Hi there folks,

I am looking for some advice on Cochrane, Alberta.

I have been looking on the MLS website at houses in the area and have done so since about October last year.

What I have realised is that there are a lot of houses on there that do not seem to be selling and look good value for money.

I know you guys cannot answer the question " why are these houses not selling?" but what I am wondering is-

Is there something wrong with the town/city of Cochrane? and if not why does it seem so hard to sell a house there.

To me Cochrane looks an ideal place to live if and when I get a job offer from Calgary Police but I don't want to live there if it is hard to resell the house should my circumstances change.

Dave

Can you pin down where in Cochrane the house arent selling?

Cochrane USED to sell equally as well as Calgary.

Gleneagles area is great, on the hill, Nice views, straight onto 1a.

I like it (cochrane I mean) and McKays icecream is AWESOME.

Are you still coming to the meet up on the 26th Dave?

dave,
as i said in my pm to you, (by the way you should have one unread from me) my family live in cochrane (well just outside it now) and i lived there for a year or so.
to be honest i think its the best town outside of calgary and has a good compromise of being close to calgary and the mountains. plus havinh enough shops to have everything you need without living in the city.

speaking to my famioly friends there, one of whom is a realtor, houses are still selling strongly and have done for ages.

when i move back to canada (all being well) i will be looking at cochrane to live for good.

if you want to meet up when we are both over there drop me an email.

Scott (on cara's log in)

Butch,

Can't really pin it down as I am looking a the MLS site and have noticed houses on there that have been on sale for a few months. Maybe I am wrong and the houses are selling Ok. Just seems to me that there a lot of houses for sale in the cochrane area some of which have been for a while.

Smelly- Yes sure count me in for the meet up on the 26th.....seems a good time to ask questions like this.

Scott- yeah got your pm. as I've stated above maybe Im completely wrong about Cochrane. I'll drop you an email nearer the time.

Dave

[QUOTE=Davie McCaig;4263011
Can't really pin it down as I am looking a the MLS site and have noticed houses on there that have been on sale for a few months. Maybe I am wrong and the houses are selling Ok. Just seems to me that there a lot of houses for sale in the cochrane area some of which have been for a while.
[/QUOTE]

The market has slowed somewhat in recent months - have you noticed communities where houses are selling quickly ?

I have not been following MLS the way you have, but I suspect the same thing is happening in Calgary. As DTLE said, the market has flattened out a bit in the last few months.

A house on our street in Calgary has been for sale since the late summer. It went on the market at a time when houses were lasting 24 hours before they were snapped up. In fact that house was conditionally sold within a day or two as well. A C/S sticker was placed on the For Sale sign. Then, a few days later, the C/S sticker came off, and there has been no movement since then. Literally within a few days of that conditional sale falling through, the market changed.

Same thing in Dalhousie Judy. Two houses close to my home were listed in late summer early fall and sat for the longest time.

Both homes sold within days of each other over the Christmas holidays so perhaps it's an indication of a restart in the market.

Cheers
Steve

OK

Cynical me.

Has the market REALLY slowed down? OR is it a ploy by Realtors?

If you tell potential sellers the market has slowed they will hang fire before putting their house on the market. This reduces supply, basic supply and demand rules say reduce supply whilst demand remains the same prices increase.

Just an idea.

And yes I am aware that the number of listings unsold is seemingly increasing whilst the number of new houses being listed is remaining stagnant or decreasing.

Knock effects of a slowing housing market?
Rental prices will fall?
New Housing will be finished quicker?
New Housing wont increase in price as quickly?
Trades will be in slightly less demand?
Work Permits (in construction) will be harder to come by?
Latinos currently working in trades will become unemployed?
Calgary may actually get decent Latino restaurants???? YAY.

I don't know. But, on top of whatever other market trends may exist, during my thirty years in Calgary I've noticed that -- on average -- the real estate market has been a lot slower in the winter than it has been in the summer.

People don't like to go house hunting when it's -20 deg C, and they also don't like to move house at those temperatures if they can help it.

Another factor is that, if the family's main wage earner is transferred to another city, he/she often will go ahead to the new position on his/her own. The other parent will stay behind till the end of June, so that the children can finish that school year without disruption. Then the rest of the family will join the primary bread winner in the new location.

It's more common for people to put their houses on the market and also to go house hunting in the spring, in anticipation of a summer move.

Sometimes there are temporary anomalies, but that has been the overall trend that I have observed.

The slowing of the housing market as well could be due to the fact who wants an open house with all the snow and grit on the roads being tramped at least as far as the foyer????? I wouldnt. (Mind you after reading dbd's experience of people spitting on his floor I wouldnt be too keen to have an open house ANYTIME)

To add to Judy's comments which I completely agree with.

My thoughts are that this time around it reached a point were people were asking ridiculous prices for their homes and buyers just decided they weren't going to pay. The two that sold around my place were both listed for $469,900 which at the time seemed to be way too high. Now as far as I know they never reduced the price of either property and both sold for what I don't know, so what do I know?

As for dbd's experience all I can say is I have never in 43 years of living here ever heard of anything like that.:scared:

I would have said (certainly based on sept-nov) last year that $470k wasnt to unreasonable for your area. But like you say what do I know.