Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Another Happy Client - Thanks Wayne Weum!!!

Hi folks, just a quick note to share a great experience I had with a Realtor in the Edmonton area:

I sourced a qualified rent to own tenant who was specific in what she needed for her growing family. A phone call to Cathy Currie from Century 21 A.L.L. Stars in Edmonton came next. She listened to what I was asking her to do, and without hesitation she immediately began to source properties that fit the criteria that we established. What set her apart was the fact that she was willing and even excited about taking my tenant buyer around to look at these properties, being ever-flexible and understanding of the clients complicated schedule. In my experience, Realtors would rather do "just about anything else" than take rent to own clients around town to look at multiple properties. Between wishy-washy attitudes and the extra effort involved with selling real estate to an investor, it makes for a lot of work.

Cathy made this experience easy. She found a perfect property, put the deal together, followed up constantly, and answered any and all questions my tenant buyer had. Cathy was professional, patient, kind, and efficient throughout the process with both my tenant buyer and myself. This resulted in an extremely low amount of work/stress for me-leaving my time open to put my JV agreement together. I would refer her to any investor who is in need of a realtor to source properties. And the airmiles were a nice touch!

Cathy can be reached via any of the following:

Cathy Currie
Century 21 A.L.L Stars Realty
312 Saddleback Road
Edmonton, Alberta
T6J 4R7
Fax: (780) 436-9902
Direct: (780) 232-2178

Office: (780) 434-4700


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Edmonton Real Estate Board Reports.

Residential Housing Market cools in third quarter
 
 
Edmonton, October 2, 2012:
The REALTORS® Association of Edmonton reports that residential listings and sales have trended lower in the third quarter after an active start to the year. In September, there were 1,269 residential sales in the greater Edmonton market as compared to 1,442 in September 2011. Despite the recent cooling trend, residential sales year-to-date are still up 7.2% as compared to last year at this time. There have been 14,565 residential sales to the end of the third quarter as compared to just 13,729 last year.

“There were changes to the mortgage qualification rules in March,” said REALTORS® Association of Edmonton President Doug Singleton. “We did not see an effect on the local market at that time but it seems to have had a cooling effect in the past quarter.”

The average1 price for a single family dwelling (SFD) has remained higher than last year for each of the past nine months. In September, the SFD average price of $376,678 was up just 0.23% from the previous year and is up 2.78% from the January 1 price. The all-residential average price is down 2.6% from last year at $323,369. This is the first month this year that the all-res price has dipped below the 2011 figure for the same month.

Condominium and duplex/rowhouse prices are more volatile and vary widely from month to month. In September average condo prices were down 3.1% ($229,246) while duplex/townhouse prices on average were up 2.75% ($307,739). Still, after nine months both current prices are up from the January 1, 2012 prices for the category.

Total MLS® System listings this year are up 104 units as compared to last year at 33,295 properties but Total MLS® System year-to-date sales are 16,487 units as compared to 15,378 at the end of the third quarter in 2011. There are 6,956 residential properties in the inventory compared to the 8,062 last year at this time. Rural and commercial property sales are both up marginally compared to last year although listings have dropped. The residential sales-to-listing ratio was down from 56.7% to 52.3% and residential days-on-market was up to 59 in September from 54 in August.

“Sales always fall month-to-month at the end of the year; that’s just normal market fluctuation,” said Singleton. “But overall, the market has been stable with little market advantage for either buyers or sellers. Edmonton is still one of the best places in North America to own property and I urge consumers to talk to their local REALTOR® when they are in a position to buy or sell property.”
 
Activity (for all residential sales on Edmonton MLS® System)
1 The total value of sales in a category divided by the number of properties sold
2 Single Family Dwelling
3 The middle figure in a list of all sales prices
4 Residential includes SFD, condos and duplex/row houses.
5 Includes residential, rural and commercial sales
1 Average prices indicate market trends only. They do not reflect actual changes for a particular property, which may vary from house to house and area to area. Prior period figures have been adjusted to include late reported sales and cancellations and therefore reflect a more accurate view of the period than previously reported at month end. The RAE trading area includes communities beyond the CMA (Census Metropolitan Area) and therefore average and median prices may include sold properties outside the CMA.