January 2016 RSS Feed

The Comox Valley is the ideal place to sell your home on Vancouver Island! Living here we get the benefits of small town rural living with urban centres just a close drive away, like Campbell River and Nanaimo. And hey, where else can you ski at a world-class ski hill and hike along a beach on the Pacific Ocean on the same day?

In 2015, residential listings sold for 96% of asking price within 65 days of being on the market. Based on this activity, the best area of the Comox Valley for the quickest sale was Merville/Black Creek, where homes that sold were on the market for 39 days. 

In the last year, an average of 78 houses sold per month. That is four more than in 2014, and the trend is still going up. The majority of sales were in the $250,000 -…

It’s no secret that our Bryce is a bit of an adrenaline junkie and avid outdoor sportsman!  One reason Bryce has never moved from the Comox Valley? He loves taking advantage of its abundance of winter activities and easy access to mountains and backcountry areas to explore. We’ve compiled a list of some of his favourite winter activities to share with you. These will be sure to get your heart pumping and have you at the edge of your seat!

The Comox Valley has numerous old logging roads and trails that are quiet in the winter and provide access to remote areas for snowmobiling; one of Bryce’s favourite outdoor activities. There is also access to snowmobile staging areas on the Forbidden Plateau and just prior to the Mount Washington Alpine Resort there…

With a new Liberal government in place, we’ll be seeing lots of changes rolling out. One of which that has been highlighted recently is the raise to minimum purchase down payment for potential homebuyers, announced on December 11 by the newly appointed Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau. This new mortgage restriction, effective February 2016, is designed to reduce risky borrowing for homebuyers.

The restrictions are that buyers must now have a minimum down payment of 10 per cent on a home over $500,000 and 20 per cent for homes priced over $1 million. For homes under $500,000 a 5 per cent down payment will remain. This will force borrowers to save longer and not rely heavily on debt to purchase a home. 

Many consumers who previously would have…