Betsy Carstairs

HURRAH!!Finally found a company to HELP buyers read through all the papers they are provided with when they buy a town home or apartment.I’ve found that it’s really overwhelming to read through 2 years of meeting minutes, as well as rules and regulations of a complex while getting financing and inspections within 3-4 days, as well as work and carry on a normal life. HIGH STRESS!!To read A ...

 Harbour Place vs. Heritage Mtn........OLD versus NEW.   JUST SOLD an older but charming home in Harbour Place, Coquitlam.  It was interesting how many people came from Heritage Mountain to check out this home.  I assume the 8,000 square foot plus sized lot backing onto a ravine was one attraction BUT found that this smaller scaled home (slightly over 2,000 square feet) was also a desirable ...

A client of mine listed their house with me AND gave me a library book he had just read called "The Long Emergency" by James Howard Kunstler.  Not only did I read "The Long Emergency" BUT I am now reading another of Kunstler's books, "The Geography of Nowhere".  Both are excellent informative reads focusing on our dwindling non-renewable resource ... OIL ...and the world's seduction into usin ...

A property we negotiated an offer on was 35 years old, so the Buyers put into their offer a condition to have the property inspected. Well, the house passed...HOWEVER...the drain tiles on the one side of the house had collapsed and water was starting to pool in the crawl space which would have caused problems for the new owner AND a BIG BILL!  When this fault was pointed out to the present ow ...

I needed to attend an event in the city of Vancouver yesterday ... so I decided to abandon my car and use the public transport system. I arranged to hitch a ride into town with a day commuter. The HOV lane made my company a HUGE advantage. My first stop was the Bayshore. From the Bayshore I was shuttled to Burrard and Georgia FREE of charge. My next destination was to my doctor in Arbutus via ...

Wednesday was the Real Estate Trade Show at the Bayshore, so I decided to do business in the morning AND treat myself to one of the Shakespeare Festival venues in the afternoon.  The 1:00pm matinee performance was SOLD OUT! but I felt that I would succeed in somehow getting a ticket if I was there.  It was such a miserable rainy day, someone was sure to not show up.  I was right! ...and for $ ...

I have some friends and clients living on the Sunshine Coast, so this past long weekend, I went over for a visit and stayed at a home in Porpoise Bay. It was right on the water, so I enjoyed a weekend of kayaking, swimming and going for walks along the beach. The relaxed Sechelt pace and abundnace of artists living in this area made for a memorable weekend. I came home with a beautiful pictur ...

Last week I went on an overnight bike trip in the southern part of Vancouver. Ladner & White Rock are not familiar terrain for me, so this was an adventure. We went biking through horse stables, farmland & along the Fraser River dikes to Pam’s Garden herb farm (purchased a Australian Mint Bush with a lovely scent here) & the bird sanctuary on Westham Island. We overnighted @ a delight ...

Last weekend SFU organized an event @ the Vancouver Public Library entitled, Race Gender, Islam & The War on Terror with panel speakers Amina Jama (Fellow, Sociology & Anthropology Concordia University), Zool Suleman (Lawyer, Vancouver, BC), Sedf Arat-Koc (Professor, Politics & Public Administration Ryerson University) & Sunera Thobani (Professor, Women’s Studies & Gender Relations UBC).Bei ...