In my 25 year career marketing and selling real estate I have seen so many clients - and realtors! - go from a modest lifestyle to being able to give their families all the choices that come with unlimited funds. But my very favourite is Nevin. I saw him yesterday at the Ferrari flagship store on Burrard - by the way the building in itself is worth a visit. He remembers buying his first house from me about 20 years ago. It was actually a lot that the Morans had subdivided. Nevin built his first home there. His plan was to build a house at a time, move in, sell. Many people have done and still do the same. But none with Nevin’s success. In what seems like a very short time, he moved to better locations, reached the waterfront, built several waterfront homes, highrises, everything he touches truly turns to gold. When we first met he called himself ” a little punk fromt the East side”. He has owned Ferraris for years, is building a 120 ft boat in a shipyard that he bought, yet I have never seen him in any kind of designer clothes. He doesnt need to.

Oh the beauty of having well priced listings in these areas! Last week a “dormant” client called me because he had seen a Penthouse in the Mauna Loa that he was considering buying. We went back to look at it together, it was beautiful. However - he could not buy it until I sold his house. I wrote an offer with a subject to sale which was accepted because the listing agent agreed with me
that the gentleman’s house would sell fast. I listed it Monday morning, one hour later I had a full price offer with no subjects. Other agents wanted to show the house, this one didnt need to. The option was to wait until the agents’ open house on Thursday and possibly get multiple offers and a higher price. However, my client did not want the stress of waiting. We countered the full price offer at a higher price and I got our counter accepted. House sold (no showings, no ads, no sign) PH bought. That was Monday. Today I got subjects removed on 102 - 2190 Argyle. Sold! Earlier in the month I sold 3 in 2 days - this week 3 in 5…

LA, Manhattan, Hong Kong - and then there is the rest of the World. Prices for view properties in Dundarave and Ambleside continue to sell for unprecedented prices. We list at what we think a property is worth based on the most recent “comparable” sale - and the buyers add another few $100,000. It’s great to be a seller in these areas right now. I watch Selling New York and Selling LA on HGTV to feel that this is real - prices grow where people want to live. West Van on a sunny day is stunning!

108 sales in West Van since January 1st . 55 of those over $2 million.
We are back down to 386 detached home listings after briefly touching 400 earlier in February.

Extremely interesting article in the Wall Street Journal last week.
It shows real stories of people who are planning to move or already moved to Canada or the US and cites surveys by the Bank of China and the Hunrun report, showing the main reasons that China’s wealthy are “heading for the exits” - most people mentioned their childern’s education as the main reason, followed by concerns over air quality, food safety and the safety of their assets . More to follow…

I’ve been loyal to Blackberry since the beginning, upgrading when necessary. I waited patiently for their equivalent to the ipad and they came out with the Playbook. Please - can someone help those people be true to their brand ? Who is going to buy a “playbook”? Not even kids. How about Blackbook???

Mainland Chinese dominated the buying activity for the past few years and into June/July of 2011. Around 90% of my listings sold to Chinese until July. Now I’m noticing an entirely different wave - Caucasians who sold their houses locally are buying condos or moving to more affordable areas. And the bulk of offshore buying in West Van right now is the Iranian market with many new buyers hitting the market.

No comments for a while… but selling a lot : number one team in West Van again! And number 7 in Western Canada!

Democracy - once again we see the results of democracy mixed with ignorance. The HST is a killer of new construction. In a city where new homes can cost anywhere from $500.000 for a tiny apartment to $6 million and more for new houses, 12% was always an idea that could only hurt developers and buyers. The HST should have been applied only to items that were already subject to PST. That would have been fair and avoided this complete mess. Who is going to buy new construction now? Builders who are getting ready to hit the market in 2012 are stuck. No changes until 2013? I just hope that some intelligent minds get together with Victoria and
1 - make changes immediately
2 - keep the HST on items that were already subject to GST+PST so that businesses don’t have to adjust their computer systems one more time
3 - keep real estate out of it. We had enough trouble getting buyers to pay 5% GST.
Real estate employs thousands of people, from construction, to lawyers, realtors, suppliers of everything from windows, to floor coverings and furnaces, swimming pools, interior designers, landscape designers. A little vision would go a long way to keep employment growing.

My new team member Jili who joined my Top Team last month already sold her first home to new Chinese immigrants. She is heading to China next week to meet with Chinese Immigration Lawyers and with new immigrants. She will take brochures of all my listings for extra promotion.