brrr the chill the last few days gives me that ominous feeling that the white stuff isn’t that far off. Maybe if I don’t mention the S word it won’t come, just like the real estate market if we don’t mention the D word prices won’t go down. Oops.
With that chill comes the fall maintenance and winter preparation that most people have already taken care of. I’m just writing this while I’m waiting for a buyer to come in – maybe I’ll just go grab someone off the street and sit them down and talk to them like a buyer. Seriously though my client is looking for a really upscale acreage and they like this market – lots of choice and time to make decisions.
This all reminds me of some of the changes we’ve gone through in a very short time. We used to have 20-30 showings a day on our listings. Now we have days where we have no showings at all – it is strange indeed. There are some neighbourhoods where I have more than one listing, in one case one of the listings (with a motivated seller) has been shown 4 times while the other has been shown two dozen times, had offers and the seller could care less whether he sells or not. Go figure. The other scenario is not that different with one property having a couple of offers and several showings a week and the other one has only had two showings. How bizzare…
That brings me to my "where are they now?" segment. A while back I had written a post, "Home Sellers stand their ground"…so while I was killing time waiting for my client to come in I thought I would check on some of them.
Another Clients of mine put an offer on a property a few weeks ago, and the seller’s bottom line was too high for their liking so we moved on; the home sold for $1000 less than their former bottom line in 17 days. Another property that we were stood up on was a new home that had just reduced their price $20,000. When they received my client’s offer they were tight to their price and we were in the end $15,000 apart when we decided to part company. Interestingly enough, the sellers have now reduced their price another $20,000 which is below where we offered and are still waiting for an offer. The one comfree property we had been working on at the time has now reduced their price $2000 (totally pointless) and in my opinion will sit until the end of time at the price they are asking.
Anyway my client is here so my ramblings must end. Back to work.
hi im a Nurse here in UK and has been offered a job in capital health Edmonton with an annual salary of about ca$70000,whats the posibility of getting a mortgage for say 3 bedroom property within a year and how much would be the minimum downpayment if ever…
thank you very much
Why don’t you rent for now and just wait for things to play out? You might not end up liking the job, or something else might come up etc.
Or you could always do the 0 down 40 yr mortgage thing and possibly qualify for 250k-300k which would buy you 1 bedroom condo.
If you really are set on buying something, I’d definetly do it in the next 6 months. You would have great choices and there are desperate sellers out there at this time. Come spring, things could be different.
Getting a mortgage in a different country can take a little longer, I’m sure. I would research that part of your plan before anything.
You should get in touch with a mortgage specialist. Buying or renting may depend on a number of factors that only you can decide on. You should begin to (which you are doing) research the market place. Are you bringing children? We do have packages for international relocating clients that do include information on the market and buying a property here. You can email me if you’d like one and I’ll email it to you.
“If you really are set on buying something, I’d definetly do it in the next 6 months. You would have great choices and there are desperate sellers out there at this time. Come spring, things could be different.
Getting a mortgage in a different country can take a little longer, I’m sure. I would research that part of your plan before anything.”
It’s always a good time to buy.
Sounds more like a realtor trying to earn a dollar.
Debs, you should honestly sit down and analyze the market before buying a house. Simple as that. Buying at the top of the peak would be foolish.
Sounds like there is still a big disconnect between most of the buyers and sellers Sheldon.
We’ve been getting phone calls at work from some local builders offering huge (50-100k) discounts on new condo’s. They’ve got a lot of product being built and are obviously feeling pinch with the lack of buyers.
There are obviously a lot of people just “testing the market” and not really motivated to sell. But after a few more months, the number of sellers that NEED to move is going to increase. Any guesses on how long the bulk of sellers will be willing to hold out for? Or how much prices will need to decrease before most of the first time buyers/relocaters will sign up for new mortgages?
If this isn’t evidence that we’re in the beginnings of a correction I don’t know what is.
http://tinyurl.com/ytfnjz
We were looking at some Daytona showhomes in the spring. They started hounding us with calls and emails in September.
That new price guarantee is a tempting little deal.
I posted back in ‘Home Owners Stand their Ground’, when we had a house for sale in Edmonton. It finally sold after just over 70 days on the market, and several price reductions. We listed in August, and the sale price was 12% less then what we listed for. We said that we would rent it out if we had to cut our price 15%.
If you NEED to sell- then you have to undercut the market, and DO NOT price with the neighborhood- because if they are sitting at those prices then they are already too high. Too bad we didn’t undercut the asking price on Day 1. So now we’re looking for a house in Calgary-Okotoks area. Tons on the market, alot more expensive then Edmonton, lot’s of junk sitting at Summer Time prices, listings at over 90 days and some people won’t reduce their price. I think we’re now sitting good with our house sold and a pre-approved mortgage. Just looking for the right deal now. And yes- some home sellers (and builders) aren’t budging on their prices, waiting for Spring-time to clear up the log-jam of homes. If that will ever happen…
I think you missunderstood me, Truth, when I said springtime could be different. Of course you analize the market first – thats what I do, I’m not a realtor, just someone that likes to get deals. When listings are high and prices are going for low- you buy. When prices are high and its a sellers market , you sell. If you buy in the winter, you most always get a better deal than any other time.
Average home prices in Alberta to rise another 10% in 2008.
http://www.td.com/economics/qef/prov1007.pdf
Many economists are now more confident the USA is going to avoid a recession which will help Canada remain strong. The Alberta Royalty Report was supposed to damage the Alberta Oil Industry but it does appear that investors are clearly happy with the royalty changes. That or they have not reviewed it fully. (which I am sure they have).
Despite the massive inventory and low sales now I think that by this time next year prices will be not be lower. As to wether or not the prices dip a little more is hard to say. You would think so but then again I don’t believe this is a bad time to buy if you can find a good deal. Deals are still out there if you look hard enough and there are some desperate sellers.
Overall the Alberta Economy seems to have been given a green light on multiple fronts and wages are still climbing so this should support house prices. Also a flat to weakening economy in Ontario and Quebec may drive migration to Alberta higher in the near future? If so it may help absorb some of the inventory?
Only time will tell but I still strongly doubt there will be any housing collapse in Alberta.
I wouldn’t say there’s a big disconnect between buyers and sellers in all cases. Many sellers are realistic and some are basing decisions based on their personal situations which vary. The people who will need to sell will be most agressive.
I think its unlikely prices will rise in the spring. I think it may stabilize but it is possible that they could rise if the trend of inventory goes down.
The market still has a fairly strong pulse. For us this weekend was one of the busiest in a long time for showings, viewings and offers.
Buyers are still looking for deals and why not.
The most basic of economic theory says that when supply exceeds demand, then prices come down sooner or later until equilibrium is reached. Why is it so hard for those to believe that their homes are worth 50-100% more in over just a few months, but not come down in price just as dramatically. The smart builders haven’t; they have already begun to offer large incentives, and price decreases. But there are still those who haven’t reacted yet. I met a sales rep this weekend with prices 40k+ above those offered in the resale market around them, even from the same builder. I asked her about point blank about negotiating a price, she did not have an answer, just a kind of dumbfounded look and finally said the price “is what it is”.
And about that TD report, did you happen to notice what the average price was they used for their 10% gain in 2008? I wonder what the average selling price will be for this month? Or if it will more accurately reflect actual market conditions in Edmonton versus last month.
Not sure what you think is wrong with TD’s numbers? There 2007 figures are right inline with actual Alberta Average Prices (within $2000)?
I bought a duplex in 2003 in Edmonton. I remember then how a wise friend told me how it was a good buy despite how high the price seemed at the time. I was actually going to buy both sides but was basically scared out of it because of so many people who also thought prices were getting too high?! Ha Ha!! One friend stuck behind me saying it was a good deal an buy both if I could. My better half and the hordes of other people talked her and I out of it saying we were crazy too think it was worth the risk? Sounds a lot like the negative bloggers right now. I’m kicking myself for not going with my gut that’s for sure. My builder (a large one) offered me all kinds of add ons for free worth about $6000 back then(probably worth more like about $12,000 now). I remember then exactly what people and builders were thinking and they were all wrong big time. Now this does not mean they can’t be right this time. However it does smell oddly like the same situation as back then? I do doubt prices are going to rocket like that ever again but with the economy still firing on all cylinders for years to come I cannot see much more price dip. The only possible cause for a bigger dip is how desperate these flippers get who are responsible for a lot of the inventory. Things are shaking out but I still think prices are going to hold up far better than anyone thinks.