The Most Wonderful Newsletter of the Year
I’d like to start by saying thank you to anyone and everyone who has been reading this over the last couple of years. The feedback I’ve received has been quite life giving. The reason I say this now is because recently I renewed my license to sell real estate for another two years. They warned me when I got into the business that the vast majority of newly licensed agents never renew, and now that I’ve been in it I can understand why. Being a REALTOR®️ is not for everyone, but I can tell you that it is for me. Owning real estate, however, is for everyone. Here’s why.Owning Real Estate is for Everyone
It just doesn’t make sense not to. Real Estate is an automatic savings plan, a built in retirement fund and the key to being allowed to drill a hole through any wall you want. Please don’t try to tell me I’m wrong because I am also fully aware of the risks associated with owning real estate. The risk that everyone is talking about right now is “what if prices crash?!”. After seeing house prices rise 36.4% in the past year, I suppose it’s a fair question, but don’t go answering it if you don’t know why they rose in the first place. Prices sky rocketed because it became cheap to get a mortgage and demand saw a huge spike. Couple that with an enormous lack of inventory and the fact that prices have shot up so much becomes very reasonable. In fact, prices are expected to rise another 9.2% in the coming year and the law of supply and demand will do it’s best to ensure that. Current supply (3,048) needs to more than double in order for balance to occur.
“What if interest rates go up?”, “what if prices come down?”. My answer to that: so what! It is way too difficult to be approved for a mortgage to worry about a moderate price drop or a few point rate hike after purchasing. That’s the difference between what’s happening now and what you probably think of when you remember house price crashes. In the states in 2008, which is what everyone thinks of, they handed out mortgages like they were candy canes in December. One for everyone and it doesn’t matter what you do for a living! This year, I’ve worked with several high income families who have struggled mightily just to be approved for the mortgage. Paying for it is no problem, but getting that stamp of approval is a nightmare. Trust me, after all the hoops they make you jump through to get a mortgage these days, if we see a 10% drop in prices or a 1% mortgage rate increase, we’ll be okay.
Now if you or anyone you know is wondering about purely the affordability aspect, that’s another conversation that I’m happy to have with you. Sometimes it isn’t feasible to own property and sometimes selling what you own is the only option, and there are a lot of positives that come from that as well, especially if you bought it over a year ago.
Current Events
As I type this, I look out my office window where I see the Sumas flats. It’s been difficult to carry on normal activities the last few weeks because of the catastrophic flooding happening in BC. It’s impossible to act like everything is okay when I’m reminded that it’s not every time I look out my window. That said, I consider these times to be inspirational. The acts of leadership and servant attitudes that have been abundant in Abbotsford and beyond these weeks has left me motivated to contribute more, even in the best of times. My job seems small when bigger things are happening, but it’s a perspective shift that I believe opens the door to improvement. If we can turn these events into motivation and future innovation, the ripple effect won’t just be a bad one, even when our friends and neighbours have faced stupendous adversity. Events like this can shake you, as they should, but don’t let that be the end of it.
As for me, I’m enjoying the countdown to Christmas as I always do. It is the most wonderful time of the year, every year. I’m a Christmas nut, and if you ask me what I like about it, my answer will forever be “all of it”. The market has remained hot right into December and I expect that will continue through the month and into the new year. There is still plenty of business being done this month, so there’s no need to hold off calling me until January. I’ll be working at Christmastime and ready to sell your house. I’ll also be listening to Jingle Bells, watching Elf and eating a lot of cookies #balance.