A Kamloops realtor suggests the new homebuyer protection period that took effect Tuesday is coming a bit too late.
The new protection period is said to give homebuyers in BC better protection in the real estate market, by giving a mandatory three business day period to homebuyers to allow them to arrange for financing or home inspections.
While Quinn Pache suggests these measures were put in place to help ease speculation on the market; he notes the housing market has already cooled off.
“The thing is, is when you’re talking to your bank and you’re lining up a home inspection, three days really isn’t that much time, but the funny thing is, this is all really good and this would make sense last year when the market went crazy, but the market is no longer crazy.”
Last year, Pache explained they were seeing subject-free deals and bidding wars every day; however, now, he says they see it once a month, if that — suggesting these new protections won’t really have much of an impact.
“Even though they have this three-day mandatory situation, they are opting to say ‘hey, I don’t I don’t need that, I’m not gonna write a subject free offer; I’m gonna write an offer and make sure I get two weeks, that way I have plenty of time to do my due diligence.’”
Pache suggests the standard for homebuyers is to give themselves two weeks for subjects in their contracts.
“Two weeks to get your financing in order, two weeks to talk to your lawyer and get them to go over the contract, two weeks to get that home inspection and review it with the inspector,” he explained.
“So in essence when you’re saying okay, what is this gonna do the market right now? It’s not going to change the market that much because everyone is automatically right in going for two weeks on their contract.”
The program also includes a cancellation fee amounting to $250 for each $100,000 of a home’s purchase price, or $2,500 on a home worth $1 Million, in an effort to convince buyers and sellers to take the transaction seriously.
Pache says he believes the province was trying to help cool off the housing market with these new measures, however, he says the market has already leveled off significantly due to inflation and rising interest rates.
-With files from The Canadian Press