Can't believe I didn't notice that before!

ummm BMO and TD lowered their 5 year fixed mortage down to 2.79 from 2.99 and 3.09 respectively

Banks cut key mortgage rate amid fears of lofty housing market - The Globe and Mail

Old news Coast Capital Savings Credit Union has been offering that rate since last month already! If you want a good mortgage advisor at Coast Capital Savings let me know and I can give you his info. They seem more flexible than the major banks and have a great rental property program if you are looking to buy a rental property :smug:

Do most people still go to banks to get mortgages?

I thought in this day and age, most people go to ratehub or ratesupermarket and compare.

^

I still go to the bank for my mortgage, I'll get the best rate the major banks can offer I know it's now as cheap as some but it's more of a convenience thing. When I bought my first place I went to Coast Capital for a mortgage they were miles higher then any of the major banks mind you that was probably 13 years ago and I didn't have the credit or equity I do now.

I never knew we can check the sales date and price comparing to actual assessed value

This is of very great help to me as I always rely on the listed price which is always overpriced for a $30-$40k value

Don't know about you but I'm seeing $300-400k over the assessed value most of the time.

settled on the 1% realtor, house should be going up on MLS tomorrow.....open house sunday

It seems like the further you go east the closer to assessed value you get. Homes in my neighborhood are selling pretty close to assessed value. Our friends across the street sold there place in the fall which is similar to ours within $2,000 of our assessed value.

Please update with the results down the road good or bad.

will do...so far it's been what i've expected. It'll be a minimalist service to get the job done and move on....which as long as she does her job and markets the house then i'm fine with that. Photos being done tomorrow night, we'll see how they turn out

That will depend on the demand in the area you are looking in. Bc assessed value will be a year behind and if there is lots of activity in your area assessed values will mean very little compared to the actual current market value. If you are only willing to pay assessed value and your area isconsistently 30-40k over, you'll probably be sitting and waiting for a while

plus if a house has been renovated then the actual value would far exceed an assessed value

What a waste of someone's time if you're not going to use 2/3 agents if they really are working hard for your business.

Maybe because I am an agent myself but I find this disrespectful.

PS. Ultimately it's up to you who to use, but I'd see who is actually working for your best interest. Are they sending you information, are they communicating with you with your wants/needs, are they taking you to showings etc. It's not hard to tell who is working vs someone who's just sending you listings.

A lot of people on the forums here (not directing this at you, Special K, in this regard) give us so much crap for the "lack of skills" or how easy it must be to make a shit load of money for doing such little work. I've been doing this close to 10 years and the amount of hate, disrespect and highly misunderstood attitude I've gotten is beyond me. Sure, I get it. There are shitty agents out there. Trust me, I've probably dealt with them during an offer or meeting or some sort as I work in resale and presale (I see thousands of people in month alone). And yes, everyone and their grandma's seem to be agents nowadays but like any job, there are legit hardworking people who work hard for their money.

It's insulting when people say to me "what an easy job." There were months where I didn't get paid at all if I didn't close a sale despite having to pay fees for the real estate board, office fees, etc etc. Overtime, shit adds up and money does not come easy (in ANY job for that matter). It's not that I didn't work hard but the competition was and is still unreal (think of all the random people who just sign up to be an agent because they think it's fast money?). I have to work triple the amount of effort to gain the trust and loyalty of my clients because I don't fuck around. I do what I need to do and I do a damn good job at it. I do all my showings and I show up with my clients to a showing/appointments anything unlike half the city who settles on lockboxes. If anyone thinks it's easy to convince someone to spend half a million dollars at most then I say try it for yourself. You're in for a surprise!

as i understand it, open houses are used primarily for realtors to get future customers, which is why they're so insistent that people sign-in, and it doesn't really help at all in selling your home

edit: but that's only from what i hear from a couple of friends who are realtors (good ones) but i dunno :/

Thanks for the input Miss Crayon. I see buying a house just like buying anything else. Whoever gets me the best deal and meets my needs win the commission.

Perhaps I haven't found "the" agent I can work with. We are debating a house in Coquitlam or a condo/townhouse in Vancouver for $700k-$1m.

Agent 1: He has a bias towards Vancouver and seems knowledgabe only in Vancouver. Shows no interest in Coquitlam (and actually bashes it). Lack electronic communcation skills. But he is a family friend.

Agent 2: Perfect communciation. Sends me Coquitlam listings often and not pushy at all. However, she doesn't explain much (see Agent #3). No ties at all.

Agent 3: Close friend referral. Very knowledge in Coquitlam and explains everything. However, he shows us the expensive stuff and is pushy.

These are the reasons why we are keeping all three. They all have different perspectives. We just want to find the best/suitable purchase. What would you recommend doing differently?

What are your goals?


If you want to have a family, find a family neighborhood and accept your role as a provider male. Hastings Sunrise is the happening 'hood right now!!!


If you want anything but the above? Move downtown, cop a sweet space, bang tons of fucking hot sluts

My question geared towards my multiple agent situation. Not which area I should be looking at. We are still undecided.

Talk about agents. I meet two during a random party. One of them you could barely understand her. Her voice is just way way too faint even when you are like right next to her in a coffee shop I could barely hear her. Also she doesn't seem to have any idea about the market at all. I ask for a few questions about the current real estate and she seems to be lost.

The other one is so passive that every question you asks he just gives you either a yes or no or as little as possible. Doesn't even talk back when you are trying to make a friendly conversion.

Of course there are awesome agents I meet before who knows a ton and would even give you advice without thinking twice if you are going to be using them as agents or if you will buy from them.

free market. cream rises to the top. survival of the fittest.

none of these apply to realtors because of their protected status with BRAs.

are you saying realtors are supported by BRAs? :badpokerface:

I have to side with miss_crayon. Choose a realtor. If you don't, then don't expect a full effort from any of them.

Put yourself in their position. You have other clients with needs/demands and one guy says I'm testing you, earn my business and get paid.

Unless:

A - you hold multiple properties or have a boatload of cash to buy
B - I was really slow/desparate/or just starting out

I'd probably politely tell you to get fucked. For anyone to be successful in any reasonable profession, they need to give it their full attention. If you're signed on as a client, you would get my full attention and my service would create word of mouth to build a reputation.

No offense to you, Special K, but you're working 3 realtors and don't even know where you want to live. If I were a realtor, I would, very diplomatically, tell you to pound sand and give my clients the service they deserve.

^ Are you a realtor? because you sound heavily biased. Just because you put in undivided effort, doesn't mean you deserve "undivided" commitment from client. I see nothing wrong with what Special K is doing. In fact, that is what most people should be doing when it comes to important purchases; you browse multiple dealers before committing. If your not confident that you can sell to the client then don't put in the effort because there's no shortage of competent realtors imo.

No, I am not a realtor. I thought saying, "If I were a realtor.." would have made that clear.

I agree, browse options before committing. But commit.

My point is, he doesn't know what he wants and is asking 3 different people to figure it out for him. What if he ends up somewhere he's not keen on afterward? Then what?

IMO - Make a decision. Commit to a realtor who will then find you the right home in the right neighbourhood.

I put my last realtor to work. He earned his commission. That is fair.

It may seem like I'm wasting people's time. However, IMO, I don't care. We are committing ourselves to 25-30 years financially. My realtor has no incentive and shares no risk to be in my best interest.

If the realtors are only competing with 2 other realtors for the business that isn't so bad. I bid jobs where 16 different companies doing the same thing we do submit prices, those are some terrabad odds right there. It's very rare someone will work solely with you, low price rules the day. It's not an apples to apples comparison but there are some similarities. I can put hours, days or even weeks into the bidding process if we don't get the job we get nothing for all that time spent and we're lucky if we get 10% of what we bid.