You’ve probably heard about “home staging”. As the name implies, it’s all about arranging each room in your home in a way that will make the best impression on buyers. Here’s what you need to know about staging if you’re thinking of listing your property. 1. Staging can get you a higher price. On average, a fully-staged home tends to sell for 17% more than an unstaged home of the same type in the same local market. Depending on the current market value of your property, doing some staging in your home could put thousands of extra dollars in your pocket, post-sale. 2. It can speed up the sale. A study by the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) showed that fullystaged homes spend an average of 90% less time on the market. So, if you need to sell quickly – without dropping your price – or you just want the comfort of having offers come in sooner, staging will definitely help. 3. You don’t have to go crazy. Completely staging every room in your home is going to give you the full benefits of this strategy. However, you don’t have to go that far. In fact, just implementing a few simple staging techniques to some key rooms can make a big difference. 4. Get professional help or advice. When it comes to home staging, don’t guess at it. Get professional help or advice. As a REALTOR®, I have a lot of expertise in this area and always offer sellers a free Staging Consultation.
Four Things You Should Know About Staging
August 28th, 2018Open House Questions Some Buyers Forget to Ask
August 28th, 2018An Open House is an event. And, like many events, it’s easy to get caught up in all the excitement and energy. In fact, when you visit an Open House, you might even end up rubbing elbows with other buyers who are there at the same time. It can feel like a party! In an environment like that, it’s not unusual to forget to ask important questions about the property.
Here are some of the most common:
• How old is the roof? • How old is the furnace, air conditioner and other HVAC equipment? • How does the price compare to similar properties in the neighbourhood? (You don’t want to make an offer that’s too high.) • What are the characteristics of the neighbourhood? (Amenities, safety, traffic, access to public transit, property turnover, etc.) • What doesn’t come with the home? (Ask specifically about kitchen appliances, gas-connected BBQs, chandeliers, window coverings.) • Are there any potential impediments to the sale? (Tenants, outstanding liens, etc.) • Are there any outstanding maintenance issues, or repairs that need to be done? (For example, cracked ceramics on the foyer floor.) • Are there any issues that impact the full use of the property? (Ask specifically about shared driveways or walkways, public “right of way” through the property, water drainage rights from neighbouring homes, etc.)
• What factors might impact the re-sale of this home.
Yes, an Open House can feel like a frenzy, and if it’s a home you love, you might feel pressured to make an offer. But, it’s important to take the time to ask the right questions and consider your decision carefully. One consideration is do you want to be represented by the same agent that’s representing the seller (but that’s a whole other topic).
You don’t want to find out, too late, that there were questions you should have asked.
Want more tips on finding the home of your dreams? Call today.
Beware of Over-Downsizing or Over-Upsizing
August 21st, 2018Buying a new pair of shoes is relatively easy. Once you find the style you like, all you need to do is try them on and see if they fit. If they do, you go to the cash register and pay. When it comes to size, buying a new home can be trickier! Whether your intention is to upsize or downsize, figuring out the right size can be especially challenging. Say for example, you’re downsizing from a large two-story home to a smaller bungalow. You don’t want to underestimate the space you need and end up in a place that feels tight. If you’re going the other way and upsizing, you don’t want to end up sinking extra money into a property that’s larger than you really need. So how do you avoid these scenarios? One of the best ways is to start by considering your current home. Do you use all the rooms in your home regularly? Is there a bedroom that’s rarely occupied? Has the recreation room become simply a storage area? If you’re downsizing, subtracting rooms you scarcely use can give you a better idea of what you need in a new home. Upsizing is a bit more challenging because you have to anticipate what you will need in the future. For example, if you have young children, and your place is feeling cramped, then a home with a recreation room or separate family and living rooms may be a good idea. You may also need a bigger kitchen with a spacious eating area (in addition to a separate dining room.) Think about the extra room you’ll need and how you’ll use that space. When I work with a client, I typically sit down with them and discuss the type of home they want in detail — and, based on needs and circumstance, I make expert recommendations. Bottom line, I help clients find the perfect fit in a new home. Contact me if you’d like to learn more.
Does your home match the lifestyle you desire?
August 14th, 2018Subtle Signs it May Be Time to Sell Sometimes the reason for putting your home on the market is crystal clear. For example, you might have a job relocation and need to move. Or, you might have decided to downsize because the kids have left the nest. However, there are many other motivations to list your home that are not as obvious, and yet are still good reasons to make a move. Here are just a few examples…
- You’re bored with your home and are looking for a change
- There’s something you’ve always wanted in a home that your current property doesn’t have, such as a wooded backyard.
- You want to be closer to work, or to activities you enjoy, such as golf.
- There’s another neighborhood you’ve always dreamed of living in.
- Your tastes have changed and you want to live in a different type of home.
None of these reasons makes it an absolute necessity to list your property and find a new home. Yet, they’re all worth considering, especially if moving will make you and your family happier, and provide you with a more desirable lifestyle. Want to talk about the possibilities?
Using Neighbourhood Data to Help Sell Your Home
August 12th, 2018Your neighborhood has a lot of features that can help sell your home faster. Unfortunately, buyers don’t usually notice those features just by driving around. So, you need to make sure they get all the information they need about your neighborhood. For example, say homes don’t go on the market often in your area. That’s an indication that the quality of life in the neighborhood is so good that no one wants to leave! In real estate we measure the area’s “turnover rate”, and it’s handy data to have when listing your home.
Another bit of data that buyers can’t simply see is the local crime rate. But, most police departments keep those statistics. If your neighborhood has a low crime rate, that’s an obvious plus to sellers.
Demographic data can also be helpful when selling your property. If your neighborhood has a lot of families, for example, that’s going to be appealing to buyers with kids. Even local development plans can play a role in making your home more attractive to buyers. If a new ramp to a major highway is in the works nearby, getting to work is going to be easier. That’s a big benefit to commuters.
Other types of data that can help sell your home include:
• Planned local construction
• Proposals for neighborhood improvements. (For example, a new playground.)
• Rates at which local property values are increasing. Any information that shows the advantages of living in your area is going to be useful when selling.
By the way, this is the kind of information I put together to provide to prospective buyers when selling your home. Contact me today.
Calgary Real Estate Market Snapshot – Aug 1, 2018
August 2nd, 2018What is really happening in the Calgary Real Estate Market?
What is really happening in the Calgary Real Estate Market?
Stay ahead of everyone else by following our Monthly Market Snapshot of the Calgary Real Estate Market. This shows what’s really happening! The market is driven by supply and demand so here we show the inventory (supply) and sales (demand) and most importantly the relationship between the two and how it affects the price of Calgary Real Estate. A simple way to keep up to date with how the market is trending and to stay ahead of most! All numbers are taken from the Calgary Real Estate Boards Stats package for Realtors. I have also included some general comments which are simply my opinion.
Months of Inventory/Absorption Rate – 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 2.4 to 4.0 | Prices typically remain stable |
| Seller’s Market | <2.4 | Drives prices up |
Watch the Trend
On the above graph it is important to see the trends – As you can see the apartment condo absorption rate is has been trending down however in July it reversed and when back up.
Current Months of Inventory: If we did not list any more homes this is how many months it would take to deplete inventory.
In July the months of inventory increased in every Category. If you have been following my monthly snapshot you will notice that most months when this changes it changes only a little where this month the numbers have increased substantially. This change puts us deep into a Buyer’s market in every category.
| End of | June 2018 | July 2018 | Change |
| Detached | 3.98 | 4.72 | 0.74 |
| Semi Detached | 5.04 | 6.07 | 1.04 |
| Attached – Row | 5.73 | 6.78 | 1.05 |
| Apartment | 6.41 | 7.01 | 0.60 |
| Total City | 4.65 | 5.46 | 0.81 |
Calgary Listing Inventory
In July, our inventory decreased increased in all sectors and overall. This is totally normal at this time of year and we should expect this trend to continue for the rest of the year.
| Inventory | June 2018 | July 2018 | Change |
| Detached | 4817 | 4578 | -239 |
| Semi Detached | 922 | 911 | -11 |
| Attached – Row | 1209 | 1187 | -22 |
| Apartment | 1872 | 1774 | -98 |
| Total Calgary | 8820 | 8450 | -370 |
Calgary Sales:
Sales were down in all categories and again this is normal for July as this is moving out of our busy season when people are focused on vacations and outdoor activities.
Sales Compared to last year: Of interest if we compare to last year Sales in June we were 11.3% down from last year while July we were down only 4.8% from last year – a big improvement.
| Calgary Sales | June 2018 | July 2018 | Change | % Change |
| Detached | 1210 | 969 | -241 | -19.92% |
| Semi Detached | 183 | 150 | -33 | -18.03% |
| Attached – Row | 211 | 175 | -36 | -17.06% |
| Apartment | 292 | 253 | -39 | -13.36% |
| Total City | 1896 | 1547 | -349 | -18.41% |
Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:
As we are now in a buyer market we should expect prices to decline slightly which is what happened except in the Apartment Condo sector where prices increased slightly.
| Sales Prices | June 2018 Benchmark Price | July 2018 Benchmark Price | Change |
| Detached | 503,100 | 501,300 | -1,800 |
| Semi Detached | 418,000 | 416,200 | -1,800 |
| Attached – Row | 302,300 | 300,300 | -2,000 |
| Apartment | 259,100 | 259,700 | 600 |
| Total City | 436,500 | 435,200 | -1,300 |
Sales Prices “Year to Date”
Same as monthly number
| Sales Prices | Jan 1, 2018 Benchmark Price | July 2018 Benchmark Price | Change
$ |
% Change |
| Detached | 499,600 | 501,300 | 1,700 | 0.34% |
| Semi Detached | 416,600 | 416,200 | -400 | -0.10% |
| Attached – Row | 299,500 | 300,300 | 800 | 0.27% |
| Apartment | 257,700 | 259,700 | 2,000 | 0.78% |
| Total City | 433,200 | 435,200 | 2,000 | 0.46% |
**Please note that these numbers include only Calgary homes and do change on a community basis and more so for towns. This report does not include rural properties. If you would like to find stats on your community just let me know. If you have any questions about this summary or about Real Estate in general, please feel free to contact us.
Calgary Real Estate Market Snapshot
July 3rd, 2018What is really happening in the Calgary Real Estate Market?
Calgary Real Estate Absorption Rate
Calgary Real Estate Absorption Rate
Stay ahead of everyone else by following our Monthly Market Snapshot of the Calgary Real Estate Market. This shows what’s really happening! The market is driven by supply and demand so here we show the inventory (supply) and sales (demand) and most importantly the relationship between the two and how it affects the price of Calgary Real Estate. A simple way to keep up to date with how the market is trending and to stay ahead of most! All numbers are taken from the Calgary Real Estate Boards Stats package for Realtors. I have also included some general comments which are simply my opinion.
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 2.4 to 4.0 | Prices typically remain stable |
| Seller’s Market | <2.4 | Drives prices up |
Watch the Trend
On the above graph it is important to see the trends – Especially the apartment condo absorption rate- it is trending downward and is closing the gap with the rest of the sectors.
Current Absorption Rate
The absorption rate for all categories except Attached-Row houses declined this month which in my opinion is a good thing as it shows a little more balance in the market.
| End of | May 2018 | June 2018 | Change |
| Detached | 4.26 | 3.98 | -0.28 |
| Semi Detached | 5.53 | 5.04 | -0.49 |
| Attached – Row | 5.06 | 5.73 | 0.67 |
| Apartment | 6.81 | 6.41 | -0.40 |
| Total City | 4.90 | 4.65 | -0.24 |
Calgary Listing Inventory
In June, our inventory increased in all sectors except apartment condos. This is totally expected at this time of year. July should be an interesting month as the typical July will see listings drop off. The decrease in apartment condos I would contribute to listings expiring as sales were flat.
| Inventory | May 2018 | June 2018 | Change |
| Detached | 4504 | 4817 | 313 |
| Semi Detached | 862 | 922 | 60 |
| Attached – Row | 1163 | 1209 | 46 |
| Apartment | 1921 | 1872 | -49 |
| Total City | 8450 | 8820 | 370 |
Calgary Sales:
Sales were again up in all categories except for Attached Row houses which were down only 19 from May. The percentage looks big at 8.26 due to small numbers in this sector.
Sales for June were 11% down from last year but this is again an improvement as May sales were down 18.4% from last year.
| Calgary Sales | May 2018 | June 2018 | Change | % Change |
| Detached | 1058 | 1210 | 152 | 14.37% |
| Semi Detached | 156 | 183 | 27 | 17.31% |
| Attached – Row | 230 | 211 | -19 | -8.26% |
| Apartment | 282 | 292 | 10 | 3.55% |
| Total City | 1726 | 1896 | 170 | 9.85% |
Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:
This one has me stumped. In theory the sector with the highest absorption rate should have the biggest decline in price. The opposite took place in June with every sector dropping a little except Apartment Condos which increased in price.
| Sales Prices | May 2018 Benchmark Price | June 2018 Benchmark Price | Change |
| Detached | 504,500 | 503,100 | -1,400 |
| Semi Detached | 419,000 | 418,000 | -1,000 |
| Attached – Row | 303,200 | 302,300 | -900 |
| Apartment | 256,200 | 259,100 | 2,900 |
| Total City | 436,900 | 436,500 | -400 |
Sales Prices “Year to Date”
Same as monthly number
| Sales Prices | Jan 1, 2018 Benchmark Price | June 2018 Benchmark Price | Change
$ |
% Change |
| Detached | 499,600 | 503,100 | 3,500 | 0.70% |
| Semi Detached | 416,600 | 418,000 | 1,400 | 0.34% |
| Attached – Row | 299,500 | 302,300 | 2,800 | 0.93% |
| Apartment | 257,700 | 259,100 | 1,400 | 0.54% |
| Total City | 433,200 | 436,500 | 3,300 | 0.76% |
**Please note that these numbers include only Calgary homes and do change on a community basis and more so for towns. This report does not include rural properties. If you would like to find stats on your community just let me know. If you have any questions about this summary or about Real Estate in general, please feel free to contact us.
Just Listed 119 78 Avenue NE Calgary
June 7th, 2018Excellent opportunity to gain some sweat equity, flip a home or have a rental.
C4189464 : 4 Level Split in Huntington Hills for only $350,000
Open House Saturday June 9, 2018 from 2pm to 5pm
Open House Sunday June 10 from 1 pm to 4 pm
Looking for a renovation project, look no more. Fantastic 4 Bedroom, 4 level Split in a great location in Huntington Hills. This home provides good bones but is just dated and provides a great opportunity to get into Huntington Hillls at a great price point. Living room features vaulted ceilings, kitchen is spacious, updated and offers a large dining area. Upper level provides 2 spacious bedrooms and a full bath. Third level provides another 2 bedrooms and full bath. Forth level is developed with a Rec room with awesome stone fireplace, and the utility room. Enjoy your large backyard and your oversized (23×25) double garage. All this and located close to public transit, schools, shopping nearby and easy access to Deerfoot trail. Shingles replaced aprox 2003. Some windows have been replaced.
Calgary Real Estate Market -June 1, 2018
June 2nd, 2018What is really happening in the Calgary Real Estate Market?
What is really happening in the Calgary Real estate Market
What is really happening in the Calgary Real Estate Market?
Stay ahead of everyone else by following our Monthly Market Snapshot of the Calgary Real Estate Market. This shows what’s really happening! The market is driven by supply and demand so here we show the inventory (supply) and sales (demand) and most importantly the relationship between the two and how it affects the price of Calgary Real Estate. A simple way to keep up to date with how the market is trending and to stay ahead of most! All numbers are taken from the Calgary Real Estate Boards Stats package for Realtors. I have also included some general comments which are simply my opinion.
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 2.4 to 4.0 | Prices typically remain stable |
| Seller’s Market | <2.4 | Drives prices up |
Current Absorption Rate
No major fluctuations here this month. Detached homes went up a little while all other categories went down between .25 and .54
| End of | Apr 2018 | May 2018 | Change |
| Detached | 4.01 | 4.26 | 0.25 |
| Semi Detached | 6.00 | 5.53 | -0.47 |
| Attached – Row | 5.60 | 5.06 | -0.54 |
| Apartment | 7.06 | 6.81 | -0.25 |
| Total City | 4.82 | 4.90 | 0.07 |
Calgary Listing Inventory
In April, our inventory increased in all Sectors. This is totally expected at this time of year and we should expect this trend to continue for another month anyways.
| Inventory | Apr 2018 | May 2018 | Change |
| Detached | 3642 | 4504 | 862 |
| Semi Detached | 756 | 862 | 106 |
| Attached – Row | 1075 | 1163 | 88 |
| Apartment | 1851 | 1921 | 70 |
| Total City | 7324 | 8450 | 1126 |
Calgary Sales:
The good news is that sales are up from last month in all categories. Looking at the bigger picture we are still substantially down from last year’s sales. May showed 18.4% less sales than May 2017. This however is an improvement as April sales were down 20.3% from last April.
| Calgary Sales | Apr 2018 | May 2018 | Change | % Change |
| Detached | 908 | 1058 | 150 | 16.52% |
| Semi Detached | 126 | 156 | 30 | 23.81% |
| Attached – Row | 192 | 230 | 38 | 19.79% |
| Apartment | 262 | 282 | 20 | 7.63% |
| Total City | 1518 | 1726 | 208 | 13.70% |
Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:
Prices in April showed very little change. Attached-Row houses showed the largest gain of $3,200. while Semi-Detached homes showed the largest decrease of $1,000.
| Sales Prices | Apr 2018 Benchmark Price | May 2018 Benchmark Price | Change |
| Detached | 504,500 | 504,500 | 0 |
| Semi Detached | 420,000 | 419,000 | -1,000 |
| Attached – Row | 300,000 | 303,200 | 3,200 |
| Apartment | 256,700 | 256,200 | -500 |
| Total City | 436,500 | 436,900 | 400 |
Sales Prices “Year to Date”
Same as monthly number
| Sales Prices | Jan 1, 2018 Benchmark Price | May 2018 Benchmark Price | Change
$ |
% Change |
| Detached | 499,600 | 504,500 | 4,900 | 0.98% |
| Semi Detached | 416,600 | 419,000 | 2,400 | 0.58% |
| Attached – Row | 299,500 | 303,200 | 3,700 | 1.24% |
| Apartment | 257,700 | 256,200 | -1,500 | -0.58% |
| Total City | 433,200 | 436,900 | 3,700 | 0.85% |
**Please note that these numbers include only Calgary homes and do change on a community basis and more so for towns. This report does not include rural properties. If you would like to find stats on your community just let me know. If you have any questions about this summary or about Real Estate in general, please feel free to contact us.