You are registered on several real estate websites, you scour REALTOR®.ca every day and you drive round your favourite neighbourhood looking out for For Sale signs every few days. You are confident that you know every home available to you.

This would be a reasonable assumption, but it’s not accurate.

Did you consider that there might also be a hidden market too? Accessing this hidden market takes some ‘insider knowledge’ and a proactive approach.

There are 3 main components to the hidden market

1. Unsold Listings

If you are working with a REALTOR® that knows your chosen target community well, they will be aware which homes were on the market recently and subsequently did not sell, (usually because the seller was too ambitious on…

If you have been tracking the market over the last 12 to 18 months as a prospective home buyer, you have probably noticed that prices have gone through the roof. You may have also experienced loss after losing out on your dream home in a multiple offer situation.

I have some good news for you. Buying a home in September might be a smart choice, for the following reasons.

1. Values are down

See our latest market (Ambergate Market Report). Buy a home now and on average you will pay around $30,000 LESS than you would have done in May or June 2021.

2. Home choices are better

For the last 18 months we have had much lower inventory levels and this has been one factor that has driven prices up. That combined with the attractiveness of single…

The title of this blog paraphrases a line by Steven Covey “begin with the end in mind”.

As a potential investor perhaps you should consider a potential real estate opportunity on three levels.

Can you think of any others?

1. How can you add value to the property along the way?

What can you renovate, improve, or change to increase the intrinsic value of the real estate?

2. How easily will you be able to liquidate the real estate when the time comes?

In other words, is there going to be a wide market and plenty of interested buyer candidates for the real estate when you decide to sell?

3. And finally, how much should you pay for the real estate given the rental constraints of the market?

Here is a simple step by step method to…

If you are like most people, your home buying journey will start a long time before you finally move into your dream home.

Based on industry research and observation, here’s what your journey may look like:

Phase 1

For one, two, or perhaps even three years, you will contemplate the dream of a new home. Perhaps you are renting, or perhaps you have a smaller home, or perhaps you have a larger home and dream of downsizing. Whatever it is, you will likely give much thought to the ‘idea’ of a new home. You may also spend a great deal of time ‘window shopping’ on websites.

Phase 2

For most people already living in the Edmonton area, you enter the second phase about two or three months before you purchase. As your thoughts, wants and desires…

Has it ever happened to you? You are shopping for a new home. You have found perhaps 10 to 20 good listings and you are anxious to go out and look at all of them.

You contact your REALTOR® and she sets up showings to see 10 of them on day one and 10 of them on day 2. And now your first round of showings is over.

How do you feel? I’m betting you are feeling confused and overwhelmed. I’m betting you feel no further forward in your home search and selection before you went out to look at all those homes.

I suggest if you follow these steps, your home search will be more enjoyable, more effective and lot more productive.

1. Spend more time in the consideration mode

Before you start shopping for homes ask your REALTOR® to really help you…

Have you been working with your REALTOR® for a long time? Have you looked at dozens of homes already? Are you confused? Are you holding out for that ‘cream puff’ perfect home and you just cannot pull the trigger? 

Perhaps it’s Time to Stop! 

1. There’s no such thing as a perfect home! Just like most things in life, selecting a home will be a compromise. Even if you build, it will never be perfect. It never is. 

The good news is that you might get close.  

2. I suggest you start to focus by applying a percentage to each home you view. And if you can, find one that scores 85% or higher, I suggest you make an offer. 

Next week I’m going to discuss the idea of a ‘rolling top 3’. Until next time… 

To…

If you have been following the market you have no doubt noted that values are UP. In fact, based on a rolling average, resale prices are about 9% up from January 2021 to the end of May 2021, when compared to the same period last year.

Should you wait before buying your next home? That depends.

If you already own a home and you have interest in moving to a larger home, or a smaller home, I suggest that you focus on your needs first and not worry too much if prices are going up or down.

However, if you are a first-time home buyer this question could be very important. Look at the graph above. Its shows benchmark prices across the Edmonton single family market.

Can you see the 6-year cycle?

From June 2009, which is when sales values…

Imagine that you have found your dream home. Imagine also that the sellers are reluctant to enter into a purchase contract with you because they have not yet found somewhere to live themselves.

Why not take the pressure off? Consider a sale and leaseback.

How would this work?

Offer to purchase the seller’s home at a certain price and with a possession date that is sooner rather than later.

Agree to let the sellers stay home!

What happens after that? You agree to rent the house back to the seller for a short period of time, for example 2 to 4 months. This will give them some extra time to go about searching for and selecting their next home.

This approach offers you certainty, knowing that your dream home has been secured and that you…

It you are in the market to buy a home, you are probably hearing that everything is selling and that that there is simply no inventory.

Many listings particularly, single family homes are selling quickly. However, the inventory is being replaced with a steady supply of fresh new choices. The market is always being refreshed.

See the stats below for Edmonton, (excluding sister markets like St Albert, Sherwood Park, Ft Saskatchewan, Beaumont, Stony Plan and Spruce Grove).

Single Family

So far this month and its only May 4th, 231 single family homes have been listed for sale on the Edmonton MLS® System.

In April 1378 single family homes were listed for sale on the Edmonton MLS® System.

Condos

So far this month and its only May…

All markets are different, but in Edmonton and area, REALTOR® services are usually offered the same way across the industry with a few outlying differences.

At first glance hiring a REALTOR® to help you search for and find a home may appear to be free of charge. That’s because your REALTOR® will usually receive a commission in exchange for helping you find and purchase a home or secure an investment.

When you sign a Buyer Brokerage agreement as you must, under provincial legislation, you are promising to protect your REALTOR® and to acknowledge that they will receive compensation for their time and expertise when you close on a transaction.

Usually, the money comes from the proceeds of the sale, or in other words, money that you have brought…