I have been thinking a lot about the Olympics coming to Vancouver soon. What does that really mean? I have been thinking about all of the new infrastructure that has been created for this wondrous event over the last 5 years that will now be here to stay forever. The way that the new roads and transit systems are changed forever in our great City. For the better absolutely. I love Vancouver. But really, I love that I am only 1 hour away from Vancouver. I can enjoy driving to wherever I want to go in less than 20 minutes in the City of Chilliwack. I am no more than 20 minutes from anywhere. I can park FOR FREE wherever I want to and it is always a quick walk to where I need to go. It is great. Sometimes we take that for granted. I was thinking about how a City that is just over an hour away from the core of the Olympic craziness can benefit or feel the effects of the Olympics. Then I started to think about what we are going through right now in this "media market mayhem monstrosity" (how's that for alliteration for ya) (Did I spell "alliteration" right?) that is being referred to as the real estate market right now. The crash. The suppressed market. the bursting of the bubble. All of these extreme phrases basically allow us the excuse to justify our current situation right now. It feeds us the food to keep us sick and wallowing in self pity. Really its just a little harder. People are buying homes. People are selling homes. Interest rates are fantastic. Prices are reachable for some people that couldn't reach them before. Buyer's can feel like they are winning again. They can negotiate and win. They can be choosy and win. They can get a great affordable rate making their monthly payments lower. Win. Let's work with Winners. Then we get to be Winners to. Man that feels a lot better. Ok back to the Olympics......
The 2010 Olympics are coming and I believe that we will be able to expose our beautiful province to the world for all to see. Fantastic. Then I saw that ad and I was thinking about the opening ceremonies and the Torch Relay. It is a great tradition displaying teamwork and effort and accountability and heart. Wow. What if we were all torch bearers every day. Remember once you have that torch you are expected to get it to the next spot. If you don't you mess everything up. You have to get it to the next person. You have to be accountable for that and if it is hard then that is too bad. You have to make it. There is no choice. It has to happen. You can't pass the buck - or the torch - in this case, until you reach the destination. It is an honor to carry the torch. When the road is hard to travel, you have to have heart. It may take extra effort and you have to get it to your team mate because he or she is waiting for you and counting on you. it doesn't matter that it is a little harder right now. That is just how we percieve it. It is how we feel. Well too bad. We have to keep going. We have to maintain our accountability to our goals. We have to maintain the promises we made to ourselves and others. We get so caught up in how we feel or how we should feel because we are programmed to feel a certain way when things are hard. I say keep the flame alive people and carry that torch with honor and be proud of your profession and we all have to get up everyday and grab that torch of responsibility and carry on. Put a smile on our faces and effect some lives in a positive way. We are in the business of helping people. We are not helping anybody by feeding on the negativity or letting it soak into us so that we squirt it back out onto other people. I say bathe yourself in positive and and just let it fly. Spray everybody with as much positive as possible and make a difference. Carry the torch. I will. Will you? Join me and lets make a positive difference.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Market Report for Chilliwack, BC, Canada
Here is the Chilliwack Real Estate Market Report.
Here is a general market report with Statistics from our Board in Chilliwack BC. We are a city with a population of approximately 85,000 people and we are located within 1.5 hours from the City center of Vancouver, BC. We are fantastic community with lakes and mountains and fishing rivers all around us. We have all of the amenities that you need and we are soon to be a University town. We have a WHL hockey team called the Chilliwack Bruins. In the month of January 2009 we totalled 71 total residential sale down 45% from the previous year and about 50% of the total dollar volume. However we saw a slight upturn for the month of February because it seemed that everyone was waiting for the announcment of the Obama administration to happen at the end of January before doing anything. In February our residential sales rose to 125 which is about 43% lower than the previous year and again about 50% of the dollar volume. Already we are experiencing more activity in March and I think that we will see another upturn and get closer to the numbers. The phone is ringing and the attitude of the Buyer is transforming a little to more of a sense of urgency. We actually had a multiple offer situation the other day on one of our listings and got our client $3200 over list price! So that is exciting. To learn more about our community and about our team go to www.happyhomesbc.ca.
Here is a general market report with Statistics from our Board in Chilliwack BC. We are a city with a population of approximately 85,000 people and we are located within 1.5 hours from the City center of Vancouver, BC. We are fantastic community with lakes and mountains and fishing rivers all around us. We have all of the amenities that you need and we are soon to be a University town. We have a WHL hockey team called the Chilliwack Bruins. In the month of January 2009 we totalled 71 total residential sale down 45% from the previous year and about 50% of the total dollar volume. However we saw a slight upturn for the month of February because it seemed that everyone was waiting for the announcment of the Obama administration to happen at the end of January before doing anything. In February our residential sales rose to 125 which is about 43% lower than the previous year and again about 50% of the dollar volume. Already we are experiencing more activity in March and I think that we will see another upturn and get closer to the numbers. The phone is ringing and the attitude of the Buyer is transforming a little to more of a sense of urgency. We actually had a multiple offer situation the other day on one of our listings and got our client $3200 over list price! So that is exciting. To learn more about our community and about our team go to www.happyhomesbc.ca.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Critical Real Estate
I am in Childrens Hospital right now with my wife and my son Connor as we have discovered that my son is now a Type1 Diabetic. He is 8 years old and is taking on this new life change like a pure Champion. He is amazing. He has had to overcome some very real fears in an extreme short period of time. Needles !!! Every day !?! Insulin!! What happens of he hits a "low"? Making sure that he eats right. He has to prick his finger -on purpose- to check his blood sugar level a number of times a day. It is Wednesday and he was admitted to the hospital on Monday night at 8:30pm and he is already acting like this is almost "normal". What? We as parents are going to have to make some serious adjustments and we are going through a major crash course with one more day left. We are tired and feeling a lot overwhelmed but at the same time I am so proud of my little man. I am thinking to myself..."what can I learn from this?". It came to me like a flash of lightning.
Us adults, get so caught up in details of life. We wait for other circstances to change or take place in order for our own lives to change. We are waiting for elections to happen; for spring to come; for President Obama to announce his cabinet and rescue the monetary system. Guess what everybody - the market has changed! The way we do business is changing ! We have to make life and business adjustments ---NOW! Out of necessity other factors come to light. Or come to life. This is where the rubber meets the road. What if you didn't make the changes oryou would die! Like my son. What if we decided to stubbornly stomp our feet and resist the changes? What if my son decided not to allow us to give him a needle? Things would get worse for him. Guaranteed that If we don't make changes, our businesses will do the same. They will die. Embrace change, either willfully or out of necessity, or your business will not thrive. It will be deficient on some area. If my son refuses to take insulin he will get sick. Sometimes a change could be as simple as starting a new habit. A positive one. Here's one that has worked for me:
I encourage you to make a list of the "Critical 6". What are the 6 most critical things that you have to accomplish every day? Think of it this way. What if you had to, suddenly without planning, take off with your wife and son to Childrens Hospital because you son has just been diagnosed with Diabetes? What 6 things would you absolutely make sure that you would accomplish before the day was over? Do those things first and do everything else after that. I wish you all a Blessed day and please live life as if it critical. Treat your business as if it is Critical and you will have health and wealth in all areas.
-- Post From My iPhone-to learn more about our team go to www.happyhomesbc
Us adults, get so caught up in details of life. We wait for other circstances to change or take place in order for our own lives to change. We are waiting for elections to happen; for spring to come; for President Obama to announce his cabinet and rescue the monetary system. Guess what everybody - the market has changed! The way we do business is changing ! We have to make life and business adjustments ---NOW! Out of necessity other factors come to light. Or come to life. This is where the rubber meets the road. What if you didn't make the changes oryou would die! Like my son. What if we decided to stubbornly stomp our feet and resist the changes? What if my son decided not to allow us to give him a needle? Things would get worse for him. Guaranteed that If we don't make changes, our businesses will do the same. They will die. Embrace change, either willfully or out of necessity, or your business will not thrive. It will be deficient on some area. If my son refuses to take insulin he will get sick. Sometimes a change could be as simple as starting a new habit. A positive one. Here's one that has worked for me:
I encourage you to make a list of the "Critical 6". What are the 6 most critical things that you have to accomplish every day? Think of it this way. What if you had to, suddenly without planning, take off with your wife and son to Childrens Hospital because you son has just been diagnosed with Diabetes? What 6 things would you absolutely make sure that you would accomplish before the day was over? Do those things first and do everything else after that. I wish you all a Blessed day and please live life as if it critical. Treat your business as if it is Critical and you will have health and wealth in all areas.
-- Post From My iPhone-to learn more about our team go to www.happyhomesbc
Monday, March 9, 2009
Online Marketing Blog
That is now becoming a FACT. Wake up people this is the new media and we have to make sure that we take advantage of it and speak to who we are speaking to where they are listening. Paper ads are not nearly as effective any longer. We have set up a Sutton Group Showplace Realty FACEBOOK page now so that we can communicate with our REALTORs effectively and also when we announce a new listing, REALTORs whoare savvy enough to have their clients on a FACEBOOK group will automatically communicate to them news and events from us. That is powerful stuff. We have set up a happyhomesbc.ca FACEBOOK page as well so that we can create followers and get our clients to interact with us. It is in the infant stages right now but we are getting there. I have jsut begun to expose myself to the blogging world and I am just now realizing the power of that.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Real Estate Markets and the Placebo effect
There is something that we have all heard of and that is the Placebo Effect. If a person is not feeling well or believes that they have a serious illness, they will visit their doctor and the doctor tells them that if they take this pill for a couple days the symptoms will disappear and they will begin to feel better. They have a strong belief that they are sick and that there is something wrong with their bodies and this is verified by the symptoms that they are feeling and expressing. Then they build a new belief based on what the doctor has told them. That new belief is what they want or desire and that is simply, to feel better. They now believe that this little pill will make them feel better. Suddenly shortly after injesting the medicine the symptoms start to disappear. What really happened is that the doctor examined the patient and with his knowledge and experience and a little bit of common sense came to the conclusion that this patient was fine based on all regular indicators. He ascertained that this person/patient needed to believe that he was giving them a solution. "It is all in their head" so to speak. Our beliefs are so strong sometimes that we can actually effect our bodies and almost "create" an illness or the symptoms of an illness.
Well let me ask you this......."is it possible that the reason that the Real Estate Market is a little bit slower, and prices are coming down a little, possibly from the Placebo effect of the media?" After all they are the trusted source. These specialists and analyzers come on the 6:00 NEWS and tell us about all the troubles of the world and suddenly in a little town of Chilliwack BC we meet the statistics exactly. We are meeting the expectations of the media sources exactly. We are experiencing the symptoms and believing it and feeling the effects of it. It feels like a recession because they are calling it a recession.
Here's another point. Let's say you wake in the morning and you feel fine. You wife or husband says to you..."Oh honey, are you feeling ok? you seem a little discolored" you answer "No I feel fine". You head to work and the person in your carpool says "Wow are you feeling ok? You're looking a little sickish" . Then you arrive at work and your secretary says to you.... "Good Morning.... Oh are you sure that you should have came in today? You look like you're sick"....etc and this goes on for the next couple of hours of the day. I am willing to bet that you will be heading home early that day and suddenly take on the symptoms of being sick. But you woke up in the morning feeling just like any other day. When it is expressed to you enough times by trusted people, people that you see everyday, it will creep into your mind and you will begin to take on the symptoms that they are referring to.
Now what if someone with enough clout came on the TV screen and could reach out into your living room and give you a 'smack' on the cheek and say "Wake UP!!! Take a look around you!!! Everything is fantastic" .
As of today the prime mortgage rate is now 2.5%!!! This is the lowest ever!! Even a prime plus 1% loan will get you to 3.5%. What? Are they going to start paying you to use their money? Obviously not, but this is ridiculous. Prices are down an average of 15% from 18 month ago and interest rates are the lowest ever. There is a lot of inventory out there and some Sellers have to sell. What better climate can there be for a Buyer. Remember, once you sell you get to be a Buyer. This is the ultimate Buyer's Market!!! People wake up. We don't have any car companies laying people off. We are a hustling and bustling economy here in Chilliwack BC. We know that there are people ready to buy because when the prices come to a point that you can't ignore any longer then they come out of the woodwork. Garrison Crossing has sold over 12 units in the last 2 weeks. The Flora apartment building on Mary Street has sold over 1/3 of the building in 30 days. Prices increased over 99% since 2002 and have only dropped 15% and I believe that we are bouncing on the bottom now.
Now let's analyze as if we are the doctors: Interest Rates? Lowest EVer. Ok now let's check the pulse of employment. HMmmm yep that is still quite low. Any new events coming to the area? Oh yes......THE 2010 OLYMPICS!!! Yes well. Let's take a look around. Cough for me...Clean Air and Water. Mountains. Lakes. Ocean. 1 hour from the Big City - Vancouver. HmmHmm, Yes that is the most beautiful City in North America. Yes I agree. Oh really? A new University is constructing right now. The RCMP has relocated their training facility to Chilliwack. And Yes. the Justice Institute is there as well. What's that? Companies are currently building facilites that will employ hundreds of people in the Chilliwack area. Nice. Oh I see. The City of Chilliwack itself has no debt at all. Wow that is impressive. Oh yes and I heard about the Evans Road overpass that is currently under construction. What's that? You have a local WHL hockey team as well - The Chilliwack Bruins? Oh is that right. A new Entertainment Arts Center is under construction right now. Oh is that right beside the new Landing Liesure Center and the new Prospera Center which is right across the road from the new Football field? Wow.
Well it seems to me that you will be feeling pretty good pretty soon. Just take this little (sugar) pill and you should be feeling fine any day now.
Come on people - - - - go to our website at http://www.happyhomesbc.ca/ and check out some videos that talk about the Chilliwack area and also we have a new video speaking about "The Falls Golf Course and Resort". Looking forward to meeting you.
Well let me ask you this......."is it possible that the reason that the Real Estate Market is a little bit slower, and prices are coming down a little, possibly from the Placebo effect of the media?" After all they are the trusted source. These specialists and analyzers come on the 6:00 NEWS and tell us about all the troubles of the world and suddenly in a little town of Chilliwack BC we meet the statistics exactly. We are meeting the expectations of the media sources exactly. We are experiencing the symptoms and believing it and feeling the effects of it. It feels like a recession because they are calling it a recession.
Here's another point. Let's say you wake in the morning and you feel fine. You wife or husband says to you..."Oh honey, are you feeling ok? you seem a little discolored" you answer "No I feel fine". You head to work and the person in your carpool says "Wow are you feeling ok? You're looking a little sickish" . Then you arrive at work and your secretary says to you.... "Good Morning.... Oh are you sure that you should have came in today? You look like you're sick"....etc and this goes on for the next couple of hours of the day. I am willing to bet that you will be heading home early that day and suddenly take on the symptoms of being sick. But you woke up in the morning feeling just like any other day. When it is expressed to you enough times by trusted people, people that you see everyday, it will creep into your mind and you will begin to take on the symptoms that they are referring to.
Now what if someone with enough clout came on the TV screen and could reach out into your living room and give you a 'smack' on the cheek and say "Wake UP!!! Take a look around you!!! Everything is fantastic" .
As of today the prime mortgage rate is now 2.5%!!! This is the lowest ever!! Even a prime plus 1% loan will get you to 3.5%. What? Are they going to start paying you to use their money? Obviously not, but this is ridiculous. Prices are down an average of 15% from 18 month ago and interest rates are the lowest ever. There is a lot of inventory out there and some Sellers have to sell. What better climate can there be for a Buyer. Remember, once you sell you get to be a Buyer. This is the ultimate Buyer's Market!!! People wake up. We don't have any car companies laying people off. We are a hustling and bustling economy here in Chilliwack BC. We know that there are people ready to buy because when the prices come to a point that you can't ignore any longer then they come out of the woodwork. Garrison Crossing has sold over 12 units in the last 2 weeks. The Flora apartment building on Mary Street has sold over 1/3 of the building in 30 days. Prices increased over 99% since 2002 and have only dropped 15% and I believe that we are bouncing on the bottom now.
Now let's analyze as if we are the doctors: Interest Rates? Lowest EVer. Ok now let's check the pulse of employment. HMmmm yep that is still quite low. Any new events coming to the area? Oh yes......THE 2010 OLYMPICS!!! Yes well. Let's take a look around. Cough for me...Clean Air and Water. Mountains. Lakes. Ocean. 1 hour from the Big City - Vancouver. HmmHmm, Yes that is the most beautiful City in North America. Yes I agree. Oh really? A new University is constructing right now. The RCMP has relocated their training facility to Chilliwack. And Yes. the Justice Institute is there as well. What's that? Companies are currently building facilites that will employ hundreds of people in the Chilliwack area. Nice. Oh I see. The City of Chilliwack itself has no debt at all. Wow that is impressive. Oh yes and I heard about the Evans Road overpass that is currently under construction. What's that? You have a local WHL hockey team as well - The Chilliwack Bruins? Oh is that right. A new Entertainment Arts Center is under construction right now. Oh is that right beside the new Landing Liesure Center and the new Prospera Center which is right across the road from the new Football field? Wow.
Well it seems to me that you will be feeling pretty good pretty soon. Just take this little (sugar) pill and you should be feeling fine any day now.
Come on people - - - - go to our website at http://www.happyhomesbc.ca/ and check out some videos that talk about the Chilliwack area and also we have a new video speaking about "The Falls Golf Course and Resort". Looking forward to meeting you.
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