Gabe Kadoranian

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BUSINESS BASICS

Started as a Realtor in: 2009

Specialization: Langley, Cloverdale, North Delta, and Surrey

One-piece of advice for your clients: Don’t be afraid to be vocal. I strongly encourage my clients to voice any inquiries, concerns and feedback they may have along the way.

Why Sutton? There is great value in Sutton. There are 19 offices across the Lower Mainland and the Island we were #1 in transactions in 2011. The training and support is great and the company keeps me educated on all industry changes.

"From the initial meeting we had with Gabe we knew he was the one for us. So sure, in fact, we cancelled all other interview appointments with real estate agents that very day. He arrived prepared and really listened to us, and by the end of the meeting we knew he was genuine and sincere in the quest to find us the perfect home for our unique needs. We were most taken back with how honest he seemed and how easily we felt we could trust him. We truly felt supported by his wisdom and knowledge of the housing market. When we started to feel panicked or overwhelmed Gabe was always there to calm us down. I am so glad we had the opportunity to work with Gabe. I don’t know what we would have done without him. We talk often about what a great experience working with him was and how we happily welcomed him into our family. I can’t recommend him highly enough!!” -Erin H. and Matt P, Clients

Q & A

1. What differentiates you from the 11,000 licensed real estate agents in the Greater Vancouver area?

1. Outside the box thinker
2. Stress-free transaction
3. Honest and approachable
4. Innovative and analytical Strategies

2. What has been your favorite client experience? That’s a tough one! Earlier in the year I had clients that were first time buyers. We viewed a variety of townhomes/condos and came across a beautiful 2-bedroom condo with a fantastic view. The property was a court ordered sale (foreclosure), which meant that even after an accepted offer, we may have to compete with another offer on the court date. Additionally, if there was another offer, the amount would not be disclosed.

Prior to the court date I prepared information regarding market activity and recently sold units. From these details, I provided a recommendation on a “ceiling price” in the event they were in a multiple offer situation. On the court date, we anxiously waited at the courthouse to see if another offer was presented. The bad news, there was one. The good news, our offer was just enough, to secure the home. All our preparation and client/Realtor collaboration paid off to get the home they wanted without paying more than they needed. We definitely got the house at the best possible price!

3. What has been your favorite success story? I recently had clients that were relocating from Alberta. They were looking for a long-term family home with a rental suite. After viewing homes in a few different areas, they found the perfect one in Fleetwood. We managed to view the property on the day it was listed. I felt the property was priced well and my clients agreed and we made an offer the same day. After some intense negotiations, an accepted offer was received the following day.

Less than six months later, the same client received a job offer back in Alberta, an offer that she could not refuse. Applying my marketing strategies I was able to sell the property in three days for almost $30,000 over the original purchase price. A happy story times two!

4. What inspired you to be a Realtor? I have a passion for innovation. I like that I have the ability to tap into creative brainstorming and use outside the box concepts to help people with their biggest transactions…and I get to do this on a daily basis.

“He’s Awesome. I find him progressive, professional and I love that he’s very ethical. He’s a really great agent.” -Suzanne Carswell, Broker/Manager at Sutton Group West Coast Realty

PERSONAL SNAP SHOT

About: Gabe grew up in North Delta with his 2 brothers and sister. He now lives in Surrey and enjoys spending his free time playing the guitar, golfing and jet setting around the world.

He’s Unique because…If he weren’t a real estate agent he would be in the entertainment industry; if not that, he thinks he would enjoy saving peoples lives as a paramedic.

Likes (If you had more time, what would you do more of): Gabe likes travelling mostly because he enjoys learning new cultures and meeting all kinds of different people.

Loves (can’t live without): Golf and eating out!

THE EXTRAS

Gabe believes that clients are looking for a Realtor that is knowledgeable; first and foremost they have to know their stuff. “There also has to be chemistry so that they can be open with one another, it’s very important, ” says Gabe. “Being upfront and telling them what they need to know is key.”

The best part of Gabe’s job is meeting and helping new people and getting the opportunity to be creative and activate various ideas to achieve success for his clients.

When Gabe is not thinking of his next client campaign or realtor tour, he is updating his education through the Real Estate Board and Sutton programs and meetings. He says the hardest part of being a Realtor is stepping away. He is constantly thinking about Real Estate for most of the day and it’s hard to turn the switch off, especially when he’s always thinking of new creative business strategies.

Contact Gabe

Assumable Mortgages making a comeback

What is an Assumable Mortgage?

An assumable mortgage is a mortgage that can be transferred to a third party without changing the terms of the original mortgage. The seller will need to verify that the original mortgage is assumable while the lender will require approval of the buyer prior to the assumption.

With the current market conditions as they are, there’s a strong sense that assumable mortgages will be making their return, as featured by the financial post.

Advantages of an Assumable Mortgages?

When the market has more homes for sale than potential buyers, an attractive mortgage rate can help boost the appeal of a home and even have the seller get more than the listing price. In a buyer’s market, especially when mortgage rates are rising, low-rate mortgages provide buyers a built-in interest savings until the mortgage maturity. Even though a lender may charge a fee to complete the transaction, the closing costs on an assumed mortgage are likely lower than that of a new loan.

Risks of an Assumable Mortgage?

Although the buyer takes over the remaining payments on the mortgage and becomes legally responsible for the mortgage terms, the lender can still hold the original seller personally liable for the mortgage if the buyer were to default on the loan. However, CMHC has adopted a new policy that makes a seller of an assumed mortgage no longer liable if the buyer has made 12 consecutive monthly payments.

Assumable Mortgage options:

1. The buyers assume the full mortgage and take responsibly of the mortgage fulfillment. A fee may be charged to the buyers to complete the assumption.
2.  If the buyer assumes only a portion of the mortgage, the remaining outstanding mortgage will need to be paid off by the seller possibly with a pre-payment penalty fee. A fee may be charged to the buyers to complete the assumption.
3. If the buyer requires an amount higher than the outstanding mortgage balance they can apply to add-on to the existing principal balance for a new blended rate. A fee may be charged to the buyers to complete the assumption.

To learn more or discuss your assumable mortgages options contact Irene. Learn about Vendor Take-Back Mortgages

Jon Samuel

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BUSINESS BASICS

Started as a Realtor in: 2010, but has had previous experience in property management and the banking industry in addition to completing a degree in marketing.

Specialization: Downtown Vancouver, Richmond, Vancouver West

One-piece of advice for your clients: Get a good Realtor. Don’t base your most important purchase with someone just because your neighbour’s husband’s dog walker is a Realtor on the side.

Why Sutton Seafair Realty? Sutton is well known in Canada. They offer an environment that fosters nurturing and support. I work closely with a team that celebrates each other’s strengths rather than competing against one other.

“Jon sold a place I was renting out and he dealt with the tenant and made it easy for me. He hosted open houses every weekend, both days. He sold it for the best prices in that building, even up to now I still got the best price. It was a great experience. Jon later helped me buy a place and fought for a good price. I would deal with Jon again, hands down.” -Serge, Client.

Q & A

1. What was your favorite success story? Winning a multiple offer situation for clients with other higher competing offers. I took the personal approach in speaking with the sellers. I met with them in person and explain why my clients were the right choice for their home. Both of the other offers, although higher, were sent in by email. I was physically there, and got the sellers to meet my clients. I wanted to show the connection and excitement my clients had for wanting to raise their family in the home. I’m about building strong relationships, and not just with my clients, but all parties involved.

2. Do you have an interesting client experience you would like to share? I had the opportunity to learn a lot from my first client. Working with her, I found myself getting frustrated; she was someone you would call “indecisive.” We saw at least 35 places before she was able to be confident in her choice. Going through the process was challenging, but I got to see a lot of product myself and, more importantly, it taught me to be patient and help advise on what is important to my client in finding a home. In the end she was able to get everything she wanted in a brand new home.

3. What do you do to keep yourself educated and informed on the market and regulation changes? I am constantly reading the news, latest market stats, economics, and doing my own critical analysis on Vancouver; it’s a micro-economy not like the rest of the nation, world or the US. I look closely at why we are different. I also attend the board and association educational sessions. I am always reading and I enjoy the investment I put into my career.

4. What differentiates you from the 11,000 licensed real estate agents in the Greater Vancouver area? My value as a consultant comes from combining my background and expertise with my clients’ needs. I wouldn’t recommend something that I wouldn’t do myself; I think of their money as if it were mine. I listen to what they need, give them their options and advise them so that they are confident in their decisions.

I work closely with a successful team of Realtors. We have access to 12 different languages between and we utilize this for communication with clients, language specific negotiation situations (i.e. international buyers) and the people who list their home with us love us for it!

I do what I can do go above and beyond. I had one client that had the installation of new countertops as a part of their conditions. They had a limited timeline and could only picked them up between 9-5pm; within hours and a location they couldn’t get to with their work schedule. It was nothing for me to make the drive to Abbotsford to pick up and deliver so they could be installed before completion. My clients are still so thankful for my little gesture, but its something I would do for any of my family of clients.

"Having had joint meetings with Jon, I am proud to call him one of my colleagues. Jon’s patience and client care shines through with his thoughtful questions and with his discussions with his clients. From my experience, Jon listens to his clients and tries to understand the root of their issues before finding a solution – a practice that provides better results and happier clients. If you speak with Jon just once you will know what I mean." -Eitan Pinsky, RBC Mortgage Specialist

PERSONAL SNAP SHOT

About: Family is the most important thing in Jon’s life. He is thankful for having such a strong foundation and support system. There aren’t too many things he would put in front of his career, but family is one of them

He enjoys the outdoors in both summer and winter and is looking forward to snowboarding. However, he took advantage of the extended summer by filling in activities such as biking along the sea wall. He manages to also fit in wine tastings, art shows and hanging out with friends.

He’s Unique because… 1. If he weren’t a Realtor he would be a therapist. 2. He likes to spend some of his driving time learning new languages or listening to people that inspire him.

Likes (If you had more time, what would you do more of): Expanding his business or coming up with creative ways to help people. Continually improving his level of service.

Loves (can’t live without):  What he does for work and eating out while trying new restaurants. Ideally he loves combining his loves together, like having a business meeting over dinner or talking about investments over a beer or scotch. He likes meeting with his clients in a relaxed atmosphere; it makes it more enjoyable to talk about money, investments and real estate.

THE EXTRAS

Jon loves that he gets to help people write a part of their life story and build relationships that he truly values. Though there can be challenges in working with uncooperative realtors from time to time Jon thinks his clients know how enthusiastic he is about what he does and can easily see how much he cares about their needs, support and efforts to go above and beyond. To do even the small things that can make a big difference to a client’s experience.

Jon’s believes his best feature is his ability to give objective advice based on the client’s needs. He works with a variety of clients, but has typically attracted first time homebuyers (FTHB) or investors. He takes the time needed with FTHB to walk them through the process, nurture their needs and calm their nerves. With investors, Jon has a background in banking and property management that allows him to cut straight to the dollars and cents. He is also able to review the target demographic for rentals and take a holistic perspective on the investment.

He genuinely likes helping other people and, being a real estate agent, he feels he can offer his expertise to family and people he cares about.

Contact Jon (in any of 10 languages)

Household Debt & Market Crash Overblown

Sales have slowed in Canada’s largest markets, Vancouver and Toronto and the blame is being pointed to the new mortgage rules that were implemented this summer.  Though sales have taken a noticeable decline, prices have corrected only marginally.  However, the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) published a recent report stating that the real impact has not been felt yet, and it will take time for it to digest through the market.

“Our concern today is the number of growing first time buyers who are now unable to get a mortgage. We worry that this is having a dampening effect on what was an already cooling market and we hope policy makers will give some thought to addressing the needs of this key sector of the market.” says Jim Murphy, chief executive of CAAMP.

The report determined that 17% of the high ratio mortgages funded in 2010 would not qualify today, including 11% of prospective high ratio homebuyers who wouldn’t qualify under the new 25-year amortization rule.

“The changes to the mortgage insurance criteria are unnecessarily jeopardizing the health of Canada’s housing markets and the broader economy.” says the report.

Though the rules may have been excessive and untimely, GluskinSheff economist David Rosenberg predicts we are going through a market correction rather than the over exaggerated market collapse that is being heavily publicized in the media.

Rosenberg has also provided 5 reasons why the Canadian household debt panic is overblown. For one, our debt ratio is closer to 118% than the recent data showing 165%, a percentage that surpassed the American ratio of the US 2008 bust. Rosenberg explains the percentage discrepancy is a simple healthcare equation. The remaining four reasons include our relative assets to debt, the amount of equity in our homes, wage growth, and better ability to handle debt round out the list.

It is obvious that doom and gloom sells, however, Canada as a whole is in a strong position relative to the rest of the world. Rates will remain low until other economic regions including Europe, US and Japan start to regain momentum. Our unemployment remains low with some markets experiencing exceptional activity such as Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.

It will remain important for Canadians to monitor their debt levels as rates will eventually increase. However, while interest rates remain low, retirees will need to source effective ways to grow their savings for the future.

Mortgage Forum 2012: Worth Tweeting About

I attended the annual Mortgage Forum hosted by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) this past Monday and Tuesday; I know what you’re thinking…“bor-ring.” On the contrary, I would say anybody, from anywhere or from any industry, could have taken something valuable from this conference.

Most of the good stuff came on day two. I was shocked that our 600 or so group was blended with another 1200+ general attendees for The Art of Marketing conference. With the likes of David Usher, Singer/Song Writer from Moist; Randi Zuckrberg, (yes, she is related to Mark Zuckerberg), his Marketing-guru sister; Biz Stone, Co-founder of Twitter; Scott Stratten, President of Un-Marketing and an expert in social applications; and Mitch Joel, a digital visionary. Ron Tite was also an exceptional host and masterfully conducted the flow perfectly. There were many amazing quotes from the day and I urge you to discover the #tao or #caamp2012 hashtags on twitter to discover some of the brilliance that was shared that day.

Day one covered the mortgage-specific topics. I was looking forward to seeing Kevin O’Leary from CBC’s Dragon’s Den, however, he was cancelled after announcement of his new mortgage product hit the newsstands last week. Dominion Lending Centers, the session’s sponsors, didn’t want their investment promoting someone they now considered a direct competitor. There’s some exciting mortgage-biz drama, at the expense of my ticket value and personal disappointment.

There was just one thing more disappointing than O’Leary’s absence. I feel it necessary to address, as it’s too explicit to not mention. Within 5 minutes of sitting in my seat at our opening ceremonies, I realized something was lacking. Between the opening speeches, the structured sponsor advertisements, introduction to our next year’s Board of Directors and our entire speaker list, women were sparsely accounted for to the point of almost non-existence. Not one women speaker, except for the moderator, CBC business correspondent Amanda Lang, would be seen on stage. Only two women sit on our 18-person Board of Directors, both from the province of Ontario. And to a lesser extent, but still noticeable, the marketing components of the conference had a strong male directive.

I understand my industry is heavily male-dominated, especially in the higher ranks, however, when I looked around the room I noticed an attendance ratio closer to 50/50. It could have even tipped in favor of the females.

There is a powerful new force to add to the industry’s assets that I feel is currently being left untapped; women. Not only are women more involved from a business perspective, but more women are in the market of buying real estate. This generation’s buying habits are strongly determined by the women and children of the household and a larger purchase such as a home should not be discounted. If we ever hope break the near-decade stagnant levels of 25% market penetration, then I think we need to rethink the way we communicate externally as well as internally. It’s time to hang up the old boys club and make room for the unisex boardroom!

In addition to investing in women, we need to consider the strength of our human-power. The industry leaders were asking for the broker community to be the champions and the voice; to consider more investment in the promotion of what we do as a whole and help encourage the support of stronger, more recognized training amongst our colleagues. If the industry association is looking to the individual brokers, competitors or not, to join forces to increase our market share, I feel the interaction in at the conference will need to shift from a full “we talk, you listen” agenda to hybrid of speeches and “interactive” breakouts sessions or brainstorms that encourage our members to collaborate and develop concepts that CAAMP can help implement into action through it’s membership. More women, more involvement, more ideas, more opportunity…it’s just a thought.