David's thoughts on anything real estate related

Get more details here including a vitural tour!

Live in the heart of Kerrisdale in a well-designed 3-Bed townhome at Larchwood. Fronting a quiet courtyard, this is the best located home in the development! Enjoy mornings on your grand east facing patio overlooking a private park, or walk a block to the shops of quaint yet bustling Kerrisdale Village.

With private access from your home to 2 large parking stalls, an unfinished basement room, and plenty of in suite storage, this townhome is easy to live in. Chef inspired kitchen with over-height cabinets and Miele appliances. Open concept living and dining rooms with airy 9' high ceilings and a custom Maple and Marble fireplace. A short walk to some of the best private and public schools on the west side.

Easy access to the University of BC and the peaceful forest of the Endowment Lands.

See what’s selling in Kitsilano here

What’s selling in the Vancouver Kitsilano Single Family Market? Unlike the rest of the Vancouver West Side single family market, Kitsilano is favouring sellers with 25% of homes sold.  

Six homes sold in Kitsilano last month. The most expensive home sold for $13.5M.  This would have bought you a 26 year old custom built, 4,800 sqft, waterfront home on Point Grey Road. This home was originally listed for $16.8M in 2016.

The least expensive home sold for $2.3M.  This would have bought you a 90 year old home on 15th Avenue on a 33 foot by 122 foot deep lot.  This home sold for over the asking price of $1.98M.

If you like to take a look at all the sales in Kitsilano, I have a new package you can download at this link: https://davidsetton.com/market-updates.html

Example Video

Now more than ever it is important to harness technology when selling a home. So how do real estate agents use technology to sell a home? Obviously harnessing the internet in as many ways as possible will attract potential buyers to your property. Here are 3 ways to use the internet to draw buyers to your home.

This one may seem simple, but make sure the data is entered correctly with your real estate board (on the MLS system). Agents representing buyers help them by setting up automated property searches and your home will not come up if the search is set up to include a feature that is not entered properly to begin with by the listing agent. Now let's get the more exciting stuff. A professionally produced video is critical (professional photos is a given). A well done video not only includes information on your home, but also includes information about the location and neighborhood. It should be filmed professionally with either a voiceover or background music. Drone video could also be incorporated into the video to highlight views and the locations. Last but not least include a floor plan with virtual walkthrough of the property. Including a floor plan really helps buyers to understand how the rooms are interconnected. A professionally measured home could also keep you the seller out of hot water if there is ever a dispute over the size of the home you are selling. The floor plan should be included online as one of the photos for your home so that people actually see it.

Social media such as Youtube, Instagram and Facebook should be used to direct internet traffic back to the online listing.

If you are interested in seeing some of these online tools I will link below to some of the videos, virtual walkthroughs for a few sold homes.

My name is David Setton with Oakwyn Realty and Answers in Real Estate. I specialize in marketing homes in Vancouver West. You can reach me at 604-808-9796.

Click here to learn what it is like to compete when buying a home

Let’s dive in. Here are 3 things to know at the start at the home buying process.

1) Understand the market conditions you are buying in. Remember that different locations and different price points can impact how much you can negotiate. The housing market can be favouring buyers, sellers or balanced. By studying statistics your realtor can inform you on what you will be facing when you go to make an offer. Some locations and housing types are so strong that you may be competing when you are ready to make an offer. For example currently the condo and townhome market up to around $1M is very strong in the Vancouver Westside and you will more than likely be competing with other offers. The single family market is this same area at over $3M is currently favouring buyers.

2) Be specific on what you are looking for, but not too specific. What do I mean by this? Well, if you narrow your home search to a small search area like a 5 square block area, you may not have enough choices. If you make your search area too large, the opposite can happen and you can be easily overwhelmed with too much choice. Also it is possible to be too specific on the type of home. For example if you limit yourself to a home 1000 to 1200 square feet that must be on 2 levels you will not get too many choices. Especially if you combine this with a limited search area.

3) Know how much you want to spend and get a mortgage pre-approval. This is important because obviously it makes no sense to start looking at homes that you can’t afford. A mortgage professional can help with this because the rules around how much of a loan you can qualify for are always changing and interest rates change frequently. For example this month interest rates were lowered by ½%.

Some great resources on my website. I’m going to link to the Buyer section of my website where you will find a video on what it is like to compete with other offers. Please feel free to contact me at 604-808-9796. I specialize in helping home buyers looking to purchase a home in the Vancouver West Side. My name is David Setton with Oakwyn Realty and answers in real estate and you can reach me at 604-808-9796.

See what’s selling in Kitsilano here 

What’s selling in the Vancouver Kitsilano Single Family Market? The Vancouver West Side Single Family Market continues to favour buyers. Unlike the rest of the West Side single family market, the Kitsilano market is now favouring sellers.

Six homes sold in Kitsilano last month. The most expensive home sold for $6.3M. This would have bought you a 105 year old home on a 49 foot wide lot Kits Point. This is one of my favourite areas in Vancouver. This property has been available for sale for a year and sold for over the asking price.

The least expensive home sold for $2.2M. This would have bought you a 92 year old triplex on 10th Avenue.

17 homes were available and on the market in Kitsilano last month. To have 6 home sell puts us in a seller’s market with 35% of the homes selling. Sold values in Kitsilano are at median price of $2,500,000 about $700,000 lower than the median price for a home in the West Side which is now at around $3,200,000. If you like to take a look at these sales, I have a new package you can download at this link: https://davidsetton.com/market-updates.html

Get statistics package here: https://davidsetton.com/market-updates.html
What’s hot What’s Not – Vancouver Westside – Single Family for Dec 2017
- Westside single fam is still fav buyers
- Median Prices dropped by 16% last month to $3.2M.
- Inventory is down about 100 homes from it’s peak of 789 in Sept.
- Only 83 homes sold in Nov
- Inventory is at 689 sf homes available 12% S.R.
What’s Hot (21% or more for a SR)
- which strongest - Kits
- 12 / 41 homes sold 29% sr Consistently does well
- special report on kitsilano
- price point strongest & fav sellers
- $2.25M - 2.75M 22 / 41 53% sr
What’s not hot (14% or less for a SR)
- Shaughnessy 3 / 82 sold - 4% sr
- Quilchena 1 / 27 sold - 4% sr
- which price category
- anything over $5M - buyers market - 273 homes priced over $5M - 15 sold. 12% sr. anything under 14% is a buyers market

Download 12 Sales Here.

What’s hot in the Kitsilano Single Family for December 2017

- The Van Westside Single Fam market is favouring buyers.  

- Kitsilano is bucking this trend and favouring sellers.  

- 12 Homes sold in Kits last mo.

- least expensive home sold for $1.52M. which would have bought you a new 1,100 sqft coachhouse on Alma north of 4th Ave.  Most expensive home sold for $5.5M. Bought you a 10 year old home on 1st Ave on a 33’ wide lot.

- 41 homes were available and on the market in Kits in Nov so to have 12 sales puts us in a sellers market at a 29% sr

- Sold values in Kits are at med price of $2.8M lower than the median price for a home in the Westside - now at $3.2M.

If you like to take a look at these sales, I have a new package you can download at the link below map locating them and photos

• First questions my clients ask is should I buy first or sell first when moving

• The answer is not straightforward

• Whether buy first or sell first - still will be stressful

• If buy first, have the stress of selling before taking possession of the home that you purchased.

• Also the uncertainty of selling for enough money to afford the new home

• If you sell first, you are under the gun to buy a home and moving before you have to give up your home you just sold.

• When is it advantageous to sell first.  

• When you are moving from an area with a stronger market to a weaker market.  Stronger negotiating position.

• When advantageous to buy first. When you are moving into a strong market with less choice and you want to make sure that you can find the right home.

This is the one: a two level penthouse townhome with a huge, private roof top patio! Enjoy abundant natural light and privacy, because the main floor of this corner home is surrounded by windows on three sides. Located across the street from McBride Park and a 10 minute walk to Jericho Beach, this is a convenient location in the heart of Kitsilano. Walk everywhere. You are surrounded by coffee shops, grocery stores and restaurants on 4th Avenue and Broadway. Did I mention the 500 square foot roof top patio with city and mountain views? Just painted with newer flooring and recent bathroom renovations, this home is move-in ready. As a bonus, this is one of the only homes in the development with 2 secure underground parking stalls.

For Report for your Area click here: http://davidsetton.com/snapstats.html

How to interpret statistics by looking at inventory (number of homes on the market) and number of sales.