[Dion]

High River real estate market still in ‘shock stage’

Ken Braat, now with Royal LePage Benchmark, said he loves High River, but as a resident and realtor, he knows it’s going to be a long slow process for the market to return to what it was.

“The values of homes in this town don’t need to crash; we just have to hold on and ride it out,” he said. “It’s the hardest advice to give, but if we all hold onto the values that we knew were there before June 20, it will come back.”

He said people coming to the door and offering $100,000 cash for flood-affected homes are not looking out for residents, the community, but only themselves.

When asking for $100,000 to $150,000 less than what the market value was pre-flood, residents may not know that there is a newcomer down the block with a five year mortgage at June 19 pricing.

“Is the value going to be there when it’s time for them to renew their mortgage,” he asked. “Then there’s going to be a second wave of pain and devastation when people can’t get mortgages.”

“Fear is such a vicious emotion,” he said. “In that fear, comes a necessity to do something about it. Sometimes the hardest thing to do in fear is to wait. That’s what we all have to do.”

Jim Ross, with RE/MAX Southern Realty in High River, said demand has dropped off significantly since the flood, but that he doesn’t believe it’s indicative of the future.

“We’re going through a significant shock stage right now,” he said. “A few more weeks, not exactly sure how long it will take, but the market will start to return to more what we might think is normal.”

The most pressing concern for the real estate market in town, according to Ross, is whether or not the town will get meaningful and preventative flood protection.

“High River could emerge from this properly protected against flooding and the market will bounce back,” he said.

Without it, he said that High River could be in for an extended period of suppressed property values. Some advice for residents would be to wait until things calm down.

“It would be better if you don’t need to sell right now, to monitor the market and be patient for a while,” he said

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