The Real Deal Pod: Allister Carrington & Geoff Lee’s Pro Insights in Real Estate

Everyone can afford it. Nobody’s buying. In 2022, almost everyone wanted to buy a home in the Fraser Valley and very few could afford one. In 2026, far more people can, and nobody wants to. In Episode 115 of The Real Deal Pod, BC realtor Allister Carrington and BC mortgage broker Geoff Lee put 2022 Fraser Valley real estate side by side with today’s, and show why Surrey detached homes now sit $465,400 below their peak. Then Geoff explains what really happens to your BC mortgage when you separate, including the one time BC mortgage rules let you borrow up to 95% of your home’s value.
 
What you’ll learn:
Fraser Valley real estate at the 2022 peak: Surrey up 38.5% and Abbotsford up 42.5% in a single year
Why only about 9 of every 100 detached homes for sale are selling today, versus 82 of every 100 at the height of the market
Why sales in Surrey and Abbotsford fell by 221 homes in September, and 219 of them were condos
Surrey detached homes: $465,400 below peak, and owning one costs about $1,000 less a month ($7,010 to $6,010)
South Surrey / White Rock: $504,600 below peak. Abbotsford: about $460,000 below. Langley: $297,500 below
Why Burnaby is the one market where owning costs more today, up $310 a mont
Why “the timing is comfortable” describes today’s Fraser Valley market better than “cheap”
You moved out. Your mortgage didn’t: why both names stay responsible for a BC mortgage until one comes off the title
How one missed mortgage payment can damage both partners’ credit
Selling vs. a spousal buyout, and how a buyout lets you refinance up to 95% of the home’s value
Why you need a signed separation agreement and must qualify for a BC mortgage again
BC family property rules for common-law couples after two years together
Why your story is your own, and who you should actually get advice from
 
Hosted by Allister Carrington | BC REALTOR®, KIC Realty | www.AllisterCarrington.comCo-hosted by Geoff Lee | BC Mortgage Broker, GLM Mortgage Group | www.GLMmortgage.com

Being house rich and cash poor is one of the quietest financial traps in BC real estate — and it happens at every price point. In Episode 114 of The Real Deal Pod, Fraser Valley realtor Allister Carrington and BC mortgage broker Geoff Lee break down what it actually costs to own a home in BC, why being approved for $2M doesn't mean you should spend $2M, and how to avoid having your home eat your entire paycheck.
 
They also cover the BC election on October 24th — laying out every party's housing platform clearly and without spin, so you can ask the three questions that matter: Does it get more homes built? Does it make buying or renting cheaper? And who pays for it?
 
What you'll learn:
Why BC homeowners at every income level are living paycheck to paycheck — and what's really causing it
Real numbers: same $9,000/month household, $1.5M home vs $1.1M home — $22,000 difference per year
How debt servicing ratios work: 44–49% of income at traditional lenders, up to 60% at alternative lenders
The costs every BC buyer forgets: strata fees, special assessments, property tax, insurance, repairs
Why your home equity isn't cash — and what it actually takes to access it
Variable rate risk: 8 rate increases in 11 months, and what that does to a $500K mortgage
Why working with a BC mortgage broker beats being unrepresented at a bank
Every BC election party's housing plan — NDP, Conservative, Green, Centre BC, One BC — laid out simply
The cost of raising a child in Canada (and why the hockey math is even wilder)
 
Hosted by Allister Carrington | BC Realtor, KIC Realty | www.AllisterCarrington.com Co-hosted by Geoff Lee | BC Mortgage Broker, GLM Mortgage Group | www.GLMmortgage.com

Your BC mortgage might be portable — but the rate you get when you port it could make breaking it the smarter move. In Episode 113 of The Real Deal Pod, Fraser Valley realtor Allister Carrington and BC mortgage broker Geoff Lee cover the September 2026 BC real estate numbers, then deliver a practical breakdown of BC mortgage portability — including a real client case where a "portable" mortgage came with a blended rate so high it was cheaper to break it and start fresh.
 
What you'll learn:
September 2026 BC real estate stats: Fraser Valley typical home at $861,300 (down 7%), Metro Vancouver at $1.075M (down 5.5%)
Why Fraser Valley single-family homes are now $460,000 below their March 2022 peak — and what that means for buyers today
Why condo sales in Metro Vancouver fell nearly 19% in a single month
Why buyers still aren't moving — and why the hesitation is noise, not affordability
What BC mortgage portability actually means — and what it doesn't guarantee
Real case: a "portable" BC mortgage with a 3.89% rate that blended to 4.89% on porting — and why breaking it was cheaper
Port and increase vs. port and decrease — not all lenders allow both
Whether you can switch from fixed to variable (or vice versa) when porting a BC mortgage
How to estimate your BC mortgage penalty: loan balance × 4.7% as a starting point
The one question most people forget: how long do you have to port from sale to purchase?
Why you must fully re-qualify when porting — even if you're borrowing less
The 8 questions to ask about any BC mortgage before you sign
 
Hosted by Allister Carrington | BC Realtor, KIC Realty | www.AllisterCarrington.com Co-hosted by Geoff Lee | BC Mortgage Broker, GLM Mortgage Group | www.GLMmortgage.com

BC's snap election is here and Premier Eby just announced a new unsold condo tax targeting $4.4B in empty Metro Vancouver inventory. Fixed BC mortgage rates may be heading back toward 5% because of the ongoing tariff war and bond yield pressure. In Episode 112 of The Real Deal Pod, Fraser Valley realtor Allister Carrington and BC mortgage broker Geoff Lee break both down — and connect them with a single theme: don't let the headline make the decision for you.
 
What you'll learn:
BC's proposed unsold condo tax: 2% annually on finished empty condos, rising each year — how it works and what it doesn't tell you
Why Allister sees future supply risk and Geoff sees a BC buying opportunity — and why both are right
Why this is a campaign announcement, not law: no exemptions, no rate ceiling, and major uncertainty for lenders and builders
Fixed BC mortgage rates rising toward 5%: tariff war, US bond yields, and what it means for buyers right now
Why BC and Ontario are the only two Canadian markets correcting — everywhere else is near record highs
Why the lowest BC mortgage rate is often not the best mortgage product
The 4 questions every BC borrower must ask before signing: penalties, prepayment, portability, and flexibility
How BC mortgage penalties are calculated differently at big six banks, credit unions, and monoline lenders
Why 6–7 out of 10 people break their BC mortgage within the first 3 years — and what that costs them
Why you should never use AI to find your mortgage product
The cheapest blender breaks every three months — the same principle applies to your mortgage
Hosted by Allister Carrington | BC Realtor, KIC Realty | www.AllisterCarrington.com Co-hosted by Geoff Lee | BC Mortgage Broker, GLM Mortgage Group | www.GLMmortgage.com

Your BC mortgage doesn't disappear when you die — and most Canadian homeowners have no plan for what happens next. In Episode 111 of The Real Deal Pod, Fraser Valley realtor Allister Carrington and BC mortgage broker Geoff Lee cover what actually happens to a BC mortgage when a homeowner passes away, why 50% of Canadians have no will, and what joint tenancy vs. tenants in common really means for your family.
 
They also cover Allister's Did You Know: $4.4 billion in unsold Metro Vancouver condos and why three-bedroom units at a 27.3% unsold rate represent one of the biggest negotiating opportunities BC buyers have seen in years.
 
What you'll learn:
What happens to a BC mortgage when you die — the bank doesn't automatically take your home
Joint tenancy vs. tenants in common: how your BC property is registered determines where it goes
Whether a surviving BC spouse can keep the home — and what lenders actually require
Mortgage insurance vs. life insurance: debt replacement vs. income replacement — why you need both
Why your employer life insurance almost certainly isn't enough to cover a BC mortgage
50–52% of Canadian adults have no will — and in BC, no will means the province decides
How to keep your will current and who should have a copy
Corporate wills and why 70% of BC business owners have no succession plan
$4.4B in unsold Metro Vancouver condos — the buyer opportunity broken down by unit type
Why only BC and Ontario are posting negative sales while the rest of Canada is near record highs
BC snap election numbers: $5.7B surplus in 2022 to a $13.8B deficit today
Hosted by Allister Carrington | Fraser Valley Realtor | www.AllisterCarrington.com Co-hosted by Geoff Lee | BC Mortgage Broker, GLM Mortgage Group | www.GLMmortgage.com

CMHC says Canada needs 4.7 million new homes to restore affordability and is only on track to build half that. So is BC real estate still unaffordable? In Episode 110 of The Real Deal Pod, Fraser Valley realtor Allister Carrington and BC mortgage broker Geoff Lee explain what that report actually means — and why BC is already in one of the most affordable markets in years, right now, today.
 
Then Geoff breaks down the question every BC buyer is really asking: condo, townhouse, or detached — which is right for your life in 5–10 years? Not just for your budget today.
 
What you'll learn:
What the CMHC 4.7 million homes report actually means — and why it's a future warning, not today's reality
Why BC is already in an affordable market: Abbotsford condos at $320K, ownership often cheaper than renting
Condo total correction projected at 8.8% by year-end — and why recovery is expected from mid-2027 into 2028
Why RBC has called the BC market bottom 8 times — and what that tells you about trying to time BC real estate
Condo vs townhouse vs detached in BC: the pros, cons, and who each is right for
Why the BC townhouse market has been the most consistent segment in the Fraser Valley
The missing middle: why townhomes are now attracting investors and first-time families alike
How the BC property ladder actually works — condo to townhouse to detached
Why buying at three-quarters of the way down beats trying to time the absolute bottom
Geoff's personal story: bought his house in 1995, sold in 2021 for $1.4M more than he paid
Hosted by Allister Carrington | BC Realtor, KIC Realty Inc | www.AllisterCarrington.com Co-hosted by Geoff Lee | BC Mortgage Broker, GLM Mortgage Group | www.GLMmortgage.com

Reverse mortgages in Canada are one of the most misunderstood and underused financial tools available to homeowners 55 and older — and in Episode 109 of The Real Deal Pod, BC mortgage broker Geoff Lee delivers the most practical breakdown of how they actually work, who qualifies, and what they can do for cash-strapped but equity-rich BC homeowners in retirement. A couple bought their Vancouver home in 1985 for $125,000. It's worth $1.9 million today. They're $850 short every month in retirement. They don't want to sell. That's the problem reverse mortgages are designed to solve — and Geoff walks through five real case studies showing exactly how.
 
What you'll learn:
What a reverse mortgage in Canada actually is — and what it isn't
Who qualifies: 55+, primary residence, home worth $200K+, property taxes current
How you receive the funds: lump sum, monthly payments, or on-demand draws of $5,000+
The maximum you can access: up to 55% of your home's equity depending on age, location, and property type
The tax question answered: reverse mortgage funds are NOT taxable and do NOT affect CPP, OAS, or GIS
The myths busted: the bank does NOT own your home, your children are NOT necessarily losing their inheritance
Five real case studies: retiring $850/month short, clearing $165K in debt, gifting a $150K down payment, funding a $80K accessibility renovation, and funding a $400K divorce buyout
How home equity is your biggest hidden retirement fund — and why now is the time to understand it
 
Also in this episode: the August 2026 BC real estate stats (softest summer close in years), the Eclipse Condo Crisis legal update (consumer protection law holds against insolvency), and why BC homes are now $163K–$175K below their 2022 peak in real dollars.
 
Hosted by Allister Carrington | BC Realtor, KIC Realty | www.AllisterCarrington.com Co-hosted by Geoff Lee | BC Mortgage Broker, GLM Mortgage Group | www.GLMmortgage.com

Co-buying a home in BC — with a friend, sibling, partner, or parent — is one of the most searched strategies for getting into the BC real estate market right now. In Episode 108 of The Real Deal Pod, Fraser Valley realtor Allister Carrington and BC mortgage broker Geoff Lee cover how co-buying a BC mortgage actually works, what the real risks are, and exactly what every co-buyer needs to have in writing before they sign anything.
 
With the average BC home now $175,000 below its 2022 peak and Chilliwack condos back at $290,000–$299,000, BC affordability is the best it's been in nearly a decade. Co-buying is how many first-time buyers in the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver are making the math work.
 
What you'll learn:
The BC co-buying mortgage basics: how combined income and pooled down payments work with a lender
Why both co-buyers' debts matter as much as their income — and the formulas that determine your borrowing power
What joint mortgage liability really means: if your co-buyer misses a payment, the lender comes after you for the full amount
Why you need a written co-ownership agreement covering payments, expenses, major decisions, and the exit strategy — before you buy
The exit questions to answer while everyone is still friends: what if one person wants to sell? What's the buyout process? What if neither qualifies alone?
Buying with parents: co-signer vs. co-borrower, and how co-signing affects a parent's own future borrowing power
First-time homebuyer privileges in a co-purchase: your PTT exemption, FHSA, and RRSP rights still apply even if your co-buyer isn't a first-time buyer
The 4-year rental rule: how to re-qualify as a first-time BC homebuyer after renting
BC affordability in real dollars: $175,000 below peak, and why talking in dollars matters more than percentages
Vancouver's rise to #9 in North America for tech talent — and what it means for BC real estate demand
The Victoria realtor fined $200,000 and suspended by BCFSA for affordable homeownership fraud
Canada tariff update: what bank CEOs' Q3 earnings actually say about the economic impact
Hosted by Allister Carrington | BC Realtor, KIC Realty | www.AllisterCarrington.com Co-hosted by Geoff Lee | BC Mortgage Broker, GLM Mortgage Group | www.GLMmortgage.com