Pender Island Real Estate Update for March 2009

Greetings from the Dock at Hope Bay on Pender Island,

It has been an amazing March so far, with a snowfall that beautified our island more than usual.  Now we have sunshine, and this is a pleasant reminder that Spring is just ahead. With the days being longer, more folks will be able to get over to the island and Poets Cove Resort and Spa on the South Island is already close to being fully booked for Spring Break.

While gathering statistics for this Newsletter,  I am happy to announce that the Victoria Real Estate Board’s February ending newsletter announced a “Rebound in February” with a substantial increase over January.  There was a total of 403 homes sold (up 63% from the 247 sales in January ) – but still down from February 2008 (619 homes sold then).   Chris Markham, VREB President, thinks these numbers are a very positive sign – despite the widespread economic uncertainty.  They have also seen several “multiple” offers as buyers compete for “deals” or substantially reduced properties.

(courtesy Dockside Realty Ltd.)

This has been borne out by the increase of enquiries and phone calls to our office, plus much more traffic on www.homesonpender.com . As I have said many times this year, now is an OPPORTUNITY for buyers to get substantial deals which may not come around again for many years. With the development of our property management division, we are also able to offer potential real estate investors the chance to rent their new purchases and gain income to offset their costs. It seems that people are listening to this advice and getting in now before the market rebounds. If you buy now and hold for at least five years, any further decrease in the market will be absorbed once prices start to climb again. Also, if buying  now you are less likely not have competing offers to drive up the price (although, as mentioned before, this is starting to happen in Victoria as the mood of the market begins to swing back).

As some of you may know, www.mls.ca has been changed to www.realtor.ca .  In this process, many of our buyers have been very frustrated ( as well as several sellers).   The system is much slower, and many times Pender Island does not come up in the search.  Three of our realtors did a search for the same properties and got 3 different results – so the system is still working its way through the bugs.   We have been addressing our concerns to the Canadian Real Estate Association and they are listening. We are seeing improvement, but it is taking time.  With the changes to our Victoria Board’s computer system as well, plus the larger Canadian Real Estate system, it is a trying time for realtors having to adapt to  these changes when the market is such a difficult one. 

We have had 8 offers with 5 completions since January (most of those in the month of Februaury) – so things are starting to gain momentum.  As I mentioned before, buyers are definitely looking for bargains and they are out there, particularly with listings that have been on the MLS for some time.

We are happy to announce that we have also opened an office on Saturna Island right at the ferry terminal dock.  Marian Dombovary is our new agent there.   Marian has an extensive accounting background and has been living on Saturna for about 2 years.   We are very excited about this.

We still remain positively optimistic!