Selena 2018 Autumn Newsletter

Mid Autumn Festival

Did you know this year Sept 24th evening has the brightest moon for the year? Also known as a Harvest moon, the Chinese called that day “Mid Autumn Festival. This festival is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with full moon at night. The festival has been celebrated since the early Tang dynasty (618–907, or well over a thousand years.) One of the most common ways to celebrate is by eating mooncakes. Even our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, made a video to wish everyone Happy Mid Autumn Festival. It is great way to celebrate the harvest for the year and is leading up to Thanksgiving.

Legal Basement Suites

City of Edmonton have made some major changes to their By-Laws regarding secondary suites. They now allow duplexes and attached housing as well as smaller lot sized single family to have legal basement suites. This is great idea to legalize your basement suites, and add values to the smart home owners. One reason many home owners never made their suites legal is because the City request to have 2 separate heating sources. Providing you have the room, if you have to install 2 furnaces and separate the ducting, the cost could be $10,000 to $20,000 for each basement suite. This is assume you have enough room to add the furnace, otherwise you have to remove the existing hot water tank, and add on tankless water on demand… which means another add on cost. An alternative way to is to do electric baseboard heating. Saves space and cheaper to install but electricity will be more expensive than gas in the long run. It is up to our smart homeowners to find out which way makes the most sense. Along with these changes, the City has also made available online, a map of all houses with approved secondary suites. It is supposed to help renters find out if the place they are staying is legit, up to code and has all the right permits. You can check it out yourself here.

Market Update

Depending on which side you are on, our market can be either good or bad. If you are selling, just know that this year we have more listings then ever before (presently 12,000) so that means some pretty stiff competition and you will have to be priced right to begin with otherwise listings stay on the market longer than usual and often have to reduce price much lower than if they had started at the right price. Now if you are buying, the market is great. You have more homes to choose from (12,000 listings) so finding the right home is easier but on top of that, you can negotiate awesome deals as sellers want to sell. Buyers are still buying. August saw the same number of sales for the last 3 years in a row. If you are in the market to buy, either right now or next few months, make sure you are pre-approved by a good mortgage broker. Interest rates may be increasing in October so it is good to lock in your lower rate now.

Latest Sales Data

Every Month the Edmonton Real Estate Board gathers the latest sales figures sorted by property type, price ranges, listed and Sold. Click the above link to download a copy from our website.

Housing Trends

Its one thing to download the latest sales figures from Edmonton Real Estate Board and its another to actually understand what all the numbers mean. Click the above link link for a summary from the President of the Edmonton Realtors® Association, or reply to this email and we will be happy to discuss it with you or provide sales figures for different months.

Check In

You are three quarters way through the year and it is time to review your success and achievement for the last 9 months. Are you on track to achieving all your goals you set at the beginning of the year? If you have already achieved them all then you may consider to set more challenging goals to stretch yourself next time. Remember, its goal setting, not a to-do list, so its ok if you don’t achieve everything you set out for this year but take this time to adjust your action plan and setup realistic goals for the last 3 month, and make it achievable.

Disclaimer: Not intended to solicit buyers or properties under contract.
This article contains the opinions of Andrew Barrett and Selena Cheung. Licensed Realtors® with COLDWELL BANKER Venture Realty.
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