Chris Di Fazio | Vancouver Condo Team of Oakwyn Realty

I am Matt Parker, your host of the House Rich Homeowner podcast. Managing your home finances is hard. After many years in the mortgage industry, I've decided to combine my knowledge, resources and connections and turn them over to you. Each week I'll be featuring different home finance experts or my own personal insight to help you achieve financial peace at home. Let's. Hey, Matt Parker here. Very excited. Thank you so much. Sitting down with Chris DeFazio. Thank you for being here, Chris.

Thanks, Matt. Thanks for having me on.

Little intro for Chris. Chris is the co owner of the Vancouver condo team and they also have a very popular website, Vancouver presales.com and they're with Oakland Realty. So he's a wonderful resource and we're going to get a lot of great information today. So, Chris, let's just jump right into it. I like to start off more of a fun question. What's one thing that not many people would know about you?

In my previous life I was probably, or hope or think I was a martial artist. So I try to, okay, I enjoy it as a practice and I do it on my own or do it when the gyms are open. But yeah, I don't know, in a previous life I must have really been in that zone. So.

That'S. So. That's funny. That's funny because I know I don't, especially with my wife, I go, I'm a hockey player. She goes, when was the last time you played actual hockey? A good point. That is a good point. I'm not a hockey player.

I played hockey.

What was the. What, which martial art was it?

I enjoy kickboxing, so that's the thing I enjoy. But yeah, just, just. It's a cool. I guess it's a good test of yourself in physical situations that make everything else a little bit more simple. Right. So when you're training and kind of taking yourself to that beyond what you thought you were able to do, then it makes doing real estate or other aspects of life a little bit easier.

Yeah, no, thanks for sharing. Very cool. So that kind of gets us into the real estate side of things. What got you interested or started in real estate as a profession or as a career?

Yeah, for sure. I think two things. One, my, I'm from Toronto, you know, not born and raised. I was born in Montreal and my family moved to Toronto. And then while we were in Toronto in my kind of early 20s and late 20s, basically throughout my 20s, we bought. My mom helped me buy my first place and I was petrified with the process and didn't know what, you know, kind of following her lead. And we bought a one bedroom condo for I think $283,000 back. I don't even remember the time frame, maybe like eight, nine years ago. So kind of going through that process got, you know, interested, piqued my interest a little bit on the transaction, the negotiation, it was kind of a thrill. And then obviously getting my first place, like, okay, that seemed pretty fun. And we did well on that as well. But then I took a course in sustainable building. I was selling, I think I was selling software at the time. And I was just looking to do something a little bit different and a little bit more hands on in front of people rather than just inside sales. And I took a 10 week course on sustainable building and really enjoyed it and figured, okay, well, how do I, what, what skill set do I have that I can, I can dovetail it into maybe a career and that, that shares some of these things, some of this knowledge that I've just learned. So, so I started that and then in the meantime we moved to Vancouver and I was doing all, I did all my courses in Ontario, so I finished all my courses, came here, got a job for a year, and then jumped kind of two feet in. Got the push from the folks at Open Realty just to do it full time. And that was about six years ago.

Oh, cool. Yeah, I always find it interesting how everyone gets into sort of either the mortgage world or the real estate world because for me, I grew up around it, so it was very, it just made sense. It was an easy transition. But I find it fascinating anyone that chooses on their own to jump into just that, that, you know, on your own, into the deep end kind of situation. So congratulations.

No one chooses the sales career. Like when you're a little kid, you're not, you know, no one says, oh, I want to be a salesman. Right.

Yeah, that's true.

You develop a skill set and then, yeah, hopefully you enjoy what you do.

Yeah. Then. Because that gets us to the next question I have is why do you love what you do? What about it sort of gets you up in the morning?

I mean, it's a good question. I think if you ask any realtor, they'll always, most of them will say it's the people that you're trying to help. It's cliche, but it's super true. Just being able to see the. I just gave you an explanation of what got me into real estate that very first transaction. Understanding what needs I had at that time. Single, bachelor, In Toronto, much different than a young family man with a kid at home. You know, just figuring out what that problem solving for clients, figuring out what their needs are, trying to forecast what their needs will be and trying to find something and get them up the property ladder, I think is a good challenge. And it doesn't come without, you know, lots of ups and downs and lots of obstacles. I use an analogy quite often with my clients and it's like game snakes and ladders. So there's many ways to win the game, right? Not everyone's going to hit that, that home run ladder or you kind of hit it off one roll and win the game. So the goal is to get, you know, especially our generation, there's many little ladders that you can get and still get to the end destination with avoiding the pitfalls, the snakes. So that's kind of how I try to summer, boil it down and yeah, I apply that every day for my clients.

Yeah, that's a great point. I mean, to me it just sounds more of like transition phases of ownership, especially in somewhere like Vancouver where you're probably not going to get right into the dream home right away. You might have to build with the market over time and we've seen so many clients do that and it's such a great idea. I always say get in to the market as soon as you can, hopefully, and then just grow with it. So you're not, you're not out of it as best as you can.

Yeah, for sure. You're like for a sports analogy, you're kind of like a good referee. Right. You know, the kids or the family doesn't know why they're doing so well, but like you're doing your job and you're staying kind of in the shadows and just making sure that your clients are, you know, on that pedestal and making sure they're, they're getting ahead and they're getting to what they need to have, right?

Yeah. That's so cool. If you weren't doing this though, do you see yourself in any other industries? Is there anything that you find, you know, exciting out there that you'd like to, that you would have liked to try?

If I had to tap into my like 9 year old self, I would say it was probably. I used to love, used to love like the scores of, of movies and I'm like, okay, there must be someone picking music to fit the scene, right? So I know that must have been a job. And when I was, you know, younger, it was definitely something I took note of. I used to make, you know, watch my favorite movies and then figure out what songs they were and make mistakes with those songs. So yeah, I would say something, whatever that title of that job would have been kind of my childhood dream, if you will.

Oh, very cool. That's really interesting. Yeah. And you know, imagine those movies without the music. It wouldn't be so exciting for sure.

Star Wars, Jaws, they all have the same composer. Like he's like it's classical music tied to sets the scene, sets the mood, gets the juices going.

Exactly. As we're chatting, it's May 1st today, so sort of not at the, not at the beginning of the COVID situation. Sor been a few weeks now, we're seeing sort of effects on the market in terms of activity potentially. Do you have any advice for anyone that's I know that your company handles a lot of pre sale purchases and also resale as well. Do you have any advice for anyone maybe looking to get into the pre sale market or potentially list their home in the next few months in terms of what you're seeing out there that you can provide to any potential homeowner or purchaser?

For sure. I think let's put on the buyer side, I would say be specific and assertive. So everyone wants, you know, everyone sees the bad news, everyone sees the media with, you know, market's gonna drop, it's gonna go down by XYZ amount of percentage. I think the key is, yes, it's definitely a favorable time to buy in the next three to six months. I don't think it's because it's going to be at the cost of the sellers because technically anyone who's going to be selling in the next three to six months are going to be people that need to move up that property ladder or life is happening and they need to continue to figure out what space they need for their living situation. I think you would agree that space is at a premium now if we have to. If this is a new norm where economies get shut down for lengthy periods of time and people have to work from home, watch their kids from home, entertain their kids from home. More importantly, space is at a premium. Right. So I think being assertive as far as defining what your needs are. So five definite needs and separating that from the five nice to haves. So I think any buyer working with me, I make sure that they compile those two lists and be specific about that. And then by being assertive, I just mean being organized, having your financing in order, doing your due diligence on the Area the building and being assertive with your time and knowing exactly kind of what that would look like. Right. There are some barriers now to just seeing properties. Listings are going to be quite low for the next little while and even physically getting into the property is quite difficult because oftentimes sellers don't want a lot of people in their place. So I think you're going to see a little bit of pre qualifying before that. And yeah, if you're assertive in this type of market where there's a lot of ups and downs, I think you're going to be able to do well over a three to five year period. So I think that's the best advice I can give to any buyers and any sellers right now. It's just, yeah, have your property in tip top condition, make it as turnkey as possible. That's what most people are looking for in this market.

Yeah, no, it is interesting and none of us have the crystal ball to know exactly what will unfold. But I agree with you in the sense that be prepared because the more prepared we are, the more efficient and the more aggressive you can be as a purchaser especially. And also I also agree potentially with the next three to five years having potential for value to do just fine because you know, inventory will be low, interest rates will probably be low and we'll eventually get through the current situation and then, you know, when that happens, I mean we saw in any past economic challenges, we've seen it, you know, build over time again, whether it's 2008 or any other times historically. So patience and prepare and that's all we can really do. And No, I agree 100%. So great advice. Thank you. Any properties or any transactions that you've been involved in over the years that stand out as the most memorable to you, whether it's a property itself or just a situation that you want to share on.

Yeah, I guess most recently, just my last deal was probably about five weeks ago and this was when the news was kind of degrade, the situation was evolving into what it is now. Right. We didn't know, no one knew there was. This is when people were racing to buy toilet paper. So it was kind of when the pandemic was really getting picked up by the media, as it should have been, and provinces were locking down. And I had just gotten this listing, this awesome listing here in Olympic Village with a great view. And yeah, it was last week of open houses that we had here in Vancouver and we were able to get all the open houses done. We were very Busy. We, we ended up getting five offers and we ended up going, getting something that was subject free. And this was when there was a lot of uncertainty. So I think the trick with that one was just sticking to our original plan. There's always a plan in place with what type of pricing you're going to use and what kind of strategy you're going to try to position the property with. And when all this new news was coming, we didn't deviate from that. We stayed on the plan. And I think giving people, buyers some certainty during that tumultuous period made them feel a little bit more secure about what they were purchasing. So I think that was the key and definitely the most recent memorable one. Just because of the situation, there was a happy ending which we were fortunate about. But it was definitely a tough transaction. Just from the moving parts.

Yeah. And the emotions and just everything involved. It's, it's heightened these days than it, than it normally is and it always is an emotional time anyways, whether you're buying a, you know, you're selling your home, you're buying a new home. It's, it's so important for clients that. Yeah, it can be very challenging just emotionally. So. Yeah, no, I like that because I mean, I always like to say to clients too, it's, it's the value is really only important at a few times during the time that you have that property. It's when you buy it and when you sell it and if we want to restructure it to access equity or capital out of the home for other purposes, I mean, if it goes up and down over the lifetime of owning it, that's okay. You don't need to look at it every single day because it will change over time. It'll probably trend where we want it to trend, which we've seen historically. So yeah, I always talk to clients on more of what's the plan, how long of term of a property is this for us? Because in that way we can plan better to make sure it's the most economical decision. So yeah, that's why I said that, you know, expectations and setting it up where, you know, what is the long term goal of this property? Where if you're buying it in a very uncertain time, it might be just fine because you'll be there five, ten, however many years. So, you know, what happens in the next six to 12 months won't necessarily affect you to a large degree from a ownership standpoint for sure.

And one would argue that real estate is, it's a flexible Asset. Right. It is harder because it's a fixed asset. So you do have to buy it or sell it at a specific point in time. But even throughout that time, there's many different things. You could always rent a property, you know, you can always pull equity out like you said to do, fund other things. If you see some opportunities, you can live in it yourself. So there's lots of different ways that you can use the asset in that time frame until you can reach that point where it makes sense to then move on from it or capitalize on that purchase.

Yeah. Especially today with interest rates again being so low, you know, it's not, it's not a bad decision depending on your situation, if it's financially feasible to do those kinds of things. Now we're on the House Rich podcast. So I like to talk to clients about house rich more of a fun way. And especially the reason is more from a Vancouver Lower Mainland standpoint. A lot of people think house poor or mortgages are high, property values are high. But for the most part, our clients are very well situated. Find that cash flows, you know, very good because I like to focus more on that cash flow style approach versus, you know, what can I qualify approach. And so that's when I say house rich, it's more of having a situation where we can still live life, we can still have fun, but we can have the home that we want to be in and hopefully utilize that asset to create a investment vehicle going forward by readvanceability, accessing equity out for future purchases. All that or positioning us for that next stage in home ownership is so valuable too. When I say house rich, what, what do you think of what comes to your mind?

Definitely in the same line that you're thinking originally. I'll give you my post kind of COVID house rich idea.

Okay.

That is, you know, is your house, does your house enrich your experience, you know, in the terms of does it have intrinsic value, does it have an outdoor space which has never been even more important than today. Right. If you have a family or even just for your own well being, if you're able to cook outside just while the sun is shining. I think house rich is kind of changing what people look at housing at as an option. And I think you just need a lot of intrinsic value within that. So good location, easy to access, transit, those are all super important. Those are the staples of being house rich and making good investments. But I'm also looking at it from the angle of does it enrich your life? Do you have the space needed for your family? Do you have the space needed for your pets? I think people are going to value different aspects of different houses moving forward with this new reality in mind. Right. With the possibility that you may have to be in your house for a month at a time. Right. So I think there's probably a lot of people looking, thinking is changing a little bit as to what house rich means. But definitely the staple is a vehicle to get to that forever home, that snakes and otters analogy. But right now I'm thinking, like, I'm trying to focus on, okay, what's important to you, what are the needs? And then how do we address those needs? And let's keep our mind open as to where we can find that, because there are some pockets of areas, lower mainland that people may not be aware of that offer what they are looking for. So I think that's the big challenge moving forward is just placing people into these pockets that really will enrich their lives.

Well, it's a great point because I, you know, the question I love to ask first off is where do you want to be? Like, where do you see yourself? What kind of lifestyle do you want? Like, what kind of property is that? So I think you just. You just nailed it there. Where this has probably changed a lot of people's perception on what that is or. Or what their, you know, goals are in life these days or knowing what's important to them now versus, you know, pre. Pre. Covid.

Right.

Has probably changed for quite a few people. So. Yeah, great point. Great point. Kris, thank you again. It's been an absolute pleasure. Great advice. I know everyone's gonna love it. Where would be the best place to contact you or reach out to you if you're looking to. If anyone's looking to buy or sell a property.

Yeah. The best place would be vancouverpresales.com if you're interested in finding out what the pre sales market has to offer. And then our team, as mentioned before, is the Vancouver condo team. So Vancouvercondo team.com, those would be the two best resources.

Wonderful. We'll include that in all the show notes and all the material. Again, grateful to have you here. It's been a pleasure. Stay safe and we'll talk soon.

Awesome. Thanks so much.

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