How Will the New Hwy 91 & 72 Ave Interchange Affect You?

Have you heard the news about Highway 91? An exciting change is underway and I want to tell you all about it.

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If you’ve ever traveled down 72 Avenue down Alex Fraser or used Highway 91 northbound toward the Alex Fraser, you know how frustrating that current interchange is. Well, today I have some great news.

All levels of government have announced that construction will start on the new Highway 91 and 72 Avenue interchange, effectively removing the last light on the Highway 91 corridor with the goal of improving travel times and reducing congestion.

This is a $30 million project, with $20 million being funded by the province and $10 million being funded by the federal government, with an estimated completion time of winter 2018.

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Be prepared for changes caused by this major infrastructure improvement.

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The design of the overall project is what is referred to as a diamond design. The thought behind that was to minimize any environmental impact on Burns Bog, and the engineers feel confident they have been able to achieve that goal.

What we know about these types of major infrastructure improvements is that they tend to bring more change to the region. For example, there are already projects happening along 72 Avenue and it is scheduled to become a four-lane street.

These changes won’t happen overnight, but things are starting to get a move on now that the snow is starting to melt.

Likewise, if you are starting to think about spring and in turn the spring market, I encourage you to reach out to me. The market has changed so much, and who you choose to represent and advise you and your family is more important now than ever.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out with a phone call or a quick email. I’m happy to help in any way I can!

New Year, New Notice of Assessments

The new year means new property tax assessments. Today, I wanted to dispel a few myths about how these taxes are calculated and what they mean to your home's value.

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Happy New Year! The new year always brings that pleasant little surprise: your notice of assessment.

It was probably a bit of a sticker shock to you when you opened it—I know it was for me. That's why today, I wanted to take a minute to talk about the assessment; what it is, how it's derived, and what it means to you as a homeowner. I want to provide a bipartisan, neutral overview of the assessment, not an opinion.

First, know that your assessed value isn't your market value. The assessment is a snapshot from the assessor's mind of what your home would've sold for on July 1st, 2016. A lot has changed since then. The assessment doesn't know if you spent $200,000 on renovations, whether you haven't updated the house since 1979, or even whether you knocked a wall down to turn a 3-bedroom into a 2-bedroom.

These factors all play a role in fair market value—what a buyer is willing to pay for your home and what you are willing to accept. In fact, even just two or three years ago, it was common for North Delta homes to sell well above their assessed value.

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Assessed value and fair market value are not the same thing.

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When it comes to determining fair market value for your home, we don't consider assessed value. We want to instead look at what's going on in the market, what comparable sales look like, what your home's features, benefits, upgrades, and location are, among many other variables. That fair market value will be different at any given time throughout the year.

Assessed value is merely a derivative of determining what your property taxes will look like.

Speaking of property taxes, recently, folks have reached out to me after seeing their assessment go up by 50% and are fearing that their taxes will go up 50% as well. That's simply not true. Here in North Delta, for example, the municipalities look at the situation and say that on average, assessments have gone up by 44%. We'll all see a 3% increase in property taxes regardless, simply to keep up with the rate of inflation.

So let's assume your assessment went up by 50%. That's 6% above the average, meaning they will take your 6% plus the 3% for inflation, so you should expect to pay roughly 9% more in property taxes than last year. If your home only went up 40% in assessed value, then you can actually expect to pay less than last year. The council meets in the spring, when they determine their budgets. They will determine what they need to balance their budget to run the municipality and pay for things like schools, hospitals, and roads.

Remember, you have until January 31st to appeal your assessment. There's a process in place to do this and I'd be more than happy to walk you through it. Just give me a call and let's talk soon.

North Delta Market Update: November 2016

Today I've got a market update for November that I'm excited to bring you. We're finally seeing a return to a stable, healthy market after the peak.

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I'm excited to bring you the market update for the North Delta market from November 2016. If you've been following along lately, you know that our market has shifted as inventory has risen and sales have decreased and bottomed out. We've also seen pretty big shifts in our benchmark value since the peak of the marketplace. One question I always get is: "What do you think is going to happen in the marketplace?"

Since we have this data, we can make smarter, more informed predictions for what's going to happen.

We know that active listings have steadily increased, but the interesting statistic lies with sales. After a historic market run, we saw the number of sales drop to 30 in August. It stayed pretty level over the next three months, with 28 sales in September, 30 in October, and 29 in November, so we're seeing an average of about 30 a month

What's interesting is that even having come off a historic market run where a foreign investment tax was implemented and the brakes were kind of put on the market, we're still seeing 30 units sell every month in Delta and we're seeing ourselves in a balanced, healthy market.

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We're starting to see a return to a healthy, balanced market.

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The sales to active listings ratio is a number that basically tells us how our market is performing by way of how many homes sell as a percentage. Going back to August, it was at a healthy 15%, but it dropped down to 13% and 14% in September and October, respectively, leaving us wondering where the market might go. In November, that number was back up to 16%. You can see that we're floating around 15%, which is the bottom of a normal market, but still a normal market nonetheless.

Benchmark value is a figure that a lot of people have questions about. What's happening to the value of our homes? We've seen that number shift downward since the peak of the marketplace; last month it was $835,400. It was the biggest downward shift that we had seen from $875,000. So what happened in November? We saw a very marginal shift as it dropped down just slightly to $832,000.

Looking at the market as a whole, we've got data for the last 120 days. Sales remained relatively consistent and now, we're seeing the benchmark price level out somewhat. It's Christmastime, so it's normal for the market to cool off and not have predictors one way or another, but it'll be interesting to see. I will, of course, be the first one to bring this information as soon as it's in.

If you have any questions about real estate in North Delta, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help.