Dear Clients:
In the midst of this current health emergency, we wanted to reach out and let you know that the Canmore Real Estate Team is still active in the market and working hard for you – our clients. Whether it be to find the ideal new home for you or the right investment, we are reviewing your parameters and keeping an eye on new listings entering the market as well as price reductions that may provide opportunities for you. For showings & meetings - in order to avoid unnecessary health risks to our clients and ourselves, we are taking all the recommended precautions to avoid and mitigate exposure, such as:
- Conducting pre-showing questionnaires to ensure buyers have not been exposed to high-risk situations (travelling, COVID symptoms, contact with COVID patient, feeling ill) and ensuring sellers are not in a high-risk situation either
- Ensuring that surfaces are wiped down pre-showing
- Ensuring that buyers at viewings either wash their hands thoroughly before and after a showing or wear protective gloves
- Enabling the use of a variety of technologies to allow for online showings and client meetings instead of personal meetings (although those can be accommodated as well under certain circumstances)
- Maintaining our own health and social distancing
We have some innovative ideas to allow buyers to check out properties, and still maintain a degree of social distancing and/or isolation as required – we are set up for virtual showings via Skype or Facetime (or other methods preferred by buyers) – and will be pioneering some other technologies to keep real estate activity going – please contact us for more details.
As a buyer, we understand if your current work/financial situation does not allow you to move forward at this time, we are still reviewing your client needs and keeping an eye out for suitable properties for you, so we can provide you with options when the time is right.
If you are experiencing more severe financial difficulties, we have included links to information and sources of help from the federal and provincial government below:
If your work/financial situation is stable and you are prepared to move forward or continue with your property search, keep in mind that interest rates are quite low at this time, and anticipated to remain low for quite some time. Also keep in mind that there have been price reductions on some properties.. e.g. 118-109 Montane Rd reduced by $50k to $449,900; 18 Streamside Ln reduced by $40k to $1,109,000.
As a seller, know that there is lower inventory at this time, so you may attract buyers who really need to move forward now (e.g. they have recently sold another home which they have to vacate soon) and you may be dealing with less competition. I think the number of buyers looking for discounts at this time may be counter-acted by the lower number of listings, resulting in prices remaining close to levels pre-Coronavirus days. The lowering of mortgage interest rates may help as well (although we are seeing a trend of some banks coming up from their lowered rates slightly to account for reduced cash flow after they allow temporary mortgage deferrals to some of their clients).
It is difficult to predict at this point how real estate prices will trend over the next few months in Canmore. We will be keeping a close eye on the market and analysing stats in order to understand the changes and better serve your real estate needs. Please feel free to contact us at any time by phone or email to discuss your real estate market questions and concerns. In the meantime, here is a link to a Zillow article with a fairly in-depth review on how epidemics can influence real estate price and transactions:
We also want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the doctors, nurses, and first responders who are on the front lines helping those affected by this situation, as well as grocery store staff, pharmacy staff, town/city workers, volunteers, and all others who are helping us move forward.
