Don't Be a Scaredy Cat About Selling Your Home

Listing your home is enough to make anyone want to run and hide. But if it’s time to sell, you’ll have to face your fears.

Selling a home is one of the most challenging activities we undertake in life. It’s a huge transaction with financial, emotional and practical implications. Not unlike meeting with your CPA or going to the dentist, the thought of putting your home on the market may be enough to make you run for the hills.

If this is true for you, rest assured — you’re not alone. Here are five big fears many sellers face, and ways to cope with them.

My home won’t sell

The home sitting on the market is the number one fear of most sellers. Particularly if they need the money to buy another house or move on, the fear of the home not…

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Top Tips for Downsizing Without Compromising

Downsizing can be stressful.

Moving to a new home is a big change in itself, but moving to a smaller space can be an even bigger adjustment.

Here are a few tips to help you navigate through the downsizing landmine.

Plan Ahead

Give yourself lots of time to prepare. You should start at least three months before your actual move, so you don’t feel anxious about running out of time.

If possible, get a floor-plan of your new space to help with planning.

Purge

We all have lots of stuff. It just magically accumulates over the years. Deciding what to keep and what to get rid of is often the biggest challenge.

Ask yourself: If everything you owned was lost in a fire, what would you replace? Take stock of the things that are actually…

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5 Common Misconceptions About Real Estate

Popular misconceptions about real estate make many people hesitant to get into the home-buying or -selling game. And that’s a shame.

If you’re considering buying or selling a home, don’t let the following conventional wisdom stop you. There’s not as much truth to it as you think.

Misconception: You don’t need a real estate agent to buy a home now that all the information is online

Today it’s more important than ever to have a great local real estate agent on your team. And there’s no cost to you, so why not get an experienced pro on your side?

It’s no longer about agents having access to the proprietary data — it’s all out there. But since buying a home is such an infrequent transaction in your life, you need someone along on your journey who…

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British Columbia November Home Sales Second Strongest on Record

Vancouver, BC – December 14, 2015. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 8,032 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in November, up 34.5 per cent from the same month last year. Total sales dollar volume was $5.38 billion, up 56.4 per cent compared to the previous year. The average MLS® residential price in the province rose to
$668,317, up 16.3 per cent from November 2014

“Housing demand last month was the second strongest ever recorded for the month of November,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “You’d need to look all the way back to the frenetic market of 1989 to find more homes trading hands in November.“

The largest increase in consumer demand occurred in…

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Assessment notices will not shock Kamloops homeowners

Kamloops should escape the price shock homeowners in many parts of the province will experience when they tear open assessment notices next month.

Area deputy assessor Graham Held said yesterday that, while real-estate sales volumes in the Thompson region remain healthy, the market is not seeing the wild price increases found in the Lower Mainland.

“We’re looking at another flat market this year, a marginal increase,” Held said of assessment valuations.

Property owners across B.C. receive assessment notices in the first week of January. Those notices reflect property values as of July 1 the previous year.

“Certainly in the Kamloops market, it’s marginal increases,” Held said.

Kamloops & District Real Estate Association president Cyndi…

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Increase to Minimum Down Payments - Canada wide increase from 5% to 10% minimum on houses over $500,000

Todays news from the Canadian Real Estate Association

Today, the government announced its intent to raise the minimum down payment requirements on homes valued over $500,000. Requirements will remain at 5 per cent down payment for homes under 500,000. Any amount over $500,000 will require a 10 per cent down payment. For example a $700,000 home will require a $45,000 down payment, 5 per cent on $500,000 and 10 per cent down on the remaining $200,000. The announced changes will take effect on February 15, 2016.

The government cites its desire to “contain risks in the housing market” as the reason for its decision.

As you know, the issue of an increase to minimum down payments is something CREA has effectively and successfully fought against since…

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Paying off mortgage safer than investing the cash

Study after study suggests that Canadians are having a tough time paying off their mortgages, as debt levels continue to hit record levels year after year. Why?

Could it be that there are more opportunities to spend? Could it be that some people don't want to pay off their mortgages faster?

Or are some professionals advising alternate investment strategies, suggesting that paying off the mortgage is not the best financial strategy?

BIG MORTGAGES AFFECT RETIREMENT

Rebecca and Darcy are in their mid-50s and are starting to think about retirement planning; they would like to retire in the next five years.

One of their biggest hurdles is a $225,000 mortgage. Currently, their $2,200 monthly payment would have the mortgage paid off in 10 years.

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High real estate costs make having kids in B.C. a ‘luxury’

Home prices in British Columbia are growing rapidly, and more and more having kids is seen by many as a luxury.

Home prices in British Columbia are growing rapidly—particularly in Vancouver, where the average price is almost double that of the national average—and more and more, having kids is seen by many as a luxury rather than a given.

Almost two-thirds of families in this province—65%—say the cost of home ownership has had an impact on their ability to start or expand their families, according to the results of a RateSupermarket.ca poll.

The majority of families across Canada feel the same way, but the national average is nine percentage points lower at 56%.

“While it’s no surprise that kids are hard on the wallet…it is disheartening…

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It’s More Than Putting A Sign On Your Lawn!

It’s More Than Putting A Sign On Your Lawn.

Just as much goes into selling a home as it does into buying one.

It’s a bit of a science actually. You want to get the best price, but you can’t be out of line with market conditions. What to do? Start by being as informed as you can and by choosing an experienced agent who knows your neighbourhood inside out.

Since 1913, Royal LePage has been helping Canadians sell their homes and guiding them through every step of the process. From showing you how to increase the appeal of your home and setting a price that will maximize your profitability to discussing offers and closing the sale. Below, you’ll find it all outlined in eight simple steps.

STEP 1

Deciding to Sell

Everyone has their own reason…

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4 Tips for Selling a Home Far Away

Whether you’re in the next state or across the country, selling a home remotely can be tough. To pull it off, you’ll need to plan ahead and get some help from a local agent.

Just a few years ago, at the height of the real estate crisis, if homeowners were transferred for work or moved for personal reasons and couldn’t afford to sell their homes, they often opted to become “accidental” landlords.

Not experienced real estate investors, they became such as a result of the market. Now that the economy has picked up, many of these landlords are finally selling their investments.

If you know that you’ll be selling a home remotely, don’t wait until the last minute. It’s hard enough to sell a home, and being far away makes it even more difficult to prep…

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