Victoria British Columbia Real Estate Information Archive

check out our new site at www.peninsulahousevalues.com . we are making it easy for consumers in the area to get a quick over the new market evaluation on thier home.

Every year I speak at Howard Brintons Star Power Conference which is devoted to the top 1% of the Realtors in North America. This is a great opportunity for me to get with top producers from around North America and share my I ideas and pick up some of theirs.

5 Years ago a few of the "Stars" as we are known (check out www.gostarpower.comfor info) got together and decided to help fund a Habitat for Humanity Home in every City we hold our annual conference. I was so pleased to get involved 3 years ago with the home in New York City. Since then I have helped with the home in 2007 in Phoenix and this year in Orlando. What was special this year is I got to be one of 5 stars who got to assemble the home! We arrived on the site and found the slab all poured and ready to go. then it was time for each volunteer and the homeowner to tell their name and why they were there. Following a prayer was said and off we went.

The walls all showed up on a flat deck built by a group of 65-85 year old volunteers in Orlando. Using a crib they build the wallls in the shop and then with overhead lift to help they put them on flat deck trailer in reverse order of how they go up. Awesome idea and volunteer idea.

So working with the group I was lead on bringing walls to the foundation and then a team would work at connecting the walls by putting nuts on bolts in floor plates and then nailing top pl ates on . It was awesome to watch the house go up. and working there along side us was the homeowner and her family. so awesome.

Then it came time for roof trusses. being 6'3 meant I got to be lead in bringing trusses in with  great team of folks. Then using a easy Y lift we were able to flip the trusses into place. We got the last truss up and on and nailed in place just before the afternoon thunderstorms (temperature was 94 with 96% humidity! welcome to Florida in July!)

All in all it was a awesome day and I encourage you to work with Habitat. Whether its volunteering in the office, helping out on a construction site or writing a check to help them out it really is a awesome experience to see the look on the face of the homeowner who without this help would remain in rental or subsidized housing and no hope for the future. My wife Jan and I are so pleased to help out this great organization . Check it out at www.habitat.org

For the last year the Media in USA and Canada have been just dumping all over real estate as a bad investment and that is a black hole. Where does all this come from ?

Basically the real estate problem as we know it was created due to the stupidity of Wall Street and Bay Street Investment houses. The packaged up loans as Asset Backed Commercial Paper and sold them off as bonds to unassuming Investors. then you had people who had no right in buying a home due to credit issues or lack of income , buying homes with all this "cheap money" that Wall street had created. Why was this done? Since 2001-2002 the Real Estate Market in Canada and USA has been on the rise, too much but that was due to cheap money, and many people were investing in Real Estate to get rich. Why? Well after Enron and World-Com and the dot com mess in USA and Nortel and Bre-X mess's in Canada many people like me thought why give my money to some company that i have no clue whats going on (people would say that was my naivete but hey major banks in Canada lost money on all this as did many investment houses on each side of border) why not put it into something i can touch, see, feel and believe in. At least with Real Real Estate you got something you could believe in. the 20%+ appreciation that was going on was not normal and many people did well but others got greedy. Real estate in long term is way better than Stocks in that you can always live in it, rent it and see it. After the flood of money left all the Stock Markets the investment houses had to cash in on Real Estate. How did they do it? by creating the whole Sub Prime mortgage mess. now that they created it they say Real Estate is Bad? is it ? or is it the people trying to offer mortgages as bonds and creating shaky investments?

Many banks in Canada did not and never lose on thier Mortgages in Canada. Interesting enough these so called smart bankers have lost millions investing in the US Sub Prime mortgage market. what drove this? Greed. and the desire to achieve more than average returns.

In the long term your own home is still the best investment you can make. it offers shelter, pride of ownership, a forced savings plan and over the long term appreciation.

If you are interested in Investing in Real Estate and how to do it right check out "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" by Gary Keller. Gary and his co-writers Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan interviewed more than 100 successful Real estate Investors who had over time made lots of money by investing the right way in real estate.

There has been a noticeable change in the local real estate market, something that we predicted that was due to happen. We are still seeing sales of homes but unless the property is priced right then it will languish on the market.

The challenge in Victoria is that prices have more than doubled in 5 years, not a normal market. its not the prices so much that are affecting our market but the affordability gap. Less than 20% of people in the Victoria area can afford to buy a home right now due to the rapid increase in prices. While our slowdown will not be as great as in USA where in top 20 markets prices are off 13% this year we are going to see a noticeable slowdown in price increases. Our opinion is that prices have been flat for last 6 months and will continue to be flat for next 18 months. That means if you bought in 2006-2007 you will probably get what you paid for your home, less commission. I just had a client in from USA who bought a new condo from a developer in Victoria and was told that he would have no problem flipping the property. I had to let him know that there had been no resales in that building this year (large "green new project"  and that he was best to rent it. he agreed.

The one thing that has kept the Victoria condo market going is our low vacancy rate, less than 1%. People are buying condos and renting out so the mortgage is covered by the tenants. not a a great return on any money invested but will be OK if all costs covered and can wait for incomes to catch up to market.

If you are thinking of selling now then its important to hire someone who will be honest with you and who has a track record of this type of market. Victoria have many new Realtors who have never experienced this type of market so make sure that you talk with someone like me who has  been through two downturns in my 23 years of real estate.

A couple things to remember:

1. the Realtor does not set the market. that is determined by what the buyer and seller are willing to agree on. a good Realtor can interpret the data and show you what is really going on.

2. a cheap or discount commission does not sell your home faster or guarantee you will make  more money. Many times people think that a lower commission will get them more money. we have many clients who have tried the so called discount commission companies only to have their listings expire and not sell. Whats the cost of your home being on the market and not selling ? Yes i may cost more but with all the extra services we offer and the track record we have i always ask this question, "whats more important, the money you pay me or the money i put in your pocket?" Its sort of like hiring a lawyer or another professional, if you really needed help would you hire the cheapest one or the one who can get the job done? Lawyers, professional athletes and others are all paid differently, based on performance. if you want the most money and the quickest sale then hire the best. It pays to interview not just the cheapest but also those with experiance in dealing in markets like this.

3. staging a home. many people spend more money cleaning car for trade in than they do on home. its amazing what  a little TLC can do to a home.

For more information go to www.ronkubek.com or call me at 250-544-2929

Located across the street from the ocean in Sidney BC, this brand new 3 bedroom is ideal for the executive. With 3 full bedrooms and 4 baths, this home features hardwood floors, an elevator, double garage and much much more. Located at 9628 Second Street this home is available for long or short term rental.

Offered for rent at $3,400 per month plus utilities.

Located across the street from the ocean in Sidney BC, this brand new 3 bedroom is ideal for the executive. With 3 full bedrooms and 4 baths, this home features hardwood floors, an elevator, double garage and much much more. Located at 9628 Second Street this home is available for long or short term rental.

Offered for rent at $3,400 per month plus utilities.

 Ron Kubek returns from Extreme Makeover and Orphanage Hospital Missions Trip

My wife Jan and I had the great opportunity to travel to Romania in May for a Missions Trip. We went to Brasov to work on a extreme makeover home and work as volunteers in the Hospital Orphanage.

I worked along with others from Lion of Judah church here in Victoria and in Conjunction with Hope for the Nations Romania, at converting a 200 square foot former barn into a home for 6 people in a little village outside Brasov called Budilia. Constantine and his family of 6 have been living in this town owned home for awhile and it was in bad need of repair.

 we patched and painted walls.

installed a new subfloor, kitchen and wood stove and so much more.

Our project also involved outside in allowing us to bring water and

power into the home. Digging and mixing concrete to get this all done.

Of course over there all things were done with manual labour, no calling for machines or concrete trucks or the such.

We went to work on the inside.

The group we worked with are headed by Mark and Coreen Biech and they work with Hope for the Nations Romania (www.hftn.ro)

One of their main projects is the Brasov Children's Hospital. Mark and Coreen have worked hard at getting volunteers and sponsors to supply diapers, hold and change babies, feed them and just be with the kids.  Check out http://hftn.ro/pages/projects_hospital.htm and see the main page or check out the video at http://hftn.ro/pages/audiovisual_5minvideo.htm to find out more.

Jan and I were very moved by all that we saw there and can't wait to get back. We have a goal to go back and do some work in the hospital painting characters, building and number blocks, cartoon figures and more on the walls above the kids cribs so that they can have stimulation as many are in their cribs for up to 23 hours per day. If you would like to support us in this email me at ron@kw.comand I will let you know how to donate tax free to this project. We also look forward to another home makeover because as you can see below it made a difference in one families life and is that not what its all about?

When we first planned on going over Jan and I thought we were going over for the family and for the kids in the hospital. It could not be further from the truth. We got so much more out of this and we realize they were there for us. Our lives will never be the same after this trip and we will be back.

It is written that "From whom much is given, much is expected". I have been blessed with the ability to sell Real Estate and to teach and speak all over North America and have been rewarded by it and now I know of one area I have to and want to give back.

Some pictures of before are above and here are the pictures of the finished home:

Inside with new floor, new door and windows, new wood cook stove.

Here are the new counters with tile back splash. the pictures are the first family portrait of the family they have had.

 THis shows some of the clothes the group bought for the family. in addition you can see the new counters, new washing machine, fold out bed and much more. a little change!

To see more of the makeover check out http://www.hftn.ro/newsletters/41_05jun2007.htm

I encourage you to support the great work that Mark and Coreen are doing and if you wish to donate go to http://www.hftn.ro/pages/donations.htm and please donate. Let Mark and Coreen know where you heard about this so we can continue. And a reminder if you are interested in donating to our painting in the kids area please contact me directly.

Thank you for reading and God Bless!

We have recently upgraded our websites that allow us to provide MLS Listings to clients when they want it. Powered by RPS systems our website is www.allvictoriabclistings.com and by registering our clients can get information 24/7 based on the input that they put in. This allows us to be on the leading edge for our clients who want the information when they want it. Check out the site. I think this is great for all our clients

I really liked this report on home ownership in Canada. We are doing very well vs. USA.

Stats Canada has just released results of home ownership and has found that in Canada,  68.4% of all Canadians owned their own home in 2006. In BC our rate was higher at 69.7%. It would be interesting to see the mortgage amount vs home. in Canada we do not get to deduct interest nor do we have to pay capital gains on our homes and this is huge. i think reason for problems in US Mortgage market is due to deductibility of interest and the desire for people to have large mortgages. In Canada over 50% of my clients have a mortgage of 0 -50% of value of home. Allows for my solid foundation in mortgage market. Take  a look at full news article on home ownership at  http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070912.wstatshousing0912/BNStory/robNews/home

For more information on home prices and the value of homes in Victoria send me a email.

My only hope is Canadian Govt. changes tax laws to allow for Tax free "Trading" of Real Estate. In USA they have what is called 1031 tax exchange. if you had a commercial property bought it for $500,000 and sold it for $1,000.000 you would have a $500,000 gain. however if you bought another property for $1,000,000 then the tax is deferred. In Canada there would be tax payable on 50% of the gain or in this case tax on $250,000. i hope our politicians gain change this.

With the Canadian dollar hitting par and above the rush of american buyers have skidded to an abrupt halt in our market. When our dollar was .62 to .85 Americans were rushing into Victoria and other parts of BC at record pace. now our american clients who bought back then have made a great investment as prices and Canadain dollar have gone up. I feel our starter and homes in the $700,000 and under will always do well its the higher area that will and has experianced a slowdown. Now is the time to price properties correctly and be realistic. We have a great program for sellers that helps to do this. if you want more information contact me.