Alberta

Some things you probably never knew about Edmonton, Alberta:

• The name "Edmonton" is a Latinized version of a Saxon word meaning "Happy Hamlet,” and was used to honour the home of HBC governor James Winter Lake who was from Edmonton, England.
  
  

• The city's population stands at 782,439 people as of April 2009; while Edmonton’s metropolitan population is more than a million people.
  
  

• Edmonton is the gateway to a land of majestic mountains, pristine lakes, historic rivers and northern adventures and northern industries of oil, gas, lumber and mining. Edmonton is located on the TransCanada Yellowhead Highway, a route that offers the easiest and most scenic drive across western Canada.
  
  
• The city of Edmonton began as a North West Company fur trading post in 1795.
  
  
• During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 prospectors and adventures travelled by rail to Edmonton and then began the long overland journey to the Yukon. Edmonton became the last supply centre on route.
  
  
• Edmonton is Alberta’s capital city. The Legislature is an iconic building of grand architecture where people flock to wade in or skate on the outdoor ponds.
  
  
• Edmonton’s Waste Management Centre of Excellence has one of the world’s highest standards in recycling, composting and minimizing landfill. The Clover Bar facility diverts 60per cent of its solid waste, the highest diversion rate across Canada.
  
  
• Edmonton won the 2009 Corporate Knights Sustainable Cities Ranking for the large city category.
  
  There's more at the EEDC

The Men of MOvember here at Century 21 Advantage are doing their part to change the face of men's health.

If you haven't heard of "MOvember", it is a global initiate to raise funds and awareness for Prostate Cancer.  You can learn more at www.Movember.com.

However rather than just go to the Movember web site I encourage you to visit the Century 21 Advantage Team fundraising page for MOvember at: http://ca.movember.com/mospace/102207

The Movember Men are:

Left to right Eric Walper, Tim McRae,  Kirk Walper, Dan Wind, and Patrick Galesloot.  Absent doing real estate activities but a MOvember supporter:  Gavin Heintz

We have a few guys already sporting Mo's, Eric Walper (pictured on far left), Dale Devereaux, and Larry Kemshead.  A couple of the younger guys around the office stick with the goatee.  The man that grows the MO, stays true to the MO.  The Red Deer Kinsmen Club has agreed to match the donations that their members raise.  Fortunately I am a member of the Red Deer Kinsmen and your donations then become double courtesy of the Red Deer Kinsmen.

Please take a moment and donate if you can.

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

October in Red Deer is a weather roller coaster and a busy time for many. We get snow, rain, and sometimes both. We have family gatherings surrounding Thanksgiving, and parties at the end of the month surrounding Halloween. October is a fun month and diverse month.

In Red Deer real estate, October 2009 was stronger than October 2008!

The number of sales reported to the Central Alberta REALTORS® Association for the Red Deer MLS® was 151 properties sold up from 2008's sales number 128.

Where were sales up? As noted in the table above sales were most notably higher in the $150,000-$200,000 price range (which contributed to a lower average price '08 vs '09) and the $400,000 - $450,000 price range.

A pretty solid month of sales for October 2009 real estate. On a week by week basis we also see consistent results.

On a weekly basis we ended the month with a sharp decrease in inventory. This is not unusual to have many listings come off. We may see that number return this week and next as some sellers contracts expired or were cancelled. The number of new lists as noted above have been consistent for the most part during October.

The bottom line:

For buyers, there continues to be ample selection and affordable rates. The average price remains strong and stable. You can buy today with confidence that the market is stable and the largest risk buyers face today is in the potential increase of interest rates in the future.

For sellers, homes are selling at a good solid pace. If you are priced competively demonstrating value to buyers a sale is in your future. The same solid price and absorption rate that demonstrate confidence to buyers also tells sellers that the equity built up over time ion their home is more secure today than the past. The sales rate of homes selling however means that you must be market price savvy and in top showing condition.

October was a month to be thankful for in Red Deer real estate terms.

• Sales up 17.9% over 2008
• October Absorption Rate is 14 - 18 weeks
• The Sales to New Listings Ratio is between 60% and 70%

Your Friend in Real Estate,

Patrick Galesloot

Follow Patrick on Twitter: @pgalesloot

Clearly Lethbridge

Today I had a meeting with Doug, a salesman for Clearly Lethbridge, a new online directory and marketing website that has launched in Lethbridge. The intention of the site seems to be to create an online directory of local businesses and to act as a central hub which will help to increase the search engine optimization and placement of each of the advertisers through the cooperative efforts of all. This is much like many of the online directories which attempt to do the same thing for businesses within specific categories, except that in the case of Clearly Lethbridge, the common thread is that all of the businesses are local to Lethbridge.

The company has some solid backing and is an extension of Clear Sky, who is a media company which operates several local radio stations. This should help Clearly Lethbridge enjoy some longevity while it attempts to build an advertiser base. There have been other Lethbridge business directory websites that have come and gone, some are still sitting dormant on the internet. A few of them have been good ideas, but have not continued due to the constant need to solicit advertisers and to keep content updated. Hopefully Clearly Lethbridge will have better luck.

At this point in time I declined to purchase advertising on the Clearly Lethbridge site, primarily because I accomplish much the same goals through my blog here, in addition to my other websites:

LethbridgeLoans.com

LethbridgeRealEstateBlog.com

LethbridgeRealEstateOnline.com

I also do a substantial amount of social media marketing through twitter, facebook, and other sites. My web content is often syndicated out via over 400 directories and another 400 RSS feeds. Because of the combined reach of these sites and their syndication, the content that I publish reaches thousands of people.

As a simple test, I am writing this blog at 1am, Friday Nov 20th, 2009. I would expect that if you were to search "clearly lethbridge" tomorrow on your favorite search engine that this very post would already be indexed and ranking at or near the very top. Try it out and see if my marketing is as effective as I claim it to be.

The Grand Opening of the NEW SW Chapter of the Calgary Business Network is on Tuesday Nov. 24/09 at 730am. JOIN US! Go to www.CalgaryBiz.net to learn more.

This is a great way to build trusting relationships, Network, Learn from our Workshops & Guest Speakers.

Open to all categories - Reserve your seat at our website. $15.00 at the door.

Make it a great one!

Jim Messner

CIR Realty - Real Estate Associate
CEO the Calgary Business Network