As a Canmore Realtor I live and breath real estate. At any given day, week, month or year I know exactly what’s going on in town as it relates to the Canmore real estate market. Most, if not all, of the conversations I have with people these days are about the Canmore market and the current cycle the market is going through. I also own a house here and can relate directly to all Canmore home owners who have seen the value of their property diminish over the past several months. I’m not just a Realtor though, I’m also a husband and father, mountain biker and road cyclist.
So today, I’m taking a break from Canmore real estate. I’m taking the time today to sit and reflect on why my family and I love our Canmore lifestlye. Staring out of my office window I can see beautiful expansive blue skies and what looks like warm sun, it’s melting the snow at least so I know it’s warmer than it has been. From my current vantage point we certainly seem to be ushering in the first signs of Spring for 2009 - after what I hope was the last big snowfall of the year over the weekend. Wishful thinking I’m sure as we usually see at least a couple more days of snow before the end of May. I find the whole town starts to come alive when we have days like today and it’s great to see and hear people around town getting excited and motivated for the upcoming summer season. The town has the same buzz about it in late October when everyone is chomping at the bit for the first real snowfall of the season. For me though, I personally prefer Canmore for the summer activities and living in Canmore is all about lifestyle, both for my family and myself. Our two young sons (both are under 10 years of age) have been afforded incredible opportunities in their short lives learning to rock climb, mountain bike, swim, classic and skate ski, play soccer and basketball, downhill ski and snowboard, all through school programs and programs put on by the local clubs and the town’s recreation department. The valuable lessons and skills they’ve been able to learn and demostrate at such a young age are a true testament to the commitment and talent of all the teachers, instructors and volunteers we have in our town. We are also blessed with having such incredible surroundings and great accessibility to all our local trail systems and amenities. My two boys (Noah and Evan) and myself love to take our mountain bikes and ride the Orange trail at the Nordic Centre, or go to the jump parks and challenge (or in my case, scare) ourselves. We all really enjoy the new Pump Track at Millenium Park too, a great addition to our community. If you’re not familiar with a pump track I highly recommend you head down to Millenium Park on a nice day to watch some of the riders demonstrate just how fast you can go on a dirt track without pedalling, it’s truly amazing and a ton of fun for both riders and spectators alike. My family’s summer lifestyle in Canmore is centred around mountain biking and days like today when the sun is shining and the sky is clear blue make me want to shut off my computer, turn off my phone and hop on the bike for a couple of hours. The adventure playground that is Canmore and the lifestyle it affords my family and I is a lifestyle and community I wouldn’t trade for the World.
As for the Canmore real estate market, I’ll start talking about that again in my next post. The Canmore real estate market will rebound in time, but for now - I’m off to clean my bike, pump up the tires and oil the chain. Bring on the Summer!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Canmore, in my mind, is the quintessential mountain town - active people (physically, politically and environmentally), great trails for all mountain sports, aspiring young Canadian National athletes, World Class sports facilities such as the Canmore Nordic Centre, fantastic restaurants, coffee shops and stores to fit everyones curiosities. We also have eight Real Estate brokerages in our town, a testament to how popular Canmore has become and how qiuckly it has expanded over the past several years. Canmore Property has been constructed at breath taking speed over the past few years with a large portion of the new construction being hotel or recreational condos to cater to the increasing vacation property owner and tourist traffic staying in our town for one or two nights at a time.
When I talk about Recreational property in Canmore I mean condos that you cannot live in full time. These condos have restrictions of use tied to them but allow you to rent the condo out by the night to generate revenue and offset some of the monthly costs that are associated with condos. In Canmore the restrictions of use allow you to spend 28 days at a time in your condo before having to leave for at least a night before returning for a second 28 days of use. You are not restricted to how many 28 day periods within a year that you can use the condo for, but the more you use the condo, the less you allow it to generate revnue for you.
Recreational Condos have great appeal for people looking for a vacation condo in the Canmore Property market. The Canmore Property market is an expensive market to purchase a vacation home in and recreational condos are a great option for an affordable vacation property that generates revenue to help out with the monthly fees. Along with affordability recreational condos tend to have a full set of ammenities such as outdoor heated pools, hot tubs and fitness facilities, some even have meeting rooms, business centres and spas. One point to remember is that the more amenities your building has the more your monthly condo fees will usually be. Year round outdoor heated pools and hot tubs are a very nice amenity to have and use, and potentially attract more people to stay at the complex, but they are very expensive to heat, especially through the winter months. Our recreational property market has seen the effects of the Global Slowdown and prices have dropped substantially from their peak in 2007 and currently represent a great buy if you’re looking for your own peice of Canmore to stay in for the weekend. Whether Skiing, Biking, Hiking, Golfing, Climbing, Mountaineering or just enjoying Canmore for the restaurants, art galleries or specialty stores, having your own recreational condo is a great way to invest in the real estate market, generate some revenue and have you own piece of Canmore to enjoy at your leisure.
When I talk about Recreational property in Canmore I mean condos that you cannot live in full time. These condos have restrictions of use tied to them but allow you to rent the condo out by the night to generate revenue and offset some of the monthly costs that are associated with condos. In Canmore the restrictions of use allow you to spend 28 days at a time in your condo before having to leave for at least a night before returning for a second 28 days of use. You are not restricted to how many 28 day periods within a year that you can use the condo for, but the more you use the condo, the less you allow it to generate revnue for you.
Recreational Condos have great appeal for people looking for a vacation condo in the Canmore Property market. The Canmore Property market is an expensive market to purchase a vacation home in and recreational condos are a great option for an affordable vacation property that generates revenue to help out with the monthly fees. Along with affordability recreational condos tend to have a full set of ammenities such as outdoor heated pools, hot tubs and fitness facilities, some even have meeting rooms, business centres and spas. One point to remember is that the more amenities your building has the more your monthly condo fees will usually be. Year round outdoor heated pools and hot tubs are a very nice amenity to have and use, and potentially attract more people to stay at the complex, but they are very expensive to heat, especially through the winter months. Our recreational property market has seen the effects of the Global Slowdown and prices have dropped substantially from their peak in 2007 and currently represent a great buy if you’re looking for your own peice of Canmore to stay in for the weekend. Whether Skiing, Biking, Hiking, Golfing, Climbing, Mountaineering or just enjoying Canmore for the restaurants, art galleries or specialty stores, having your own recreational condo is a great way to invest in the real estate market, generate some revenue and have you own piece of Canmore to enjoy at your leisure.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Spring is right around the corner in Canmore and with it comes three guaranteed events: 1. The days start getting longer: 2. The snow melts as the days slowly start to warm up: and 3. Buyers and Sellers of Canmore real estate start to come out of hibernation and activity starts to pick up. Spring is always the busiest time of year for sellers to list their properties for sale and this Spring is proving no different. In the last three months of 2008 we had 150 new properties listed on the resale market. So far this year, up to and including March 18th, we’ve already had 215 new properties listed on the resale market. In total, as of March 18th we have a total of 419 resale properties for sale. In our hot sellers market over the past few years the total number of listings rarely peaked over 180 properties on the market at any given time. With so much for sale, this Spring could and should, in my opinion, be the time we see Buyers moving back into the Canmore market. Prices and interest rates continue to drop, making our town of Canmore, attractive once more to investors and families looking to up-size, and government incentives for first time buyers make this market ideal for purchasing your first home in Canmore.
Canmore Real Estate can be broken down into five distinct categories: 1. Single family homes and Half Duplexes: 2. Tri-Plexes and Fourplexes: 3. Residential Condos: 4. Recreational property / hotel condos and: 5. Canmore Land for sale. There have always been very distinct markets for each category. A person looking for a Single family home or half duplex for instance would not be interested in looking at four plexes or condos - and vice versa. Canmore Recreational properties or hotel condos are classified as such due the zoning of the building by the town of Canmore. You are not permitted to live in these condos full time. The longest stay permitted in your recreational or hotel condo is 28 days at any one time. There is no limit on how many 28 day periods you can stay at the condo for in a year, but after 28 days you have to leave for at least one night - then you can return for another 28 days. The advantage of hotel condos over residential condos is the rental pool eligibility. Hotel condos allow you to generate revenue, nightly, when you are not using it and offsetting some of your monthly costs, a great option for people looking for a vacation property.
Spring typically brings out buyers in all of the above categories of Canmore Real Estate. Canmore Real Estate prices and market conditions, as I have blogged about previously, have changed significantly over the past year - and are now firmly in favour of all buyers, no matter which category you are interested in purchasing. Sales as well as median prices have fallen considerably year over year. January through March 18th 2008 saw 59 sales in Canmore with the median sale price of $620,000. Compare these numbers to this year and for the same period in 2009 we have had 29 sales with a median sale price of $525,000. This is a large drop in median price year over year and investors, first time buyers and local families wanting to stay in Canmore should be very excited at the rapid shift toward affordable Canmore real estate. Canmore needs first time buyers, we need families to stay in our community and we need true property investors to purchase real estate, all these people will help stabilize and bring balance back to our real estate market. This in turn will assist Canmore to grow at a steady and manageable rate over the coming years. The time of rapid excess building that we have seen over the past few years has come to end. Future growth in Canmore will have to be more sustainable with growth in home prices trending towards steady growth year over year. The fundamentals of our town have not changed, we are still a World Class destination for mountain activities and we will still draw people to our town. This time however, we will be able to keep them here and offer them competitive and affordable property prices that support the growth of our community.
Canmore Real Estate can be broken down into five distinct categories: 1. Single family homes and Half Duplexes: 2. Tri-Plexes and Fourplexes: 3. Residential Condos: 4. Recreational property / hotel condos and: 5. Canmore Land for sale. There have always been very distinct markets for each category. A person looking for a Single family home or half duplex for instance would not be interested in looking at four plexes or condos - and vice versa. Canmore Recreational properties or hotel condos are classified as such due the zoning of the building by the town of Canmore. You are not permitted to live in these condos full time. The longest stay permitted in your recreational or hotel condo is 28 days at any one time. There is no limit on how many 28 day periods you can stay at the condo for in a year, but after 28 days you have to leave for at least one night - then you can return for another 28 days. The advantage of hotel condos over residential condos is the rental pool eligibility. Hotel condos allow you to generate revenue, nightly, when you are not using it and offsetting some of your monthly costs, a great option for people looking for a vacation property.
Spring typically brings out buyers in all of the above categories of Canmore Real Estate. Canmore Real Estate prices and market conditions, as I have blogged about previously, have changed significantly over the past year - and are now firmly in favour of all buyers, no matter which category you are interested in purchasing. Sales as well as median prices have fallen considerably year over year. January through March 18th 2008 saw 59 sales in Canmore with the median sale price of $620,000. Compare these numbers to this year and for the same period in 2009 we have had 29 sales with a median sale price of $525,000. This is a large drop in median price year over year and investors, first time buyers and local families wanting to stay in Canmore should be very excited at the rapid shift toward affordable Canmore real estate. Canmore needs first time buyers, we need families to stay in our community and we need true property investors to purchase real estate, all these people will help stabilize and bring balance back to our real estate market. This in turn will assist Canmore to grow at a steady and manageable rate over the coming years. The time of rapid excess building that we have seen over the past few years has come to end. Future growth in Canmore will have to be more sustainable with growth in home prices trending towards steady growth year over year. The fundamentals of our town have not changed, we are still a World Class destination for mountain activities and we will still draw people to our town. This time however, we will be able to keep them here and offer them competitive and affordable property prices that support the growth of our community.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Fully Developed Town Home In Exshaw
Exshaw, Alberta: (Elevation: 4261 feet) is a small hamlet of about 350 people located 15 minutes drive east of Canmore on the scenic 1A highway. Exshaw is the largest hamlet in the Municipal District of Bighorn No.8, which also includes the communities of Harvie Heights, Dead Man's Flats, Lac des Arcs, Seebe, and Jamieson Road, as well as large swaths of ranchland west of Cochrane. The MD No. 8 Administration, Council, Public Works, Roads, and Waste Management offices are all located in Exshaw.
This beautiful town home in Exshaw has over 1700 Square Feet of fully developed living space on three floors, single car attached garage, birch hardwood floors in the living room, fir trim throughout all levels, slate entrance way and kitchen, stainless steel appliances and ceramic tile in all four bathrooms. The open plan main level has great use of space and looks out to a very private setting. The upper level has two very large bedrooms; the master has an ensuite bathroom and its very own private balcony. The basement is fully developed with an additional two bedrooms, laundry room and full bathroom. The basement is ready for in floor heat. Great value and a must see and should be on your list of properties to view. For more information and pictures visit http://www.jessicastoner.ca/frm_listset.html
Monday, March 9, 2009
Are you ready to list your home?
Over the past few years when you were ready to list your home for sale in Canmore all you had to do was clean the house and call a Realtor and chances are it would be sold within a month. One of the great things about selling a house in a booming market is once it’s listed the home pretty much sells itself – and quickly.
Now that the market has changed properties are having fewer showings and are staying on the market for longer periods of time so what do you need to do in order to have the home ready to list? Here is a checklist of sorts to help you have your home in show condition before you put it on the market.
1. De-Clutter: Probably the most obvious, but also the hardest to do well. Clutter includes all the notes and children’s artwork you have on the fridge and kitchen cupboards, family photos and any excess furniture that make a room look to small or hard to move around in. Most property in Canmore is considerably short on storage and moving your clutter from the living space into already cramped closets only serves to prolong the surprise buyers have of seeing the clutter. If you have a crawl space or a garage to put excess clutter in, great!. Remember when you do de-clutter to make sure wherever you store it that it looks neat and tidy.
2. Once everything has been put away, keep everything else extra clean! wipe down fridges, stoves, microwaves, dishwashers and the front and backs of all doors. Polish the floors and the handle to your front door.
3. Wash your windows, screen door and window screens.
4. Get rid of any unwanted pet, cooking and smoke odours by having the carpets and drapes cleaned.
5. Make minor repairs to walls, countertops and cupboards or drawers that could create a bad impression. Small problems such as sticky doors, torn screens, cracked caulking, or a dripping faucet may seem trivial, but they’ll give buyers the impression that the house isn’t well maintained.
6. Tidy the yard, make sure all the downspouts are in working order, shovel the path / rake the leaves / cut the grass and put out a couple of flower pots to add colour.
7. If the home is a rental property try and have the property vacant once it is listed. Most showings in Canmore these days are on short notice, tenants living in the home require 24 hours notice before a showing. With so many properties on the market a buyer is likely to cross your property off the list and move on if they cannot see it immediately.
8 . Talk to a professional Realtor about the market, how it has changed, what real estate values in Canmore are now compared to 2007-2008. Discuss the process to list your home for sale and the expectations you have of your Realtor, how the Realtor will be marketing your home and what role you can play in the selling of your home.
A Realtor will market your home for sale through a number of different channels that will give the home the very best exposure to potential buyers. We will also give you honest feedback on your home and the price we believe it will take to sell your home in this buyers market. We also have the ability to put you in contact with an endless amount of companies that can provide help to ready your home for sale, such as staging companies, lawyers, cleaning companies and trades. In this market, if you don’t have to sell, consider holding on to your property until the market becomes more balanced. If you have to sell then pricing becomes the most important factor and key strategy to selling quickly. For more information on selling your home visit my website at www.richardgreaves.ca or contact me directly at 403.688.7629.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Your Realtor of Choice
I love my job, four words that I haven't always been able to say until I started my real estate career a few years ago. I liked my job, I admired and respected the people I worked with and I enjoyed working in a service oriented culture that had the ability to blow people's mind with the levels of service we consistently maintained and strived to beat. You see, I was a part of one of the best hotel management teams in the Country, and we were recognised by our peers who voted our hotel the Hotel of the Year in 2005 for our company. We had over 40 hotels in our chain at the time and this was a real honour, but even with us reaching these lofty heights I still felt there was something missing so I decided to leave my position and start working for myself.
This was not an easy decision, the salary was very good, the people I worked with were even better and I was well on my way to attaining my own hotel to manage. I also have two young children at home and it would have been extremely comfortable and safe to continue on my journey in the hotel business and fore go the journey of risky self employment.
But to me comfortable isn't something to strive for, I want to continually challenge myself and the 'easy way out' was never a real option. I've never been one to lie down and accept the path my life is on if I don't believe it to be the right one. I left England at the age of 21 after completing my hospitality management degree and emigrated to Canada because it was the right decision for me. My family understood my drive to experience life, were very supportive and admired me for following my hopes and dreams. When it came to leaving the hotel my colleagues understood my desires, were very supportive and admired me for my decision to jump from complete comfort to absolute uncertainty. And that's what starting as a Realtor was - absolute uncertainty - and I LOVE it!
Real Estate, whether you work in the industry, are selling your home or buying your home is and always will be a topic of hot discussion, whatever the market conditions. It's the uncertainties that make the market what it is, just like the stock market. It's my job to offer advice and service to people to help them navigate those uncertainties and achieve their desired outcome. Not unlike the hotel business, the real estate business, in my humble opinion, is all about service and relationships. You have to be comfortable dealing with your Realtor and your Realtor has to be able to provide you with the service over and above what you expect. Honesty, Integrity, Confidentiality, Disclosure are all traits that Realtors are lawfully required to provide, and that most Realtors advertise but it's the skills they don't advertise that I believe are more important - Sincerity, Compassion, Understanding, Patience, Urgency, Professional yet Personable are some of the service oriented traits that make the top Realtors stand above the crowd.
So why do I love my job? I love my job for 2 very different reasons. The first is the People - my results are based on my performance, no way around it - if I don't perform - I don't get paid. For me to perform I have to be constantly meeting and talking to new people, which is the one thing I did Love about my job in the hotel business, I love meeting and interacting with new people. I also Love keeping in touch with past clients that I've worked with to buy or sell a house and finding out how people are getting on in their new homes and lives.
The second reason I love my job - I am able to spend more valuable time with my family. Sure I work a lot, as all entrepreneurs do, and I work at varying times of the day depending on my clients needs, but I also take the time to take my kids to their ski lessons, basketball lessons, soccer lessons, mountain biking lessons, tobogganing - the quality time to see my kids grow that the hotel business could not afford me - and no amount of job comfort can compare to that precious time.
In these uncertain economic times a few of my friends think I'm crazy being a Realtor, but it's these uncertain times that make being a Realtor so exciting and so important in our community. If you were to ask me what you house is worth today I'm going to be frank and honest with you -prices have dropped and you may not like the answer - but I can guarantee that you'll LOVE the sincerity, compassion, understanding, professionalism and personality that I bring to MY service.
This was not an easy decision, the salary was very good, the people I worked with were even better and I was well on my way to attaining my own hotel to manage. I also have two young children at home and it would have been extremely comfortable and safe to continue on my journey in the hotel business and fore go the journey of risky self employment.
But to me comfortable isn't something to strive for, I want to continually challenge myself and the 'easy way out' was never a real option. I've never been one to lie down and accept the path my life is on if I don't believe it to be the right one. I left England at the age of 21 after completing my hospitality management degree and emigrated to Canada because it was the right decision for me. My family understood my drive to experience life, were very supportive and admired me for following my hopes and dreams. When it came to leaving the hotel my colleagues understood my desires, were very supportive and admired me for my decision to jump from complete comfort to absolute uncertainty. And that's what starting as a Realtor was - absolute uncertainty - and I LOVE it!
Real Estate, whether you work in the industry, are selling your home or buying your home is and always will be a topic of hot discussion, whatever the market conditions. It's the uncertainties that make the market what it is, just like the stock market. It's my job to offer advice and service to people to help them navigate those uncertainties and achieve their desired outcome. Not unlike the hotel business, the real estate business, in my humble opinion, is all about service and relationships. You have to be comfortable dealing with your Realtor and your Realtor has to be able to provide you with the service over and above what you expect. Honesty, Integrity, Confidentiality, Disclosure are all traits that Realtors are lawfully required to provide, and that most Realtors advertise but it's the skills they don't advertise that I believe are more important - Sincerity, Compassion, Understanding, Patience, Urgency, Professional yet Personable are some of the service oriented traits that make the top Realtors stand above the crowd.
So why do I love my job? I love my job for 2 very different reasons. The first is the People - my results are based on my performance, no way around it - if I don't perform - I don't get paid. For me to perform I have to be constantly meeting and talking to new people, which is the one thing I did Love about my job in the hotel business, I love meeting and interacting with new people. I also Love keeping in touch with past clients that I've worked with to buy or sell a house and finding out how people are getting on in their new homes and lives.
The second reason I love my job - I am able to spend more valuable time with my family. Sure I work a lot, as all entrepreneurs do, and I work at varying times of the day depending on my clients needs, but I also take the time to take my kids to their ski lessons, basketball lessons, soccer lessons, mountain biking lessons, tobogganing - the quality time to see my kids grow that the hotel business could not afford me - and no amount of job comfort can compare to that precious time.
In these uncertain economic times a few of my friends think I'm crazy being a Realtor, but it's these uncertain times that make being a Realtor so exciting and so important in our community. If you were to ask me what you house is worth today I'm going to be frank and honest with you -prices have dropped and you may not like the answer - but I can guarantee that you'll LOVE the sincerity, compassion, understanding, professionalism and personality that I bring to MY service.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Global Credit Crisis
I've seen the effects of the Global credit crunch like all of us have, banks failing, real estate foreclosures and the drastic slowdown in the Global economy. I was finding it truly hard to understand why and how this all happened, until I came across this video on the Internet. This is the best explanation of the current Global credit crisis I've seen, and I wanted to share it with you. It's well worth the 11 minutes to watch it. http://crisisofcredit.com/
In October 2008 in Canmore we saw the failure of Solara Resort, a 214 room luxury condo hotel that was 90% complete and scheduled to open for Christmas of 2008. This Property is still in Receivership. This weekend we learnt that Three Sisters Mountain Village has also been put in to receivership. TSMV owns the largest piece of land that can be developed in Canmore. The whole land is 1800 acres (see Jessica Stoner's blog for all the information at http://www.jessicastoner.ca/). These two failures are absolutely due to the Global credit crisis and will both be incredibly beneficial to Canmore as a town as we move along the path to recovery in our real estate market. I believe that both these failures will be the catalyst for our market recovery and buyers will be once again be in the drivers seat, being able to buy condos and homes at bargain prices. A real estate market in turmoil we are not, yet - but we are teetering on the edge with both eyes fixed firmly on the drop. Market's in turmoil can be mine fields, they also present the most significant opportunities for real estate investment that Canmore has seen in a decade. In the past Canmore has not been overly attractive to long term investors as rental income rarely covered the high cost of purchase, however, given the decline in real estate values Canmore is now a prime location for investors looking for real investment opportunities. The need for accurate inside knowledge about this market is critical. Jessica and I are in constant contact with the building community and are well versed in what is really going on in Canmore. We know the lemons, but more importantly we know the bargains and we can even give you the low down on upcoming deals that offer unprecedented value in our town.
For more information on these real investment opportunities contact me at soldbyrichard@gmail.com or on twitter @soldbyrichard
In October 2008 in Canmore we saw the failure of Solara Resort, a 214 room luxury condo hotel that was 90% complete and scheduled to open for Christmas of 2008. This Property is still in Receivership. This weekend we learnt that Three Sisters Mountain Village has also been put in to receivership. TSMV owns the largest piece of land that can be developed in Canmore. The whole land is 1800 acres (see Jessica Stoner's blog for all the information at http://www.jessicastoner.ca/). These two failures are absolutely due to the Global credit crisis and will both be incredibly beneficial to Canmore as a town as we move along the path to recovery in our real estate market. I believe that both these failures will be the catalyst for our market recovery and buyers will be once again be in the drivers seat, being able to buy condos and homes at bargain prices. A real estate market in turmoil we are not, yet - but we are teetering on the edge with both eyes fixed firmly on the drop. Market's in turmoil can be mine fields, they also present the most significant opportunities for real estate investment that Canmore has seen in a decade. In the past Canmore has not been overly attractive to long term investors as rental income rarely covered the high cost of purchase, however, given the decline in real estate values Canmore is now a prime location for investors looking for real investment opportunities. The need for accurate inside knowledge about this market is critical. Jessica and I are in constant contact with the building community and are well versed in what is really going on in Canmore. We know the lemons, but more importantly we know the bargains and we can even give you the low down on upcoming deals that offer unprecedented value in our town.
For more information on these real investment opportunities contact me at soldbyrichard@gmail.com or on twitter @soldbyrichard
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
