A rare city home at the Pacifica - over 1,900 square feet on 2 levels. Completely updated by the "bachelorette," Jillian Harris. Looking west into a lovely treed inner courtyard with large floor to ceiling windows. Just a short walk to the Canada lines and minutes by car to downtown Vancouver.

Great townhouse in move-in condition. 3 bedrooms plus rec room or 4th bedroom and 2 1/2 baths. 9' ceilings, granite island in kitchen and counters, gas fireplace and lots of parking in front of unit plus 1 extra by the garage. North facing with sunny southern exposure deck. Walking distance to shopping and schools.

Immaculate 1 owner custom home - extra large, built under old by-laws. Move in condition with shining hardwood floors, gas fireplaces, fantastic 1 bedroom suite. Very quiet tree-lined street on level lot. 1 block to bus and a short walk to shopping.

Traditional 4100 sq. ft. character home restored by Italian architect and designer on prestigious Angus Dr. Main floor layout perfect for entertaining with huge maple kitchen with large granite island and great room with gas fireplace which opens to covered deck for outdoor cooking. Enormous living room with oak inlay floors, gas fireplace, French doors, 9 ft. ceilings and built in speakers. Huge master bedroom up with ocean and mountain view, balcony, ensuite and laundry. Bright high 7 foot basement just two steps away from ground level, with movie theatre, laundry and in-law suite. Completely renovated 6 yrs ago from studs with new foundation, wiring, plumbing, windows, doors and roof. Private secure sunny backyard. (No lane, nice long driveway from the front of house.)

Elbow Room! Plenty of room to stretch out in this well-kept old style home. Potential for character renovation as all principle rooms are very spacious & main living area has high ceilings. Neat ground level basement suite in place for mortgage helper. Corner lot w/fully fenced yard that is quite secluded in rear. Detached garage at lane. Picnic in South Memorial Park or find everything you need just a block away in S Fraser shopping district. Don't miss this one!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability.  Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows.  Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates go up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life.  It’s important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial “comfort zone.”  To that end, it may be more important to lock in today’s relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today’s market.

If you have not owned a home in three years, you qualify as a first time home buyer.  If you buy a home after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009, you qualify for this credit.  Call your friends who just bought a home since April 9th and tell them they may take $7,500 off their tax bill if they qualify.  It has to be your principal residence, so rentals do not count.

The tax credit is 10% of the cost of the home, up to a maximum of $7,500. This is not an additional deduction that lowers the amount of income to be taxed, it is a tax credit.  In other words, you take $7,500 off your tax bill.  But there is a catch; the credit you receive now is actually an interest-free loan that must be repaid.

The loan has no interest, and will be paid back over 15 years.  You get the credit on your 2008 taxes, but you start paying it back on your 2010 taxes that are due in 2011, so you get at least two years without a payment.  You pay back 6.67% of the credit each year, so for a $7,500 credit the payment is $502.50 per year.  If you stay put for 15 years, you pay it off with no interest.

What happens if you sell the house?  You pay the balance back at the closing.  So, you get $7,500 now, and pay the rest of it back if you make money on the sale of your house.  What happens if you do not make enough money when you sell your house?  They forgive the rest of the debt. 

Other restrictions stipulate that you have to buy your first house in three years before July 1, 2009, not have super high income, not use bond financing and buy anywhere in the US.

If you’d like to learn more about this program, please call me!