Canmore real estate for August was yet another month of consistent sales throughout town with a total of 26 properties selling this month.  Canmore real estate sales in July totaled 27 sales, which was slightly down from the 20 sales in June.  Year over year, we saw a dramatic decline in sales with August sales in 2009 totaling 46 Canmore properties.  The breakdown of sales in Canmore real estate this past month was categorized as follows:

Apartments 4 – at an average of $415 a square foot

Half Duplexes 2 – at an average square foot of $550

Recreational 2 – at an average square foot of $260

Single Family Homes 13 – at an average square foot of $412

Town Homes 4 – at an average square foot of $365

Single family homes remain the popular choice for Buyer’s this month and recreational condo’s (those that can be placed into a rental pool) continue to struggle, primarily due to the lack of financing from the banks.  The average square foot selling price for all categories of Canmore real estate was $383 dollars a square foot this month, compared to $378 a square foot for August 2009.

Our inventory is still high (over 400 properties currently listed for sale as of this post) although we have started to see the stream of properties being listed each week dramatically slow down over the month of August.  In my opinion though, we are still in a Buyer’s market and will be until we see our inventory levels drop significantly – by a 100 properties or more.  Those properties that are being listed for sale and are challenging the price levels for their categories are slower to see showings and are not selling compared to the properties that have adjusted for the new Buyer’s expectations.

Our activity (bookings for showings) in August declined and was a quieter month for showings than previous months this year, although September sales are starting off quite strong with 16 conditional sales going in to the new month.

As always please contact me directly with any questions or leave comments at the end of this page with how you see the Canmore real estate market conditions at this time.

Another month is in the books for Canmore real estate and again we had a consistent month of sales in town even with what I perceived to be a quieter month for showing activity.Canmore real estate figures for July were slightly lower than June with 27 total sales in town compared to the 30 we realized in June.  July 2010 compared to July 2009 in Canmore real estate realized 2 less sales this year but our average selling price was up from $522,394 ($360.73 per sq. ft.) this month last year to $596,629 ($376.92 per sq. ft) in 2010.

The breakdown for sales this month in to property categories was as follows:

Apartments: 5 (average sq. ft selling price of $302.13)

Half Duplex: 2 (average sq. ft selling price of $419.40)

Four Plex: 1 (average sq. ft. selling price of $365.94)

Land: 2

Single Family: 9 (average sq. ft. selling price of $427.96)

Recreational: 1 (average sq. ft. selling price of $386.22)

Town Homes: 11 (average sq. ft. selling price of $379.93)

Town homes and Single family homes continue to be the most popular property to purchase in Canmore, a trend that has been consistent throughout 2010 thus far.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I, as did many other Realtors® in Canmore, perceived July to be a slower month for showing activity and the first few days of August have continued this trend.  So far going into August we have 9 properties that are conditionally sold and if the month plays out as years past we should start to see activity pick up again closer to the end of the month as people arrive back home after summer family vacations.

As always, I value your comments and feedback in the boxes below.

This past weekend some 300 teams of 5 or 10 persons plus a whole bunch of crazy folk that ride this event solo congregated at the Canmore Nordic Centre for the annual 24 hours of Adrenalin mountain bike race.

Canmore becomes a hub of activity from about the Thursday before the race onwards as people to start to arrive from all over the Country, Continent and World to compete in this endurance relay race.  This year Canmore was host to the National Solo Championships where the winner from both the men’s and women’s solo category would win their airfare to Australia to compete at World Championships being held later this year.

I’m neither fit enough nor crazy enough to attempt to ride for 24 hours straight by myself to see if I compete in such an event.  I am however just crazy enough to compete on a five person team.  This was my fourth time competing at this event over the past 10 or so years and after every previous year I’ve vowed never to do it again, but somehow I always end up back at the start line ready to take my turn at riding a lap.

The object of the exercise is to ride as many laps as you can within a 24 hour period with each member of the team riding a lap then handing the baton to the next member and so fourth until you have each ridden one lap, then the baton returns to the first person in the rotation.  The event seems to become more and more competitive each year yet stays incredibly friendly with great camaraderie between all the thousands of competitors.

Our team of 5 guys was competing the 200+ category, no we weren’t all over 200 pounds, our combined age for the 5 of us was over 200 years of age.  This set us up with a little advantage as the category itself, while being extremely competitive, was not as fast as the under 200 category.  Our team of five riders paced ourselves in the early going and was holding down a respectful 5th place after we had each ridden a lap.  After we had each ridden 2 laps we had moved up to 4th place in our category and were dreaming of a podium finish as nightfall came upon us.

With headlights on, a clear sky and a full moon we rode the night laps extremely consistently and by the best lap of the day – the Sunrise lap – we had moved ourselves in to third place by about 13 minutes.  At 11am on Sunday morning I was the last lap our group was going to put in for the race and by 11:10am I was setting out on my 5th lap and our team’s 22nd lap with a 7 minute advantage over the 4th place team.

Now, 5 laps may not sound like a lot, but after being awake since 7am the previous morning and having already ridden 4 laps of the 19km course I can tell you that it was all I had in me to keep turning the pedals one foot at a time to climb the single track switchbacks to the top of the Nordic Centre.  The one and only thing that kept me going and not getting off the bike to walk some of the harder climbs was the fear that the 4th place guy behind me was catching me and I’d be the reason we lost our podium finish – the one thing I was never going to let happen no matter how tired I was.  After 12kms the trail passes back through the pits at the Nordic Centre where I was met by the rest of my team cheering me on and letting me know the 4th place team was catching me but that I still had a few minutes to play with.  As I headed out on the bottom half of the course I was exhausted, but knew from the previous 4 laps that it was mostly downhill which gave me lots of time to recover for the final climb back to the finish line in the arena at the Canmore Nordic Centre.

My last lap wasn’t my fastest but it was fast enough to hold down 3rd place for our team by 3 minutes and 39 seconds. After 24 hours of 27 teams of five guys in the 200+ age group category racing a 19km loop we beat the 4th place team by 3 minutes and 39 seconds.  Of the 301 teams that entered the event we placed 14th overall, no small achievement for 5 guys that work full-time and have kids and families to take of.  We’re proud of what we accomplished this weekend, the team I was on was incredible and were certainly the reason we ended up on the podium.

I received an e-mail on Monday from our team captain letting me know that he has signed the team up again for next year – I’ve already told my wife that I’m never doing this race again, but if history plays it’s part I’m sure you’ll see me on the start line raring to go again next July.

Summertime in Canmore

The 2010 Canmore real estate market is officially six months old, or six months complete for the year, so I thought for my post this month I’ll outline the stats for the month of June and then tally up the results for the 6 months ending June 30th to show how our market has performed so far this year.

Canmore real estate sales in June started at a steady pace and seemed to dwindle as the month went on, the same can be said for real estate activity and showings.  At the end of the month we had 30 sales in total and the breakdown was as follows:

Apartments: 3

Half Duplexes: 2

Recreational: 4

Single family: 9

Town Homes: 11

Triplex: 1

The average square foot selling price for a property in Canmore in June was $376 a square foot and the average selling price in Canmore for property was $604,000.  The range of properties sold in Canmore this month was incredibly varied from $100,000 recreational property all the way to a $2,250,000 estate home and everything in-between.

As a reminder of previous months I’ve listed each month and the number of sales that were made for the month in the Canmore real estate market: (to see full reports on each month click on Canmore real estate and scroll through to find the month)

January: 26

February: 25

March: 37

April: 32

May: 27

June: 30

As you can see the numbers show a fair amount of consistency in the number of sales month over month and I think it’s fair to say that level in the Canmore real estate market is the new up when it comes to sales this year.  So the big questions everyone is asking still relates to sales prices.  How have prices changed when compared with 2009 and have we finished correcting as a market yet?  Below I’ve outlined the average selling price per housing category for 2009 and compared it with the average selling price for the first 6 months of 2010:

2009                          2010

Apartments:    $387,000                    $370,000

Fourplex:         $578,000                     $572,000

Half Duplex:   $744,000                      $783,000

Town Home:  $509,000                      $502,000

Single Family: $758,000                     $827,000

Land:               $699,000                       $419,000

Recreational:  $242,000                       $212,000

(All figures rounded to nearest ’000)

Canmore real estate in 2009 had an overall average selling price of $569,705 and we sold 314 properties for the year. In 2010 the overall average selling price of property in Canmore for the first 6 months is $586,251 and we’ve sold 173 properties year to date – almost one home a day.  If we compare the first 6 months of 2009 to the first 6 months of 2010 we see a very comparable picture.  The first quarter of 2009 was an incredibly tough few months for real estate in Canmore, nothing was moving, but in the second quarter we started to see the market slowly revive and by the end of June 2009 we had 117 sales on the books at an overall average selling price of $582,190.

So, apples to apples the first 6 months of 2010 were busier for sales and activity in Canmore but the average selling price of property remains consistent with that of the first 6 months of 2009.  Going forward I see July as being a quiet month for sales and activity, the number of Canmore home showings that are being booked by Realtors has fallen dramatically over the past couple of weeks – a sign that summer has arrived and people are turning their attention to family vacations rather than property purchases.

I believe we are still correcting as a market, the properties that are being priced aggressively are winning the battle to find Buyer’s willing to purchase them and price is the driving factor for a Buyer’s decision making process.  As long as our inventory continues to climb, as it has the past two months Buyer’s are subject to great choice and the Sellers that are showing value for money to the Buyer’s will continue to sell their homes.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the Canmore real estate market, as always you can leave your comments below.

Boxes, Boxes and more Boxes

Over the last few years I’ve helped numerous clients sell and purchase homes in Canmore.  Throughout the sales process I help them organize their affairs that relate to the transaction such as property inspections, condominium document reviews, marketing the property on-line, showing the home and numerous other services.

When I was in the hotel business I’d organize my departments to run efficiently and effectively.  To ensure the hotel stayed ahead of it’s competition I’d go to other hotel’s and restaurants to experience for myself the services and quality of product they offered.  By immersing myself in new experiences I found I became a better manager and leader and the hotel became a better property.

Why do I bring up my previous career? well, I’m currently experiencing a side of the real estate business that all my clients go through, that I’ve never really thought of before – packing and the actual move itself.

I’ve lived in the same home in Canmore for the past 7 years and when we moved in to our current home the Hotel chain I was working for at the time paid for the moving company to pack and move all our personal property, so I haven’t experienced ‘the move’ in a good 10 years.

When I help clients sell or purchase a property I rarely, if ever, think of the stress that the actual move brings.  I understand the stress of the transaction – negotiating a price, working through the conditions, finding financing and the nail-biting tension of a Seller when waiting to see if a Buyer will remove the conditions.  I see that stress and work through it with clients daily.  I don’t necessarily see the stress that comes with packing boxes, organizing moving vans, calling all the utility companies, ensuring you have the right insurance, finding boxes large enough to fit your possessions in (this is big one for us!) and living with the mounds of boxes in the house while preparing to move.

Well, all that is currently changing, last week we sold our home and bought a new one.  A few days after all the deals had gone unconditional my wife took the boys on a 10 day vacation to see her family in Ontario – a vacation that was planned a long time in advance of us even thinking about selling or purchasing a home.  When my wife returns from vacation we have exactly 5 days before we move, so most of the packing and all the above list has fallen on my shoulders, much to my wife’s discomfort. My wife has always been the better organizer in the family and is more than a little worried that nothing will be done when she returns from vacation.

Experiencing how stressful the actual move can be for people is something I think as Realtor’s we tend to forget, we all know that purchasing a property is a stressful experience because it tends to be the largest financial purchase we make in our lifetime, but we hear little about how stressful the organization and execution of the actual move is on a person, couple or family.

I have 11 days of packing and organization left before we move in to our new home, which in the long run is going to decrease our stress as a family as we have twice the room we have now, which is good for everyone. But, for the next 11 days I’ll try and remember all the experiences I go through so I can keep them fresh in my mind so when my clients are going through the same stressful situation I can better relate to them and help them further through a very tough few weeks.

Moving house is so much more than the transaction of purchasing or selling a property and just as I sought out experiences to help me become a better manager and leader in the hotel business this experience is certainly going to make me a better and more compassionate Realtor.

The View from Silver Creek Lodge

Canmore real estate sales in April were slower than March and the real estate market in May continued the trend of slowing down.  In April we sold 33 properties in Canmore and in May we ended the month with 26 sales.  The first week of May was a strong week of activity, mostly carried over from April and as the month progressed activity in the Canmore real estate market slowed significantly.  The breakdown of property that sold in Canmore in May is as follows:

Apartments sold: 4 at an average square foot price of $350

Four Plex sold: 2 at an average square foot price of $343

Town Homes: 5 sold at an average square foot price of $370

Half Duplex: 1 sold at an average square foot price of $348

Single Family Homes: 11 sold at an average square foot price of $423

Recreational Condos: 3 sold at an average square foot price of $326

Our active listings on the Canmore real estate market increased significantly this past month too and we are now back up to 385 active listings as of June 1st.  Pricing is still the key strategy for Seller’s, if the property is perceived to be priced correctly in the market by Buyer’s the property receives attention, if the property is perceived by Buyer’s as too high showings are typically slower.

As we move into June in Canmore we are hoping for two scenario’s to change.  First we need the weather to improve so that more people want to spend time in the mountains and secondly, if the weather improves we are hoping it brings our Canmore real estate market activity back up to the levels we saw in March and April.  We currently have 12 conditional sales as we move into June which is another strong start to a month.

All of my regular visitors to this or my Canmore lifestyle blog already know I’m a huge advocate for what I like to brand the Canmore Lifestyle.  Living in the mountains and enjoying all the mountain activities and mountain culture that is so accessible right out our front doors.  Canmore is an incredible community to live in and be a part of and this past weekend our town and community became even closer – in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

Every year on the second weekend on May the town of Salmon Arm hosts a 6 hour endurance Mountain Bike race called “The Salty Dog”.  This event has always been a popular event to attend with Canmore residents, but this year over 30 families packed up the tents and campers and headed out for the event.  Canmore moved to Salmon Arm.

This was my family’s first time at the event, I was scheduled to race the 6 hour race as a solo competitor and my 10 year old was registered with a friend to ride a 3 hour race as a team.

When we arrived at the campsite we couldn’t believe just how many Canmore families had made the trip – it was fantastic as

The broken and battered wheel

we basically had the whole campsite booked.  The kids had the freedom to roam around and find their friends and play for hours with each other. We had the comfort and knowledge that one parent or another was keeping at least one eye on whichever kids were closest to their campsite, without infringing on their new found freedom to play in dirt piles, climb trees, find bugs, go swimming or roast marsh-mellows at whichever campfire was the largest at the time.

The race itself was amazing, again it seemed as though all of Canmore was their either to race or to support the racers.  The race itself had two courses, the main loop for the Adult solo riders or Adult teams of two and a secondary, smaller loop for the U15 kids to race on.  The race was incredibly well organized and I’ve never had the opportunity to race such a fun race loop before.  From the start you basically climbed single track switchbacks for 3 or 3 kilometers from there it kicked you out on to a climb of about 4 or 5 kilometers of fire road double track and then the real fun began.  At the top of the fire road you had the opportunity to grab a cookie and a drink if needed, all compliments of the organizers, and then you head down, all the way back to the finish line going over  wooden bridges, pyramids, jumps, ramps, steep technical rocks and roots and dusty fast single track coming through the finish line with the biggest grin on your face and ready to climb all the way back up to the top to do it again.  It felt like a roller-coaster you never wanted to get off and the climb, however hard it might have been – and it was a hard climb, was instantly forgotten when you started your decent back to the start finish line.

I managed to complete 2 and half laps before I was a little too aggressive and fast heading back to the start finish line and the bike kicked the wrong way off a root and threw me straight at a tree, my front wheel hit the tree dead on and instantly became a taco and my day ended early.  I walked and ran down the trail back to the pits where I was met with cheers and shouts of encouragement – until they saw my wheel when the cheers turned to “oooooo’s and aaahhhhs’ and even some eeeessshh’s.

I didn’t have another wheel with me so I sat next to a friend who had also crashed out of the race by going over the handlebars and dislocating his finger, opened a couple of beers and cheered the kids and the rest of Canmore on throughout the race.

I was very proud to be from Canmore this weekend, the encouragement, support and camaraderie on display was very impressive and I know none of the people racing could have competed without all the support from the friends and families.  I want to thank everyone from Canmore who came out to support the racers, the Rundle Mountain Cycling Club for putting on a great dinner at the campsite on Saturday night and especially Skookum Cycle in Salmon Arm and all the volunteers and organizers that did such a wonderful job throughout the weekend.

Here are the results from the race if you’re interested.  Our family is already committed to returning next year because we had so much fun this past weekend.  Next on the race agenda in the Givr 8 at Calgary Olympic Park in two weeks time, I’ll update you on that race once it’s complete.  I’ll be racing as a team of two and hopefully I can stay away from those pesky trees!

Canmore Real Estate

Canmore real estate sales in April dropped from that of March 2010 although we still had a very healthy month in town.  The first two weeks of April started off very well with properties that had gone conditional at the end of March turning to firm sales within the first couple of weeks.  Showing activity remained strong through most of the month although dropped off a little in the last two weeks of the month.

The total number of sales in the Canmore real estate market for the month of April was 33 homes sold.  The Canmore properties that were sold in April were in the following categories:

Apartments = 8 sold at an average square foot price of $355

Half Duplexes = 2 sold at an average square foot price of $528

Lots / land = 2 sold

Recreational Property = 2 sold at an average square foot price of $307

Singe Family Homes = 10 sold at an average square foot price of $461

Town Homes = 8 sold at an average square foot price of $364

The average selling price for Canmore real estate in the month of April was $566, 701 which equaled $400 a square foot.  The square foot price for a property in Canmore has held strong in the $400 a square foot range now for several months and although a crude measurement for the price of property gives an indication of what Buyer’s are willing to pay in the market at this time.

At the time of this post on May 2nd the Conditional listings in Canmore real estate market total 9 for the first 2 days of the month and it’s too early at this stage of the month to hazard a guess as to how our month may shape up, although given the activity of sales in the last two weeks of April it doesn’t seem to show that the new mortgage rules that came in to effect April 19th have had much of an impact on the current market.

If you have any questions of comments on the Canmore real estate market please leave them on this post below or contact me directly.

As I mentioned in my mid-month post about the Canmore real estate market, it was nothing short of March Madness and the second half of the month didn’t disappoint.  In fact, my prediction of March being the busiest month of real estate since the peak market fell short by only 4 sales, so March, was officially the second busiest month just behind November 2009.

The sales in the Canmore real estate market broke down in the following way this month:

Apartments: 9 properties sold

Town homes: 11 properties sold

Four plexes: 2 properties sold

Half Duplexes: 5 properties sold

Single Family Homes: 15 properties sold

Manufactured Homes: 1 property sold

The average selling price for all real estate in Canmore for the month of March was $560,866 with an average square foot selling price of $404.  The average days on the market for the real estate that sold in Canmore in the month of March was 69 days.

March really was the first month we saw all properties, in all market segments, in all price ranges, sell fairly evenly. Buyer’s are still price conscious but are seeing value in the properties that are priced correctly and have shown this month that they are willing again to follow through and purchase the home they want when they believe the price to right.

Real estate in Canmore may have sold well this month, but the other side to the story is always the inventory levels.  Are we getting closer to a balanced market or moving further away from it.  March is typically a month where we see more than usual property enter the  market for sale, and this month was no different.  Our inventory levels at the beginning of the month were sitting around the 330 properties on the market in Canmore.  As of today, April 2nd, our inventory levels have risen to 365 active listings on the market.  this increase in inventory is the primary reason why I believe our prices will stay flat for the foreseeable future, playing in to the hand of Buyer’s until at least the end of the year.

I’ve never really attributed the March Madness sports frenzy to real estate, but it sure feels a little like a real estate frenzy this month in Canmore.

For some reason this month I’ve been asked far more consistently about the Canmore Real Estate market and what is happening in town for property sales this month.  I assume it’s because we are coming into the Spring and typically in Canmore our real estate market activity picks up.  With so many people asking me about the market on a daily basis I thought I’d check -in and see how our sales activity has officially held up for the first 12 days of the month.  My response to the question this month has been ‘it’s busy, there are more showings in the book and certainly feels like sales activity is strong’ and the sales numbers so far this month confirm my gut feel.

In Canmore this month so far we’ve had 15 sales, ranging all price ranges and types of homes.  Selling prices range from $295,000 to $1,100,000 with no one specific style of property selling more than another.

Sold homes in the month of March though are only half the Canmore real estate story so far.  We currently have another 16 properties that are Conditionally sold.  If all the conditional sales complete the sales process and nothing else sells this month in the Canmore real estate market we will have had one of our busiest months in the past 2 years.  Of course, we still have another 2 weeks of the month left and the real estate market shows no signs of slowing down.

Stay tuned at the end of the month to see how March plays out but it at this time it sure is looking to me like a slam dunk for being the busiest sales month of the past 2 years and that’s something we should all be cheering for.