"The way we live in our house is not the way we sell our house"

I met a home stager the other day who was full of great ideas. Her name is Tammy Cunningham and she owns "In Your Place" staging.
As a realtor, it's sometimes tough to tell people that some things in their homes need to be changed. Also as a realtor, I know that staged homes sell quicker and often for more money than their competitors. Home stagers can transform homes into smartly wrapped packages. This can really attract the buyers' attention, often enough to make an offer. From simply moving around furniture and adding a few choice decorations to a full-on transformation with furniture and accessories moved into a vacant house, a home stager offers a variety of services at a variety of prices. With the Kelowna real estate market maintaining its healthy and balanced qualities, home staging can make the difference between your house sitting on the market or selling for top dollar quickly. Try it... it really works!
Talk to you soon...
Paige

Saved by my fellow REALTOR®

Today I was on MLS® tour with my fellow REALTOR® Grant Wiebe. (Tour is where the realtors get a chance to view new product on the market). Grant is a great guy and very creative in his marketing. I was asking him about his Youtube videos where he speaks about real estate using a webcam located in his vehicle. I was wondering if it distracts him while driving. At that VERY moment a lady pulled into traffic at ramming speed. Grant pulled off a spectacular maneuver... swerving out of her path (by the way, we were also at ramming speed!), narrowly but safely missing a light pole, and all the while speaking very calmly about the question I had asked him.
Way to go Grant... you're the BEST!
Talk to you soon...
Paige

Way to go Kelowna!

The GREEN HOUSING SYMPOSIUM I held this past Sunday was a huge success! Over 200 people came and saw a beautiful BuiltGreen® home and had an opportunity to speak to a number of experts on how to build or green up their existing home. Please check back to my green website at www.greenkelownarealestate.com for your GREEN HOUSING needs.
Talk to you soon...
Paige

When buying real estate, it's usually women who make the final decision

It's been a crazy busy summer... work, company and then our house flooded... wow a lot of "non-fun" with that!
Working with buyers lately has been really fun. The biggest challenge is to come up with Plan A & B for purchasing that will ensure the buyer gets the lowest possible purchase price for the property they love.
One of my favorite clients recently decided to downsize. We sold their townhouse and started looking! Plan A was to find a couple properties that they loved and then, starting with the #1 choice, make an offer with the idea that if the seller didn't take it, we'd move to choice #2. We found 2 properties that would fit this plan. The were almost identical in price, amenities, condition, and location. One seller was very motivated and one was not motivated at all.
We sat and discussed the pros and cons. The husband had his heart set on one (super motivated seller), the wife another (not so motivated seller). We went back and forth with no decision on which to offer on. The husband's first choice was logistically the better one for them... had a family room for grandchildren, enough parking for 2 vehicles and, 2 bathrooms. They decided to sleep on it. The next morning I got the call... the wife won out the decision on which to make an offer on first... the not so motivated seller!
The next step was to carefully plan our strategy and offer just enough to entice the sellers but low enough to be a good deal. Everyone committed to walking away to choice #2 if the seller didn't bite. And away we went with our offer...
Tick tock tick tock tick tock
The seller doesn't bite. Back I got to the buyers to proceed with offering on choice #2. The wife however, has a different plan. She must have house #1.
In the end, they ended up paying more than they would have for the other very comparable unit... but they have the house they love.
Sometimes it's good to remember that it's not all about the best deal. If you really love something, it's not necessarily best to settle. The roof over your head is a home... the buyers are very happy! :)

Didn't I say so?

So it would seem that my prediction that the real estate "freeze frame" that we've just experienced would turn out to be a positive thing. Not to be one to blow my own horn, but I've certainly had a number of people saying to me "I wish I had listened to you sooner!"
Prices are down for sure and will probably be there for a while. The gush of inventory we had been expecting in the spring didn't happen and as those first buyers started to emerge, they were the lucky ones with the pick of the crop. A few more listings came on-stream but inventory was being well picked over. In fact some sellers that were not getting any action started to see their overpriced homes get shown. Sometimes the buyers braved an overpriced home and a reasonable offer was made and for the most part accepted.
In January we were up 62% in inventory.... very much a buyers market. That gradually turned around over the next month or two and now total listings now sits at a healthy 1650+ where last year in July we had 2000 active listings! (This by the way includes all listings, not just residential)This has created a very healthy stable and balanced market. Buyers can still get a good deal but not like they could a few months back and sellers are seeing reasonable prices for their homes now. Home sales in Kelowna for July were up a WHOPPING 59% over July of 2008 and Vancouver's sales in July were the highest in history! Yayyyy!
I keep reminding myself that Kelowna is the most beautiful part of the world and that everyone wants to live and/or play here. More and more people have been arriving this summer from areas close by (Vancouver, Alberta, etc.) with their vacation dollar being pinched and I've found the people that I've talked to are WOWED with Kelowna and will be coming back again soon! Who wouldn't....
Long Live Kelowna Real Estate!!!
Talk to you soon.
Paige

What about the neighborhood?

There is a neighborhood in Kelowna called Wilden in North Glenmore. The main idea is to integrate beautiful housing into nature with as small a footprint as possible. Great in theory but what about reality?
I live in Wilden and love the trails, natural ponds and untouched wilderness behind my house. As someone very interested in being good to the environment I appreciate that the roads are very narrow, thereby reducing the amount of clearing required, concrete and blacktop used, etc. As we've lived here, this has however proven problematic.
Today is Friday, and in a few more hours my road will be almost impassable as everyone loads up their boats, trailers, and campers that will be parked on the road. We recently had a large flood in our house and the restoration company needs to get a container to move out all our stuff for the repair. It was funny watching the guy delivering the container try to negotiate the narrow road and short driveways in his attempt to get the job done. It didn't happen! All the boxes will have to be hoofed down the road into the container.
Is it possible to get used to things like this or are we too spoiled to be inconvenienced by some things that are good for the planet? I'm going to try harder to get used to it!

Real estate and family life

So I've broken the rule of blogging... keep it up and keep it current! The summer heat and calls of "lets go the beach" have taken over at my house. Trying to fit work and play in can be tough when you've got a family.
My family has always been great shuffling their lives around my real estate career. Everyone understands that it's not the typical 9-5 gig and sometimes I have to go to work when I least expect it. I love my job and my family keeps me in check by setting goals. Each time I sell a house "points" are accumulated towards something fun for us all. This summer we're going white water rafting in Lytton! This system keeps us all focused on the good part of my job and not "how come Mom isn't around?"
On a real estate note, the market appears to be very balanced now with inventory being well picked over and prices stabilizing. I've been involved in some multiple offer situations and some sales over list price! Lot's of first time buyers out there still which is so great... buying your first house is an amazing experience. First time buyers kit There are also a growing number of "move up" buyers now as the first timers buy the "move up" buyers homes. Sales at the higher end, over $600K, are still sluggish and it may take some more time before we see more activity there. I've also been aware of the amount of Albertans cruising Kelowna again. A portion of that market has returned to buying in Kelowna as well as a growing number of investors! All great news for our local market.
Also a follow up to my last post. The buyers and sellers involved in that offer eventually dribbled away from each other. The buyer produced no excitement and drained the seller of enthusiasm over their long period of negotiating. The seller didn't feel the buyer was serious. Psychology 101 !!
Have a great day and talk to you soon.
Paige