I think there needs to be a spot to discuss shady things that happen in the real estate industry so that we can warn others to not let the same thing happen to them.  That is what I am going to do today.

I was at a friend's going away party last night; he is headed to Nigeria for a few months and there was a gathering to send him off.  Mid way through the evening my friend that is going away introduced me to his friend who had a real estate horror story!!  I could not believe what I was told could happen but it did.  It is criminal!  My friend says "Tim this is my friend Chris, his realtor rented his townhouse on AirBnB while he was out of town without his permission".

That was the intro, you could imagine...

In the past week I have run into so many sleazy realtor situations that I just have to vent about it.  I feel that the techniques and ways of doing business that I am about to describe are ruining the reputation of realtors and it needs to be called out.

I'm tired of talking to clients after they have spoken to a realtor and feel that they are a dishonest realtor trying to get the next sale, doing anything to get the next pay cheque.  It's out there in the real estate business and it is disgusting.  I feel that the increased market struggles we are seeing, due to the falling oil prices are bringing out the desperate and the crazies.

There are realtors out there that will do anything to get you through the door, or...

What's happening withCalgary's Strathcona Park Real Estate Market.

I spent Saturday morning at 6am looking at the recent sales in Strathcona.  What better time to do it?  That's a debatable topic but I wanted to know the stats and I am booked from 8am-6pm with showings and meeting clients so I figured I should get it done now.  Sales numbers for the last month are low but better then in 2015.  There were 6 homes that sold ranging from $275,000 to $805,000.  There were more homes that sold in Strathcona in 2016 than 2015 6 vs 4 but the difference in Days on Market (DOM) and asking price is reallying growing. 

In 2015 the average home sale price was lower but in 2016 there were a couple...

Calgary Real Estate Foreclosures.

Over the past several weeks several of my investor clients have contacted me to discuss the opportunity of buying a foreclosed property inCalgary.

Are foreclosures up in the Calgary market?  Certainly, they appear to be up by about 30% but the number of foreclosures is still very small!  To put it in prespective there are currently 56 foreclosures in Calgary on the market and over 5000 active listings.

Personally I have received several requests from investors asking about investing in foreclosures.   That means that there are likely an additional 5000 realtors in Calgary receiving the same requests.  So we have probably over 5000 investors eyeballing 56 properties...

What's happening with Cougar Ridge Real Estate?

I just finished taking a look at the Cougar Ridge Sales numbers for the last month and the list of sold homes is small.  We've seen 4 homes sell in the community during the last month ranging from $640,000 to $510,000.

That may sound like not a lot but it is exactly the same amount that sold from Jan-Feb 2015 and Jan-Feb 2014.  The average price of the home that is selling is down as the prices ranged from $725,000 to $547,000

Taking a look at the 'real' sales numbers those 4 homes were on the market for an average of 55.5 days and sold within 95.7% of asking.

In Jan 2015 the same amount of homes sold; 4, but the average days on market was only 25.75...