Edmonton Real Estate Blog

Risk management is all about controlling and minimizing your exposure to the negative impacts of forces beyond your control. We here at Team Leading Edge have gathered the top 5 things we consider a must-do to avoid all those unnecessary loses in your Edmonton real estate investments.

1. TRUST YOUR GUT INSTINCT, NEVER LISTEN TO OTHERS WHO HAVE TO REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT. Top of the list, we would like to put strong emphasize on this. Just as you would not trust a medical prescription being given by a non-medical person, so should you not also listen to those real estate opinions and advises being given by non-real estate investors.
2. NOT TAKING THE REPAIRS SERIOUSLY. Underestimating the repairs that should be done in your real estate investment could and would be a very costly one. Avoid this trap by hiring professional contractors to assess and fix all needed repairs.
3. NOT HAVING THE STOMACH FOR VOLATILITY. Like any other investment, the real estate market is also a volatile place, although not as crazy as the stock market, but still, volatile. Even as the Edmonton housing market right now is on a strong projected growth, as an investor, you should not put your guards down. Swings in the market a real! In order to avoid any huge loses, stand firm on your ground and keep at it even if the market is down.
4. CASH FLOW>APPRECIATION.Cash flow would always be king in the long run. Americans fell hard when their economy collapsed because of the real estate bubbles. People there thought they could make money through appreciation-they were dead wrong. Their country almost got bankrupt out of it. Avoid this mistake by investing with cash flow in mind, rentals with a net of 10% and up would be the most ideal.
5. NEVER THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING. It’s typically a beginner’s mistake. Books, web articles, seminars, all of those are great materials for gaining knowledge but nothing would ever beat experience. If you’re seriously sticking in this real estate game, it would be wise to find a seasoned coach. A veteran mentor that have the “been there, done that” kind of stuff. Reduce the learning curve by investing with such a mentor-the things you’ll learn would be priceless!

If you’re looking for new real estate investments, you’re in luck! We have one of the best real estate projects in town. A Team Leading Edge exclusive, newly built available for you. Check all of the out here.

From the first day that you decide to sell your house to the last day when you hand over the keys, it is a cooperative effort between you and your Realtor to get your home sold fast and for the most money possible. Yes, you also play a big part in selling your home. Here are some helpful tips to make the transition from owner to seller a much easier process:

1. Mental Transition: You need to start here if you want to sell your home. Stop thinking of it as your place of zen, where you lay your head at night, etc, and start thinking of it as something that is going to put a lot of money into your pocket.

2. Remove all personal items: During showings, you want people coming through the house thinking of where their pictures will go and not feel like they’re walking though someone else’s memories.

3. Clutter-be-gone: Throw away the things you haven’t seen or used in ages – meaning, if you haven’t needed it in the past two years, chances are you’re not going to. If you are serious about selling your house, you will be serious about moving out of it. Start going through your belongings and get rid of everything that you don’t use which will help de-clutter your spaces and make your move an easier one.

4. Don’t forget to clean/organize the small spaces: Expect that when people are walking through the house, they are going to look through the closets and kitchen cabinets. Pride of ownership will be apparent to prospective buyers when they see that even the nooks and crannies have been tended to.

5. DO sweat the small stuff: Burnt out light bulbs, drippy faucets, a squeaky door, etc, are minor things that you can do yourself to get the house ready for those all important showings. The less a prospective buyer has to do, the better, as a multitude of small things can add up to one big “no”.

6. From the windows to the walls: Put yourself in the buyers shoes – if you walked into a house and saw a greasy counter top, dirty bathroom sink, bugs on the window sills, etc, what would you think? Wash or clean anything with a flat surface and dust everything else. Be proud and show off the house in the best light possible!

7. Create Rubber-necks: As important as it is to keep the interior maintained, the exterior is the first thing people will see when coming to the house. Cut the grass, collect the mail, clean up cobwebs around your porch light, etc, and you can ensure that the people walking up or driving by will continue on without the idea that the inside of the house may look as bad as the outside.

These tips can make the difference between listing your home and selling it, specially in Edmonton.
For more helpful tips and information, visit us online at FindMyHouse.ca.
Brought to you by Team Leading Edge and Re/Max Elite

It’s the million dollar question, how would you really know the monetary value of your home? With the advent of the internet, it’s now easier than it was 20 years ago. Although, accuracy could be an issue since data changes all the time, knowing an estimated value of your precious home is better than knowing absolutely nothing at all.

Here are 5 easy ways to get you started if you’re thinking of selling your home in the near future.

1. TIMING: The time of year you’re thinking of selling your home plays a considerable role in its overall success. Winter season would typically pose a certain difficulty in the selling process since majority of the buyers don’t want to move things in negative degree weather.

Nonetheless, there’s always a market in whatever season, the only difference is the time it would take to sell it. Since there would be fewer buyers in the cold season, this may drag the price down as those people who would really like to sell will lower down their selling price to attract buyers. Also, homes that are for sale in the summer time might sell faster than those being sold in winter.



2. COMPARATIVE MARKET ANALYSIS: One technique that is being done by appraisers and Realtors all over the world to know the value of a property is called Comparative Market Analysis or CMA. Though this should really be done by professionals, there is no law that would stop you if you want to do this yourself.To put it in simple terms, CMA is the process of extracting an estimate value of a subject home based on the prices of properties sold in the same neighborhood, area or location in past few months, given the value of the sold properties have similarities to the subject home; same square footage, number of bedrooms.This isn’t a perfect science but it would be a good guide to know what the price range of your home is.

   Google search homes sold in your neighborhood the past month and see what prices come out. Ask your neighbors if they know anybody around your area that have sold a house and for how much. If everything goes as planned, you can compare and contrast the data you have gathered against your property and analyze the result which can basically give you a rough estimate on the price range.

   Do note that appraisers and Realtors have the tools and trainings to perform this process properly. It could be a hit or miss on your side of the business.

   

3. FREE ONLINE CALCULATORS: Take advantage of the technology that’s available. Like the CMA, online calculators might not give you the most accurate value but it would surely help validate the price range that you got out of the previous step that you have done.Keep in mind to be certain that the information you included in the info fields of the calculator are proper like the address, sq ft, etc. There is a probability that results from the calculator may vary widely, if and when this happen, you may just want to get the average of the results.
   

   Click here

4. MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE (MLS): Realtors or real estate professionals all over the world use the MLS to store real estate data. From Edmonton, Canada to Manila, Philippines, MLS is being used. Although the systems being employed to run the process are very different, using MLS is the internationally known way to provide real estate information to clients.The public have limited access to the information inside the MLS but you may still use this as a tool to perform the first two steps. You may be able to check the number of people selling similar homes like yours on a particular neighborhood at a specific time and at what prices their homes are selling for.Realtors on the other hand have 100% access to all the pertinent information inside the MLS that they are a member with and could extract this information to establish an appropriate price for a distinct property.

   

5. USE PROFESSIONALS: That is what Team Leading Edge is for; licensed, competent Realtors that make it a living to help people like you determine the most competitive value for your home.An experienced Realtor will do the leg work in consolidating all the data needed to accurately put a price on your property. He or she will combine online, offline and internal information found in the Realtor network to help you sell the property in the best possible price, at the shortest amount of time.

After you have done all your homework, the next best thing to do is to work with the people who do this the best. Recently awarded as one of the Top 30 RE/MAX Real Estate Teams in Western Canada, Team Leading Edge has all the systems in place to help you succeed in this endeavor.  Call Team Leading Edge now at (780) 634-8151 to get you started.

You can download our FREE HOME EVALUATION here.

Today, I received a great email from Serge in regards to an Alberta Real Estate Association article entitled “Condo Commentary: Do You Own That Window?”

Basically, it was answering the question on how to tell if the exterior of the windows (and doors) are part of the condominium unit or not.

Going to the point, the article informs the readers that “Before September 1, 2000, exterior doors and windows were considered to be part of the unit.  After that date, exterior doors and windows became part of the common property.  However, a corporation registered prior to September 1, 2000 had until September 1, 2002, to register a special resolution to amend the plan so that these became part of the individual units again.  This can mean that some condominiums may have windows and doors that are part of the unit and not the common area.”

This got my train of thought going. Since Alberta’s economy is poised to be one of the best in Canada this year and in 2015 as reported by RBC, and that Edmonton’s local government have reported an increase in growth population by 7.4%, the probability of people buying condominiums, either as a home or an investment would increase.

With this in mind, I believe it is apt to share with you this 5 simple things to consider when buying a condominium. Take this to heart and you’ll be at the right side of things. Please feel free to add or share your thoughts in our comment section below.

1. LOCATION, LOCATION, YES-LOCATION: This is the golden rule of real estate and this rings true wherever you are in the world. The neighborhood and location of the condominium hinges on this simple fact. Remember that the location is one of the main contributing factors in successfully renting out or reselling the property in the future-unless you prefer to live out your life in there, which I would highly doubt.
2. RULES, RULES, RULES: It holds so much importance that I need to repeat it thrice. A thorough review of the rights and restrictions in the condominium bylaws is very much needed. Read and understand the rules as some or most of it might affect you or your future rental business. Here’s a good example. My condominium doesn’t allow pets and I handle several units for rent here so when I got two inquiries from potential tenants, I was painfully disappointed (in the business side) that they have trained house dogs. Trained or not, pets aren’t allowed so that situation basically ruined my business-at least for those two.
3. FEES, PAYMENTS, DUES: Those three synonyms mean the same thing, monthly bill. No matter where you go, condominiums always charge a certain fee for the maintenance of the common areas and the overall building.
   It’s important to know what the condominium fee is. Something that should ring your bells and alarms is the low condominium fee. It’s not always good. You may want to find out why the fee is low, assuming you followed what I wrote in number one.
4. PLAN OUT: Like everything we do in life, buying a condominium should be planned out. Would you use it as a home or will it be a rental property? If it’s the latter, would you manage it yourself or will you hire a property manager? It’s all about risk management. If you have things well planned out, the probability of losing money would be minimal or even non-existent.
5. RENTAL PROPERTY: I just want to include this in here. If you plan to live in the condominium, then the first four steps would cover you. But if you’re planning to make this a serious investment, read on. Keep in mind that it is important to be strict in yourself when conducting due diligence for your potential condominium. Inquire about the experiences of the present tenants as most of the time, this would give you a good glimpse of what it’s really like living in the building-the things that the paperwork won’t reveal. And speaking of paperwork, you may need a real estate lawyer to pore over the condominium association’s rental lease.Lastly, a simple way to see if the condominium is good for rental is to check if there are a good number of owners renting out their units. This is because the bylaws could be amended to prohibit renting in the future-if there are a good number of owners renting out their units, then the chances of that happening would be slim-again, part of your risk-management.

Stick with this 5 simple things and you’ll be on your way to having a great condominium property.

To make sure you don’t make any mistakes in the process, it is truly advisable to seek the help of professional Realtors. Team Leading Edge is an experienced team that have sold condominiums in Edmonton. Recently awarded as one of the Top 30 RE/MAX Real Estate Teams in Western Canada, the team is made up of competent Realtors that could and would help you in every step of the buying process.

Check out all the available condominiums for sale in Edmonton through our MLS real estate listings. It is updated daily so you will get superb listings to choose from and don’t hesitate to call Team Leading Edge anytime to get you started on that future property of yours.

Do you know how great investors are distinguished against average people?

They are the ones who grab an opportunity fast whenever it presents itself.
Okay, wait, let me rephrase that. They’re the ones who POUNCE to every bit of opportunity that life presents!
That’s much better.

To elaborate further, great investors are the kind of people who make their own luck. They don’t wish for luck. One of the best books I’ve ever read is “The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason”. There were four quotes mentioned in that book relating to luck that I would like to share with you. First, “Good luck waits to come to that man who accepts opportunity”, second, “To attract good luck to oneself, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities” third, “Good luck can be enticed by accepting opportunity” and lastly, “Men of action are favored by the Goddess of Good Luck”.

Although the book was written ages ago, the quotes still apply to this day and as I see it, it will persist for as long as there are human existence that strive to achieve a greater sense of being. I’m striving to achieve a good life and if you do as well, then its best that you too take the quotes to heart as it may guide you in your own journey.

A great opportunity is in front of you right now. Take the Canora Experience. This 4 bedroom half duplex bungalow is currently in the market. Given the economic rise of Alberta this year, this kind of real estate property would come ever so rare.

At $274, 900, this 969 sq ft piece of opportunity can and should be your next home or investment. Analyze the data, crunch the numbers, do your due diligence, I assure you all of it would point to same conclusion. To put it simple terms; this will bring the best bang for your buck.

Check out the photos below and see for yourself how this opportunity could change your life.

View the complete details of the property here.

Opportunity awaits! Act now before its too late.

Selling a home is no easy task that is why there are Realtors such as our team, but don’t think of it as a deterrent. The point that you are reading this article suggest that you would like to do something on your end to make the selling process as fast and efficient as possible, which is great! Below are 5 incredibly easy ways for you to help your Realtor market your home and create more value for your priced possession. Follow it and you’re going to be smiling your way to the bank.

Ceramic Wall Tiles

1. CHOOSE NATURAL: Materials such as granite, ceramic tiles and even hardwood create more value than synthetic materials such as acrylics. When renovating kitchen floors, chose wood over linoleum as it will look classier to home buyers than the latter.
   Laminated products offer additional value for wall-to-wall renos. Keep the carpets well maintained as it is one of the very first things home buyers see. You wouldn’t want potential buyers to think they’ll spend tons of money just to replace the carpet, wouldn’t you?
2. KEEP THE PAINT FRESH: Keeping a fresh coat of paint in the master bedroom, kitchen and other parts of the house will go a long way. It is the most cost effective way to add that buzz to your home.Stay clean and neutral with taupe, brown and off-white colors. Neutral shades is key as bright colors would tend to do more harm in the selling process than good. Lastly, stay off dark colors as it tends to create an effect which makes a room smaller than it really is.
3. BE ENERGY EFFICIENT: Nothing beats having low electrical bills. You experience it yourself every time the bill comes. An energy efficient house is a very marketable piece of real estate especially now that almost everybody is budget conscious. There are low cost solar panels and rain catchment systems now out in the market that you could take advantage off. You may even ask your local utility company to show how to truly maximize home energy efficiency. Majority of the energy providers do it for free.
4. STORAGE GALORE: The more storage you have in your home, the better. Home buyers nowadays prefer a generous amount of attic and closet space. Having space is very important, especially if the potential buyer/s have a lot of equipment’s, i.e. snow blower, bicycles, lawn mower. In this kind of scenario, an over sized garage would really come in handy. His and hers walk-in closet in the master suite would be synonymous to additional dollars in your pocket.

   

5. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, MAINTENANCE: Hold off the lavish home upgrades and focus on the basics first. Fixing the small things such as leaks, leaky windows, insulating the attic, inspecting the septic system and weeding the flower beds go very long way towards creating value. These small repairs could cost you a hundred dollars but it may create additional zeros to your selling price.

After a hardcore Monday work, time for you to catch some breath and recoup before blazing again through the rest of the week. If you have already subscribed to our blog (great for you!), you might have already noticed that we here at Team Leading Edge always mix up our articles and this time we wanted to feature something funny. I figured nothing is funnier than seeing a home that have failed in some engineering or architectural way-or basically a photo that sums up loss of common sense. I don’t want to be mean but being in the real estate industry myself, I have seen a fair share of failed home designs and it always cracks me up. Too bad I wasn’t able to take photos of the failed home designs that I saw when I was doing site visits!

Now lucky for you I have done the leg work and filtered the worst, funny and crazy home designs around. Check out the list below to see Failed Home Designs.

Remember to view our list of amazing homes for sale in Edmonton through our MLS real estate listing after. You would not be disappointed.

1. WRONG ERECTION. I don’t know if the owners are one of those “fertility” believers but, really, this is just wrong.But, Austin Powers like it.
   

   Time to get your mojo

2. SUICIDE DOOR. They took it literally. Judging from this photo, I can safely assume that if the 3^rd floor is for rent, they would have extremely low tenancy rate due to this fatal flaws in the floor design.  
3. LEANING COUSIN OF PISA. Get it? No? Shame on you.
4. DRA-WHERE? A big facepalm right here. Complete waste of storage space.
5. BACKDOOR. In some weird way, this isn’t really that much of a failure. Looking at the positive side, if you ever really really needed to use the toilet when you arrive home, you wouldn’t need to go inside the house, you can dash straight at the backdoor!
6. [             ]. I will just leave this one for you to think of a caption.
7. WRONG SIDE. Seriously. You had one job!
8. ECO-FRIENDLY GARAGE. They didn’t want to cut down the tree for environmental purposes. Should’ve moved the garage though. See amazing garage designs here. 

   

9. MAKE ROOM FOR THE FRIDGE. Yup! Squeeze it right there. Perfect!
   

   I know how Patrick feels

10. SOME MEN WOULD RELATE.
11. OKAY, THESE TWO DESERVE THE LAST SPOT.
    Plumber was just making sure that if there would be a leak, he already had it covered.Bro, just no.
    
    Here’s hoping you won’t do the same mistakes seen here or your work may just end up in our future list! That’s about it, don’t forget to subscribe.

    See beautiful homes with great working designs for sale in Edmonton here.

I love cars, Lexus LFA type of cars to be exact. The only game on my iPhone is Asphalt 8, a kickass car racing game. Cars today aren’t just simple mechanical tools used to travel from point A to point B, no, they have evolved to become an extension of one’s self. The brand, color and interior all provides subtle clues into who or what the owner is. As for me, I’m always in awe with the aesthetics of it, the status-symbol and the toys-for-the-big-boys bragging rights that it brings to the table.

This is love.

With that in mind, I wanted to know what the best garage designs look like and what I found brought tears into my eye-yes, I stared so long on the computer screen that my eyes got watery-probably you would too. Be warned, some of the images might be disturbing, as one user pointed out “some of these cars spend the night in a better room than I do!”. Couldn’t agree more [Insert sobbing emoticon here].

Okay, enough with the introduction and let’s get down to business. Below is a gallery I made of what I believe is the most epic, amazing, outrageously expensive and very creative garage designs. Also, don’t forget to check out our list of amazing Edmonton houses for sale (with garages, of course) in our supreme Edmonton MLS real estate listing. Enjoy!

Here’s the mother lode of amazing garages I hand picked from luxury4play.com:

Elegant garage from Houzz.com:

Condo living to the max! This sky garage is the future:

I don’t know about you but it may take sometime for me to afford one of these garage designs but hey, if there’s a will (or wheel for that matter) there’s a way, right?! Share with us your own garage design in the comment section below.

Time for us to fill up your daily dose of house feeds. Today we feature the world’s 5 most bizarre and amazing houses. The Cliff House article by Business Insider was the idea inducing factor for this piece and with Halloween right around the corner this could go on as an inspiration for your next Halloween home design. (Well, if you’re thinking of buying a home before Halloween, we might just have something for you in our Edmonton MLS Real Estate listing, remember to check it after.)

1. Cliff House by Modscape Concept (Australia): The title speaks for itself, this concept house hangs at the edge of a cliff in the outskirts of Australia. It’s a five story house that features 3 bedrooms, living room and a kitchen with the center piece being the floor-to-ceiling windows overseeing the vast ocean. The bottom area supports the Jacuzzi and barbeque making it an amazing getaway home from the hustle and bustle of the city. I’d say Tony Stark would love it.
   
2. Free Spirit Sphere (British Columbia): Designed by Tom and Rosy Chudleigh, this house is the definition of bizarre. Average weight of the sphere is 1100 pounds and the overall experience would depend on the wind speed of your (tree) location. Just imagine what would happen if you were in there and the wind was blowing at 80 mph! Scary! A great upside to this kind of house is its Eco-friendly design.
   Yup, the Ewoks from Star Wars would surely be delighted with this!
3. Leaf House (Brazil): Speaking of Eco-friendly design, this house in Angra dos Reis, Brazil ranks at number three as it was designed to look like a flower with six petals each cleverly covering the different sections of the home! The open design by Architect firm Mareines + Patalano is perfectly suited for the hot and humid climate.
4. House of Stone (Portugal): Experience the Flintstones lifestyle! This amazing house is the textbook definition of living off the grid. Built in 1974 between 4 boulders, this house features a swimming pool carved out of one of the rocks and fireplace-not bad!
   Here’s a look at the interior.
   
   
5. Bubble House (France): Located in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, France, this bizarre looking house was designed in the 70’s for a fashion designer (which explains it) named Pierre Cardin, the architect was Antti Lovag. Its bizarre structure and amazing concept officially made it a historic monument by the French Ministry of Culture.

It would really be interesting if we ever listed a home for sale in Edmonton that looked any one of these houses.
So, there you have it! We hope you got your fill of house feeds this Thursday morning and don’t forget to subscribe to our blog and do check out the list of amazing houses for sale on our Edmonton MLS Listings.