Cell (604) 727-5385 | graham@grahamhiggins.com

  Mortgage Calculator

Calculate Your Payments

  Buyer Resources

Best Real Estate Advice

  Seller Resources

Selling For Top Dollar

  Mobile Listings

Search Anywhere Always

  Here To Help You

You Can Contact Me Always

RSS

Today 7th June 2012 sees the launch of The Century Groups development in the Central City (Whalley) area of Surrey, this will bring to 4 the number of high rise developments under construction or proposed in the immediate area of the new city hall, on the corner of 104th Ave and University drive.

This includes the Wave on the South West corner which tantalizingly offers moveable walls and a proposal by Bosa developments for 2 towers on the North East corner. All within a 10 minute walk from Surrey Central Skytrain.

Coupled with the already built and mainly sold Concord Pacific Towers at King George station and the new 4 story and Quattro development  of 4 storey and high rise buildings near the Gateway station means that this area is changing rapidly.

 

 

 

 

Read

All of you who go looking for the cheapest Strata fee you can find, should be aware of the following, so should anyone who owns a strata unit. Sometime next year the Strata Act will be updated.

 

http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th1st/3rd_read/gov08-3.htm

 

There are some disturbing modifications about to be made; the bill has passed 3rd reading that will probably affect your strata fees. Section 94 will require stratas to bring experts on site to do depreciation estimates. I.e. Roofs, how long is left for the useful life and how much approximately will it cost to replace it. The stratas' will have 2 years from the bills passing to complete this task. The strata will then have to fund this in contingencies. In other words the strata fees could be increased to cover this and build up the funds over a period of time. There has been no consultation with the strata organizations about this, similar laws were enacted in Alberta and Ontario and do exist in some other provinces.

The unknown is that when the 2 year grace period is up the government has told no one so far how much time must elapse for the funding to take place. In Alberta the government did not allow very long , resulting in some horrifying increase and special assessments, in Ontario on the other hand more time was allowed to phase the collection of monies in. There are other changes also and perhaps the best place to start getting information is

 

http://bcstratachanges.ca/

 

Townhouses could be especially hit hard as the sewer and water lines that run under the roadways and common property will probably have to be factored in also. If you live in a strata make sure your strata council knows about this and gets the strata manager on it, most of them already are, but there are a few who do not know anything about it.

Read

Well here we are again, at years end, well almost, and what a year it’s been.

We started the year a slow Real Estate market and by the end of July had experienced the busiest month ever on record for sales and the market kept going. Even in December usually a quiet month the market is very active and looks to be for the first 1/2 of 2010.

What the impact of the HST will be remains to be seen but it really will only effect the new house market and the resale market stands to benefit form that. The only concern most sellers will have is the change, on commissions, in sales taxes from 5% to 12%.

The prime rate appears to be stable for the next few months so that will be good news for those locked into variable mortgages. The fixed term rates of 3 years and more are not affected by the prime rate and those have been creeping up a little in the last 2 months and several “experts” think they will slowly increase over the next year. Of course “experts” have a 50-50 chance of being right the best definition of an economist I have heard is “someone who has to explain tomorrow, why the prediction they made yesterday, did not happen today” perhaps not entirely true but close enough from my point of view.

Anyhow I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and health New Year when ever you New Year Starts (see Happy New Year maybe Dec 08.

 

Read
Categories:   | Abbotsford West, Abbotsford | Ambleside, West Vancouver Real Estate | Annieville, N. Delta | Annieville, N. Delta Real Estate | Bolivar Heights | Bolivar Heights, North Surrey | Bolivar Heights, North Surrey Real Estate | Bridgeport RI, Richmond Real Estate | Cedar Hills, North Surrey Real Estate | Central City | Downtown NW, New Westminster Real Estate | East Newton | East Newton, Surrey | East Newton, Surrey Real Estate | Elgin Chantrell, South Surrey White Rock Real Estate | Fleetwood Tynehead | Fleetwood Tynehead, Surrey | Fleetwood Tynehead, Surrey Real Estate | Fraser Heights, North Surrey Real Estate | Gabriola Island, Islands-Van. & Gulf Real Estate | Guildford | Guildford, North Surrey | Guildford, North Surrey Real Estate | Killarney VE, Vancouver East Real Estate | Langley Real Estate | N Surrey | N Surrey real Estate | New Westminster | New Westminster Real Estate | North Surrey | North Surrey Real Estate | Property | Queen Mary Park Surrey | Queen Mary Park Surrey, Surrey | Queen Mary Park Surrey, Surrey Real Estate | Real Estate | Sapperton | Sapperton, New Westminster Real Estate | Steveston North, Richmond | Steveston South, Richmond Real Estate | Sullivan Heights, Burnaby North Real Estate | Sunnyside Park Surrey, South Surrey White Rock Real Estate | Surrey | Surrey Real Estate | Uptown NW | Uptown NW, New Westminster | Walnut Grove, Langley Real Estate | West Newton, Surrey | West Newton, Surrey Real Estate | Whalley | Whalley, North Surrey | Whalley, North Surrey Real Estate | White Rock, South Surrey White Rock Real Estate | Willoughby Heights, Langley | Yaletown, Vancouver West Real Estate
Reciprocity Logo The data relating to real estate on this website comes in part from the MLS® Reciprocity program of either the Greater Vancouver REALTORS® (GVR), the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) or the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board (CADREB). Real estate listings held by participating real estate firms are marked with the MLS® logo and detailed information about the listing includes the name of the listing agent. This representation is based in whole or part on data generated by either the GVR, the FVREB or the CADREB which assumes no responsibility for its accuracy. The materials contained on this page may not be reproduced without the express written consent of either the GVR, the FVREB or the CADREB.