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Thinking of getting your kitchen or bathroom cabinets refinished? Perhaps a new custom mantle or bookshelf or specialty sundeck?  I have seen some of Doug's finished work and it is superb!  Give Doug Poetker of Suncrest Holdings a call for an estimate. Doug has just shy of  20 years general contracting experience. Visit www.suncrestholdings.ca for call Doug Poetker at 250 650 1333.

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Meet the lovely Erin Postle Feature Trades Person Extraordinaire of the Week! Erin is a Master Success & Life Style Coach and lives right here in the Comox Valley.  Start with a visit to her Facebook page which is a wealth of information and inspiring lifestyle tips. Her live video clips and daily quotes I really enjoy.  

 
Erin Postle is a Master Success Coach & Entrepreneur who's mission is to help people create incredibly healthy bodies and lives they love. 
 
She believes every day is meant to be lived by serving others, spending time with those you love most, eating the best superfoods on the planet, creating a fit and healthy body, and meeting like-minded people all while having tons of fun and creating a life-long legacy. 
 
Erin has helped thousands of people create better health, wealth and the freedom to enjoy it. Whether you are looking to detox, build muscle, age gracefully or create income from home Erin has a solution for you. Book your free 15 min consult today. 
 
Erin@erinpostle.com  or Visit Erin on her Facebook Page 
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Meet Karen Guinan.. Trades Person Extraordinaire of the Week! Karen has been doing my taxes the last few 

years and is personable, efficient and saves me $$$$ ! I highly recommed her. Her firm has just merged with MNP, one of the largest national accounting and business consulting firms in Canada, effective February 1, 2017. She can still be found downtown Courtenay at 535 6th Street. Check out her webstite at thorburnguinan.ca

 

Karen loves being a partner at Thorburn Guinan. Having watched her parents manage a successful gravel and excavating business while she grew up, coupled with her keen interest in working with numbers, Karen always knew her career would take her to the financial management field.

 

Now, with over 20 years’ experience working in public practice and 6 years as a chartered professional accountant, Karen helps her customers make sense of their finances by building strong personal relationships, providing quality advice, and ultimately building trust, which leads to long term business and personal relationships. For Karen, it’s not just about the numbers, it’s about getting to know her clients and their families, and helping them succeed.

A strong believer in actively supporting the community, Karen currently serves on the boards of the Dawn to Dawn Homelessness Society, as well as the Comox Valley United Soccer Club.

 

Karen also recognizes the need for balance and has many interests that keep her active and healthy. Her and Roger have two boys that are very busy with hockey in the winter and golf in the summer. Karen is also an avid soccer player, mountain biker and gym enthusiast, so when not active at work, in the community, or at the arena, she and can be found up in the trails in Cumberland or on the soccer field.

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Join Me at Open House this Sunday February 19 10:30-Noon at #8 2010 20th Street in Courtenay. 

Lovely 2 bedroom, 1 bath patio home in immaculate condition in coveted "Stratford Gate" a gated 55+ community in the City of Courtenay. Close to downtown shopping & walking trails. Bright cheery kitchen & breakfast nook w/attractive white cabinets, lots of counter space, new stainless appliances. Spacious living/dining room with gas fireplace & picture window - lots of natural light! Newly painted in tasteful colours, radiant heated laminate flooring. Master bedroom overlooking rear gardens with ample closet space. There is a walk in shower & large soaker tub with skylight. Second bedroom is at the front of the home to take advantage of the morning sun. Peaceful rear patio area off the family room with sliding gas doors / privacy hedge, BBQ patio area. There is an attached single car garage & room for parking in front or the home for guests + additional guest parking available. Bring your 4 legged member of the family (under 25lbs) as your pet is welcome.

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2016 proved to be  an exceptionally busy year in the Comox Valley Real estate market,  with 23% more single family homes sold than in 2015. Our average housing price also jumped up by 14% to around $414,000.  This resulted in many competing bids and properties attracting full price and sometimes above price offers.  From the selling side, very positive and exciting but from the buyer's side often stressful and trying.  
 
Currently we are experiencing a shortage of inventory in most price brackets across the Comox Valley.  We hope and expect that the Spring will pick up like it traditionally does as the military postings are released in February/March and often stimulate the market.  In many cases people wait until the Spring to showcase their homes in the better weather conditions and with the philosophy of "new beginnings". The added stress for those people looking to relocate within the valley means an attidude of "If i sell, where do I go?" It is the chicken and the egg scenario...   Working with a trusted Realto to buy and sell has never been so important.  
 
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Meet this weeks Trades person... Dominic Wales, Plumber Extraordinaire... Are you building a new house? Do you want to install a new fireplace or hot water system? Or are you thinking about a complete renovation for your kitchen or bathroom? Whatever your project is, Dominic is the man to call.  I have known Dominic for over 10 years and will personally vouch for his professionalism and skill. 

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Snapshot of the Vancouver Island Real estate Market; January 2017


Sales of single-family homes in December were lower than the previous month, reflecting seasonal market conditions and inventory challenges, but annual sales volume rose 24 per cent over 2015. A total of 6,063 single-family homes sold on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in 2016, an increase of 24 per cent over the 4,885 sales recorded the previous year. VIREB’s housing market hit its peak in May, which saw 771 sales. The average sale price of a single-family home board wide increased by 13 per cent in 2016 to reach $404,695. Inventory of single-family homes dipped to 859 in December, a historic low, down 17 per cent from November and 37 per cent from one year ago. This figure is the lowest recorded in the VIREB area since the board began tracking inventory in 1999.


What is Projected for 2017?

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) notes that housing demand throughout 2016 was driven by a provincial economy that outperformed the rest of the country. However, BCREA does expect the housing market to weaken somewhat this year.“Although BCREA anticipates that less robust economic conditions combined with government policy constraints will slow housing demand by more than 15 per cent in 2017, unit sales should remain well above the 10-year average of 85,000,” says Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “Sales in the VIREB area this year will likely trend lower than in 2016, but this is merely the market returning to more normal levels from last year’s unprecedented sales activity.”As she has stated in previous media releases, Margo Hoffman, 2016 VIREB President, reaffirms that housing sales in the VIREB area would be higher if there were more homes available.


Seasonal market conditions can account for some of December’s decreased sales, but there are still plenty of buyers, and multiple offers are the norm when listings hit the market. “We’ve been in a sellers’ market for several months now, and buyers are snapping up available properties,” says Hoffman. “But homeowners need to realize these market conditions won’t last forever, so if you’ve been thinking of selling, it’s a perfect time to do so.” Hoffman adds that connecting with a local REALTOR® is especially crucial in a competitive housing market. REALTORS® have specialized knowledge of their communities and are equipped with sales tools, such as custom analytics, to help you develop a winning strategy for buying or selling a home.

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First time home buyers... take a read through.... compliments of Mackenzie Gartside

Additional Details Revealed for the BC HOME Partnership Loan Program - Mackenzie Gartside & Associates
COMOXMORTGAGES.COM

While an interest free loan sounds great at first glance, it looks like the new BC Home Owner Mortgage & Equity (BC HOME) Partnership is going to have some extra fees and restrictions to consider that may, in the end, make the program a lot less attractive that we’d hope.

It’s been an interesting start to 2017 in the BC mortgage industry, as we try to figure out how the new BC HOME program is going to work when it goes live on January 16th. While lenders have not yet decided on their official underwriting qualification rules, CMHC has released some additional information for how they will treat files using the BC HOME Partnership for some of the down payment funds, and BC Housing has clarified aspects of the program as well.

Costs Involved

First and foremost, we now know that CMHC will consider BC HOME loan funds as a ‘non traditional’ source of down payment. This will increase the cost of the high ratio mortgage insurance charged to the purchaser.

For example, on a $400,000 purchase a client would need to have a minimum of $10,000 from their own funds and the BC HOME Partnership loan would supply a matching $10,000 (together equaling the minimum 5% down payment). Because the down payment is using borrowed funds (from the BC HOME Partnership) the high ratio mortgage insurance will fall under the ‘non traditional’ CMHC program and the fee will be 3.85% of the mortgage amount ($380,000 x 3.85%), so $14,630.  This is roughly $1,000 more than for a client who is able to provide the 5% down payment fully from their own sources.

As well, the BC HOME Partnership program will deduct from their loan an amount to cover their legal fees in arranging the second mortgage. It is unclear still how much these fees will be (they state that the fees will be disclosed upon approval to the program), but we estimate they will be around $500.

Restrictions

The BC HOME Partnership rules now clearly indicate that all participants (applicants) on the primary mortgage must be on title (owners) of the property, and that all the participants must be first time buyers (never owned a principal residence anywhere in the world, ever). This means that co-signers will not be allowed on these mortgages – applicants have to qualify on their own with enough income and credit strength.

Also, since the BC HOME Partnership loan will be registered as a second mortgage, it will significantly restrict your flexibility regarding your primary mortgage. Before considering the program, you’ll want to keep the following in mind:

  1. All the people who purchase the property must live in the property as their principal residence for the first 5 years.  If anyone wants to move out before the 5 years, the BC HOME Partnership loan must be repaid in full.
  2. You cannot change the owners on title for any reason. For example, if a couple gets divorced and one party wants to keep the house (buy out the other party), the BC HOME Partnership loan will need to be repaid in full before the title can be changed.
  3. When your primary mortgage comes up for renewal (5 years after purchase) you will not be able to change to a new lender without paying out the BC HOME Partnership loan in full. This means that you will be at the mercy of your current lender to offer you competitive rates at renewal, because you will not be able to change lenders if you do not have the means (or your property value has not gone up enough) to pay the government loan back.

Payments

The key advantage of the BC HOME Partnership loan is that there are no payments required (and no interest accruing) for the first 5 years. If the loan is not paid back in that time, you will start making payments at the end of your 61st month of ownership.  The payments will be based on your current balance owing amortized over 20 years, and the interest rate will be set for each 5 year period based on the Royal Bank of Canada’s prime rate + 0.5%.  Based on today’s rates, that would work out to a rate of 3.2%.

So returning to our example above (a client who borrows $10,000 through the program), if they did not pay down the BC HOME loan during the first 5 years they would begin making required monthly payments at the end of month 61.  Their actual payment would be calculated based on the Royal Bank of Canada’s prime rate at the end of month 60, but using today’s Prime of 2.7% results in a monthly payment of $56.36 to the BC HOME loan.  This is in addition to the monthly payment required for the primary mortgage.

Qualification Process and Calculation Still Unclear

The biggest key factor that is still unclear is what sort of monthly payment lenders will use as a liability in their mortgage qualification calculation.  To be approved for a mortgage, lenders have to factor in a ‘payment amount’ for all debts, but right now we don’t know how that payment amount will be determined. Until the lenders decide on a policy for this, we cannot calculate any reliable qualification amounts for clients.  We hope to have this information from lenders within the next week leading up to the official opening of the program on January 16th.

For more information

If you are interested in the BC HOME Partnership program, the BC Housing website has more information as well as a ‘calculator‘ to help you determine if you are eligible to participate.

 
 
 
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I highly recommend Jon Afonso if you are looking for an Electrician who is honest, certified, creative, reliable and overall a great guy. He was able to solve the issues with my ancient heating system in the beach house and successfully installed a ceiling light fixture in a challenging spot that 2 previous Electricians said was not possible to do without exterior wires. He then installed all new programmable thermostats and set them all up. He showed up on time, on budget and with a smile on his face.

Philippa Berg 

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