Barry Berg

The Greater Vancouver housing market saw relatively typical home sale and listing activity in November.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales of detached, attached and apartment properties on the region’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) reached 2,360 in November. This represents a 5.9 per cent decline compared to the 2,509 sales in Novemb ...

Here's something to think about when you're looking to buy or sell a home in Vancouver and considering using a realtor. It's called "Limited Dual Agency" and it refers to a transaction in which the realtor and brokerage are representing both the buyer and the seller. A separate Limited Dual Agency Agreement must be signed for this to be legal and should be explained to you, the client, in ful ...

Buying a house is a big decision and, in Vancouver, a big investment. So it's important for buyers to perform their due diligence and get things like get an home inspection before closing the deal. But if you've chosen a condo or attached strata property to buy, there is an additional element to performing your due diligence: the documentation.

When buying an attached property or condo, ther ...

“What do you mean they are not going to counter?!”

Believe it or not, when you're putting in an offer to buy a home, one of the responses you may get is no response at all.

If the seller feels your offer is too low, he or she may just decide that there is no point in tying up the property in a negotiation. It can be very easy to take this personally but, as in the words of legendary arbitra ...

Recently, I blogged about how to avoid competing-offer situations that many Vancouver homebuyers face when buying a home. But if you find a home you want to bid on and do find yourself in competition, then it’s important to have a strategy.

Unless your first offer was your best offer already, then you probably want to adjust your offer to your best offer with some strategy. Believe it or not ...

“But [insert seller's name here] said it came with the TV...!”

At times, the contract process may seem onerous but it is very important to remember you are buying and selling what is written in the contract and nothing else. Term/Condition 18 of the MLS contract relates to this when it says, “There are no representations, warranties, guarantees, promises or agreements other than those set ou ...

“We just got another offer -- is there anything you want to change with your offer?” Those words are rarely what you want to hear from the selling agent when you are putting in an offer on a home.

In the first quarter of 2011, I have been involved in at least a half-dozen multiple offers on condos alone. One way to try to steer clear of a competing-offer situation is to conduct the negotiati ...

Everyone wants to know what his/her home is worth -- whether or not you're planning to sell. Here is how you can figure out what your home would sell for.

How to determine what your house is worth

The "worth" of your home is basically "market value", or what a seller is willing to accept and what a buyer is willing to pay. The best way to determine the market value of your home is to review ...

I just listed a property at #2403 - 128 West Cordova -- the well-known Woodward's building in Crosstown. It's a beautiful building with move-in ready suites: high-end appliances, gleaming floors, floor-to-ceiling windows...but a number of prospective buyers have asked me the same questions about renovating the 2-bed configuration, specifically to open up the living space. So, I thought I'd sh ...

Many folks have asked about the procedure for redeeming the HST rebate when buying a new home. A great start is to phone the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), who administers the tax at 1-800-959-8287. They will tell you that the 2 forms you need are the RC7190 for the HST portion of the rebate and the GST190. Purchasers are eligible for the rebate with proof of occupancy and, according to the CRA ...