The City of Saskatoon has approved plans to make 2,192 residential lots available to home builders and consumers who wish to build homes in 2007, provided that the manpower required to install water and sewer services can keep up with demand. The current plan has over 1,600 of those lots slated for single-family homes. In 2006 there were fewer than 900 single-family homes constructed within the Saskatoon city limits.

Council will vote Monday on a plan to allow the Builder’s Initiative Group, a coalition of some of Saskatoon’s largest builders to directly purchase 100 lots from the City. The remainder of them would be sold through a single-pick land draw process.

Alan Thomarat, executive director of the Saskatoon Region Home Builder’s Association has worked hard to lobby City Council and to gain support from other stakeholders in the Saskatoon real estate business, effectively arguing that the city can easily find willing buyers for 2,000 lots per year.No doubt, he’s pleased by this decision but he is cautious in his optimism noting that builders need some assurance that they can count on the city to move this policy forward in coming years. Contractors will need to feel confident that they’ll have work before making commitments to substantially build their labour force.

This is good news from my perspective. A quick check of the MLS® system today shows fewer than 250 active residential listings in Saskatoon across all neighbourhoods and price ranges. Last year at this time, there were more than twice as many homes on the market, and even then, the selection seemed very limited for prospective buyers. Low inventory levels are putting heavy pressure on the price of Saskatoon homes. Hopefully, this new land development policy will be effective in restoring some needed balance to the Saskatoon real estate market.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. 

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

Here’s what Angela had to say:

So, I decided that it was high time I jump into the Saskatoon real estate market.  I have been looking for over a year now, but always felt that I didn't make enough money, or that my credit wasn't good enough.  I am full of excuses.  Anyway, I found a 2 bedroom apartment style condo that was in my price range.  I went to a mortgage broker, worried that I was subjecting myself to imminent failure.  Nope.  Approved for the full amount I needed.  Too bad from the time I found the place to the time I actually went to the broker the price went up 7%.  I am still kicking myself.

My message to Angela: Congratulations! What an exciting move. It does take a lot of guts to step out there and dream big. I gather from your post that you’re feeling your guts a little more than you’re used to? That’s pretty normal for someone who has just made the biggest purchase of her life. It will soon go away. I expect that you’ll eventually be feeling very proud of this tremendous accomplishment. I hope you will.

You can probably stop kicking yourself anytime now. Any hesitation that you might have felt is normal for such a huge decision and only fools drop tens of thousands of dollars without a lot of thought. I expect that you will be well rewarded in the coming years. These homes should continue to do very well and I’m sure that your willingness to “put yourself out there” will open many doors for you.

I remember being 25 and how hard it was to sign on the dotted line but now that you’re in, I think you’ll find that equity growth in a home of your own is an excellent way to begin to build a little wealth and some net worth.

Of course, it’s not really about the money. More than anything, I hope you’ll find comfort in your new home. Having your own place is pretty cool. It’s nice to be able to invite your friends in, invite them to leave, and occasionally just close the door and shut the whole world out. It’s your place. You make the rules. You now have the freedom “to rip out EVERYTHING and make it all pretty and nice.” I hope you have fun with that.

You also provide some pretty good insights as far as “the bear décor theme” is concerned. I have to agree with you. That look is so yesterday! In fact, sellers would be wise to pack all of their animal carcasses and coats away prior to placing a home on the market. I realized this a few years ago while I was showing a house that had a few of those little ornaments.

Suddenly, my client was gone. 

Best wishes Angela and thank you for an inspiring message. You make me want to do something big today.

A tip of the hat to Larry Cragun for the heads up on Angela’s post.

After a fairly long week, I just needed to grab a bit of a break this weekend. I haven’t been able to crank out a single thought worth recording so I thought I’d share a couple of the best posts that I’ve read this week on other excellent blogs.

Both of these posts are most relevant to home sellers.

Teresa Boardman, “the goddess of blogging” from St. Paul, Minnesota writes an engaging post titled, “Sellers, can we talk?” It recounts her experience in attempting to show a home which has been left in total darkness.I couldn’t help but relate to most of the issues she encounters.Her experience brings home the importance of properly prepping your home for each showing. You’re going to be much better off as a seller if the showing agent can focus on the home, and her client, as opposed to chasing the cat down the street or stumbling around looking for lights.

Read Teresa’s post here.

Doug Quance, of Atlanta, Georgia recounts a rather sad but true story of a stubborn seller who is cheating himself out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in “When do you know the listing price is too high for your home?”Even in a good real estate market, a listing price needs to make sense to prospective buyers. They almost always look at several homes and an overpriced listing serves nobody, except your competition. In a declining market, proper pricing is paramount. If the price is too high to start, it can only look worse as prices decline (not a real concern in the Saskatoon real estate market at this time).

Read Doug’s post here (no longer available).

Teresa and Doug, thanks for letting me lean on you this evening. Nice work with these excellent posts.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

Everyone’s talking about it, but apparently nobody is complaining about local artist Doug Taylor’s snow sculpture of a pair of magic mushrooms, one of which has a stem shaped like a penis.

Taylor’s sculpture is one of seven gracing the bank of the South Saskatchewan River at River Landing. They were carved last weekend from snow blocks weighing sixteen tonnes and standing 2.5 metres tall.

I’m sorry to say that Star Phoenix reporter Darren Bernhardt has beaten me to the best lines one could possibly come up with. Darren notes in his piece published Wednesday that the sculpture was, “erected over the weekend,” and that “It sticks out from the wholesome snow sculptures…like a…well, a giant penis.”

Laura Hale, a Saskatoon artist who organized the display for the Meewasin Valley Authority told the Star Phoenix, “Some people around here have said ‘I don’t see it at all.’ I guess it’s how you look at it.”

Well Laura, those people either need an eye test or an anatomy lesson because this work of art clearly resembles a penis, though as my wife pointed out, “it’s hardly a giant one.”

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

The average selling price of a Canadian home has appreciated 264 percent over the last 25 years, according to a new study.

That amounts to an annual increase of 5.3 percent, not bad given the fact that a home is an “investment” which brings the added benefit of shelter to owners. Of course, value gains on principal residences in Canada are tax-exempt making a home that much more attractive as an investment.

The study, just released by Remax Real Estate examined increases in the average selling price of a home in 17 housing markets across Canada, including Saskatoon.

Lately, it seems that everyone is talking about the heat of the Saskatoon real estate market so you may be surprised to see that Saskatoon showed the second smallest increase (148%) of all of the markets surveyed. This doesn’t strike me as a huge surprise. Over the long-term, Saskatoon has pretty much always shown slower growth than most other Canadian markets. Typically, we’re accustomed to gains in the range of 3 to 4 percent but that trend has started to change in recent years. In 2005, prices increased by nine percent. In 2006, the average price of a Saskatoon home rose 11%. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, our current levels of low inventory and high demand could, and probably will bring increases which exceed those in 2007.

So what’s changing in this area? First of all, our whole provincial economy looks entirely different than it did 10 years ago when Saskatchewan was largely dependent on agriculture.

Today, we are quickly becoming a leader in natural resources with heavier production in oil and uranium. Some believe that diamonds will be the next big thing for Saskatchewan if Shore Gold continues to pull stones as they have been lately. Science has also played a pretty significant role in the Saskatchewan economy over the past five years.15 years ago, our children had to leave Saskatchewan to find work. Today, a multitude of jobs and affordable housing is luring them back home.

My money says that we’ll see Saskatoon playing catch up with the rest of the country over the next few years.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. 

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

Sharon, a real estate investor from Calgary, Alberta occasionally visits my blog.

If I recall correctly, she contacted me after she read one of my little rants about poor quality images in real estate listings. From time to time, she forwards copies of listed properties which strike her as ridiculous in some way. She has no shortage of material to choose from so she uses her discretion in sending me those which are the most fun.

Her latest email was this listing (no longer available), marketed by a Calgary agent who indicates on the listing that it is a “No Animal Home.” This image of the kitchen appears to show two food dishes on the floor in front of the kitchen cabinets. I’m thinking that these people either have a pet or some pretty nasty eating habits.

Sharon asks, “What are they thinking!?”

Sharon, I think it’s safe to say that someone is not thinking very much. 

In spite of the fact that the average selling price of a Saskatoon home has risen over 50 percent in the past five years, Saskatoon remains one of the most affordable housing markets in the world, according to a recent study conducted by Pavletich Properties Ltd. and published in the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey for 2007.

The survey measures median incomes for each market and compares them against housing prices to arrive at “median multiple.”The survey considers a home “affordable” if it costs less than three times a household’s gross income.

Saskatoon tied for 15^th place with six American markets including Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Syracuse, New York.

Topping the list of the “world’s most affordable” was Regina, our neighbour to the south which was tied for first place with Fort Wayne, Indiana. Quebec City and Winnipeg were the only other Canadian cities that were marginally more affordable than Saskatoon. Ottawa, Oshua, and London also made the list of “affordable” places to buy a home, but just barely. Houses in Ottawa are 2.9 times the median income for the area while Oshua and London command prices which are 3 times the median income.

Houses in Montreal, St. Catherines, Edmonton and Halifax make the “moderately unaffordable” list.

Toronto and Calgary were classified as “seriously unaffordable.”

Vancouver and Victoria were rated as “severely unaffordable.” Vancouver came in as 13th in the world for “most unaffordable.” Expect to pay 7.7 times the median income in the area for a typical house.

According to the survey, Los Angeles-Orange County, California is the world’s most expensive market. Typical houses cost 11.1 times the median income for the area.

Read the whole survey here.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. 

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

I was checking out the Forbes list of the most expensive residential real estate in the U.S. this morning. I’m not really shopping for a new home but it’s sometimes fun just to see how the other .00001% of the population lives.

Currently, the most expensive home in the United States (listed since the Forbes list was released) is available for a whopping $135,000,000.My mortgage calculator doesn’t accept prices over $100,000,000 so I had to figure this one by hand, so please, don’t quote me on this. The last thing I need is to be chipping in for the monthly payments on your new estate. With only $33,750,000 down and monthly payments of $587,250 per month (not including taxes) this one could be yours.

Hala Ranch is a 95-acre estate tucked in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado. Owned by Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., it boasts a 56,000 square foot mansion with 15 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms. It’s listed with Joshua Saslove at Joshua & Co.

Just a touch out of your price range? Hey, I understand. Perhaps this property (no longer available) located in Palm Beach Florida and owned by Donald Trump fits the budget a little better. This lovely home offers a ballroom, conservatory, a 100-foot swimming pool and 475 of Florida oceanfront. It’s a steal at only $125,000,000. The property is listed with Dolly Lenz and Geoff Thomas at Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Dolly Lenz is reportedly the number 1 REALTOR® in North America. Her dollar volume of listed properties far exceeds what I’ll sell in a lifetime, perhaps two lifetimes.I’m sure she doesn’t need any advice from me.I’ve been on a bit of a rant lately about the value of decent photographs both in quantity and quality so I couldn’t help but notice what a poor presentation the Trump property gets online. I mean, two photos and practically no information whatsoever.

If I were “the Donald,” I think I’d be saying, “you’re fired!”

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. 

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

We’ve known for a number of years that many buyers are going for larger homes, so perhaps these top trends shouldn’t come as any real surprise.

CNN credits Mark Nash, author of Real Estate A-Z for Buying and Selling a Home who gathered this information in a recent survey that involved 923 real estate brokers, agents, and industry experts who were interviewed.

Here’s what Mr. Nash sees coming:

• Upscale garages – “Today’s owners want their garages decked out with cabinet and storage systems, matching refrigerators, air conditioning and residential looking flooring.”
• Personal Space – Nash calls it “caving” but the bottom line is personal space where people can find a little privacy to work or relax.
• Rejuvenation rooms – Spaces set up for exercise, meditation, yoga, saunas and steam showers.
• Heated patios – Expanding your living space to outdoor areas makes sense and there’s nothing like an outdoor fireplace or a natural gas heater to add a few weeks to both ends of the season.
• Snoring rooms – A “snoring room” is simply an additional bedroom off of the master bedroom.

My wife asked me what a snoring room is and I described at as a comfortable room which she could use to escape my snoring. She said she thought it is more likely to become a comfortable room that I could use to escape her elbows.

Topping the list of features that we can expect to see less of? Spiral staircases, bamboo, and laminate flooring.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. 

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

I heard a story today that left me so incensed, that I couldn’t resist repeating it.

Some time ago, a local church built “a 15 story high-rise building offering enriched housing for seniors.”Apparently, the building is managed by “a voluntary board (hereinafter referred to as the board) independent of the church.The building contains 109 suites, 36 are subsidized rental units and the remaining 73 are “life interest lease suites.”For those unfamiliar with the life lease concept, a buyer buys the right to use the unit for their lifetime. When they are finished with the home, it’s sold back to the original owner, usually a non-profit organization, and the price is determined based on terms outlined in the lease document.

Here’s the story as it’s told to me by the daughter of a senior couple (hereinafter referred to as John and Mary) who purchased a life lease in the building. I have not seen the documents involved in this transaction.

It seems that in 1989, John and Mary had reached their senior years and decided that they were ready for condo living. They purchased a life lease for $83,000 and happily settled in. At the time of the purchase, their lawyer expressed some concern regarding the ambiguity of the resale clause which stated that John and Mary were obliged to sell their interest back to the board when they were ready to sell at a price “hereon depending upon the conditions prevailing” at the time of the sale. Apparently, the documents do not indicate what “conditions” the price is dependent on. I expect most would agree that “real estate market conditions” would be the obvious inference. Comfortable that they were dealing with the church, John and Mary felt good about moving forward. They did.

In 1998, John passed away and Mary became a widow at 78 years of age. Sometime in early 1999, Mary gets a call from the board. As she tells the story, she’s allegedly told that her documents have to be updated to remove John’s name from the life lease. Mary is all too happy to oblige and signs the documents placed before her with the understanding that the only alterations to her original agreement are the names.

Mary’s most recent statement from the board is dated January 2005 and it shows the “current market value” of her unit being $100,300. Between 1989 and 2005, the average selling price of an east-side condominium has increased by 62%. For some reason, Mary’s unit has only increased by 20%. Further, it seems that some provision in her contract entitles the board to 50% of her equity gain. If true, this reduces her total return to just 10%.

Mary’s daughter is not pleased. She’s particularly troubled by the claim of entitlement to half of Mom’s equity, so she starts digging for paperwork. Low and behold she comes across the original purchase agreement and the updated agreement which was executed in 1999. She’s unable to find any clause which specifically addresses a sharing of the equity, but she notices that the first and second agreements are not the same. Where the initial agreement stated that the selling price was “hereon depending upon the conditions prevailing,” the second agreement has additional wording which states the price is to be determined at the “sole discretion” of the board.

It seems that the board has also contracted themselves with an “irrevocable assignment” to act as her attorney to deal with and make all decisions related to the disposition of the property.

Of course, I’m not a lawyer so I suggested that Mary’s daughter might want to meet with one real soon.

I'm always happy to answer your real estate questions.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

The Paradox of Price: When the 'price is right' buyers get involved quickly and sellers gain a competitive advantage. Use the paradox of price to your benefit. If you have the will to set a compelling price, the reaction of the marketplace will benefit you.

These wise words come from Toronto’s Real Estate Intelligence in an excellent post titled, The Price is Righteous. Check it out here (no longer available)  for some smart insight into pricing your home properly.

Even in a hot real estate market like Saskatoon is experiencing proper pricing is an important element to obtaining top-dollar offers early on in the listing period. Homes which remain on the market longer than the average selling time are viewed suspiciously by buyers and agents, who usually conclude that the property is overpriced, or has some other problem which is preventing it from selling. Of course, if prices are rising or falling at a rapid pace, price trends need to be given serious consideration as you review comparable sales and competitive listings.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. 

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

I suspect by now you’ve heard that people are returning to Saskatchewan in a fairly big way. Stats Canada recently reported that some 3,700 families moved to Saskatchewan from Alberta between July and September of last year. The most recent labour figures tell a bigger story. There were 9,800 more people employed in the city of Saskatoon in November 2006 as compared to the previous year.

While we’ve assisted families from pretty much every province with a move there’s no question that the majority of those who are returning to Saskatoon are coming from Alberta. Escalating housing costs, quality of life and increasing crime rates seem to be the primary motivators that are causing them to feel homesick.

Lori Coolican writes an interesting story in today’s Star Phoenix and speaks with a number of families who’ve decided to make Saskatoon their home base again.

Read Running Back to Saskatoon here (no longer available)

Expect to see continued pressure on housing inventory levels and prices in the Saskatoon real estate market.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. 

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra