When it comes to Bathroom Trends in luxury real estate properties, opulence knows no boundaries.

 

It’s the place where you escape, wind down, wash up, begin or end your day. Your bathroom requires extravagance, and why not, in this room that is yours alone, indulge in some eccentricities? From gardens and marble to curtains and seating, here are five luxury real estate bathroom trends we love this season.


1. Letting the outdoors in

Bathroom Trends
Photo by Fratantoni Luxury Estates

Bathrooms tend to be the one room in the house (save for laundry rooms) that feel closed off from the outdoors, even if there are windows and natural light. In part, that’s because bedrooms and living areas tend to be reserved for the sides of the home that can face and open up to the outdoors.

But we say, why not bring the garden in?! Here in the Okanagan, much of the luxury real estate Kelowna residents covet overlooks the lake and/or vineyards, and if you’re the type of person who takes long soaks, why wouldn’t you want to bask in the sun and these views at the same time?

We love luxurious bathrooms appointed with expansive windows so you can enjoy the serenity of your property in this peaceful setting.

Looking to take in the waters times two? Read our post Luxury Real Estate: 4 Hottest Waterfront Areas in Kelowna. 


2. Textiles, lots of textiles

Bathroom Trends
Photo by STUDIOMINT –

Nothing says opulence like seeing fabrics in unlikely places, like the bathroom above. Yards and yards of ceiling-dropped curtains surrounding this stand-alone soaker tub give this ladies room an air of fantasy and romance.

Be sure to choose light fabrics that will dry quickly should they get wet. We love how the sheer white curtains in the photo above add texture while keeping this contemporary room feeling light and airy. 


3. Lavish sofas

Bathroom Trends
Photo by Fratantoni Luxury Estates – Discover Mediterranean bathroom design ideas 

The bathroom might be one of the last places you’d expect to see a bone-colored Italian leather sofa, which is why we love it so much!

Just think, if family or guests can find you and think you’re in the tub, they’ll leave you alone, perhaps for the better part of an hour! It’s the perfect place to hide away with a novel, a mud mask and a glass of wine! Or your partner can catch up on the events of the day while putting his feet up on the sofa as you have a soak in your marble-clad tub.

For the same reasons, we also love the sitting area in this stately bathroom.

Bathroom Trends
Photo by Robeson Design


4. Wall-to-wall Carrera marble

Bathroom Trends
Photo by Dig For Victory Limited 

It exudes the ritz of a palatial hotel. It garners the compliments of compliments. It’s timeless. Carrera marble—floor to ceiling as it is in this luxury real estate bathroom, and hand-picked from the quarry in Italy—harkens an era of Roman splendor. Does your designer speak Italian? 


5. The return of the sauna

Bathroom Trends
Photo by Prestige Saunas Ltd

After its resounding popularity and then fall in the 1980s, the home sauna is back. Both the technology and the design have evolved to create saunas that are infinitely more clean, easy to maintain and offer a lasting, decadent natural beauty. Why make the trek to the club for a sauna when you can simply open the door to your ensuite? Be sure to tell your builder you want enough room for at least two people, or make it even more expansive for group use in a guest bathroom and/or pool house bathroom.

 

Now that you have ideas about your dream bathroom, let’s find your dream home in the Okanagan. The professional Realtors® at Quincy Vrecko & Associates specialize in helping buyers discover the kind of luxury real estate Kelowna’s wealthiest covet for good reason. Call 250-863-8810.

While de-cluttering is one of the most impactful actions a seller can take, leaving a home too empty can also hurt deals. Read our Kelowna real estate team’s expert advice on the handful of big mistakes so many sellers make.

 

You’ve been thinking about it for months and now the time has come to put your house up for sale. With the Kelowna real estate market at a high, it’s a good time to be a seller, and yet there are always ways you can improve how much your house sells for, and how quickly.

If you want to increase the likelihood of strong offers, do everything you can to avoid these five Biggest Mistakes sellers often make.


1. Hiring an agent who is a friend of a friend of a friend….instead of a professional

Yes, the bookkeeper’s husband’s sister is a real estate agent, part-time, in Lumby. However, when it comes to selling Kelowna real estate, it’s more important to hire a professional Realtor® with a strong reputation as a listing agent than someone you know.

Agents who do this full-time in the same community have a strong understanding of the market: the home prices, the buyers, the days most homes spend on market. Accordingly, they plan a strategy to help sell your home for more money in less time. They work with your best interests in mind, and dig in around the clock to make deals happen. 

Our post, 3 Things to Look for in a Listing Realtor® makes the case for securing an established professional with a strong track record.


2. Keeping too much stuff

Imagine if Mr. & Mrs. Perfectbuyer had a showing at your house—located in the neighbourhood they really want and listed exactly within their price range. But the living room toy box was overflowing with monster trucks and dolls; the kitchen countertops, while clean, were stacked with cookbooks, spices and bowls; plastic containers took up almost every step on the carpet in bedrooms. Their Kelowna real estate agent already knows what they’ll say: “It feels cluttered.”

Cluttered spaces feel smaller, and there’s no room to imagine yourself and your things in the space. While it might seem like a hassle to clean for showings and pack well before the move, if your home felt light, airy and spacious, it just might sell sooner, and for a lot more money. Trust us, de-cluttering pays.


3. Keeping not enough stuff

The only thing worse than a cluttered house (or a house in disrepair; see mistake #4), is an empty house. When there is absolutely no furniture in a home, it feels barren and cold. And it takes some imagination on the part of the homebuyer to see the space for what it could be. Unfortunately, most people have trouble with this part.

If you have to move your home long before it sells, either leave enough pieces of key furniture to give it life, or, better yet, enlist the help of a professional home stager. Stagers choose neutral, contemporary pieces that best suit the home and appeal to homebuyers. It’s a small investment that almost always garners a big reward.


4. Forgoing repairs and curb appeal

You might not know it, but among people looking at Kelowna houses for sale, your house will earn a name, either something like, ‘the really cute one with the blue door near downtown’ or ‘the one with the bad roof and broken door near downtown.’  

Too often, keen sellers forgo even basic repairs because they just want that ‘FOR SALE’ sign up. Unfortunately, this tends to have the opposite effect: the house sits and sits and sits. And the longer it’s on the market, the less equity you’re likely to leave with.

A professional cleaning inside, a paint job on the exterior, a few weekends of pulling weeds and planting, and the work of a handyman on broken cupboards or doors would make a more positive impression on your home’s next residents. If you’re considering selling, we’ve got a great post on how to boost your home’s curb appeal with lots of great tips.


5. Using terrible photos

Think about it: What connects you to a home, makes you want to drive over there right now? Is it the price? The description? The specs? No. It’s the photos. Humans develop emotional connections through imagery. Humans also tend to do a lot of their research about Kelowna properties online.

If you really want to reel in buyers and help them fall in love with your home, you need to show it in its best light with high quality photos. Serious agents use professional equipment and/or professional photographers—another small investment that yields big returns.

 

Are you considering selling your home? Discover the difference it makes to have a professional Realtor with an outstanding track record on your side. Call the Quincy Vrecko Kelowna real estate team. 1-778-760-2860.

More and more Toronto ~nians are giving up sky-high condos and property prices to enjoy the lifestyle and luxury real estate of Kelowna. Is there really a comparison?

 

For years, people across western Canada have been migrating to the Okanagan. So much so you could even stop someone on Water Street and say, ‘Are you from Alberta or Vancouver?’ But in recent months, our Kelowna luxury real estate agents have been taking relocation calls from another breed of homebuyer: the Torontonian.

Why are more and more people heading west, all the way from Toronto to Kelowna?  Those who call Kelowna home could spend all day listing the reasons why we’d never live anywhere else. For everyone else, here is a comparison of Toronto and Kelowna.

 SUN

Kelowna: Sees 2,000+ hours of sunshine every year

Toronto: Sees smog, and variations of grey, dirty and slushy, for about 358 days of the year.

 BEACHES

Kelowna: Has 30+ beaches

Toronto:  Has a neighborhood called The Beaches and a polluted Lake Ontario. One report suggests the pollution in and treatment of Lake Ontario (near Toronto) is amongst the worst in Ontario.

 DRIVE TIME

Kelowna: Takes 15 minutes to get to the international airport, and five minutes to get through security.

Toronto: Takes two hours to get to the airport, your firstborn son in exchange for parking, and one hour to get through security.

 TRANSPORTATION

Kelowna: Offers nearly 300 kilometers of on-street bicycle lanes and 40 kilometers of separate paved multi-use paths. Plus 18 trestle bridges you can ride on.

Toronto: Offers sidewalks, a nice little subway system that’s great when it’s functioning as well as tracks used by charming, boisterous traffic-jamming streetcars.

 WEATHER

Kelowna: Cools off with the lake and mountain air.

Toronto: Cools off with air-conditioning. A lot of air-conditioning. So that you don’t have to go outside and breathe in the smog for two months.

 NICKNAMES

Kelowna: Nicknames: Orchard City, Napa of the North (did we mention the 28 wineries?)

Toronto: Nicknames: Hogtown, The Big Smoke, TO.

 REAL ESTATE

Kelowna: For $840,000 you can buy a 3,500 square feet four-bedroom home with a pool on the Upper Mission. In the Kelowna luxury real estate market, $1.9 million would bring you into a stunning five-bedroom, 4,400 square feet Lower Mission home with vineyard and Okanagan Lake views.

Toronto: For about $650,000 (plus a $500/month maintenance fee) you might be able to afford a two-bedroom, 800 square feet condo downtown.

 

Kelowna: Increasing demand and migration (partly spawned by Alberta’s oil slump) has created pressure on the market, especially when it comes to lakeview luxury real estate, but with a professional agent who knows the market on your side, you still have a good shot at finding your dream home for a fair price without needing a double bypass in the process.

Toronto: With bidding wars, bullying and outlandish over-asking-price offers, the real estate market in Toronto is a veritable jungle (in March, sales jumped 16.2 percent; the average price rose 12.1 percent compared to the same month last year.) 

Still wondering why you’re living in Toronto?

 

Are you considering the move from Ontario to the Okanagan? And now that you’re switching from the GTA to central Kelowna, you’re able to explore luxury real estate options? Trust the professional Realtors® at Quincy Vrecko, specializing in high-end homes in Kelowna’s most desirable neighborhoods. Call 250-863-8810.

In March 2015, five $1 million+ homes were sold in the region; in March 2016, that number was 27!

 

If March home sales are even a slight indication of things to come in May

The Okanagan real estate and Kelowna luxury real estate markets will be just as hot as spring’s record-breaking temperatures. prices are up, days on market down and rising competition for the best luxury properties. Buyers and sellers alike are wondering what’s driving the spike in sales? 

In its March press release, the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB) said the local real estate market is more than gaining momentum. 

“Home sales were exceptionally strong in March,” said Anthony Bastiaanssen, OMREB president and an active local Realtor®. “The spring housing market is now shaping up to be one of the most active on record.”

Across the valley, 847 residential properties were sold last month—the valley’s second strongest March on record (home sales reached a record 892 units in March 2007). When it comes to luxury properties, the number of home sales more than quadrupled: In March 2015, five $1 million+ homes were sold in the region; in March 2016, that number was 27!

In the central zone—Peachland to Lake Country: 

  • Transactions of all property types were up 24 percent to 636 units. Compared to March 2015, which saw 513 units sold. February 2016 saw 447 units sold. 
  • The average MLS® residential price was up 9.6 percent. 


What’s driving the boom?
 

1. Migration from the Lower Mainland, the Prairies, and Ontario.

With its fair weather, extended outdoor activity seasons and breathtaking views, the Okanagan has always been a choice place to live. In 2015, despite, and perhaps as a result of Alberta’s oil slump, Canada’s housing market had an incredibly strong year. A trend forecasted to continue in 2016 and particularly so for BC. Laid-off oilpatch executives are converting vacation homes into primary residences and oilfield workers are now migrating to BC for work.

Learn more in our post How is Alberta’s Oil Slump Increasing Kelowna Luxury Real Estate Prices?

2. Record-breaking temperatures

In the world of luxury real estate, spring is always a busy time as discerning homebuyers wait for the snow to melt to travel to other cities for viewings, where they’ll be able to see just how the estate—its master landscaping, dock, beachfront, and views—will look during the season they’ll want to make the most of their Okanagan home. 

This year, however, spring came early not just in the Okanagan, but across the west. Many cities are breaking records with temperatures in the mid-twenties. This gave the ‘spring rush’ in real estate an early start.

3. Rock-bottom interest rates

The Bank of Canada, as of mid-April, elected to cut its benchmark lending rate to just 0.5 percent, in part to help stimulate the economy. While homebuyers in the market for Kelowna luxury real estate tend not to have mortgages, there can be a domino effect on inventory when owners of ‘average’ homes are able to upgrade.

What does the booming market mean for luxury buyers and sellers? 

According to OMREB, with active listings on the MLS® were down nearly 19 percent from a year ago, there’s now more upward pressure on the market, particularly in the luxury market, where inventory is already sparse. 

“Market conditions are now favoring home sellers in many neighborhoods, and, as a result, competition is increasing for the best properties,” said Bastiaanssen.

Are you ready to invest in luxury real estate in Kelowna? Want to take advantage of market conditions to sell your property? Trust the real estate professionals who specialize in buying and selling $1 million+ properties. Call Quincy Vrecko & Associates at 250-863-8810.

So, you two lovebirds found the perfect piece of Kelowna real estate for your love nest. Now, where are you going to put everything?

 

So you’ve said, “I do,” or maybe just, “Let’s try this living together thing.” And somewhere between looking at Kelowna houses for sale and experiencing the romance of sharing dishes, laundry, cooking, yard work, and grocery shopping in your dream home…you’re thinking about the marriage of your things. 

If you’ve ever seen one of those de-cluttering shows, you know there are three simple paths to managing ‘stuff’ so you can say goodbye to the unnecessary and make room for the keepers. Here, then, are your three piles and your path to cohabitating happiness in all sizes of Kelowna properties.


What to Keep
 

You’re used to having that whole closet to yourself.  Maybe two of them. Now, though, in that beautiful piece of Kelowna real estate you now own together, it’s time to pare down and pair up. Here is a guide to the big things you can definitely justify keeping:

  • The original record collection
  • Skis, snowboards, skates—any expensive sports gear you’ve used in the last two years (see rollerblades in the next list)
  • Heirloom gifts, no matter how gaudy, because you just have to


What to Recycle

Here’s a simple rule: If you haven’t used it or loved it in the last three months, let it go—to the garbage (if you have to) or better yet, a charity store. These items are likely to include:

  • VHS players
  • Video games
  • Origami folded notes from high school
  • Copies of Cosmo and Seventeen
  • Smelly tweed vintage winter coats from your year as a hippie
  • Photos of you and your exes, photos of you topless at Peachfest, photos of you and Santa when you were 23
  • Stuffies you played with when you were six
  • Track and field ribbons they have to give you in elementary school
  • Rollerblades
  • Cheap, broken or threadbare tents and any other camping gear that once belonged to your grandpa
  • The long abandoned three-drawer plastic craft storage centre
  • The bridesmaid dresses you said you’d vacuum in

Really, anything from before college can go. 


What to Sell or Store

His sports cards. The baseball cards. The hockey cards. The jerseys. She says there’s no room, you say you collected these for years. They’re worth something. You’re not just going to throw them away. Fair enough. 

A happy medium for non-music collections typical and eccentric alike in homes with not quite enough storage, is to sell or store. That way the collector doesn’t feel like they have to simply throw away this part of growing up (which may or may not be worth something), but it also won’t infringe on limited space in the home. 

If you’re up for selling rather than storing, you can use the funds for something cool and grown-up for both of you to enjoy in the new house, such as a beverage fridge or even a hot tub! 

Her DIY projects (gone wrong). She probably had a phase when she thought it was fun to go garage sales and charity shops, fix up old dressers and night stands and then decorate the place with them. Except half went unfinished, knob-less or unusable with drawers that don’t actually open (which was fine before you started looking at Kelowna real estate and discovered the joy of cupboards that spring open and closed with ease). Or you’re over the shabby chic look and want something more contemporary, more gender neutral. Kijiji it. All of it.

You probably finding Mr. or Mrs. Right was going to be the tricky part, but perhaps you’ve found a house you love that three other couples are also ogling over. Check out our post A Kelowna Realtor®’s 6 Tips for Winning a Bidding War.

 

Are you and your special someone still in the house-hunting phase? Trust the professional Realtors® who know Kelowna real estate, style and the needs of couples and first-time homebuyers. Call Quincy Vrecko & Associates now. 1-250-863-8810.