Vancouver-Condo Real Estate Newsletter

December 18, 2011

All the best this holiday season!

Christmas is fast approaching and for most of you that’s a time when dreams of real estate are far, far away. It’s a time when thoughts drift to giving and receiving, baking and cooking, decorating our homes and offices, socializing with loved ones and earning the money needed to do all those things in the style we’ve been accustomed to. If we look around the world today we can be so grateful for all we have. Compared to most parts of the world our economy fared pretty well. We can afford to act like an angel and sprinkle a little joy to the world at this time.

2011 was an exciting and interesting year. The B.C. Lions won the Grey Cup, the Vancouver Canucks came close and the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, which is Canada’s largest public foundation dedicated exclusively to funding women’s shelters, violence prevention and education progress will likely collect over $2 million dollars this year. To see where the money gets distributed, log onto www.shelterfoundation.ca.

And, of course there was the decision by the voters to return to the old PST system. Let’s face it, few taxes are popular, but when the HST was announced in 2009, many people felt the government had crossed the line. Whether you agree with this or not, many home buyers made it clear that the HST would be a key reason preventing them from buying a new property. The real estate industry is still waiting for guidelines to cover the transitional period which is sometime in 2013.

Break Free of your Comfort Zone in 2012.

Thankfully, being outside your comfort zone doesn’t result in debilitating physical symptoms for all of us. While it sounds hokey and cliché, Life gurus say things like, you can only grow if you are doing new things that make you feel awkward or uncomfortable. Pushing the boundaries and discovering new frontiers takes fortitude, risk and a certain sense of fearlessness. Most things in life worth doing are those that require some level of risk, thought and hard work.

Start small. Change the coffee shop you go to. Rethink routines. Give your routines a re-evaluation. Change the ones that don’t work anymore. Take a different way home or change what you eat for lunch. Greet people differently. Do something different in your spare time. Cozy up to the unknown and see what kind of response your get. Once you are comfortable with the small matters, broaden your scope to things that hold more meaning in your life.

I wish to thank everyone for their continued support in helping with your real estate decisions. Interest rates will remain low next year and offshore money will continue to flow into Vancouver. I’ll update everyone with market statistics in the next newsletter…have a great Holiday Season!

I offer:

• Over 16 years of experience in your market area.
• Professional and honest expertise.
• A full service and extensive marketing plan to maximize the sale price of your home.

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