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Blog by MJ Ankenman

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Interest Only!

June 28th, 2006
I just received exciting news from CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation). CMHC provides mortgage loan insurance to lenders, enabling home buyers access to mortgages with as little as 5% down. They have just made several announcements that increase the accessibility of home ownership. The first announcement is that the application fee of $165 to $235 has been eliminated. While there ...

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Communting Kills!

June 23rd, 2006
The headline "IS YOUR COMMUTE A KILLER" in The Vancouver Sun on Wednesday, June 21st grabbed my attention. According to a recent report by Sightline, an environmental think-tank based in Seattle, suburbanites are less healthy than downtowners. It seems while us downtowners are biking/running/rollerblading the seawall and burning calories, the suburbanites  are sitting in their cars commuting. ...

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Drop by, Have a Coffee, Discuss Real Estate

June 18th, 2006
Due to the success of our Buyers and Investors Real Estate Seminar a few weeks back and at the request of several participates to hear more, Jill Garcia, RBC Mortgage Specialist and I are holding a series of informal drop in info sessions. The first of these sessions will be on Monday, July 10th 7pm - 8pm at The Blenz Coffee Shop at 508 Richards St. (Richards & Davie) Please stop by, meet oth ...

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Families in The City

June 12th, 2006
Read an interesting story that was the cover article for this weeks Vancouver Courier. The article was titled "In the City" and highlighted families that have decided to raise children in downtown Vancouver in condominiums versus houses in the suburbs. It emphasised that less reliance on an automobile and services such as community centres and schools were important decision making fac ...

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Property Taxes

June 7th, 2006
This is one of those good news, bad news entries. The bad news is that property taxes increased by 6.4%. The good news, the homeowner grant has increased $100 from $470 to $570, for properties under $780,000. Full details of the grant are on the back of the tax notice or go to the City of Vancouver website. For new home buyers remember when you are looking at properties to adjust the quoted p ...

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Real Estate Seminar

May 29th, 2006
This coming Saturday, June 3rd at The Roundhouse Community Centre, I am co-hosting a seminar for Real Estate Buyers and Investors. I will be discussing several topics including Historical Performance of Real Estate, Real Estate as an Investment, Real Estate Bubble?, Buying Pre Construction vs Existing Inventory, Hot Areas and The Realtor Relationship. Jill Garcia, Mortgage Specialist from RBC ...

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The Communication of Real Estate

May 8th, 2006
Last week I attended a great presentation about Blogging for your Biz by Robert Sanzalone of PacificIT. Since starting up my website, I have been trying to find the best ways to get information regarding Vancouver real estate to my clients. At the same time my goal is also to try and communicate my personality, drive and passion to those that are searching for a Realtor. I believe that part o ...

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BUY THAT CONDO - NOW

March 3rd, 2006
Well, the headline in the Wednesday issue of Metro Vancouver certainly put it simply. BUY THAT CONDO - NOW. PricewaterhouseCoopers released a report that forecast a shortage of condominiums in the city of Vancouver as well as their values continuing to rise. The international accounting firm also noted that the average asking price of a high rise unit has gone up by 46% in the city's Downtown ...

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Home Owner Grant

February 23rd, 2006
Yesterday's provincial budget contained some changes to the Home Owner Grant. Here is the text from the government website. "On February 21, 2006, the Minister of Finance announced changes to the grant amount and the phase out threshold for the Home Owner Grant. Effective for the 2006 tax year, the basic home owner grant increases to $570 from $470 and the additional grant will increase to $ ...

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Holiday Greetings

December 26th, 2005
I am taking this quiet moment to wish everybody a wonderful holiday time. I have had a wonderful last few days. Christmas Eve I went over to a friend's place at The Mondarian and we had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and then after a bottle of champagne and chocolate fondue began to try, and the word try is key here, to recite lines from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" Christmas morni ...

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