Archive for the ‘Calgary’ Category

10 Reasons why It’s a bad time to Buy in Alberta

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble A lot is happening around us at this time in the financial markets that will probably impact consumer psychology. But here are some 'micro' level reasons why it’s a bad time to buy in Alberta right now: 1. ...

Toxic Alberta

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble There was a very interesting link left on Sheldon's blog - The 14 part documentary (it's not too long though, each part is 2 to 5 minutes long) on Alberta oil sands and the social and environmental impact it is causing in the Fort McMurray region. Although a lot ...

On Realtors

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble Realtors are commissioned sales people who make their living by selling their services and ‘advice’ to home buyers and sellers. The higher the price of the goods they sell and the higher the volume, the higher their commission. Is there anything complicated in this that people do not understand? ...

January Numbers and other thoughts

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble We are experiencing the best of the times in this province. Looking around, there are signs of prosperity. Everybody is happily employed or has the best shot they ever had at getting some jobs. Some people have high paying jobs. Lending is still pretty lax and people are still ...

Guest Post- Why I am bullish on Alberta real estate!

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble As mentioned in my last post, any bull or bear who is interested in making a guest post to this blog is more than welcome. Of course, your identity will be kept anonymous if you wish to do so. This post was contributed by a poster who particpates on ...

Weekend Open Thread

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble Please post links, comments and other relevant thoughts. Some contributions from my side:The blog is almost one year old now. Thanks for your support and valuable comments. Hopefully we have saved at least a few people from seeking advice from the new 'Aunt Abby' about 'approaches to deal ...

Where do we go from here?

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble Last year housing prices kept on marching upwards despite rising inventory. The trend continued until the middle of summer when prices stopped climbing- the basic supply and demand variables starting to take their toll. Are we seeing a repetition of this pattern? Perhaps we are. Despite sharply ...

Wow! Prices are rising and it’s time to buy again…

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble ...if we go by the conclusions of the usual suspects. Btw, Bob you are doing a great job in providing the numbers and it's all much appreciated, even though we may not agree with your conclusions!Bob writes a list of reasons why the prices are going up- Here's a ...

Intuit moving its head office

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble First it was Dell, then TD and now it is Intuit. The crown jewel of software development in Edmonton- Intuit Canada-is shifting its head office to Toronto. No prizes for guessing the reason-it’s too hard to find talent here and too hard to sell Edmonton to ...

Bitter Renters etc

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble I was traveling all over North America during the last couple of weeks. Too much stuff going on and too many observations. I will try to post some of these in the coming weeks. But for now, the new ‘blog on the block’ caught my attention. The vehement bitterness ...

Inflation or Deflation

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble The steep fall in commodity prices in last few days, especially for gold and oil was not entirely expected. At least by the inflationists. Is it possible that this is the beginning of the unwinding of the ‘great commodity bubble?’ The simple scenario could play out this way- ...

Weekend Open Thread

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble It isn't Friday yet but we are crazy busy getting ready for our move. I've been meaning to do some posts but didn't have the time. Here's a compressed version of some items of interest that would normally require a full individual post of their own. - Very early ...

Fantastic Hopes

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble Spring is here, at least in the real estate context. But the spring hasn’t quite sprung sales wise. Inventory continues to pile up and the pace of new construction is still frantic. The bulls claim that everything is perfectly fine except for a little ‘inventory problem.’ If only we ...

Is housing influenza infecting Calgary?

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble No, no and No, as per this Calgary Herald article. Of course, MSM is losing its relevance with every passing day and such senseless rehashing of REIC perspective will only hasten their demise.“I don't see a lot of price decline on a year-over-year basis in Calgary. I think we're ...

Okay, the market kind of sucks, but how about some spin!

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble If you enjoy the headlines at the realtor sites, you'll probably not like the one I've used.But I guess when your bread and butter depends on making an earnings by selling homes, you've got to master the art of seeing the positive in the sea of negative news.So what ...

Back to Fundamentals

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Bubble I've been silently watching the "blog drama" that has been going on for the last few days. I really have nothing to say on it, except that everyone should be polite and when not in agreement, respectfully disagreeable.Also, there were some false 'spam flags' on this blog causing it ...

Quote of the Day

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch ...It also says, "it has become a buyer's market." We've known that for eight months. It just emphasizes how long it takes to reverse people's attitudes. Bob Truman, April 2 2008However from Bob's What's New page there was no talk of a buyer's market. ...

Compare the words with the numbers

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch The Following are some recent statements from the REALTORs association of Edmonton regarding inventory and sales compared to the numbers provided in their press releases.The current inventory of residential properties is now 7,094 homes. The inventory will decrease ...

Always Be Closing

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch Back in February there was a blog post on WorkingTogether offering "ridiculous discounts" on apartments in Millwoods (Edmonton). Step 1: Create the appearance of a discount by comparing sales prices to some higher prices. The 1 bedrooms normally range in price from $179,900 to $190,900. The ...

Chicken Little

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Alberta Real Estate Watch Back in August 2005 now discredited David Lereah gave a presentation of the US housing boom. There is a slide refering to economists predicting a downturn as 'chicken littles'. NAR Power point presentationSky is falling slideThe Calgary Herald just released an article titled Sky isn't falling ...