It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Brooks Real Estate market is going to suffer like the rest of the Province – unfortunately for Brooks it appears while the rest of the province’s real estate markets are showing signs of recovery, Brooks is faltering. My opinion is that the Brooks real estate market tried to ignore the flailing economy and all we did was put it off to a later date.
Of course the lack of work for the oil & gas community in Brooks isn’t helping either. The new owners of Lakeside also appears to be restructuring and the effects are evident in the rental community (my vacancy rate has been under 5% for several years – the last few months it has jumped to 12%!!)
I guess the point of writing these blogs is two-fold – 1. No one in Brooks is reporting anything to do with the real estate market and 2. Show all the positive things that are happening in the Brooks real estate market that no one is reporting.
With that in mind there is good news – Lakeside is in the process of bringing in 300 more employees very soon (great news for the struggling vacancy rate) and it appears the oil & gas guys are slowly starting to go back to work.
To the numbers!! :
-There has been 66 transactions (that’s 33 homes sold) in Brooks, Alberta and County of Newell since March 1, 2009.
-RE/MAX Main Street Realty has been involved in over 36% of those transactions!! (a good number by the way – we have 9 associates in our office which represents about 15% of the Brooks Real Estate Board)
-The average sale price of these homes was $209,000 (for the same period last year the average sale price was $206,000)
Looking at the above – the market sounds good – unfortunately – last year, in the same period there were 65 homes sold. In review, the average prices of homes went up a little bit and the amount of sales went down a lot.
Brad Stolson has been licensed in real estate since 2000. He is the top producing REALTOR at RE/MAX Main Street Realty since January 1, 2002. Check out his listings and other great information at his websites www.stolsonsells.com and www.bradstolson.com
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The Infamous “They”...and....What’s Really Happening in the Brooks Real Estate Market
Growing up my mother always had interesting statistics and facts concerning childhood and other various life skills. When I challenged her words of wisdom and demanded the disclosure of where she got this information from my answer would be...”well...that’s what ‘they’ say...”
To present day, as a real estate professional, I continually have the general public asking me about the real estate market in Brooks and quoting facts and statistics that have been heard from this mystical group ‘they’.
As a teaser – here is some statistics. (Statistical data collected from the Brooks real estate board (RASCA)
-In the recent "good" years of real estate (2006-Sept 1, 2008) in the Brooks and County of Newell region - 65% of properties that have been put up for sale have sold. Since September 2008 only 40% of the homes listed have sold. This means that our market in the last 7 months has experienced a drop of 25%! However, this number reflects a drop in the number of sales not the sales price.
-The average sales price has increased by 6% when comparing the year 2008 and the first 3 months of 2009.
So what does it all mean? It means these are statistics. There is no such thing as a national market, there really isn’t such thing as a localized market (but is much more relavent), your house is worth what other similar properties have sold for and ultimately....as ‘they’ say... “..your house is worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.”
The real estate market in Brooks will be a trying year. Home sales will happen and statistics are showing that sellers are negotiating more (down 3% from 97% (5 year average) to 94%) now than in recent history. There is also significant competition which helps in stabilizing the prices and helps prevent bidding wars. My final thought is that the “good” houses are still selling quickly – a “good” house is defined as a saleable home at a saleable price. The right real estate associate will help you in establishing that saleable price.
To present day, as a real estate professional, I continually have the general public asking me about the real estate market in Brooks and quoting facts and statistics that have been heard from this mystical group ‘they’.
As a teaser – here is some statistics. (Statistical data collected from the Brooks real estate board (RASCA)
-In the recent "good" years of real estate (2006-Sept 1, 2008) in the Brooks and County of Newell region - 65% of properties that have been put up for sale have sold. Since September 2008 only 40% of the homes listed have sold. This means that our market in the last 7 months has experienced a drop of 25%! However, this number reflects a drop in the number of sales not the sales price.
-The average sales price has increased by 6% when comparing the year 2008 and the first 3 months of 2009.
So what does it all mean? It means these are statistics. There is no such thing as a national market, there really isn’t such thing as a localized market (but is much more relavent), your house is worth what other similar properties have sold for and ultimately....as ‘they’ say... “..your house is worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.”
The real estate market in Brooks will be a trying year. Home sales will happen and statistics are showing that sellers are negotiating more (down 3% from 97% (5 year average) to 94%) now than in recent history. There is also significant competition which helps in stabilizing the prices and helps prevent bidding wars. My final thought is that the “good” houses are still selling quickly – a “good” house is defined as a saleable home at a saleable price. The right real estate associate will help you in establishing that saleable price.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
What's Happening So Far in Real Estate for Brooks, Alberta
My first time blogging!! This was a memo I posted to my associates at RE/MAX Main Street Realty in Brooks, Alberta. Our goal is to be educated on the market and therefore we can educate the public to always ensure our clients are making good decisions. After reading it I thought what a perfect way to start blogging to the public. (btw BREC is the Brooks Real Estate Co-operative)
"Well the year definitely has not started off to a great big bang, but the numbers are showing stability and slight growth. Growth at a slow pace and showing stability will have to be a dominating characteristic in our “new economy”. Of course, what goes up must come down – hence the “bubble” popping process. Real Estate grew too fast in too short of a time in the last 5 years. I’m sure everyone has learned their lesson (this is sarcasm at its best – it has happened before and it will happen again!!). Hopefully this time around – “...we won’t piss it all away”.
*Heres some useful information – the average price of a home sold in Brooks/County of Newell rose over 18% from the last 3 months of 2008 compared to the 1st 3 months of 2009 (maybe we haven’t learned our lesson at all).
RE/MAX MSR continues its dominance in certain aspects of the sales – we continue to lead the negotiating power – up 1% compared to BREC (Brooks/County of Newell) and our average sales price is 2.5% higher than BREC... Lastly, our average shows we sell our listings up to 2 weeks quicker than BREC.
We also have continued our dominance in amount of overall sales (who wants the big chunk of the pie?) (Jan-Mar 2008 – 55% and Jan-Mar 2009 – 49%)."
Brad Stolson
"Well the year definitely has not started off to a great big bang, but the numbers are showing stability and slight growth. Growth at a slow pace and showing stability will have to be a dominating characteristic in our “new economy”. Of course, what goes up must come down – hence the “bubble” popping process. Real Estate grew too fast in too short of a time in the last 5 years. I’m sure everyone has learned their lesson (this is sarcasm at its best – it has happened before and it will happen again!!). Hopefully this time around – “...we won’t piss it all away”.
*Heres some useful information – the average price of a home sold in Brooks/County of Newell rose over 18% from the last 3 months of 2008 compared to the 1st 3 months of 2009 (maybe we haven’t learned our lesson at all).
RE/MAX MSR continues its dominance in certain aspects of the sales – we continue to lead the negotiating power – up 1% compared to BREC (Brooks/County of Newell) and our average sales price is 2.5% higher than BREC... Lastly, our average shows we sell our listings up to 2 weeks quicker than BREC.
We also have continued our dominance in amount of overall sales (who wants the big chunk of the pie?) (Jan-Mar 2008 – 55% and Jan-Mar 2009 – 49%)."
Brad Stolson
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