The Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Chamber of Commerce is hosting Business Mixer Meet and Greet Thursday, Feb 19th from 5:00 - 7:30 PM FREE - RSVP Shannon @ Chamber 604-463-3366 Kingishers - 23840 River Road, Maple Ridge, BC Great opportunity to meet the staff of the Chamber, it's Directors and others. Celebrate Chamber week in a nice, relaxed environment. Hope to meet you there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you know of anyone who is thinking of moving soon, or would like to buy an investment property, Please send them to www.IsellBC.com Need help with a Mortgage?  Time to re-finance? Check great rates? www.MortgageinBC.com   02/18/2009

WAITING COULD BE BAD Buyers who choose to wait until "Prices" drop further are really taking a gamble.  What is not really understood is how the "Interest Rate" impacts the real monthly cost of home ownership.  A 10% drop in price is totally wiped out with just a 1% increase in interest rates.  With interest rates being as low as I have seen them, they really only have one direction to go... UP.. Let me give you some figures.   Based on a 35 year Amortization Home Price--$350,000      Interest Rate-- 4.39%      Payment-- $1624 mo. Home Price--$315,000      Interest Rate-- 5.39%      Payment-- $1656 mo. Now is the time to buy... Check out current Mortgage Rates - Fill out an Application for Pre-Approval   www.mortgageinBC.com You want to get going?  Look at some homes in the Lower Mainla... 02/17/2009

If you have driven on 224th between Dewdney Trunk and Lougheed in Maple Ridge, you have seen some of the construction going on in this area.  This project, among other things, is to beautify the area.  The municipality is even constructing a new water feature to the West side of Memorial Peace Park, adjacent to 224th Street.    below is the schedule, posted by the Municipality, on the construction dates as planned.  Date                  Work to be Completed                                                     Duration   January 26        Water Main installation on north bound lane                    Complete February 11       Relocation of 4 trees on east side of 224 Street               1 Week                              in front of Memorial Peace Park                                 ... 02/16/2009

Rent Vs. Buy Scenario for 1st Time Home Buyers   Typical cost to RENT 1 Bed/ 1 Bath, 600 sq.feet  Apartment*: Vancouver  $1300 Burnaby/Coquitlam/Port Coquitlam/Port Moody $950 Pitt Meadows/Maple Ridge $900 Langley $850 Surrey $800 Richmond/White Rock $950 *These costs are just average and might be higher or lower depending on various factors.   What you can BUY for $230,000    Vancouver 1 Bed/1 Bath 582 sq.ft.    Burnaby   1 Bed/1 Bath 783 sq.ft. White Rock  2 Bed/2 Bath 1,136 sq.ft.    Maple Ridge   2 Bed/2 Bath 1,098 sq.ft.   Scenario #1-BUY NOW    Purchase Price: $230,000 Minimum 5% Down Payment: $11,500 CMHC Fee: $6,008 Property Purchase Transfer Tax: $0* Closing Costs: $0* Mortgage Amount:$224,508 ($230,000-$11,500(down payment)+$6,008(CMHC fee)) Mortgage Payments at current 5 yea... 02/11/2009

Just another reminder about the First Time Home Buyer Seminar we'll be holding on Monday, Feb 16th at the Maple Ridge Library from 6:30 to 8:30PM. REALTOR, Mortgage Specialist, Home Inspector and NotaryPublic to answer all your questions at one place! Come and join us! Tons of useful information, door prizes, donuts and refreshments! Register today by phone 778.991.3293 or email olena.osipov@remax.net. 02/03/2009

2008 Sales Activity For the Community Area of Cottonwood, Maple Ridge, BC   Listings summarized in the following table are based on information from the Greater Vancouver MLSLink Residential. Properties sold were not all listed by RE/MAX ridge-meadows realty and were listed by various MLS participating offices. ATTACHED (Homes)    Price Range $ Properties     Sold(#) Average List Price($) Average Sale Price($) Sales Success Ratio(%) Average Size (sq.feet) Average Beds/Baths (#) Average Days on Market(#) 0-300,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 300,000-350,000 1 329,000 329,000 100 1,450 2/2 10 350,000-400,000 7 390,128 384,071 98 1,787 3/1 55 400,000-450,000 13 427,053 419,115 98 2,008 3/2 89 450,000-475,000 7 470,300 463,557 98 2,689 3/3 119 475,000-500,000 17 496,205 489,347 98 2,873 3/3 115 500,000-... 01/30/2009

Yesterday, on January 27th, 2009, Government of Canada has announced more incentives for First Time Home Buyers and Home Owners in order to help them with the most important investment in their lives. The main idea behind these decisions is to increase: a) housing affordability in addition to falling prices and already occured 15% price drop, b) quality of life and c) consumer confidence. So, if you're a First Time Home Buyer or a Home Owner you just got richer by X amount of $s. "You're richer than you think"-Scotiabank:)   The incentives announced yesterday include: 1. First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit of up to $750 to help homebuyers with closing costs such as land transfer taxes and legal fees. 2. Increase to the Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal limit to $25,000 from $20,000. Eligible c... 01/28/2009

I currently have buyers actively looking for the properties listed below. All my clients have been pre-approved for financing and are ready to make an offer. Currently I have more than 10 qualified buyers looking for properties to buy around Greater Vancouver Area.  Homeowners: If you want to save on real estate agent's commissions, facing a possible loss of your home or just need to sell please contact me at 778.991.3293. Agents: If any of your properties meet the search criteria below please contact me at 778.991.3293.  Buyer #1 Area: Vancouver Downtown Type of Property:1 Bedroom or 1 Bedroom+Den Condo Size: 500-700 sq.feet Budget: Up to $250,000 Specifics: Rentals allowed Buyer #2 Area: Maple Ridge, Thornhill Type of Property: Land with house with future development potential Size: ... 01/28/2009

Never get the chance to see Northern Lights in Maple Ridge?  Well Karen Crowe of Maple Ridge did, it was back in July of 2004 but when I came across this I had to link to it as it such a beautiful shot and you can clearly see the Big Dipper and North Star (Polaris) in the picture, simply amazing from our Latitude. Karen said, "Taken with a Canon Eos Rebel 2000, 22-55mm lens ISO 200, 30 sec exposure. Only the green light was visible with the eyes, but the camera captured the purple. The aurora was not very bright most of the hour we watched it, but there was a lot of pulsating and flashing that was fantastic to watch."   Scott Leaf Real Estate Marketing & Associates Keller Williams Results Realty www.whatismyhomesvalue.ca www.scottleaf.com     01/23/2009

So, really, why should you buy Real Estate when everybody seems to be running away from it? Great Choice: Inventory levels of homes are extremely high all over Canada and US. It has never been a better time to find your perfect home. Even the fussiest buyer can satisfy his cravings today. Come on, if you can't make a selection today when can you do it then??? Time Is On Your Side: No more you have to rush through the house and if you like it write an offer on the trunk of your car as soon as you get out of the house. Those times are over and I'm very happy about it. Now I can make clients happier and more satisfied as I can find them a perfect home. You have time to choose and make a decision that will in fact benefit you in a long-term. Low Interest Rates: They are historically low and... 01/21/2009

 THINKING OF BUYING A HOME? First Time Home Buyers Seminar FREE Seminar, FREE Pre-Qualification, FREE List of Current Foreclosures Door Prize-$50 Gift Card Refreshments and donuts served Monday, February 16th, 2009 6:30-8:30PM Maple Ridge Library-Alouette Room, 2nd Floor 130-22470 Dewdney Trunk Road, Maple Ridge BC Presented to you by: Olena Osipov, B.Comm, REALTOR®, RE/MAX ridge-meadows realty Liz Hall, Mortgage Specialist, Royal Bank Roger Rygg, Home Inspector, Pillar to Post  Cheryl Bennewith, Notary Public What you will learn at the seminar: What are the downpayment sources? Can I get pre-approved right now? What are the steps in home buying process? What is available in my price range? List of current foreclosures When is the best time to buy? Have we hit the bottom yet? Should I d... 01/21/2009

  From CBC's "Early Edition" website graciously forwarded to me by my very good friend Katie Kislova. Thanks, Katie!:) 01/21/2009

Bank of Canada has announced this morning, January 20th, 2009, that it's cutting its key interest rate to 1%. 1%! That's the lowest for the past 50 years. The prime rate went down to 3% right away. I already have received an updated rate sheet from one of my mortgage brokers. It looks beautiful:) Needless to say, I'm very happy for more affordability in housing market for first-time buyers. I'm not going to brag all over again why it's a great time to buy. You can read it on the home page of my Maple Ridge Real Estate website. You should also take a look at a great article by Ozzie Jurock "Will We Be Fine In 2009?". I'll summarize the keypoints: record low interest rates, abundant choice of homes, record deals can be negotiated. I keep saying and saying it all over again for the past 5 ... 01/20/2009

It's a huge day for me personally! So, what's happening tomorrow? 1. Obama's inauguration. I'm excited not about the tomorrow's ceremony that will cost all american taxpayers $150 million but rather about what's gonna be different on Wednesday morning when I wake up. Probably nothing. May be everyone will want to move to Maple Ridge?! Kidding, we're fine here with other 69,997 neighbours and no Wal-Mart. Who needs it, we have Zellers!:) You know, I just read this morning in "The Province" how canadians are upset about our modest Prime Minister ceremonies etc. "Look at our american neighbours. They know how to party!" Excuse me, before Canada decides to party like that I hope I will be asked an opinion. 2. Bank of Canada is meeting tomorrow to talk about possible rate cuts. Yeeeeeeeeeeee... 01/19/2009

I just came across an awesome blog post "Successful Agents Farm Their Areas Consistently"by Neil Bloom. I really liked his idea with Market Activity report as it's so simple and yet so popular. People love statistics! I remember one of the mortgage brokers saying that I'm the only REALTOR who sends her statistics. And I mean, she has been in business for over 15 years. Then I had a VP of Jackman Group at TD Investements asking me for the statistics saying he would love to send it to his clients on a regular basis. I always publish Maple Ridge and Greater Vancouver statistics separately on my Maple Ridge Real Estate website. Now, I'm starting my newsletter in the area and after reading Neil's blog decided to give it a try. I phoned the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board to see if that's... 01/16/2009

Ozzie Jurock: What a crazy year. What a mad 6 months, an outlandish September to October. Oil soaring to $147, then crashing to $37. Stocks on average down 45% or more, the whole world seemingly a'flame. We keep saying that markets become the stories people tell about them. Until the year 2000 people talked around the water cooler, things - both scary and positive - stayed local. After 2000 the 'talking' changed. The Internet, YouTube, pod casts, blogs and all conspired to take our 'market stories' worldwide in an instant. Collectively we were able to feel euphoric, when we read good news and then collectively we were able to feel really scared - fast. BNNitis and CNNitis took over. We have a world cowering in fear - regurgitating endlessly the bad news ... we fear auto downturns in Ger... 01/09/2009

It took me a bit longer to come up with Part II just for a simple reason - I got swamped by prospective buyers and sellers:) Can you believe that?! We're in recession and people are still buying $700,000 homes. I'll tell you even more, most homes my clients liked had 1 or 2 offers pending on them already!!! So, are we truly in recession? It's time to tell you about my new love. IT'S OZZIE! My cat's name is Ozzy, my husband's nickname is Ozzy and then there is Ozzy Osbourne. None of them. It's Ozzie Jurock! Have you heard of him? If you're watching local news then you should know. Ozzie is a well-known real estate expert, is featured in numerous magazines and on TV regularly and is just a smart guy. And the reason I love him because he's not saying it's all good and rosy and he's not say... 01/09/2009

If you're a homeowner like me then you should have received your 2009 Property Assessment earlier this week. Well, did you like what you saw? My property's assessed value reflects its market price as of June 1 and is less than what I paid for my house back in April. Sounds right. This year the assessment was done quite differently than in previous years due to the real estate market conditions in BC. For this year only your Notice of Assessment will show the market value of your property on Jun 1, 2007 and Jun 1, 2008. The lower of these 2 values is your property's 2009 assessed value. BC government has taken this action in order "to provide stability and certainty for property owners whose assessments would likely have been higher than market value due to significant declines in BC re... 01/07/2009

WEATHER UPDATE FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7 All schools are open Secondary schools Open Elementary Schools Open Bus routes Snow routes Special Needs buses Cancelled Evening classes Open  Posted at 5:30 pm  on the School  District #42 web site - to be revised if conditions change, www.sd42.ca for more information.  Tuesday evening classes - open I know that the residents of Albion and I am sure, all across Maple Ridge, will be relieved to see the school show get back on the track. Scott Leaf Real Estate Marketing & Associates Keller Williams Results Realty www.whatismyhomesvalue.ca www.scottleaf.com   01/06/2009

Reading the newspaper last week I stumbled upon a wedding fair advertisement. Remembering a marvelous year of 2005 when I was getting married *sigh*, I thought it would be a great idea to post this info here for all Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and other brides. Bridal fairs usually take place from January till April every year. This is actually my wedding picture. I love the sky above-so endless and calming. I hope your wedding day is wonderful as mine was! Welcome Wagon Bridal Showcase Date: February 2, 2009 Start: Doors at each venue open at 6:30 pm - Fashion Show starts at 7:00 pm Tickets: Free admission for the bride and her guest, complimentary refreshments Door Prizes, Displays, Gift Bags, Fashion Shows Location: Meadow Gardens Golf Course 19675 Meadow Gardens Way, Pitt Meadows, BC 01/06/2009