lionheart

It's everybody's least favourite poster here coming to annoy you once more. How come when I try and do a search for Property for Sale in the Vancouver region, all I get are what appear to be one-man operations where 95% of the properties listed have already been sold? Can anybody recommend a website listing hundreds of properties so I can at least get some idea about how much I would have to pay for suitable accommodation? Incidentally, are all houses in Canada made of wood or is that just how they look? As it's probably the middle of the night over there (lunchtime here in Dubai), I will learn my lesson and wait at least 24 hours for a response. Strangely enough it's very much easier searching on-line for property in the USA...

gingnut

www.mls.ca, all realtors post properties on their.

lionheart

Thank you most kindly.

nikki dreaming

Hi

you will be on this site as much as BE!!! (I know I am )

The4BellsLondon

yup - def use the mls.ca site - you can narrow it down via price, rooms numbers, location, air con, view etc.. etc

burton bunch

Hi Lionheart

Another good one is We List which is a for sale by owners site and usually really good.

Good Luck

Gaynor
x

JonboyE

In the Vancouver area virtually all houses are made with a wood frame, wood floors and wood roof trusses. The siding - the surface that you see from the outside - is either wood, vinyl or stucco. Only occasionally is brick used and this is usually decorative.

Some apartment blocks are made of concrete, and many homes have concrete basements, otherwise wood it is.

There are lots of trees around here.

Surrey Expat

Plus lots of plywood!

Not a problem in SK

happylandings

Yes, mls.ca you have by now. Home buying in Canada is MUCH quicker than the insane UK drawn out process. (Don't know how it compares with Dubai). Look on Wiki, or get a 'Realtor' sample of buying process. Anyway, mls gives you a good feel for prices and styles.

Cheers.

The4BellsLondon

you mean you dont love the protracted long winded excuse of a system we have in the UK?/ why ever not? the stress, divorce rate, trauma etc...

Lauraandfam

I've also searched a sale by owner site, propertyguys.com

They do profess to be Canada’s largest and most trusted sale by owner site!!!

Zap0ne

Why are you interested in this site? Are the properties really cheap?

I looked at the propertyguys and in Toronto they have one property listing in the city and approximately forty properties within a 25 km radius of the GTA. On mls.ca, the Toronto Real Estate Board took a dip in February due to the weather and still managed a little over 18,000 active listings.

I will have to do a comparison search on there property now to see if it is a bargain

Update: The property listed on the propertyguys in Toronto is out of date. The Seller listed and sold the place back November 2006 for $89,900 less then the price on the propertyguys site. The property was listed on the mls, sold in 6 days and sold for 98% of list which was the highest sale price on the street for 2006.

Lauraandfam

It's not up to the site how much somebody puts their property up for sale is it?? Can't hold them responsible for that.

They do hold quite a few listing for Kootneys, as that's our target area.

I'd not found the mls.ca site so I'll take a mooch at that.

I think propertyguys need to update a little faster, not gonna get my business if out of date.

Ta for the research. Info is what we need.

blimey

We looked at a few FSBO sites and places before deciding to go with a realtor. It frustrated the heck out of us - like Zap said, places were sold (by a realtor usually), now on the mls or the owner was too irritating to deal with. The other thing was that we didn't have anything to compare the asking price to except listings on the mls, and we didn't know if that was right (were the mls houses really comparable, what were they actually selling for etc).

In the end my wife made the most sense to me (surprise, surprise) when she pointed out that as a buyer, we don't pay the realtor anyway so why are we putting ourselves through all the extra aggro? Maybe the FSBO houses are a few grand cheaper, but somehow I doubt it, since many people seem to have an inflated idea of how much their house is worth (at least, the ones we met).

I'm sure some people have good experiences this way. But for us, it was just a pain in the arse and for what?

roanin

Tell me, all you guys who are using the FSBO or private sale sites, what code of ethics/conduct do they adhere to? Are they required to stand up to any code of accuracy, when describing a property?, and if you make an offer through them, who prepares all the paperwork? Can they face any consequences for inaccurate descriptions, deception etc? Are ther legally required to set up escrow accounts to protect your deposits etc? Just wondering!