Red Deer Real Estate Blog

When I think of 2010, I think of the movie “2010: The Year We Make Contact”.  Which prompted me to look up “odyssey” as I don’t often use that term, perhaps you do.

According to Wikipedia “the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage”.  So will real estate in Red Deer 2010 be an “epic voyage”?  Was January the beginning of our epic voyage of real estate?

Red Deer MLS® Sales are up this year over last year by 37%.  A great start for sellers.

When we plot out the sales as per above we see a very distinct shape and concentration in the middle price rang and a more definitive grouping in the lower price ranges.  The average price for homes sold in the City of Red Deer according to the Central Alberta RTEALTORS® Association(CARA) was $276,381 compared to the low start of $239,821.  While you may want to say price is up 15%, I would caution that statement and point out that the average home sale price in December was $299,111.  It is quite common for January start with lower numbers.

The other day I blogged about the weekly real estate trend.  Sales have been slowly rising but not at the same rate as the number of listings coming on to the market.

For the past year or so we’ve been talking about the sales ration to new listings and that is quite noticeable above on the weekly trend.  During January 2010 there were 267 new listings and only 87 sales recorded by CARA MLS®.  That sales to listing ratio is only 32.58% for the month of January.  A strong buyers market indicator yet an improvement from the 28% in 2009.

Will 2010 be an epic journey/odyssey?

To early to tell, but I think we may be in for more of the same.  A year full of sales but the pressure on price competition will remain as we presently have 5.8 months of inventory at today’s sales rate.  The key to a successful sale will be price and condition.  Sellers will have to continue to be smart priced and in showcase condition.

If you have questions on real estate and how the market affects you.  Shoot us an email or tweet.

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

Patrick on Twitter:  @pgalesloot

Spring clean your home office with safety, security, and peace of mind at our:

Spring Shredathon
May 2nd, 9 a.m. – 3 pm
Parkland Mall West Parking Lot

Patrick and De Galesloot together with Century 21 Advantage want to protect your identity, and clean up your home office.

Everyone has information that needs to be disposed of in a safe, secure manner. Saturday May 2nd Century 21 Advantage and Merlin Shredding Inc. will destroy the documents that could destroy you or your reputation if they were to fall into the wrong hands.

Do you store any of the following?

• Contracts
• Sensitive Personal Data
• Telephone Numbers
• Tax Reports
• Classified Documents
• Estimates
• Bank Statements
• Legal Documents
• Invoices
• Medical Records

This shredding event is no charge to you, and is only open to personal documents not for business use. Stop by the Century 21 Advantage and Merlin Shredding “Shredathon” May 2nd and Spring clean your home office.

Donations will proudly be accepted for the Red Deer and District Food bank.

For more information call your Patrick or De Galesloot at: (403) 346-0021

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

Two comments or questions asked of us that we hear most often today:

• “Is the market going down more?”
• “I’m waiting for the prices to come down further”

Quite often people are surprised when I mention that houses are selling.  I think too many people are listening to CNN or Canada Am, and getting national news or news from other regions mixed up with local news.  The reality is yes homes are selling and yes it is still a buyers market.  February experienced the fourth highest sales volume for MLS sales.  Sellers today have to be price competitive and if they are their home will have an increased probability of selling.  Not all price ranges are selling at the same rate, so to generalize that “I read that it is picking up” would not be in your best interest.  You need all the facts and news articles and Blog posts share only portions of the market at a time.

What price ranges are selling?

As you can see all price ranges are seeing some movement (the above is for MLS sales from Jan. 01 – March 19, ’09), however the main activity is centered around $300,000 today.  In fact we do encounter multiple offers when homes are priced just right.  Buyers are searching for a good deal.  When a good deal is spotted more than one person are interested.  Yes there is pressure on price.  The old supply and demand influences price daily.  How much will prices go down?  Will they level out and when will they go back up?  I’m sorry to say that my crystal ball is not all that clear on that one.  Expectations are that prices for 2009 will be down 3% to 5% from 2008 levels.  If you are looking to sell a higher priced home there are less buyers today so it will take longer and be more of a challenge unless you are willing to price your home where the buyers are.

The above graph illustrates sales volume by units for the month of March so far for the city of Red Deer.  There have been a total of 78 sales this month, while we presently have 624 properties listed for sale  (12.5%).  In February there were a total of 87 single family home (houses) sales.  Today we have 366 houses for sale in Red Deer. The odds of selling today then are 25% or 1 in 4.  The odds are not even across all price ranges.  Your chances of selling go down as price goes up.

How do you become that 1 that sells?

1. Price has to be bang on or better. Now is not the time to be fishing for that one buyer that will pay more.
2. Be show home ready as much as possible.
3. Be open for business.  Do not set exclusive hours for viewings.  Why make it hard for buyers to see your home.
4. Get your home seen and marketed professionally by a Realtor that knows your “Local” real estate market.

We have detailed steps and more in-depth approaches to looking at the market and getting your home sold.  If you are considering a move we can help.  Call or email for a sellers consultation.  We will evaluate your property free of charge and discuss with you how your home can become “SOLD” in today’s competitive market.  The top two Realtors in Red Deer work with Century 21 Advantage, so should you.

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

Stats are from the Central Alberta Realtors Association MLS.  Numbers are for the City of Red Deer unless otherwise indicated.

Normal Market may be an applicable descriptor for the month of February.

February 2009 recorded the 4th highest sales volume for single family homes when comparing to previous February sales volumes.

Recent years February Sales Volume:

Looking back at the last19 years of sales volume for February Single Family Homes.

February 2009 was a pretty darn good month.

Your Friend in Real Estate

Patrick Galesloot

February is over and March is coming in like a Lion today allowing time to catch up on stats and planning.

Sales increased as did the volume of listings from the previous week as indicated above.  Sales activity increased by 28% from the week before.  Expectations are that March will have more positive sales growth with the reduction in interest rates.  Now lets hope mother nature cooperates to provide conditions favourable to viewing homes.

February ended in Red Deer, and it ended on a positive note.  After experiencing a few months of sluggish sales we experienced an increase over January.

The bulk of the activity is occurring in the $250 – $350,000 range.  The activity that occurred in January in that range probably pushed the wave up into higher ranges for February.  People moving up from that starter to the larger home.

I believe now is a great time to be buying real estate.  Buyers have selection, negotiating power, and the lowest interest rates in decades.  If you have secure employment and are in the market to buy, then why wait?

The average sale price in February increased by 25.29% over January from $239,821 to $300,465.

Total sales Volume increased from 62 sales in Red Deer to 113. An increase of 82.26%.

The question is for those of that were waiting for the “bottom”, has that passed or was February an anomaly?  Just like knowing when the peak is, we don’t know where the bottom is (was) until it has passed us.

Real Estate is LOCAL.  The numbers are different in Blackfalds than Red Deer, Red Deer is different than Calgary and Alberta is different than a national average.  Before you make a real estate decision talk to your Realtor, they should have these numbers for you.  Not all do however, this tends to separate the great Realtors from average or even the “part timers”.

Do you remember 2005?  It may surprise you but 2005 was a record year before 2006, 2007, 2008 for sales.  The first three months looked like this:

The headlines and interest rates announcements looked like:

18 October 2005
Bank of Canada raises overnight rate target by 1/4 percentage point to 3 per cent

While the Oil and Gas market today is in decline rather than incline, mortgage money is plentiful and at more affordable rates than 4 years ago.  Should we be hiding from the economy and the economic outlook or doing what we can to change it?

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

Last week in Red Deer real estate was a bit slower than the previous week but still a solid performer.

Pending sales reported remains steady, which is a measure of deals written.  January versus February, and the tale of the tape is that February is exceeding January and we have a week to go as far as numbers reported.

January 1 to 31st, 2009 compared to February as of February 25th:

The number of new listings coming on to the market presently is at 93% of January numbers, while Sales have increased by 56%. 

So how is this comparing to last year?

Listings are happening at the same pace as 2008 while sales are still lagging.  Rumour is that interest rates will drop again next week be 25 to 50 points.  If rates keep dropping it sure is getting cheap to borrow.

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

Weekly Sales numbers in Red Deer, AB. jump 30% from the previous week.

While the weekly numbers may not appear huge to you, they are significant.  Sales increased 30% from the previous week.  The last 3 weeks are 72% higher in sales volume than the previous 4 weeks.  A few months ago I would have speculated that the inventory would be increasing at a far greater rate than it is, and that the pressure on price would be greater in th eRed Deer real estate market.  That has not transpired.

Interest rates dropped not once but twice to a level that is incredibly low in my opinion.  Will they drop again?  I don’t know it is really hard to see that happening.  I think there has been a lot of positive indicators for buyers today and that there is plenty of opportunity to buy today.  If you can buy, why not now?

Last week was the first week we saw the number of listings coming on decline at a faster rate than the sales as noted in the above graph.

This morning I polled our Century 21 Advantage Realtors at our weekly meeting.  I have seen an increase in offers come thru the office, and how many have experienced multiple offers.  Yes Multiple offers, and 6 or 7 associates raised their hands.  Yes there are multiple offers happening even in today’s market.  If the price is right and you hesitate or are adamant on getting a better “deal” you could lose out on the best house for you.

We’re all concerned with buying at the lowest point in the market.  It may be premature but for starter homes or homes under $300,000 that point may have come and gone.  That price point is selling stronger than others.

Any questions feel free to call or email me, your comments are always appreciated.

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

Real Estate Activity is on the rise!

Talk to a few Realtors and you and the response will be that there is in fact more action in the market place.

The numbers also reflect that as noted above.  There was an increase in listings as well as sales.

The weather on the weekend was fantastic.  That may have something to do with the amount of traffic I witnessed at 38 Overand Place.  I made arrangements to stop in at 1:30 prior to the open house to shoot some video.  Well Ken Devoe was there and ready and had his signs up promoting traffic.  The open house did not officially start until 2:00 but at 1:30 there were people coming through.  Must have been at least 6 couples or groups that came thru in that first 45 minutes. We managed to create some videos in between traffic.

From Stats

Did you hear this week that rates dropped yet again?  Prime rate is now at 3% down 50 points.  The over night rate is at 1%!!  How low can they go?

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

Here are the weekly numbers:

The blue shaded areas represent homes that did not sell and are still available.  We like to see that gap closer if you are selling.  The bigger the gap the stronger the “buyers” market.  You can see that sales were sluggish to start January 2009.  Not to surprising given the doom and gloom in the air.  Afterwards we had President Obama inauguration followed by the great Canadian Budget Coalition stand off that has now been resolved.

Sales are down from last year January ’08 versus January ’09.

From Stats

We’ll keep you informed.

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot