Archive for June, 2015

Worth The Risk?

Friday, June 26th, 2015

Grow Ops

When you find a property that seems too good to be true for the price, you must ask yourself why it’s priced low.

 

There is a reason former grow ops have a lower price point.

Very few lenders will finance grow ops. If banks are not willing to finance, why should you be?

 

Think about it…

The property will always be a stigmatized property.

It’s required that you must disclose the nature of the property even if you sell 10 years later.

There are also no standards for remediation. One can only guess to the environmental damage.

 

Looking at a grow op? You may just want to think again.

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Sweat Equity

Wednesday, June 17th, 2015

sweat Equity

Should you go the DIY route to boost the value of your home? Is it all worth it?

“Sweat Equity” is a thought-provoking concept, but there are some things to consider if you are thinking of jumping in….

  • What are your abilities? I’m sure you are a rock star, but jumping into knocking out walls or putting down floor tiles with no previous experience may not be the best idea. Know your limits.
  • If you can’t do it right don’t do it at all, or you will see a negative effect on resale value
  • Do you have a realistic budget? When it comes to renovation budgets, it’s way better to overestimate than under. You will likely run into many unforeseen costs.
  • Don’t over renovate for the area you are in. If you put a lot of money into a property, surrounded by properties valued at much less, your value will not increase the way you want it to.
  • And lastly, you must ask yourself if you really want to live in a home that is under construction.

 

Sweat equity can be rewarding, but consider the consequences before you jump into such a massive project! More info at Gordpiper.com

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June Market Snapshot

Friday, June 5th, 2015

Stay ahead of the curve by following our Monthly Market Snapshot of the Calgary Real Estate Market. This shows what’s really happening in the Calgary Real Estate Market. The market is driven by supply and demand so here we show the inventory (supply) and sales (demand) and the effect on the price of Calgary Real Estate. A simple way to keep up to date and ahead of most!

Below are the details along with a few comments, all numbers were taken from the Calgary Real Estate Boards Stats package for Realtors.

Find out what your Neighbor’s home sold for – Register for our Market Report at http://www.calgaryareasolds.com/

 

Calgary housing market is changing again.  May saw a decrease in inventory and an increase in Sales tightening up the supply and moving us into a sellers’ market.

 

Calgary Listing Inventory:   It is interesting to see that the inventory went down in all categories this month.  This is partially due to not as many new listings hit the market and that sales increased.   This is opposite of what I would normally expect for May as typically people list in May as the summer is approaching.

 

Inventory  April  2015 May  2015 Change
Detached 3024 2913 -111
Attached 1207 1136 -71
Apartment 1348 1293 -55
Total City of Calgary 5579 5342 -237

 

Calgary Sales:

Sales in all categories increased this month.  This is a normal trend where getting near the summer the sales increase.

Sales April  2015 May  2015 Change % Change
Detached 1149 1366 +216 +18.8
Attached 458 465 +7 +.15
Apartment 350 359 +9 +2.5
Total City of Calgary 1957 2190 +233 +11.9

 

 

Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:  

Prices in all categories increased marginally this month.  Apartment condos showed the largest increase.

Based on the absorption rate below my prediction is that detached and attached homes will stay fairly stable or see small price increases while apartment condos should see slight decreases or stay flat.

  Sales Prices April  2015

 Benchmark Price 

May  2015

Benchmark Price

 Change
Detached 510,200 512,800 +2,600
Attached 353,300 354,000 +700
Apartment 291,300 294,800 +3,500
Total City of Calgary 451,600 454,100 +2,500

 

Sales Prices “Year to Date”   

Year to date prices – All categories have decreased.

Sales Prices Dec 31, 2014   Benchmark Price  May  2015 Benchmark Price Change

$

% Change
Detached 518,600 512,800 -5,700 -1.1
Attached 356,200 354,000 -2,200 -.6
Apartment 300,400 294,800 -5,600 -1.8
Total City of Calgary 459,500 454,100 -5,400 -1.2

 

Absorption Rate (Months of Inventory)   (the inventory divided by the number of sales in the last month). What does this mean you might ask?

Buyer’s Market >4.0 Drives prices down
Balanced Market Between 2.8 to 4.0 Prices typically remain stable
Seller’s Market <2.8 Drives prices up

 

*** Absorption Rate:   

The absorption rate decreased again for all categories.  What this means is that the relation to sales over inventory decreased.  This puts detached homes and attached homes into a seller’s market, while apartment condos have stayed in a balanced market.

If this trend continues we are going to start seeing a lack of homes for buyers causing multiple offers and larger price increases.

Absorption Rate   April  2015 May  2015 Change
Detached 2.63 2.13 -.5
Attached 2.64 2.44 -.2
Apartment 3.85 3.6 -.25
Total City of Calgary 2.85 2.44 -.41

 

**Please note that these numbers do change on a community basis and more so for towns.  If you would like to find stats on your community just let me know.  If you have any questions about this summary, the attached stats package or any Real Estate questions please feel free to contact us.

 

If you know anyone else who might enjoy seeing our monthly summary please feel free to pass this on. Gord, Eric, Brent

TSW Real Estate Group

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Killarney-Glengarry

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015

Killarney

Killarney-Glengarry: NW Calgary Real Estate

Calgary has many great communities and some of them have really been going through some huge changes in the last few years. One of those communities is Killarney-Glengarry. This is a 1.8 sq/km inner- city community that runs from 17th Ave in the north to Richmond Rd in the south, and from 37th St in the west to 25a St in the east.

It was named after Killarney (in Ireland) and Glengarry (in Scotland) to help give Calgary’s new settlers a sense of home.

The first plan for the suburb was registered in 1906 and the land was formally annexed in 1910 with single–storey clapboard housing being built.

The majority of building in Killarney-Glengarry took place after WWII when soldiers returned from the war. Property lots were sold to these soldiers for just $25 to help them settle down, rebuild their lives and raise their families.

Construction back then consisted mainly of stucco and clapboard bungalows on the 25ft or 50ft lots, but since 2002, many of these structures have been replaced with infill housing. Killarney-Glengarry is now known for its urban forest of mature trees and close links to downtown – aided by the new West LRT line. It is an area that is growing and changing as it attracts developers marketing homes to young families who want to be close to down town but with the amenities of a suburb.

Our favorite part of this community is how involved their community association is, you can follow them through all the normal social media channels and they will regularly ask for input from community members for their projects. They are currently working towards a community piazza area on the corner of 33rd ST and 26th AVE as well as developing a new playground that will be accessible to all. They organize a community garden every year as well as organizing clean ups, garage sales and other community geared events.

If you are looking for newer homes, a tight knit community and a great central location in the city, you really can’t go wrong with Killarney-Glengarry. We happen to have one of these homes for sale in the area, and it’s a great example of some of the unique features you can get with a newer home built in an older community. Check out our video walk through below.

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