The Ridge?s soaring, spacious design won a Georgie for best single-family detached home

Mary Frances Hill
The Province

The Ridge at Burke Mountain

Where:  1425 Strawline Hill St., Coquitlam

What: 49 single-family homes near well-developed trail systems, many municipal amenities, stores and restaurants at Coquitlam Centre, David Lam campus of Douglas College, and with access to the newly launched Evergreen SkyTrain line.

Residence Sizes and Prices: Three or four bedrooms; total square footage from 3,400 to 3,800 square feet, from $1.59 million, including GST

Developer and builder: Foxridge Homes, a Qualico company

Sales centre: 1425 Strawline Hill St., Coquitlam

Hours: Noon — 5 p.m., daily

For Shannon Haerdi, the key to the interior design and décor of grand single-family homes lies in playing to the residences’ architectural strengths. At The Ridge at Burke Mountain, Foxridge Homes’ community in Coquitlam, the source of that strength is obvious: it can be found in the show home’s 17-by-16-foot open-concept living room with three banks of stacked windows rising to an 18-foot-high ceiling.

“The selling features of this house, such as the oversized windows, glass railing and over-height ceilings in the great room, made our design work easy,” says Haerdi, the principal of First Impressions Design.

 “The natural light and open concept of this home allowed us to capture elegance and functionality all in one.”

Burke Mountain is an attractive place to make a life. It’s a booming family community set among natural surroundings and near a new library, city hall and recreation facilities, so Haerdi sys she pictured a “young emerging family” settling into the homes. She stuck to neutral shades, but focused on keeping it lively with touches of rose quartz and serenity blue.

“This house is definitely not a boring beige home,” she says of the show home.

 “We added [those] pops of colour to the mostly neutral furnishings and that anchored all of the textures and tones in the home. The rose quartz has a calming effect that draws you into the space, captures your senses and makes you want to linger in the room a little longer.”

And while spacious rooms do impress visitors, homeowners eventually focus on smaller details. Buyers of large homes like these prefer the convenience of laundry areas and mudrooms, and treasure the opportunity to live clutter free with plenty of storage space, she says.
“Clients do love window seats, as well as built-in storage solutions in mudrooms and laundry areas,” Haerdi says. “We try to think of a vast array of buyers when we are designing these homes as every client is unique, but they all want beautiful, yet functional living spaces.”

Haerdi says it’s a special treat to work with Foxridge on this project. Qualico Developments Inc., Foxridge Homes’ parent company, celebrated The Ridge at Burke Mountain’s Georgie Award for Best Single Family Detached Home over 2,300 square feet under $750,000. Haerdi says First Impressions Designs savours both the teamwork and the creative independence she gets with Foxridge Homes.

“We carefully select all the finishes with the builder to suit each show home and then we are left to our creative devices to create an amazing space that buyers will hopefully fall in love with as much as we do.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Realtors warned about transactions with foreign clients

Sam Cooper
The Vancouver Sun

The Fraser Valley Real Estate board (FVREB) has warned managing brokers that offshore investors have apparently been asking realtors to complete illegal transactions that would break money-laundering and tax-evasion laws.

A May 18 memo titled “Important notice” was sent out to hundreds of broker-managers who were told to distribute it to realtor employees.

The notice, obtained by Postmedia News, comes as foreign investment increases in a hot Fraser Valley market, board president Gopal Sahota said in an interview Wednesday. Meanwhile, Fraser Valley realtors are apparently already under a compliance audit from Fintrac, Canada’s anti-money-laundering authority.

“It has come to our attention that overseas clients may be asking realtors to allow money to be transferred to their personal accounts, so that the realtors can arrange a bank draft to give to the sellers/developers for their purchase,” the May 18 notice states. “It’s important everyone understands that this violates federal income-tax laws, Fintrac laws and the Real Estate Services Act. It is extremely important to ensure that any exchange of funds is legitimate, legal and ethical before members agree to participate. The risks of such actions can be very high and costly (Real Estate Council of B.C. fines of up to $250,000 or more.)”

These types of transactions could help money-launderers or tax-evaders in a number of ways. One would be allowing money-launderers to funnel cash into home purchases without scrutiny from regulators. Another potential benefit to offshore investors would be obscuring their identities and evading Metro Vancouver’s foreign-buyer tax, NDP MLA David Eby said.

In an email obtained by Postmedia, one managing broker explained the board’s warning, which relates to homebuyer deposits.

“The FVREB distributed the (notice) regarding a situation that is apparently occurring and has been brought to their attention with respect to deposits,” the manager wrote. “(The Real Estate Council of B.C.) has stated that when an agent runs a client’s deposit money through their personal account it is a diversion of trust funds and a breach of the Real Estate Services Act.”

In an interview, Sahota said his board isn’t aware of specific cases where realtors have completed such transactions, but the board acted on information gathered by its members.

“It is a strongly worded notice,” Sahota said. “We want our members to know lots of laws could be broken. Money has to be legitimate or you have the money-laundering and illegal aspects coming into (transactions) … You can’t be handling suitcases of cash.”

In an interview, Eby said by avoiding brokerage trust accounts, homebuyers can hide the flow of their funds and remain anonymous to Canadian regulators. Eby said if these transactions are occurring, it’s possible realtors are induced to aid risky transactions, with big fees.

Eby said he hasn’t previously heard of allegations as serious as the schemes being warned of by the FVREB.

“I continue to be concerned that we are allowing people to conceal the proceeds of crime in our real estate market, and that is hurting normal families,” Eby said. “If you are funnelling money through a realtor’s personal bank account, then we can’t know who is actually buying the property.”

Fintrac spokeswoman Renée Bercier said the method of transfer warned of in the Fraser Valley notice is a concern, because “transactions that are attempted or conducted in a way to obscure the ownership or the buyer could be an indicator of money-laundering.”

But in a response that indicates Fintrac was already scrutinizing Fraser Valley realtors before the May 18 notice, Bercier said Fintrac rules bar her from answering whether the agency is actually investigating potential money-laundering in the region.

“Fintrac may not disclose information obtained from reporting entities during compliance exams, including the results of the examinations,” Bercier’s response said. 

In 2016, Postmedia reported that Fintrac audited about 80 real estate firms in Vancouver and found 55 companies had “significant deficiencies” in the way they report the identities and money sources of investors.

Real Estate council spokeswoman Marilee Peters was asked whether the council is aware of the situation in the Fraser Valley, and is conducting any investigations into potential money-laundering transactions. Peters said she couldn’t comment because the council is still under provincial election-period rules meant to “ensure that the public service upholds its duty to British Columbians to be impartial and neutral.”

But Peters pointed to general rules that say the council has seen cases where “licensees have deposited cash deposits into their own personal accounts, then transferred these funds into their brokerage’s trust account or had a bank draft payable to the brokerage drawn on these funds … this is not an acceptable practice.”

Sales in the Fraser Valley last month were the highest in 10 months, according to board statistics, with the benchmark price for detached homes up 14.5 per cent in April from a year ago to $776,500, while the numbers had risen 26.2 per cent to $353,300 for town homes and up 29.8 per cent to $219,900 for apartments.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

REP

The Bank of Canada is sticking with its trendsetting interest rate of 0.5 per cent, saying uncertainties continue to overshadow the economy’s stronger-than-expected start to the year.

In explaining its decision Wednesday to hold the rate, the central bank once again highlighted weak wage growth and the softening rate for underlying inflation as examples the economy still has room for improvement.

The bank’s scheduled rate announcement comes after it raised its 2017 growth projection last month following a surprisingly healthy start to the year in areas such as employment, consumer spending and the housing markets. In Wednesday’s statement, the bank added better business investment numbers to the list.

“Recent economic data have been encouraging,” the bank said.

“Consumer spending and the housing sector continue to be robust on the back of an improving labour market, and these are becoming more broadly based across regions.”

The bank’s statement, however, also predicted that the “very strong growth” over the first three months of the year will be followed by some moderation in the second quarter, even though at the same time it expects the U.S. economy to rebound.

Analysts had widely predicted governor Stephen Poloz to keep the rate locked at its very low level of 0.5 per cent, as significant unknowns underlined by the bank in the past continue to swirl around the U.S. agenda on trade and taxation.

“The uncertainties outlined in the April (monetary policy report) continue to cloud the global and Canadian outlooks,” said the bank, without making any specific mentions this time about the potential policy path of Canada’s largest trading partner.

With no monetary policy report released Wednesday, observers will scrutinize the commentary in the bank’s one-page statement for clues about its thinking on the trajectory of the economy.

The bank’s statement also said while recent government policy measures on real estate have contributed to more sustainable outlooks for household debt, the rules have yet to have a substantial cooling effect on hot housing markets.

On core inflation, the bank noted that recent readings for its three measures, which reduce the influence of some more volatile consumer items like gasoline, have stayed below its ideal target of two per cent. That signals the entire economy has yet to catch up to the recent momentum.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Keith Fraser
The Vancouver Sun

Dozens of residents who have been leasing property on the Musqueam reserve in Vancouver are breathing a sigh of relief after a judge accepted their court challenge to a massive increase in their rents.

In 2015, the band issued notices to 74 leaseholders in Musqueam Park of a rent increase to an average of $80,000 a year from the $10,000 average annual rent they’d been paying since 1995.

A total of 69 of the residents who live in the southwest Vancouver neighbourhood joined forces and went to the Federal Court of Canada to fight the increases, which they argued were not fair.

In a recent ruling, Justice Anne Mactavish accepted the evidence of the experts from the plaintiff leaseholders as to what the fair rent should be.

Randall Hordo, a lawyer for the leaseholders, said that under the ruling, the rents will now average less than $25,000 a year, to be paid from 2015 to 2035.

“They’re relieved,” he said of his clients. “There’s been a tremendous concern about the loss of their family homes, the potential loss of their family homes. It’s been a very intense and emotionally draining experience for all of them. But now there’s stability going forward.”

Since the band issued the notices in 2015, the leaseholders have been paying rent at the previous rate.

It’s the second time the contentious issue of rent increases for the properties, which are located adjacent to the tony Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, has gone before the courts.

The first rent review was in 1995, when the Musqueam demanded that the leaseholders pay an average of $36,000 a year. The residents, who are on 99-year leases that began in 1965, had been paying less than $400 a year up to that point.

The case went to the Federal Court of Canada and to the Supreme Court of Canada, with the country’s highest court finding that a fair rent was six per cent of the current land value, for an average of $10,000 a year, to be paid from 1995 until 2015.

In her ruling, Justice Mactavish noted that each side was harshly critical of their opponents’ land appraisal expert, impugning both their competence and their professional integrity.

Both appraisers were properly accredited with years of experience in the Vancouver market but the judge found that the appraiser for the leaseholders had superior qualifications.

Mactavish said the appraiser for the band, who put forward a proposed average rent of up to $142,000 a year, showed a lack of care in his analysis, which raised serious concerns about the reliability of his evidence.

The appraiser for the leaseholders on the other hand provided a careful and transparent analysis that was backed up by market data, said the judge.

“His analysis showed rigour and a depth of understanding of the data and its application to the valuation exercise at issue in this action.”

The defendant band has 30 days in which to decide whether they want to file an appeal of the ruling, which was released May 18. The band could not be reached for comment.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Steve Randall
REP

Housing affordability requires a broader approach and new thinking according to a new report.

The Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis says that there is no ‘silver bullet’ solution for housing affordability and those who suggest there is either “have an agenda” or do not understand the complexity of the issues.

The report tackles thinking such as affordability simple being about the high price of homes and notes that if wages were rising as fast as home prices in Toronto, the city would rank as relatively cheap when compared against similar cities around the world.

It also challenges views on supply, noting that new starts have doubled in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area over the past decade and housing stock per capital has remained steady for 25 years.

One of the key components that the report highlights is the proportion of homeowners that are in the wrong size home.

It says that around 70 per cent of Ontarians are in homes that are either too large or too small with older Canadians most likely to have surplus space while younger owners are lacking the living space they need.

With limited ability to downsize, seniors are stuck in oversized homes which would benefit younger buyers if they became available.
Therefore, building homes that in the ‘missing middle’ should be a policy decision.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Mortgage Broker News

A British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) levied on Thursday a $125,000 fine on a Vancouver real estate developer for fraud. He was also directed to pay a disgorgement order of $74,612.

Earlier this year, a BSBC panel found that Brendan Schouw spent nearly $75,000 of an investor’s money on his personal mortgage payments and his property management business.

In November 2009, Schouw convinced one investor to spend $1m in Hornby Residences for a Vancouver real estate project. Schouw is the sole director of Hornby, a B.C. company. He promised the investor that all of the funds would be used for the real estate project.

The investor received an investment certificate promising 18% simple interest per year. After depositing the $1m into Hornby’s bank account, Schouw redirected approximately $75,000 for his own use, said the panel.

Both Schouw and Hornby have been ordered to cease trading in, and are permanently prohibited from purchasing, any securities or exchange contracts. They were also banned from becoming or acting as a registrant or promoter, acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities market, and engaging in investor relations activities.

The panel ordered Schouw to resign any position that he holds as a director or officer of any issuer. He has also been permanently prohibited from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer or registrant.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media

Steve Randall
REP

Sales of new homes in the Greater Toronto Area gained 24 per cent year-over-year in the first four months of 2017 as the number of high-rise sales surged.

Data from the Altus Group shows that there were 17,977 sales of which 4,878 were low rise homes (down 34 per cent from a year earlier and 14 per cent below the 10-year average) while sales of new high-rise homes reached 13,099, an 85 per cent year-over-year rise and 102 per cent above the 10-year average.

Breaking out the figures for April, the trend isn’t slowing. There were 4,480 new home sales in the month, 25 per cent above the 10-year average and 7 per cent up from a year earlier.

Of those, 1,415 were low-rise, a drop of 39 per cent year-over-year and 21 below the 10-year average. High-rise meanwhile jumped 61 per cent to 3,265 sales, 67 per cent above the 10-year average.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd