If you are a Vancouver family or couple who are currently shopping for real estate but can’t decide whether to go Urban or Suburban – then HGTV is looking for you!

HGTV’s ‘Urban or Suburban’ showcases a couple’s decision process while shopping for real estate and highlights the various reasons for either wanting an urban home or a suburban home.

The show’s producer has contacted Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh to help get the word out. If this scenario sounds like you, contact the show by email at casting@forcefour.com with the following:

-A little about yourself and why you are moving.
-The areas/neighbourhoods of interest.
-Let them know if they both agree on one area or if they can’t agree.
-Budget range
-Photo

To find out more, here are links to the ‘Urban or Suburban’ website and Facebook page.

Don’t forget to mention that you heard about it through our website, and if you need a Vancouver realtor to guide you through the real estate shopping process, please contact Justin Leigh @ 604-780-3457 today.

Please mention you saw this on Justin Leigh's website. Thank You!

Mackenzie Green is nearing completion and there are only 4 homes remaining.

If you’d like to know more about this new Vancouver real estate, contact Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh right away, because they won’t last long!

Mackenzie Green is a limited collection of Rowhomes, Townhomes, and Duplex’s nestled in the tree lined streets of the Westside’s Mackenzie Heights.

Incomparable Westside elegance
Contemporary Gourmet Kitchen with Professional Wolf Gas Range
Refined exterior architecture & Expansive garden terraces.
Renowned school catchments – St George’s, Point Grey Secondary, Kerrisdale Elementary
Steps from UBC, Kerrisdale and Pacific Spirit Park
Achieving BuiltGreenTM – GOLD standards

4 EXCEPTIONALLY UNIQUE HOMES AVAILABLE

A PLAN – 2 Bed + Den over 1,371 Sq.Ft.
B PLAN – 3 Bed + Den + Flex over 1,741 Sq.Ft.
C PLAN – 2 Bed + Den over 1,441 Sq.Ft.
DUPLEX – 3 Bed + Den + Flex over 1,991 Sq.Ft

If you’d like to know more about this or other Vancouver Real Estate investment opportunities, please contact Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh today.

Montgomery Townhomes is a new Vancouver real estate project that will be holding its Grand Opening this
Saturday January 21st from noon to 5 PM.

The presentation centre and display suite are located at 950 West 43rd Ave at the corner of Oak Street.

Close to everything, far from ordinary: 27 new luxury townhomes for sale in Vancouver, BC’s prestigious Oakridge neighbourhood. These one and three-bedroom townhouses place you a short trip from Downtown, Richmond, YVR, and UBC both by car and the Canada Line.

The homes feature direct home access to the underground parking, a powder room on the living foor and spacious master bedroom suites.

Montgomery Townhomes is designed by Formwerks Archetectural and developed and constructed by Listraor. Listraor has a reputation for bulding quaility townhomes in Vancouver’s Westside, including Carrington on Oak street, Maison on Qubec Street and Silver on 6th Avenue.

If you’d like to know more about this new Vancouver real estate project, contact Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh for details.

Canada’s banks announced record low mortgage rates yesterday!

First the Bank of Montreal offered 2.99% for a five-year term, then TD and RBC followed suit with their own offers.

Here’s an excerpt from The Globe and Main article:

A day after BMO announced it had dropped the rate on a five-year fixed-rate mortgage to a historic low of 2.99 per cent as part of a two-week promotion, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD-T77.750.050.06%) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY-T52.09-0.68-1.29%) followed suit with limited-time-offers of their own.

TD said Friday it was lowering its four-year fixed-rate mortgage to 2.99 per cent, down from 4.79 per cent. Soon after, RBC dropped its four-year fixed rate mortgage to 2.99 per cent, and 3.99 per cent on a seven-year fixed-rate mortgage.

Both RBC and TD said the offer is open until Feb. 29, extending the promotion beyond the initial two-week period BMO introduced. BMO’s mortgage offer is good until Jan. 25 and represents a drop of 50 basis points.

Marcia Moffat, head of home equity financing at RBC said the bank is offering the rate on 30-year amortizations, while a spokesman for BMO said the bank is offering its lower rates on 25-year amortizations.

These promotions have time limits though. BMO wants you to lock in your pre-approval by January 25th and TD has a February 29th deadline. You will have 90 days to find your perfect home after getting approved.

If you’d like to take advantage of these historically low rates, and jump into the Vancouver Real Estate market, please contact Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh today!

Happy 2012 everyone!

Hopefully the new year is off to a good start.

If you’ve been thinking this is the year you’re going to jump into the Vancouver real estate market, or you’d like to sell your home and maybe even buy a new one, then give us a call. We’d love to help you find exactly what you’re looking for this year.

Here are the end of year stats from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver to help you with decisions for this new year:

Balanced real estate market prevailed through much of 2011

The 2011 Greater Vancouver housing market began with heightened demand in regional hot spots and concluded with greater balance between seller supply and buyer demand.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that total sales of detached, attached and apartment properties in 2011 reached 32,390, a 5.9 per cent increase from the 30,595 sales recorded in 2010, and a 9.2 per cent decrease from the 35,669 residential sales in 2009. Last year’s home sale total was 6.3 per cent below the ten-year average for annual Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) sales in the region.

The number of residential properties listed for sale on the MLS® in Greater Vancouver increased 2.7 per cent in 2011 to 59,549 compared to the 58,009 properties listed in 2010. Looking back further, last year’s total represents a 12.8 per cent increase compared to the 52,869 residential properties listed in 2009. Last year’s listing total was 11.1 per cent above the ten-year average for annual Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) property listings in the region.

“It was a relatively balanced year for the real estate market in Greater Vancouver with listing totals slightly above historical norms and sale numbers slightly below,” Rosario Setticasi, REBGV president said.

Residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 1,658 in December 2011, a decrease of 12.7 per cent from the 1,899 sales recorded in December 2010 and a 29.7 per cent decline compared to November 2011 when 2,360 home sales occurred.

More broadly, last month’s residential sales represent a 34.1 per cent decrease over the 2,515 residential sales in December 2009, a 79.4 per cent increase compared to December 2008’s 924 sales, and a 12.6 per cent decrease compared to the 1,897 sales in December 2007.

The overall residential benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for Greater Vancouver increased 7.6 per cent to $621,674 between Decembers 2010 and 2011. However, prices have decreased 1.5 per cent since hitting a peak of $630,921 in June 2011.

“Our market remained in a balanced state for most of the year, although higher levels of demand for detached properties in the region’s largest communities caused prices in certain areas to rise higher than others,” Setticasi said. “For example, the benchmark price of a single-family detached home experienced double-digit increases in nine areas within the region over the last 12 months.”

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 1,629 in December 2011. This represents a 4.1 per cent decline compared to the 1,699 units listed in December 2010 and a 49.4 per cent decline compared to November 2011 when 3,222 properties were listed.

Sales of detached properties in December 2011 reached 630, a decrease of 18.1 per cent from the 769 detached sales recorded in December 2010, and a 30.2 per cent decrease from the 902 units sold in December 2009. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 11.2 per cent from December 2010 to $887,471.

Sales of apartment properties reached 774 in December 2011, a decline of 4.6 per cent compared to the 811 sales in December 2010, and a decrease of 32.9 per cent compared to the 1,154 sales in December 2009.The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 3.7 per cent from December 2010 to $401,396.

Attached property sales in December 2011 totalled 254, a decline of 20.4 per cent compared to the 319 sales in December 2010, and a 44.7 per cent decrease from the 459 attached properties sold in December 2009. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 4.2 per cent between December 2010 and 2011 to $511,499.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call!

Justin Leigh
Vancouver Realtor
604-780-3457

Montgomery Townhomes is a new Vancouver real estate project by Listraor Group.

This new Vancouver real estate is currently under construction at 5900 Oak Street.

The project is scheduled for completion in the Summer of 2012, and has a total of 27 units.

Montgomery Townhomes

Available townhomes range in price from $619,900 to over $1,020,900, and unit sizes range from 825 to 1786 Square Feet with ceiling heights From 8’0″ to 9’0″ Feet.

If you’d like to know more about Montgomery Townhomes, or other Vancouver real estate, please contact Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh.

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‘Sail’ is a new Vancouver real estate project by Adera Developments. The project is currently in the pre-construction and registration phase.

Moved by Nature
Set within the coveted UBC peninsula, Sail embodies the latest evolution of West Coast modern architecture — a harmony of simplicity and nature. These modern urban apartment homes encourage indoor/outdoor living at its finest, with Wesbrook Village amenities close by and verdant greenways connecting community and home.

Sail with include 1 bedrooms, 2 bedrooms & 3 bedroom apartments.

If living close to the UBC endowment lands, Spanish Banks, golf courses and hiking trails sounds enticing, contact Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh for more details about Sail!

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Kits360 is a new Vancouver real estate project by Intergulf Development Group.

Centrally located at 1777 W. 7th Ave., and Burrard Street, Kits360 is within walking or biking distance of beaches, shops and restaurants on Granville Street, Granville Island, 4th Ave., West Broadway and downtown Vancouver.

Major transit routes are within half a block, making this is the ideal location for buyers who want to live without a car. Everything Kitsilano has to offer – which is alot – is easily accessible within 15 minutes!

Kits360 is scheduled for completion in 2013. Available condos/townhouses range in price from $299,900 to $1,199,900. Unit sizes are from 472 to 1157 square feet.

Kits360

KITS360 is truly at the centre of it all. Catch up with a friend over lunch. Do some window-shopping. Fit in a workout in one of KITS360’s two exercise rooms. Catch the latest film at your neighbourhood cinema. The building’s smart location allows you to take full advantage of all the city has to offer.

Kits360 amenities include: Rooftop Terrace, Fitness Centre, 24-hour concierge, Underground Parking, Bicycle Room, and Meeting Room.

If you’re looking for a great Vancouver real estate investment, contact Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh for more information today!

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Have you ever dreamed of owning a home in Vancouver’s beautiful West End?

Most of the real estate here is in highrise or lowrise condo buildings, but there are a few remaining character homes that remind us of the neighbourhood’s past.

The Comox & Cardero is a recently renovated project in the heart of the West End, close to Stanley Park, English Bay and Coal Harbour.

Featurs Include White Oak Flooring

The homes at Cardero and Comox are valued for their association with prominent Vancouver developer Charles David Rand (born 1858), who had these houses built originally in 1910. Rand had a prolific career in Vancouver real estate. In the 1880s, Rand, along with other capitalists, established the Vancouver Improvement Company. Rand also helped to establish the Vancouver Street Railway Company in 1888, and secured a franchise for the construction and operation of a street railway system in Vancouver. Notably, Rand was also one of the directors of the Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company.

These homes are synonymous with the Edwardian era development of the West End and as a symbol of the neighbourhood’s residential flavour.

C and C Developments was founded on the idea that when we build, we don’t just build a building. We build homes that fit into a neighbourhood. We protect buildings that reflect the history of our community – and we bring to them the best in modern technology, sustainable design, and luxury. We have lived in this community – and we know the importance of making sure that the unique character of the West End is protected – and enhanced every step of the way. Instead of tearing down heritage buildings, we give them a whole new lease on life – with a modern twist.

C&C homes are sophisticated and refreshing.

If owning a character home in the West End of Vancouver sounds perfect to you, contact us today!

‘Cosmo’ is a new real estate project by Concord Pacific currently under construction at Georgia Street and Beatty Street in Vancouver.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2012, and available condos range in price from $326,800 to $989,800.

The company’s legacy as a master-planned community developer began with Concord Pacific Place on the Expo ’86 grounds on Vancouver’s False Creek waterfront. This project has steadily transformed the city’s skyline and redefined urban living. To date, Concord Pacific Place includes more than 10,000 homes, intermixed with parks, schools and a variety of retail and commercial services.

Does living in the heart of downtown Vancouver sounds exciting? Then ‘Cosmo’ is a great place to call home. Located steps from Gastown, Yaletown, Main Street, and the False Creek seawall, getting around the city is easy and convenient.

Contact Vancouver Realtor Justin Leigh for more information about owning a home at Cosmo today.

Live in the Heart of the City at Cosmo