If I can be of assistance please let me know.

Keep your eye out for our 25 year celebration !

Take care and thank you again!

If you would like this sent to you monthly send me an email at ron@ronkubek.com and let me know what area you would like.

Here is the ad we have posted on different sites. if you have anyone you know who you think would be good for our team please let me know! Thank you!

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It takes more than a license to be a successful Realtor in today's market. It takes, training, mentoring and ongoing coaching - and that's where the Ron Kubek Team shines! Joining our team means you get the best training possible and the support of a team to help you achieve your desired financial goals. At the Kubek Team we are committed to helping our REALTORS® help their clients succeed, and to accomplish this while enjoying a balanced and healthy life. As one of North America’s leading Real Estate Trainers and a Award winning Realtor in Victoria for over 23 years, our team will help you to meet your goals.

A commitment to ongoing professional development and a passion for excellence are vital, and a sense of humour is always an asset as far as we are concerned! If you desire a team approach and are dedicated to putting your client's needs ahead of your own, we want to speak with you! Your new career is waiting! Contact us at  realestate_position@hotmail.com and lets meet. 

Options available include split or salary and commission positions. If you want to improve your career and work with an award winning team

 The volunteers and staff love it as the rooms are much brighter now with the additions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy and more by Jan. There is such a need and if you ever want to join us in painting or working with the kids on one of our trips or on one of your own please contact us at ron@kw.com or ron@ronkubek.com and we would be glad to assist you. We think that we are doing lots for them but after each one of our trips we realize that we get so much more back from the kids in the hospital, the nurses and the great volunteers. It truly is a life changing trip.

Check out some of the hospital photos here at http://picasaweb.google.com/RonKubek/RomaniaApril2009?feat=directlink

Its always humbling to see the work that goes on over there and to be part of it. We are only there for a short time working with volunteers who have committed from 2 months to 6 years and in the case of Mark and Coreen Biech who run Hope for the nations Romania , 10+ years.

Here is a link to some of the work we did in the hospital this year and with the volunteers. From handing out easter packages to all childern and moms in the hospital to baby shifts to amazing paintings it was truly a blessing to give back.

check out this link to some of the pictures.  http://picasaweb.google.com/RonKubek/MakeoverProject?feat=directlink

We had another busy month last month with 6 sales and we have already started march out with 5 this week alone! Its the right price and the right marketing that are helping me and my team to succeed!

Call us today if you are looking to buy or looking to sell!

A couple of things I think that have helped are:

1. more inventory. There is an 11 month supply of homes out there so clearly a buyers market

2. Mortgages. My gosh the government is giving money away at .5% and its still not enough. I believe this is due to the fact that Banks are trying to bolster their balance sheets at the expense of taxpayer. It is soooo hard to find any commercial money out there for loans. I was working on one with a 50% loan to value and the terms and high high interest rate made it unaffordable.

3. Pent up  demand. We had a great month in February. We got real with clients, showed them the numbers and then homes sold in a week or 2. Many clients happy.

4. People fed up with stock market. It keeps dropping. More and more scams, schemes and out and out theft are causing people to realize they don't have any control or chance against the insiders. In real estate you control it.

Its a great time to move up. its a great time to move.

I was out with buyers today and if its priced right it has multiple offers but if not then its sitting for long time.

The challenge I find is getting the buyers and sellers to get real. Buyers think its worse than it is and Sellers are in denial about how bad it is. We use lots of charts and graphs to help both sides to get real. That's why the call it REAL estate! If you want to sell in this market then you need to get real and get it priced at the market. anything above will not get offers and will be used by Realtors as a comparison only. This market creates winners and wannabes. Lots of opportunity but its important to price it right and be realistic when making offers.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't run around 24/7 telling people this is a good time in spite of whats going on. The world financial system is in a mess, layoffs all over the place and can we really trust wall street? But in Victoria we have a unemployment rate of less than 4%, we have seen homes drop 20% from the top of the market and we have seen interest rates tumble. I was with a few clients yesterday who were looking at homes we are going to make an offer on and their attitude was, it sure beats rent. I mean if the house does nothing over next 5-10 years but  your mortgage payments and rent payments are the same, what will you have at the end of the period? IF renting - zero, nada, zilch. If owning then you will have paid down some of principal of mortgage and have a true asset. In addition you will have had the pride of ownership.

We have lots of reports that we use with our sellers and buyers to help make sure that they are getting the most for their dollars. We analyze the market to let you know whats selling and whats not and many of clients have appreciated that information. if you live on Southern Vancouver Island then you owe it to yourself to email me or call me and set up a meeting and let me show you how 24 years of experience and surviving 3 downturns can help you with your real estate needs. Talk to you soon.

Christine van Reeuwyk - Peninsula News Review was the reporter who Interview Jan and I about our trips to Romania. The article which appeared today was actually first seen by a old collegue of mine, Doug, who called me up and asked how to donate! I was shocked because we had done article last year and I was not aware it was coming out. He wanted to contribute to our home makeover project. Our Budget is $6,000 and he put up $1,000. now its time for me to get to work on the rest of the budget.

Thanks to Christine for a great article. Jan and I appreciate it and the awareness it brings to the Volunteers in Romania!

We just finished a awesome month with 8 sales. This is not bad considering as of this morning the Victoria Real Estate board was only 223 sales for 1370 Realtors. We took a new listing yesterday that was originally listed at over $1,300,000 for $895,000. Now many will ask has the market dropped that much? the answer is no. But it was not listed at right price to begin with. The market today, December 31,2008 is down 21% from the peak earlier this year. Is that a bad thing? nope. Buyers had been wanting to buy for a long time but the sellers had gone away from what they could afford. I still stick to my belief that the average home in Victoria and Saanich Peninsula will drop to about the $450,000 +- range. Why? this is where rents and mortgage payments equal out. The only thing that would change that is if the government decides to raise interest rates which will then drop the value of the average home in Victoria. I don't see that happening soon due to problems in overall economy.

So who is buying? Newly married couples, newly divorced singles, retirees, move ups and move downs. Who is selling? same group. The thing is in our area if you bought prior to 2005 you are still making a profit on your home if you sell it today.

Many people ask should I wait? I guess the question is, why are you buying/selling? If you are starting a family or looking for a larger/smaller home then is it about the money or is it about enjoying life and having what you want? if you are renting why wait? Many have told me that they would rather lose money renting rather than a mortgage. I ask why? I mean if you bought a home and paid the mortgage off over 25 years does it matter what the value of the home is? chances are in 25 years it will be worth the same or more than you paid. IF you paid rent for 25 years what do you have?

Real estate is a long term investment. it is not something to be flipped every 6 months to a year. That is not how our parents and grandparents made thier money on Real Estate. It was bought for long term. It was bought for security and safety. Besides it sure beats the stock market short, long and any other time. I think many people realize that the stock market is a insiders game and that only the bankers and the executives are making money and the average person has no chance.

If you are looking for a few books on Real Estate I would encourage you to look at Gary Keller's Book, Millionaire Real Estate Investor. In addition Robert Kiyosaki's book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad is another great book to read.

If you have any questions or want an opinion on your home in our area please drop me a email at ron@kw.com and I will do my best to help you.

Best wishes for a great 2009!

The problem with the stock market is that only insiders know who and how to make money. By the time it gets to us on the street its been picked over and we are left with the bones or scrap to invest in. Silly.

Now some would say why am i pushing real estate? Well you will always need somewhere to live. Tenants will always need somewhere to rent. You can touch it, feel it, kick it. Can you do that with stocks?

Real estate is down 15% in Victoria now and another 10% to do. if you are below $500,000 then its a smaller drop. If you have a condo, its a bigger drop. But so what? The true cost of ownership is down also. IF you look at interest rates from December 2007 to December 2008 we are down 33.82% so the cost of monthly ownership is down. IF you plan to hold for 3 or 4 years or more then if market goes down in short term but up in long term is that ok? I heard a great Real Estate Statistic the other day and it was that 95% of the people will miss the bottom of the market. IF you think you might want to control your destiny with owing Real estate then give me a call if you are in the Saanich Peninsula or lower Vancouver Island area at 250-544-2929 and lets see what we can do for you.

Being part of Howard Brintons Star Power NetworkI get the opportunity to mastermind with some fo the best in the business. I think its important to be on the cutting edge of Real Estate so I can better service my clients back home in Victoria. I also believe its important to get out of your town and learn from others who are doing well.

I was able to get a grasp on the extent of the mortgage crisis in America with over 7,931,000 homes either in Foreclosure or default. OUCH! that's a lot.

With the Victoria Market taking such a change downward in September I thought it was time to improve my skills and get around Realtors who are not only surviving the downturn in USA but actually thriving!

This is my third cycle of Real Estate slowdowns since I started in 1985 and in each I have actually done better than in so called "Boom Markets". Why? I think anyone can succeed in a good Market but in a tough market like we have in Victoria it takes experience and willingness to learn and improve. I am one of only a handful of Realtors I know who gets outside Victoria to get Real Estate Training. I want to be the best so I go and learn from the Best.

Some of the topics discussed were Best Ideas or new ideas since last met, Whats working for you, The Power of Providing Superior Service, Where to budget during current Economic Times, How to deal with Distressed properties (one's in foreclosure or default). The Keynote was by a great man by the name of Allan Domb who is known as the Condo King in Philadelphia for his single minded focus in selling only condos. His talk on Making Choices to SUCCEED Today was great and there was lots of talk on how to not only survive but thrive and to help my clients survive in this market.

It was wrapped up by my good friend Steve Westmark who talked about Habitat for Humanity and this years project. if you have been reading my blog you will see i actually got to help build a Habitat home in Orlando this year. WOW what a gift that was. NExt year we are building in Denver. (if you want to help out email me at ron@kw.comand i will get you info)

All in all i am excited about the changes in store for our team as we go the next level to help our clients and customers.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
English novelist (1812 - 1870)

Interesting though, we have sold 24 homes in last 3 months. Why? Real Estate still a good investment for our buyers and for our sellers they have taken a look at our monthly Total Market Overview reports and realize that despite what Real Estate Board says (they say activity off but prices firm. I think something wrong in that statement) that prices are down 15% with about another 5% to go. Our sellers who have worked with for a long time understand that with the proper information then selling a home is easy. The hardest part of my job in a market like this is getting sellers to get real. Many people call me in to give them a free market analysis of their home but when I get honest, they don't like it. Many are in denial. The ones who are selling are the ones who see all the information, ask great questions and then price their home accordingly. There are lots of buyers out there. Many are sitting on sidelines but conversely so many are jumping in. If you own real estate in Victoria its a good thing. If you are renting then with prices coming down and cheap cheap interest rates then now is the time. When will we hit bottom? Not for a bit yet but if you realize market has changed and work accordingly then this is a great time.

Sure beats the stock market. At least in real estate I know its real. Can you say that about stocks? what do you really know? if the insiders are losing Billiions then how can you and I make money? In addition its all phantom. Think about this: i had a good friend of mine talk to me the other day about gold. He showed me a report that if all the people who had bought "paper gold" asked for thier gold, we would not even have 50% of what had been sold!!!! IN real estate at least you can sit on it, touch it, feel it, sleep in it and more. For me its real estate. Its real!!

Here are my Total Market Overview reports for October. if you want more information on them or for your area please call.

Central Saanich:

North Saanich

Sidney Market

All of Greater Victoria

If you want to know whats going on with market email me for our exclusive Total Market Overview reports that we prepare monthly. Email me at ron@kw.com and i would be glad to send them your way.

See a sample of all of Victoria below.

A couple of points about the market and his column.

1. Unemployment has gone up from 3.1% to a whopping 3.2% in last few months. Different than media would have us belive.

2. Colwood Crawl, Peninsula Crawl, still happening. Everyone going off to work.

3. Real estate prices down. Yes but still up over 2005 and all years prevous. Will we see a slide? yes but only back to historical averages which means around $475,000 to $500,000 as average Victoria and area home price. still more than double 2002!

4. Interest rates are down. Lowest level in years and governement is talking lower rates in North America.

So why all the doom and gloom? yes the stock market is off big time but compared to 4 years ago it is still up. Besides who do you know who has made money in stock market? not me. I like to think I am pretty wise at investing has have done very well in Real Estate but not stock market. Why? I don't control it. I don't really know who does other than a few supposedly smart people and look at what they did to it. Creating phantom investments called CDO's and Derivitaves? I mean who undertands that? Looks like not even Wall STreet or Bay Street.

Why Real Estate? i like it because i can touch it, feel it, sit on it, rent it, live in it. Try that with your Enron or Worldcome or Bre-X stock. Try that with derivitives and cdo's!

With real estate moving slightly lower and rents moving up its a great time to be smart and buy a home that will take care of itself. Think about it, if you buy a home and get the mortgage payment to match the rent payment then you have the ultimate investment vechicle. Yes it may take time but I mean really how did flipping homes help economy? I know many and have many smart clients who buy for long term and the mortgage is paid for by the tenants. Plus there are great writeoffs along the way. If you want to truly build wealth then unless your name is Warren Buffett the only truly succesful way to do it is in Real Estate. Patient Real Estate.

A great book on this is Gary Kellers book The Millionaire Real Estate Investor .. Gary went and interviewed of the greatest down to earth Real Estate Investors and showed how the average person can do real well over the long term with Real Estate.

I always ask the hundreds of stock brokers who cold call me every year to send me thier T-4 from stock market investing for themselves before I would even meet with them. Guess how many have sent me this? none. Most admit to not making any money in Stock market and only money they make is in trading. That would be like getting surgery from a doctor who has a low or non existent success rate! Do you want that?

If you live on Sannich Peninsula or in Greater Victoria and would like to sit down for a hour with me and talk Real EState then give me a call. I will even give you a copy of The Millionaire Real Estate Investor for free just for sitting down with me.

Thanks

Ron

What does that mean for Victoria and Peninsula home sales? While we only changed last October so we still have a little way to go. I had been advising clients that the market was about to correct and many took action on that. But is a market adjusting a bad thing? no. People were wondering where all the Buyers had gone and thus the market had shown signs of slowing down. Well the good news is the Buyers never went away, the sellers did. With prices rising so much the Buyers were left behind.

So where does market go from here? well there is a bit more of a drop I predict due to the fact that house prices had increased by 129% over 6 years. not normal. Will they fall big time? No. but they will fall. that is what happened in USA in last few years and we now see that when prices get back to increasing on the same rate of growth as they had over last 40 years the market picks up. This is what is going on in USA.

Will Canada be affected by Bank Crisis? Yes but not in a bad way. I mean if you have a job, good credit then you will always be able to get a mortgage. The banks are taking a look at all loans with a much tighter eye ( I know this personally after having to re-do a loan on a commercial building I own. got the mortgage renewed but had to provide a lot more detail and reports to the bank) to the credit worthiness of the clients.

So if you plan on staying in a home for 3 or more years and don't want to rent then now is the time. You control your destiny. there are good buys out there and we have many reports that can help our clients to achieve all they want in buying or selling.

Well yesterday was a tough day as it always is when taking babies back to thier moms in Gypsy Village.

Working with the social  workers at Hospital and in Gypsy Village the goal is always to get the babies back to their moms as soon as possible.

Many of babies show up in Childrens Hospital not really sick but because the parents are unable to take care of them. Its interesting in the Spring and Fall during harvest and planting season that the number of babies in the hospital increase. This is due to the fact that the parents are working in the fields which is great.

We have been to Gypsy Village on numerous occasions and have the opportunity to see some of differences the government is making. They have a day care center now so that the parents can leave the kids there vs. sending them to hospital. there is a school in the area that starts at noon so that some of kids can try and get an education. There are many other great projects that people are working on to try and engage this part of the population that has been shunned and discriminated against for Centuries. I hope to write more on some of the new training programs and other things that volunteer organizations are doing.