Sleeping_Beauty45

We HAVE done our research, of course we have done research. I understand completely what you are saying because I know that the two countries operate in very different manners. From last October we have a realtor sending through daily reports of houses, both rentals and to purchase and we have seen the prices dropping, those that are new to the market with similar sizes are now coming on at less than those from even a few months ago, so for the areas we are considering I'd say that there has been a slight decrease, probably not as much as 5% the houses certainly aren't any more expensive and starting prices seem to be $5 to $10K lower than their neighbours who have been on the market slightly longer.

My point way back was that should we be putting in an offer, from our research (although granted I didn't say the words from our research) prices are crashing all over the place, absolutely they don't seem to be falling at the same rate as here but then we are a good 12 months further into the downturn that you are, this has been happening for a good while, it just hasn't been publicised but many of those in business can tell you that the credit crunch actually started just short of two years ago when credit started to seriously dry up. Those were the very early signs that all wasn't well and conversations with bankers two years ago in April gave us every reason to believe a major crash was on its way although the way in which the worlds markets tumbled took everyone's breath away.

Whether Canada will fall as far as the UK, I honestly doubt it, but I don't know the Canadian markets as well as I know the UK ones.

Thank you to those that provided links, I will start reading, it sounds interesting (though is probably really quite dull in reality).

loser40

Sleeping Beauty45...

If I were in your position Id rent short to medium term in Canada.

My logic for doing this is that it's safer to buy just after the market has bottomed and is going up, rather than gamble that you've read the market right and take a big risk and buy in a falling market... it can always get much worse, but generally speaking, 2 quarters (6 months) of increased mortgage lending rates/figures, and house price increases mean the market has turned.

But this is a very investment driven perspective. For peace of mind and to make a home your own it may suit your needs to buy a seemingly well priced bargain fixer upper which can fulfill your medium to long term needs and put firm roots down in the community.

M.

triumphguy

Well said: the most important things are not monetary.
When I moved over with my parents 20odd years ago things weren't great then. But we did and learned things as a family and as individuals that we would not have done if we had stayed in the UK.

Eventually my parents caught up financially and are happily retired. My mum says if they had left their house on the market for another year or so it would have nearly doubled in price (their purchaser sold it 2 years later for nearly double what he had paid my parents for it), but they needed the money over here and couldn't see into the future.

Their sacrifice meant my kids get to grow up here.

Sleeping_Beauty45

Thank you, I had actually written another paragraph saying that we were going to rent for 2 years anyway when we first come out because I want to make sure that we are happy with the area we have chosen and that we are happy to stay in Canada and that I didn't want to invest into a mortgage until I was sure we were staying.

Then I deleted it - I meant to cut it and move it further down as it didn't make sense where it was but rather than cutting it, I accidently deleted it and couldn't be bothered to retype it. I also realised that if I did say that it would make me sound contrary based on my comments about buying cheaper!

loser40

Its a difficult decision to make, the thinking cap says wait and rent, the heart says buy and make a home and lay down roots - both are good, but for different reasons

LynseySmith

Hi Tina

We accepted a revised offer yesterday still over 30K below our original asking price ...booo . First offer really crappy. Said I'd rather rent it. A week and a half later they've raised it. Not a huge amount admittedly, but we've decided to cut and run with that.

Still it lets us get on with our lives, and buy the type of place we want in Canada, rather than have to sort out renting and extra insurance and change of mortgage fee (of £1,000) .. etc....etc..
Also, the stress of trying to keep the place tidy with a 7 yr old and a 2 yr old has been driving me nuts!!!!

We thought we would have to release some money and buy a smaller place over there whilst keeping hold of this house - but there's also capital gains to think of..and we worked out we'd have to pay a few more grand out selling later anyway.

Finger crossed it all goes through now

You do really have to do whatever feels comfortable for you. I appreciate it's a difficult call to make.

Lynsey

Almost Canadian

I appreciate that but, as you said, that is how one would expect it to be in a sellers' market - not how it would be now

MB-Realtor

There are so many points here


1) Under Bidding

Two stories, 1st Richard Bransons, when he went to look at Necker Island it was for sale for $5,500,000 he offered $100,000 and got it for $125,000.

2nd one is mine, in the mid 80's I bought an old farm house for #80,000 by the late 80's it was valued at #350,000 in 1992 we had to sell it, and it went on for #275,000 within a week we got an offer for #175,000 I said for them to go to hell, 18 months later we finally sold for #170,000 .


2) The "Canadian Market"

There is no Canadian Market, there often is no "City" market, at the moment in Winnipeg the area called Transcona is short of houses for sale in $125,000 to $200,000 bracket so we are seeing more multiple bids and above asking price sales. In St James there are plenty in that bracket and only the best are attracting multiple offers. These positions change sometimes daily.

Get a Realtors as your Buyers Agent and when it is time to put in a bid they will price the home and advise you on Price/Conditions etc. Will they advise you to bid under, yes if its appropriate. They want you to get the best deal, so that you give them referrals and use them again when you next sell or buy.

3) Bidding Wars & Multiple Offers.

What happens in Winnipeg with the majority of homes for sale under about $400,000 is that when they first come onto the market, say on a Thursday, an open house will be on Sunday, and Offers are invited on Monday evening.

The purpose is to try and provoke multiple bids, when there are multiple bids you can normally be safe to say it will sell for over the asking price. This approach has worked well for the Seller, and will continue to be used unless the market here swings to a buyers market. At the moment its fairly balanced City wide, with pockets still a Sellers Market.

4) Buyers Market

In a buyers market prices will always be depressed, and no sensible buyer is going to put in an opening bid close to the asking price unless its really a great buy to begin with.

onlycanada

[QUOTE=MB-Realtor;7365334]There are so many points here

Hello, I was hoping you would come along. Brilliant. I love this thread. It's dear to all our hearts. "Oh My" sounds very Canadian by the way

wbexpat

now now.

at times like this its helpful to establish what one has control over and what one doesnt.
for example one has no control over what people offer, where the housing market is going, and what people post on here.

one can only control the decision to accept the offer, sell and move on or to hang on.

the only reason i can see for hanging on would be knowing that the value of the house is going to increase. the likelihood of that happening is predicated by three things:
a) access to and cost of credit
b) local job security / job market
c) where people think house prices are going in the medium term

only the seller can assess whether these three elements are favourable. if they are then the strategy of hanging on for a better price is sound.

good luck

stepnek

We bought our house in England off of the Council in 1999 and it was valued at 75,000 pounds. We got it after discount for 41,000 pounds. When we sold in 2004 it went for 169,000 pounds which was absolutely ridiculous in my rather innocent eyes. I'd never bought or sold before and to have the Estate Agent guy come around and advise putting it on the market for 175k just had me reeling.

What would I have accepted for it? Well, without prior knowledge a lot less than 169k but these Estate Agent chappies can make a person greedy!

I look at my old area on Rightmove and I don't see that prices have even got down to 2003/4 levels and it amazes me that people feel hard done by when they get offers well below the asking price. The values escalated out of all proportion and everyone who owned loved it and lots of people treated their homes like cash machines. Just complete madness and whilst I was renting my council house I was just so unaware of all of this.

We really benefitted from our house sale and we were really lucky to do so. I can understand why people trying to move here want to get their full asking price but I really hope that somehow prices of houses one day get to a more realistic level for people who just want to have somewhere to live.

Alberta_Rose

When this happened to me .... and I know my estate agent told people that I was desperate to leave because my OH and boys (and furniture) were already out here without me :curse::curse::curse:..... anyway (stops grinding teeth) ... I told them I was going to pull the house off the market for a while and then resubmit it for sale with some agents who actually knew what the **** they were doing!

Amazingly enough they realised that another couple was interested in the house .... and these people ended up being ready to move in immediately and offered me the full asking price (albeit quite a few k below the original price).

Don't get me started on UK estate agents .......

Jingsamichty

Are you serious? In this climate I don't think people need estate agents to advise how much to bid!

If I saw a house on for 169,950 there's no way I would open with a bid of 140,000. I reckon that 9 out of 10 vendors would be quite happy to close at 140,000 just now.

Remember also that 9 out of 10 vendors are not emigrating... whatever they "lose" on their house, they'll simply be looking to squeeze at least that amount from the next vendor up the chain.

The Dean

What was it worth - realistically - at the peak of the market?

albertabound

We were going to move house justover 2 years ago and had an offer of £236000.
We declined as we decided to move to Canada lol.
Tina