Vancouver Real Estate Market

My hubby and I bought and flipped a condo in 2007.

Now I think the market is cooling down so I am preparing myself to buy and keep.

I am looking at the real estate stats published by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV). Residential sales in Greater Vancouver was the highest in 2007. Sales in August 2008 was lower than August 2006.

“In August, properties on average remained on the market longer than we’ve seen in recent years,” said Dave Watt, REBGV president.

Since May 2008, the benchmark price has decreased about 3-4% for all types of properties (detached, attached, condos) in Greater Vancouver.

For detached homes, the 5 year change on price is +78.1% in Greater Vancouver. Vancouver West has the highest increase of 98.1% over other areas in Greater Van. In areas like Port Moody and Pitt Meadows, the price change over 1 year is already negative.

For attahced homes, the 5 year change is the highest in Vancouver East (104.4%). The one year change is double digit (13.2%) compare to other areas in GVRD. No negative change over one year (at least not very significant 0.1%).

As housing price increases in GVRD, first-time home buyers who cannot afford single family homes in desirable Vancouver West bought attached home in Vancouver East. This is where we bought our condo because of its affordable price.

For apartments, there are several areas with more than 100% change over 5 year (Port Co, Vancouver E, New West, Richmond). Areas experiencing negative increase over 1 year included West Van, North Van, and Vancouver West).

I think this is because of the higher real estate prices, first-time home buyers who usually can afford only apartments, condos buy in the suburbs or less desirable areas in Vancouver. Recent years, the prices got so high in desirable areas that it is leveling off (West Van -4.9%).

Over the 5 years, apartments (condos) has the largest price increase, followed by attached homes.

Check out www.realtylink.org for the stats.

Fannie Mae & Freddi Mac Situation

Author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki's comments on Fannie and Freddie: latest video commentary


Weekend Millionaires Mike Summey & Roger Dawson's online chat about this: http://www.weekendmillionaire.com/2008/09/09/chat-transcript-september-8-2008/




All these talks about the foreclosure crisis in the U.S. A lot of people are freaking out and saying to stay out of real estate. But all the experienced investors I know are buying up as many as they can. Some investors say it's the best time to buy in 50 years, since the depression or since ever!

I read on CNN Money.com that only 5% of all mortgages in the U.S. are in default. The media made it sound like more than 50% are in default.

So I say, I am so lucky to have the knowledge and experience I have right now, to be ready for this opportunity. I am trying to buy as many as I can because when I buy I make money. Even if the price never go up again, I still make money every month from my investments.

The banks that were in trouble have already made their money when they originated the loan and then sold the loans. Fannie Mae who bought the loans raised money from selling securities to foreign investors. The government now will use the taxpayer's money to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie. All those people or entities that got us into this mess in the first place have already gone away with the money. Yes, I agree they should have tighter regulations so it won't happen again.

These are just my personal opinion.

Where to Find the Money to Invest in Real Estate

Where can you find money to buy properties?
I get this question a lot lately.

Here are some ideas that you can try:

1. Cash or credit partner – if you know someone with cash and/or good credit who can quality for a mortgage, you can find a deal and present the deal to them to see if they want to invest with you.

2. Hard money lender – there are a lot of hard money lenders out there. Just Google "hard money" and you will find about 15.8 billion English pages. Contrary to popular beliefs, harder money can be cheaper than cash or credit partners. These lenders are investors themselves and they will make sure you have a good deal before they lend you the money.

3. Money in your self-directed retirement account – if you call the bank and ask them to invest the money in your retirement account in real estate, they will likely say no. The banks only sell stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and they only want you to buy their products so they make money. Get a self-directed retirement account and you can invest in almost anything, even account receivables.

4. Home equity line of credit – if you have equity in your home, you can get a home equity line of credit (aka HELOC) to buy properties. Robert Kiyosaki said home equity is like lazy assets. Pull the money out and invest in performing assets (not doodads). Make your money work hard for you.

5. Credit cards – there are a lot of zero percent interest for one year credit cards out there. If you can get personal or business credit cards with enough credit limit, you can buy a house nowadays.

6. Private money – if you can find people to lend you money at lower interest rate than hard money, it’s another good way to go. It can also be money in someone else's self-directed retirement account that they want to invest.

7. Ask the seller to finance the property. I will consider owner finance my properties if the buyer meets my criteria. Check out my properties for sale at www.vantagerei.com

When I first started out, I've used private money, conventional mortgages, HELOC, and more private money.

But if you buy with hard money lender or credit card, make sure you can refinance the house 6 months down the row otherwise the high interest rate will kill the deal. Feel free email me if you have any questions.