29 August 2022

Real Estate Buying: Semiahmoo Homes For Sale

by Alleckna Matthias

Semiahmoo Homes

When considering where you will buy your next home, consider the Semiahmoo neighborhood. With it’s proximity to uptown White Rock, it can be both affordable and offer some amazing ocean views. Apartments can be found for as low as $400,000, while for those with a bit more cash, the unlimited potential in this neighborhood can climb to as much as $15,000,000. That’s a lot of zero’s. Let’s talk about why.

Amenities and Convenience

Semiahmoo has a wide range of amenities and other conveniences. Semiahmoo Shopping Centre boasts Grocery and Drug Stores, Banks, Restaurants, Office Buildings and a mall with all your essentials. All this, within walking distance of residential and apartment living areas. If you are trying to live in a cost effective or emissions conscious way, this are may be perfect for you. No vehicle needed, yet no restraint. With various restaurants, ranging from fast food to pubs or fish and chips, or other conveniences.

Semiahmoo Transit

One of the main considerations for many people looking to purchase a home is access to transit and where it can take you. In Semiahmoo there really is no limit. All the major roads have consistent and timely bus routes. Routes that can take you to East Beach, Crescent Beach or all the way to Stanley Park in Vancouver. If you work in Metro Vancouver and want to get to work affordably and on time, this may be the neighborhood for you.

Real Estate Professional: Matthias Alleckna

If you want more information about Semiahmoo and if it is the right neighborhood for you and your family, don’t hesitate to message me, Matthias Alleckna on Facebook or Instagram. As your local real estate professional for White Rock, Surrey and the entire Lower Mainland I am happy to lend you my expertise. Check in every week on the website blog for more engaging content.

You, Go To An Open House in The Fraser Valley!

by Alleckna Matthias

You Should Go To An Open House in The Fraser Valley!

You might ask yourself, “why would I go to an open house in the Fraser Valley”? Have you ever heard someone say “You should always keep learning”. Well, think about it, what is likely to be your largest financial transaction in life? Will it be the home you purchase? If so, wouldn’t you want to know what you are buying. Let me tell you how you can know your next home as well as you know that next pair of shoes, or next truck.

The Basics: Which Open House To Go To?

This is the easiest question, go to any open house Matthias Alleckna is at. Just kidding, go to any open house in the Fraser Valley. Every single one of them provides a new opportunity to learn about what you want. When you think about it, how many homes have you been in in your life? Maybe 50, but how many shoes have you seen? Maybe 50 thousand. In order to really know all your options, look at more. Lets set a target, before you even begin your search for your first home, try to double your lifetime number from 50 to 100.

The Basics: When and Where Do I Find An Open House?

There are two days of the week that are easy to find an open house in the Fraser Valley. I bet you can guess which they are. Saturday and Sunday! Every single weekend you can find at least 10-15 Realtor’s with an Open House just for you. The best place to find these is on Realtor.ca. You can set the filter on your search to show you an open house near you before that date night(Saturday Afternoon) or after church(Sunday Afternoon).

Now What?

Now that you know the basics, if you want more information about an Open House in the Fraser Valley, don’t hesitate to message me, Matthias Alleckna on Facebook or Instagram. As your local real estate professional for White Rock, Surrey and the entire Fraser Valley I am happy to lend you my expertise. Check in every week on the website blog for more engaging content.

22 August 2022

Real Estate Selling & Development: Farmland?

by Alleckna Matthias

Abbotsford Farm Real Estate Selling & Development

Selling or Developing Real Estate

When looking at real estate selling & development, roadblocks can come up that you may not have thought of. There may be an easement, a strata or community restriction. However, specific types of property sometimes share common roadblocks. One type of property that is common in British Columbia is Farmland. With housing and property prices rising dramatically, one may envision building more houses on this land.

Roadblocks

One of the biggest roadblocks to developing farmland are the restrictions associated with the Agricultural Land Commission(ALC). The mission of the ALC is to preserve agricultural land and encourage the local farming throughout the province. However, lower land prices are realized than in a residential or commercial use. Although these restrictions exist, some exceptions may be made from time to time.

Exceptions

One of the most recent exceptions is one made for Vitalus Nutrition in Abbotsford. According to an Article by Vikki Hopes of the Abbotsford News, Vitalus have successfully had 6.5 Acres excluded from land use restrictions for the purpose of developing a dairy processing facility. This expansion is due to expectation of increased dairy demand in Western Canada in the coming years. This is still an activity that is very much related to agriculture, as such it is not surprising to see this result.

If you are looking to exclude land for residential purposes, the chance of success would likely vary significantly. If you are looking to sell farmland in the lower mainland and would like more information on the restrictions of future development of your land, feel free to give me a call.

How I Can Help You

If you want more information about real estate selling & development and the best ways to prepare your property, don’t hesitate to message me, Matthias Alleckna on Facebook or Instagram. As your local real estate professional for White Rock, Surrey and the entire Lower Mainland I am happy to lend you my expertise. See other Blog Posts for more information.

Mortgages • Mortgages • Mortgages • 19 August 2022

Where is the BC Real Estate Market Moving?

by Alleckna Matthias

When looking at the real estate market moving, we typically rely on experts and those working in the industry to understand which way. However, currently it seems that even if you don’t have a friend or family member in real estate, you still know which way the market is going. Why is that?

Market Factors

What are the primary factors affecting the current market. Is it the supply of listings being added to the market? Is it the increasing mortgage rates? The weather? Of course, it isn’t, it’s summer, it may be hot but I have never heard anyone wish for snow or rain on moving day. So, let’s talk about the other factors.

Supply of Listings

This is a lesser-known real estate factor for the everyday person. However, it is quite pivotal. Listings in July via the Fraser Valley MLS were in the high 1400s, while August has already seen almost 1300 listings in the first few weeks. By comparison, this outpaces last years August 2021 numbers in the lower 1200s. Now, how does this compare to the sales of these listings. In August 2021, sales were almost identical in the low 1200s. In July 2022 we have seen something vastly different, sales in the low 500s. This is almost one third of the supply that was listed. August is looking similar, on pace to hit one third in the listing to sales comparison. If this should continue, we can only assume listings may start to pile up and the time to sell may increase.

Real Estate Market Moving: Potentially Lower.

Mortgage Rates

With the current publicity, and the impact this has on many of us each month when the payment comes due, most of us may understand the basics of this factor. Yet, we may not know just how quickly this factor is becoming more important in how it impacts the market. Mortgage rates were as low as 2.45% this February. In only a few months, we experienced rate hikes to a July prime rate of 4.70% with further increases being mumbled about. If you think this factor will keep pushing the market down in the coming months, you may be right.

Real Estate Market Moving: Potentially Lower.

Market Impacts

Of the two factors discussed, one well known (Mortgage Rates) one not so well known (Supply of Listings), both are seemingly reducing housing prices across the Lower Mainland. With mortgage rates continuing to increase, we can only hope we don’t see a flashback to the 1990s and a peak rate of 14.75%. If you are trying to decide if you should list your home or if you should buy a home under these conditions, reach out to me right away. I will work with you to put together a Stanley Cup winning Gameplan, to win the biggest purchase or sale of your lifetime.

Real Estate Professional: Matthias Alleckna

If you want more information about the real estate market moving and your homes current value, don’t hesitate to message me. Matthias Alleckna on Facebook or Instagram. As your local real estate professional for White Rock, Surrey and the entire Lower Mainland I am happy to lend you my expertise. Check in every week on the website blog for more engaging content.

18 August 2022

Never Give Up Day, Sports Build Character

by Alleckna Matthias

Never Give Up Day! Here we are and back for another big moment this reminds me of. Now, by the end of this I hope you think of your own moments, and if you do, please leave a comment with it on my Facebook or send me an email alleckna.matthias.century21.ca . Now let’s get right to it.

The Moment:

Have you ever had a defining moment in your life but not realized it until years later. For me this was one that can be encapsulated by my high-school yearbook quote. “Basketball is important but it is not of greatest paramount”. To understand why I wrote this, I will start a few years earlier, in Grade 9 to be exact.

Back at that time, I was a small kid who thought he was great at basketball. Though I really shouldn’t have complained about sitting on the bench. Fast forward to the summer after that season. I realized that outside of my summer job, I had hours where I could do nothing or I could get to work. I committed to do everything to get better for 6 hours a day. Sometimes that was going for a run other times it was working on layups or free throws for 3 or 4 hours. Eventually, the grade 10 season rolled around and I realized I still wasn’t able to beat my teammates 1 on 1. Even after all the hours of work I still wasn’t good enough. A lesson I learned was that of Never Giving Up and that there are 2 distinct options when you fail.

Two Options:

Those two options are;1.Give Up.2.Never Give Up and become the very best you can no matter how much hard work it takes. I chose the second one and also met someone who would change my life forever. I met Joe Mauro, gym teacher and the coach of the Senior Varsity basketball team at Chilliwack Secondary School. At first, Joe looked at me like anyone does when they see the short kid who can barely score a layup. Yet he still mentioned that some of the Senior Varsity team would practice in the early mornings before school. I took this as an invitation and decided to show up just after 6am the next day. Of course, I think he meant 7am because I waited that morning till the janitor let me in.

Figuring Things Out:

In the days after, I slowly got to know that others would show up once or twice a week, but nobody else showed up every day. I decided to show up every day and work on the most basic parts of the game for the first hour. To ask the janitor to let me in at 6:30 so I could spend a full 2 hours in the gym before class. The second hour, when others would show up would involve 1 on 1 and testing everything I had just worked on.

As the grade 10 season came and neared the end we had a tournament on Vancouver Island. At that tournament we ended up playing a team that we thought we couldn’t beat, but nearing the end we were in a very close game, one that came down to the last 30 seconds. In those last 30 seconds, we were down by 1 and when we inbounded the ball it ended up in my hands, admittedly by accident, sorry for the bad screen B.I. After which I drove to the hoop and ended up getting fouled. This was the moment that all those boring 6:30am free throws paid off. I hit both shots and with 15 seconds left for the other team to score, I blocked there players shot and sent the ball back down the court for the win.

Only The Beginning:

From that moment I realized one lesson I had learned, choosing to Never Give Up is only the beginning. That’s when the hard work starts. It takes tireless mornings and someday like me you too may have Joe Mauro telling you “Matthias, you work way harder than your brother Josiah did”. It only took a few hundred mornings to get to those words. A few hundred more for people to wonder if I was now better than my small-town famous brother.

Real Estate

When it comes to your next Investment Property, Dream Home or the sale of your Real Estate. One guarantee is, I will Never Give Up! No matter how tough or slow the market gets. If you tell me your priorities, I will do everything I can to write the perfect game plan and negotiate the “Perfect Deal” just for you.

To learn more about real estate and Matthias Alleckna ‘Real Estate Professional’ check out my Instagram or Facebook and check back for more blog posts each day.

16 August 2022

Real Estate Buying Factor: Local Attractions(Chilliwack)

by Alleckna Matthias

What is your most important real estate buying factor? Local attractions may not be on top of the list but it is definitely on the list somewhere. These attractions can be larger, like ski resorts or Crescent Beach, or smaller like a community fair or mall. It all depends on what you and your family/friends like to spend time doing. For my wife and I, walks on the White Rock beach to watch the sunset is something we could never give up.

Now, if you live in Chilliwack or Abbotsford, an old attraction has just gone through a bit of a refresh. The Greendale Acres Corn Maze has partnered with Science World for an amazing new maze design. With a play on prehistoric times, they have a playful combination of a chicken and a dinosaur. This new design can give a greater challenge to those who have been before with an expected 30-40min required to complete it. If you have young children, a beginners maze is also available.

When considering where you live, being near a maze or other attraction can bring annual fun for your entire family. A fun that can help build memories with the kids that are only young for a few years, until they leave the nest. If you value these types of attractions and are searching for a home, please feel free to reach out to me, Matthias Alleckna. Reach me on Facebook or Instagram. As your local real estate professional for White Rock, Surrey and the entire Lower Mainland I am happy to lend you my expertise and find you the best attractions for your family. For More about your neighborhoods, visit the blog.

15 August 2022

Real Estate Buying: How Important is Transit in Surrey

by Alleckna Matthias

Real Estate Buying

Important Factors:

When you look at Real Estate Buying what are some of the important factors? You usually think of Price, Number of Bedrooms/Baths, Square Footage, Type of Home, but most importantly you think of Location. The old saying “What is Real Estate Buying but Location Location Location” still lives on. Especially when you consider the importance it can play on your work, your family, and your overall lifestyle.

Now, what is one way to Buy Real Estate and save on the price, you can pick a location further from your work or your favorite activities. However, this creates the problem of having to drive further for those things. One solution to this problem is Transit. If you live in Surrey or Langley specifically, you may call it the SkyTrain. According to the Journal Of Commerce this is now closing in on a reality for those buying real estate in the Surrey / Langley area.

One way to know this, is that Procurement has now begun. This means that the government is now working on identifying the organizations that will be best suited to build the SkyTrain extension through Surrey and Langley. What an opportunity this is. If you work in Vancouver, but are struggling to find an affordable home that is transit connected, this may be the solution for you.

I Can Help:

If you are looking at buying real estate and want to find a home with the optimal route to the SkyTrain, take a look at the Route Map or give me a call. Being that this is going to be quite the project, I Matthias Alleckna can help you navigate and find out more about any easements that may cause difficulties for a home too close. While finding just the right spot without too much track noise.

If you want more information about a particular neighborhood, don’t hesitate to message me, Matthias Alleckna on Facebook or Instagram. As your local real estate professional for White Rock, Surrey, Langley and the entire Lower Mainland I am happy to lend you my expertise to find the best neighborhood for you. For more Neighborhood information keep reading the Blog.

Real Estate Buying & Selling • 12 August 2022

Buying Your First Home? Looking to Add Some Trees?

by Alleckna Matthias

Trees First Home

Do you like trees? Whether you are buying your first home or your 20^th, sometimes you move in and realize there isn’t enough shade. Sometimes there isn’t enough green. Either way, I Matthias Alleckna, have a solution to recommend to you. The Surrey Online Tree Sale is here, open from August 24 9am to September 7(while Inventory lasts).

If you haven’t heard of it before you may be asking what it is I’m talking about. Well, the City of Surrey is offering affordable trees to anyone in Surrey. Here are the details.

You must have a Surrey Billing Address
You must have $20 +tax per tree
You must only want a maximum of 3 trees

Now, you are probably asking why you can only want 3? It’s because they just simply will not give you more than that. The City of Surrey have only 1000 trees available and at these prices they are unlikely to last very long. If you want to add to that new home or you just simply want to replace a dead tree or three, go to the City Website for more information.

A list of the available trees are:

Almond – Late Spring Bloomer , 15ft tall 8ft wide
Apple- Ranging from 8-24ft tall
Cherry- Ranging from 5-20ft tall
Dogwood- Ranging from 14-25ft tall
Fig- Ranging from 8-25ft tall
Magnolia- Ranging from 20-30ft tall
Maple- Ranging from 15-30ft tall
Other- Ranging from 12-40ft tall
Parrotia- Ranging from 20-25ft tall
Pear- Ranging from 10-35ft tall
Plum- Ranging from 12-20ft tall

Trees are to be picked up on October 23 2022 and all will be in 5-10 gallon pots and will vary from 5-12ft tall on pickup.

Real Estate Agent:

If you want more information about a neighborhoods with great green streets, don’t hesitate to message me, Matthias Alleckna on Facebook or Instagram. As your local real estate professional for White Rock, Surrey and the entire Lower Mainland I am happy to lend you my expertise to find the best tree filled neighborhood. For more Neighborhood information click here.

About Me • About Me • 11 August 2022

Never Give Up Day (Almost Drowned), Surrey Aug 18

by Alleckna Matthias

Never Give Up

Never Give Up! A short statement that can sometimes make a massive difference. The city of Surrey has recognized this and recently given us another day to celebrate something meaningful. According to Get News August 18^th , one week from today, will be the first Never Give Up Day. So since some of you may not know me very well, I thought I would share a few moments I think of when this phrase went from words to actions.

Moment 1:

This one came early on, the legendary almost drowning incident. I was about 7 or 8 years old and on this day at Hicks Lake, I was an amazing swimmer. Or so I thought, until I lost the inflatable floating Orca while climbing into my older brothers inflatable boat. Of course, they were not about to swim across the inlet and retrieve it, so they pushed me out of the boat and said there was no way I was getting in that boat until I went to get it.

I thought, oh this will be no big deal. But as I started swimming, seemingly the Orca did too. The wind hit it just enough to keep it out of reach. Until, a couple minutes in as I was getting tired, I realized I was in the middle of that part of the lake. Thinking, oh I will just take a break, I sank to the bottom like at a pool and then tried to push myself back up and keep going. Well, the bottom never came. I swam back to the surface exhausted and let out a yell. Luckily through the swallowing of water, my dad heard and came running straight in. As I was going down again, seemingly for the last time, he grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Upon getting to shore, I realized I had stayed afloat just long enough, and the Orca had beaten me across the lake to a spot I could walk to. I may have given up trying to swim across that lake, but I didn’t give up trying to stay afloat and at that age, that was an important moment.

Moment 2:

Being that Real Estate in Surrey, White Rock and the Fraser Valley has slowed in the last month or so. This one may be a little more relevant. I had a client once, that no matter what I offered would not consider working together. Well, beyond saying “send me what information you have on the market” they did this for about 3 years. For the first few months I enthusiastically sent everything I thought could help them, until I began thinking about the amount of time I was spending on this. At that moment, I spoke to some colleagues and asked, should I be doing something else with my time. Most of them said yes, but one said what if it takes a while but the outcome results in the perfect deal.

Whether it be Real Estate or any other contract we all dream of the perfect deal. I decided to keep working. To put in the time each month to collect and provide the client with information. I decided to “Never Give Up!” and in the end they didn’t give up on me. I became the person they would say is “my guy for that thing”. From that day we signed the first deal, it really was the perfect deal. I realized, that Never Give Up attitude can make a world of difference even if it costs a little bit of time.

Real Estate

For more Never Give Up moments, follow me Matthias Alleckna ‘Real Estate Professional’ on Instagram or Facebook and check back for more August 18 for the new Surrey Never Give Up Day.

Neighborhood • Neighborhood • Neighborhood • Neighborhood • 11 August 2022

Surrey and White Rock Neighborhood Safety

by Alleckna Matthias

Safety in Surrey and White Rock

What do you look for when considering where you want to live? Do you consider the neighborhood, the lifestyle, or even the safety of your friends and family? You may be interested to know the crime rates, know as the Crime Index in the Surrey and White Rock area.

You can find helpful information about your own neighborhood by visiting Area Vibes. This is an informative website that provides information about neighborhoods from Semiahmoo to Fleetwood and more. Other information they provide is about Real Estate, Livability Scores and even Demographics.

Now let’s get back to the safety of your family. You may be pleased to know that Nick Greenizan of Surrey Now-Leader recently wrote an article titled Crime down in Surrey, White Rock last year compared to ‘20. Based on data from Stats Canada, it shows that the white rock index went from 90.62 in 2020 to 83.77 in 2021. For Surrey, an even more dramatic change from 94.9 to 85.98 accordingly.

If you are looking at South Surrey Real Estate, whether it is a 3 bedroom or more, you can take satisfaction in knowing there is a safe neighborhood out there for you. Let’s create a game plan for your next investment or home search. Let me know if safety is as important to you as it is to me and my family.

If you want more information about a particular neighborhood, message me. I Matthias Alleckna can be reached on Website, Facebook or Instagram. I am your local real estate professional for White Rock, Surrey and the Lower Mainland. Happy to lend you my expertise to find the best neighborhood for you.