Real Estate

Drinking someone else's milk straight from the jug costs B.C. real estate agent $20,000

05/08/2023

A British Columbia real estate agent has been fined $20,000 after being caught on camera drinking milk straight out of the jug at a home he was showing.

A consent order released by the B.C. Financial Services Authority last week said Mike Rose was alone in the home in Kamloops, B.C., in July last year as he waited for his clients, who were interested in buying the property.

Rose went to the refrigerator to find water, according to the consent order, but instead swigged some milk straight from the container, which he then put back in the refrigerator.

The consent order, agreed by both the superintendent of real estate and Rose, said the owners of the home saw him drinking the milk when they reviewed footage from a surveillance camera, then confronted him about it two days later.

Rose, who apologized for his actions, was told he wasn’t welcome in

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Real Estate

A mansion in Whistler, B.C. just sold for $32M

01/08/2023

A home in an exclusive neighborhood overlooking Alta Lake has sold for $32,000,000, breaking Whistler’s real estate sale price record by nearly $10,000,000. 

The 8,700 square foot mansion was designed by the architect of Bill Gates’ home, and features an 82-foot-long cantilevered swimming pool overlooking the lake.

“There are a ton of things about the house that are incredible, but architecture, obviously that’s where it all starts,” said listing agent Max Thornhill with Engel and Volkers Whistler.

This photo from a listing by Engel & Völkers shows one of the bedrooms in a Whistler mansion for sale. “I have been selling real estate here for 30 plus years, and this is definitely an architectural masterpiece is how most people refer to it,” said real estate agent John Ryan who represented the buyers. The international couple, who Ryan say split their time between Europe and New York City and are self-made,

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Real Estate

This B.C. real estate agent created an AI assistant. But don't expect it to know where the best schools are

02/07/2023

A Vancouver real estate agent is using artificial intelligence to help sell houses, inventing a tool that pulls data from every multiple listing service (MLS) property in the Lower Mainland to provide positive and negative analysis for buyers and sellers.

Richard Morrison, a local real estate agent of 20 years, has led a team that’s spent months creating AI PropertyIQ, which merges the MLS data with GPT-4 OpenAI technology, analyzes that information and converses with users on a chat-based system to tailor their prospects.

“You should be able to check whether you’re making a good purchase, essentially,” said Morrison.

“This data already exists on certain websites, but it’s only data — the thing that changes this is that it’s an analysis.” 

While the tool can be helpful, one AI expert cautions users over the technology’s limitations. 

Morrison says the tool on his website is accessible to anyone, and that hundreds

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Forec

2 lawsuits accuse owners of condo unit in Penticton, B.C., of starting fatal apartment complex fire

31/03/2023

Two civil lawsuits filed in B.C. Supreme Court accuse the owners of a first-floor apartment unit in Penticton, B.C., for being responsible for starting a massive fire in October 2020 that destroyed much of the building and left dozens of people homeless. 

The fire at the apartment complex on Elm Avenue caused extensive damage in the three-floor building and took the lives of two people living there.

The RCMP ruled out criminality in their investigation.

At the time of the early morning fire, Penticton Fire Chief Larry Watkinson said the building was “heavily involved” by the time firefighters arrived on scene. 

“The fire was on the exterior of the building and was lapping up to the third floor and into the apartments through the balconies,” Watkinson said.

“It got into the roof structure and tore across the roof.”

This month, three people who were living in the building at the

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Forec

B.C. condo owner concerned after strata council implements new age restriction

19/03/2023


Brianna Pascoe has penned a letter to B.C. Premier David Eby after the strata in her Duncan condo building voted to enact a 55-plus age restriction bylaw.


“I am now a 30-year-old stuck in a retirement building,” Pascoe said, reading from her letter. “I no longer have a nice little stepping stone for my future.”


The vote was 19 to four in favour of the bylaw change.


The letter is asking Eby to close what she calls a loophole created by recent changes made to the Strata Property Act.


“Condo buildings that weren’t previously 55-plus, they have been allowed to change to a 55-plus building to avoid having to enact the changes he’s put in place,” said Pascoe.


Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium Homeowners Association of BC, says there’s a reason why some stratas may be making a similar move.


“Strata

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