Your 2008 guide to Buying and Selling a home in Vancouver

www.HomesOfVancouver.com

Both the buyers and sellers of real estate in Vancouver are protected by numerous regulations and laws. These regulations and laws have been put in place over many years by the various regulatory bodies that oversee the sale of real estate in British Columbia - the most beautiful place on Earth to live.

The process of buying real estate is vastly different from that of the United Kingdom but there are similarities to that of the process in the USA.

In more than 99% of property sales in Vancouver there are two realtors involved. The one realtor represents the vendor (seller) of the property and their job is to get the most amount of money for the home as well as guide there clients through the marketing and legal process of selling real estate. The second realtor represents the buyer (that's me), and is called the buying realtor, and their job is to secure the home, on behalf of his/her clients for as little money as possible, and to guide them through the legal process of buying a home and to urge that investigatory work is done by professionals on behalf of those clients.

Please remember that one Realtor (Estate Agent) represents the seller and another Realtor represents the buyer and that every single home for sale in Vancouver is available through myself and www.HomesOfVancouver.com . There is no cost to you of my services.

The contract of Purchase and Sale

There are primarily three elements to the purchase and sale contract and these are the price, the dates and the conditions or subjects.

Price

There are typically two types of offer situations that we find ourselves in and these are when we are the only offer on the table, if this is the case and the asking price is $1,400,000 we would typically offer +-$1,300,000 and expect a counter of +- $1,350,000 which we would accept or perhaps counter with $1,325,000 etc., (these numbers are "not cast in stone" and are purely for illustrative purposes only). The second type of offer situation we could find ourselves in, which is far less common, is where there are multiple offers on a home in which event we have "one kick at the can" i.e. we submit our best offer and wait and see if ours is the one that is accepted. There are other elements to an offer, such as dates and conditions, that can "sweeten" the offer for the buyer and on more than one occasion my clients offer has not been the highest in value but we have "won the day" because of flexible dates or less onerous conditions. Any home that we consider purchasing we do a "comparative market analysis" (CMA) on to ensure that we are not paying more than the fair market value.

Dates

There are three dates in a contract of purchase and sale that are important to us and these are the completion date, when money changes hands, the possession date, when the keys change hands and the adjustment date (same as possession date) which is when the rates and taxes and utilities are paid for by the new owner. There are normally two or three days between completion and possession dates to allow the legal process and exchange of funds to take place.

Conditions / Subjects

When we make an offer to buy a home we make it subject to a number of conditions such as :

a) Inspection - An independent inspector will, for a price (between $400 and $800) inspect the home to be purchased and provide you with a report detailing any deficiencies found. Such an inspection is highly recommended.

b) Title search - This is done to ensure that the person or persons from whom we are buying the property actually own it and that there are no restrictions on title such as covenants or builders liens. This title search is provided for you.

c) PCDS - Every vendor of a home is required to complete a "Property Condition Disclosure Statemen"' which effectively is their statement about the home they are selling. Have there been any problems with the roof or foundation or plumbing etc.,

d) Bank appraisal - very often home buyers will need a mortgage to purchase their next home and the bank will want to survey the property before granting a loan. I can refer you to a very good mortgage broker should you wish.

When purchasing condos we have many other subjects which include Strata rules and finances. This information can take up to 10 days to obtain from the listing (selling) realtor.

These are only a few of the more important conditions that we include in an offer to purchase.

When we are satisfied with all the conditions, we normally have about a week to do this, we remove subjects and the deal "goes firm and binding" and our deposit, of between 5% and 10% is due and payable. This deposit is payable to Prudential Sussex Realty in Trust, where it earns a small amount of interest for you until it is paid to the vendors lawyers on completion of the sale.

Costs

There are two "hidden" costs that you must be aware of and these are Property Transfer Tax (PTT) which is 1% on the first $200,000 and 2% on the balance. On new construction 6% GST is payable. The costs of your lawyer which are typically between $1,000 and $1,500.

Special note for UK clients

The method of buying a home in Vancouver is vastly different (much better) to that of the UK. There are no chains, "gazumping" or final exchange of contracts. There is no uncertainty as all purchase agreements are contractual and binding upon both seller and buyer. Talk to me for more details or better still allow me to show you some homes when you are next in Vancouver.

If you have any other questions I can answer please email me at or give me a call on 604 925 3171. If you would like to view homes in Vancouver online please log on to www.HomesOfVancouver.com

I hope this information has been of help to you and I look forward to being of service to you at some time in the future or when you arrive in 2008.

Best regards,

Tim Tomlins. 604 925 3171