12. October 2007 by Kari Calder.

As everyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows, our market has recently gone crazy and house prices increased dramatically. We were in a ‘sellers market’, one like Saskatoon has never seen before. This gave sellers the upper hand and, as people had to find houses to live in, buyers couldn’t necessarily afford to be as prudent or as picky as in a normal ‘balanced’ market. This has leveled off for the time being, however our market hasn’t dropped. So fear not those who are skeptical and pessimistic, our market isn’t going in the dumps, we are reaching a ‘balanced market’ stage where there are enough new homes coming on the market on a daily basis that buyers can be picky again and not just buy the first house they saw (or, in the case of our boom, bid on just any old house).

Just as people were starting to wrap their heads around the whole ‘bidding process’ our market seems to have returned to a state of normalcy. While you still see the occasional bidding situation, it is no longer the norm. We are back to a FCFS (first come first serve) market that makes the buyers much happier as they don’t have to just take a stab in the dark at a price. They can generally bid lower than the asking price and there is the possibility of negotiating. If you are looking to buy a house in the near future, now might be the time as sellers are generally a bit antsy as they may not be as educated about the market as they should be. Their agent should explain to them what the market is doing, however people get a number in their head of what they want for a price and it may be totally unrealistic. They may be judging it on what their neighbour got for their house a few months ago and thinking they should get the same, but as bidding is almost phased out people KNOW what to offer, they don’t pull a number out of a hat and hope that someone else doesn’t bid higher than them (not having ANY idea how many people and for how much people are bidding)So congrats buyers, you are now back in the drivers seat (but don’t be too cocky, this isn’t always the case depending on what you are looking for, your agent should be able to advise you on competition, and if they can’t contact me!)

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.
www.karicalder.com

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12. October 2007 by Kari Calder.

You know that you shouldn’t always believe the media, right? That is a mere understatement! Recently in the news the media stated something to the effect that average house prices have decreased in the past month. This caused some people to get upset, worrying that they overpaid for their properties. This is probably not the case (although in the seller’s market we just experienced there are a lot of people who ‘bid’ more than the probably should have just to get a house).

What the media does not tell you is how people come about getting the ‘average house price in Saskatoon’. They do an average, taking all of the properties that sell in a period of time and tally up the gross property value and divide it by the quantity of homes sold. What is neglected to be taken into consideration is the TYPE of residential property sold. Consider this, in one month if 100 houses sell and 75 of those are big new houses in S1 and 25 of those are apartment style condos (still considered residential), the average is going to appear to be extremely high…but in the next month those numbers are reversed and there are more condos selling (which was definitely the case due to the insane shortage of student housing) and only 25 large houses, the average is going to appear to have decreased. In reality, the market has not gone up or down, but the media just caught the tailwind and found out an average price overall.

Moral of the story, don’t always believe what you hear in the news, but we all already knew that, right?

As far as the future of real estate in Saskatoon…well, if I could tell you that for certain and I had a crystal ball, I would have invested all my money a year ago and I would be retired! We all wish we had the answer to that, but keep in mind, Saskatoon has a LOT going for it as a City and a lot more going on around Saskatoon, so we don’t see a decline, but a steady incline however probably nothing like we saw in the spring. Real estate is generally a safe investment in a thriving city like ours.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.
www.karicalder.com

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12. October 2007 by Kari Calder.

I have created this site to give people direct access to my experience as a Real Estate Agent in Saskatoon.  Please feel free to make comments or ask questions on my blog.  You are able to sign up on the blog and make comments at anytime.

Please feel free to send in topics, or specific questions and I will answer them as quickly as I can.  If you have any other specific needs or questions in regards to the Saskatoon Real Estate Market please feel free to contact me at anytime!

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.
www.karicalder.com

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