Posts tagged ‘homes’

Feb 25

How Many Homes Are There At Sooke’s Sunriver Estates?

A beautiful home at Sunriver Estates in Sooke, BC

…And answers to other frequently asked questions about Sunriver Estates in Sooke – one of the most popular new neighbourhoods in the greater Victoria, BC area.

Because I write a lot about Sooke, I get plenty of questions about living here, working here, and of course, about the neighbourhoods. Sunriver Estates is a huge master-planned community on the banks of the Sooke River, sloping up the Sooke Hills with various creeks and other natural features. It’s a very nice looking development, so it’s no surprise that it’s very popular. Also, the lots are larger than most other new developments in our area, so you can have a real back yard instead of a postage stamp. People move out here for the natural beauty, recreational options, quiet lifestyle, and of course the value. It amazes people when they visit Sooke what you get for your money, and how much more a similar house would cost (usually on a tiny lot) in Victoria, or even Langford, just 20-25 minutes’ drive away. Below are some answers to some frequently-asked questions about Sunriver Estates in Sooke.

Q. Is Sunriver Estates a strata development?

A. No, all homes in Sunriver are freehold, fee simple titles (except for the townhouses). Read details in this post.

Q. How many homes have been built at Sunriver?

A. There have been 371 houses built at Sunriver since it broke ground in 2004.

Q. How many homes are planned?

A. There will be 715 houses at Sunriver when construction is completed.

Q. How many more years will construction be taking place at Sunriver until it’s built-out?

A. At the current pace of construction, all homes will be sold and construction complete in approximately 5 years.

Q. What about the building scheme? I’ve heard that boats and RVs, etc are not allowed? Who enforces it?

A. The building scheme at Sunriver allows boats and RVs, etc, but stipulates that they must be behind a fence, lattice, or other sort of screening so that they don’t clutter up the character of the neighbourhood. The developer has sent out letters to offending properties asking them to comply. To date no one has been fined or needed action beyond the letter.

Q. Are any condominiums planned for Sunriver?

A. No, condos are not being built at Sunriver Estates. There are some very nice townhouses at The Pointe, and there may be a few more built.

Q. Will there be any commercial space built at Sunriver? Neighbourhood shops, cafes, etc?

A. When construction is completed, the sales centre will be sold off as commercial space. It will be up to the buyer (and Sooke zoning and business bylaws) what goes in there. Anything is possible – cafe, restaurant, pub? Who knows!

If you have any more questions about Sunriver Estates or other areas in Sooke or would like information about homes for sale in Sunriver Estates and Sooke, give me a call at 250-885-0512, email Tim@TimAyres.ca or fill in my contact form!

Do you live in Sunriver? What’s your favourite thing about living there?

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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Sep 30

A Tour Through Sooke’s Sunriver Estates Subdivision [Video]

Check out this video I shot the other day of a drive through Sun River Estates in Sooke. It’s a little shakey at times – sorry – but will give you a good idea of what the neighbourhood looks like, and I also provide some information about the various amenities in Sunriver, the prices, sizes, and features of the homes and lots.

If you’re reading this through a feed reader or via e-mail subscription, you may need to click the title of this post to view the video.

As always, if you have any questions about selling or buying a home (new or resale) in Sun River Estates, please give me a call at 250-885-0512, email me, or fill in my contact form – I will help you promptly.

Click for information about Sun River Estates and other neighbourhoods in Sooke.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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Sep 22

Ocean, Lake, and Other View Properties in Sooke and Victoria – Something to Keep In Mind [Video]

If you’re reading this in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to view the video below:

I was out for a run the other day in a 15-or-20 year old subdivision in Sooke. Running up Henlyn Road in the John Muir neighbourhood of Sooke which has amazing, sweeping views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, it occurred to me that as the landscaping around the subdivision has grown up over the years, some of the commanding views that the property owners have enjoyed are now partially or completely obscured by trees and other vegetation. This is an important consideration, as it directly affects your property value.

When shopping for view homes in Sooke or Victoria, keep this in mind – look for stands of trees in the distance that could block your view, or trees on neighbouring properties that could become a bone of contention between you and the other property owner. Most people aren’t so keen to cut down trees to improve another’s view.

If you have any questions or comments about Sooke or Victoria, BC real estate, or suggestions for future posts, please call me at 250-885-0512, email Tim@TimAyres.ca or fill in my contact form. Thanks for reading/watching!

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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May 9

First Time Buyer Friday #8 – Do I Need A Home Inspector?

In my continuing series, First-Time-Buyer Fridays, I answer a common question from a first-time buyer. If you have a question to submit, first-time-buyer or experienced investor, put one in the comments below, or fire me an e-mail at Tim@TimAyres.ca.

What lurks in the attic? The home inspector knows!

Q. A friend said that if I decide to purchase a condo or a home with a warranty, I don’t need a home inspector. It that true?

A. I would always recommend that you protect yourself from unforeseen problems by hiring a qualified home inspector as a condition to buying the house. In fact, it’s so important that our standard-form Contract of Purchase and Sale has an inspection clause pre-written into the subjects page.

An inspector will cost you somewhere between $300-$500 and is money well spent. Some offer a lower rate for condos or townhouses, while others are the same for all property types. This is money that is spent before you remove your conditions, so it’s a good idea to get the final approval on your financing before you pay an inspector to look at the house. That way, you avoid the frustrating position of knowing that the house your bank won’t let you buy is safe and sound.

As of March 31, 2009 all home inspectors are required to be licensed in British Columbia. This is a huge step forward in standardizing the industry and protecting consumers. Prior to this requirement, anyone could call him or herself a home inspector without any real knowledge about homes or any formal training! To be fair, most reputable home inspectors belong to a self-regulating professional organization such as the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI).

With a condo or townhouse, sometimes an inspector cannot get access to all areas of the exterior of the building, for example, the roof. It’s important that you get your REALTOR® to arrange access to these spaces. Otherwise, you only get a limited idea of the condition of the property by having the inspector examine only the strata unit you’re buying. Remember that when you buy a condo or townhouse, you are also buying an interest in (and responsibility for) the common property of the building, so it only makes sense to have it inspected to avoid any unforeseen expense.

If you buy a newer home, it will come with a warranty. The good news is that the warranty will cover many things that could go wrong. The bad news is that a warranty doesn’t prevent problems from occurring. Better to spend the money and get it inspected. Often, the current owners of the property can have any problems found remedied before you move in, saving you the hassle of making a warranty claim.

It can be disappointing to have an inspector examine the home that you really like, only to find some major issues that weren’t apparent to you when you first looked at the house. If you have to walk away, you can think of the fee you paid to the appraiser as an insurance premium that saved you from major financial difficulty down the road.

So, how can you find a reputable inspector? Well, it’s comforting to know that inspectors in BC are now licensed, so you could search Google for home inspectors, or look in the Yellow Pages. You may also ask your REALTOR® who he or she recommends. I have three or four inspectors whose cards I carry and would be happy to recommend any of them.

For more information about home inspection or any other real estate questions, call me at 250-885-0512, e-mail me at Tim@TimAyres.ca or fill in my contact form. Connect with me on Twitter at Twitter.com/TimAyres.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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Apr 24

4 Comments

First Time Buyer Friday #6 – What Does My Money Get Me?

Q. I want to spend about $400,000 on my first home – what can I buy for that kind of money?

A. Let’s break this down and see what $400,000 would cost first. To buy a $400,000 home, you’d need 5% down at a minimum, which is $20,000. The remaining $380,000 would need to be mortgaged. If you were to get a 5-year fixed rate at 4%, amortized over 35 years, your monthly payment would be about $1675. A two-income family should be able to afford that payment.

Keep in mind that you should think long-term. While interest rates today are at historic lows, you need to think about what happens in 5 years when it’s time to renew. No one knows where interest rates will be at that point, and you should build in a comfort zone by calculating the payment at a higher rate of interest. At 5%, the same mortgage estimated above would be $1905 – at 6%, $2150, and at 7%, $2401. The risks of this can be offset by choosing a shorter amortization period (25 or 30 years, instead of 35), which would allow you to pay off more of the principal before it’s time to renew, or you could make extra payments where your budget (and mortgage terms) allow.

So, now that we’ve established what $400,000 looks like on a monthly basis, let’s have a look at what that sum would buy you in today’s market.

In the Victoria core area (Victoria, Oak Bay, Saanich, View Royal and Esquimalt) there are 27 single family homes under $400,000 as of writing this post. Most are small, and old, but there are always a few gems in this price range. There are plenty of condos under $400,000 – 384 to be exact. In the higher end of the range, there are brand new suites at The Juliet, The Ovation, The Monaco, and other brand new high end developments in the core. At the lower end of the range, older buildings (which usually mean larger suites) offer stability and peace-of-mind for less than $250,000. There are 45 townhouses in Victoria and vicinity under $400,000 as of writing, with lots of variation in style, age and location.

Moving further out of the Victoria core area, you’ll get more bang for your buck. In Langford and Colwood as of this writing, there are 30 single family houses and 44 townhouses in Langford and Colwood for sale under $400,000 – including brand new homes in the Happy Valley area, and townhouses at the foot of Bear Mountain. $400,000 would get you nearly any condo, with 215 condos under $400,000 in Langford and Colwood to choose from. Only 21 are above $400,000, mostly on Bear Mountain, or in that new development on the waterfront in Colwood at Esquimalt Lagoon.

Further out west to Sooke is where many first-time buyers are choosing to go (here are 10 good reasons to move to Sooke.) The drive to Victoria is a little longer (but it’s nice!) and the town smaller, but that means that you get a lot more for your money. There are 49 houses for sale in Sooke under $400,000, including many brand new beautiful houses in new subdivisions. If you buy in Sooke, there is also the option of buying an older home to renovate to your liking. Older homes will most likely have a larger lot, too. There are not many condos or townhouses in Sooke, but more are being built all the time. Almost all of them are under $400,000, including the brand-new townhouses at The Pointe in Sun River Estates and waterfront condos along Kaltasin Road. As of writing, 29 condos and townhouses in Sooke under $400,000 are for sale.

I have found that first time buyers are often surprised by 1) How much they can afford, and 2) What that money will get them. There’s plenty of product out there, prices are declining, and with the Bank of Canada reporting that interest rates will remain low until at least the second half of 2010, there hasn’t been a better time to buy in a long time – if it’s right for your situation.

It may or may not make sense for you to buy right now. To get a clearer picture, or for more information about any of the homes mentioned in this post, give me a call at 250-885-0512, e-mail me at Tim@TimAyres.ca or fill in my contact form. Connect with me on Twitter at Twitter.com/TimAyres.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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Dec 8

5 Comments

Realtor.ca Now Sucks Even Less!

I had posted about a month or so ago about how the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) had listened to consumers and REALTORS® nationwide and made some much needed improvements to its much-maligned REALTOR.ca experience.

Last Thursday, additional improvements were rolled out to REALTOR.ca which should improve the user experience even more.

A new Gallery View display will show up to 12 photos of the property (assuming there are that many on the listing) over the interactive map display. Look for the button at the upper right of the map page.

Thumbnail View display will provide 12 property photos at a time with the property description and links to other features like virtual tours or other multimedia. The button to enable this feature is also located in the upper right of the map page.

Unless you’re using Safari on a Mac, you’ll notice that the “save search” function has been moved to a more prominent place on the page, making it easier to find and use to save your favourite searches. Safari users will notice this enhancement at a later date.

Searching by MLS® number should also work better.

Firefox 3 users should also notice that the site works better for them.

Last but not least, searching by neighbourhood name should also be getting better. This was a great frustration for many users used to searching on MLS.ca by clicking on the MLS district name (for example Victoria-Fairfield or Sooke-Whiffen Spit). A reminder from CREA that if you’re searching a specific area by name and don’t get the expected results, send them an e-mail at helpdesk@crea.ca with the details and they will follow up to make sure it gets added to the database.

As always, if you’re having trouble with REALTOR.ca, contact me at 250-885-0512 or using the previous link and I’ll help you set up a real estate search on my client portal which will e-mail you new listings and price changes that match your criteria. With so many listings on the market, a REALTOR® can really help narrow it down to find the place that’s right for you.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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Jul 8

7 Comments

Sooke Road FSBO (For Sale By Owner) Needs a Reality Check

REALITY CHECK!

In this time of change in the real estate market, the marketing services of a professional REALTOR® are more important than ever. Why would a potential buyer look at your home that you’re selling yourself when he or she can see 15 similar homes in the same neighbourhood with the help and guidance of a REALTOR®. How are buyers going to find your place over the listings on the MLS®? The Internet is a powerful tool, to be sure, but again, when there are so many listings with REALTORS® on MLS.ca, why would a buyer look anywhere else?

That being said, there are plenty of for sale by owner signs around town, both the paid FSBO website type, and the dollar-store-neon-orange-and-black budget models.

I’m low on listings at the moment, so I have been sending out information packages and e-mails to selected FSBOs that I see that would be marketable properties. On my way home to Sooke the other day, I saw a FSBO sign on a house on Sooke Road near Luxton Fair Grounds. I jotted down the number, hoping to give the owner a call. I always try and do a little research before I do, and after a bit of Googling, I came across the house on Used Victoria (I’m not going to link directly to it).

I’m not interested in listing this property – at least not until the owner gives his/her head a shake and realizes there’s no way he/she is going to get $519,000(!) for a home on Sooke Road in the Glen Lake area. Not even close. Not even last year.

The ad says it’s “beautifully renovated,” but seriously. Check out these listings and sales over the past few months nearby. A buyer could have a brand new home on a quiet street for what they’re asking for an older home on a Provincial highway! Homes along Sooke Road are selling (and currently listed) for over $100,000 less than what they’re asking.

If by chance the owner comes across this post, and would like a realistic market evaluation of the property, I’d be more than happy to provide one, free of charge, and without any obligation to list the property with me. I’ll even include a booklet of tips for owners who want to sell their property themselves. In fact, I always offer all of the above to anyone wanting to sell their own home. Just contact me anytime at 250-885-0512 or Tim@TimAyres.ca

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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May 2

Sooke New Listings MLS Tour Summary #2

Due to MLS® advertising rules, I’ve decided that I can’t offer the tour summary any longer. I thought about this all last week, and came to the conclusion it could come across as advertising other agents’ listings, which is not allowed under our Rules of Cooperation. I’d rather stop doing it voluntarily than be told I’m in violation.

Rest assured, if you have any questions about any new listings in Sooke, you can contact me at 250-885-0512and I’ll probably have already been through on our weekly tour. If you’re in Sooke and want your house included on the tour, let me know!

-Tim Ayres

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Apr 25

New Feature: Sooke New Listings MLS Tour Summary #1

One of the advantages of using your local Sooke REALTOR® when it comes time to sell your home is the tight-knit sense of community among local real estate professionals. Every Thursday, the three main real estate offices in Sooke hold our weekly MLS Tour, where each REALTOR® in town tours through all the new MLS listings in a two-hour caravan-style tour.

In many other communities in Victoria, tours are poorly attended and disorganized. The tour in Sooke is very well attended (I’d say 85% of the REALTORS® here attend), and is the highlight of the week for many agents, myself included. Besides socializing with my peers, I get an opportunity to view most of the houses for sale. It helps me price my listings, and also is a great tool for pre-viewing new listings for my out-of-town clients, or for buyers that are looking for something very specific. If I see it, I can let them know. I learn more about the market in two hours on MLS tour than I could in a whole day of research on the MLS.

In this weekly (assuming I can attend tour) feature, I’m going to comment on the listings on tour. Which are hot buys, what’s unique about each one. For further information about any of the listings here, contact me.

[Update May 2nd 2008] Due to MLS® advertising rules I’ve decided that I can’t offer the tour summary any longer. I thought about this all week, and came to the conclusion it could come across as advertising other agents’ listings, which is not allowed under our Rules of Co-operation. I’d rather stop doing it voluntarily than be told I’m in violation. Rest assured, if you have any questions about any new listings in Sooke, you can give me a call at 885-0512 and I’ll probably have already been through on our weekly tour. If you’re in Sooke and want your house included on the tour, let me know!

-Tim Ayres

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Apr 1

Victoria BC MLS® Real Estate Statistics – March 2008

Greetings, search engine visitors! For April Statistics, released today, May 1, 2008, click here!

Steady as she goes, the Victoria real estate market remains healthy through the first quarter of 2008. Current inventory levels are 17% higher than the same time last year, as many condo and townhouse projects that started several years ago come on-stream to the Victoria Real Estate Board MLS®. Sales numbers are strong, but still less than the same period last year. Buyers have more to choose from, and sellers are still getting good prices for their homes. This is the balance that most people were predicting for this year’s market. Despite the average single family dwelling and townhouse prices being up over last month, I don’t think it’s possible to rely on month-to-month statistics to tell whether prices are moving. I think either way, up or down, they’re moving more slowly than in the past 5 years and we should be comparing quarter-to-quarter to establish trends. Below is the statistics release from the Victoria Real Estate Board and their graphs.

Real Estate Market Offers More Choices for Buyers

April 1, 2008

Real estate buyers in the Victoria area have a growing number of properties from which to choose. The total number of properties available for sale rose to 3,591 in March – a 17 per cent increase over March of last year. Victoria Real Estate Board President, Tony Joe, says the return to a balanced market is good news for both buyers and sellers. “With more properties available for sale, buyers now have a greater choice, but the continued demand for homes and steady prices mean sellers can anticipate strong interest in properties that are realistically priced.” There were 707 sales through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in March, down from the 833 sales in the same month a year ago but up 14 per cent from the 619 sales in February.

Joe added that prices remained steady last month, “Twenty-eight per cent of single family homes sold for under $450,000 while nearly 36 per cent of condominiums sold for under $275,000.” At the higher end of the market, Joe noted that there were 20 sales in Greater Victoria and two sales on the Gulf Islands of over $1 million.

The average price of single family homes sold in March in Greater Victoria was $597,176; the median price was lower at $529,625. The six-month average for single family homes was $591,439. The average price of all condominiums sold in March was $328,734; the average for the last six months was $332,552. The median was again lower at $300,000. The average price of all townhomes sold last month was $458,378; the six month average was $437,523. The median price was $411,500.

MLS® sales last month included 407 single family homes, 170 condominiums, 68 townhomes and 16 manufactured homes.

Monthly Sales Summary
Average Selling Price Graph
Active Lisings, New Listings and Sales Graphs

Courtesy Victoria Real Estate Board

-Tim Ayres

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Sooke Real Estate, Living, and Community Blog by Tim Ayres

Posts tagged ‘homes’

How Many Homes Are There At Sooke’s Sunriver Estates?

A Tour Through Sooke’s Sunriver Estates Subdivision [Video]

Ocean, Lake, and Other View Properties in Sooke and Victoria – Something to Keep In Mind [Video]

First Time Buyer Friday #8 – Do I Need A Home Inspector?

First Time Buyer Friday #6 – What Does My Money Get Me?

Realtor.ca Now Sucks Even Less!

Sooke Road FSBO (For Sale By Owner) Needs a Reality Check

Sooke New Listings MLS Tour Summary #2

New Feature: Sooke New Listings MLS Tour Summary #1

Victoria BC MLS® Real Estate Statistics – March 2008

Real Estate Market Offers More Choices for Buyers

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