Trever Florko - Blog

Kelowna has high rate of home ownership

trever.florko@century21.ca — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Kelowna has high rate of home ownership

MONDAY, 02 JANUARY 2012 18:00 STEVE MACNAULL

A whopping 72 per cent of households in Kelowna own their own home. That's the third most in the country behind only Cape Breton Island at 75 per cent and Calgary at 73 per cent.

The just-released statistics come from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's annual Housing Observer report that tracks not just home ownership, but mortgages, age of homeowners, condominium share, age of housing stock and number of people that can't afford housing. The high percentage of home ownership in Kelowna is a bit surprising considering how people go on and on about how expensive and unaffordable a place to live in the city is.
The reality is the majority of people in Kelowna are able to afford the Canadian dream of owning their own home.
The flipside of 72 per cent home ownership is that 12 per cent of households can't afford to buy their own home.
The other 16 per cent is presumably those who rent, but could afford to buy if they wanted to. The report also shows that in Kelowna, 44 per cent of homeowners own without mortgages. The rest are still paying off mortgages.
Ten per cent of homeowners are under the age of 35, and 27 per cent of homeowners live in condominiums.
Showing Kelowna's growth as a result of economic and housing booms in the last 30 years, the percentage of housing stock built after 1980 stands at a high 55 per cent. Only 10 per cent of the city's housing stock was built prior to 1960. The housing stock in an older city such as Montreal, for instance, is 46 per cent pre-1960 and 21 per cent post-1980. Montreal also has a lower percentage of home ownership at 34.

Million-dollar real estate plan:
Million-dollar plan for real estate in his most recent newsletter. Over the next four years buy four two-bedroom condominiums at about $275,000 each. Make sure you use a bank's money to make the purchases. Get good tenants and have them pay your mortgages with the monthly rents. In 15 years or so, you will own four condos outright and even if they didn't increase in value, you have assets worth $1.1 million. You could sell and take a profit, but dont. Just keep them. Your cash flow will be over $100,000 a year.

Steve MacNaull is a business reporter and columnist. Email: steve.macnaull@ok.bc.ca

2011 KELOWNA RENTAL MARKET REPORT

trever.florko@century21.ca — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Is it worth tying your home up for the next 3-5 years?

Trying to decide if you should list your property for sale now or try to rent it for 3-5 years (or more) until the market improves? The answer to which direction to go is not an easy one. Many prospective Sellers are finding that they are having to weigh their losses. In this market many sellers are finding they are selling for less then they paid. This is a shame to say the least. They believe that they may be better of renting their property for a year or so until the market 'turns around.' Well they may have to wait longer then they think. We are forecasting at least 3 years until we see things really stabilize and then 5 or more years until the market starts to trend upwards…but we have no crystal ball so it could be even worse. Also you have to take into consideration that the home could take some very expensive abuse from the tenents over the years the property is rented. Scratched hardwood, stained carpets, damage to walls, counters, cupboards, yards….etc. Most renters do not treat your home as if it were their own…some do and that is even worse! Another point to keep in mind is that the real estate market is flooded with homes for sale. Now that does not help you as a seller of course but it also means there are a ton of rentals out there too. This also translates to lower rental prices. As an example: in a condo which used to be rentable for $1,400.00 month we now see rental prices below $1,000.00. A quote from the CMHC: "The Kelowna area apartment vacancy rate is expected to move higher in 2012." (For a copy of the full report please read the attached document.) So what does this mean for those buyers who are on the fence; Rent or List??? Well it means they have to crunch some numbers. If the mortgage payment is $2000 a month and the home can only be rented for $1,500 a month that is a shortfall of $18,000 over three years of rentals…not including property taxes, durations of vacancy or any maintenance that may need to be done on the home. So would you rather take a $20,000 loss today or a $20,000 loss after the pains of being a landlord over the next 3 years? Big decision but sometimes there is value in getting the property off your back and cutting your losses before they drag you down. If you would like to meet to review your options and discuss what your home could possibly sell for on todays market please contact me today.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT

So you think that you can not flip a house in this market? WRONG!

trever.florko@century21.ca — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So you think that you can not flip a house in this market? WRONG!

A home located at 1893 Glenhaven Crescent in Kelowna was sitting on the market for a great price 399k...it needed work but nothing too crazy. The sellers had started to reno the home and then due to some circumstances they decided that they did not want to finish the job so they decided to sell it at a probable loss...

A savvy buyer came along and saw the potential here...they picked the home up for 380k. 20k below list price and took 3.5 months to remedy the issues in the home. They they listed the property on the market for 499,900 and sold it within 15 days for 485k!!!! that means that the home sold for 105k more then they paid for it!!!! (minus building costs of course)

But the exciting thing is despite being in a depressed market someone had the wherewithal to do what most people only seem to think can happen in a good market....MAKE SOME MONEY!!!

If you have been giving flipping homes some thought I strongly encourage you to make your move now! Don’t wait until the market picks up or you will be one of the multitudes of people with the same idea...do today what most others are scared to do...there are homes out there just waiting to be snapped up, fixed up and turned around for a huge profit. Call me today if you feel like making some money!

Local Atractions and Activaties:

trever.florko@century21.ca — Sun, 15 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

New to the area or on a vacation and not quite sure where to go or what to do for some fun and excitement? Well here's a list of some links to so very fun things to do in the Kelowna area:

Actors Studio (Live Theater)

ATV Tours

Bird Watching Areas

Boat Rentals

Boat Tours

Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisan Inc.

CrocTalk Conservation & Rescue

Cycling Trails (on and off road)

Dinner Cruises

Elysium Gardens

EnergyPlex

Grand Prix