Viridian Green creates substance and style in their new townhome development in Kitsilano. Located at the corner of 4th Avneue and Collingwood in Kitsilano.  The  townhome development features concrete and steel construction.  Larc  Developments is using several green technologies including recapture of refrigeration waste heat to preheat hot water for the building.  I am the salesperson for this development.  You can contact me at 604-722-3734.  www.viridiangreen.ca By Sam Wyatt Vancouver Real Estate Agent

The Tapestry Development by Concert Properties Ltd. and built by Bosa Construction is now completing.  Homes that were "pre-sold" are now becoming available to purchase for "re-sale".  This means that they are now GST free!  This beautiful development by Vancouver's premier developer is going to command a premium well into the future for its solid construction.  Located at the corners of 13th and Heather and Willow an 12th, it is adjacent to several large parks and an easy walk across the Laurel Street overpass to Granville Island.  By Sam Wyatt Vancouver Real Estate Agent.

Here's a little primer on Assignments:

Assignments involve a few basic figures:

New Price (Assignee's Total Purchase Price)
Assignment Amount (Difference between Original contract price and New Price)
Deposit Held by Developer
Original contract price
Assignment deposit: typically 5% of the New Price

NB: Original Contract Price + Assignment Price = New Price OR
New Price - Assignment Price = Contract Price.

Assignment costs are typically negotiated to be paid in three basic ways:

1. Assignee repays Deposit Held by Developer (to Assignor) and Assignment Amount (to Assignor)immediately and pays the original contract price to the developer at closing.

2. Assignee repays Deposit Held by Developer and a deposit on the Assignment Contract immediately. Assignee then pays the Assignment Amount (to the assignor) Plus contract price (to the developer) at closing.

3. Assignee repays Deposit Held by Developer, and a PORTION of the Assignment Amount immediately. Assignee then pays the remainder of the Assignment Amount (to the assignor) plus contract price (to the developer) at closing.

Obviously the Assignor would like Option #1 best and the Assignee generally would prefer Option #2 best.

I will post a more exhaustive "how-to" soon.

I have worked on many multiple offer situations in Vancouver residential real estate and one  fact is clear:  the buyer has no certainty of whether or not other genuine offers actually exist except by their implicit trust in not just their own realtor but also in the seller’s realtor.  La Press Canadienne published a report called “How Canadians Perceive Various Professions”. It stated that only 39% of Canadians trust real estate agents!  It is safe to say that many buyers would doubt the word of a realtor that is not even acting on their behalf.  As a realtor I believe that although our profession is honest and professional, we can definitely work on better transparency for the public.

Here is how I have dealt with the issue on the buyer’s side.  During one of my multiple offers acting as a buyer’s agent, two offers were in play including our own.  The seller, having examined the offers asked their realtor to say that both offers were identical and that we could resubmit a better offer.  On behalf of my clients, I requested that we be allowed to view the other offer.  At this point the seller had the option of refusing, but in this case accepted our request.  The offers were not the same; we had already offered a slightly higher price, although it was marginal.  The other party had dates that were two weeks earlier and it is on this basis that the similarity of offers was argued.  This gave us the power to submit a second offer with great confidence and very little price increase.

 In a second case, my clients offered a below asking price on a home where no other offer existed.  After submitting the offer, the listing agent called to say that a second offer had come in that she had not been expecting.  We submitted a second offer at the asking price.  She claimed that our offer had better terms but that her client wanted us and the other party to submit new, better offers.  I requested to see the other contract.  The sellers declined and accepted our asking price offer.  This second scenario underscores a problem.  My clients were suspicious of the other realtor’s actions.  They doubted that the other offer was close and even doubted that another offer existed.  The seller’s realtor was neither required by law nor the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board’s code of ethics to disclose the other competing representative’s name.

My policy as a Listing agent is to (with my client’s permission) provide all the names of the Representatives and listing Brokerages involved in a multiple offer after the contract is “firm and binding”.  I provide this information on request to any agent who was a party to the multiple offer.  I will not disclose the personal details of the agent’s clients nor of the offers.  I believe this should become a Real Estate Board “rule of cooperation”.  In this way realtors could routinely confirm for their clients the existence of other offers via the other competing representatives.  I believe that this would be a good step in improving our profession’s 39% trust level with the Canadian public.