We hear this a lot lately:
What about foreclosures? Do you have any foreclosures?
With all the media hype about what’s happening in some (I say some because it is definitely not all) American markets a lot of people are wondering if we in Edmonton are being affected by foreclosures.
To be clear, our legal system and the foreclosure process here in Alberta is different in many respects than even the Ontario process, where they often refer to foreclosure listings as "Power of Sale."
What is a foreclosure?
A foreclosure in Alberta is simply a property that has gone through the Judicature process.
How does it happen?
Most commonly it’s because someone has defaulted on their mortgage payments. However it could happen because some has not paid their condo fees, taxes and so on.
In the not to distant future we will have an expert on foreclosures post a couple articles on the process, some of the work arounds, your legal rights and issues with buying a foreclosed property on this blog.
Today I’m just talking about the changing market. We have seen very little on the way of foreclosures in Edmonton for the last few years, mostly because the market was rising and therefore someone who found themselves in trouble could count on the market to get them out of it. . The reality is we are now seeing increased activity in this area. In days gone by foreclosures were a staple in Edmonton.
I used to handle a lot of the Bank of Nova Scotia foreclosures in the 90’s and it lead to my first interview with the twisted media with the then "Alberta Report". By that I mean my answers were taken to fit the context of the writer’s mindset which was that the world was ending because of foreclosures.
Anyway, it’s likely that we’ll see an increase in foreclosure sales. A quick search of the market in Edmonton today only displayed 95 bank owned or “in foreclosure properties”. I do expect this number will increase and will be keeping an eye it. If you’d like to follow the search I’ve set up for myself to see what properties are available click here.
Keep in mind some foreclosures are not always the deals you may think they are. In my opinion some estate, and divorce sales are better values than foreclosure sales, but that’s a story for another day.
