Reasons to Renovate

If you intend on staying in the home you may want to:

• Add extra space to accommodate an expanding family, or simply to add a sense of spaciousness.
• Add rooms for special purposes, such as an office or games room.
• Change the configuration of the house for better flow, ease of use or orientation to sun and views.
• Update and remodel to give the house a fresher, more modern look – this could involve major changes such as taking out walls to enlarge a room, putting in a new kitchen, or installing new wallboards and ceilings. Or it could simply be a matter of painting or wallpapering.
• Restore the house to its original style (while adding modern features in some areas, like the kitchen and bathroom).
• Add value to increase your investment.

If you are renovating to sell, it is likely that you’ll want to give the house an inexpensive makeover to freshen it up and make it more attractive to buyers. For example, repainting, repapering, or changing dated or damaged fixtures, such as a cracked basin in the bathroom.

You need to consider the tastes of potential buyers, which really means keeping everything fairly neutral to appeal to a wider range of people. Not everyone warms to bright feature walls or pink bathtubs.

Renovations that will increase the appeal of your home may include painting the kitchen and bathroom, or putting in some decking to give an indoor-outdoor flow and an increased sense of space or some landscaping.

Don’t spend money that you won’t get back in the sale price. Ask Steve for ideas to increase the house’s appeal, and how much you should spend without overcapitalising

Compliments of CMHC

B.C. real estate sales to keep climbing this year: forecast

Home purchases have doubled since January's near collapse, says economist

Vancouver Sun: Thursday, August 27, 2009 11:13 AM

The provincial average price for a home of $451,200 will be one per cent below the 2008 level, and should show a one-per-cent gain to $457,600 in 2010.

Photo Credit: Reuters files,

VANCOUVER — British Columbia real estate sales should continue to rise through the remainder of 2009 from last year's market fall, according to the B.C. Real Estate Association's latest forecast.

Home sales have doubled since January's near collapse in sales, association chief economist Cameron Muir said in a news release, and he expects transactions recorded through the Multiple Listing Service to climb some 15 per cent from 2008 to 79,400 units.

Prices, although edging up from their declines through the last half of 2008, will remain below last year's levels before showing slight gains again in 2010, according to Muir's forecast.

The provincial average price for a home of $451,200 will be one per cent below the 2008 level, and should show a one-per-cent gain to $457,600 in 2010.

"After 12 months of significant volatility in B.C.'s housing markets, greater stability is expected through 2010," Muir said.

Economic forecasts continue to indicate that the province's recovery from recession will be slow. Central 1 Credit Union was the latest with its forecast that B.C. will experience below-average growth until 2012.

Muir, however, sees housing as a brighter spot in the economy signaling that "the economy is coming out of recession, with a recovery in the broader economy expected to develop over the next three quarters."

He added that not all regions of the province will experience the recovery in the same way.

Vancouver and Victoria have seen a sharper recovery in sales, Muir noted, while other regions, will return to more balanced conditions at a slower pace.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Back on Track!

The Greater Vancouver housing market gained further momentum in July with record sales levels and a continued strengthening of home prices. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that the number of residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 4,114 in July 2009, becoming the highest volume of sales ever recorded within the REBGV for that month, outpacing the 4,023 sales in July 2003, which is the only other year that July sales exceeded the 4,000 mark.

Since the beginning of the year, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver has increased 9.2 per cent to $528,821 from $484,211. However, home prices compared to July 2008 levels are down 5 per cent. “Home sales this summer are seasonally higher than normal, which is due in large part to the price correction that has taken place in the last year and low interest rates,” Scott Russell, REBGV president said. “Although well priced listings and lower-to mid-range priced properties remain in the highest demand across Greater Vancouver, recent activity from first-time buyers is beginning to boost demand in the “move-up” segment of the market.”

Compliments of REBGV