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Real Estate Cornucopia
August 22, 2022 | Posted by: Michele Cummins
Curtis Pope:
Well, it's about that time it's Saturday morning, we have to check in with the one and only Michelle Commons because it's time for the commons Real Estate Group show. My name is Curtis Pope. Good morning, Michelle.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Good morning Curtis Pope. How are you?
Curtis Pope:
I am doing well. You survived the hot days this week. It was a little warm.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Oh, gosh, I love it. I mean, I you know, I've got a favorite temperature of mine. But I love it all. I'll take it all. Bring it on.
Curtis Pope:
It's easy to forget that you're a Southern California girl. And this is nothing new to you.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Yeah, but you know what, I love the winter snow. I love the different seasons. And that's why I love living in the Fraser Valley. You get like every season, which is so fantastic. And I just really love soaking it all in every single season. So I'm soaking in the summer as much as possible. And I get to go camping overnight. For this I'm just so excited. Since 15 years since I've been camping Huertas
Curtis Pope:
you're going camping.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
This teen years.
Curtis Pope:
That's a long time. You know, uh, you know, I can't read last time I went camping. Is it been in the last 15 years? Yeah, I've gone camping in the last 15 years once or twice, but I like to camp my wife doesn't so you kind of makes it difficult to get camping?
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Well, maybe because you need a really nice trailer, because and I'll tenting now I think we don't need tension anymore in our lives. No,
Curtis Pope:
I would agree. But my wife's idea of camping is a three star hotel room. Oh, she's smart. Even a trailer. She's like, I don't want to pack all my stuff up from home to go somewhere else. Unpack it all again. That's how she looks at it. I'm like, but you can go fishing and hiking and do wonderful things in the forest. She's like, camping is a three star hotel room like to say?
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Well, it took me a long time to decide, you know, because I used to go camping with tents. But mostly I was asleep in the back of whatever vehicle I had, you know, so the bears wouldn't get me in the wild lions and tigers and bears. And and you know, it was fine. It was perfectly fine. I mean, Richard and I had the whole 31 days around the United States and are generally in the middle of summer in August with black leather seats. And we only slept six of the 31 days in on it like in the bed. And otherwise it was in the back of the generally and in Hayfield. That's what we did. And so, I don't know, I loved it. You know, when I was little younger and everything and it's fine and all but you know what, I really liked my bed now. And you know, like having a kitchen and a bathroom? Yeah.
Curtis Pope:
Yeah, I would tend to agree. And you know, it was great. My kids were younger and they'd want to go camping. But now none of them well, Cody would probably go camping but the other two are like I'm not going camping. What's wrong with you?
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Who is camping? glamping glamping?
Curtis Pope:
No, you see Cody, he's like meat, like he want to go out in the middle of nowhere where there's a good Lake and get fishing and stuff like that and be as far away from people as possible, like serious camping, where the other three members of our family yeah, they want to a pool. They want a shower, a bathroom the whole bit.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Then she loves the different personalities. It makes life so adventurous and so fun.
Curtis Pope:
If I were to go to my daughter, who's going to be 16 in December and say, Hey, we're going camping, I would get that that look that teenage girls have where they look at you like you're the dumbest thing on the planet. Yep, I would get that look from her.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Just do it. Try it.
Curtis Pope:
I'll do it. And I'll record the reaction. So you can see
Michele Cummins - PREC:
been. Oh my goodness. Well, you know what it's about time. I think I just didn't bring my metal detector and maybe do some metal detecting some hiking. I don't know. I haven't been hampered as you know. I will. What do you do camping? Richard will bring his guitar. I'll bring I don't know. My harmonica. There we go. Never played
Curtis Pope:
your guitar. You got your Paisley guitar.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Electric Paisley hoping that.
Curtis Pope:
Exactly. It'll be kind of quiet. You're not going to hear much of it.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Yeah, true. Okay, so there's some gates to remember I wanted everyone didn't know and it this Wednesday. If you love waking up primarily we have there's a zoom, meeting with a special speaker, Corinne Jansen of Fraser Valley, staging, essential staging, so it's from
630 to 8:
30am. You can literally make your coffee and sit in in your PJs. But now the market has shifted and it is important more so now than a long time. that sellers really stays their property for photos and video and media. So they stand out amongst the rest of the other listings. There's more listings now than we've seen in two decades, and the competition is completely fierce. And the buyers have more to choose from than they've had in years. So if you're thinking of selling, or you just want a new look for yourself, you don't want to miss this zoom live event, this Wednesday, the 24th, from 630 to
8:
30am. It's totally free, and easy. And just contact myself for the Zoom link, I'll email that too. And I'll be there too. So hope to see you there bright and early this Wednesday. And another date to remember is we've got a seller's seminar, it's going to be September 15. That's a Thursday evening at 7pm, another zoom live event, contact me for that link. And that is specifically how to sell in today's market. So again, if you're thinking of selling, how do you sell the best way possible in today's market, because it's shifted, it's not shifting anymore, it is completely shifted now. So very important dates to remember the third important date to remember September 30. Now this is a national day for truth and reconciliation. We brought it up last year on the show and make sure that everyone knew about the date. Why did we bring it up? Regarding real estate? Well, if you're buying or selling, you've got to make sure your closing dates don't fall on this date. National locations are closed on that day. So that means land title's so it Bill C five, which was proclaimed in June of 2021. And it's a law recognizing the history and lasting effects of Canada's residential school system and honors indigenous survivors, their families and communities. So it's representing one of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that so this statutory holiday applies to all federally regulated public and private workplaces. And that's including banks, airports, and Canada Post Lam trials. So that's why it's important to make sure if you're closing on a transaction, make sure it's not on that date. So those are some dates to remember. Now. Some information I mentioned that the market is no longer shifting, it's it has shifted, especially as a mindset for sellers to have, and providers to understand and know. So the last time sales was this low, it was the year 2000. Chris, do you remember 2000?
Curtis Pope:
Well, I try not to because that's when I graduated from broadcast school. And that's when I got married in the
Michele Cummins - PREC:
year 2000. Yes. That is so neat. Okay, wow. Well, that was the sales were the lowest that time and that's right after the 2018 correction. And before that it was in the 1980s recessions can sales. Were as low as they are now not prices. I'm not talking prices. I'm just talking sales. So important to know. And some other interesting information. We got kind of a cornucopia. Did you call it that? Yeah, it's
Curtis Pope:
a cornucopia episode. We've done a couple of these in the past, as well, where you've just had a whole bunch of odds and ends and tidbits for us.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
So much good information right now. And you know, last week we had replayed an episode and I don't I love doing these live every week. So I know we tried to do that. And so I've got lots of we got lots of information to talk about. So yeah, bucking and national trends, Metro Vancouver, July housing starts fell 28% compared to a month earlier. And that's according to the latest data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing court, which is CMHC. So meanwhile, them Hoover area residential sales through the multiple listing service were down 22.8% in July from June. So that fails. And that's reported from the Great Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. So with 28%, lower housing starts, you think there's going to be a little bit of an issue with housing compared to people needing housing? I think so. And that lends to what some economists and people are saying about how the market will end up rebounding. It's not going to be the whole following up. You know, what's happening now, forever or for longer than? So theory strata. This is another interesting information. I wanted to share three strategies. There's a dispute over smoking, and it's going to cost this owner more than $13,000 in fines and legal expenses. Can you imagine Curtis 13,000 in fines for something Well, that
Curtis Pope:
would be enough reason to quit smoking. I think
Michele Cummins - PREC:
smoking is expensive.
Curtis Pope:
Especially when the strata nails Yep. For 13 grand.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Yeah, thank goodness. We don't smoke. Exactly. I'll just have a little cigarette low like twice a year. You know, events, special occasions, but you know, I'll only take like three tops and I don't inhale.
Curtis Pope:
No. I used to smoke the odd cigar too. But I haven't done that for years. So
Michele Cummins - PREC:
I love the smell of a good pipe and cigar. I love the smell. So talking about that more, so that's okay. The moral of this story $13,000 Don't smoke where you aren't supposed to. Yeah, middle of the story.
Curtis Pope:
That is definitely a good moral of the story there. That's for sure.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
One more little information here. Okay, who makes more money than developers? Can you guess?
Curtis Pope:
Real estate agents?
Michele Cummins - PREC:
That's not true. That will be our next episode. Where does real estate commission go? I am going to have an episode on that. Because people don't know, hey, that's a good one. I'm gonna mark it in my calendar. Okay, so who makes more money than developers? So we have all heard how developers are so greedy, right? But Ever wonder who makes the most money on a real estate development? Well, local, provincial, and federal governments. That's to not the developer. So according to CMHC, fees and charges accounts for 20% of the price of a new condo, apartment, wants the proof, you got to check out the CMHC, which confirms government costs, raise new home prices in the western investor, I advertised a lot of my commercial listings in the western investor. And they are a great source of really good information. And you can go to my website to check out the link or just Google Western investor and maybe even Google the thing about developers and this CMHC report. So to go on with that the report it states a typical developers profit on a new condo project is estimated at between 10% and 15%. So it seems to me that as the various government wants to really improve affordability, well, they could lower and cut costs by different ways the federal government could raise the GSP threshold, or eliminate it for the first time homebuyers. The provincial government could raise the threshold for first time homebuyers to 750,000 which all of us need to understand where prices are at and how hard it is for first time homebuyers. Only up to 750,000 That's not even the average or median price of a home in the Fraser Valley, or Chilliwack. Matching that threshold for PPT or pptx, which is the property transfer tax exemption on the new home construction and local governments could give property tax relief for first time homebuyers like these are ways that they can actually make it a bit more affordable. So there you have it, those are some information and I know we got no laundry.
Curtis Pope:
Yeah, we got to take a quick break here. We will come back though. But people probably want more information about all the seminars you were talking about and your listings and things like that. Where can they go? Michelle come in and stop ca we're back with more right after this. And we are back with segment number two of the company's Real Estate Group show with local Rockstar realtor Michelle Cummings and myself Curtis Pope. Now Michelle, I think we should probably let the listeners in on something here this is kind of cool. We finally got the okay we're bringing you back in the studio.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Yay. Oh my gosh, that's gonna be so fun.
Curtis Pope:
It is gonna be fun we even we even have these fancy like little ring lights so that we can you know go to the video in the studio and try to like look like we're well lit and like we know what we're doing. We're gonna look pretty in the studio. Well, you will I will not I'm still gonna look like me but we'll do our best
Michele Cummins - PREC:
I think we need like a GoPro I have one or some we're gonna have I want to video us in the studio. Oh, it's gonna be so great. Having that every week back in the studio. I'm ready next week here we come.
Curtis Pope:
Yes, it should be a lot of fun. I mean, I I don't get a lot of guests anymore. I you know, I'm not used to people being around it'll be odd but it'll be fun.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Do you forget what
Curtis Pope:
I look like? I sorted remember
Michele Cummins - PREC:
now when you pass by my big billboard every every day. Yeah. And
Curtis Pope:
I do on their way home most days. So yeah, that's what She looks like right I remember her.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
I still look like that. Well, I got some blonde in my hair now.
Curtis Pope:
It's blonde, not gray. Okay, I mean, I'm just kidding.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
So on to that real estate information and not gray hair.
Curtis Pope:
Well, if you have gray hair, we know who causes it. Oh, that's for sure. Well, actually, I would be in there to probably BB there's a long list of people giving you great hair,
Michele Cummins - PREC:
not my little cat dB, he would never give me gray hair. So news and other areas surrounding the Fraser Valley. So Victoria, they're going to ban the use of natural gas, fossil fuels in new buildings by 2025. Think of that so the City of Victoria is banning the use of natural gas and fossil fuels in all the buildings. So it's a bold move to accelerate the city's Climate Action Plan. A mixed race concerns about climate change, Victoria Council voted to map new BC Building Code carbon pollution standards that will require all new construction is zero carbon by July 2025. This is about five years ahead of the anticipated provincial requirements expected to be announced later this year. Buildings account for nearly half of all greenhouse gas pollution generated in the city said the mayor Lisa helped. So she said each new building will last more than 50 years. So raising the bar now is critical to meeting our long term climate goals into preparing the taxpayers of the future to have less climate related costs down the road. After declaring a climate emergency in March 2019. Victoria, they need to reduce its community greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. By 2050. It estimates that the pending change to new buildings remove up to 7% of those emissions. Victoria is one of the first municipality in British Columbia to make all new constructions, zero carbon pollution and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels for water and space heating. That I mean, if you think about I believe it's 2035 or 2032, they want to also make it all gas vehicles, they're not gonna be able to sell them anymore. And we'll all be electric. I mean, that's I think it's 2035, something like that.
Curtis Pope:
I believe I think you're right. Yep. Yeah, so
Michele Cummins - PREC:
they're working towards all of this everyone is but the Toria is the first one for this. So building our buildings are just one of the industries Victoria is looking to revamp and drive down emissions. And the city is also planning to changes to municipal operations, waste and mobility sectors as well. So for more information, presale condo, there's a presale condo buyer, very skeptical, there was a news report about it. And it's about this Coquitlam building. So in Coquitlam, it is not the only one though, not the only building not only buyer concern for this equivalent building specifically has been stalled for three years. And so think about putting 10% down on a new home pre construction, and thinking Oh, you'll kind of move into it in a year or two. And it ends up being five years later down the road. I mean, that's a lot for any buyer to take, especially with the interest rate changes that are happening, because you can't get pre approved so long in advance, you only get pre approved for that mortgage that you're gonna get on that new pre construction when it's closer to the completion date. So, you know, there's gonna be a lot of changes, and there's a lot of issues surrounding the interest rates going up so high so fast. And what happened to COVID with shutdowns, for example, for developers, it's not that it's out there, it's not their fault, the red tape from the government from the provincial municipal governments. And so waiting for those permits, waiting for the approvals, and there's been changes through the COVID shutdowns that has made it difficult for a lot of developments to be on target. I mean, we've all heard about the service providers, the actual materials that you can get, it's been a huge issue. So the BC Financial Services Authority, which oversees different financial sectors has a lengthy checklist of what to watch for, and how to ensure provincial safeguards under the real estate development marketing act, that protects pre sale buyers, deposits and other aspects of the sale. For instance, my personal situation I had was I bought to pre sells in a project in Abbotsford, and a couple, maybe a year or so ago, they actually gave back all deposits to all purchasers and said we're not doing this development anymore. So there's that potential to happen to somebody. And there's the potential of the delays and the delays and the delays in the development even starting to break ground. So it's important to work with specialists who can explain the disclosure statement because it's the disclosure statement that comes out every time there's a Training the developer send that to you, the buyer. And if you had worked with an agent to help you purchase that pre sale, they send it to your agent. And it is very important to understand the contract and the purchase and sale when you go to purchase some of the biller and also the properties, or the disclosure statements from the developers very important. So if there are parts, they don't You don't understand. I mean, you really should ask your realtor and should have a lawyer review it, there is an amazing lawyer right in the heart of our Abbotsford, and they actually walk you through it and can help you understand it. And same thing was titled, if you don't understand the titles of properties you're purchasing, they will make it understandable to you. So yeah, it's kind of watch out. Understand that, you know, you put down a large deposit on these pre sales, but you got to know the black and white in the contract to purchase and sell and what the developers are able and legally able to do, such as these delays if there's unforeseen circumstances. And so I wanted to ask, Are you or someone else looking for a house in the Fraser Valley? That's under 600,000 rings? I mean, can you imagine the detached property that is a rancher and it's nice and clean, a single garage, even a garage, access to an indoor pool, a sauna, jacuzzi, and access to a river that streams out into a large lake? Can you imagine that being in the 600,000 range in the Fraser Valley?
Curtis Pope:
No, that's a unicorn, it doesn't exist. Michelle,
Michele Cummins - PREC:
I have that unicorn. And you just contact me today for it. It's serious. I'm serious. And it is awesome. And it's got private views and a big backyard. Contact me today if you or somebody you know wants that. Okay, so I also have a land assembly in Chilliwack. These are five properties all together to make a beautiful multifamily space. If you're a developer or if you're an investor, you can either hold on to it or you can build up now, if the block of perfectness for development is in a great area of Chilliwack. You can contact me about that one too. And oh my goodness. So two nights ago, I had a sneak peek of a soon to come listing in Brooklyn, Brooklyn. My uncle lives in Brooklyn, my brother sister in law Brookswood. i My started my real estate career right in the heart of Langley, and oh my goodness, Brooklyn. Brookswood is such a beautiful area of Langley. And I got to walk this property and it's almost it's over 12,000 Square Feet flat, fully usable land with a great fully fenced backyard. It's a renovated house with five sheds, five sheds, and a workshop for cars and boats, you can work on your bikes wherever you want. And it's got an above ground pool and it's heated. And I mean, who doesn't want to pull in this kind of weather we've been having. And it's an entertaining style house. It literally literally is for entertaining. It's so great, and it's gorgeous, huge trees you can imagine so you can contact me about that is not on the market yet. And I just got to walk through it a couple of nights ago. But I'm Hannah's coming soon, which is actually going to hit the market Tuesday Wednesday at the latest. And this one is admission off green place. It's adjacent on two sides of the property of all green lush Park and protected green space. And it's private views. It's got a fully fenced backyard and it's a basement entry house. It was built in 2011 It's got a it's wrapped in four suite and really all it needs is a kitchen that's it and it would be a perfect blended family home for somebody who wants to live with their parents or kids or you know it's a great it or it can have great rental income for the suite as well as just needs the kitchen that's it and all the views from the downstairs is all just green trees. It's gorgeous. And the listing price to that is 1.1 million so that's a coming soon listing. Oh and I've got a rental for Dan laying with my REMAX little of my property manager. There is a rental a three bedroom home in Agassi right now available with a large fully fenced backyard deck, new flooring, new all new paints and it's got a wood burning fireplace and it's a really nice place a beautiful views of Mount Sham, gorgeous and you can walk to town walk to the park and there's also I know of a two bedroom suite that's available and it has a fully private fenced backyard as well and I know he had that that just came up for rent as well. So if you're looking for a rental There you go, you can contact Dan Lang from Remax little oaks property manager Even or Easton lane. And so some open houses I wanted to talk about this weekend. I mean, it's a beautiful weekend to go to open houses. And I've got what I call an organized extravaganza, an open house extravaganza, I put together, it's inherited hotsprings. And it was seven properties. This is so fun. We're all gonna have little snacks, and each of them, we're going to have a giveaway of a $50 gas card to the buyers who goes to all seven homes. No, I think we're gonna limit to if you go to at least three of the seven homes. The the event is on my Facebook page. So check it out, it has all the addresses and a map. And I've got a couple of my listings within that extravaganza, but there's seven I've I've organized this with the other local realtors in that area, Harrison Hot Springs, to put all seven listings on this self tour. So self buyers tour. So it's gonna be a lot of fun to go out there. It's yeah, so So have a look at that on my Facebook page and check it out, you can download the map. And then I've got townhouse in Surrey. And it's only 750,000. And that open houses today from one to three if you're looking for a townhouse in Surrey, and I also got a detached character home and chill, relax. And that one's at 9110 William Street, and that's tomorrow from 12 to two but just check out my either my website or my Facebook page, it's all on there, you can look at previews of the photos and information. And then I'm going to share if we have time, I want to share a new listing that's coming up this realist. It's an acreage of over three acres in sumac mountain area of Abbotsford. It's off North parallel road and it's 1,650,000 it's got two houses, three over three acres, two houses, fence, two gated entries, again, only 1,650,000 Right in Abbotsford. And yeah, so you can have a look at my drone video walkthrough this beautiful, great property. I'm going to do a live Facebook walkthrough of it this week. So keep an eye out on my Facebook for that live walkthrough. When I do that, and whether you're looking at selling or buying residential or commercial real estate, contact me anytime I'm here to help. I wanted to end with a quote of the week and something to remember. So the quote of the week is there's nothing so bad that it can't be worse. And a little bit of my quarter Irish in me that's a little bit of an Irish quote for you. And I'll remember, I'm here to unlock your real estate potential and do what it takes.
Curtis Pope:
Very nice. Well, if people want more details about these open houses and these listings you were talking about, amongst other things, where can they go? Michelle cummings.ca. And join us again next week when we will talk real estate in order to unlock your real estate potential on the show real estate is maximized. Thanks for listening
If you missed last week's replay episode where last October Michele And Curtis Talk the ABC’s Of Buying a Second Home please go take a listen! It's well worth it!
Warning! This is an automated transcription, meaning there will be spelling mistakes throughout! Including Michele's name ;) Enjoy