What? Why?!

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-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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None Found

Go sit in the corner.

Sometimes, I guess we just run out of rooms to shoot.

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-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #393
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #97
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #300
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #443
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #579

There is really no purpose to photos like this – they just make the place look dark and small.

March 18th, 2010

Yikes! As a REALTOR®, it’s my job to get the occupants of the house to tidy up. It makes all the difference in the world when photographing the property and certainly when showing it to prospective buyers.

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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• Poll: Horrible MLS Photo of the Month
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #716 & #717
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #389, #390 & #391
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #709 & #710
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #707 & #708

An opportunity is wasted here to show off a great kitchen. The agent should have turned on the lights in the kitchen and stepped slightly away from the left wall to avoid the awkward, out-of-focus and over-exposed part on the left. You should always review your photos to make sure they’re straight up and down, too. This is one of my problems when I shoot photos. If you get home and find you’ve shot a photo at a funny angle, you can always crop it so that it’s straight up and down again.

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #96
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #384
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #423
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #257
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #207

Last photo before agent met an untimely end in a crumpled heap

March 15th, 2010

Got the blues...

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-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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• Poll: Horrible MLS Photo of the Month
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #389, #390 & #391
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #709 & #710
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #707 & #708
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #711 & #712

Well, at least he took his shoes off…

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #24
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #228
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #341

The Johnson Street Bridge, Victoria. Photo credit: Sylpherware on Flickr

The latest data from our Member Market Survey has just been released by the Victoria Real Estate Board. Each month, agents who’ve completed a transaction while acting for a buyer are polled on various questions about their buyers. The goal is to get a snapshot of the situation on the street directly from agents who are actively involved serving their clients.

Highlights from this month’s data:

• First-time buyers represent the largest segment of the buying population, with 36.5% identified as such
• Interestingly, the number of people moving from a single family home to a condo or townhouse was nearly the same as those moving from one property to a similar one.
• Single females bought more houses last month than single males.
• Only one buyer came from outside of Canada last month.

Check out the full details of this month’s survey here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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• Victoria BC Real Estate Buyer’s Profile – January 2010
• Victoria BC Real Estate Buyer’s Profile – Where are the Buyers Coming From?
• Victoria BC MLS® Real Estate Statistics – March 2008
• First Time Buyer Friday #5 – Do I Need A REALTOR®?
• Victoria BC MLS® Real Estate Statistics – August 2008

Clutter! And lots of it! As an agent, I feel it’s my job to gently tell my clients to CLEAN UP if it needs to be done. I will often come back to shoot pictures another day if the place isn’t ready. Sadly, this was the only interior shot on the listing. Nice.

March 12th, 2010

One word: yikes.

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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• Poll: Horrible MLS Photo of the Month
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #716 & #717
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #389, #390 & #391
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #709 & #710
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #707 & #708

I’ve never really understood the point of posting pictures of just the stairs on the MLS. They’re stairs, same as they’ve been for thousands of years. They go up, they go down.

March 10th, 2010

I Love Lamp

Um… wow.

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

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• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #704 & #705
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #313
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #374
• Poll: Horrible MLS Photo of the Month
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #37

Photo credit: sometimes_anna on Flickr

The Capital Regional District (CRD), along with non-profit The Land Conservancy (TLC) has agreed to buy up more than 2300 hectares (nearly 5700 acres) of land that was slated to go up for sale today. The land, belonging to Western Forest Products (WFP) has been the subject of much controversy in our area since the provincial government allowed WFP to remove its private lands from a tree-farm license (TFL) in 2007.

The lands being purchased include Sandcut Beach, the Jordan River surfing beach and townsite, and lands surrounding the Sooke River near Sooke Potholes Park.

While some of the land on the interior side of the highway may be sold off to help finance this purchase, most of it will be dedicated as park. One exciting feature of this deal is that the land acquired near the Potholes completes the Sea-to-Sea Green-Blue Belt, which, besides having the distinction of being the most awkwardly-named park reserve/network on the Island, will now stretch all the way from the Sooke Basin to Saanich Inlet.

The land deal is worth nearly $19 million, most of which is coming from the CRD’s parkland acquisition fund, and will be paid over 3 years. The rest of the money will come from TLC, and hopefully, the provincial government, who have been under fire since the land was released from the TFL three years ago. Many see it as an opportunity for the province to right a wrong that caused great controversy.

And speaking of the parkland acquisition fund… this is part of your yearly property taxes. Since it was established in 2000, it has been $10 per household per year, which has been well used in my opinion, protecting  nearly 3000 hectares of land at a value of nearly $31 million. Your contribution to the fund will be going up this year by $2, and will eventually rise to $20 per year, allowing the CRD to purchase lands such as the Jordan River WFP parcels for everyone’s use and enjoyment, forever. I’d happily pay $50 or even $100 per year to pad this fund and enable the special areas in our region to be protected. It’s a great example of taxpayer money going into something we all benefit from.

The deal is still tentative, but is slated to close in August. I’m looking forward to the CRD’s plan and longterm vision for these newly acquired lands.

What’s your take on this announcement? Good, bad, otherwise? State your opinion, but be nice to one another!

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
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• Ilkay Completes Purchase of Ex-TFL Land Near Jordan River
• Another Large Condo Development for Langford?
• Sooke Real Estate Market MLS® Sales Statistics – May 2008
• Running, Jogging, and Walking in Sooke
• BC Government Funds Sooke Spirit Square at Ed MacGregor Park