New Brighton/Copperfield

[4X4]

Oh please. You tried with the okotoks post, and then upped it when nobody bit. Your schtick is lame, dude.

[FlamesKickAss]

We moved to Chaparral 2 years ago and love it. No smell here!

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Has the smell improved over the last few years? That house we wanted and Seton was taken we need to get a house in the next 30 days so we're down to these two communities for houses that we can afford and we want.

I will say, depending on your budget, there is a fair amount of product in Auburn Bay right now.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Oh please. You tried with the okotoks post, and then upped it when nobody bit. Your schtick is lame, dude.

Because I liked living in Okotoks when I was a kid and if you care about getting bang for your buck I assume it’s better than Seton and doesn’t come with a smell?

Smh dude, get a grip. You’re looking to be pissed off at something, I get it, but you’re being a dick for no reason. I was just trying to offer some insight. Jesus.

[PepsiFree]

Anyways, whatever, if you want any advice White Out or to hear about some of the things we went through buying (though I’m sure you’re getting good advice from your realtor, I can at least offer a “what I wish I knew” perspective) then feel free to PM me as most of it’s pretty fresh in my memory.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

I think our next move is to start offering people 8% below list and try and get 5-6% below asking and see if a long bomb hits. I've put on the FIFA 14 soundtrack and am back at work on the realtor sites.

Why not be as bold to identify a specific house that might be receptive to a stink bid in Auburn Bay or Cranston and throw a bid lower than 8%? IIRC, January and February are low sales months. Maybe if there's a house that has been on the market for a few months already, drop a stink bid, if they counter too high, walk, but say if they change their mind in a month about your offer, to let you know.

The worst that could happen is that the other party says no to your offer. The best case scenario is that you might be able to get that home you want within your budget. I have a friend who took out the other party at the knees for an inner city home with this approach. He knocked off around $150K by dropping a stink bid early in his search and stuck to his guns when the owner contacted him a month later. I don't think you can knock of $150K, but perhaps you might be able to knock off enough to be within your budget if you find someone willing to tango.

Is it also allowable to ask the realtors to talk to one another to see if certain arrangements could facilitate a price drop?

Some families are ok dropping the price to delay the possession date to something a bit later so that they have less headaches in rushing out of the home. Some might be ok renting the place for a few extra months after the possession date while they prepare to leave. I hear stories of some families selling their home, paying movers to put everything in storage and hanging out somewhere temporary for a few months. Usually it's a situation where someone is moving away and wants to make sure they have ample time to sell the home so they're not sitting on an empty house after they leave or sometimes it's someone prepping to get ready to move into a house they're building.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

We looked in Sundance and Midnapore in summer of 2017 when we moved.

We found the homes in the two communities were either:

1: Renovated and the seller wanted too much
2: No renovated and the costs to do so were too much

We moved to Auburn Bay, got a good deal on a 7 yr old house that only needed changes we wanted to make. I was pro-Sundance (3 levels of public school in the community) but then I started running the math and it wasn't worth it.

Yeah, this is solid advice. I know I beat the Bonavista drum on here a lot, but as we're gearing up to drop another $50k into our house this year, and looking back at my spreadsheet of house/reno expenditures over the last 10 years I've lived here, makes me slightly depressed. My house before this one was a new build in Evanston and aside from landscaping and a fence, there were no real expenses over the ~five years I lived there. My 1969 house, on the other hand, mainlines cash all year long.

[RogerWilco]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Has the smell improved over the last few years? That house we wanted and Seton was taken we need to get a house in the next 30 days so we're down to these two communities for houses that we can afford and we want.

I lived in Copperfield for 7 years, I don't recall ever smelling the landfill or it being any kind of issue.

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Why not be as bold to identify a specific house that might be receptive to a stink bid in Auburn Bay or Cranston and throw a bid lower than 8%? IIRC, January and February are low sales months. Maybe if there's a house that has been on the market for a few months already, drop a stink bid, if they counter too high, walk, but say if they change their mind in a month about your offer, to let you know.

The worst that could happen is that the other party says no to your offer. The best case scenario is that you might be able to get that home you want within your budget. I have a friend who took out the other party at the knees for an inner city home with this approach. He knocked off around $150K by dropping a stink bid early in his search and stuck to his guns when the owner contacted him a month later. I don't think you can knock of $150K, but perhaps you might be able to knock off enough to be within your budget if you find someone willing to tango.

Is it also allowable to ask the realtors to talk to one another to see if certain arrangements could facilitate a price drop?

Some families are ok dropping the price to delay the possession date to something a bit later so that they have less headaches in rushing out of the home. Some might be ok renting the place for a few extra months after the possession date while they prepare to leave. I hear stories of some families selling their home, paying movers to put everything in storage and hanging out somewhere temporary for a few months. Usually it's a situation where someone is moving away and wants to make sure they have ample time to sell the home so they're not sitting on an empty house after they leave or sometimes it's someone prepping to get ready to move into a house they're building.

This strategy has to be used very carefully though. You run the risk of simply pissing a seller off where they will just ignore you. If you had a preference to this specific house, negotiations have started on the wrong foot and chances are you won't be getting it for what would have been attainable had you come in with a proper offer. To me a proper offer is an offer with justification. Whether or not the seller agrees with the comparables or logic used, it is at least a reason you reached the number you did. I also don't believe he has the benefit of time on his side to wait people out.

As you say, Jan and Feb are slow as it is and when you combine that with the tighter lending rules as well as excess inventory still floating around from the last 12 months, it makes for a slower than slow time period.

If you are pulling numbers out of a hat based on a 8% below asking method, you might get an offer accepted on a place which was already 5% overvalued and therefore not the deal you thought you were getting.

If you are offering on a property which has minimal equity, chances are you are wasting your time. The bank won't physically let those people sell without writing a cheque for the balance. Someone in a position to write a cheque for 10, 20, 30+k usually isn't in as much of a desperate situation.

Assuming you are primarily focussed on the deal and the house itself comes second, there are strategies to find and narrow in on these places without having to go through the process of viewing, writing and being rejected.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Travis Munroe

This strategy has to be used very carefully though. You run the risk of simply pissing a seller off where they will just ignore you. If you had a preference to this specific house, negotiations have started on the wrong foot and chances are you won't be getting it for what would have been attainable had you come in with a proper offer. To me a proper offer is an offer with justification. Whether or not the seller agrees with the comparables or logic used, it is at least a reason you reached the number you did. I also don't believe he has the benefit of time on his side to wait people out.

As you say, Jan and Feb are slow as it is and when you combine that with the tighter lending rules as well as excess inventory still floating around from the last 12 months, it makes for a slower than slow time period.

If you are pulling numbers out of a hat based on a 8% below asking method, you might get an offer accepted on a place which was already 5% overvalued and therefore not the deal you thought you were getting.

If you are offering on a property which has minimal equity, chances are you are wasting your time. The bank won't physically let those people sell without writing a cheque for the balance. Someone in a position to write a cheque for 10, 20, 30+k usually isn't in as much of a desperate situation.

Assuming you are primarily focussed on the deal and the house itself comes second, there are strategies to find and narrow in on these places without having to go through the process of viewing, writing and being rejected.

Very fair and the points you mentioned I do not disagree with. I was just sorta thinking that since White Out 403 had already stricken off Auburn Bay and Cranston off, doing a stink bid on a property in that neighborhood might not be a bad idea if he's mainly focused on searching in New Brighton or Copperfield.

But yeah, I also agree that many properties have a negotiation range built into them by default so 8% might not be the deal that OP is thinking he is getting. I remember my parents building something like 10% into the price as a negotiation buffer and still ended up selling at a discount over 10%.

Question: You mentioned that there are strategies in focusing on the deal first and house second. Are you kinda hinting at something like the distressed property listings?

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

1: Renovated and the seller wanted too much
2: No renovated and the costs to do so were too much

Yeah, we had a tough time finding something as my wife needs a train line and I work in the south. We ended up in Fairview and it took us a long time to find a house that wasn't overpriced on renos or so crappy that it would be 100k in renos just to get it up to a decent standard.



Still not perfect and will need to sink some more money into it but I really like Fairview if anyone is looking. Great access to the entire city.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Yeah, we had a tough time finding something as my wife needs a train line and I work in the south. We ended up in Fairview and it took us a long time to find a house that wasn't overpriced on renos or so crappy that it would be 100k in renos just to get it up to a decent standard.



Still not perfect and will need to sink some more money into it but I really like Fairview if anyone is looking. Great access to the entire city.

Just out of curiosity, and you're not the first to post it, what did you deem as overpriced with renos? If a crappy house would need 100k in renos, how much more were the reno'd houses going for?

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Just out of curiosity, and you're not the first to post it, what did you deem as overpriced with renos? If a crappy house would need 100k in renos, how much more were the reno'd houses going for?

In Fairview when we were looking you could get a house that needed ~100k work for 375-400k. Most of the completely reno'd houses were listed at 525-575. Also, the new style for renos is grey everywhere and we aren't a huge fan.

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Very fair and the points you mentioned I do not disagree with. I was just sorta thinking that since White Out 403 had already stricken off Auburn Bay and Cranston off, doing a stink bid on a property in that neighborhood might not be a bad idea if he's mainly focused on searching in New Brighton or Copperfield.

But yeah, I also agree that many properties have a negotiation range built into them by default so 8% might not be the deal that OP is thinking he is getting. I remember my parents building something like 10% into the price as a negotiation buffer and still ended up selling at a discount over 10%.

Question: You mentioned that there are strategies in focusing on the deal first and house second. Are you kinda hinting at something like the distressed property listings?

distressed & pre-distressed would certainly be 2 things to look for. Distressed is an easy filter search. Pre distressed takes some extra work and money but isn't hard to find if looking in the right places

There are a number of other things to look for such as divorce, occupancy (owner, tenant, vacant), title/registrations, etc. I can't give away the full bag of tricks

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by Bonded

In Fairview when we were looking you could get a house that needed ~100k work for 375-400k. Most of the completely reno'd houses were listed at 525-575. Also, the new style for renos is grey everywhere and we aren't a huge fan.

Seeing this a lot right now. In normal market conditions, people don't think twice about paying 150k premium for a reno. To renovate an old home properly with quality you could easily be 150k. Then there are others who have a construction company or trades at their disposal who can do a full reno for 100k.

If someone buys for 400k and sinks 100k into it (often the 100k people are doing a lot of work themselves or are the GC) then asking 575k and selling for 550k leaves next to no profit once they factor in their time, possible carrying costs/financing costs as well as selling costs.

Not to mention most people don't want to go through the reno and run the risk of problems which almost always seem to happen.

I am not saying you are wrong for thinking that places were overpriced but seeing it from the other side can often help understand why places have the price they do.

[Barnes]

Lived in Copperfield near the 7/11 for 10 years and moved away in July. The smell happens sometimes in the summer but not nearly as much as it used to, never inside the house. When we first moved in they were doing some work at the dump to deal with gasses and it could get really bad when mixed with the ponds and the wind was right.

One thing that may be useful for people that live in areas like McKenzie Towne, NB, and Copperfield is during the spring thaw, run some water down your drain in the basement. Sometimes the ponds get a little backed up and no water circulates and when the ice melts, the vegetation rot gasses can back up through the storm system and stank up your house. We had this happen the week we listed our house.


Even in Mahogany, we get the odd night of it smelling like a feed lot outside if there’s certain wind and temperature variables.

[White Out 403]

We have legitimately looked at 27 houses in four days. The good part of this is that I think we've come to the end. We found a couple houses in Legacy that we're going to make offers on. it's been a trying process but I'm glad that we went to as many homes as we did so that we will be comfortable and certain in our decision

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

We have legitimately looked at 27 houses in four days. The good part of this is that I think we've come to the end. We found a couple houses and Legacy that we're going to make offers on. it's been a trying process but I'm glad that we went to as many homes as we did so that we will be comfortable and certain in our decision

So, you mean one at a time right? You're not writing more than one offer at once are you?

[White Out 403]

No we're going to pick one and make an offer
Edit to clarify the others are backups. It's not an easy decision they're all great but at thks point it's a welcome problem.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Travis Munroe

Seeing this a lot right now. In normal market conditions, people don't think twice about paying 150k premium for a reno. To renovate an old home properly with quality you could easily be 150k. Then there are others who have a construction company or trades at their disposal who can do a full reno for 100k.

If someone buys for 400k and sinks 100k into it (often the 100k people are doing a lot of work themselves or are the GC) then asking 575k and selling for 550k leaves next to no profit once they factor in their time, possible carrying costs/financing costs as well as selling costs.

Not to mention most people don't want to go through the reno and run the risk of problems which almost always seem to happen.

I am not saying you are wrong for thinking that places were overpriced but seeing it from the other side can often help understand why places have the price they do.

For sure, there is a big difference in paying the extra money in the mortgage rather than through cash or a LOC. Also, maybe a bit different of a feel if the 575k houses aren't in the top end range of a community as well.