http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/royalty-review-alberta-real-estate-now-what.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/royalty-review-alberta-real-estate-now-what.html Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
The world is coming to an end! Real estate prices have already dropped $45,000 in Calgary in the last two months and the new royalties will cripple the Alberta economy due to massive project cancellations…. These were some of the headlines you could read in the media in the past weeks. But what is really going on and how is this really going to affect all of us, especially our real estate values in Alberta? A lot of self declared experts are comparing this new royalty hike to the 80’s NEP (National Energy Program) when Alberta’s economy turned into the “Great Depression” and real estate was being bought and sold for $1.

Let’s dig in and get right to the bottom of everything. The number one job of any media is to make a profit by selling lots of headlines. Just to show a few examples, we don’t have to go back in time too far. Does anyone even remember the predictions of Alberta’s housing market to crash because of KYOTO in 2001…? I don’t think so. How about the devastating rent controls that are going to kill our real estate market? It’s really sad how many topics are twisted out of proportion, creating hysteria among investors who don’t look at the global and national economics.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you look at any news scare. Real estate prices have and will be increasing in the future for a simple reason. SUPPLY & DEMAND! The day when I am writing this article oil prices are sitting at $90 which is considered to be quite cheap according to many economists. Obviously Alberta has the second largest oil reserve in the world that creates a lot of excitement among oil companies especially when other sources become unstable due to political reasons and when global demand is growing twice as fast as supplies can keep up.

How does all this tie into real estate? The headlines what newspapers are trying to sell suggest that if massive lay offs begin in the oil industry, everyone will want to sell their home causing real estate prices to drop. This makes sense in theory but why would the oil companies want to cancel all these projects if they know that the oil prices have only one way to go which is up. Oh yes, they are threatening to invest their billions somewhere else. Well the last time I’ve checked the Middle East or Venezuela wasn’t among the most secured investment places on my map. So where are they going to go? Maybe Saskatchewan? Supposedly if you do the math with the new royalties in the equation it’s still cheaper for the oil companies to stay in Alberta than to go somewhere else.

Another fact that I managed to filter out from the noise is EnCana’s threats to cancel major projects in Alberta and invest it somewhere else. If those threats are for real then why are they spending 1 billion dollars on a new sky scraper in down town Calgary?

Just recently, EnCana has announced to sell off the majority of their international assets so they can focus solely on the North American market. Knowing that the majority of those investments have to be in Alberta (due to the lack of availability elsewhere on the continent), you’d have to wonder where they would go.

What is really going on? I believe this royalty hike has been needed a lot more than you might actually think of it. Not only because I think that the Stelmach government is greedy but mainly due to the fact that our economy is so much out of control that the Bank of Canada couldn’t do anything anymore about controlling the western inflation. Unfortunately Canada’s economy is split into two halves now. In Ontario, the country’s manufacturing heartland, the industry is already in a “dollar-induced” recession. In Alberta we are seeing inflation at unprecedented levels and it rapidly drives up the cost of everything. The only remedy to slow the inflation down is to increase interest rates or to redesign provincial policies such as royalty hikes. Unfortunately if David Dodge were to substantially increase the interest rate on a national level it could do serious damage the eastern provinces’ economy.

The only way for Dodge to help the overall Canadian economy and save jobs is to drive the dollar down by cutting interest rates. If the high dollar isn’t enough to hurt Canadian manufacturers, they also have to cope with a slowdown in the U.S., Canada’s primary export partner.

Mr. Stelmach has not only done Alberta a favor but he has also helped out Mr. Dodge by not having to increase interest rates across the board. Unfortunately some jobs will be lost but it won’t be anywhere as devastating as some make it sound. The drilling industry that might be makings some noise about job josses were already going to decrease production anyways. So I guess the timing couldn’t be any better for them to find a scapegoat.

Real estate prices will definitely soften up a little, but not because of the royalty review. I rather suggest that prices are softer today due to the increased supply of inventory caused by many speculators. Real estate is a long term investment vehicle, however not everyone thinks like it. 37% of today’s listings are either vacant or occupied by a tenant amongst Calgary Real Estate Board’s listings. If you eliminate the speculators and the over priced listings we are actually looking at a pretty balanced marked for this time of the year. Those of you who are seriously considering investing in real estate and believe in long term investments this is a prime opportunity to increase your real estate portfolio. I can’t remember the last time I have seen offers being accepted $30,000 to $40,000 below the asking price. Calgary’s real estate market isn’t finished yet, it’s just beginning its real journey!

Don’t forget. There will be lots of noise, lots of newspapers sold, lots of fear and greed in the real estate market. At the end of the day, a year from now the scary headlines will be long forgotten, just like before…

Posted by www.JoeSamson.com

--
Joe Samson is an Alberta based real estate professional and licensed member of the Real Estate Council of Alberta - Proudly representing MaxWell Canyon Creek Realty. Joe began building his personal real estate career in 2000 and hasn’t looked back since. Using unique real estate strategies he managed to help countless clients of his to become on route to be financially independent and happy home owners.

At that time, Joe worked as a Project Manager for a major International gas compression manufacturer. After regular business hours Joe managed to dedicate a large amount of his time to his passion - Real Estate. Joe spent countless hours educating himself of "how to buy, where to buy and what to buy" while minimizing risks and maximizing returns. Then he took that knowledge and began working with clients who were interested in purchasing revenue-producing real estate using his own unique strategies. Over the years, Joe has dramatically increased his personal net worth, along with that of many of his clients.


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/initial-steps-for-first-time-home-buyers.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/initial-steps-for-first-time-home-buyers.html Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500 Get pre-approved for a mortgage - In the beginning of our career, most of us will require financial assistance from a bank or a financial institution to help us with the purchase of our new home. The very first step you should take is to get in touch with a Mortgage Broker to find out how much you can afford and what amount of monthly payments will you be comfortable with. Keep in mind that there are many other miscellaneous expenses to consider along with a home purchase. Some of these include: legal fees, insurance, property taxes, condominium fees, inspection fees, utilities, etc.
Choose your REALTOR® carefully - The real estate agent you choose will play a major role in the home shopping process. Not only should you choose an agent that is reputable in the market, you should also make sure that you feel comfortable communicating with the agent. It is helpful to work with a REALTOR® that has experienced working with first time home buyers. Once you have selected a REALTOR®, be honest about your financial situation and carefully discuss the features your new home must possess. Most importantly, remain loyal to the REALTOR® you've chosen to work with, he will be able to save you a great deal of time and money.
Start the search - Naturally, you will want to get the most for your investment. Before you start thinking about the features of a house, you should do a preliminary search in the area that you want to live in. Selecting the location first will have the most impact on the type of home you are able to afford. Once you have a general idea of prices in the area, and then start focusing on styles, layout, lot orientation, etc. Many first time home buyers have difficulty making a decision about a home to purchase. After several days of home searching you may find yourself with several houses to choose from. You should narrow down your selection of houses as you go. As a matter of fact, it is a good idea to only have three houses in mind at any given time. Weeding out the houses will make the final decision much easier.
What to buy - A typical decision process involves weighting the pros and cons of the choices available to us. A common question that I am frequently asked is, should I buy new or resale? It’s a great feeling to have a piece of mind about not having to repair things in the house. However, I truly believe that by the time you add up the cost of building the fence, deck and landscaping, you will be digging deep into your pocket. Some people might argue that new houses are cheaper than resale houses. We need to make sure that we compare apples to apples. For example, you cannot compare a 50 year old house to a brand new one, not only due to its condition but the land it’s sitting on will have a different value for sure. If a house was built 50 years ago chances are good that it’s located closer to the city core compare to the new construction which typically takes place in the suburbs.
Find a great lawyer - This step is equally as important as having an outstanding REALTOR®. Your real estate lawyer will make sure that everything will be seamless at the time when the property transfers from the seller to the buyer. The lawyer will make sure that you are getting what you have agreed to. He will check for any claims against the property, calculate adjustment costs, and register the new title and mortgage for you. To look after these steps is so critical that if it’s not done properly if could put a dent into your financial future for the rest of your life and possibly to your children’s life.
Being a first time home buyer can be a rewarding process, especially if you have the knowledge you need to make an informed decision. The next step will be to buy an investment property. There's no better way to create wealth and produce positive income. Did you know that if you have a strategy of buying a home every two years and moving into the new home that you could have a mortgage free home in less than ten years?

Posted by www.JoeSamson.com

--
Joe Samson is an Alberta based real estate professional and licensed member of the Real Estate Council of Alberta - Proudly representing MaxWell Canyon Creek Realty. Joe began building his personal real estate career in 2000 and hasn’t looked back since. Using unique real estate strategies he managed to help countless clients of his to become on route to be financially independent and happy home owners.

At that time, Joe worked as a Project Manager for a major International gas compression manufacturer. After regular business hours Joe managed to dedicate a large amount of his time to his passion - Real Estate. Joe spent countless hours educating himself of "how to buy, where to buy and what to buy" while minimizing risks and maximizing returns. Then he took that knowledge and began working with clients who were interested in purchasing revenue-producing real estate using his own unique strategies. Over the years, Joe has dramatically increased his personal net worth, along with that of many of his clients.

And now, with his real estate knowledge and experience backing him, Joe has left his safe/secure job to dedicate his time to growing his Real Estate experience and helping others become financially independent by sharing with them his "real life" Real Estate strategies.

The foundation of his business really is "You Can Have Anything In Your Life... Just Help Enough Other People Get What They Want." And due to this commitment, virtually all of Joe’s business comes from repeat or referral clients.

To better support his clients, Joe constantly shares his knowledge with others to assist and guide them in their Real Estate & Wealth Creation.

Joe Samson’s background, experience, energy, ability and honest hard work will be key factors in building your wealth, investment confidence and eventually your financial independence!



Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/best-times-to-buy-and-sell-real-estate.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/best-times-to-buy-and-sell-real-estate.html Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
The world is coming to an end! Real estateprices have already dropped $45,000 in Calgary real estate in the last two months and the new royalties will cripple the Alberta economy due to massive project cancellations…. These were some of the headlines you could read in the media in the past weeks. But what is really going on and how is this really going to affect all of us, especially our real estate values in Alberta? A lot of self declared experts are comparing this new royalty hike to the 80’s NEP (National Energy Program) when Alberta’s economy turned into the “Great Depression” and real estate was being bought and sold for $1.

Let’s dig in and get right to the bottom of everything. The number one job of any media is to make a profit by selling lots of headlines. Just to show a few examples, we don’t have to go back in time too far. Does anyone even remember the predictions of Alberta’s housing market to crash because of KYOTO in 2001…? I don’t think so. How about the devastating rent controls that are going to kill our real estate market? It’s really sad how many topics are twisted out of proportion, creating hysteria among investors who don’t look at the global and national economics.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you look at any news scare. Real estate prices have and will be increasing in the future for a simple reason. SUPPLY & DEMAND! The day when I am writing this article oil prices are sitting at $90 which is considered to be quite cheap according to many economists. Obviously Alberta has the second largest oil reserve in the world that creates a lot of excitement among oil companies especially when other sources become unstable due to political reasons and when global demand is growing twice as fast as supplies can keep up.

How does all this tie into real estate? The headlines what newspapers are trying to sell suggest that if massive lay offs begin in the oil industry, everyone will want to sell their home causing real estate prices to drop. This makes sense in theory but why would the oil companies want to cancel all these projects if they know that the oil prices have only one way to go which is up. Oh yes, they are threatening to invest their billions somewhere else. Well the last time I’ve checked the Middle East or Venezuela wasn’t among the most secured investment places on my map. So where are they going to go? Maybe Saskatchewan? Supposedly if you do the math with the new royalties in the equation it’s still cheaper for the oil companies to stay in Alberta than to go somewhere else.

Another fact that I managed to filter out from the noise is EnCana’s threats to cancel major projects in Alberta and invest it somewhere else. If those threats are for real then why are they spending 1 billion dollars on a new sky scraper in down town Calgary?

Just recently, EnCana has announced to sell off the majority of their international assets so they can focus solely on the North American market. Knowing that the majority of those investments have to be in Alberta (due to the lack of availability elsewhere on the continent), you’d have to wonder where they would go.

What is really going on? I believe this royalty hike has been needed a lot more than you might actually think of it. Not only because I think that the Stelmach government is greedy but mainly due to the fact that our economy is so much out of control that the Bank of Canada couldn’t do anything anymore about controlling the western inflation. Unfortunately Canada’s economy is split into two halves now. In Ontario, the country’s manufacturing heartland, the industry is already in a “dollar-induced” recession. In Alberta we are seeing inflation at unprecedented levels and it rapidly drives up the cost of everything. The only remedy to slow the inflation down is to increase interest rates or to redesign provincial policies such as royalty hikes. Unfortunately if David Dodge were to substantially increase the interest rate on a national level it could do serious damage the eastern provinces’ economy.

The only way for Dodge to help the overall Canadian economy and save jobs is to drive the dollar down by cutting interest rates. If the high dollar isn’t enough to hurt Canadian manufacturers, they also have to cope with a slowdown in the U.S., Canada’s primary export partner.

Mr. Stelmach has not only done Alberta a favor but he has also helped out Mr. Dodge by not having to increase interest rates across the board. Unfortunately some jobs will be lost but it won’t be anywhere as devastating as some make it sound. The drilling industry that might be makings some noise about job josses were already going to decrease production anyways. So I guess the timing couldn’t be any better for them to find a scapegoat.

Real estate prices will definitely soften up a little, but not because of the royalty review. I rather suggest that prices are softer today due to the increased supply of inventory caused by many speculators. Real estate is a long term investment vehicle, however not everyone thinks like it. 37% of today’s listings are either vacant or occupied by a tenant amongst Calgary Real Estate Board’s listings. If you eliminate the speculators and the over priced listings we are actually looking at a pretty balanced marked for this time of the year. Those of you who are seriously considering investing in real estate and believe in long term investments this is a prime opportunity to increase your real estate portfolio. I can’t remember the last time I have seen offers being accepted $30,000 to $40,000 below the asking price. Calgary real estate market isn’t finished yet, it’s just beginning its real journey!

Don’t forget. There will be lots of noise, lots of newspapers sold, lots of fear and greed in the real estate market. At the end of the day, a year from now the scary headlines will be long forgotten, just like before…

Posted by Calgary Realtor-Joe Samson

--
Joe Samson is an Alberta based real estate professional and licensed member of the Real Estate Council of Alberta - Proudly representing MaxWell Canyon Creek Realty. Joe began building his personal real estate career in 2000 and hasn’t looked back since. Using unique real estate strategies he managed to help countless clients of his to become on route to be financially independent and happy home owners.

At that time, Joe worked as a Project Manager for a major International gas compression manufacturer. After regular business hours Joe managed to dedicate a large amount of his time to his passion - Real Estate. Joe spent countless hours educating himself of "how to buy, where to buy and what to buy" while minimizing risks and maximizing returns. Then he took that knowledge and began working with clients who were interested in purchasing revenue-producing real estate using his own unique strategies. Over the years, Joe has dramatically increased his personal net worth, along with that of many of his clients.

And now, with his real estate knowledge and experience backing him, Joe has left his safe/secure job to dedicate his time to growing his Real Estate experience and helping others become financially independent by sharing with them his "real life" Real Estate strategies.

The foundation of his business really is "You Can Have Anything In Your Life... Just Help Enough Other People Get What They Want." And due to this commitment, virtually all of Joe’s business comes from repeat or referral clients.

To better support his clients, Joe constantly shares his knowledge with others to assist and guide them in their Real Estate & Wealth Creation.

Joe Samson’s background, experience, energy, ability and honest hard work will be key factors in building your wealth, investment confidence and eventually your financial independence!



Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/finding-an-outstanding-realtor%AE.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/finding-an-outstanding-realtor%AE.html Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0500
Your home is probably your most valuable asset that you will ever have to decide who will earn the right to represent the sale or the purchase of your property. It could be an overwhelming experience to decide who is the most deserving to earn your trust out of the 5,465 licensed REALTORS® in Calgary. Just because your friends said that he is the best REALTOR® you should make sure to do your own due diligence. After all, your friends aren’t the ones who will be managing your personal finances. An even more important question to ask ourselves is to understand the reasons why we should have a REALTOR® to look after our best interest before we begin the hunt for one.

Have you ever tried to cut your own hair? If you did, I am sure it wasn’t a pretty experience. REALTORS® are trained professionals and are continuously mandated to upgrade their knowledge to help to better serve their clients every day. It’s not only the knowledge that a REALTOR® will bring to the table when working with you, but a REALTOR® can save you considerable amount of time by doing most of the leg-work for you… at no direct cost to you.

In today’s booming market condition it’s not uncommon for sellers to try the For Sale by Owner market before considering hiring a REALTOR®. Chances are good that you will be able to succeed at selling on your own. However statistics show that in most cases sellers ended up selling their properties for much less than what it would have cost them to hire a professional. Weather you are buying or selling a piece of real estate it’s extremely important to have a professionally prepared comparable market analysis done for you to protect your investment. It’s also as important to complete the paper work properly. Once the ink dries on the paper it’s hard to make changes to it and regrets could easily come by.

REALTORS® have access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Having the convenience of being able to tap into the single largest source of homes available on the market is not the only benefit that you will receive. REALTORS® are legally bounded by a strict Code of Ethics and high Standard of Business Practice as well as Agency obligations to represent your best interest. In a nut shell what this means to you is that all the information available on MLS is guaranteed to be accurate by the listing REALTOR® and if there were any defects known about the property or other facts that might affect your decision making process you will find out about it up front.

Regardless if you are buying or selling a property, it could take a bit of time to find a quality REALTOR®. The relationship that you will establish will play a key part in your future investment. It is well worth the effort to work your way through many potentials to find that “Outstanding REALTOR®”, but when you find one, they will be worth their weight in gold.

The most successful way to begin your REALTOR® hunt is to conduct subtle but effective interviews in person. The purpose of your first interview should be to discover each other’s needs, expectations and to discover the future steps to be taken by both of you. Your meeting with the potential REALTOR® should be structured to find out how effective they might be finding properties or selling your existing property. You will need to be able to conclude if the REALTOR® is focused on a potential long term relationship or does he feel ‘desperate’ to sell the next house. If you feel a little bit pressured, you might be tempted to choose to work with someone else because the REALTOR® doesn’t understand the word ‘relationship’. The other side of the coin is you want to find someone who isn’t too set back. You want to make sure that he will be actively doing what you agree upon and that he will have the time and energy to complete your sale or purchase. Working with an aggressive, motivated REALTOR® is good when they are representing you. They will be able to uncover as many opportunities as possible. You want someone who is enthusiastic, along with competence and consideration for a long term relationship.

Timing and creativity seems to be an ongoing issue today. Like most of us, we could have days when everything just seems to be piling up and we find it challenging to follow up on our promises. However, for most of the time, we should be organized and well prepared in advance for those crazy days. Find out ahead of the game what is your REALTOR’S® policy on returning your calls and what kind of systems does he have in place to serve you better.

Education and knowledge with experience will be the key elements of a successful real estate transaction. You should be also asking your REALTOR® if he is taking any advanced training to better serve his clients or what is he doing that is different from the rest of REALTORS®?

The best way for you to prepare for your meeting is to sit down prior to the meeting and write yourself a set of questions that are important to you and discuss them at the time of your interview. More likely a well prepared REALTOR® will do the same thing. The most effective way we can help each other is by communicating openly.

Once you feel confident and comfortable about choosing a REALTOR® to work with you, don’t be afraid to commit to him. At the end of the day a REALTOR® will be spending a considerable amount of time working for you away from his family. In exchange for his time and for his up front miscellaneous costs associated with serving you, it’s only fair to him to be able to get paid for his efforts.

Weather you are considering purchasing your first home or perhaps you have done it many times in the past, you owe it to yourself to further explore the potentials of maximizing the value of your largest investment. The quality of any relationship that you will ever establish will be a direct correlation to the amount of time and energy you invest with that person.

Posted by www.JoeSamson.com

--
Joe Samson is an Alberta based real estate professional and licensed member of the Real Estate Council of Alberta - Proudly representing MaxWell Canyon Creek Realty. Joe began building his personal real estate career in 2000 and hasn’t looked back since. Using unique real estate strategies he managed to help countless clients of his to become on route to be financially independent and happy home owners.

At that time, Joe worked as a Project Manager for a major International gas compression manufacturer. After regular business hours Joe managed to dedicate a large amount of his time to his passion - Real Estate. Joe spent countless hours educating himself of "how to buy, where to buy and what to buy" while minimizing risks and maximizing returns. Then he took that knowledge and began working with clients who were interested in purchasing revenue-producing real estate using his own unique strategies. Over the years, Joe has dramatically increased his personal net worth, along with that of many of his clients.

And now, with his real estate knowledge and experience backing him, Joe has left his safe/secure job to dedicate his time to growing his Real Estate experience and helping others become financially independent by sharing with them his "real life" Real Estate strategies.

The foundation of his business really is "You Can Have Anything In Your Life... Just Help Enough Other People Get What They Want." And due to this commitment, virtually all of Joe’s business comes from repeat or referral clients.

To better support his clients, Joe constantly shares his knowledge with others to assist and guide them in their Real Estate & Wealth Creation.

Joe Samson’s background, experience, energy, ability and honest hard work will be key factors in building your wealth, investment confidence and eventually your financial independence!

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/how-to-beat-multiple-offers.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/how-to-beat-multiple-offers.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0500
If you’ve been shopping for a house in Calgary for the last couple of months, I don’t have to tell you that the market has shifted again and once again it had shifted dramatically in the favor of the sellers. We are seeing strong similarities between today’s market and what we’ve seen in the spring of 2006. Buyers are still outnumbering sellers and prices are continuing to rise due to strong demand. Those of us who have lived in Calgary for a while, hearing about record real estate statistics is a common phenomena. However it‘s very important to pay attention to the numbers because it’s our best indicator of how is the market behaving right now. In a nutshell, March was another busy month, infect the busiest on record at the Calgary Real Estate Board. 3,939 residential homes exchanged hands, a 12.99% increase over a year ago. Something else that is worthwhile to pay attention to is that new listings are up by 32% over the last year. Theoretically by having an increased inventory available for buyers to choose from, it should dampen the escalation of prices and move towards real estate equilibrium. Just by looking at the number of new listings, someone might argue that we have more products on the market and average prices will level off. It’s very important to look at the whole picture vs. just a small piece of a puzzle to get an accurate image of our market place. Higher inventory alone won’t necessary slow down the increase of real estate prices, if you increase the number of buyers as well, demand will remain elevated and prices will continue to rise. However as soon as this equation starts to shift either towards the buyer’s or seller’s side we will be seeing a true shift in our real estate market.

In the first quarter of 2007 we’ve already experienced and average rise of $53,681 or 14.8% increase in values. In March over 26% of the listing were sold above the asking price indicating that you have 1 in 4 chances to stumble across a bidding war.

How do I optimize my chances of winning amongst competing offers? The shut gun approach right? Offer a stupidly high price and no condition attached to the offer. Unfortunately this is how many people would approach it, by not being conscious about the bank not approving the desired mortgage amount and having the buyer to make up the cash difference or risking a major defect in the home which could cost them tens of thousands of dollars to repair. Or…

1) Work with a real estate professional. Following and expert’s advice and guidance of a professional may get you the house you want. Your REALTOR® should be able to prepare a comparable market analysis on the subject property to explore the values of similar homes in the area.

2) Buy first. If you need to sell your existing home, try to negotiate a long closing date to your purchase then you will have sufficient time to sell your existing home. This way your offer won’t need to be conditional to the sale of your home. It’s a risk that you will need to absorb, but in today’s market if you listen to your REALTOR®’s advice, chances are that you won’t have a problem selling at fair market value.

3) Have your cheque book with you. Be prepared to buy on the spot. If you’ve found the home of your dreams, once you’ve done your preliminary due diligence on the property, have a deposit cheque attached to the offer all the time.

4) Try to put down as large of a deposit as possible. A large earnest money deposit makes a real good impression. The deposit is part of your down payment anyway so there is not much difference in putting it down a month or two earlier.

5) Chose a closing date that the seller wants. If the possession date is not so important to you, you can offer the seller a flexible possession date by giving him the option to change the date between a certain time period by giving you 30 day notice of the change request in writing. This could be a real edge to your offer if you are buying from someone who is selling because they are building a new home. Quite often builders are unable to accurately estimate their completion and this strategy could guarantee the seller not having to move twice.

6) Get pre-approved by a lender. This step is very crucial. Before you go shopping, you want to make sure that you’ve got the money to back you up. You can ask your lender to provide you with a written mortgage pre-approval letter which you can also attached to the offer to show the sellers that you are good to go with the financing.

7) No contingencies. If there are going to be competing offers chances are really high that there will be an offer on the table without any conditions attached to it. As I mentioned in the beginning, this involves the largest risk that you will need to mitigate. I personally always recommend having a home inspection. If you have a friend in the home inspection business he could come along to the viewing of the house and most of the time an experienced home inspector should be able to give you a good indication about the condition of a building. Financing condition is also very important, usually there could be only two problems with financing. One of them is not getting approved for the mortgage desired amount, but as an astute buyer this step should be all behind you at this point. The other concern could be the property not getting appraised for its purchased price. Prior to submitting your offer your REALOTR® should have completed a comparable market analysis and you should have a good feel for the prices in the area.

8) Predict the competition’s offer. As most people think with round numbers, it is likely to expect others to submit an offer either at the next $5,000 or $10,000 figure. Decide what is the highest amount that you are willing to pay for the property and top it up by an uneven dollar amount. This strategy will not only put you ahead of the crowd but it will also make your offer to stand out.

9) Do not submit your offer via fax. Ask your REALTOR® to present the offer in person to the seller. This eliminates the possibilities of anyone finding out the details of your offer and quite often your REALTOR® can draw a friendlier picture about the buyers. Sometimes sellers don’t just want the money, but quite often they want to hand over the keys to a person who they know that will look after their old home.

10) Show up for the offer presentation. Typically your REALTOR® would go inside the seller’s home and present your offer and wait for the verdict once the seller had a chance to evaluate all of the competing offers. Ask you REALTOR® to arrange the presentation of your offer to be the last one in line and tell him that you will be waiting for him outside. This way your REALTOR® can tell the sellers not to reject your offer if your offer isn’t the most attractive. Rather ask for a written counter offer and convince the sellers to give you a few minutes to consult. At that point you can still accept, counter offer or reject the sellers offer back to them. The key to this step is telling the seller that you only need a few minutes to respond because you are just outside to make a decision when most of the other competing buyers would be at home and waiting for their REALTOR®’s telephone calls.

Posted by www.JoeSamson.com

--
...Joe Samson is an Alberta based real estate professional and licensed member of the Real Estate Council of Alberta - Proudly representing MaxWell Canyon Creek Realty. Joe began building his personal real estate career in 2000 and hasn’t looked back since. Using unique real estate strategies he managed to help countless clients of his to become on route to be financially independent and happy home owners.

At that time, Joe worked as a Project Manager for a major International gas compression manufacturer. After regular business hours Joe managed to dedicate a large amount of his time to his passion - Real Estate. Joe spent countless hours educating himself of "how to buy, where to buy and what to buy" while minimizing risks and maximizing returns. Then he took that knowledge and began working with clients who were interested in purchasing revenue-producing real estate using his own unique strategies. Over the years, Joe has dramatically increased his personal net worth, along with that of many of his clients.

And now, with his real estate knowledge and experience backing him, Joe has left his safe/secure job to dedicate his time to growing his Real Estate experience and helping others become financially independent by sharing with them his "real life" Real Estate strategies.

The foundation of his business really is "You Can Have Anything In Your Life... Just Help Enough Other People Get What They Want." And due to this commitment, virtually all of Joe’s business comes from repeat or referral clients.

To better support his clients, Joe constantly shares his knowledge with others to assist and guide them in their Real Estate & Wealth Creation.

Joe Samson’s background, experience, energy, ability and honest hard work will be key factors in building your wealth, investment confidence and eventually your financial independence!



Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/why-invest-in-real-estate.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/why-invest-in-real-estate.html Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0500
Wow, it was another exciting month in Calgary’s Real estate Market. Real estate prices are continuing to rise like there is no tomorrow with a bit of assistance from the volatile stock market. Earlier this week when I had tuned into the business news all I could hear is how the stock market has done it again. The biggest drop in one day since 911, leaving people staring like deer in a headlight and asking the question of now what? The stock sell off had started in the Asian markets, continuing to Europe and finally it finished in the North American market. Millions of people worldwide were going to bed not knowing what they’re going to face the following day. Should I sell my investments now to minimize my losses or wait and maybe it will recover in the long run?

Over the last couple of years in Calgary, more and more people had decided to inject some of their savings into the real estate market. Especially after the dot.com bust in the early part of the millennium. Including myself and many others were getting tired of the continuous fluctuations of the stock market. It was extremely stressful to wake up everyday and hoping that nothing bad is going to happen in the stock market and not being able to control my investments differently than buy or sell. As history has already provided many examples to us about how a company could disappear overnight and completely wipe out your investments, yet I have never seen a house disappear from the face of the earth so suddenly. If it did by some unfortunate event, usually an insurance provider has reimbursed the owner.

Piece of mind – is the first thought that comes into my mind when I think about real estate as an investment vehicle. Security, predictable future and leveraged growth are the number one reasons why many choose to invest in real estate. According to Andrew Carnegie “Over 90% of all millionaires become so through owning real estate”. Now that’s a powerful statement. Let it sink in for a minute. Even if you are somewhat skeptical about the future of Calgary’s real estate market we cannot pass by such an important statement and not to acknowledge it as part of a major footprint of success.

Real estate values go up for many reasons. The number one cause of increasing real estate prices is the scarcity of supply or where the demand of the influx of people to a geographical area will outperform the supply. The good news for us in Alberta is that our provincial government has done such a great job of creating an economical atmosphere for business that there will be new business opening up and moving to this province for many more years to come. Not to mention the billions of dollars of projects already in the books that requires a constant feed of new employees from outside of Alberta.

Why real estate vs. the stock market? Unfortunately, many media outlets don’t understand the concept of the power of leverage when it comes to calculating actual ROI (return on investment). Every time I look at a news clip or read an article in the paper where they are comparing the performance of real estate prices to the stock market, I am ready to kick something to calm my frustration. The secret of many successful investors comes from directly applying the power of leverage. It doesn’t matter what kind of business we are talking about. If you want to be successful, you will need to find a way of multiplying your knowledge, power and time. If you choose to invest in stocks, you will get your returns one on one. Meaning that if you invest $1,000 and that particular stock goes up in value by 10% your ROI will be $100. When you put your dollars into a piece of real estate, the banks will usually require 25% of your own money and they will put up the remaining 75% of the purchase price for you. The beautiful part of this arrangement is that if the purchased real estate increases by 36% like it did in 2006 than your ROI will be 4 x 36%. Now that‘s the true power of leverage.

Real estate values most definitely won’t be increasing by 36% forever. However even if we make a very conservative assumption of prices to only increase by 6% annually than you are still anticipating a 24% ROI. In many of my client’s opinion it sure beats any of the G.I.C. investments available today.

Right, but I am not cut out to be a Landlord. What if the tenant doesn’t pay or damages the property? What if...? Excuses can be created in every situation in our lives just to rationalize why not to do something. Sometimes to move ahead in life, we need to get a little more comfortable with being uncomfortable when we decide to get involved with new ideas. However, if you prefer not to deal with tenants you can completely circumvent that challenge. Once again, if we examine some of the other evidences that successful people have left behind we can easily find the solution to this problem. You not only need to leverage your money, you will also need to leverage your time and knowledge by hiring the right professional to be on your team of success. Can you imagine Donald Trump taking phone calls at 2:00a.m. about a leaky toilet? Or personally collecting his rental cheques every month from his tenants? I didn’t think so. So, why do you think that you need to do it all alone? Why not do exactly what some of the major players in this investment business have already done? If it worked for them why wouldn’t it work for you?

It’s absolutely essential to hire the best professional experts on your team of advisors to propel your investments to the top and not to leave anything to a chance. Some of the professionals you should absolutely consider on having on your real estate team are Property Managers, Accountants, Contractors, Lawyers and knowledgeable REALTORS® who will not only advise you but allow you to stand on their shoulders and push you up to achieve your goals.

I truly believe that everyone can succeed at investing in real estate if one puts their mind to it. But it’s up to you to decide and take actions. You owe it to yourself to further explore the possibilities of investing in real estate. As you are probably aware, real estate is and has been a solid blue chip performer over the long term (after all they’re not making any more land!).

Posted by www.JoeSamson.com



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Joe Samson is an Alberta based real estate professional and licensed member of the Real Estate Council of Alberta - Proudly representing MaxWell Canyon Creek Realty. Joe began building his personal real estate career in 2000 and hasn’t looked back since. Using unique real estate strategies he managed to help countless clients of his to become on route to be financially independent and happy home owners.

At that time, Joe worked as a Project Manager for a major International gas compression manufacturer. After regular business hours Joe managed to dedicate a large amount of his time to his passion - Real Estate. Joe spent countless hours educating himself of "how to buy, where to buy and what to buy" while minimizing risks and maximizing returns. Then he took that knowledge and began working with clients who were interested in purchasing revenue-producing real estate using his own unique strategies. Over the years, Joe has dramatically increased his personal net worth, along with that of many of his clients.

And now, with his real estate knowledge and experience backing him, Joe has left his safe/secure job to dedicate his time to growing his Real Estate experience and helping others become financially independent by sharing with them his "real life" Real Estate strategies.

The foundation of his business really is "You Can Have Anything In Your Life... Just Help Enough Other People Get What They Want." And due to this commitment, virtually all of Joe’s business comes from repeat or referral clients.

To better support his clients, Joe constantly shares his knowledge with others to assist and guide them in their Real Estate & Wealth Creation.

Joe Samson’s background, experience, energy, ability and honest hard work will be key factors in building your wealth, investment confidence and eventually your financial independence!



Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/interest-rates.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/real-estate/interest-rates.html Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0500
WOW, what an incredible year we had, real estate prices have increased by 36.4% since last November, interest rates are on route to drop next year, and Alberta’s economy is humming away at an unprecedented rate and no end in sight for a real estate turnaround.

In my last newsletter I had provided a few fundamental points explaining some of the major influential factors that affect the real estate market and why there isn’t going to be a bubble in Alberta. This month I would like to share with you what is happening with interest rates and the driving factors behind it.

First things, first. Let’s take a look at why Bank of Canada needs to control the cost of borrowing or interest rates. In a well balanced economy a healthy economy’s growth is 3% per year otherwise known as the speed limit of the economy. If the economy is churning too fast than people will earn more and proportionally spend more as well. An unfortunate side effect of this situation is that the demand for certain products increases and causes greed among suppliers therefore prices will rise or inflation will occur. To keep inflation under control Bank of Canada adjusts its lending rates to keep the economy’s “speed limit” where it should be. In a circumstance where the economy tends to be underperforming (below 3% GDP) Bank of Canada will decrease the posted lending rate to stimulate spending and investing which will generate a higher demand for certain products and services therefore creating employment opportunities which will ultimately cause people to earn and spend more money and causing the economy to “speed up” again. When the economy is performing above the normal “speed limit” than the exact opposite is expected to happen to interest rates. Rates go up, people will earn and spend less, unfortunately some companies will have to lay people off due to lower demand for their products or services and the economy will eventually slow down until the interest rates are adjusted downwards again.


All right, but where in the world are we today and where are we heading to? One of the major misbelieves that I would like to iron out is that Canada isn’t as US dependant as many might think. Today the US is only responsible for 15% of the world’s combined economy where China and India makes up almost 50% of the total global GDP. In a nutshell it means that it’s extremely important to look at a global picture than just what is happening in our neighbour’s backyard.

For simplicity, let’s use oil as an example to prove my point and I think we all agree that it plays a very important factor in our local economy.

Not that long ago George W. Bush has admitted that the US is addicted to oil (by the way of which we have lots of) and they need to outsource more reliable exporters other than the Middle East and South America. As I had mentioned before, and have the world’s fastest growing economy with the highest amount of growing middleclass citizens. alone has 25 million people moving into the major cities each year that needs to purchase a vehicle, house, build factories etc. All this comes with a higher desire of consuming more commodities such as oil.

Not that long ago George W. Bush has admitted that the US is addicted to oil (by the way of which we have lots of) and they need to outsource more reliable exporters other than the Middle East and South America. As I had mentioned before, and have the world’s fastest growing economy with the highest amount of growing middleclass citizens. alone has 25 million people moving into the major cities each year that needs to purchase a vehicle, house, build factories etc. All this comes with a higher desire of consuming more commodities such as oil.

Absolutely nothing as far as Quebec and Ontario is concerned. Alberta is doing exceptionally well with a 6.9% GDP (remember 3% is normal) where in the East, they are toying with a recession if interest rates would go up. Quebec and Ontario is heavily manufacture oriented to the US market, however the US is slowing down therefore ordering less products from Canada due to lower demand and secondly due to a more expensive Canadian dollar.

This is a very unique dilemma to the decision makers at the Bank of Canada because they have to control the economy of Canada equally with the same principal which is adjusting interest rates. If they would decide the faith of the interest rates based on the Western economy it would be guaranteed to go up for the reasons I had discussed before. However if int

As a conclusion it only makes sense to make the decision (lower interest rates) that will create the best possible results to the most economically sensitive region within Canada

One might wonder about how Albertans are going to be able to afford to survive with prices escalating so fast? The fact is that Albertan households are in the best shape among the rest of the country. The average Albertan household has $250,000 of net assets compared to rest of Canada ’s which is $200,000. Most workers in Alberta had enjoyed a 6.3% increase in their disposable income where the rest of the country only saw a 3.9% raise. A general prerequisite for real estate prices to increase is that people need to earn more money before they can spend it on housing, this is known as the Housing Affordability Index. As obvious as it may sound this indicator plays a very important role of the prices of real estate. In Calgary the average family spends 37% of their pre-tax household income on housing vs. someone in Vancouver who spends 72% of their pre-tax earnings on housing.

The bottom line is that there is no need to worry about the housing bubble or prices not having any room to grow, or cost of living becoming too expensive because as strange as it sounds Calgary is still one of the most affordable Cities to live in and it sounds like it’s going to be even more attractive once interest rates begin to fall.

Posted by www.JoeSamson.com


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Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>