southernbc's Blog: All Categories

The area from Osoyoos through Rock Creek, Midway and Greenwood to Grand Forks is having one after another of the forest industry giants close up and move out. (To date without being replaced) .  The real estate market in the Boundary area has not yet had a seroius reaction to the exodus due to the fact that the average home buyer coming into the West Kootenay Boundary  is semi retiring or retiring from the larger centers such as the Lower Mainland or the Okanagan Valley.  The beauty of the nature of these buyers is that they do not need or want jobs in the forest industry.  The balance this creates (while fragile)  allows struggling wood industry workers to have the ability to still get their hard earned money out of their homes in order to move on. 
Read Full Post

How many realtors have gone the way of  the dinosaurs by making the stand of "who needs the internet".  I cannot begin to give you this statistic, but the sad truth is that most Realtors who decide they can survive without the aid of the Internet in general recieve a painful lesson on the new demegraphics of the customers buying Real Estate in todays much more sophisticated marketplace.

The modern customer looks for a realtor with not only a strong internet positioning and good internet marketing skills but in addition wants to see good blog positioning and the ability to write intelligent and helpful information relating to the buying and selling of Real Estate .  Realtors today must make an impression on their client without ever having the… Read Full Post

Having personally been a long time advocate of the benefits of a Real Estate Company having an internet presence, I am very happy to welcome Border Country Realty (which is the Broker Company that holds my Real Estate licence) to the ranks of internet based realtors.  Please welcome Border Country Realty of Grand Forks and Greenwood, BC to the web.  Grand Forks located Coldwell Banker Border Country Realty has a satelite office in Greenwood BC and serves: Southern BC including Grand Forks, Greenwood, Christina Lake, Midway and Rock Creek.  Please conact Border Country Realty for all of your Boundary or West Kootenay area Real Estate Needs.

Please drop them a note saying Hi to show them that this actually works!
Have a Great Day!
Don Mann Read Full Post

I have been going through a period of an unusual number of referrals of late.  Some from major distances away.  I thought the timing would be good to talk a little about how and why  referrals are such an important part of the real estate profession. 

The referral system in place in the Real Estate profession has many benefits for your clients and as a Realtor you are in a better position to research real estate professionals in the area to which your client is moving.  There is of course the fact that when you refer your client to a good realtor in the area they are moving to, you stand to make a commission.  That however I feel to be the minor factor in the referral scenario.

By taking the time to line your client up with a realtor who will work… Read Full Post

Hello all,  I have recently been approached by a realtor (who seems to be legitimate) from Florida.  Offerring 5% referrals (paid by the developer on ground breaking) for customers I refer,  if they end up buying in the luxury condominium where he is trying to sell.  I was hoping if there is any with experience with this type of finders fee/referral  that you might share some of your experiences with me.

I have checked online deep enough that I think the Realtor in question is acting in good faith, but I have concerns as to the type of transaction as well as the legal risk/obligations which may attach.  Any of you old dogs out there ever run into this before?  I have asked my broker and she is going over the facts, but has not seen this type of thing… Read Full Post

Hello fellow bloggers!  I have been several weeks since I could make the time to post anything here.  The rush has not slowed down for me at all. here in Greenwood. 

Inventory is on the rise but sales are still brisk with new buyers entering the market in the form of investors seeking out new territories.  15 years ago a person could not finance a home in Greenwood or Midway without 30-50% down.  That has changed big time.  Bare land is now selling and new building has started. 

The commercial market is beginning to move this year as well.  There have been a number of our commercial properties which seem to have been for sale for ever all of a sudden selling for good money. 

I went to the AGM for the Kootenay Real Estate Board where we were… Read Full Post

It is wonderfull to see the evolution of the entire southern area of the province. British Columbia has always been an awesome place to live but now the beauty is that the financial institutions, banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers are able to see the value in BC land in the smaller communities, thus allowing the market values to reflect true value not a value dictated by a soft economy and uneasy feeling financial institutions. Market conditions in the Boundary and Kootenay areas of BC are stronger than I have ever seen them. In addition to that the confidence of the financial community is just as strong. In Real Estate we are subjected to market changes due to the actions of other industries including lenders and mortgage brokers. It… Read Full Post

I was just looking around for something interesting to write a blog on and I came across a Realtors blog which was going back and forth as to whether the Real Estate market has begun a decline (some even thinking a crash is imminent).

In my market area on the southern border of British Columbia I do not see any signs of weakening at all.  The BC market in general seems from my perspective to be continuing a huge growth.  This of course is an opinion formed as a result of talking to active buyers/sellers who are in my area for real estate purposes.

Because I have no actual foundation for comparing notes I was hoping to initiate a thread in which various realtors in any and all areas can give a report as to how they percieve the market conditions as… Read Full Post