Real Estate News & Articles

Housing starts on pace for a record year

2006-07-12

Construction is up by 16% over last year Derrick Penner Sun A surge in suburban residential construction has put Greater Vancouver housing starts on pace for their best year in more than a decade. Greater Vancouver builders started construc…

HUD approves $4.2B for Louisiana's 'Road Home' rebuilding program

2006-07-12

USA Today Iowa, La., Mayor Margo Racca, left, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco accept a check from Department of Housing and Urban Development deputy secretary Roy Bernardi Tuesday. The check is to help fund t…

Cybercrooks turn to hacking many applications

2006-07-12

Byron Acohido USA Today SEATTLE — In a widely aired TV commercial, a hip-looking dude personifying Apple products wipes the nose of a sickly businessman representing Windows PCs, and smugly declares Apple's immunity to computer viruse…

Who will pay for the Internet superhighway?

2006-07-12

USA Today This ad, from opponents, says net neutrality is aimed at a "problem that doesn't exist." In the media and the halls of Congress, the Internet, phone and cable TV industries are raising a ruckus over "net neutrality." What's the sq…

Leaky condo costs realtor $20,000

2006-07-11

Judge holds agent to promise of no soggy suite in Port Moody complex Jack Keating Province Former MP and journalist Simma Holt won a lawsuit against her real-estate agent for 'negligently misrepresenting' the water-damaged state of a Port M…

Website allows consumers to shop for condos internationally

2006-07-11

Sun Veteran Vancouver real estate marketer Cliff Bowman has launched what is being billed as the world's first global online search engine to allow consumers to shop for condos internationally by location, price, and lifestyle choice. Condo…

Scarce industrial land must be preserved for cities' economic health

2006-07-10

Sun The lack of affordable housing receives a lot of attention in Canada's least affordable city. Often overlooked is the scarcity of industrial land. Its neglect is understandable: Residential real estate is something we can all relate to;…

Scarce industrial land must be preserved for cities' economic health

2006-07-10

Sun The lack of affordable housing receives a lot of attention in Canada's least affordable city. Often overlooked is the scarcity of industrial land. Its neglect is understandable: Residential real estate is something we can all relate to;…

Greening of Carrall Street

2006-07-10

Proposed upgrade would complete the recreational seawall loop around downtown and Stanley Park Gwen Preston Sun CITY OF VANCOUVER VANCOUVER - Wider sidewalks, more trees, less parking and revamped parks are proposed for the Carrall Street h…

1010 HOWE: Gold, silver and bronze are magnetic

2006-07-09

Buyers attracted by three levels of finish Jeani Read Province Instead of building an entirely new apartment complex, developers chose to renovate the building at 1010 Howe Street. The response from buyers has been so strong it surprised ev…

B.C. Securities Commission issues warning on principal protected notes

2006-07-08

Fiona Anderson Sun INVESTING I The British Columbia Securities Commission has issued an investor alert about an increasingly popular investment vehicle known as principal protected notes, or PPNs. PPNs offer potential returns based on the p…

Dell notebook has optional MediaBase

2006-07-08

Sun 1) Dell Latitude D420 ultraportable notebook, starting at $1,700. Featuring 12.1-inch-wide aspect display, a full keyboard and a dual pointing capability, the Latitude D420 weighs three pounds unless you start adding stuff like the opti…

Ozzie picks the investment hot-spots

2006-07-08

Ozzie Jurock Sun There are still scores of opportunities for savvy investors to get high on the Lower Mainland housing scene, real estate consultant Ozzie Jurock says in the June issue of his newsletter, Jurock Real Estate Insider. "For ast…

Homes need curb appeal, experts say

2006-07-08

It can be the difference between selling a house in a few weeksor a few months Pedro Arrais Sun New homeowner Christina Stevens says she liked this house in Colwood, just west of Victoria, as soon as she saw it. 'I just knew that if the ins…

1010 Howe Affordable urban heaven

2006-07-08

1010 Howe has a fabulous location at a price that lets first-time buyers into the market Rebecca Osler Sun “It’s a real vote of confidence in this marketplace, in this product and this location.” — Tracie McTavish, p…

Loft lover personalizes the wide-open spaces

2006-07-08

A little ingenuity with lighting and the creation of living 'areas' can introduce artful focal points to one-room expansiveness Michael Sasges Sun Resident Jeff Gruber with 1927 streetscape showing how 550 Beatty once looked. His living roo…

Perspectives on the Past

2006-07-08

Michael Sasges Sun CITY OF VANCOUVER ARCHIVES Str N165 The way we were: Beatty Street in 1929 and (below) Simonds Canada Saw Co. Ltd. and employees. DOMINION PHOTOS, VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY VPL 27419 The 1927 photograph of the east side of…

Migration spurs housing demand

2006-07-08

B.C. gained 10,583 people in the first quarter Sun CMHC is expecting 37,000 new home starts in B.C. this year, up from, 34,667 in 2005. Photograph by : Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun files People moving to British Columbia from other countries an…

Get yourself a good cushion for new home

2006-07-08

Sun First-time homebuyers should give themselves a plush financial cushion to avoid being sideswiped by hidden costs like taxes, title searches and legal bills that can often add tens of thousands in charges before the final deal is done, e…

City design fails in Downtown Eastside

2006-07-08

Bob Ransford Sun Heroin user fixes in the alley off Main and Hastings; gentrification will help normalize a distorted community. Photograph by : Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun The sun warmed the morning air. The stench made it heavy. It was a ste…

Moving day is a good time for a fresh start

2006-07-08

DECORATING I New digs often wind up looking like boring old digs, but it doesn't have to be that way Susan Semenak Sun Clutter (left) is the bane of contemporary design. Photograph by : Marie-France Coallier, CanWest News Service Reinvent y…

Adding 11 storeys to Vancouver's Bentall 5

2006-07-07

Permits in B.C. running 13.2% ahead of 2005 Ashley Ford Province Adding 11 storeys to Vancouver's Bentall 5 will cost $40 million. Photograph by : Jason Payne, The Province Construction fever is raging through the B.C. economy, with more th…

Missing rental income investigated

2006-07-07

Licences of Point Grey Properties Inc., managing broker suspended after complaint Derrick Penner Sun The Real Estate Council of British Columbia has suspended the licences of Point Grey Properties Inc. and managing broker Stephen Edward Le …

B.C. construction boom continues

2006-07-07

Non-residential permits up 61.7 per cent in May, Statistics Canada reports Derrick Penner Sun British Columbia's construction sector continued to boom in May, Statistics Canada reported Thursday, with contractors in Greater Vancouver, parti…