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Candy’s Corner – A Great Start

It’s been a wonderful couple of months since joining the David Smith Homes Group. David and I have been remarkably busy, and I’m so grateful for the work and trust our clients have in us to represent them in selling and/or purchasing their homes.

Towards the end of November, we listed a couple of homes which included one detached home in Mission and one Manufactured home in Langley. Despite the market being a bit quieter, it was very exciting as both listings resulted in multiple offers! Our clients were very happy, and both listings are now sold, pending completion! It just goes to show that even during a slower market, if a listing is priced right and coupled with award-winning marketing (as provided by our Team), there are buyers looking.

Things have settled down now, just in time for the holidays. I’m looking forward to a little festive break over to visit with family and friends. We expect things to pick up again quickly in the New Year, and I’m very excited to hit 2024 running! Wishing you all a magical holiday season, full of love and friendship. Merry Christmas!

December 2023 SnapStats Market Update

Welcome to this month’s market update. We use the subscription program ‘SnapStats’ to help us identify what’s going on in the various submarkets we serve across the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.

The below infographic, maps, and video are the materials we’re allowed to share publicly, we have MUCH more that SnapStats allow us to share privately.

Please contact us for specific details on your home or the neighbourhood you’re interested in purchasing in.

Review Of The Month – December

Some of you will have received a message from me that we’ve been having trouble with our Google Reviews, as we unfortunately lost 69 5-star reviews! Thank you for your kind responses to help us rebuild that back to 49 as I write this. Google seem to be hiding some further reviews though, so I’ll have to keep working with them on that! Who’d be a small business owner?! Haha! 

Being a small business owner though, your reviews really do mean the world, and as they poured in again over the last two weeks I got to relive so many of our real estate journeys together – which was really encouraging! Thanks to everyone that resubmitted their reviews. Many, many stood out but I wanted to share this one as it was particularly reflective of the experience we strive to create and look forward to offering more next year. Nearly a third of our business this year was with past clients, so I am happy to share Ashley and Curtis’s review, with whom we’ve now helped them sell one home and purchase two:

We first met David Smith three years ago when we sought to purchase our first condo. In a season of rising prices and multiple offer sales, we were hesitant. David helped us find the perfect home, which we bought for under asking in a desirable neighborhood. 

When we reached out to David again a few years later, he walked us through the selling process and was patient with us as we casually started looking for a bigger space. For more than a year, David sent us Snapstats as we analyzed the market with him, researching and waiting for the right time to sell. 

Then, on a whim this past March, we viewed a presale development and fell in love. David was right there when we needed him, and again helped us buy our new townhouse under asking price. In September, David took care to artfully market and sell our condo in multiple offers over asking. In three years, we’ve bought two homes under asking and sold our condo for over asking in multiple offers and David has been there every step of the way. 

David is more than a Realtor to us, he’s a friend, confidante, the guy you feel like you’ve known forever when you’ve only just met. We truly felt valued and appreciated, and that he had our best interest in mind. David is honest, trustworthy, authentic, and kind. Hiring David was the most important and best decision we made, and we highly recommend him to anyone looking to buy or sell a home. – Curtis & Ashley

Thanks again for the kind review, Curtis & Ashley, you two are always a pleasure to work with. If you’d like to hear about how we can help you with your move, never hesitate to reach out. 

Photo of The Month — December

One of the things we pride ourselves on at David Smith Homes Group is the effort we put in to our property marketing. We actually invest disproportionately in marketing our listings rather than ourselves, as the best marketing we could possibly do is by delivering for happy clients that then go on to tell their own friends and family about their experience. That’s led to the narrated videos that put us on the map, the floorplans by excelsior measuring, social media strategy, and more. We couldn’t do that without our friends at White Cloud Productions, featured last month for their edits on some rainy day shoots. This month we wanted to feature another service we offer in partnership with them, drone photography and videography:

What a stunning picture of one of our recent listings, 5086 204 St, Langley, tucked away on a meader on the Nicomekl river. Jeremy and his team really captured how this home is so privately situated even although it’s right in the heart of Langley. For more details on the listing, please click here.Thanks again to our media partners at White Cloud Productions for always going the extra mile! If you’d like to talk to us about how our thoughtful marketing efforts can help you make the move you’d love then don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Fall Maintenance Checklist

Tackle these recommended tasks now to ensure your home is in good shape for fall and winter, and help protect your investment, too.

HEATING AND COOLING

· Clean or replace furnace filters.

· Lubricate fan and motor bearings (only where indicated).

· Vacuum dirt and dust from around the unit.

· Have the system serviced prior to the start of the season.

DOORS AND WINDOWS

· Inspect caulking for deterioration at the openings and joints between dissimilar materials (e.g., wood and masonry), especially at the top.

· Check weather stripping and replace if necessary.

· Remove screens if possible, clean and store in a dry place.

FIREPLACE & CHIMNEY

· Have the fireplace and chimney professionally inspected.

· Have chimney cleaned if needed.

· Use binoculars to check chimney for loose, deteriorated or missing mortar or bricks.

· Have gas fireplaces serviced.

FOUNDATION AND EXTERIOR

· Clear gutters and downspouts of leaves and other debris.

· Check for moisture or leaks in crawlspace or basement.

· Check grading for proper slope away from the foundation.

· Inspect wood surfaces for weathering and paint failure.

· Check brick and stucco surfaces for cracks.

Keeping up on maintenance is key to preventing or minimizing damaging conditions that can worsen over time. If you’ve ever got any questions about maintaining your home never hesitate to reach out, we can either advise or refer you to the best professional.

Downsizing? Turn Your Home Into Tax-Smart Income

We’re always on the lookout for other professionals that we genuinely believe will benefit our friends and clients. David Navarro is one of those professionals. David has an upcoming seminar he wanted to share about particularly for those considering downsizing.

Many of our clients are approaching retirement and part of that equation is often downsizing their home and investing the proceeds to help fund their retirement. This can be a viable scenario, but it often comes with a tax problem – namely, the proceeds of the sale can far exceed your RRSP and TFSA limits, so your new nest egg is exposed to significant taxation. You need a strategy to grow and withdraw this money in the most tax-efficient way possible.

Our friends at Navarro Financial Group specialize in the tax-smart investing of large lump sums, particularly for downsizers. By choosing the right investment products and making an optimal income plan, they help downsizers get the most out of the proceeds from their sale.

They have two free webinars coming up for downsizers and prospective downsizers. They also do free consultations. If you’re considering downsizing, we recommend you CLICK HERE to learn more.

November 2023 SnapStats Market Update

Welcome to this month’s market update. We use the subscription program ‘SnapStats’ to help us identify what’s going on in the various submarkets we serve across the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.

The below infographic, maps, and video are the materials we’re allowed to share publicly, we have MUCH more that SnapStats allow us to share privately.

Please contact us for specific details on your home or the neighbourhood you’re interested in purchasing in.

Review Of The Month – November

With last month’s announcement of Candy Ashdown joining the team we wanted to share a couple of her reviews, celebrating and highlighting her experience as a Licensed Realtor and now as our Licensed Client Experience Specialist. Candy has over eight years of real estate experience, and it shows from the below kind reviews: 

Our Realtor Candy Ashdown is absolutely wonderful to work with and she was remarkably helpful in selling our house. She is professional, experienced, and personal and was helpful, open, honest and reliable throughout the entire process. She worked well beyond what one would expect and we appreciate and highly recommend her. – Angela H.

Candy is the most amazing person, her knowledge and personality made it such an easy journey while selling our home and looking for a new one. She goes above and beyond to answer your questions and get the information you need. Would not hesitate to call in her if in need of realty services – Kristy O.

We look forward to being able to share more positive reviews of how Candy and I can work together to serve our clients in your real estate journeys. If you’d like to hear about how we can help you with your move, never hesitate to reach out.

Photo of The Month – November

With the rainy weather now upon us we wanted to share an example of how we’ve added another tool to our toolkit for marketing homes in the best light we possibly can – in this case, very literally. If you follow us on Instagram you’ll have seen that we had three listing shoots last week in the rain… not ideal! One of those shoots required a rush and even then our long term media partners, White Cloud Productions, took the extra time to make adjust for the weather. Check out the difference it makes:

You’ll notice the team didn’t just adjust for the weather, but even made a couple of changes to declutter a little both outside and inside. Our philosophy has always been to show the property in its best light but also honestly; these minor changes aren’t enough to cause an ‘over promise / under deliver’ experience for a buyer that actually visits the home, but they do have the subconscious effect of making that property more appealing online. Thanks again to our media partners at White Cloud Productions for always going the extra mile! If you’d like to talk to us about how our thoughtful marketing efforts can help you make the move you’d love then don’t hesitate to reach out.

Introducing Candy Ashdown

We’re very excited to announce Candy Ashdown joining the David Smith Homes Group as a Licensed Realtor and our Licensed Client Experience Specialist. Candy’s been on the team for a couple of weeks already and has been a huge asset to our clients already. She truly understands our ‘People Over Property, Always.’ philosophy. To learn more about Candy please visit the ‘Meet Candy Ashdown’ page on the website and enjoy the below quick interview: 

– What do you like most about working in real estate?

Candy: I most of all love all of the wonderful clients I’ve met and had the privilege to work with over the years. Many who I’ve remained in contact with and have become great friends. It’s an absolute honour to me when my clients choose to work with me and I truly feel so fortunate to do the work that I do. I love being a Realtor®.

– What’s been your funniest experience so far with a client or other agent? 

Candy: One of the funniest experiences I had was when I had an open house for a tenanted property I had listed. The tenant decided to stay home, which was his right, however he had a nap on the couch and was snoring very loudly during the open house!

– When you think about joining the team, what most excites you?

Candy: I’ve been a solo agent for all of my career until now. What excites me most about being on a team is the collaboration between team members to bring all of our different experience and strengths together collectively, which will in turn better serve our clients. I love being on a team and supporting each other to push ourselves to be even better agents. We have someone to lean on during the hard days and someone to celebrate with on the good days. I also love that I always have a backup agent to count on if an emergency or illness ever happened, so I will never let down my clients.

– Where are clients most likely to see you out-and-about in the community?

Candy: If I’m not working, I am either attending a community event either in my role as Board of Education Trustee or just as a resident, or…  my clients will find me at one of my favourite gardening stores. I love gardening – both flowers and veggies!

– What’s something unusual about yourself people are often surprised to find out? 

Candy: Honouring my Ukrainian roots, I was a Ukrainian dancer for over 20 years as child and young adult. I also taught as a Ukrainian dance instructor for several years!

WELCOME CANDY!