Click the link below to download the map!
http://ymmlights.com
Updated as of Dec 4th, 2020
10-29-2020
Want to know where all the spooky Halloween Houses are in Fort McMurray?
This Halloween is going to be different. What I want to encourage you to do, is to do you. If that means you take your kids out trick or treating or do you want to check out ghosts and ghouls handing out in Fort McMurray homes.
One of the things I love about Fort McMurray is the holiday spirit. This year seems like it's bigger and better than ever.
What's your favourite part of Halloween? The candy, scary movies, the costumes, or watching the kids dress up?
If you want to experience Halloween, you have options and the residents of Fort McMurray have come to the call!
We have put together a fun map of the many amazing homes throughout Fort McMurray that have decorated their homes for Halloween! So grab the kids, stock the car with some treats and head out on!
Be sure to share this post with your friends!
06-26-2020
Let’s Talk Repos In Fort McMurray:
As Inventory Decreases What Will You See in the Market
Buying a home will be one of the biggest investments you will make in your lifetime. As much as we like to predict and plan our lives sometimes situations present themselves which can offer new challenges. Loss of income, loss of work, loss of a loved one; these can all throw you a curveball when it comes to monthly bills and payments. Sometimes even with the best of plans, we can find ourselves struggling to make ends meet. As quickly as we find ourselves a homeowner we can also see banks and collectors start knocking on our front door.
2020 has brought about more changes than we could ever imagine. It will be interesting to watch what will happen with the housing market in Fort McMurray over the next few months. March 15, 2020 the court of Alberta shut down because of COVID-19. Around the same time, the big banks started offering 3-6 months of payment relief as many people have been impacted by what was happening in the world. This was in response to a major loss of employment, reduced hours, or adjustment in business services. For some, this will be an opportunity to catch up on arrears and for others, it will just delay the inevitable foreclosure and for others, it will give them the opportunity to prevent them from losing their home. How people respond to these supports provided by the banks and the government will impact the outcome of the overall repo market.
Currently, the bank repo inventory is being absorbed which is approximately 10% of the market. Courts will be operating by teleconference from May 25th to July 2nd, 2020. Properties that were in the pipeline to proceed to court will start to hit the market at the end of June and into July.
Once that is caught up, there will be several months of limited foreclosure listings. Why? Because many Albertans took advantage of delaying their mortgage for 3 to 6 months. Let’s do the math. If a mortgage was put on hold in March, that gives a homeowner until September for a reprieve. Depending on the situation, it could take another 3 months of missed payments for proceedings to begin. Knowing it won’t be until January/February 2021 when the inventory of distressed properties will start to filter the market again. This is all dependent on there not being a second wave of COVID-19, more closures and not knowing what the bank’s response will be if they will continue to extend the non-payments. February into March 2021 we could easily see another wave of bank repossessions hit the market. The good news is for sellers to be able to take advantage of this in early fall market, little distress property competition.
Currently we are seeing a lot of foreclosures getting multiple offers (some going for over the asking price) on them and properties are moving quickly. If you are looking, now would be the time to take action.
If you have questions or want to know more information about the repo market in Fort McMurray give me a call. The more information you have the better you will be as a current homeowner or a future homeowner. If you want to know the value of your home. I am happy to do a free market evaluation for you.
06-04-2020
Change is good right?! Well, sometimes it comes with hurdles and adjustments. That is the case with the MLS amalgamation into Pillar 9. It’s a cooperative amalgamation of 9 Real Estate Boards in Alberta. As you can imagine there is an incredible amount of data to transfer over and with any change, it comes with new challenges and everyone is quickly learning to adjust and learn.
Firstly. I want to apologize to buyers and sellers for hiccups we have been experiencing with the change. We know they are working to effectively and efficiently make the improvements and upgrades to the system. We do expect some things will be an improvement as we have one system of listing properties in the province of Alberta. There will be a learning curve to agents, administrators and local board offices as the changes are implemented.
Buyer searches are being updated and may take a few days to be fully corrected. Please message me or your local agent to make sure you are getting the most up to date information.
Sellers, we ask for your patience as several fields must be updated with the transfer of information. My team is currently on top of this. I do believe there will be more information available for buyers (which is a good thing.) It may take a few weeks to clear out all of the bugs in the system.
One of the major changes now for sellers with this new amalgamation is choosing whether or not they want a property to be disclosed as pending (meaning it has a conditional offer). If a seller chooses to have the property show as pending, it will stop being marketed on the MLS. A seller may choose that option if they want to slow down showings and give the current buyer an opportunity to firm up a deal.
If the sellers choose NOT to have the property listed as pending, these are their options for disclosure of an offer to purchase and paperwork would need to be signed accordingly.
- Put in the Realtor Remarks on the back end of the listing.
- Disclose when asked.
- Disclose when a showing is booked.
- Not disclosed at all.
There are pros and cons to each of these choices. Many still just want their property to continue being marketed on the MLS until the property is sold. Lenders and insurers are being much more cautious with lending with the current economic situation of Alberta. It’s a good thing to keep marketing your listing.
This change will be a good thing. Just a few bumps in the road until it is smoothed out. Thank you for your patience.
