I was at an Open House once with my girlfriend a couple years back and was walking around, as were a handful of people, when we heard a truck screech up to the driveway. I was in the living room and the Realtor was standing there as well, and when he saw the truck I heard him say something to the tune of, “oh sh*t”.

I live in Vancouver Canada, and my wife and I are getting ready to sell our house and move to our vacation home full time. (Retirement, yes!) Because of the Olympics coming to our city in just 6 months we are going back and forth over the idea of selling now, or perhaps waiting till after the Olympics next year. Reason being I have been told by many and read reports where experts are predicting a Real Estate Value boom in Vancouver after the games are here so that makes me want to wait to sell, however I have read reports that conflict that statement by saying the Olympics can cause values to go down as well. I’ve started to ask people and have even talked to a few Realtors but it seems as though it’s split down the middle whether the games will be a positive or negative for the city of Vancouver and it’s Real Estate.

Both have advantages and disadvantages and it really depends on what type of owner you want to be. If you like the thought of sharing common ownership of elements and management of your building and common areas with other owners, and would rather someone else look after exterior maintenance (snow removal, lawn cutting, windows, roof repairs, etc) which is often included in condo properties paid by a monthly fee, then a condo may be exactly what you’re looking for as long as you don’t mind those decisions being made for you. If instead you want to look after those items yourself, and will risk that you’ll have to pay for your own roof, or windows at some point and can budget yourself for those items, then freehold may be the answer.

Let me bring you up to speed. In the 3 weeks we have had our home on the market we have received 5 offers. There have been two multiple offer situations. The first was 3 days after we listed our home, we got two offers and accepted the best one although they were both very similar. They both were subject to financing. So after not hearing anything from the buyers or their agent until subject removal day we got the call that they could not get their financing and were not going to remove their subject and thus voiding our deal. This was very frustrating as there is nothing we can do. There is no way of us knowing if the buyers were telling the truth or lying but we moved on.

One investor likes the southwest part of town. He is attracted to this area because the properties are only a couple years old, they cash flow for rents, and the clients are likely to have more stable jobs because they’re just far enough away from the main gaming resorts.

Vancouver has seen quite the boom over the past two months in regards to sales Volume. We set record highs in June and then set new records in July. I do not think there were too many agents, or members of the public for that matter that would have guessed this would happen so quickly.

Three years ago, when high rise condos were the cat’s pajamas, I jumped on the bandwagon. These unique settings allow a resident to have access to amenities that are atypical of living in a traditional condo setting. Of course there is a sparkling pool and spa, professionally equipped fitness center, and community room. Combine that with guard gated security, valet service, a concierge to help you plan your activities, and sweeping views of Las Vegas depending on which way your unit and or balcony allows.

With the opening of the amazing Las Vegas City Center looming, condo-hotel units are back in the news. Las Vegas has 7 properties zoned as condo-hotels which include: Palms Place, Trump, Platinum, MGM Signature, Vdara (still under construction), two in Lake Las Vegas including Luna Di Lusso and Viera, and the infamous Flamingo Palms also known as Desert Tides and the Cay Club.

Here in the valley of the Sun, some say we have hit the bottom of the real estate market, some say we have not. From what I can see, here in the southeast valley, we seem to have slowed our freefall market slide, and are quickly heading towards the bottom…but I don’t think we are there, at least not yet. The bottom is in our sights, but let’s face it, we don’t know we have hit the bottom, until we are on the way back up and we have missed the best deals!