EDMONTON REAL ESTATE @EdmontonRealty

BERTRAND MAROTTE- The Globe and Mail Last updated Monday, Jun. 20, 2011 6:18AM EDT  The Bank of Canada is less likely to pull the trigger on an interest-rate hike this year because of a risk-filled economic environment, TD Economics chief economist Craig Alexander says. The world economy has simply not made as much progress as had been anticipated in getting past the legacies of the financial crisis and recession, Mr. Alexander writes in a recent report. Among the reasons cited for a stand-pat stance are low inflationary expectations, the negative impact on Canada and the U.S. of deepening financial instability in Europe, the high loonie's impact on exports and uncertainty over the strength of the recovery in the United States. "The reality is that we are not really out of the financial crisis," he writes. There is a strong case to be made that an accommodative monetary policy will continue for some time throughout the world, according to Mr. Alexander. The central b...

The perks of using a real estate agent With the Competition Bureau pushing for a more publicly-accessible Multiple Listings Service (MLS), and for-sale-by-owners sites, such as Property Guys, picking up steam, you may be tempted to forgo the services of a real estate agent and tackle your home sale yourself. If you have a tight budget there are options that still leave you with a agent www.CheapComm.com   Before you invest the inevitable time and money to this endeavour, however, you may want to reconsider the pros of using a real estate agent.   If you're a seller...   - With an estimated 85% of homebuyers opting for the services of a real estate agent, a selling agent (and his/her fellow colleagues) have more access to potential buyers. This means more Open House traffic, more ad visibility, and more of your ideal buyers coming through your door.   - While your home may look perfect to you, it may not meet the style and trend preferences of todays buyer. Becau...

KERRY GOLD Vancouver— From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published Friday, Jun. 10, 2011 12:07PM EDT Last updated Friday, Jun. 10, 2011 4:01PM EDT Late last month, a 153-unit condo development in New Westminster sold out in two and a half hours. More than 400 potential buyers lined up for the sales day. For every unit sold, there was at least one back-up offer made. There was nothing overtly special about the project, which will be completed by fall 2012. The two-phase development, called Eight West, is located at 21 8th Avenue in the heart of New Westminster, a traditional-design and mix of town homes and condos starting at $168,800 - standard mid-market housing for the Lower Mainland. But for reasons only understood by the increasing number of local realtors who have learned to target the Mainland Chinese market, it held an irresistible allure to the new Chinese buyers looking to invest their money in the Canadian housing market. Bill Morrison, the marketer in charge of s...

The housing market in Edmonton is trending upwards, according to new figures released by Edmonton's Association of Realtors. Across the board, things are up- in terms of average residential sales price, prices for single family dethatched and condos, as well as sales volume and inventory. "Local market housing sales this year are tracking as we forecast in January," explained REALTORS® Association of Edmonton President Chris Mooney. "Historically for the month of May, the days-on-market (50 days) is at the second lowest point in four years while the sales-to-listing ratio at 53% is at the second highest point in the same period. Both metrics are a good indication of market optimism." Looking at average prices, the average price of a single family detached home in May was $380,545, up marginally from the month before.  Condo prices registered in at $241,079, up a more impressive 3.65% from April. Bucking the trend slightly, duplex and row house prices dr...

How Much Home Insurance Is Enough? Home Owner's insurance policies are often an after-thought--that is, until disaster strikes. Home owners in Joplin, Mo., Tuscaloosa, Ala., and other cities recently flattened by tornados are now finding that out too late as they discover that their insurance policies likely will not entirely cover the costs to rebuild. While most home owner's insurance policies will cover tornado damage, many home insurance policies are undervalued. In fact, one study from 2008 by Marshall & Swift finds that 64 percent of homes are undervalued for insurance purposes. Home Owner's insurance coverage typically comes in three categories: Replacement cost: It covers the cost of replacing or repairing a home, based on a certain dollar limit. However, some home owners with this type of insurance find that their insurance does not reflect increases in the cost of construction since they originally took out the policy. Extended replacement cost: T...

Book Excerpt When is it worth it to break your mortgage? Julie Cazzin Special to Globe and Mail Update In this excerpt from the MoneySense Guide to Buying and Selling Your Home, a book in the "Best of MoneySense" series, writer Julie Cazzin looks at when it makes sense to break your mortgage. Joakim Tjernell was pretty proud of himself—he’d done a damn good job of shopping for a mortgage. It was back in June of 2009 and Tjernell, a 32-year old translator, had been eyeing units in a slick modern condo building on Toronto’s Bathurst Street for a while. There was a lot of paperwork—Tjernell’s wife is a freelance graphic designer, so they had to prove that she had regular income. “This was the first time we had a mortgage, so we were nervous about getting approved,” he recalls. But not only were they approved, their mortgage broker came through with a great offer on a variable-rate mortgage from Scotiabank. The $280,000 loan had a 25-year amortization and a floating ...

.Bloomberg News May 31, 2011 – 7:15 AM ET | Last Updated: May 31, 2011 9:19 AM ET Canada’s currency is poised to weaken as investors bet Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney will keep interest rates low to protect the economy instead of fighting inflation by raising interest rates. Falling unemployment, faster growth than in the U.S. and a shrinking deficit drove Canada’s dollar to the highest in more than three years against the greenback on April 29 as traders anticipated Carney would join central bankers from Europe to China in boosting rates. Instead the 46-year-old former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. managing director damped those expectations in a May 16 speech, downplaying inflation and highlighting risks to the Canadian economy from a strong currency. Since then, the so-called loonie has dropped against 14 of its 16 most-traded counterparts, falling 3.5% against the Swiss franc and 5.2% versus New Zealand’s dollar. Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecasts the currency will fa...