Vancouver and the surrounding lower mainland are home to a unique eco-system in the real estate industry due to a variety of factors, including International buyers. Moving to Vancouver can be daunting, as the areas vary greatly, and it can be overwhelming to find a home or Realtor® in a desirable area without paying a huge commission to a traditional Realtor®.

How to Find a Realtor® in Vancouver

Choosing the right Realtor® is a very important component of the real estate process. Because a new listing is only hot for about weeks, when it gets stale, potential buyers overlook it. An older listing also indicates that there could be something wrong with the property and dissuades potential buyers from making an offer. Choosing a good Realtor® that knows the ins and outs of Vancouver’s and the rest of the lower mainland’s real estate industry is absolutely essential for either the buyer or the seller.

Discount Realtors® are an especially solid choice for buyers, because they deal in higher volumes than traditional Realtors®, and often offer special deals. One Flat Fee offers cash back for buyers, as well as a variety of agents to choose from, all who deal with higher-volume sales – so they know which properties are hot – and which are not!

Choosing a Top Realtor® in Vancouver

One Flat Fee has the goal of making this the one-stop-shop for all real estate needs, providing MLS® and MLXchange® listings, full-service, flat fee real estate services, and everything else you need to buy or sell your home. Mayur Arora of One Flat Fee is ranked Number 2 Realtor® for Sales in Greater Vancouver in 2011.

Property Prices in Vancouver and Lower Mainland Areas

Ensure that you are aware of property prices in Vancouver and the lower mainland areas. Besides using MLS® and realtor.ca to discover pricing in different lower mainland areas, you can also use the data and statistics found through the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV). The REBGV publishes a variety of comprehensive real estate data accessible to the public, including news releases, monthly statistical reports sorted by month and year, MLS® Home Price Index including HPI methodology, and Listed vs. Sold data sortable by area and property.

The following is a graph depicting detached listed vs. sold price differences in Vancouver West:

The following is a graph depicting detached listed vs. sold price differences in Burnaby:

The following is a graph depicting detached listed vs. sold price differences in Richmond:

In the above graphs, “units listed” refers to the number of homes listed for sale in that month, “units sold” refers to the number of homes sold in that month, and “active listings” refers to the number of homes listed for sale in that month plus the number of homes previously listed that haven’t sold yet.

By selecting the right Realtor® and using all available tools, your move to Vancouver should go as smoothly as you want it to!