Q: My wife and I – aged 66 and 62 – have our home paid off, and are thinking of getting a mortgage on our home and investing that money in a second property. We like the Fraser Valley. Your thoughts?

A: Be careful. There is a wide divergence in activity in the Fraser Valley For instance, in the single-family detached market in February:

– In Richmond, 198 homes sold out of 619 listings, for a ratio of 32 per cent, and the average months inventory is just 3.1.

– In South Surrey/White Rock, however, only 126 homes sold out of 575 listings, for a ratio of 21.9 per cent. There is a 4.6-month supply of houses based on recent listings and sales.

– In Langley, only 11.3 per cent of active listings sold and there is 8.8-month supply of inventory. And in Abbotsford, there were only 41 sales among 745 listings.

Ozzie Jurock is a senior real estate adviser at www.jurock.com.