First Time Home Buyer - Calgary - Page 3 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

soulchoice · 03-22-2006, 04:56 PM

Definitely not a good time to buy right now. It is a sellers market. If however you need a place to live and plan on being there for a long time, then do what you have to. From an investment perspective, I would only purchase if my plan was to sell the property within 2 - 3 years, thus capitalizing on the market while it is hot.

The upward trend will continue for a couple years at least. But in reality will not sustain this type of growth forever. Oil and gas markets will stabalize to a reasonable level within a few years and although it may not crash like the early 80's, the real estate market will come to a lull.

I have done a few purchases on yet to be developed condos, homes, etc. Once built I immediately sold them off for a nice profit. That is the only way that I would even fathom purchasing now. However, I have recently purchased in Edmonton myself, so we will see how that goes as well.

photon · 03-22-2006, 05:00 PM

I agree soulchoice. I'm building a few places as well to sell once they're built. We have to close though, no one seems to want to let us do a skip transfer.

I went out to one area in Chestermere and asked about lots. They just laughed at me. I asked if I could be put on a list if someone doesn't want their hold. They laughed even harder!

I've never done a condo pre-purchase but we're thinking about it. Any suggestions?

Rakiet · 03-22-2006, 05:54 PM

Why not buy a house, flip it, and keep doing it-move from one house to another after you left your midas touch on it. You'll live like a gypsy for a while but at least your not barely making ends meat. I want to do this in a month, to my knowledge its completely viable to do in Calgary and its ridiculous to stand around with your hands in your pockets

soulchoice · 03-22-2006, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

I agree soulchoice. I'm building a few places as well to sell once they're built. We have to close though, no one seems to want to let us do a skip transfer.

I went out to one area in Chestermere and asked about lots. They just laughed at me. I asked if I could be put on a list if someone doesn't want their hold. They laughed even harder!

I've never done a condo pre-purchase but we're thinking about it. Any suggestions?

What area of Chestermere were you looking at? Just out of curiousity, why did they laugh at you? Chestermere could be a great option, for living purposes, personally speaking. In fact I presently am about to try and get some rezoning for land that I have out in Chestermere. Have roughly bout 110 acres of land right across the highway from where Chestermere is now, so I guess we will have to see what happens. If all goes well with this, that may be an option for you.

There are a few areas right now that I know of that are preselling condo units, due to be ready next year. I may stay away from the core though, just because of the high cost.

soulchoice · 03-22-2006, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rakiet

Why not buy a house, flip it, and keep doing it-move from one house to another after you left your midas touch on it. You'll live like a gypsy for a while but at least your not barely making ends meat. I want to do this in a month, to my knowledge its completely viable to do in Calgary and its ridiculous to stand around with your hands in your pockets

The good ol tax man would love that too..lol...Capital gains...hehe.

arsenal · 03-22-2006, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rakiet

Why not buy a house, flip it, and keep doing it-move from one house to another after you left your midas touch on it. You'll live like a gypsy for a while but at least your not barely making ends meat. I want to do this in a month, to my knowledge its completely viable to do in Calgary and its ridiculous to stand around with your hands in your pockets

I don't think that it is possible in Canada. The states have different rules and regs. I think in Canada, you have to live in the house for at least 6 months.

calf · 03-22-2006, 10:51 PM

This thread is one of the many reasons I love CP. Right now, I'm leaning towards what Eagle Eye said in his first post. Fresh out of university, need to get the hell outta my parent's place, but just don't have the savings (but have minimal debt). Decent income, but not enough right now to put down the down payment/make mortgage payments. Fortunately, my dad's a real estate agent, so when I do get into the market (hopefully it settles down or my salary adjusts to market :P ), I'll be getting expert advice w/ no commissions to pay.

I forget right now who was talking about all of the purchasor conditions having to be gone, and that couldn't be more true. For a lot of properties, no conditions and tens of thousands of dollars more are needed to buy. It's actually quite tough for the Realtors right now because the supply just isn't there.

I'm hopeful things settle down a little, but I'm not holding my breath.

Shazam · 03-22-2006, 10:53 PM

Only your primary residence is tax exempt from capital gains.

Of course, you can always set up a corporation and get around those rules in various ways, but you'll still pay taxes in one form or another.

calf · 03-22-2006, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arsenal

I don't think that it is possible in Canada. The states have different rules and regs. I think in Canada, you have to live in the house for at least 6 months.

it's legal, you just have to pay the taxes, afaik

Shazam · 03-22-2006, 10:55 PM

Quote:

I'll be getting expert advice w/ no commissions to pay.

Keep in mind if there's another realtor involved, that person will need to be compensated.

calf · 03-22-2006, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shazam

Keep in mind if there's another realtor involved, that person will need to be compensated.

too true

arsenal · 03-22-2006, 10:57 PM

Yah, before I bought my condo, I made an offer on place in the same building. My offer was around 10K more than list price, and had a condition of viewing condo documents.
There where 3 other offers on the table. They ended up taking the offer that was $1500 more than mine, and had no conditions.

The next day, another place in the same building came on market, and was a little bit bigger in size. Made the offer the next day after (friday), and deal was done on Saturday. There where conditions of me viewing the condo (hadn't viewed it before making the offer), and review of condo docs. But I offered pretty much what the asking price was.

I know I was taking a gamble in not viewing the place before making an offer, but I had viewed a condo in the same building a few days before, and they where pretty much exactly the same.

photon · 03-22-2006, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soulchoice

What area of Chestermere were you looking at? Just out of curiousity, why did they laugh at you?

Heh, only because they were all sold, and their lists are so long they aren't even taking names. It was north of 17th, Westmere I think.

Also looking at Rainbow Falls, they do have some (very few) lots left.

Of course new ones are coming out in a bit, but they all say it'll be June before they even write offers, they want like $5,000 for a deposit, and the lot prices are quite a bit higher.

Nabber · 03-23-2006, 12:17 AM

Yep this market is definitely a crazy one and a hard one to deal with, I should know better as I'm one of those lucky realtors out there dealing with this everyday. There's just not enough listings out there to cover the inventory which is driving the prices up like crazy. Try explaining to your buyers that after 1 day on the market, we have to compete with 8 other offers on the property, and we may have to bid 10,000-15,000 over list price. Like Troutman said I've seen houses sell for big money over list price, this one house in Vista Heights sold for 60,000 more, insane!

The thing about waiting right now to purchase real estate is every month it seems to go up thousands of dollars and you have to worried about being priced out of the market. MYK I'm sure you'll be able to find a condo close to downtown for around 200k you may have to drop down to a 1 bedroom with den or a older updated model but I'm sure you'll find something. There's a really nice foreclosure condo in cresent heights for 230k, 2 bedrooms, 933 sqf built in 2003 and really nice inside, good luck!

ken0042 · 03-23-2006, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shazam

Keep in mind if there's another realtor involved, that person will need to be compensated.

Just to clarify; if you are looking to buy a house for the first time, you don't pay any realtor fees. Your Realtor gets paid by the person who is selling the house. When you go to sell the house; that's when you'll find that you pay both realtors.

So for the first time, make sure you find somebody who is going to work for you. Even go so far as to interview realtors and make sure they understand what it is that you want. I talked to a couple of them before going with the one that found my house for me.

Log · 03-23-2006, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soulchoice

The good ol tax man would love that too..lol...Capital gains...hehe.

Only taxable at 50% though....

Example if you put a deposit on a house to build... Pay $250 when its done and flip it for $300, the capital gain is $50k, but the taxable capital gain is $25k.

Log · 03-23-2006, 07:39 AM

The Calgary housing market is just stupid right now!!!! Starting out would be insane right now!!! To get something decent its what, $250k (a house)?? Even coming up with a 5% down payment, that still leaves $242,500 for a mortgage!!!! With mortgages like that, alot of people will be in trouble if interest rates hit 8%. I don't think they'll go much over that though.

Anyways the only way you can "win" if you sell your Calgary home is if you move to a city with a slower market, like Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, even Regina or Saskatoon. In that situation you sell high and buy low. However if you are going from one house in Calgary to the next, selling high and buying high doesn't make much sense.

Reaper · 03-23-2006, 08:29 AM

Man, this thread is making me glad that my wife and I prepurchased our condo at a fixed price in August.

socalwingfan · 03-23-2006, 08:52 AM

Just be glad you don't live in SoCal - the median price for a home in Ventura County right now is approx. $525,000. $250,000 won't even by you a freakin shed here

Shazam · 03-23-2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken0042

Just to clarify; if you are looking to buy a house for the first time, you don't pay any realtor fees. Your Realtor gets paid by the person who is selling the house. When you go to sell the house; that's when you'll find that you pay both realtors.

So for the first time, make sure you find somebody who is going to work for you. Even go so far as to interview realtors and make sure they understand what it is that you want. I talked to a couple of them before going with the one that found my house for me.

Usually what will happen is that if you hire a realtor to find you a property, and there is already a realtor for a property you want to buy, usually that realtor will be nice and split the commission with your realtor (maybe not evenly, depending on how much work that realtor feels he did versus yours). In calf's case, since his father would be working for free, he could decide to put in a lower bid for the property, saying that because his father is working for free he can lower the price since more of the money is going to the seller. But the other realtor might get upset at that, because it reduces his commission.