Spring Ahead
March 11th, 2007
Daylight Saving Time is early this year, so don't forget to set your clocks 1 hour ahead at 2:00 am today. It would also be a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.
Blog by Michael Giesbrecht
< Previous Next >
Downtown Vancouver Open House Musings
March 4th, 2007
I really enjoyed the Open House I held today at 3203-1199 Seymour St. You meet all kinds of interesting people from all walks of life at the Opens and today was no exception. Business owners, professors, artists and artisans...they were all through today and I enjoyed talking to each one of them. The views from this apartment are outstanding and it's great when people are enthusiastic abou ...
Renting vs. Owning
February 20th, 2007
There's a good article in the Vancouver Sun by Bruce Constantineau today about accumulating wealth through home ownership compared to investment in other vehicles. "Mortgages force you to save and people really go the extra mile to make their mortgage payments," says Tsur Somerville, lead author of a recent Sauder School of Business study at UBC. It takes a lot of discipline for a renter to ...
West Vancouver Real Estate Listings
February 12th, 2007
Inventory is low right now and we are just on the brink of spring. Why not get your home ready to sell right now? Less competition means your home could be a coveted commodity. My advice would be not to wait until March or April, but to bring your home to market right now.
Open House Thoughts
February 11th, 2007
I was doing an Open House in the Lower Lonsdale area of North Vancouver today and giving the whole process some thought. One of my ideas is the following: An owner opens up his home to perfect strangers for 2 hours. I think it's only right that he should know the names and phone numbers of the people who have traipsed through his home. No one is going to call anyone who does not want to be ...
Real Estate Lingo
February 7th, 2007
Making Sense Out of Real Estate Lingo
By Michael Giesbrecht
Prudential Sussex Realty
As with all industries, real estate professionals have developed a lingo and acronyms to help them communicate with each other more easily. For the first-time homebuyer (and even some veterans), making sense of property listings can sometimes leave you feeling like you’re deciphering the DaVinci C ...
Bowling and Gutter Balls
January 4th, 2007
In bowling you want to stay away from the gutters and for the most part you want to stay away from the gutters on your house as well. However, it is a good idea to check them out periodically and remove any leaves or debris that may be impeding the flow of water. We'll be getting a lot of rain in Vancouver over the next little while and if you didn't clean out your gutters at the same time ...
Goodbye 2006
January 1st, 2007
The following is a humorous email I received from my aunt yesterday. Enjoy.
I must take a few moments, before we wave good-bye to 2006, to thank each & everyone of you for the wealth of information I have again received over this past year !!! Some of it I have received on numerous occasions in previous years, but at my age now, it is nice to have these more frequent reminders !!!!
A s ...
Size Matters
December 27th, 2006
People often come into my Open Houses and ask me if their bed will fit into the bedroom, but don't remember how big their bed is. Here are the standard measurements for mattresses:
Twin 39 x 76 inchesTwin X-Long 39 x 80 inchesFull 54 x 75 inchesQueen 78 x 80 inchesCal-King 72 x 84 inches ...
2007 Home Buyers
December 26th, 2006
What's In and What's Out?
In
Market timing. Many buyers and sellers were on their own timelines in 2006 and they missed opportunities that were created by not recognizing the real estate markets ebb and flow. Spring is high market, the most demand by the largest number of buyers. Summer is a good market, fall is fair, and winter is the remnant market, the left-over buyers and sellers fro ...