FAQs

Look at the expensive things first, in this order: roof, drainage, electrical, plumbing and the foundation. Perimeter drains have a service life and replacing them is not a small job. On the electrical side, check the panel and ask about knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring — both can affect what insurers will offer you. For plumbing, poly-B supply lines are common in BC homes built between roughly 1985 and 1998 and many insurers now treat them as a condition.

Two more that are specific to older properties here: buried oil tanks on pre-1960s lots, which are the buyer’s problem once the sale closes, and asbestos in flooring, insulation and drywall compound in anything built before the 1990s, which matters the moment you want to renovate. Also confirm that additions, decks and any suite were actually permitted. A qualified inspection during the subject period is what turns this list from guesswork into numbers.

They change what you are buying, and sometimes what it is worth. The Form B states the strata fee, the contingency reserve balance, any special levies, and what parking and storage actually come with the unit — which is not always what the listing says. The depreciation report projects what the building will need over the next 30 years and how it is expected to be funded; a thin reserve beside a long list of upcoming work is a future cost to you, not to the seller.

Council minutes are where problems appear first, usually months before they become a levy. Bylaws decide whether you can rent, keep a pet or renovate. This is why an offer on a strata property normally carries a subject clause for reviewing the documents: it gives you a defined window to read them and to walk away if what they show is not what you expected.

Start with the strata, not the suite. Ask what the monthly fee covers, what the contingency reserve fund holds, and whether any special levy has been approved or discussed. Read the last two years of council minutes — recurring items about the building envelope, roof, elevators, plumbing or parkade membrane are the ones that turn into levies later.

Then check the bylaws for the things that are easy to assume: pets, rentals, age restrictions, and what you are actually allowed to do with a balcony or a parking stall. Building age matters too. Wood-frame buildings from the late 1980s and 1990s are the ones to ask rainscreen and envelope-remediation questions about, and whether that work has already been done and paid for.

It depends on the kind of home you want, your commute and your budget — Coquitlam changes a lot over a short distance. Burke Mountain is the newest part of the city, mostly detached homes and townhouses built in the last two decades. Westwood Plateau sits higher up the hillside and tends toward larger homes on bigger lots. Central Coquitlam is older and established, with mature trees and a mix of original houses and rebuilds. Coquitlam West borders Burnaby and is closest to the Lougheed SkyTrain and Highway 1, while Coquitlam Centre puts you beside the mall, the Evergreen Extension and most of the city’s amenities.

The questions that narrow it fastest are not about price: which schools matter to you, what your commute actually looks like at 8am, and how long you expect to stay. A house that suits a five-year plan is often not the one that suits a fifteen-year plan.

The honest answer is that it takes a comparable-sale analysis, not an online estimate. Automated valuations work from public data and cannot see your renovations, your outlook, your floor plan, or the condition of the roof and the drains. In Coquitlam they are particularly unreliable, because a short distance between Burke Mountain, Central Coquitlam and Coquitlam West can mean very different housing stock and very different buyers.

A real pricing analysis looks at what has actually sold nearby and recently, what is currently competing with you, how long those listings took, and what condition they were in compared with yours. Kristy will also tell you where preparation or staging would change the number, and where it would not be worth the spend.

Often, but not always in the full sense of the word. Kristy spent nearly ten years as an internationally award-winning home stager and was the owner of Private Property Staging, so the honest answer is that staging is a range rather than a yes or no. An occupied family home in good condition may only need a consultation, a declutter and some furniture moved. A vacant property usually benefits from more, because empty rooms photograph smaller and buyers struggle to judge scale.

The question worth asking is what the property needs in order to photograph and show well, and what that costs against the price difference it is likely to make. That is a conversation about your specific house, not a package.

Work from the outside in, and start earlier than feels necessary — most of what adds value takes weeks, not days. Declutter and depersonalise first, because it costs nothing and it changes how large the rooms read. Then handle the small deferred repairs: the sticking door, the cracked switch plate, the tap that drips. Buyers price those as a proxy for how the rest of the house was maintained.

After that comes presentation. Kristy’s background is in staging, so the usual sequence is a staging consultation, then preparation and any furniture or paint changes, and only then photography — professional photos, video and a floor plan, once the house is actually ready to be photographed. Doing it in the other order is the most common and most expensive mistake, because the listing photos are what most buyers decide on before they ever book a showing.

Ask three things, and ask them of everyone you interview. First, how long they have actually been licensed and what they have closed recently — Kristy has been licensed since 2004. Second, what training they hold beyond the basic licence: hers is ABR® (Accredited Buyer’s Representative), SRES® (Seniors Real Estate Specialist), RENE® (Real Estate Negotiation Expert) and negotiation training through BCIT. Third, ask to see the actual marketing plan for your property in writing, not a description of one.

Then check whether the claims are verifiable. Kristy was a 2017 Medallion Club Qualifier, which represents the top 10 per cent of REALTORS® in Greater Vancouver, and she spent nearly ten years as an internationally award-winning home stager before that. Anything a Realtor tells you should be checkable somewhere other than their own website.