SOLD... to a newly formed company directed by a person that leads a Canadian network of private secondary colleges for a measly $42 million, that was owned by philanthropists Joseph and Rosalie Segal.

The new numbered company that was incorporated on May 31st lists Peter Chung and its only director.

Peter is also the executive chairman of New Westminster based Primacorp Ventures that has interests in health care, senior's homes and real estate. He also controls the Eminata Group, which operates 5 private post-secondary schools in Canada, including CDI College and Vancouver College of Art and Design. 

The Belmont Avenue home was listed for $58 million and has 5 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms and covers 22,000 square feet.

The buyer had to pay more than $2 million in property transfer tax and would need to pay more than $200,000 a year in property and school taxes.

At Keith Vines and Associates, we offer good old fashion service, working with our home buyers and sellers in a relaxed, friendly manner, applying every available tool available to achieve the best possible outcome. Please take a moment to sign up for Keith’s Grapevine – a periodic eletter full of interesting market news, advice and tidbits

First Nations and environmentalists in B.C's interior want the provincial government to stop letting private companies from bottling water for export from the water-stressed region.

The province banned water exports in 1996, but has no plans to change the exemption that allows for water in containers of less than 20 litres to be bottled.

Is it unethical to allow water exports from the tinder-dry region struggling with prolonged drought and facing a new climate normal that includeds constant threat from wildfires that can help degrade water quality?

There appears to be a lack of information about the status of B.C.'s groundwater reserves province wide and about the rate of which they are naturally recharged by precipitation. The concern is the recharge of the aquifer, which plans are all based on outdated data.

We don't know what the future recharge or depletion of the aquifer will be. The landscape is changing rapidly. There is climate change and the question of accountability. Who is monitoring the aquifer. It doesn't appear that a lot of thought has gone into it.

A thought... there are still a lot of First Nations communities in Canada that don't yet have clean drinking water. Maybe until such a time as every First Nations community has clean drinking water we should not export even one drop of water that has been extracted from their traditional terrirtories.

At Keith Vines and Associates, we offer good old fashion service, working with our home buyers and sellers in a relaxed, friendly manner, applying every available tool available to achieve the best possible outcome. Please take a moment to sign up for Keith’s Grapevine – a periodic eletter full of interesting market news, advice and tidbits

The City of North Vancouver has approved an all-rental building and childcare facility with no parking for residents.

The 6 storey project at 133 East Fourth St will include 23 rental homes, 3 of which wll be offered at below-market rates.

This unique project will have zero underground parking spaces for residents or visitors. Instead, the daycare will have 1 surface parking spot.

The neighbours are concerned that the project will make it even harder to nab on-street parking, and that the daycare would bring undue noise and congestion from parents dropping off their kids.

The proposal has good support from the business community however, who say that the shortage of rental apartments was a threat to the North Vancouver economy, and childcare operators who stressed to council how hard it is for parents to find spaces on the North Shore.

One councillor expressed 'that this about providing choices and options for people who might have a very different experience than any of us who live in single family homes, have large green spaces, have cars and driveways, etc. This is a different reality and it requires a different solution.'

At Keith Vines and Associates, we offer good old fashion service, working with our home buyers and sellers in a relaxed, friendly manner, applying every available tool available to achieve the best possible outcome. Please take a moment to sign up for Keith’s Grapevine – a periodic eletter full of interesting market news, advice and tidbits

Everything is for sale in Vancouver, from homes  to storage lockers to parking stalls.

In fact, on June 8, 2021 a small parking stall #33 at 1233 Pacific Boulevard sold for $38,250 after spending 29 days on the market.

The 124 square foot stall, which is good for a small car sold below the asking price of $39,500 and its 2021 assessed value of $45,900.

The adjacent stall, #34, which is slightly larger at 146 square feet sold in April for $41,000 after being listed for only 4 days.

This strata does not require buyers to live in the buiilding, but require a monthy maintenance fee of $47,20

Is there a niche market for realtors selling storage lockers and  parkings stalls?

At Keith Vines and Associates, we offer good old fashion service, working with our home buyers and sellers in a relaxed, friendly manner, applying every available tool available to achieve the best possible outcome. Please take a moment to sign up for Keith’s Grapevine – a periodic eletter full of interesting market news, advice and tidbits.

With so much Olympic controversy this year with pandemic concerns I wonder if watching the games on TV this summer will be as popular as most Olympics?  The best part about Summer Olympics is they occur when most major league sports are a little quiet. No NFL, MLB pennant races haven't really heated up yet, and Basketball and Hockey are on their summer breaks.

The Summer Olympics gives us 2 weeks of sports that we largely never watch, except for 17 days every 4 years. And even though most events will be tape delayed, it will hopefully give us some excitement.

Here are the top 10 ranked Summer Olympic sports to watch:

 #10   Handball

#9   Wrestling, Taekwondo and Judo  

#8   Table Tennis

#7   Team Volleyball

#6   Men's Basketball

#5   Water Polo

#4   Women's Soccer

#3   Swimming

#2 Track

#1 Gymnastics

At Keith Vines and Associates, we offer good old fashion service, working with our home buyers and sellers in a relaxed, friendly manner, applying every available tool available to achieve the best possible outcome. Please take a moment to sign up for Keith’s Grapevine – a periodic eletter full of interesting market news, advice and tidbits

Throughout most of this pandemic, home sales soared and in many markets set record prices. And although the market has definitely simmered, industry insiders are saying that the B.C. market is expected to boom postpandemic - driven by Canadians returning home and the federal government's plan to bring in more that 1.2 million immigrants over the next few years.

Speculation is that a lot of the new buyers will be Canadians returning from Hong Kong, where Vancouver is a favoured destination for the 300,000 or so passport holders who want to escape the politcal instability in Hong Kong.

It's always a wish that prices will come down in Vancouver, and that will only happen if there is more supply then demand. Do we see that happening - not a chance.

Most of the Canadians coming back from Hong Kong are seeing prices in Hong Kong even higher than Canada, so now when they come back they will sell off their property in Hong Kong and put it into Canada. Now their net worth has increased dramtically over the last 10 years and their purchasing power is much higher now, than when they left.

Your house is your most valuable asset. Stay on top the of news in this volatile market. 

At Keith Vines and Associates, we offer good old fashion service, working with our home buyers and sellers in a relaxed, friendly manner, applying every available tool available to achieve the best possible outcome. Please take a moment to sign up for Keith’s Grapevine – a periodic eletter full of interesting market news, advice and tidbits