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Questions, Questions during the Selling Process!!

By Wayne Chaulk

Over the many years I have been selling real estate and helping buyers purchase country properties I have experienced the challenges of gathering important information on a property to assist in both marketing listings effectively and in helping buyers make wise choices in their purchasing process.  Below are many of the frequently asked questions that can come from prospective buyers on country properties.  I strongly recommend that if you are planning to sell your property in the near future that you gather and know the answers to as many of these as possible and provide as much helpful information for  the process as possible.  Having these details and information available improves buyer confidence, enhances the presentation of the property and helps achieve a more positive inspection process.

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Payback on Home/Property Updates & Renovations

By Wayne Chaulk

With a renewed and very strong acreage market over the last few months, sales have increased and values improved to very healthy levels compared to the last several years. In some cases sellers have been able to sell properties without too much resistance even if their homes and property had some areas requiring work or updating and not in ideal locations largely because of the recent strong demand. 

If you have not decided to sell this year but are planning to do so in the near or distant future you might want to take stock of the condition & appeal of your home/acreage and plan for either minor renovations or some major projects to both enjoy until you do sell and generally improve your property’s marketability when you do go to market.

Included below is a list of minor & major improvements/updates/renovations as well as a chart of corresponding average payback value ranges for various Reno’s undertaken to help you choose areas to work on that may provide the greatest return.

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Things You Can Do Over Winter to Prepare for a 2021 Spring/Summer Property Sale

By Wayne Chaulk 

The summer and early fall has seen quite a brisk acreage market with a surprisingly high level of sales despite the very slow start and COVID 19 atmosphere. I feel the continuing, incredibly low interest rates (some dipping below 2%) and the desire by many families to escape to the country, given the challenges around Covid in the city, has propped up the country market particularly under the $800K range. But there have been a healthy level of sales above that as well including over $1M.  Let’s hope that trend continues into next year!  So given a seemingly renewed interest in the acreage market you may want to consider selling next year if the idea has been on your mind lately. If you do plan to do so you may want to begin preparing now!

Winter is truly setting in with colder temperatures and short daylight so one can’t do much outside work on one’s home or property. Whether in spring or early summer there are still a wide variety of things you can do in advance. Many of these items will aide in your listing preparedness and take pressure off you when it comes time to actually list.  It will improve your marketability by providing your agent with valuable information, as well as help speed up a potential purchasers ‘due diligence’ process because info would be readily available that buyers might request or be curious about. This is not an exhaustive list and you may not be able to do all of them but certainly do as many as feasible and achievable over the next 1 – 4 months. Many of my past clients have taken this approach with improved success.

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Surprising Acreage Sales Levels during 2020!

By Wayne Chaulk

I thought it would be interesting to see how country sales fared for the challenging year of 2020  compared to 2019 levels. Those of us in the residential real estate industry thought in March and April that it could be a dismal year for sales given the challenges we were all facing. In fact the opposite was true!  Acreages sales overall were up in both the Foothills and Rockyview counties! Foothills had a 20% increase and Rockyview had a 14% increase in sales volume.

I have created a short summary chart below to show the results in three price categories to get some sense of increases or decreases.  The research was for properties 1.5 acres or more and did not include raw land parcels. It also did not include residential sales in the MD towns such as Okotoks, High River, Airdrie etc., nor in the large luxury lot communities such as Heritage Pointe, Artesia etc. but focused on acreages. However, overall MD unit sales across all sectors including the towns were up somewhat. The interesting thing was that there were increases in acreage sales numbers in both the $700 to $1M range as well as in the $1M plus range. Activity in the $500 – $700 range was also up in the Foothills.

Foothills County

2020

$500-$700K 59

$700-$1,000 108

$1,000,000 + 52

Total Sales: 219

2019

$500-$700K 45

$700-$1,000 195

$1,000,000 + 42

Total Sales: 182

Rockyview County

2020

$500-$700K 29

$700-$1,000 128

$1,000,000 + 96

Total Sales: 243

2019

$500-$700K 38

$700-$1,000 91

$1,000,000 + 86

Total Sales: 215

So overall a surprising yet positive ending to a very different, unpredictable and challenging year for us all.  I suspect some of the reasons for the reasonable active year despite Covid and the restrictions & shutdowns could be as follows:

  1. Realtors were classified as an “ essential services” so selling and buying activity and showings could still take place all year long.
  2. Interest rates were historically low allowing some families and buyers to access larger mortgages if necessary.
  3. People who often thought of moving to the country likely did so in 2020 to get a sense of more space and move away from the restrictions of city or condo living.
  4. Acreages prices were more market friendly and in most cases sellers were not trying to over-reach on their listing pricing and be competitive given the market place and effects of Covid on people, job losses etc.

Based on these results, there is certainly a reason to be positive as we move into 2021.  It could potentially be a good year for sales again with some optimism with vaccines being rolled out and interest rates still remaining extremely low.

Real Estate & the Covid-19 Pandemic

As we all adjust to the unprecedented circumstances of our lives, I wanted to bring to you two main sources of information in this month’s article.  The first is to give you an update on the real estate market both in broad strokes for the nation and more specifically for our acreage market here at home.  Secondly, I will outline some important information on how we as realtors and the real estate industry in general has instituted procedures and guidelines to ensure the safety of all parties concerned during the selling and buying process.  Real Estate is considered an essential service during this time as there will continue to be people buying and selling despite the pandemic.

First of all, here are the statistics I have pulled together that we have in hand for this year to the end of April as this publication goes to press in May.  They are for acreages with homes.

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Pre-Listing – Test Reports & Property Inspections

If you live on an acreage and plan on selling in the near future if at all possible you should have & provide current well and septic tests. Having both will ensure current, accurate information is provided to potential buyers and improve the marketability of your property. There is nothing more frustrating than handling enquiries about the pumping rate or condition of an acreage water supply as it is usually the first question that comes up and it is of top concern to prospective buyers.  So why second guess what the status is, or worse yet, not have any information about your well, water chemical makeup and condition of your septic system. Even though a buyer may still do their own tests (at their expense), by you having up to date reports on these systems, you can then list your acreage and have your property promoted with confidence about the accuracy of the information and additionally improve and speed up the decision process by prospective buyers.

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Foothills Visual & Noise Bylaws – How they can impact acreage owners & property values

Municipal governments have numerous and detailed bylaws regarding property development such as  development, home acreage construction, home business operations and Dark Sky lighting guidelines to name just a few.  They are too extensive and detailed to cover in an article such as this, but as a point of interest as it pertains to how certain bylaws may affect property values if not adhered to, I am just highlighting some of the Community Standards Bylaws adopted a few years ago by the MD Foothills as they are the day to day obvious things one can be impacted by. These bylaws were developed to help create order and respect for each other’s privacy and right to both quiet and visual enjoyment of one’s property.

Over my career on my visits to a wide variety of properties for either evaluations purposes, listing of properties or representing buyers looking at acreages and land, it has been interesting and troubling to see firsthand how in several cases property owners and their neighbours are not adhering to several of the MD community standard bylaws. Whether one is affected by bylaw contraventions as a neighbour or whether what you may be doing or not doing may be affecting your neighbour, I felt it useful to include in this article a summary of these bylaws in case some readers are not aware of them or need a reminder about them.

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15 LOW COST TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR PROPERTY FOR SALE

When preparing to sell your home, the goal is to sell it as quickly and at the highest price possible within the current market conditions, while investing as little as possible in renovations and updates.   You don’t need a $150K+ renovation to sell as likely you won’t necessarily get the value back anyway unless, for example, if you own an older home that requires significant work such as required electrical and mechanical systems major updates.

Below are some of the lesser expensive ways to improve your look and presentation applicable to city & small town homes and country acreages alike. Even if you are not selling in the very near future doing many of these things will help you enjoy your home and property more and also be more prepared for a possible future sale!

 

Tip #1:  Refresh the Exterior

Many buyers will not venture out of their car if they do not find the exterior of a home appealing.  Painting trim, pressure washing vinyl siding and windows, painting worn steps or decking and replacing damaged eaves troughs are some ways to simply improve the exterior look.  Also repair exterior siding if needed and paint any outbuildings to tie them to the home and reflect overall property care.

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