Your home is your haven, especially during this time of social distancing and self-isolating. So what’s the best way to go about ensuring our house is clean? More importantly, how can we minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus? As a top realtor in the City of Abbotsford, we want to ensure that our clients are receiving proper information, not just on homes for sale in their area, but more importantly, staying safe right now.

Consumer Reports has provided a list of common household products you can use to ensure your home is clean and safe. You can check out this list via their website.

In addition, the CDC has excellent 'how to' guidelines on how to clean a variety of surfaces, for example;

"Hard (Non-Porous) Surfaces:

• Wear disposable gloves when cleaning and disinfecting surfaces. Gloves should be discarded after each cleaning. If reusable gloves are used, those gloves should be dedicated for cleaning and disinfection of surfaces for COVID-19 and should not be used for other purposes. Consult the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning and disinfection products used. Clean hands immediately after gloves are removed."

And please remember: when picking up cleaning supplies from the store, a little goes a long way! Only buy what you need in order to make sure there is enough on the store shelves for everyone.

We are often being asked if we are currently in a seller's market, or buyer's market right now. Most importantly, we want to ensure that it is a safe market.

With the economic landscape quickly shifting, people’s employment situations are changing, many lenders are offering mortgage payment deferrals if needed… Where does one start? This subject can easily feel overwhelming, but our friends at Browne Mortgages have got you covered! 

If you have a trusted mortgage advisor please call them for updates; but if you don’t:

The financing experts at Browne Mortgages have compiled a list of banks offering mortgage deferral plans, as well as their contact information.

Mortgage payment deferrals can help you during times of financial hardship — loss of employment due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The deferral is an agreement between you and your lender. It’s also known as a mortgage payment deferral agreement and is considered a temporary measure that in most cases does not affect your credit rating as it has been agreed to by yourself and your lender ahead of time.

Global News recently reported: "Before deferring any payments, financial experts say to check with your lender about their deferment options to make sure they are available. Generally, defaulting on payments would hurt your credit score, however, if you were given the green light you should be okay.

If a lender has given you permission to make payments, without penalizing you, then they should not be reporting that to your credit bureau, so you want to make sure you’re checking your credit regularly,” said Kelley Keehn, FP Canada Consumer Advocate."

The mortgage deferral agreement does not cancel, erase or eliminate the amount owed on your mortgage. At the end of the agreement, you will have to resume payment according to your regular payment schedule.

If you have been preapproved, be sure to talk to your broker about mortgage rates and interest rates today.

We miss your face!

Yes, we can connect over phone, text and email anytime! With recent social distancing and strong encouragement to stay home, we have quickly adapted our standard business practices to include video calls via Google, Facebook, Whatsapp and Zoom. This way we can connect face to face (electronically) and I can screen share to show you important information such as up to the minute MLS listings. We can even add others into the chat without the need for anyone to leave the comfort of their home.

Real estate has been deemed a non-health related essential service in BC, so we are still working hard ensuring all real estate listings, sales and purchases stay on track, and we are still available to anyone who has questions regarding buying or selling! We are seeing changes happening daily, it’s hard to keep up, that’s what we’re here for!

Everyone needs a place to live, and many sellers have sold their homes and their buyers are taking possession in the coming weeks/months – there are buyers who must buy during this time, and certain sellers who must sell! We can help! If you know of a friend or family member who would like to find a realtor to work with, we appreciate your referral so much!

In addition to strict social distancing, we are taking even further precautionary measures:

Although our agents are working remotely, and staying at home – we are here to help those buyers and sellers who must transact in the coming weeks/months. We are working hard to keep a roof over everyone’s heads! There are still new homes for sale in this current market every day. Though we are not seeing the same level of inventory available, there are still many people who are shopping for houses for sale.

If you need to buy or sell in the coming months, let us know – we can help! We are a top agent in your neighbourhood and are here for you with our years of experience. 

Remember, we are not only available to work for you in the City of Abbotsford, but in all of the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland.

There are a number of questions that you need to ask yourself when you are deciding whether or not you should rent out your property. Short term? Long term? How do you feel about being a landlord, maybe for the first time? A little bit of pre-planning and preparation will get you and your rental property in the shape you need to enter the rental landscape.

It's All In The Setup!

Long term or short term, there are some definite tasks at hand that need to be taken care of in order to ensure the safety and happiness of your renters:

• Entry: is your system for entering the home, either by traditional key or remotely via the many available apps all set up and operating smoothly?
• Are your washer and dryer, dishwasher, fridge and all appliances down to the toaster in optimum working condition? Think like your tenant. When you rent a vrbo or Airbnb on vacation, you want everything to work.
• Cleanliness is key, and a major factor in short term rentals, in determining repeat business and recommendations.
  
  If you plan to set up your rental as short term, take these steps to ensure maximum satisfaction for your tenants:

• Pictures  - they say a thousand words and will go a long way in affecting your vacancy rate.
• An inventory of what is on hand in your home. Provide an entire list on your site so that renters don't have to wonder.
• Nearby recreational amenities and your favourite spots to eat and shop!

Determining Your Rate:

You will first need to understand how much rent to charge to make sure you are covering your costs — mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities. You will also want to ensure you have a fund set aside for maintenance and general upkeep to keep your rental in top condition. Will you be hiring someone to take care of cleaning services or tackling this on your own? You will need to determine that rate and ensure it is also covered. Be real with your time. It might seem like an area to save money but do you have time to clean your rental every time someone goes in and out?

A simple way to ensure your rates are competitive are to check online on other rental sites. For a longterm rental situation, Craigslist and Kijiji will work, or Airbnb for short term rentals. You may also consider a property management company, but keep in mind that there is a cost involved for this convenience.

Caution: ensure that you have all of the necessary insurance in line for both short and long term rental situations. You may also want to consult with a lawyer to understand your legal liability.

Being a Landlord:

There are key personality traits of a really great and successful landlord, be it one who is managing short or long term rentals. Good communication skills, efficiency with time, reliability, being resposible, acting with honesty and integrity, being well-organized with keen attention to detail. Keep in mind that a good landlord will have good tenants. The care and attention that you put into your renters will be reflected in the quality of tenants you will have, as well as the care that will be shown for your home by your tenants. Acting with the above qualities will go along way to ensuring a successful landlord-tenant relationship for you both.

Short Term vs. Long Term Renting:

There are countless reasons why we may come to a time in our lives when it will just make sense to downsize from the homes that we raised our families in, to a more financially and physically manageable space. Whether it is from acreage to a condo, to a townhouse to a condo, there are many variations on what your new happy space can look like. The task can definitely seem daunting, but there are steps that you can take that will have you breathing a sigh of relief rather than of discontentment. Here are just a few simple ways that will get you heading in this new and exciting direction!

2. Start Small.

If you have raised 3 kids under your roof, you are bound to have what feels like a million sets of sheets, and an unnecessarily high amount of towels. Will you need all of this in your new space or can your new linen closet get away with being only 1/3 the size of your current one?
Speaking of linen closets - this is a perfect place to start. Start in the rooms where there are items that you will have the least amount of emotional attachment to, or rooms that have large items that require selling, and that you won't want to be moving on your own such as the garage.

3. No garage? No office? No problem

Revel in the fact that you might not need your lawnmower any longer - perhaps you have purchased a condo and strata will now take care of outside maintenance. Sell that lawnmower, tools and everything else that you used to need to keep the outside of your home looking perfectly groomed. 
Essentially you are looking to sell, gift, or donate any items that occupy rooms that you do not have in your new space. If you no longer have an office, where will you put office supplies? Think about the space that you now have not the spaces that you had.

4. One isn't the loneliest number.

3 flippers? 5 saucepans? 6 cookie sheets?  It's time for the clutter to take a hike.  Beautiful dishes and serving platters might be better off finding a happy home at a home that entertains often. Really take the time to consider what you will truly need in your day to day life in your new space.

5. Only make 'Yes' or 'No' piles — no Maybe's.

Be objective and absolute in your resolve to downsize your belongings. Do I use this daily? KEEP. Weekly? KEEP Monthly, or occasionally? BYE-BYE! Black and white is the only way to think in this case. If you start to think maybe, you will end up with a pile of goods that you will never use, and will be occupying valuable space in your bright new home. 

6. Don’t be afraid to sell things yourself.

From Poshmark to Craigslist, Ebay, Kijiji, as well as numerous Facebook groups to traditional yard sales and consignment shops, selling your valuables has never been easier. Be sure to weight out your time cost compared to how much money you are making by selling these items. Donations go along way with those that are in need!If you have a number of antiques or valuable items, it is a good idea to get in touch with a company that is familiar with auctioning these types of items. These pieces, after all, have been an investment over the years.

7. Enjoy the walk down memory lane!

You've held onto so much for so long. Every stuffed animal, elementary school drawing, and take me home from the hospital outfit holds so many memories. Enjoy the memories. This is why you held onto these items all of these years — to spark joy and memories of the best times in life!These items represent a life well-lived, and families well raised. You may no longer need to hold onto all of them, but take a moment, even take some pictures and take the time to remember great days your family spent together making these precious times.

The next step? Enjoy the knowledge that you are taking your next step with a clear mind and many less moving boxes than before you started the downsizing process!

Ranj, Dave, Jenn, and Marina at the Ranj Takhar office, are so grateful to be a part of your selling & purchasing experience, and we are so excited when the time comes for our clients to make the big move! We realize that, though we go above and beyond to give you a seamless selling and buying experience, there is no way to avoid the next step in the moving process - the packing. It can be daunting and overwhelming. Nevermind that you might feel like you are drowning in a sea of brown cardboard boxes, that will collapse when overfull. Sound fun? Not really!  This is exactly why we recommend FROGBOXes to our clients!

“Frogbox was created to fill a need for a convenient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to using cardboard boxes for moving. Cardboard boxes are not an ideal solution for moving your home or business. They add unnecessary hassle and expense to your move. Our purpose is to make your move as easy and affordable as possible while minimizing the impact on the environment. We provide eco-friendly reusable moving boxes and other moving supplies. Cardboard and paper waste make up an estimated 18% to 26% of landfill material. When you combine this with the negative impact of logging to produce the cardboard in the first place, the environmental impact of cardboard is significant. Doing something good for the environment doesn’t have to cost more or make things more difficult—Frogbox makes moving Easier on the Earth and Easier on your Wallet.”

HOW THE FROGBOX BOX SYSTEM WORKS:

1. Frogbox Drops off your Frogbox Moving Boxes

No need to drive to purchase expensive cardboard moving boxes! Frogboxes are delivered directly to where you need them by the friendly local Frogbox team.

2. Pack Up Your Stuff in Frogbox Plastic Moving Boxes and Move to Your New Pad

Frogbox’s eco-friendly plastic moving boxes make packing quicker and easier, and easier on the environment too!

Frogboxes are much easier to handle than cardboard. They stack perfectly, protect your valuables, are water-resistant and have ergonomic handles.

3. Your Friendly Local Frogbox Team Comes Back to Pick Up Your Frogbox Moving Boxes

When you are all unpacked and settled in, just give Frogbox a call! One of their Frogbox trucks picks up the plastic moving boxes at your new place. This means you can spend your time enjoying your new pad, instead of breaking down cardboard boxes and figuring out what to do with them!

While you are browsing the website, check out all the other products FROGBOX offers to make your move go smoothly. Please feel free to add additional items at your cost.

FROGBOXes are delivered to your pad, you pack up and move and FROGBOX picks them up from your new pad. It’s just that easy. Enjoy!

P.S. Did you know that when you sell your home and purchase a home locally with us, that you receive 50 Frogbox rentals at no charge? Now that is something to RIBBIT about!

You may have heard that a buyer’s market is the PERFECT market to purchase real estate for investment purposes. But have you ever wondered, and thought you should know, but have been too shy to ask…..who has a half a million dollars sitting around just waiting to be invested?! If you are like millions of Canadians, you don’t. So how are so many people able to invest in property and take advantage of this market and the low cost of lending that we are currently enjoying? Tapping into a Home Equity Line of Credit is the answer to building your real estate empire, and ultimately building your personal wealth.

KEY POINTS TO CONSIDER:

• A HELOC uses the equity in a home to provide investors with extra cash for a down payment and the purchase of an investment property.

• Ask us to refer you to one of our preferred Mortgage Brokers to guide you on your HELOC journey.

• Accumulated a bit of higher interest credit card debt along the way? A home equity line of credit can also be utilized to consolidate debt.

Using a Home Equity Line of Credit  (often referred to as a HELOC), to purchase an investment property will allow investors to tap into assets, such as the homes that they are living in, that have managed to build up equity over a period of time. Rather than leave this equity untouched, homeowners can use a HELOC to do things such as upgrade their home, purchase a second or third investment property, or even consolidating debt. Understanding how to use a Home Equity Line of credit is crucial for anyone looking to build wealth through real estate investing.

WHAT IS A HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT (HELOC)?

A home equity line of credit is a homeowner line of credit that is advanced based on the value of the property that is being used as security and typically is separate from your traditional mortgage. It is different than a regular mortgage in that the borrower is required to make an interest-only payment on the amount actually utilized rather than on the entire amount of the Line of Credit extended.

HOW TO PURCHASE AN INVESTMENT PROPERTY WITH A HELOC

In order to use a HELOC to purchase (investment) property, investors must first have an asset with enough equity to tap into - ie. you have a $300,000 mortgage on an $800,000 dollar home. When this kind of scenario exists, a HELOC becomes an excellent source of financing. This means you can tap into a percentage of your $500,000 equity to borrow for either a down payment on another home, debt consolidation etc.

- Investors can borrow money against the equity in one rental property to fund the purchase of another.
- Investors can use a HELOC to fund home improvements for their rental properties, just as a homeowner would for their primary residence.
- Investors can also use HELOCs to pay off other high-interest debt if necessary.
- Consider that rental property mortgages generally carry a higher interest rate, smart investors can get a HELOC on their primary residences to pay off the mortgages on their investment properties.

When speaking to a mortgage broker, a lender will look at your debt-to-income ratio, your credit score, other open accounts, and a homeowner’s overall financial health.

If utilizing the equity in your home to purchase additional properties and build real estate wealth is a new concept to you, and one that you are potentially interested in finding out more about today, please do not hesitate to contact Ranj, Dave or Jenn. We work with excellent mortgage brokers that will help guide you in discovering the amount of equity that you can put to work.

Did you know that all of us in the Ranj Takhar office live in East Abbotsford? That’s right…myself, realtors Dave Jones and Jenn Schotts, as well as our Administrative Manager Marina Baerg are all living, working, raising families, and enjoying life in East Abby! In addition, our brokerage, Homelife Glenayre Realty, is the ONLY real estate office located in East Abbotsford, within the City of Abbotsford! While we love this entire city that we are proud to live in, let me tell you about just a few of the reasons why, as realtors and residents, we love East Abby in particular.

Education: East Abbotsford offers some of the City of Abbotsford’s finest schools, from elementary to middle to high schools such as Robert Bateman and Yale Secondary School. Ranj attended Robert Bateman Secondary School and is proud to call many of his former classmates his friends and clients. Jenn and Marina both currently have kids in all levels of schools in East Abby!



Recreation: Who doesn’t love a Sunday afternoon skate complete with snow falling on the ice at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre or spending time going to and from many a swim lesson? Our state of the art rec centre has so much to offer and you can easily stay up to date with the City of Abbotsford Parks and Recreation program guides! In addition, hop on a Discovery Trail or head to the dog park or yoga at Parallel Yoga and you’ll soon discover all that East Abby has to offer.



Shopping & Dining: From farm fresh corn at Lepp Farm Market and our favourite selection of home-baked goods and in house crafted charcuterie to a hot cup of gourmet coffee at Cafe Amarti (where we love to meet with our clients), East Abby is a foodie’s delight! Did you attend our wine tasting event this past April at the Clayburn SchoolHouse? If you did you will remember the delicious assortment of Lepp Farm Market housemade goodies! We love to support the small businesses around us! The Clayburn Village Store is another one of our must-stops. If you have the time to joinus for lunch or a coffee, don’t be surprised if we take you to one of these East Abby spots! Be sure to check out the upcoming Applelooza Event at Lepp Farm Market and enjoy fresh-pressed apple juice (literally pressed right in front of your eyes with the Mobile Juice Factory) straight from the Lepp’s Orchards in Osoyoos.

Everyone in the Ranj Takhar office is very proud to live, work and play in East Abby, a small slice of heaven in our city in the country. With hundreds of homes sold in East Abbotsford, if you are looking to purchase or sell, we understand our neighbourhood and the property values - a major asset when listing your home for sale or moving into the area. When you are shopping for “homes for sale near me” or a “realtor near me” or if you are looking to move to our neck of the woods, you should give us a call. We are truly your East Abbotsford specialists!

We are quickly approaching our 3rd Annual Blueberry Pancake Breakfast! Have you got the details in your calendar? Saturday, July 27 from 10 - 12 pm at Westberry Organic Farm: 34488 Bateman Road.

Be sure to bring the entire family for a pancake brunch and a morning of berry picking, face painting and more - gluten-free options available

Next Saturday is, however, more than just a pancake breakfast that I host with my colleagues; Marina, Dave and Jenn. This Client Appreciation event is a celebration of YOU, our client, the backbone of our business. As you know, I am not typically at a loss for words. I hope you know how grateful I am for your business, loyalty, friendship and referrals over the years, this is a chance for me to show you how much you mean! 

Just as Starbucks didn't become Starbucks in a day, my career has been able to progressively grow over the past 10 years because of YOU. Not a day goes by that I am not filled with gratitude that I have been able to play a part in helping you achieve your real estate goals. I am overwhelmed and in awe at the amount of trust that you put in me with potentially the largest transaction you will make in your life. I never forget what that truly means.

No matter how we met; whether we grew up together, connected through a like-minded love of real estate investing, or you were graciously referred to me through a past client of mine, family or friend, you matter so much.

Now come on out, enjoy some pancakes, pick some blueberries and let me extend my thanks in person.

Trust us, we will have you looking forward to our Christmas and Spring Wine Tasting Events!