West Kelowna Real Estate News!

Welcome to the Shield Real Estate Blog. This is the place to visit when you want the latest West Kelowna real estate news. I share monthly tips on a variety of local real estate topics. Everything from what the market statistics mean to how to amp up your curb appeal! Anything I can share to help you prepare your home and yourself for a potential sale is here. Along with what buyers can expect when they want to purchase a West Kelowna home for sale.

Additionally, I love to keep my customers up to date with information about recent listings and solds on my Facebook page. Staying social is a great way to keep my finger on the pulse of the market. It’s also a great way to keep my customers informed! You never know when it will be time to buy or sell a home, but at least you know who your real estate agent in West Kelowna should be!

Follow along, read and share with me!

Episode 2:Chris Chopik – Real Estate and the Environment

In celebration of Earth Day we’ll speak with REALTOR® Chris Chopik, a passionate environmental advocate about how climate-risk directly impacts the industry, the role REALTORS® can play protecting the environment, and what REALTORS® need to know about selling greener homes.

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Episode 1:Terry O’Reilly – REALTORS® and the Importance of Emotional Connections

This podcast is about brand storytelling. We’ll explore the crucial connection between REALTORS® and the emotional aspects of home buying and how to use those key elements to add value to your client relationships and the sales process.

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Bank of Canada announces emergency interest rate cut

In an emergency announcement on March 13th, 2020 the Bank of Canada announced a 0.5% reduction in its trend-setting overnight lending rate from 1.25% to 0.75%. This was a further reduction from the 0.5% cut announced just 9 days earlier at the regularly scheduled interest rate announcement.

The announcement was part of coordinated action by the Department of Finance, the Bank of Canada and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, intended to maintain the flow of funding to Canadian financial institutions in order for them to extend funds to businesses and consumers as needed.

In a follow up press release the Bank of Canada explained, “The macroeconomic situation is evolving very rapidly as the COVID-19 coronavirus spreads around the world” and although the longer-term implications of the virus were difficult to assess it clearly presented a downside risk to the economy.

In addition to the impacts of the coronavirus, the steep drop in oil prices earlier in the week poses an ongoing hurdle to Canadian economic productivity.

As of March 17th, the benchmark five-year lending rate was still 5.19%, where it has remained since being trimmed in July 2019 by a quarter of a percentage point. However, that will likely fall later this week when new data is released. All mortgage applicants must qualify for financing based on an interest rate no less than the benchmark five-year lending rate, even if the mortgage is for less than five years.

Canada’s major chartered banks are currently advertising five-year fixed mortgage interest rates of around 2.59%. Home buyers can often negotiate the interest rate for mortgage financing based on their creditworthiness and the degree to which they do other banking business with the mortgage lender.

The Government and Bank of Canada will continue to announce updated stimulus measures over the coming weeks as the economic impacts of these changes unfold. The Bank specifically stated that it stands ready to adjust monetary policy further.

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