B.C. judge rules against pre-sale buyers

Last Updated: Friday, June 15, 2007 | 12:41 PM ET

CBC News

Thirty-two pre-sale buyers of a Lower Mainland housing development have lost their court fight to keep the homes they had made deposits on over the past two years.

The Riverbend developer terminated the pre-sale contracts for the 32 homes and returned deposits.
(CBC) A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled that the Riverbend development in Coquitlam should be finished and the homes then sold at current market prices.

CB Developments had sent letters to the buyers in April saying its lender was no longer willing to provide more money to finish construction, unless the houses were sold at the latest market prices.

The buyers then went to court in an effort to protect their contracts, which would allow them to complete their purchase at pre-construction prices established a couple of years ago.

They buyers already have their deposits back. But they have each lost on average about $80,000 of equity since they signed their pre-sale contracts – the difference between the price they agreed to pay and the current value.

They were very disappointed with the judge’s decision.

“Right now I have to pay $100,000 more,” said Uma Seetharaman. “I’ve completely lost faith in the pre-sale contract, and it is a total nightmare for us, to say the least.”

Sunita Chand told reporters she had lost her “dream.”

“I can honestly say I am very close to tears. I know I am not getting my house at the end of the day, that has been my dream for the last year and a half,” said Sunita Chand.

However, the judge also ordered that any profit made on the homes over and above what the buyers would have paid in the pre-sale agreements be held in trust until the courts decide if that money should go to the original purchasers or to the creditors.

The Riverbend development is now being run by a receiver, who is hoping that Carevest, the lender that pulled the plug, will be prepared to put another $3.8 million into the project to finish it. Carevest will lose even more money if it doesn’t.

It has to pay back wages to construction workers, the home warranty provider has pulled out and the provincial government is preventing any further sales until up-to-date disclosure statements are filed.

Expectant Fathers

Four expectant fathers were in a Minneapolis hospital waiting room, while their wives were in labor.The nurse arrived and announced to the first man, “Congratulations sir, you’re the father of twins.” “What a coincidence!” the man said with some obvious pride. “I work for the Minnesota Twins baseball team.”The nurse returned in a little while and turned to the second man, “You, sir, are the father of triplets.”

“Wow, that’s really an incredible coincidence,” he answered. “I work for the 3M Corporation. My buddies at work will never let me live this one down.”

An hour later, while the other two men were passing cigars around, the nurse came back. This time, she turned to the third man, who had been quiet in the corner. She announced that his wife had just given birth to quadruplets. Stunned, he barely could reply.

“Don’t tell me another coincidence?” asked the nurse.

After finally regaining his composure, he said, “I don’t believe it, I work for the Four Seasons Hotel.”

After hearing this, everybody’s attention turned to the fourth guy, who had just fainted, flat out on the floor. The nurse rushed to his side and, after some time, he slowly gained back his consciousness.

The nurse asked, “Sir, are you all right?”

“Yes” says the man, “I’m o.k. now. I just had a shocking thought. I work at the 7-11 Store.”

A Dose of Housing Reality

By Ozzie Jurock

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

During the last 14 years that I have been hosting real estate outlook conferences, I have heard the same comments:

“Young people can no longer afford a home,” or “There are too many realtors in the business,” and then, of course, the big one: “I wish I had bought five years ago.”

During the last three years in particular, however, more than any other question this one was asked: “Is it over? Is the market going to come down?”

Clearly, volume in Canada and the US. is much lower than the record breaking sales of 2005, yet 2006 is still much higher than any other year before that.

Also, consider this: Despite all the wars, two stock market crashes, the Mexican peso crisis, 9/11 and all the other shocks, if someone had simply bought a house at any time in the past 40 years they would have increased the profit on their down payment by thousands of percentage points.

In 1960, the average house price in Greater Vancouver was $13,000. By 1980 it was $100,000. In 1990 it was $230,000. In 2006 it is $735,000. If you put down five per cent on that house in 1960, you would have made 91,000 per cent on your down payment, tax free.

Even if we go back to normal market conditions (no, 20 per cent increases per year are NOT normal), in today’s market buyers still enjoy huge leverage. If Canada follows the “decline” of increases in England and Australia (from 20 per cent to 6.8 per cent in the first half of 2006) you still outpace the rate of inflation handily on the full value of the home, but on the down payment your return still soars. (If you put five per cent down on a $100,000 house and it goes up in value by [only!] six per cent in a year, you have earned 110 per cent on your down payment.)

For 37 years I have listened to the naysayers and they have always been wrong in the long run. Just go back 10 years and read the naysayers on our www.realestatetalks.com real estate bulletin board (some 25,000 people play there the “real estate talks” game). Real estate has been and continues to be the best investment in our inflationary world. Over that 37 year period, global residential real estate values are 30 to 40 times higher, with returns of 2,000 per cent or more.

Today we hear comments that the British and Australian housing markets have collapsed, that the US. housing is a bubble about to burst. While anything is possible, a return to a more normal market is the much more likely outcome. As we pointed to earlier, house prices in both Great Britain and Australia are up 6.8 per cent this year compared to 2005, as The Economist magazine reported recently. And this is after a 300 per cent average increase in values since 1995.

It is true US housing sales are down yet prices are up 10 per cent so far this year. (The Economist, September 2006.)
Of course there are the excesses to consider in any highly inflationary marketplace. Eighty per cent of homes selling above a million dollars in Florida were transacted by flippers and that market has collapsed. In fact, all such excesses (even overbuilding) will always be adjusted by the market, but that does not mean that the “bubble is bursting.” What does that mean anyway? The stock market can “burst” in a few weeks losing 50 per cent of value. In the world of real estate, however, reversals last three years on average and reverse between 10 per cent and 18 per cent in price (with the exception of 1980, when we had 20 per cent interest rates).

Certainly, we have seen a slowdown in housing sales this year compared to the record levels of 2005. In Greater Vancouver, new home sales are down 45 per cent, resale homes are down 29 per cent and apartment sales are also down. The same thing is being seen right across the province, but these sales are compared to 2005, which had the highest sales in B.C. history. Average prices are rising. The MLS price for a single family detached home in Greater Vancouver, for instance, is up 20 per cent to more than $740,000. Listings in Greater Vancouver, meanwhile, are up substantially from last year – 22 per cent, to some 11,700 units. At the end of September 1997, however, we had 19,800 properties for sale.
What does it mean? It simply means that if you are a buyer, you can take a deep breath. There is more selection. If you are seller, you may have to sharpen your pencil. The important thing is to understand yourself. Are you a shark, a flipper or an investor?

If you buy an $800,000 condo in downtown Vancouver today with 10 per cent down, you are not an investor because it will not cash flow with rental income, but you are a flipper if you can sell it for a higher price. Nothing wrong with either scenario if you understand the personal short term risks.

We are bullish but we are not foolish. I would listen to PriceWaterhouseCooper’s August report on Townhouses in North Surrey (1,607 projected to be built over the next 24 months, absorption projected at 407) and not buy a townhouse there right now. But I would buy the deal that may be emerging there in the spring. I did not buy at Whistler in the last two years, but I will consider buying there shortly. In fact, I would buy cash flowing properties anywhere. Most importantly, I will not buy “the market” in any case. In 2003 there was the same question and same concern about the real estate market, yet people who ran for the hills left a small fortune on the table. In 2005 at our Outlook conference we predicted a downturn in 12 to 18 months. I would not be surprised if we entered into it now. More importantly, we also predicted much higher prices 10 years from now.

If Vancouver followed the trend in England and Australia and went to a more balanced market of “only” a six per cent increase, that would be just fine with me. Nothing goes up in a straight line forever. Remember that downturns from 20 per cent increases to six per cent increases are not bubbles but rather a return to a normal, healthy market.

Interestingly enough, from 1995 to 2000 the naysayers were continually quoting negative news about B.C. outflow of people to other provinces, high unemployment, etc. Today, we have the opposite scenario – lowest unemployment in years, highest employment, huge inflow of people, labour shortages, incredible billions of capital investment in the province, etc., yet here they are again. Could it be that they are all people who missed the market?

In the meantime opportunities abound. Understand who you are, buy cash flowing properties in different markets. Do your research; know where you want to invest and what your goals are. The reality remains: there are no good or bad markets, there are only good or bad deals you personally make.

Naming your child

 There was a woman who was pregnant with twins, and shortly before they were due, she had an accident and went into a coma. Her husband was away on business, and unable to be reached. While in the coma, she gave birth to her twins, and the only person around to name her children was her brother.When the mother came out of her coma to find she had given birth and that her brother had named the twins, she became very worried, because he wasn’t a very bright guy. She was sure he had named them something absurd or stupid.

When she saw her brother she asked him about the twins.

He said, “The first one was a girl.”

The mother: “What did you name her?!?”

Brother: “Denise!”

The Mom: “Oh, wow, that’s not bad! What about the second one?”

Brother: “The second one was a boy.”

The Mom: “Oh, and what did you name him?”

Brother: “Denephew.”

Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay

About the Relay

The Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay is an annual community based fundraising event that challenges groups of people to run or walk Relay-style for 24 hours. Teams of runners and/or walkers made up of Corporate and Recreational groups collect individual pledges or organize team fundraising events to raise funds towards their collective team totals.

Relay History

In 1978, the first 24 Hour Relay For The Kids was held at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C.. The event was originally organized by the Seawall Running Society. Twenty-three teams participated and raised over $70,000 to help send kids to Easter Seal camps and hence history began…

Today, the 24 Hour Relay is now widely known as the Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay. There are eleven 24 Hour Relays across the country including Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Quebec, Toronto, Halifax, Annapolis Valley, and St, John’s. This national event has raised in excess of $51 million in support of local Easter Seals programs and services.

In BC, the 24 Hour Relay is an annual project of the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities. The 24 Hour Relay raises funds for the BC Lions Society’s Easter Seal camping program. There are three Relays held annually in BC, Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, the University of Victoria, and the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.

The Easter Seals 24 Hour Relays For The Kids in Vancouver and Victoria are produced by the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities. In Kelowna, the 24 Hour Relay is produced in conjunction with the Okanagan Boys and Girls Clubs. A portion of the Island Relay supports the Victoria Easter Seal House while half of the funds from the OKanagan Relay benefit the Okanagan Boys and Girls Clubs programs and services. All money raised in BC stays in BC.

Prudential Sussex is proud to be a team sponsor for this charitable event June 16 – 17, 2007  at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, BC.

We invite you to be a part of one of these incredible events and share in the joy of ‘giving children abilities’.

Are You Ready for Children?

Mess Test: Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Now rub your hands in the wet flowerbed and rub on the walls. Cover the stains with crayons. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.

Toy Test: Obtain a 55-gallon box of Lego’s. (If Lego’s are not available, you may substitute roofing tacks or broken bottles.) Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream. (This could wake a child at night.)

Grocery Store Test: Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop at the grocery store. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

Dressing Test: Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag making sure that all arms stay inside.

Feeding Test: Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a stout cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal (such as Fruit Loops or Cheerios) into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

Night Test: Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8 – 12 pounds of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 8:00 PM begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00 PM. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00 PM. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00 AM. Set alarm for 5:00 AM. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

Physical Test (Women): Obtain a large beanbag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans.

Physical Test (Men): Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.

Final Assignment: Find a couple who already has a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training, and child’s table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run riot. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers

Top 5 Reasons Why Some Homes Don’t Sell

If your house or condo is listed for sale with a successful realty agent in your vicinity, there are five key reasons your home might not sell although nearby comparable residences are selling:

1. THE ASKING PRICE IS TOO HIGH. By far, this is the top reason a home doesn’t sell. Although you might be just testing the market, prospective home buyers are very smart and they know an overpriced listing when they see it. Worse, their buyer’s agents may not even bother showing homes with asking prices above recent sales prices of comparable nearby homes.

For this reason, if you want to get your home sold during this peak sales season, it is vital for your listing agent to keep you informed on a weekly basis of recent comparable home sales prices. Perhaps it’s time for an asking price reduction.

2. THE LISTING AGENT DOESN’T MAKE THE HOME EASY TO SHOW. The majority of home sales involve a listing agent and a buyer’s agent. If the seller, the tenants or the listing agent make it difficult to show a home, this discourages buyer’s agents.

A related problem can be the listing agent wants to “double end” the home sale by getting both the listing portion and the selling portion of the sales commission.

3. CONDITION OF THE HOME. Most home buyers want to purchase a residence in near “model home” condition where all they have to do is turn the key in the front door and move in. However, if the residence requires considerable work, that turns off all but the most die-hard bargain hunting home buyers.

Fixer-upper homes appeal to a very limited market of home buyers. Sometimes known as “bottom fishers,” they will purchase such homes only at bargain prices, well below what can be obtained with modest fix-up work such as painting (the most profitable improvement of all), repairing, and cleaning.

Word quickly spreads among local real estate agents when a home “doesn’t show well.” Buyers’ agents will only show that residence to their bargain hunters, usually investors, who want to purchase far below market value.

4. “AS IS” HOME SALE CAN BE A RED FLAG TURN-OFF. Closely related to homes that don’t show well are those listed for sale in “as is” condition. The term “as is” means the seller offers the residence in its current condition and will not pay for any repairs. However, the seller must still disclose in writing to buyers all known defects, such as a leaky roof or a bad foundation.

Whenever possible, home sellers should not offer their homes for sale “as is” because it is like waving a red flag in the buyer’s face. A better alternative is for the seller to obtain a professional inspection report and have the recommended repairs made before listing the home for sale.

Of course, when a home needs a major repair that the seller either can’t afford or doesn’t want to make, then an “as is” sale at a reduced price is advisable.

5. INEFFECTIVE MARKETING METHODS. In today’s home “buyer’s market” in most communities, listing agents and do-it-yourself “for sale by owner” home sellers must use every marketing resource available. Most effective is the for sale sign on the front lawn. A close second is weekly newspaper advertising, especially for a weekend open house. In third place is Internet advertising.

In addition, listing agents have the local MLS and their special networking among agents who represent prospective buyers for the type of house or condo listed for sale. The local Association of Realtors is an especially effective resource to spread the word about a desirable home listed for sale. A key part of this sales technique is the “broker’s tour” where only local agents are allowed to inspect a home for possible later showing to their buyers.

The best listing agents also use additional marketing methods, such as advertising in real estate magazines and color brochures and postcards mailed to nearby homeowners who may have friends who want to move to the area.

CONCLUSION: Selling houses and condos in any market requires hard work by successful listing agents. If your home has been listed for sale with a successful realty agent over 30 days and without any purchase offers, it’s time to discuss the five key reasons some homes don’t sell with the listing agent and make adjustments to get your home sold.

Vancouver developer hit with cease marketing order

Last Updated: Monday, May 14, 2007 | 3:32 PM PT

CBC News

The Vancouver developer being sued for cancelling pre-sale agreements at the Riverbend housing development in Coquitlam has been ordered to stop selling units at the project.

The province’s Superintendent of Real Estate issued a cease marketing order Monday against CB Developments, under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act.

Some buyers are suing the company after it cancelled their purchase contracts.
(CBC) In his decision, W. Alan Clark said there is a “substantial likelihood” the company planned to remarket the properties to new potential purchaser “without providing accurate disclosure.”

Clark said the fact that lawsuits have been filed against CB could affect the value and price of the units, and could influence the decision of would-be purchasers.

Even if the developer did re-sell the units to new buyers, they would likely end up tied up in litigation and might not receive title, Clark said, so he has suspended the company’s right to sell them.

The company has returned deposits to more than 30 would-be buyers, and told them their purchase agreements have been cancelled. Some of them had put their money down up to two years ago.

CB said rising construction costs and increased land values meant it had to resell the units at a higher price, and so it was breaking their contracts.

Several of the buyers are taking the company to court.

B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor said the superintendent’s action Monday should give the buyers some relief.

“They will at least know that there will be no reselling of their home until various issues under the act are followed, so it gives everyone breathing room, a chance to see exactly what the situation is, exactly what the contracts say,” she said.

Assignment information for Woodward’s

Assignment Terms and Conditions from the Woodward’s Disclosure Statement

“The Buyer may only assign the Buyer’s interest in this Agreement on or after that date which is 12 months after the Acceptance Date and on or before that date which is three months prior to the estimated Closing Date, and in any event, only if: (a) all Deposits required to be paid on or before the proposed date of assignment have been paid; and (b) the Buyer has obtained the prior written consent of the Seller (the developer) which consent will not be unreasonably withheld. Any request for the consent of the Seller (the developer) to the assignment of the Buyer’s interest in this Agreement must be made via the Seller’s (the developer’s) Real Estate Agent, as defined in the Disclosure Statement. No assignment by the Buyer shall release the Buyer from the Buyer’s obligations hereunder. The Buyer shall pay to the Seller (the developer) an administration fee equal to 1.0% of the assignment price paid by the assignee to the Buyer (plus GST) for the assignment of the Buyer’s interest in the Unit or in this Agreement (the “Assignment”) as consideration for agreeing to the Assignment and for any associated legal and administrative costs. The Buyer shall not advertise or solicit offers from the public nor list the Unit on the Multiple Listing Service with respect to the resale of the Buyer’s interest in the Unit prior to the Closing Date, except through the Seller’s (the developer’s) Real Estate Agent, as defined in the Disclosure Statement, without the prior written consent of the Seller (the developer), which consent may be refused by the Seller in the Seller’s sole discretion. “

Launch of Woodwards 4 Sale Dot Com

Welcome to Woodwards 4 Sale Dot Com powered by Jack Ying, of Prudential Sussex Realty (North Vancouver).

 Scheduled for completion in 2009, Woodward’s is a collection of modern living environments, the new SFU school for the Contemporary Arts and Club W.

 This site is everything Woodward’s and more. Woodwards 4 Sale dot Com features a outline of Downtown Vancouver’s Woodward’s development, information on  selling and buying an assignment, any available assignments at Woodward’s and general information for anyone interested in Real Estate Assignments in Vancouver.