Increase activity

The local economy has seen positive signs so far in 2012. The mild winter has helped seen an increase in activity since about one week before Christmas. Increased activity meaning buyers out looking at properties. We have had a few sales occur since the beginning of the year, and I think that this is due to properties being priced properly. That is the key. Pricing a house properly. There is still a large amount of inventory on the market so in order to make a sale, sellers have to be competitively priced. I know I have said this several times before, but it still is necessary to make a sale. When one house is listed, and has been listed for close to a year at a certain level, and you try to sell the house next door, don't pull a number out of a hat! Do your homework! That is exactly what we did (the Sellers and I), and we had an offer within 10 days! Now, time to get back to work!

One final thought on 2011 and the upcoming year

2011 was a challenging year. The local real estate market has had lots of inventory and not much for sales. Let's look at where we are in the real estate cycle. We are certainly not at the top! I think that we are hovering around the bottom, in my opinion. With the Calgary market looking to make some gains, I think that this is going to effect out local market here in Vulcan. Warning - this is my opinion. I will let you know this time next year whether I am accurate or not. A strong Calgary market boosts prices there. As those prices get higher and higher, some people look for markets where prices are lower. Here is where Vulcan comes in. I have an offer going on a house, yes a HOUSE, which was listed at $70,000. Where are you going to find a house listed under $100,000? Under $200,000? I do not recall seeing any in the larger centers at that price. Vulcan and surrounding areas offer lower priced places where people can by more affordable places to call home. Yes there are some places that need a lot of TLC, but there are also decent homes that are affordably priced. The local rental market has been filling up since about September and this is a positive sign for the market as well. Within the past 10 days or so, I have had more showings than I had in a couple of months, plus I have had an offer! Not bad for a "slow" time of year.

Basically what I am saying is that the market is cyclical and I think that we have reached bottom and are starting to move upwards. Like I mentioned earlier, the larger markets are gaining some traction, plus economists are saying that Alberta is going to be seeing a labour shortage within the next year. I think that these are signs of the economy picking up, at least in Alberta, and we will see much more action in the market in 2012. Once again, this is my opinion. And I will let you know how good it is next year at this time!

Less than a week until Christmas!

It's almost time for Christmas! We had our Santa Claus parade just 11 days ago. The streets have been busy with shoppers. Nice to see all of the local shopping that is taking place. Did you know that Vulcan has some of the lowest gasoline prices as of late? Good to see!

Just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year!

Lyle

Windy enough for ya?

We had some crazy winds go through the County yesterday. Through Southern Alberta. Large grass fires by Lethbridge. Semi-tractor trailers were blown over by Nanton. We saw a grain bin blown over east of Vulcan. The bin was empty and just on skids, but was still quite the sight to see. In Vulcan this morning as I went for my walk, I saw broken tree branches everywhere. Shingles blown here and there were a common sight. What a crazy wind! It has been windy here before. I mean this is Southern Alberta and we get our chinook winds. But this was way worse than what we have seen in a very long time. Perhaps we have never had it this bad before. By Claresholm, there were hurricane force winds! 144 km!

Well, time for the community to clean up now and get things back to "normal".

November update

The residential real estate market in Vulcan is stagnant. According to the www.realtor.ca website, there are currently 57 residential properties listed for sale in the Town of Vulcan. The inventory of properties for sale is still too high. There is not much selling over the $200,000 mark, according to last months records with Alberta Land Titles.

I have an issue to bring up with this. First of all, the number 57 is not accurate. For some reason, there are properties being shown as FOR SALE within the Town of Vulcan, but are not physically in Vulcan. At least two of them as actually in Champion. That is what the address says "Champion, Alberta". Those properties have been shown as being in Vulcan but with a Champion address for months! Like since this past summer at least! Is no one checking this out? The seller? Their real estate agent? I am by no means perfect. Should someone not be checking up on their own work?

Open house at 404 Meadowlark Way in Vulcan

I am hosting an open house today at "The Cottages" at Whispering Creek in Vulcan today. This is a nice two bedroom, 76o square foot home located in the condo community next the the Vulcan Golf Course. This property was built in 2010, has an open floor plan and vaulted ceilings in the kitchen, dining and living room areas. Two bedrooms on the main floor, as well as main floor laundry. Single attached garage. Undeveloped basement. All this for under $200,000!

Residential sales are slow. Want to sell? Stand out from the crowd!

Looking at the land title changes over the past several months, there is one thing that stands out in my mind. Properties selling over $200,000 are few and far between. Two, sometimes three properties within the Town of Vulcan have sold over the $200,000 mark over the past few months. There is still a large inventory of houses on the market, and not many people looking at those houses. Perhaps after harvest, which is almost done, there will be more people looking.

As I have said before, if you have a house for sale in town, make sure that it is priced competitively and that you have it stand out from the others. Curb appeal is a big thing that people are looking at. When potential buyers drive through town, they want to see properties that are well taken care of, that show pride of ownership. Put yourself in their shoes...would you want to look at a house that has a well groomed lawn, trees are trimmed, fence painted, with no clutter in the yard...or would you prefer a house where the grass has not been cut in months, the fence in falling down and/or needs to be painted, and there are all sorts of bikes and junk in the yard? The answer seems simple to me...

Clean up the yard. Get rid of the junk. Paint your fence, the trim around the windows, through a coat on the deck. Simple little things like these could make the difference between me getting a call on your house, or the one down the street.

One more thing...be ready for showings on short notice, especially on the weekends. I know it can be a pain in the butt, but the inconvenience of a quick showing may end up saving you from the stress of having your house on the market for an extended period of time. Be proactive. Be prepared.