Before viewing or listing a house it’s smart to have a well-thought-out strategy in place to help limit complications.

For this Kamloops realtor, it’s all about making dream homes come true for his clients.

New development condos are shiny and new, but its important to consider the potential risks. Presale and pre-construction condos seduce consumers with the promise of highly designed, sleek spaces but savvy home buyers need to assess the risks before they commit.

B.C. vacation-property owners are now subject to new rules and taxation when renting their property – but some say illegal rentals may dodge tax

For this Kamloops realtor, it’s all about making dream homes come true for his clients.

Here are 5 things to consider so you get the best deal for yourself and your community. 1. Start with the right valuation The big question: How much is my home worth under the new OCP? According to Darcy Schlechtleitner, founder of Rethink Real Estate Group, there are ways of working it out, but you need a realtor with experience and training in land assembly. “Values can be calculated based on comparable land sales for similar projects and what can be built, but you need someone who knows their numbers and has access to all the data,” says the long-time New West resident. She studied real estate at BCIT and has been working in the New West area ever since. The Land division at her brokerage focuses specifically on land assembly projects. “Make sure you’re asking the right questions of potential realtors: What’s your land assembly history? Have you done this before? What developers do you work with? What’s your understanding of contracts and contract law?” Schlechtleitner says.

Whether its a week or weekend, HB is an easy vacay from Vancouver. The best of Huntington Beach in 36 hours Photo Sandra Thomas.

Paradise doesnt always look the way you expect it to. My husband Harvey and I were just looking for sun, sand and lots of RR. What we got instead was IV antibiotics, nebulizers and anti-inflammatory drugs at a very efficient private hospital in Cancun, Mexico. All I can say is thank God we have travel medical insurance! My beloved Harvey started getting a nagging dry cough and a tight chest five days into our two-week vacation. The morning of day six, he said Maybe we should go to the resort doctor about my cough.

Over the course of their lifetimes, people will be wedding guests on several occasions. During the height of wedding season, weddings can run into one another, as the format and the festivities are similar at various ceremonies. Couples interested in setting their nuptials apart may want to enhance the wedding reception with a few unique ideas.

As a retiree who’s no longer perpetually exhausted from working full time, I now have the pleasure of taking courses at will. My husband Harvey, 10 other couples and I just started a six-week course called “The Art of Marriage” and I’m hoping to pick up some valuable pointers. The course is offered from a religious perspective, which presumably will align with our mixed secular/religious lifestyle. I’m just relieved to hear that marriage is an art, not a science. I was never good at science. Next week it will be Harvey’s and my ninth wedding anniversary (and 12th year together), and while there are still plenty of stars in my eyes, there are also some spots. Detached retina, maybe? Floaters? No, just some blind spots I need to fill in with a good dose of patience, compassion, and acceptance. Having married at age 53 for the first (and hopefully only) time, I had no experience with serious long-term relationships. My longest relationship prior to Harvey lasted three years, and I’d never lived with anybody before. So, getting married was like a crash course in Relationships 101. Testing the waters constantly on all sorts of issues, we’ve come to a mostly peaceful place of understanding. Like most couples, we don’t always see eye to eye. And there’s the challenge.

When Jiang Cheng first tried a bit of concealer during his first year of university in China it gave him self-confidence and he was instantly hooked.

The Christmas holidays can be a stressful time when it comes to finding the right gift for that special someone. Will you get the right size, colour, or style?

Should I make a career as a university teacher or a hearing specialist? That’s the question that faced Herman Li when he neared the end of his PhD in Linguistics specializing in speech and hearing sciences at Simon Fraser University.