Menno van Driel

There’s so much to know and learn about real estate and associated matters, it’s nice to have a full-time work of reference handy.

Real Estate is never boring - I can write about it every day. And I do, as witnessed by the plethora of information available here on this website.

I’m still building up the information database on my two real estate websites www.menno.ca and www.mennorealty.ca. ...

In prior blog pages, I’ve suggested that it’s a great idea to get pre-approved for your mortgage before you even start looking at houses – with good reason.

The math is simple - you have nothing to lose by getting pre-approved for your mortgage. It may just save you a bundle of money in interest payments and it provides peace of mind.

The main reason to get pre-approved, for most people, is ...

Yesterday’s “special information supplement” business section of the Vancouver Sun was entirely devoted to the perceived benefits of working with a Real Estate professional. Apart from lots of advertising, it contains useful information about various aspects of our profession.

A whole section of the newspaper about the real estate industry. There's got to be something of interest there.

The ...

In today’s blog article, we’ll look into the phenomenon of the co-listing. What exactly is it, what are its advantages and are there any disadvantages?

The marketing of your unique property may require a special, unique approach. Sometimes co-listing a property can give the desired results.

When a real estate listing shows two brokerages as the “listing brokerages” – it’s often referred to ...

There’s more to a mortgage than getting “the best possible rate”. Pre-payment privileges, portability and other conditions are also important.

Shopping for a mortgage may be more complicated than you think. To get the best rate, you got to check this blog article, point by point.

While realising that RATE isn’t everything, it’s a good study to see which borrowers receive the best possible mo ...

Comparing apples and oranges is usually fun but not always functional. People moving from one place to another are often tempted to see what aspects of life are more expensive in one place than the other.

Cheaper here or cheaper there? We're taking a little survey to see if it's more expensive to live on the Sunshine Coast or in the Lower Mainland.

In a door-to-door comparison between neigh ...

These days, there are more real estate websites on the BC Sunshine Coast than there are real estate agents. Picking one that’ll work for you can be easy or difficult.

"Choose me, choose me" is the message in real estate websites. A complete, informative and easily navigated website isn't so easy to find.

Punching “real estate on the Sunshine Coast” into your favourite search engine will sco ...

Population boom! What population boom? Life on the Sunshine Coast is still very peaceful; enjoying nature and wildlife in a setting so close to the big city.

CMHC just came out with a fresh economic forecast for the year. Obviously, our economy is going to improv ...

Instead of the standard fixed-payment mortgage, the Home Equity Line of Credit has become quite popular, particularly to home-owners with above-average credit standing.

As an alternative to traditional fixed-term and fixed-rate mortgage products, most banks and credit unions offer a secured line of credit as an option.

A Home Equity Line Of Credit (Heloc), in one form or another, is offer ...

It can happen to the best of us that one misses a mortgage payment. Or even more than one. How bad is that in real life?

It can be a terrible burden to have a mortgage debt that one can barely keep up with. This article eadeavours to put things in a bit of perspective.

Most people have their mortgage loans paid automatically which is a great system when there’s enough money in the bank acco ...