John Cooper's (johncooper) Blog

I live and work in downtown Nanaimo, and like anyone that lives and works downtown, I have had my share of parking tickets. I really think there must be a better way to handle parking downtown. Here we are on one hand, trying to encourage investment & development in the downtown, yet we work dili...

I always read these articles with a ‘grain of salt' as often times the story of a real estate slow-down sells papers. But this article takes a fairly balanced review of the current situation for real estate on Vancouver Island. jc Vancouver Island housing starts slide in June  Vancouver Island ho...

Despite the 2nd quarter of 2008 ending on a slower note, with total unit sales down for both single family homes and condos, single family home sale prices have still climbed 7% on average. Old City home sellers should also note that average days on market have increased by 13% compared to the 2n...

Here we go! The Vancouver Island Convention Centre is almost complete, and Vancouver Island University is official. Nanaimo's Downtown is well on its way to revitalization. This is great news for Old City homeowners, and anyone considering a move to the Old City.  The Old City QuarterlyTM will pr...

I am so happy that the land trust raised the money they needed for this acquistion. Mt. Benson is such an asset to this entire community. This news just made my year! Mt. Benson will stay ever green It took two years of bottle drives, concerts and fundraising to collect cash for land     Saturday...

NEWS RELEASEFor Immediate ReleaseVIREB reports June sales statisticsNANAIMO, BC - Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) sales summary data released by the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) for June 2008, shows continuing declines in unit sales volume while inventories of properties listed for...

You can also check out my Facebook Groups here: I'm sure most of you have used Facebook at one time or another. My family loves using it to keep track of everyone's holidays, and new baby pictures. So I figured I could start a facebook group that anyone can use to post a question, or even a pictu...

As far as British Columbia destinations go, you do not often here about Nanaimo, BC. Although the Nanaimo tourism board has recently undergone a signifigant awareness campaign that seems to be working. My friends and family still remaining on BC's Mainland, have been telling me that they keep hea...

Well, despite the fact that I already have a successful outside blog. Its good to see that Active Rain has made this possible for its membership. There are too few agents in my market that are successfully using a real estate blog, which I guess is good for me, but not that good for the rest of o...

Here's a very interesting article that gives some good insight into the rental restrictions so prevalent in strata bylaws. I personally think that in many markets these bylaws work against condominium owners looking to maximize the return on their investment. At first glance it seems like a good ...