Patrick Galesloot

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.

. 2008 100& Under 100-150 150-200 200-250 250-300 300-350 350-400 400-450 450-500 500-550 550-600 600-700 700 + Total Avg. Pr. . OCT 6 2 4 27 40 20 15 5 3 1 1 2 2 128 $297,451 . Information based on Red Deer Real Estate Board MLS Stats 2008 only. . 2009 100& Under 100-150 150-200 200-250 250-300 300-350 350-400 400-450 450-500 500-550 550-600 600-700 700+ Total Avg. Pr. . OCT 2 4 17 32 34 24 18 12 2 1 1 2 2 151 $293,268 . Information based on Red Deer Real Estate Board MLS Stats 2009 only.

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.

. Weekly Stats # Listings # Sales # Pending Sales Active Single Family Listings Active Apartment Condo Listings Total Active . Sept.28-Oct.4 66 30 28 354 82 588 . Oct.5-Oct.11 79 30 32 356 94 604 . Oct.12-Oct.18 40 37 20 351 89 588 . Oct.19-Oct.25 49 31 34 343 89 585 . Oct. 26-Nov. 1 52 38 18 344 72 542

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

Normal Market may be an applicable descriptor for the month of February. February 2009 recorded the 4th highest sales volume for single family homes when comparing to previous February sales volumes. Recent years February Sales Volume:

Single Family Sales	February
2009	87
2008	115
2007	96
2006	122
2005	82
2004	84
2003	49
2002	64
2001	63
2000	57

Looking back at the last19 years of sales volume for February Single Family Homes. February 2009 was a pretty darn good month. Your Friend in Real Estate Patrick Galesloot

February is over and March is coming in like a Lion today allowing time to catch up on stats and planning. Sales increased as did the volume of listings from the previous week as indicated above. Sales activity increased by 28% from the week before. Expectations are that March will have more positive sales growth with the reduction in interest rates. Now lets hope mother nature cooperates to provide conditions favorable to viewing homes. February ended in Red Deer, and it ended on a positive note. After experiencing a few months of sluggish sales we experienced an increase over January. The bulk of the activity is occurring in the $250 - $350,000 range. The activity that occurred in January in that range probably pushed the wave up into higher ranges for February. People moving up from that starter to the larger home. I believe now is a great time to be buying real estate. Buyers have selection, negotiating power, and the lowest interest rates in decades. If you have secure employment and are in the market to buy, then why wait? The average sale price in February increased by 25.29% over January from $239,821 to $300,465. Total sales Volume increased from 62 sales in Red Deer to 113. An increase of 82.26%. The question is for those of that were waiting for the "bottom", has that passed or was February an anomaly? Just like knowing when the peak is, we don't know where the bottom is (was) until it has passed us. Real Estate is LOCAL. The numbers are different in Blackfalds than Red Deer, Red Deer is different than Calgary and Alberta is different than a national average. Before you make a real estate decision talk to your Realtor, they should have these numbers for you. Not all do however, this tends to separate the great Realtors from average or even the "part timers". Do you remember 2005? It may surprise you but 2005 was a record year before 2006, 2007, 2008 for sales. The first three months looked like this: The headlines and interest rates announcements looked like: 18 October 2005 Bank of Canada raises overnight rate target by 1/4 percentage point to 3 per cent While the Oil and Gas market today is in decline rather than incline, mortgage money is plentiful and at more affordable rates than 4 years ago. Should we be hiding from the economy and the economic outlook or doing what we can to change it? Your Friend in Real Estate, Patrick Galesloot

Real Estate Activity is on the rise! Talk to a few Realtors and you and the response will be that there is in fact more action in the market place. The numbers also reflect that as noted above. There was an increase in listings as well as sales. The weather on the weekend was fantastic. That may have something to do with the amount of traffic I witnessed at 38 Overand Place. I made arrangements to stop in at 1:30 prior to the open house to shoot some video. Well Ken Devoe was there and ready and had his signs up promoting traffic. The open house did not officially start until 2:00 but at 1:30 there were people coming through. Must have been at least 6 couples or groups that came thru in that first 45 minutes. We managed to create some videos in between traffic.

From Stats

Did you hear this week that rates dropped yet again? Prime rate is now at 3% down 50 points. The over night rate is at 1%!! How low can they go? Your Friend in Real Estate, Patrick Galesloot