Own Your Life ~ by Jessi Johnson

Picking the right tenant can make your rental profitable and peaceful. Picking the wrong one? Late rent, damage, and drama. In this video I show you exactly how to attract, screen, and approve A+ tenants—even in a competitive British Columbia market. Stick around to the end for the #1 screening mistake landlords make and how to get tenant credit checks for free (details in the video). What you’ll...

Are you rethinking your pre-sale purchase? With rising rates, construction delays, and prices dropping in some areas, many buyers are asking the same question: “What happens if I walk away?” In this episode, I break it all down: 👉 Why so many buyers are walking from pre-sales right now 👉 What your developer contract actually says (and why it matters) 👉 The real consequences of walking away — in...

Your home hasn’t sold… and you’re wondering why.  In this episode, I break down the real reasons listings sit stale in today’s 2025 market—plus what you can do to fix it. Here’s what we cover: Why pricing just 3–5% too high can kill your showings The importance of condition and curb appeal How location impacts your asking price The difference between great marketing vs. lazy marketing Why choosing...

Is Canada’s real estate market actually crashing, or is it just hype? The media loves doom and gloom—it gets clicks—but the real story is more complicated. In this Summer 2025 Market Update, I break down what’s really happening in Canadian real estate. While headlines scream about Toronto condos, pre-construction projects, and overleveraged investors, the truth is the market is deeply divided by m...

Imagine paying $2,600 for a tiny one-bedroom apartment, needing a $200,000 salary just to qualify for a basic home, and still barely making ends meet.  This isn't a dystopian future - it's Vancouver right now.  In fact, Vancouver just ranked as the third most unaffordable city in the world, surpassing New York and London.  And it's about to get worse.  Last year, we watched thousand...

Will Trump's tariffs cause a mortgage renewal crisis? As the housing market continues to face unprecedented challenges, the impact of tariffs on Canada is creating ripple effects throughout our economy. The combination of fluctuating mortgage rates and an ongoing recession has many homeowners concerned about their financial future. The housing crisis is deepening, particularly in major urban...

As someone deeply connected to the housing market, I want to shed light on the significant impact of recent U.S. tariffs on the Canadian housing landscape. What makes this particularly noteworthy is that these aren't just abstract economic policies affecting large corporations—they have real, tangible consequences for individual homeowners and potential buyers. Tariffs' Impact on Home Co...

I am Jessi Johnson, a 19-year veteran in the industry and this podcast is dedicated to helping you understand the rollercoaster real estate market in Greater Vancouver. I will post a link in the description to my recent podcast that picks apart my 2024 predicts so you can decide if I am out to lunch, or not With changes to both the US and Canadian federal governments in play, it will be much harde...

A review of my predictions from 2024. Was I close? Or, was I out to lunch? Welcome, I am Jessi Johnson, a 19-year veteran in the industry and this podcast is dedicated to helping you understand the rollercoaster real estate market in Greater Vancouver. I am not sure about you but must of us in the real estate industry were expecting 2024 to be a much stronger year. For the vast majority of realtor...

Recently in Canadian real estate, we’ve seen:  ~ GDP numbers fall, shifting predictions for December rate cuts  ~ Consumer insolvencies returning to pre-pandemic levels  ~ Canadians saving at near-record rates Fresh GDP numbers are in, and they’re weaker than expected. Canada’s economy grew just 1% year-over-year in Q3. GDP for September expanded by only 0.1%. On a per-capita basis? It actually fe...

What if you could shave off years of your mortgage amortization, save over $40,000 in interest, and even benefit from tax-saving strategies—all by giving up just one coffee a day? It might sound too simple to be true, but let’s take a look at the numbers…they speak for themselves. Let’s take a $1,000,000 mortgage with 25 years left to pay and an interest rate of 5%. The monthly payment for this mo...

Re-elected US president Trump plans to implement a massive 25% tariff on Canadian goods the day he comes back into power Is this all bark and no bite? Or will he push us into a recession? Let’s start with the basics: what are tariffs? What are tariffs? A tariff is essentially a tax placed on goods being imported into a country. The idea is to make those imported goods more expensive, giving domest...

Brace yourselves, because a massive shift is coming that could completely reshape Vancouver's real estate market. Starting in 2025, Canada is slashing its immigration targets.  We’re talking about 20% fewer permanent residents and almost half a million fewer temporary residents over the next two years. That’s a drastic drop that could throw our housing market into uncharted territory. We’re g...

Are Mortgage Rules Changing Weekly? Here’s What You Need to Know! In this video, we’ll break down the latest mortgage rule changes and how they may affect you. Key Updates: No More Stress Tests for Insured Mortgage Renewals: Now, you don’t need to qualify at a higher rate when renewing a non-insured mortgage, giving you more options to negotiate with lenders. Return of 30-Year Amortization for Ins...

Rumours have been floating around for a while but are now coming to fruition. The government has been researching the pros and cons of coming after principal residence by removing your capital gains exemption for a while now. Effective January 1, 2025, if you purchased a home less than 2 years ago and sell it for a profit, you could be subject to massive penalties. Previously, the federal governme...

Should you sell your current home before purchasing a new one, or buy a new home before selling the old one This is a nuanced decision with advantages and drawbacks to each approach. Let’s break down both options. First, consider the choice of selling your current home before buying a new one. One of the main benefits of selling first is that you'll know exactly how much money you have availa...

Despite dropping mortgage interest rates, the market remains slow. You can find out more about current trends in this video. Listen and subscribe for more!

Updated first-time home buyer incentives for Canadians! Did you know, you can get first-time buyer incentives more than once? Enjoy the guide to buying your first home in Greater Vancouver. Listen and subscribe for more!

Inventory hits a 4-year high, mortgage rates are falling and here is your market update If you bought an average detached house in Greater Vancouver in January, you are now almost $120,000 richer If you bought an average townhouse in Greater Vancouver in January, you are now almost $69,000 richer If you bought an average condo in Greater Vancouver in January, you are now over $25,000 richer

In this episode, we cover the new legislative changes to the Residential Tenancy Act as well as a number of skill, testing questions. Keaton covers what all the latest changes mean including the negative and positive implications. We also cover questions like, what's a bad tenant or lousy landlord? When is it time to seek help from a property manager? What do you think of the new Airbnb ban.....

The Bank of Canada Holds is over Overnight Rate at 5%. This came as no surprise, most of us in the industry didn't expect much much to happen until June. To be clear, the bank Canada announcement is specific to variable or line of credit mortgages. Fixed mortgages have been coming down since last October, but the media doesn't seem to be covering that for some reason.  So you might be as...

Yes, you heard that right. Our federal government is added again and wants to make it harder to qualify for a mortgage starting in 2025. If it's not hard enough already, I am disheartened to say that it's about to get harder The new rule, set to take effect in the first quarter of 2025, limits the amount of mortgage a bank can issue to a maximum 4.5 times a borrower's annual income...

People often overlook the dangers of waiting to buy real estate in hopes of seeking lower mortgage rates. However, it is generally substantially more expensive to do this, and you don't necessarily qualify for more with a lower rate because the purchase price is substantially higher. Of course, I can't predict the market, but I can tell you I'd be shocked if it didn't go up 10%...

Proper pre-approvals, why this is crucial to your success for many reasons. 

In this episode, we review a new-ish plan aimed at finally tackling Canada’s housing crisis. Right now, the government is thinking about how we can build as many homes as fast as possible, and they look to the past to pave the way to the future.  Pun intended ;) In a nutshell, they are creating a catalogue of the pre-approved building designs at the federal level. Now this isn't exactly a fre...