Edmonton Real Estate Investor

In the east the housing prices may be leveling off but in the west there is a whole different market.

"CIBC senior economist Benjamin Tal said the gap between the west and the rest of Canada is so pronounced that there really is no such thing as a national housing market.

“Once you take the west out of the picture you see the levelling off in prices,” said Mr. Tal.

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Edmonton once again leads in residential sales for Canada West. March was a record breaking month.

"The biggest percentage gains continued to be primarily in western cities. Edmonton's year-over-year price appreciation of 47.8 per cent leads all cities. Saskatoon's price gain of 28.2 per cent and Calgary's 27.6 per cent rounded out the top three."CBC.ca

The great thing about Edmonton is that prices will continue to rise due to the labour needs (among other things) of the oilsands - more people coming to look for a limited supply of housing. Edmonton also has an undervalued residential market. It may slow down this year but that only gives us a breather to get more great properties for our investors.

Don R. Campbell the best selling Canadian real estate novelist, analyst and instructor has labeled the Kingston-Waterloo-Camberidge area of Ontario as "the economic Alberta of Ontario".

His research is based on 13 key factors:

"He looks at whether the average income and population are increasing faster than the provincial average, if there's more than one major employer, and if major transportation improvements are in the works. The $400 million-plus Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton that's due for completion this year fits with that criteria, he said."

"Transportation drives future value more than just about any other factor," Campbell said. "Distance isn't the issue, it's time. No one says I'm 12 kilometres from Toronto, they say I'm 30 minutes from Toronto. It's about shrinking the commute." Full Article

If you are interested in investing out East then look to this area but remember Alberta is still leading the country.

EREB the Edmonton Real Estate Board puts out quarterly and monthly statistics for the Edmonton. You can get this information from the website directly. The is a lot of data there that is useful for example the quarterly stats has average residential selling prices dating back to 1967.

It is funny that old school refers to rap and rap refers to talking and talking refers to word of mouth. For me old school is Run DMC and Beastie Boys - generation gap? W.O.M is a three letter acrynom for the oldest form of marketing, ever. Like when Thag told Urg that the hunting was really good upstream rather than in the plains or vice versa.

Do you remember when people told you about how good the bread was at Johnny's Bakery or how Tom down at the garage gives free tune ups if you fill up on a Sunday? I do. However I also know that print, t.v, radio and internet kinda blew the focus off of WOM marketing for a while. Contrary to the compounding of the Double Mint twins, why only tell two friends when you can broadcast to millions via radio or T.V or 100's of millions online.

Of course blogging is excellent and links make or break a website, but what about a handwritten letter to 10 customers to say Thank You? Spike Jones suggests this in his blog entry "Word Of Mouth Training Wheels"

In Japan we send out cards or gifts at the beginning of every season to say Thanks to our customers, and that we want their business this coming spring too.

Retro? Maybe. Effective? Definitely.

The cherry blossoms have finally fallen off the trees. I personally find this time a little sad. I know I know, fresh start, spring has begun etc...

Really, though, when they are in full bloom it reminds me of an Akira Kurosawa film I saw when I was 17. I believe it was Dreams. There was one scene it was fantastic with all these beautiful kimono clad women walking under beautiful mankai (full bloom) cherry trees. Leaves fluttering down like pink snow.

Anybody in business needs to do marketing and if you are online you need to learn about web marketing. I have signed up for an excellent marketing newsletter Marketing Profs. It really has a lot of good web marketing info, research and ideas. I can always find some good nugget improve my blog or website.

My cat just brought home a skink and in my attempt to save it I let it loose in the house. It is under the fridge, any suggestions? At least it is still alive though. I don`t mind picking them up if they aren`t mangled.

Internationally Canadian starter homes are a bargain compared to other major city centers. Edmonton fares well at $322 per square foot, about the 10th ranked.

"..But not only do first-time homebuyers who work in the downtown business districts of Canada’s largest cities generally pay less per square foot for their homes, they also tend to enjoy shorter daily commutes than their peers in cities around the world.."For The Full List

Edmonton residential prices have increased 16.5% since January. Unbelievable. As usual no signs of slowing down. The city is still affordable, prices are still rising and it is still no.1

“Edmonton is still affordable compared to Vancouver, which has an average of $590,000,” said Pratt. “(Edmonton is) certainly not in that range yet.”
She said she expects the increases to continue, especially through the busiest months of real estate, which are April, May, June and July. The market will then likely stabilize for the remainder of the year, she said. Carolyn Pratt, president of the Edmonton Real Estate Board (EREB.)read full article

Edmonton the oil rich capital is shrugging it`s cowboy image, unless of course you are thinking of Broke Back Mountain (which was actually filmed in Alberta). I was recently reading a travel article The Out Traveler: Canada's Top 5 gay cities and Edmonton ranks number 4.

"A fresh crop of smoke-free gay and lesbian bars and clubs teems with life in the burgeoning gay village of Jasper Avenue, a two-block area with half a dozen gay businesses. Staff shirts in Prism proclaim good girls go to heaven; bad girls go to Prism, although as it's the only girl bar in town, it seems all girls go to Prism."

Edmonton is a young and bourgeoning city that is slowly changing its image, where Calgary was always seen as hipper, cooler and white collar, Edmonton is constantly diversifying and reinventing itself.

"Let the herds kick up a ruckus about Calgary; bold, assured Edmonton gallops way ahead, leaving the rest of Alberta in the dust."

When I was a crazy teenager I used to tell my cousin all the stuff I would get up to. She would hold up a fork close to her eye and peer at me to see, "How you would look behind bars".

I can pretty much guarantee that no one looks good behind bars so take heed.
Mortgage fraud is rampant. Don`t lie on your mortgage application.

The banks don`t care who told you it was okay to write what. Just tell the truth. It is a crime and if you get caught there will be a lot of grief especially if you are the strawbuyer (basically the person who submits the false loan application) If your investment partner says it is okay to do something that you feel is not up and up re-evaluate your relationship and seek independant legal advice.

Read How Police Are Cracking Down On Fraud And How YOU Can Avoid Being A Victim

I want to talk about a movie I saw last night. Probably everyone in the Western Hemisphere has seen it already but I am in Japan that means we are just getting "The Departed".

Have you seen Invincible? A Walt Disney football success flick starring Mark Wahlberg or as anyone in my generation knows him Marky Mark. Basically anything with Marky Mark and/or football is a sure rental for me.

The movie is based is the true story of Philidelphia native Vincent Papale. In the 1970 the 30 year old bartender entered the open tryouts the Philidelhia Eagles had, and made the team. He then went on to play 3 seasons with the Eagles and make some pretty amazing plays.

This isn`t a movie blog so I will get to the point. All these sports success movies are generally the same.

Fx(succes movie) = Some girl/guy + incredible odds + laser beam focus
__________________________________________________ = Success
(n)2 (n =challenges)

I had to take calculus twice in college so that may be gibberish. There you have it, the formula for success. All success. Forget the lottery, forget rich old husbands/wives, forget overnight millions THIS IS IT.

A regular person works hard has some mishaps, some setbacks and just keeps on trucking with laser beam focus. I recommend this movie to anyone, anywhere trying to do something out of the ordinary or big with their life. It is inspiring. Plus Marky Mark wears football pants....teehee

Unlike B.C and Ontario there are no government enforced rent increased guidelines in Alberta. Landlords are free to raise their rents as much as they like every six months. These rent hikes are important to make the property investment work, of course most landlords work with integrity and raise rents in reasonable increments.

"....a young family facing a total rent increase of $375. They faced a hike in December and one that's coming in June. They'll wind up paying $1,175 for their north-end condo, a full 50% of their take-home pay." Kerry Diotte

However, after a 52% increase in real estate prices last year, the rents MUST increase, sometimes drastically, to make investment properties work. It is next to impossible to find a property that will give you positive cash flow, but most investors are aware that Edmonton is a capital gains market.

For Example:

"Realtor Stan Gallant tells of a recent example where a six-suite apartment unit in the Ritchie neighbourhood recently sold for $775,000. Rents currently bring in $46,000 annually.

But the new owner must pay out $50,000 per year on a mortgage, $3,500 in taxes and utilities and $8,000 in maintenance costs.

In order to get a small return on his investment the new owner is being forced to increase total annual rents to $77,000." Kerry Diotte Edmonton Sun

Once you factor in mortgage, insurance, taxes, repair and maintanence and all the other expenses a good investor takes into account you are left with massive negative cash flow. Money flowing out of your pocket and into a crocodile property.

I don't want old ladies and young families out on the street. I also don't want to ask my investors for $400 a month negative cash flow to cover the solid investments we go into.

The Edmonton Real Estate Board released their findings for the first quarter of 2007. The price of single family dwellings increased 6% in MARCH.

“It is clear that housing prices have not yet peaked in the Edmonton area,” said Carolyn Pratt, president of the EREB. “The spring season is always very active for REALTORS® and we do not anticipate that the pace of price increases will slow until early summer.”

Fraud is on the rise and yes it could happen to you. The Alberta police force gave some tips on how to avoid internet fraud.

They are as follows:

* Be cautious when you go on the Internet - if an offer sounds too good to be true it probably is.
* Keep your online bank password secret and change it often.
* Look for the 'lock' icon in your browser. This means that you are conducting a secure transaction.
* Be wary of e-mails requesting your personal information.
* Use good anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-spam software. Use a firewall.
* Read the privacy policy of web sites you visit to see what kind of information they collect about you.

Since the real estate market is so hot right now, mortgage fraud is also on the rise;

"Many Alberta residents have been lured by promises of big returns and have become victims of mortgage fraud. Many bought properties that had overinflated values as a result of a series of fraudulent transactions, which resulted in victims facing huge financial losses and compromised credit ratings."read article

Here are some ways to protect yourself against mortgage fraud:

* Contact your local real estate board to ensure your representative is a licensed real estate agent.
* Ask for a comparative market analysis of the property.
* Ask for a copy of the land title.
* Insist on a home inspection of any property you are planning to purchase.
* When you make a deposit, ensure your money is protected by being held in trust.

In all cases just do your due diligence. Our company offers referrals from past clients, insists our partners get independant legal advice and operates with a high level of transparency in our business dealings. As REIN members we sign a pledge to never operate in the "GREY AREA" that boils down to working with integrity.

Apparently there are a lot of shy millionaires in Edmonton. Edmonton - long known as the blue collar city is catching up to Calgary's white collar wealth.

"Compared to Calgary, Edmonton's wealth seems to be quiet and not as ostentatious," said Jon Hall, Edmonton Real Estate Board spokesman. "In Calgary, I would suspect people are buying homes a little more aggressively and they're more outgoing with their show of wealth." What`s a Million?

So far this year nine $1 million dollar homes have sold in Edmonton, not far off from the 2006 total of 17 $1 million dollar homes. That's not hard to believe with the 52% increase we saw last year and the 10% the city has done in the last three months.

I guess the people in Edmonton read "The Millionaire Next Door" or my earlier entry

Many people don`t want to JV partner when investing in real estate. That is okay, if they are willing to put in the time and work in finding properties and building a trustworthy team to represent you in the real estate world.

If you are one of those people take a look at our Real Estate Investing Tools page. There is an excellent range of books, courses and home-study programs that will start you on your path to wealth.

They are all part of the REIN investment course that was produced by Canada`s Number 1 Bestselling writer Don R. Campbell.

It`s over! It`s over! I hear this all the time... Is Edmonton`s run over? NO. Canadian Business Magazine agrees with me. They published an article today that quite clearly states the Edmonton is NUMBER 1 in Canada and it`s not just because of the oil.

"HOT: Edmonton
With a one-year average price increase of 10%, the oil city is Canada's only major market that has a trifecta of strong demand, tight supply and affordability. And it's not only because of the oil and gas boom." Canadian Business Magazine

Trifecta, I have always associated that with the dark side but let me reassure there is nothing evil about the profits our partner are seeing in this incredible market. Since the beginning of 2007 Edmonton prices have increased 105, a pretty good return for 3 months.

I read "So You Want To Be A Millionaire" by Liz Pulliam Weston a few months ago and I really liked it. Everyones idea of what a millionaire is and what millionaires really are like is completely different. As "The Millionaire Next Door" showed millionaires are not flash, they aren't extravagent, they don't wear gold and diamond encrusted rolexes.

"Most of the millionaire households that they profiled did not have the extravagant lifestyles that most people would assume. This finding is backed up by surveys indicating how little these millionaire households have spent on such things as cars, watches, suits, and other luxury products/services. Most importantly, the book gives a list of reasons for why these people managed to accumulate so much wealth (the top one being that "They live below their means"). The authors make a distinction between the 'Balance Sheet Affluent' (those with actual wealth, or high net-worth) and the 'Income Affluent' (those with a high income, but little actual wealth, or low net-worth)." Wikipedia

They are the people in economy class, the ones who compare price tags at the grocery store and they do drive domestic cars. Conspicous consumption just brings unwanted attention to them and in our world that could be dangerous.

I know you are thinking well what about celebrities? Have you ever noticed that many of them end up close to bankrupt at least once? They may be talented by they aren't neccessarily financial geniuses. The long lasting wealth that some celebrities display comes from hiring people to set them on track.