The great thing about being in this business is that we get to learn a ton about real estate. In my travels I have noticed that there some very unique things that happen in the real estate world in major North American cities. To people from outside the city… they seem odd, but to the Realtors, Buyers and Sellers in those cities it is the norm.
For example:
San Francisco TIC’s
When I was in San Francisco a few months back I met with Anthony Koutsos, a Realtor from Prudential California Realty in the Castro area of San Fran. He said that he specializes in TIC sales. ? ? TIC Sales? I had no idea what that was. This is what he said:
“A “TIC” is a unit in a multi unit building owned as an undivided percentage interest in the whole property. This form of property ownership has been around for over 100 years and is more common as an investment tool to allow some one to buy an interest in a large commercial property. It has become popular as a form of residential home ownership in San Francisco over the past 20 years due to strict condo conversion limits and a limited number of available single family residences, like condos or houses.”
Basically… people are taking their homes, putting what might look like a rental suite in it… and then selling that portion of the home.
Anthony specializes in TIC sales and wanted a website that not only explained what a TIC was, but help him gain more buyers and sellers.
Here is the site that we build for him:
http://www.sanfranciscotics.com
Vancouver Assignment Sales
In Vancouver, with the crazy condo market, developers were able to sell their condo units for buildings before they were built. This practice is called PreSales and Vancouver was one of the first cities to do it. Still today, when I go to other North American cities and tell Realtors there about PreSales they are shocked that this happens.
PreSales has been going on for a while… but now PreSales it has created a new form of real estate buying and selling. People are now buying and selling their “contracts” before the building is completed.
These contract exchanges are called “Assignments” and has become a very big, lucrative market for some Realtors in Vancouver. The unique thing about Assignments is that they are not considered property (as the property does not exist) so they are not listed on the MLS.
Michel Tremblay, a Realtor in Vancouver, recognized the opportunity and had us create a website for him that would act as the MLS of Assignments.
Here is the site that we build for him:
http://www.realestateassignment.ca