For Immediate Release: February 3, 2009
JANUARY HOUSING SALES VOLUME SLOWS TO
HISTORIC LEVELS IN FRASER VALLEY
(Surrey, BC) – A total of 389 sales were processed through Fraser Valley’s MLS® in January, a decrease of 59 per cent compared to
956 sales in January 2008 and comparable to January sales fi gures last seen in the early 1980s, according to statistics from Fraser Valley
Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service®.
However, for the fourth month in a row, the Board received fewer new listings. REALTORS® added 2,003 new listings in January
2009, 30 per cent less compared to the same month last year. This decreased the number of properties available in the Fraser Valley to
8,630, 26 percent higher than January 2008, but 30 percent fewer than the Board’s record high number of active listings in September
2008.
“Those who don’t have to buy right now aren’t and they’re creating tremendous opportunity for those who are house-hunting,” says
Kelvin Neufeld, president of the Board. “The ability right now for Fraser Valley REALTORS® to negotiate for their buyers is the
strongest it’s been in over a decade.”
Neufeld says if the current imbalance between supply and demand continues to change with the trend moving toward a decrease in
homes on the market, buyers will only have this window of opportunity for so long.
“When selection decreases, pricing becomes more competitive,” he says.
Residential benchmark prices, the value of a ‘typical’ Fraser Valley detached home as determined by the MLSLink® Housing Price
Index (HPI)*, decreased 9.6 per cent compared to January 2008, the eighth consecutive monthly decline. The benchmark price was
$452,145 in January 2009 compared to $500,070 last year.
The HPI benchmark price of Fraser Valley townhouses decreased by 8.5 per cent in one year, going from $322,888 in January 2008 to
$295,339 in January 2009, while the benchmark price of apartments decreased by 12.9 per cent going from $253,198 in January of last
year to $220,595 in January 2009.
* The MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI), established in 1995, is modeled on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures the
rate of price change for a basket of goods and services including food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Instead of measuring goods
and services, the HPI measures the change in the price of housing features. Thus, the HPI measures typical, pure price change (infl ation
or defl ation).
The HPI benchmarks represent the price of a typical property within each market. The HPI takes into consideration what averages and
medians do not – items such as lot size, age, number of rooms, etc. These features become the composite of the ‘typical house’ in a
given area. Each month’s sales determine the current prices paid for bedrooms, bathrooms, fi replaces, etc. and apply those new values
to the ‘typical’ house model.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board is an association of 2,967 real estate professionals who live and work in the communities of
North Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, and Mission.
Contact: Laurie Dawson, Communications Coordinator, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board
Tel: 604.930.7600 Fax: 604.930.7623 email: laurie.dawson@fvreb.bc.ca

3 Things You Should Know About Home Loans

Author: Jeff

A home loan, or mortgage, is most simply described as a loan taken out so that you can purchase a home. Shopping for a home online can make the borrowing process simple and painless. However, you do need to be cautious about potential scammers and low-quality loan companies.

To obtain a home loan you will need to be at least 18 years old and have the income that is required to be able to easily afford the loan payments. While many mortgages are placed on existing homes, you can obtain a home loan based on units, condominiums, new construction or land packages.

Home loans are usually taken out for 15 or 30-year terms and will be based on your monthly payment, the principal and interest rate. You may also find that some lenders require that your mortgage payment also include property taxes, insurance, etc.

When applying for a home loan your credit report will be reviewed and you may be required to provide a number of other details, including: Employment and income records, Tax Returns for the last few years, List of assets, List of liabilities and what you owe, Your budget showing monthly living expenses so that you can demonstrate an ability to pay.

With this information you can determine the kind of home loan and size of the right mortgage for you. In some cases, you can obtain a pre-approval or pre-qualified certificate, which shows how much you can borrow so that you can then shop for homes in an appropriate price range.

To get some of the personal loan deals, the lenders may require you to have a pretty good credit record. Lenders are no longer interested in taking risks; they want to play safe in the present uncertain financial conditions. It is important to know what the lenders actually look for before they lend you money. Some of the parameters for sanctioning personal loans are credit rating, DTI ratio, monthly income, loan tenure and the amount of loan. The basic things come to your repayment capability and the potential earning capacity.

The best loan deal is not necessarily a loan offer that has the lower rate of interest because there are many other things that count. What about clauses like early repayment penalty, arrangement fee, brokerage charges, etc? These things define the overall cost of the loan deal and your decision should also take into consideration these aspects.

Important things you should know about home loan:

* Do not give any upfront fees to loan modification or stop foreclosure companies boasting “attorney based”, “attorney backed” or “attorney assisted”!
* Do not pay for a forensic loan audit unless it is performed by a Law Office, an attorney is the only person that may use lending violations as leverage!
* Do not use a loan modification company unless they have an upfront fee agreement approved by the DRE and offer a 100% money back guarantee!
* Do not trust just anyone with your difficult situation; contact a Law Office and hire an attorney who specializes in Loan Modification and Loss Mitigation services. They are the skillful people who are specialized in this task.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/mortgage-articles/3-things-you-should-know-about-home-loans-736690.html

About the Author:

To learn how Payday loans work and to learn all about mortgage loans make sure to visit our site at http://www.internetbrokers.ca/

Lone Wolf Acquires an Interest in Realty Nuance
Posted on 18 January 2009
Tags: ibg media, lone wolf, paperless, Real Estate, realty nuance
Lone Wolf Acquires an Interest in Realty Nuance
Cambridge, ON and Cloverdale, BC – January 6, 2009. Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies and Nuance Systems Ltd. announced today that they have taken the integration of Lone Wolf’s brokerage management system, the Realty Management System (RMS) and Nuance Systems Ltd.’s REALTYnuance (RN) web based real estate transaction management system to the next level with Lone Wolf’s acquisition of a financial interest in Nuance Systems Ltd.
Lorne Wallace, Lone Wolf’s President, says “When we started to work with Nuance to integrate their product with ours, I could tell from the outset that they were on the right track with web based real estate transaction management”.

REALTYnuance (RN), while able to be used as a standalone application by individual REALTORS® or teams, provides substantial cost savings and efficiencies when installed at the brokerage level andintegrated with RMS. Built by REALTORS® for REALTORS®, their clients and their brokers, RN provides a REALTOR® Desktop from which individual REALTORS® and teams can involve their clients in the management of the real estate transaction. With recent developments and associations with other industry providers, Nuance has developed the first completely paperless real estate transaction in Canada ‐ from listing to title registration‐ and yet still integrates easily with non‐tech literate practitioners.

“We’re pleased that this interest in Nuance helps us towards the goal of a true enterprise solution for the real estate industry,” says Lorne Wallace, President of Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies. “With over 5,000 offices using our products, anything that can streamline processing time and cut costs is a benefit to us.”

Nuance Systems Ltd. Director, Dan Bennett R.I., a past Canadian RE Association Director, and past President of the BC Real Estate Association and Fraser Valley Real Estate Board notes that “We specifically designed RN to be a value added product to the basic MLS® related products provided to REALTORS® by their Boards”. He further states that “it just makes sense that, with other financial services available online, REALTORS® and Brokers would want to provide their clients a private, secure web based environment to manage their real estate transactions”.

About Nuance: Nuance Systems Ltd. is a Canadian real estate software development company, founded by 3 long time REALTORs, drawing on their experience in all aspects of the real estate market to develop a truly user oriented product. Along with affiliated companies, Nuance provides real estate technology services to real estate professionals in Canada. For more information please visit their web site at www.realtynuance.com

http://www.internetbrokers.ca
http://www.ibgtv.ca

British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports residential sales dollar volume on the Multiple Listing Service(r) (MLS(r)) in BC declined 67 per cent to $1.07 billion in November, compared to November 2007. Residential unit sales were down 62 per cent to 2,707 units during the same period. The average MLS(r) residential price in the province was $395,687, down 12.5 per cent from November 2007.

“The average sale price of a home in the province hit a 26-month low in November,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “The irony of markets is that there’s no shortage of buyers when prices are near a peak and a scarcity of buyers when prices are near a trough.” Home prices were 8 per cent lower in November 2008-

nine months after the peak—than they were nine months prior to the peak.

“Today’s homebuyers are benefiting from a greater selection of homes for sale, more time to thoroughly investigate their choices and the ability to negotiate attractive prices,” added Muir.

Year-to-date MLS(r) residential sales dollar volume in the province declined 30 per cent to $30.3 billion compared to the same period last year. Provincial MLS(r) sales declined 32 per cent to 66,467 units, while the average residential price increased 4 per cent to $455,537 over the same period.

READ MORE / SOURCE: bcrea.bc.ca