Real Estate: The Primed Buyer

Chloe Beck was seeking a “nice little house.” She’d owned a condo in Kits since 2005, but following Realtylink.org remained a ritual. When prices started dropping late in 2008, she and boyfriend Matt Deane, an engineering student at BCIT, were ready to start house hunting. South Main was their neighbourhood of choice.

Price range: $500,000 to $700,000

Properties considered: 4

Weeks spent looking: 9

The agent: Amanda Crosby, the Kavanagh Group at RE/MAX Select Properties

Option 1: 4469 Sophia St., $599,000 
This two-storey, partially restored home was one of the first properties they viewed. Says Beck: “I wasn’t as serious when we went to go see it, but it did open my eyes to the possibility that you can buy a nice house for under $600,000.”

Option 2: 62 E. 21st Ave., $768,000
This house was in a great location but needed a major overhaul. “It wasn’t a teardown,” Beck insists, “but you would have had to put in a lot more money for it to be a nice place to live.”

The Buy: 720 E. 30th Ave., $590,000
Beck and Deane fell in love with this two-bedroom near Fraser. It had a yard and a large back deck, and the unfinished basement offered Deane room for updating. They considered offering $575,000 but, on learning of another offer, went to $590,000. Their agent presented them as a young couple buying their first home, and their offer was accepted over another at the same price.