Farmers Tribute: So God Made A Farmer. Paul Harvey

Commercial property in the area

This year I have been busier than the past couple of years with commercial properties. We have seen quite a few offers lately, compared to previous years. This is nice to see and I hope it continues. More commercial sales usually means more businesses coming to town, which means more work coming to town, bringing more people. The statistics people say that for every seven workers, it adds another service industry worker. The local rental market has close to a zero vacancy rate, due to several reasons - windmill farm construction workers, school pod construction workers, displaced High River residents, and more. And the local housing market is slowly seeing the inventory getting to a smaller, more manageable size. Have we turned the corner, hitting an upswing yet???

August 2013 - as Seller's market?

This summer has been a busy one, both with real estate and personally. Though interest in residential property has quieted down somewhat over the past week to 10 days, there is still interest. Interest in bargains. I had someone suggest to me that our market is now a "seller's market", but I disagree. There are just under 50 residential listings in Vulcan, and of these listings, 31 are houses. The percentages may indicate that the market is favourable to the seller, but there is still not a high demand from buyers. Buyers are in now hurry, still have a good selection of properties to choose from, and they have not pushed up prices. There are still many residential lots just sitting, with no one ready to build on them. Hence, I do not classify this as a seller's market. Vulcan has seen a busy summer in other areas. It was our centennial weekend during the first week of August. There was a huge parade, and we had a really good turnout of people during the celebration. And this past weekend was the Annual Sid Hartung Memorial Rodeo. The crowd was not huge, and the competition was not as high end as the Calgary Stampede, but when you are sitting in the crowd with the actual contestants, listening to them talk, and you are sitting close enough to the action that you can hear the THUMP of a cowboy hitting the ground after being thrown off a horse, THAT is exciting! Plus, there were mini chuckwagon races and those were very entertaining to watch as well. This is going to be an annual event for me too!

Summer 2013

Summer 2013 has been one to remember, and it is only half over! Near the end of June, several of our neighbouring communities were the victims of the worst flooding that we have on record. High River received major damage to residential properties and business, Calgary received major flooding that almost cancelled the Calgary Stampede, and our friends at Hidden Valley Resort have seen the devastation first hand due to the flooding. The Town of Vulcan stood up to the plate and offered refuge to flood victims. We have emergency centres, and many local residents opened up their homes and took in those people who had no place to go. A big hats off to the businesses and residents of Vulcan! So, now as those flood victims, many who still cannot go home yet, Vulcan is seeing the after effects of the flood. Our local rental market is packed. We have waiting lists for people looking for a place to stay here. Actually, we were almost full before the floods. The wind mill farm is also in the process of going up so there are many people looking for places to rent. Our residential real estate market has been very busy. Buyers are looking for places under the $150,000 or $170,000 marks. Many of these folks are from Hidden Valley Resort. I am guessing that we will see in increase in activity from people who live/lived in High River. Right now, much of their equity/investment is under water. However, once things are sorted out with insurance companies, as well as assistance from provincial and federal governments, I would expect to see several of those people looking to Vulcan as a new place to call home too. This has been an unprecented event. No one knows for sure what the outcome will be until we actually see it. It is horrible for those victims of the flood. Many have lost everything. We should be thankful that more lives were not lost though. One is too many, but it could have been much worse.

Alberta Flood 2013

The County of Vulcan did have an emergency alert for the Travers Reservoir and Little Bow, but as far as I have seen, there has been no major damage, unlike many other neighbouring communities. I know that the town of Vulcan itself, while not being a victim of the floods, has been very active in help those who have had their lives drastically changed due to the floods. We have had free breakfasts, and lunches for those who have no where else to go, and have collected clothing and other supplies for those in need. Flood victims can register at our Cultural and Recreational Centre and then come pick up clothing and supplies in different areas. Local residents have also opened up their homes to those who have no home to go back to, until they get the word that they can go back. It is strange, to say the least. Things like this only happen on TV and we become numb to it all. But now that it has happened so close to home, it puts a whole new perspective on things. At least it does for me.

Rain and cool in Calgary does not mean it isn't sunny and warm here...

So often we read, see, or hear on the news how the real estate market is doing. On the street, talk to one person and they think that the market is booming, and then talk to another and they will say that the market is slow. We have heard how the Canadian Real Estate market is slowing down, but then we hear how things are booming in Alberta and Saskatchewan. So...what are we supposed to think??? Check with the local real estate agents, your local town office, or local trades people. Just because it is raining cats and dogs and the temperature is cool in Calgary, that does not necessarily mean that the weather is not sunny and warm here in Vulcan. The same goes for the real estate market. Yes, I spoke with a real estate friend this past week and she is getting sick of all of the multiple offer situations that she is dealing with. She gets text messages in the middle of a showing, letting her know that there has just been an accepted offer on the property. Calgary has a different economy, a much larger population, and a much more diverse working population. In Vulcan, we are currently seeing an increase in activity in the local residential real estate market, however, due to our large inventory of properties on the market and a low amount of jobs available, our market is still rather soft. For example, when we figure out what our absorption rate is for the local market, it is taking the average property almost a year on the market to sell. Some are taking less time, while other are taking more than a year to sell. When we do get a couple of sales, everyone seems to get excited because "Things are moving again", "The market is starting to take off". My advice to sellers is to be patient. It is still a soft market. When we do actually get an offer in writing, that is at least a start. An offer in writing is a place to start negotiations. Potential buyers talking about putting an offer in, or just wanting to submit a verbal offer, are more often than not, wasting a seller's time. "I have friends who want to buy your place but just aren't ready yet" does not pay off one's mortgage. "We are waiting to see what the market does before we write an offer," does not make the monthly payments. As the saying goes' "In God we trust, all other must pay cash", this holds true for real estate as well. An offer is only as good as the paper it is written on. If it's not on paper, it's not really an offer. People's minds can change, remembering things differently, and so on. And one last piece of advice for the day, enjoy your time with friends at the coffee shop, but take their advice with a grain of salt. Like I said before, just because someone heard that the market is doing great in one place, does not mean that it's necessarily doing great in another. Different regions have different influences on their own market. Do your homework before coming to your own conclusions.

Pool opening soon!

The Town of Vulcan andd it's workers are in the process of getting the outdoor pool ready to open next weekend! There is water now in the pool and they are doing their final preparations! I am really looking forward to it this year as I am going to be in the Tinman Triathlon in Vulcan on June 1 this year, and I REALLY need to work on my swimming!