The media keep repeating that we are in a buyers’ market, sales are way lower since April, listings are almost three times the numbers of 4 months ago. True. However buyers are still quick when they recognize a competitive opportunity. I sold $22 million dollars worth of real estate in the last week in June and the first week in July. I’m almost sold out again! My clients recognize that everything counts today - price, condition, presentation and marketing.

The number of listings and price reductions continue to grow. There are 38 listings inWest Van beetween 1 mill and 1.2. I remember last year only having to worry about 3 or 4 listings as true competition in that price range. I sold 1405 Inglewood for $1,240,000 which is lower than our expectations 3 months ago, but still the envy of about 50 people with listings in that price range. However the high end is selling easily. Just since last Friday I sold 841 Highland listed at $3,495,000, 2935 Tower Hill listed at $3,900,000, 838 Pyrford listed at $5,200,000 and I’m working on a couple more offers over $3 million. Mostly affluent off shore buyers with young kids wanting to get settled before school starts. I also notice a lot more activity with showings on my listings over $2 million. But basically no activity at all under that price range. Advertising is key again. If there aren’t many buyers I have to draw them to my listings. 838 Pyrford got front cover in Homes and Land, full colour pages in BC Business and an editorial in VLM. 2935 Tower Hill also got front cover in Homes and Land, full colour page in Dream House and tons of marketing all over. It’s hugely expensive but it works. I continue to believe in advertising my listings - not myself.

As of today there are 505 detached homes for sale in West Van, up from 285 in May of last year and 255 in May of 2006. I haven’t seen numbers like this since the late 90’s! In all of greater Vancouver we have 17,457 listings compared to 12,000 in May of last year. 7600 homes were listed in April alone. The Board had to hire temps to input listings from 5 pm to 10 pm every day just to keep up! Those who want to sell are listening to their realtors and quickly adjusting prices. 75% of the homes listed for sale have had price reductions. However new listings that are priced sharply are still selling with multiple offers like 2603 Nelson, listed at $1,598,000 sold for $1,651,000. And I still have buyers who can’t find what they want, even at 5 million! I don’t see great price drops because most of the current sellers will just remove their houses from the market if they can’t get their price. Interest rates are still close to an all time low, the market is more balanced, I see opportunities to buy great properties at prices that look reasonable compared to only 2 months ago.

A slow path towards balance with 102 new listings, 66 price reductions, 50 sales.
On a different note, there is probably no other profession that shows the cycle of life like real estate. In 22 years I’ve sold to my generation, their parents and their kids. The kids, like their grandparents, tend to buy apartments. This week I had an interesting phone call. Someone I had never met introduced himself as the son of a couple who bought a house from me 21 years ago. They were a bit older and wanted an apartment but due to pet restrictions in most buildings in West Van, they decided on a small house in Ambleside. Great choice which served them well for all these years. Now closing on 90 the time really has come to move. The wonderful part of this little story is that the son realized that they were ready when his father gave him a piece of paper saying “Clara Hartree” and my phone number. I hadn’t talked to them in probably 15 years!

The media have dramatic ways of reporting change in real estate markets. Yes, we finally have a few more listings coming on the market which is a relief for those involved in multiple offers in the past few years. We are slowly finding a balance. However, with interest rates posed to continue to come down further in the next 3 months, strong economy and strong demand, words like “tumble” are out of line at least in West Van. I compare West Van to a coloured diamond. I was reading the other day about the guy who is making millions since he decided to specialize in coloured diamonds. Apparently blue and red are quite rare and sell for millions a carat. In West Van we sold 6 houses over 2 million in the past couple of weeks (that doesn’t count the ones I sold yesterday and today and haven’t been reported yet and I’m sure a few more sold by other realtors)). 3 of those were over 4 million. Yet only 3 in the $1.2 to $1.4 million. Also in the past 2 weeks we got 131 new listings in West Van and sold 40. In addition there were 65 price reductions or should I say price adjustments. More supply, less anxiety to buy. It happens every year in the spring and again in September.

Since January of this year we have sold 12 houses over 4 million in West Van. Just nice family homes, mostly new. Some attracted bidding wars. In the next few years new homes in West Van will be way more expensive now that the builders are paying almost 2 million for the land and sometimes more. This trend will continue as more young affluent families seek the village like West Van lifestyle with its parks, beaches, great schools, neighbourhood shopping, cafes and restaurants.
At the same time another segment of our population of about 42,000 is looking to selling the big family home and moving to a smaller place near all ammenities. However, strict zoning restrictions and strong opposition from the residents make the creation of any higher density areas an uphill battle. I was talking to the developer of the site on the corner of Marine and 24th. After a grueling process he got approval for 15 units. He is not planning to sell until construction is well underway and he knows his costs , however he already received 100 expressions of interest.
Another limitation imposed on those wanting to buy strata in convenient areas , but wanting to wait until they are ready to move is the popular decision by strata councils to not allow rentals. The only waterfront building in West Van that allows rentals is the Seastrand. Sales in the Seastrand are always fast and prices defy reason.
Meanwhile beautiful units in exclusive Argyle, a one block street along the Seawall between 21st and 22nd, are
available for under $1000/ sq ft in the Crescent and the Navvy Jack. Without a rental restriction they would sell a lot faster and for higher prices. I know, for those already living there this sounds like a sacrilege!

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just print money any time we need some? Well, that is precisely what the US government is doing to keep their financial institutions from drowning in bad loan paper. At the same time, interest rates are being lowered to help the economy. Short term solutions, long term problems? I don’t know, but these measures seem to be inflationary. This is a good time to watch interest rates and start locking in soon. Also a good time to invest in hard assets. Carefully selected real estate. West Van view lots are attracting a lot of attention, even in the long neglected British Properties. 714 Southborough, a 1/2 acre lot listed last week at $1750,000 sold with 6 offers for $1.8. Adjacent lot 686 was bought 2 years ago for 1.4.
The Real Estate Board just published MLS stats for the month of March. The median price of a detached home in West Van hit $1620,000, up from $1333,500 in March 2007.

Bear Sterns is the latest and in my opinion the scariest of recent financial melt downs. Imagine owning shares in an iconic institution trading at $150/share and suddenly, yes, in the blink of an eye, the whole thing sells for $2/share - less than the value of just one of their buildings!
My dad always hated to have cash. Real Estate was his choice. Real Estate is my choice.
For some reason real estate prices continue to go up. Slowly but surely.

Mr. Eden clearly took on more than he could handle. When the markets are great you always get people like him. I would feel sorry for him had I not heard his interview on tv saying that pre-sale buyers should know that they are taking a risk. “It’s a gamble” he said. This is Canada, Mr. Eden. Buying real estate, in a pre-sale or not is not a gamble. You may have gambled with other peoples’ money. I bought pre-sales for myself from Intracorp and other reputable developers. They were delivered, many times later than promised, but at the agreed price with the agreed quality. I sold many pre-sales to my clients and I believe that they made the right investment choices, buying from reputable developers with deep enough pockets to weather strikes and cost overruns.I did not sell any units in the Sophia or any other of Mr. Eden’s projects.
However, to be fair, in these times of dramatic price increases I must admit that the buyers run way fewer risks than the developers, and in some cases may have made more money than the developers who have to be able to diversify into several different markets to keep a profitable business.
One clear example is the Sophia itself. If the buyers get the units at the agreed pre-sale prices they are making profits of $100,000 to $200,000 each. That is 10 to 16 million dollars more than what they agreed to pay on completion .More than enough for Eden to pay his $6.2 million in cost overruns and make a fair profit.

Watching the news the other day I heard that a hokey player was involved in an accident that could have costed his life. He had surgery and is now recovering. And I thought - some doctor saved this man’s life. And yet the doctor’s name wasn’t even mentioned .Every day at every moment around the world a surgeon is saving someone’s life. However, we never hear the names of those surgeons. They don’t advertise on the back of the bus or in glossy magazines : TOP DOCTOR AT VANCOUVER GENERAL - 500 LIVES SAVED IN 2007 ALONE!
Today I just want to draw attention to all our doctors, those who saved the hockey player, those who saved our young friend Simon Manvell and those who saved our other young friend Brent Kennedy. And all others, every day, around the world.
It is pathetic that we realtors turn ourselves into self proclaimed celebrities advertising our sales achievements like they matter. We all work hard and help people with our marketing and negotiating efforts but Top individual, top team, top individual who works with another individual, top incorporated individual - please - what does this mean to the public? Who sells more anyway? And who cares?
Today I want to say Thank You to The UNKNOWN DOCTOR.
You are Number One.