lisa williams

This beautiful home has been thoughtfully upgraded throughout and boasts a bright and sunny floorplan and family-friendly design!

Features include a new Bruce Wilkin designed gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, custom cabinetry, bar area with wine fridge and bar sink, desk area and lots of storage! Gleaming Teak hardwood floors are showcased on the main level of the home, with a tiled gas fireplace featured in the living room, and built-in leaded glass cabinet and wainscotting showcased in the dining room.

The feeling throughout is warm and cozy with radiant in-floor heating throughout the main and lower levels, and in the upper level bathroom. Double French doors off the dining room lead to a spacious new deck, which is perfect for BBQs & outdoor entertaining!

Upstairs, 4 lovely bedrooms are featured, the master bedroom featuring a large closet with built-in storage and lovely hardwood floors. Three additional bedrooms are also located on the upper level, all with large windows. The main bathroom features custom cabinetry and built-ins, large separate shower with rain shower head, full-sized claw foot tub and warm tiled floors!

On the lower level of the home, a fantastic rec room/ play room has been created with easy care hardwood floors, tons of built-in storage under attractive window seating and easy access to crawl space storage areas.

Outside, the sunny property is fully fenced… perfect for kids and pets! A great little studio building would be the perfect play-house or artist’s retreat, heated and ready for your ideas.

Just a short stroll from the ocean this home boasts a fantastic location with parks, schools, shopping, transportation and all amenities close at hand and downtown Victoria just a 5 minute drive away!

For more info, visit us at www.lisawilliams.ca

JANUARY 8, 2010 – Times Colonist

For-sale signs are sprouting around the region as consumer confidence is rising in the wake of the recession.

Victoria is a seller’s market where home prices will stay strong — particularly in the first two quarters of the year — thanks to low interest rates, tight inventories and rising consumer confidence, says one of Canada’s leading real estate companies.

According to Royal LePage’s market survey forecast, released yesterday, Vancouver’s average price for an existing home is predicted to rise 7.2 per cent this year over last year. Victoria was not included in the forecast of major metropolitan centres, but price increases aren’t expected to be as high here as in Vancouver, said Carol Geurts, president of Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty.

“I think we are going to see our biggest increases in early spring and that might be it for the year,” she said. “So much is tied to what the interest rates are going to do.”

Predictions by Royal LePage line up with those by the Victoria Real Estate Board and other industry watchers, who expect inventories to increase and interest rates to rise later in 2010.

“I think steady-as-she-goes is probably what we’re looking at, at least for the first two quarters of this year.”

Buyers’ confidence is up, she said, adding her office was busy through to the end of December and into this month. “It maintained a good clip all through the holidays.”

The strongest demand is for homes priced at $600,000 or less with revenue potential. These are attracting multiple offers, Geurts said, adding “we are certainly in a seller’s market here.”

Despite the global economic turmoil last year, Greater Victoria sales rebounded in the last half of 2009. The final quarter resulted in an average price for a detached bungalow at $474,000, up by 7.7 per cent from the average price in the final quarter of 2008, Royal LePage said.

The average price for a standard two-storey house moved up by 3.7 per cent in the capital region, to $449,000 in the last quarter of 2009, from $433,000 in the final quarter of 2008.

The average price of a standard condominium in the capital region remained flat for those two quarters, at $265,000, the report said.

Nationally, home prices are expected to moderate in the second half of this year, Royal LePage said.

The country’s real estate market is starting the year with “considerable momentum” from the strong finish to 2009, said Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services.

“The stimulus effect of low borrowing costs has contributed to a sharp rise in demand that has driven activity levels to new highs. This demand… should cause home prices to continue to appreciate significantly during the early months of the year.”

In the last quarter of 2009, the national average price of detached bungalows increased six per cent to $315,055 compared to the same quarter in 2008. The price of standard two-storey homes rose 5.2 per cent to $353,026, and the price of a standard condominium rose 6.4 per cent to $205,756.