Does Metro Vancouver have a secret real estate market? YEP! Here’s how to get in.
Do you ever get the feeling that you’re missing out on something but you don’t know what it is? Us too! Likely we all do. But in this case, we really think you might be!
Do you ever get the feeling that you’re missing out on something but you don’t know what it is? Us too! Likely we all do. But in this case, we really think you might be!
Did you know that there is a form of Real Estate that we as Realtors can assist you to buy or sell but we can’t even advertise it? Crazy right?!?
Around the Hale/Liu household, we have a saying; “There’s always another level.” Normally we use this motto to motivate our kids to do something around the house or as a way to tell them that we think their bedroom would look SOOOOO much better if they could just make their beds…. even just this one time...
Where was I? Right, secret real estate in the lower mainland. Here we go.....
You’ve likely heard the term assignment before when dealing with Real Estate. If you’ve purchased or sold a home lately, it’s even mentioned in your Contract of Purchase and Sale. Pro tip, if this was never discussed maybe it’s time to let us help you with your next Real Estate deal!
For a quick refresher, an assignment is when a real estate Buyer wants to transfer a deal that they have negotiated to a third party. This can occur on new construction (presale) or resale homes. So Bob buys Sally’s house and before the property changes hands (the transaction completes), Bob arranges for Ebenezer to take over the contract. Ebenezer pays Sally for the home (which is then registered in Ebenezer's name) and more than likely he pays Bob an additional sum of money for the assignment.
It's important to note, that this cannot happen without the consent of Sally in the above case, or without the consent of the developer should you be dealing with presales.
It's important to note, that this cannot happen without the consent of Sally in the above case, or without the consent of the developer should you be dealing with presales.
Ok, Sean, we’re caught up and for the love of god tell us what you’re trying to tell us so we can get on with our day!
Sheesh, OK!
A lot of folks that buy into pre-build construction projects have life situations change by the time those properties are ready (it can take a long time for a building to be finished, sometimes 5+years). Alternatively, in a rising market, there's often some equity built up in the purchase before it's even completed and presale buyers want to capitalize on that.
As the completion date approaches people that have bought a presale property may want to put these properties up for sale but because the title to these properties does not yet belong to them, they cannot list these homes on MLS. Essentially they are selling the right to purchase (an assignment). End result, you will almost never see any of these deals on Realtor.ca or your favorite real estate app.
Realtors® CAN represent sellers of these properties or rights to purchase, however Realtors® cannot advertise these properties on MLS without developer approval, so most of them remain unknown. In the case of resale properties, these are never listed for assignment on MLS so this truly is an underground market operated solely on word of mouth.
Sound complicated? It can be, but that's where we come in. Just think of it like buying or selling any other Real Estate with an extra layer of things that your trusty local Realtor (I’m talking about us
) can guide you through. At any given time there's literally hundreds if not thousands of assignments out there and some of them are great deals! There, now you’re an insider!
How do you find these properties? Connect with us today and we will give you the inside scoop! There really is "another level".
