Saturday, December 7, 2013

OK clients, friends, relations one and all, this is the time of the year when I (don't) send you baskets of fruit, my amazing 12 month calendar for 2014, and your special Purdy's chocolate selection.  Yes it a special time of year for all of us to give and to receive.  In this country of Canada we are able to look around at our wonderful scenery, our cities and our towns and feel proud of who we are and where we live.  However, it is a fact of life, in our modern and inclusive society, that right beside us are people so much less fortunate than ourselves.

Let us please reach out to these people.

For my part I am proud to be a part of community activities that help those less fortunate.  One area I have specialized over the years, because of working close to the health care field, is to give blood.  A simple act every 6 weeks, producing 6 donations every year.  Cost me nothing, I get no tax receipt for my donation, but I am in the business of saving and improving lives on a year round basis.

I am also very proud that at Pemberton Holmes Ltd we now have a very active group of my colleagues, together with their friends, partners and children who have joined our Pemberton Holmes blood group.  Almost 40 people are actively donating.  Last year we gave 49 units of blood, this year we are rapidly approaching 70 as we come to the end of the year. 

If you can give in the community where you live, feel proud that you can improve peoples lives in this way.  As the say: It's in You to Give.

To learn more, make an appointment, or join our group please go to http://www.bloodservices.ca/centreapps/internet/uw_v502_mainengine.nsf/page/Home?opendocument


Friday, March 1, 2013

So we have got to March, and the stats are now on my website to the end of February, but what follows is an article of interest from the CBC, as credited, and published about 10 days ago:

Home prices in Canada declined for the fifth straight month in January, according to the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index. Prices were down 0.3 per cent over the 11-city composite index.

Home prices declined in seven of 11 major Canadian markets from December, according to the widely followed index. Victoria, Halifax, Quebec City and Ottawa saw prices rise.

Prices rose 2.7 per cent from a year earlier, but that was the lowest annual growth rate since late 2009 as the housing market continues to cool.

January was the 14th straight month where the annual price increase was smaller than the month before, according to the Teranet-National Bank analysis.

Only Vancouver has seen an annual decline in home prices, falling 2.5 per cent from January 2012.

In Toronto, where many analysts are calling for a slowdown, prices were up 5.3 per cent annually.

Starting to cool
Many analysts are calling on Canadian home sales to continue to cool, especially in the red-hot Toronto and Vancouver markets.

"We anticipate a further softening in both sales and pricing in 2013," Scotiabank economist Adrienne Warren said in a note to investors. But she expects the correction to be mild, with low interest rates and job growth preventing a sharper correction.

Home prices in Canada fall for 5th straight month

The federal government has taken steps over the past couple years to avoid a bubble and cool the housing market by tightening mortgage rules.
The Canadian Real Estate Association found that sales activity dropped by 5.2 per cent in January compared to a year ago, which they attributed to the tighter rules.

Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney welcomed the cooling market, saying it's all part of the Canadian economy's transition from one dependent on borrowing to one more reliant on strong exports.


©CBC, 2013


So people of this area, there is some movement in the averages: the big properties with huge costs have dropped the most, the averages tell the more positive picture for sellers.

Buyers too, beware things are starting to tighten a little.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

What a fascinating time to providing real estate services in the Victoria area. 

For buyers there has never been a better time - lots of product to look at and amazing rates to get from your lenders

For sellers it is gooooood too, but you HAVE to be realistic.  The market is flat generally.  A downward movement is only really that the average house price has as I say, gone flat.  It seems like this is a decline.  Realtors - damn them - see a flat market as a declining market.  Don't be despondent because as soon as you become get your place on the market and offers coming in, you will become a buyer.

I will talk very briefly about those who bought in the run up to the crash, and here we are 4+ years later and IF you have to move, well we will do our best, we really will, to get you the best price we can but the reality is that you bought without knowing it, at a peak, and you have to sell in a moment of down and flattened prices. 

History shows these things do happen, and the further on in time we will look back at this one as we do the early 1980's.  IF you can stay where you are then do.