Vancouver Real Estate News Blog - Vancouver Real Estate Selling Tips

Should I Buy or Sell My House First?

Homeowners looking to move often face a daunting question: should they start by buying a new house, or would they be better off selling their current home first?

The simple answer is that there is no simple answer. What’s good for one person may be the wrong choice for another. Moreover, different markets and different locations present unique considerations that should not be ignored.

That said, you can ask some simple questions to help you make an informed decision. They may not provide easy answers, but they will give you helpful data to consider as you prepare your buying and selling strategies.

Pros and Cons

The Pros of Buying Before You Sell

There are certainly advantages for those who choose to buy a new home first.

For starters,…

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How to Price Your Home

You’ve decided to sell your current home and move to another. The thought excites you! You’re ready for a change of scenery. You’re looking forward to the next chapter. You’ve already started the hunt for your new home.

But then you pause: how much will you make on your house sale? And, come to think of it, how will you decide what to ask for in the first place? Choosing a number can be daunting, especially in changing markets and times of economic uncertainty.

The good news is that this process doesn’t have to be a complicated mystery. There are several practical steps you can take to reach a fair, market-conscious asking price for your home.

Put your feelings aside

Whether you’ve lived in this house for eighteen months or eighteen years,…

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Three Ways to Take the Focus off of You When Selling Your Home; Remember, It's Not About You

Selling your home in Vancouver, British Columbia or another major Canadian city isn’t easy, especially if you have lived in your home for years or even decades. Your house isn’t just four walls and a roof – it’s a place full of memories and meaning. Your home is a part of your life, and selling it can often cause you to reflect on yourself and your family. In order to sell your home, though, it’s important to focus on the buyer. A prospective buyer won’t have the same emotional connection to your property that you have, so focusing on yourself during the home showing won’t close a sale. Here are three strategies you can use to refocus, so you can find a buyer for your home.

Rid Your Home of All Clutter

Ridding all of the clutter from your current…

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3 Ways Real Estate Can Help You Retire (and We're Not Talking Investment Properties)

We all want to ensure that we’ll be able to retire at an ideal time in our lives, and most of us dream of retiring sooner rather than later. Many people take the route of purchasing real estate investment properties in order to make this dream a reality, and many are successful. Regardless of whether you are up for dabbling in real estate investment, if you own your home you also have an investment that will help you retire when the time is right. Here are just three ways your "non-investment" property can help you retire sooner.

Selling and Living: Trading Your Home for Retirement

 If you've been paying off your home for the last twenty plus years, you likely have a large investment on your hands, one that you may not even realize has…

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Tales from the Other Side: How Selling Your Own Home Can Become a Horror Story

New homebuyers understandably proceed with great trepidation when seriously considering a new property. The internet is rife with horror stories of scamming developers, thoughtless real estate agents, unqualified inspectors and deceiving 'fixer uppers' in utter shambles. But selling homes in Vancouver can be equally terrifying and heartbreaking. If you're selling a home independently or for another homeowner, you may want to consider some dangerous actions that could turn a great sale into a horrible tale. Any of the following situations can turn your dream of selling a home into a nightmare.

When You Don't Have the Right to Sell The Home

It may sound obvious, but if you're asked to list, show and ultimately sell a home, make sure the person…

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Renovate or Relocate? A Guide to Weighing Up the Pros and Cons

There comes a time in almost every homeowner's life when the house you live in can no longer accommodate the life you live. At this point, many homeowners struggle with a decision between two choices: stay, or go? If you're emotionally attached to your home, then renovation may seem like the best option, but what if renovation won't actually give you what you need in the end? And for those who are set on moving, how can you be sure that it's really worth packing up your whole life and adjusting to a new Vancouver neighbourhood? If you're not sure which way to go, this brief guide should help you to properly weigh the pros and cons of this very important decision.

Ask Yourself: What Do You Really Need?

The first question to ask yourself when…

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Is Now the Time to Buy a Home in Vancouver?

The decision to buy a house is a little like the decision to have a baby -- there's no such thing as the perfect time.  But it helps to make an informed decision, to weigh need against desire and facts against speculation.

So, if you're considering buying Vancouver real estate  in 2013, here are 6 things to think about:

1. 1.    Home Sale Prices

Home prices in the Vancouver area declined 2.3 percent over the course of the past year, according to the MSL Home Price Index, as reported by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).  The average price of a home in Greater Vancouver was $590,800 in December.  This is a decline of 5.8 percent from the peak reached in May when the average selling price was $625,100.

Averages and…

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Vancouver Real Estate Welcomes the World

The attraction of Vancouver has been legendary for years.  Vancouver is nearly always in the top five rankings on the Best Places to Live lists.  This beautiful area attracts tourists, immigrant investors and retirees.  But one of the biggest stabilizers to the Vancouver real estate market has been the immigrant investor. 

There has been a strong interest in this cosmopolitan beautiful port town for decades.  The close proximity to Asia and the US has made it a favorite with investors worldwide, but most recently an influx of Chinese investors has served to strengthen the market even further. 

The immigrant investor is extremely important to the real estate market stability and steady increase in property prices in Vancouver. 

The requirements…

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Vancouver Real Estate Still a Strong Investment?

There are indicators that the steady increase in housing prices in the Vancouver Real Estate market could be heading for a corrective lowering in the near future as other areas like Toronto start to attract more interest.  Real Estate pundits offer a variety of reasons for the impervious Vancouver market, but there remain concerns about what will happen to the market when the interest rates are adjusted in 2013.  

Will Vancouver continue to be a growth market in the near future, is this still a great place to invest in holiday homes, retirement properties and foreign investment. 

There has been much speculation about how Vancouver has remained unscathed by the economic woes that have created bubble and burst problems world wide in the housing…

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Vancouver Real Estate Buddle

Through out the post-2008 economic woes of the world; real estate markets have been a barometer of economic conditions for the local area.  Worldwide, real estate bubbles and bursts have been indicative of economic stability and even employment opportunities as the housing market in most areas is so deeply interlaced into the economic conditions. 

Vancouver, BC has been seemingly impervious to the bubbles and bursts the rest of the world has been balancing up until now.   This strong economic area has held the housing prices steady or increasing even in some of the worst of the world’s economic times. 

There have been questions lately in real estate industry about the steady rise in Vancouver real estate prices.  The concern is that the steady…

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