Edmonton Real Estate Blog

Block Busting

I found this article about "Block Busting" in the Edmonton Sun. If you haven't heard of this practice before, the article basically claims that certain neighbourhoods in Edmonton are being targeted by shady individuals who artificially lower property values, only to buy up the homes and sell them later for more money.

The article specifically refers to speculators who buy homes and rent them out to drug dealers, who then cause havoc in the neighbourhood forcing home owners to sell. Property values in the neighbourhood drop, and as more homes sell, the speculators continue to buy them up, filling them with more shady characters and further lowering values.

Eventually they flip the land for re-development and make a fortune.

Const. Ryan Lawley of the Edmonton Police Service said that no neighbourhood is immune from the practice..."This is a real issue," he told Sun Media. It's become so prevalent, that this spring the EPS will hold a training session so cops can spot the signs of block busting before it destroys a neighbourhood."

I have to admit, I find this difficult to believe. There would be a high level of orchestration required, plus a lot of patience and capital.

"Michael Walters, who used to work with the Community Action Project, which hands out the dubious Slum Landlord of the Year award, said that while block busting has caused serious problems in some neighbourhoods, he wasn't aware of anyone successfully buying up entire city blocks yet."

I tried to find some more information on this but couldn't. Wikipedia has an entirely different definition of blockbusting that relates to racial demographics.

To be honest, I'm not sure who to believe, but it is certainly believable that property values can be affected when undesirable neighbours move in.

Earth Hour - Tonight 8pm

You may have heard of it or you may not have, but tonight at 8pm everyone is asked to turn off their lights. Sonic - an Edmonton radio station - has been promoting the event and will have one hour of "unplugged" music at 8pm tonight.

The idea of earth hour is to make a statement about the greatest contributor to global warming - coal fired electricity. On March 31 2007, 2.2 million residents of Sydney, Australia turned off their lights for one hour reducing energy consumption in the city by 10%. This year they've taken the movement global and I hope you'll consider turning off your lights for an hour tonight. It's just about the easiest event to participate in that I've ever heard of...you don't have to do anything, just turn off the lights and enjoy!

If you really want to get on the energy reduction band wagon stop by the Riverdale NetZero house too! Come see what's new at the Riverdale NetZero house, from active and passive solar heating, grid-dependent solar systems, ultra-highly insulated air-tight walls and high performance windows.

When: Saturday, March 29, 11 am to 4:30 pm
Format: open house
Where: 9926-87 Street
Cost: FREE, no registration required

For more information and group tours, e-mail info@riverdalenetzero.ca.

Weekly Update on the Edmonton Real Estate Market

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 574 (669, 714,752, 648)
# Sales: 235 (263, 259,275, 275)
Ratio: 41% (39%, 36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 450 (465, 411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 83, (152, 137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 39 (66, 58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 217 (188, 260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3649 (3496, 3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2969 (2608, 2541, 2446, 2351)

So fewer new listings and sales this week - that's two weeks in a row. Perhaps everyone has March Break on their mind? Or was it the Easter holiday? It's funny, you never know whether a holiday weekend is going to be busy or slow until after the fact. Sometimes people like to use the day off to go house hunting and sometimes they just disappear.

Here's what the week looked like:



Price per square foot rose again for single family this week and remained the same for condos:


*Price/square/foot data taken from Bob Truman's daily stats web site.

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 574 (669, 714,752, 648)
# Sales: 235 (263, 259,275, 275)
Ratio: 41% (39%, 36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 450 (465, 411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 83, (152, 137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 39 (66, 58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 217 (188, 260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3649 (3496, 3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2969 (2608, 2541, 2446, 2351)

So fewer new listings and sales this week - that's two weeks in a row. Perhaps everyone has March Break on their mind? Or was it the Easter holiday? It's funny, you never know whether a holiday weekend is going to be busy or slow until after the fact. Sometimes people like to use the day off to go house hunting and sometimes they just disappear.

Here's what the week looked like:



Price per square foot rose again for single family this week and remained the same for condos:


*Price/square/foot data taken from Bob Truman's daily stats web site.

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 574 (669, 714,752, 648)
# Sales: 235 (263, 259,275, 275)
Ratio: 41% (39%, 36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 450 (465, 411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 83, (152, 137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 39 (66, 58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 217 (188, 260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3649 (3496, 3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2969 (2608, 2541, 2446, 2351)

So fewer new listings and sales this week - that's two weeks in a row. Perhaps everyone has March Break on their mind? Or was it the Easter holiday? It's funny, you never know whether a holiday weekend is going to be busy or slow until after the fact. Sometimes people like to use the day off to go house hunting and sometimes they just disappear.

Here's what the week looked like:



Price per square foot rose again for single family this week and remained the same for condos:


*Price/square/foot data taken from Bob Truman's daily stats web site.

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 574 (669, 714,752, 648)
# Sales: 235 (263, 259,275, 275)
Ratio: 41% (39%, 36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 450 (465, 411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 83, (152, 137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 39 (66, 58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 217 (188, 260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3649 (3496, 3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2969 (2608, 2541, 2446, 2351)

So fewer new listings and sales this week - that's two weeks in a row. Perhaps everyone has March Break on their mind? Or was it the Easter holiday? It's funny, you never know whether a holiday weekend is going to be busy or slow until after the fact. Sometimes people like to use the day off to go house hunting and sometimes they just disappear.

Here's what the week looked like:



Price per square foot rose again for single family this week and remained the same for condos:


*Price/square/foot data taken from Bob Truman's daily stats web site.

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 574 (669, 714,752, 648)
# Sales: 235 (263, 259,275, 275)
Ratio: 41% (39%, 36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 450 (465, 411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 83, (152, 137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 39 (66, 58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 217 (188, 260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3649 (3496, 3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2969 (2608, 2541, 2446, 2351)

So fewer new listings and sales this week - that's two weeks in a row. Perhaps everyone has March Break on their mind? Or was it the Easter holiday? It's funny, you never know whether a holiday weekend is going to be busy or slow until after the fact. Sometimes people like to use the day off to go house hunting and sometimes they just disappear.

Here's what the week looked like:



Price per square foot rose again for single family this week and remained the same for condos:


*Price/square/foot data taken from Bob Truman's daily stats web site.

Unaware-ites

You know those people who just have no idea what is going on around them? They cut you off in traffic (pedestrian or car), or they almost get hit in the head with a flying puck and have no idea they were inches from a trip to the ER, or they talk so loudly in a restaurant that the whole place has to listen to their conversation, or they say something completely offensive to someone in a conversation with no idea they've just hurt that person's feelings....

Sheldon and I call those people unaware-ites. Once you start using the term, you won't believe how often you'll find yourself applying it to different situations.

Usually it's just something funny, like when someone is driving on a completely flat tire, or you look in the fridge for milk and drive off to the store to get more when there was a full jug sitting right in front of you that you just didn't see. But when it comes to more serious things, being unaware is no excuse.

In court, there is a difference between making a mistake (aka negligence) and being unaware (aka ignorant). If you are representing yourself  selling or buying a home, and you are not aware of your requirements, procedures or the numerous laws, and you end up in court, ignorance is no excuse. If on the other hand, you are represented by a professional and they are not aware of something, guess who takes the fall? Not you, the professional.

Anthony Henday Interchange Open House

For those who live in the west end or drive on the Anthony Henday... the government of Alberta is having an open house tomorrow to discuss the detailed plans for the interchanges on the Anthony Henday and Callingwood Road and Lessard Road interchanges.

Wednesday March 26, 2008
2:30-7:30
Willowby Community Hall
6315 184 st.

It is an informal drop in event with displays and consulting team members available to answer questions and listen to comments and suggestions.

According to an article in the journal, the Stony Plain road information session has already taken place, and there are plans for an interchange at Cameron Heights as well.

Are you smarter than a 6th grader?

The other day my 11-year old daughter was watching one of those house flipping shows on HGTV. When I came home she exclaimed "Dad! There was this woman doing a flip, and when she bought the house she didn't even get an inspection! Can you believe that?" The story continued, "When they started the renovations they found termites, and cockroaches! There was all kinds of damage and it kept costing her more and more money! So she had to work during the day to get more money for the flip, and then she'd get mad about what happened to the house when she wasn't there. I mean, what does she expect? She totally didn't know what she was doing..."

"I can't believe it," I said while thinking to myself that even a 6th grader knows you should get an inspection, and can tell when someone isn't prepared to flip houses. I had to feel sorry for the dupe who ended up buying the house from her (if anyone ever did) because I'm sure those renovations weren't done as well as they should've been. These flipping shows make it seem like such easy money, but rarely do they ever indicate what the home actually sells for - the ones I've seen end with what the seller is going to ask for the home. Flipping for a profit is much easier when the market is going up, I would expect we'll see fewer of these shows as some markets in the US continue to languish.

PS - house sales in the US went up 2.9% this month!

Weekly Update on the Edmonton Real Estate Market

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 669 (714,752, 648)
# Sales: 263 (259,275, 275)
Ratio: 39% (36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 465 (411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 152 (137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 66 (58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 188 (260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3496 (3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2608 (2541, 2446, 2351)

Inventory continues to creep up and sales continue to lag behind:

At some point we'll run out of homes to list...won't we? j/k... I do think we're at that point in the year where we'll see the largest gains in new listings, and shortly thereafter we should see the largest number of sales for the year. We'll have to wait and see if the sales out pace the new listings, or if the current trend continues.

As for the average price per square foot, things seem to be flattening out:



Note: The data for the price per square foot chart is taken from Bob Trueman's daily stats web site.

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 669 (714,752, 648)
# Sales: 263 (259,275, 275)
Ratio: 39% (36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 465 (411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 152 (137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 66 (58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 188 (260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3496 (3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2608 (2541, 2446, 2351)

Inventory continues to creep up and sales continue to lag behind:

At some point we'll run out of homes to list...won't we? j/k... I do think we're at that point in the year where we'll see the largest gains in new listings, and shortly thereafter we should see the largest number of sales for the year. We'll have to wait and see if the sales out pace the new listings, or if the current trend continues.

As for the average price per square foot, things seem to be flattening out:



Note: The data for the price per square foot chart is taken from Bob Trueman's daily stats web site.

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 669 (714,752, 648)
# Sales: 263 (259,275, 275)
Ratio: 39% (36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 465 (411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 152 (137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 66 (58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 188 (260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3496 (3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2608 (2541, 2446, 2351)

Inventory continues to creep up and sales continue to lag behind:

At some point we'll run out of homes to list...won't we? j/k... I do think we're at that point in the year where we'll see the largest gains in new listings, and shortly thereafter we should see the largest number of sales for the year. We'll have to wait and see if the sales out pace the new listings, or if the current trend continues.

As for the average price per square foot, things seem to be flattening out:



Note: The data for the price per square foot chart is taken from Bob Trueman's daily stats web site.

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week's numbers are in brackets, and the week before after that). For the past 7 days:

New listings: 669 (714,752, 648)
# Sales: 263 (259,275, 275)
Ratio: 39% (36%, 37%, 42%)
# Price changes: 465 (411, 270, 384)
# Expired Listings: 152 (137, 343, 201)
# Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 66 (58, 45,51)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 188 (260, 89, 121)
Active listings for single family homes: 3496 (3367, 3207, 3048)
Active listings for condos: 2608 (2541, 2446, 2351)

Inventory continues to creep up and sales continue to lag behind:

At some point we'll run out of homes to list...won't we? j/k... I do think we're at that point in the year where we'll see the largest gains in new listings, and shortly thereafter we should see the largest number of sales for the year. We'll have to wait and see if the sales out pace the new listings, or if the current trend continues.

As for the average price per square foot, things seem to be flattening out:



Note: The data for the price per square foot chart is taken from Bob Trueman's daily stats web site.

Buy or Rent - The eternal question

I hesitate to post this, almost dread posting it for the battle that might ensue because of it, but I thought this was pretty cool. The New York times has this rent vs buy calculator that takes more things into consideration than what you normally see - such as opportunity costs.

I plugged in the info for one of our client's investment properties and it shows buying is better than renting after only 2 years.

Now, I haven't thoroughly investigated this, and I can't vouch for the results or the methodology or any of that crap, I just thought it was cool and some of you might like to try it out. Enjoy!

Burn Baby Burn - Is that firplace included?

What I meant to say was "don’t get burned!"  Today there are numerous "faux" fireplaces that are very good at deceiving you as to whether they are attached (see: Buyer's Guide - Chattels).  These fireplaces look fantastic and can be placed in a corner or along a wall as if they were built there.  However since they are not securely attached they are not required to stay and would most likely be considered a chattel like a stove or fridge. Two steps to avoid getting burned by a missing fireplace is:

1. Determine if it is attached or not.

2. Ask for it in writing if you want it.

The same goes for any other "part" of the house you may want included in the purchase contract.

Multiple Offer Mayhem

Today's market may not have the mayhem of multiple offers it did last year, but it does seem to be pumping along. We’ve been involved in 7 multiple offer situations since the new year. So the multiple offers aren’t dead and gone, in fact they seem to have made a comeback since last September and October. 

There’s definitely a difference between multiple offers now and multiple offers at the peak of the market.  Firstly, they no longer automatically come over list price or without conditions. In our case some have come just over list price, some under or right at list price. Surprisingly enough, two this week were unconditional offers. Second, the timing has changed... at the peak you'd have multiple offers on a good listing within days of hitting the market, now you never know when the situation might arise -it could be only a few days into the listing or a few weeks.

The first question that comes to mind is why, with all the inventory would anyone go into competition?  One reason might be the price - in particular those properties priced extremely well.  It may also be the exact property that buyer is looking for, in the area or building that they really want to be in. In any case there’s no question that multiple offers aren’t dead and gone.