the late 1940s, Ray would take the streetcar to Baltimore to sit open houses for Colonel Rutherford for two years.

When Raymond and Ray opened Arundel Realty together in 1951, they settled on downtown Severna Park, in the strip that is now occupied by Sofi’s Crepes, The Big Bean and Pedal Pushers.

After Raymond Grant died in 1962, his son changed the business’ name to Ray Grant Realty. Ray started building the business as his agents were the only Realtors representing the builders in the new construction communities of Severna Gardens, and later, Severna Forest.

“When we came to Severna Park, there was no new construction,” Ray said. “You had to find a builder.”

Later, as Severna Park began to be developed, he represented builders in new construction sales in sections of Oakleigh Forest, Fair Oaks on the Magothy, Westridge and Ulmstead Estates (in Arnold).

“There was one Cape Cod [in Fair Oaks] with a large dining room, two bathrooms, maybe four bedrooms,” Ray said. “I don’t think it was $40,000.” Per Ray’s advertisement that ran in the Baltimore Sun, starting prices were $33,500 in 1961. According to Ray’s grandson and local Realtor Matt Wyble, the Fair Oaks community regularly sees list prices over $800,000 these days.

Decades before the internet arrived and multiple listing services became common practice in Maryland, Ray and other real estate agents relied on walk-ins and referrals. Another notable practice was that agents could represent both a buyer and seller in the same transaction. “It was perfectly legal, and I didn’t feel like I was being favorable to the buyer or seller,” Ray said.

Agents would show their listings first, but if clients wanted to see a property listed by another broker, Ray would need to have a co-op with that broker. Since there were no lockboxes, Ray would need to pick up the keys from the other broker’s office and get permission to show the home. In contrast, today’s real estate market includes automatic co-ops, instant new-listing notifications, and virtual 3D tours.

Ray’s reputation helped him get referrals from Westinghouse Electric Corporation when the company transferred employees from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Other people recommended Ray after meeting him through the Severna Park Kiwanis Club or Chartwell Golf and Country Club, where Ray joined 60 years ago as a charter member. In addition, all of the families who moved to Severna Park new construction communities became repeat clients when they moved.

“He was well-liked, supportive to the community and helped raise four daughters,” said his youngest daughter, Betsy Grant Wyble, who explained that her dad would always support the Severna Park community by donating when local organizations needed advertisements, sponsorships and/or fundraising.

Ray’s career lasted more than 30 years, a milestone that did not come by accident as his business survived at least two economic downturns where the real estate market was hit pretty hard.

Asked about his success, Ray said he had four good agents, a desire to help people, and a commitment to community. When you ask others, his honesty and integrity were memorable characteristics, too.

Around late 1989 or early 1990, Ray closed his office and went to work for O’Connor, Piper & Flynn, which has since been acquired by Coldwell Banker. His last sale was a waterfront home that sold for just over $1 million, a lofty price that was rarely seen in 1997.

Real estate still runs in the family. Ray’s grandson, Matt Wyble of The Matt Wyble Team of CENTURY 21 New Millennium, is now the fourth generation to be in the real estate business.

Like Matt, Ray cites personal relationships and meeting people as his favorite aspects of real estate. He remembers taking one of his agents to Baltimore for dinner several decades ago. “At least five people came up to me and said, ‘Hi Ray, you sold us a house,’” he recalled.

Ray might be turning 98 years old in April, but his fond memories of his Severna Park real estate career are still as vivid as when he started selling Severna Park almost seven decades ago.

 

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Here are some facts about British Columbia’s housing market

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Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.

Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.

Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500

Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438

Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103

Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359

Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent

How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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B.C. voters face atmospheric river with heavy rain, high winds on election day

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VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.

Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.

The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.

Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.

More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.

Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.

An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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No shortage when it comes to B.C. housing policies, as Eby, Rustad offer clear choice

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British Columbia voters face no shortage of policies when it comes to tackling the province’s housing woes in the run-up to Saturday’s election, with a clear choice for the next government’s approach.

David Eby’s New Democrats say the housing market on its own will not deliver the homes people need, while B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad saysgovernment is part of the problem and B.C. needs to “unleash” the potential of the private sector.

But Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, said the “punchline” was that neither would have a hand in regulating interest rates, the “giant X-factor” in housing affordability.

“The one policy that controls it all just happens to be a policy that the province, whoever wins, has absolutely no control over,” said Yan, who made a name for himself scrutinizing B.C.’s chronic affordability problems.

Some metrics have shown those problems easing, with Eby pointing to what he said was a seven per cent drop in rent prices in Vancouver.

But Statistics Canada says 2021 census data shows that 25.5 per cent of B.C. households were paying at least 30 per cent of their income on shelter costs, the worst for any province or territory.

Yan said government had “access to a few levers” aimed at boosting housing affordability, and Eby has been pulling several.

Yet a host of other factors are at play, rates in particular, Yan said.

“This is what makes housing so frustrating, right? It takes time. It takes decades through which solutions and policies play out,” Yan said.

Rustad, meanwhile, is running on a “deregulation” platform.

He has pledged to scrap key NDP housing initiatives, including the speculation and vacancy tax, restrictions on short-term rentals,and legislation aimed at boosting small-scale density in single-family neighbourhoods.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau, meanwhile, says “commodification” of housing by large investors is a major factor driving up costs, and her party would prioritize people most vulnerable in the housing market.

Yan said it was too soon to fully assess the impact of the NDP government’s housing measures, but there was a risk housing challenges could get worse if certain safeguards were removed, such as policies that preserve existing rental homes.

If interest rates were to drop, spurring a surge of redevelopment, Yan said the new homes with higher rents could wipe the older, cheaper units off the map.

“There is this element of change and redevelopment that needs to occur as a city grows, yet the loss of that stock is part of really, the ongoing challenges,” Yan said.

Given the external forces buffeting the housing market, Yan said the question before voters this month was more about “narrative” than numbers.

“Who do you believe will deliver a better tomorrow?”

Yan said the market has limits, and governments play an important role in providing safeguards for those most vulnerable.

The market “won’t by itself deal with their housing needs,” Yan said, especially given what he described as B.C.’s “30-year deficit of non-market housing.”

IS HOUSING THE ‘GOVERNMENT’S JOB’?

Craig Jones, associate director of the Housing Research Collaborative at the University of British Columbia, echoed Yan, saying people are in “housing distress” and in urgent need of help in the form of social or non-market housing.

“The amount of housing that it’s going to take through straight-up supply to arrive at affordability, it’s more than the system can actually produce,” he said.

Among the three leaders, Yan said it was Furstenau who had focused on the role of the “financialization” of housing, or large investors using housing for profit.

“It really squeezes renters,” he said of the trend. “It captures those units that would ordinarily become affordable and moves (them) into an investment product.”

The Greens’ platform includes a pledge to advocate for federal legislation banning the sale of residential units toreal estate investment trusts, known as REITs.

The party has also proposed a two per cent tax on homes valued at $3 million or higher, while committing $1.5 billion to build 26,000 non-market units each year.

Eby’s NDP government has enacted a suite of policies aimed at speeding up the development and availability of middle-income housing and affordable rentals.

They include the Rental Protection Fund, which Jones described as a “cutting-edge” policy. The $500-million fund enables non-profit organizations to purchase and manage existing rental buildings with the goal of preserving their affordability.

Another flagship NDP housing initiative, dubbed BC Builds, uses $2 billion in government financingto offer low-interest loans for the development of rental buildings on low-cost, underutilized land. Under the program, operators must offer at least 20 per cent of their units at 20 per cent below the market value.

Ravi Kahlon, the NDP candidate for Delta North who serves as Eby’s housing minister,said BC Builds was designed to navigate “huge headwinds” in housing development, including high interest rates, global inflation and the cost of land.

Boosting supply is one piece of the larger housing puzzle, Kahlon said in an interview before the start of the election campaign.

“We also need governments to invest and … come up with innovative programs to be able to get more affordability than the market can deliver,” he said.

The NDP is also pledging to help more middle-class, first-time buyers into the housing market with a plan to finance 40 per cent of the price on certain projects, with the money repayable as a loan and carrying an interest rate of 1.5 per cent. The government’s contribution would have to be repaid upon resale, plus 40 per cent of any increase in value.

The Canadian Press reached out several times requesting a housing-focused interview with Rustad or another Conservative representative, but received no followup.

At a press conference officially launching the Conservatives’ campaign, Rustad said Eby “seems to think that (housing) is government’s job.”

A key element of the Conservatives’ housing plans is a provincial tax exemption dubbed the “Rustad Rebate.” It would start in 2026 with residents able to deduct up to $1,500 per month for rent and mortgage costs, increasing to $3,000 in 2029.

Rustad also wants Ottawa to reintroduce a 1970s federal program that offered tax incentives to spur multi-unit residential building construction.

“It’s critical to bring that back and get the rental stock that we need built,” Rustad said of the so-called MURB program during the recent televised leaders’ debate.

Rustad also wants to axe B.C.’s speculation and vacancy tax, which Eby says has added 20,000 units to the long-term rental market, and repeal rules restricting short-term rentals on platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo to an operator’s principal residence or one secondary suite.

“(First) of all it was foreigners, and then it was speculators, and then it was vacant properties, and then it was Airbnbs, instead of pointing at the real problem, which is government, and government is getting in the way,” Rustad said during the televised leaders’ debate.

Rustad has also promised to speed up approvals for rezoning and development applications, and to step in if a city fails to meet the six-month target.

Eby’s approach to clearing zoning and regulatory hurdles includes legislation passed last fall that requires municipalities with more than 5,000 residents to allow small-scale, multi-unit housing on lots previously zoned for single family homes.

The New Democrats have also recently announced a series of free, standardized building designs and a plan to fast-track prefabricated homes in the province.

A statement from B.C.’s Housing Ministry said more than 90 per cent of 188 local governments had adopted the New Democrats’ small-scale, multi-unit housing legislation as of last month, while 21 had received extensions allowing more time.

Rustad has pledged to repeal that law too, describing Eby’s approach as “authoritarian.”

The Greens are meanwhile pledging to spend $650 million in annual infrastructure funding for communities, increase subsidies for elderly renters, and bring in vacancy control measures to prevent landlords from drastically raising rents for new tenants.

Yan likened the Oct. 19 election to a “referendum about the course that David Eby has set” for housing, with Rustad “offering a completely different direction.”

Regardless of which party and leader emerges victorious, Yan said B.C.’s next government will be working against the clock, as well as cost pressures.

Yan said failing to deliver affordable homes for everyone, particularly people living on B.C. streets and young, working families, came at a cost to the whole province.

“It diminishes us as a society, but then also as an economy.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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