CANMORE CONDO INVESTMENT A SOLID DEAL

Advantages of having a nearby vacation home often overlooked

By Pamela Irving, Freelance

The Alberta Rockies have been No. 1 on Lonely Planet's Blue List for adventure destinations and attract millions of international visitors every year. While the rest of the world dreams of visiting the Rockies, Albertans may be prone to overlook this gorgeous playground.

With all this talk about 'go local,' are Albertans investing here?

"I think it's a tendency to not value what's in your own backyard," says Bob Leman, investor in a two-bedroom condo at Canmore's Blackstone Mountain Lodge.

Ed Romanowski, CEO of Bellstar Properties, a company that manages properties in Alberta and B.C., says that only 50 per cent of investors at his Canmore properties are from Alberta, evenly split between Calgary and Edmonton. The other 50 per cent are from other areas of Canada, centred mostly in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, the U.S. and overseas.

"Canadians are great at undervaluing our own opportunities, but it is partly due to the fact that what Bellstar sells is high quality with little inventory available. There may be a lot of cheaper properties -- in price and quality -- south of the border, but what we have here is more than a cheap buy and flip. People are also buying the location, even a family legacy."

Romanowski says prices may have roller-coastered in the last few years, but they have stabilized and are starting to climb again, so it's a good time to buy.

"If you factor in that you do not have to fly to get to Canmore, wait times in airports, expensive flights, taxes when you are south, there is not much in it. And you don't have the Rockies in Arizona."

Bob and Joanne Leman of Ardrossan met Greg and Janice McGrath of Fort Saskatchewan at a marriage course and have spent most of their anniversaries together for the past 29 years.

It is not surprising that they feel comfortable enough with each other to have bought a condo together at Blackstone Mountain Lodge before a spade was even put in the ground in 2005. They paid $342,900 for a two-bedroom, two-bath condo. The prices spiked by 20 per cent for a few years but have dropped back by about 10 per cent, so they are still ahead in their investment.

"We knew what we wanted and have been very pleased since the building was finished in 2008. The finishings are awesome -- granite countertops and blackstone slate on the floors."

The investment is not a time-share, but when the Lemans or McGraths are not in residence, the condo is rented through a pool program managed by Bellstar.

"Everything is there for us when we arrive after our four-hour drive -- dishware, clean bedding, everything you need. We don't have to worry about packing and unpacking all the time or do laundry and the pool program helps defray costs of owning the condo," Bob says.

The Lemans and the McGraths work out a schedule between the four of them. "Sometimes we go together, most of the time we take it on our own and sometimes our kids use it."

Another perk is the travel club membership that came with the initial investment. "There are annual fees of $100, but we can stay in world-class hotels anywhere in the world for a fraction of the normal cost, sometimes as low as $300 to $400 for a week."

The Lemans might stay at the Palm Springs Marriott or the Scottsdale Villa Mirage, but are happy to just visit these places.

For Bob, a project manager with Worley-Parsons Engineering in Edmonton, nothing beats de-stressing in Alberta's Rockies, where they like to golf at the nearby Kananaskis or Silver Tip resort, visit their favourite restaurant, The French Quarter, and best of all, soak in the outdoor hot tubs and year-round pool.

"With the brisk mountain air and the mountain views, it is our idea of heaven."

CALGARY HOUSING MARKET TO SIMMER, NOT SIZZLE

Economic optimism, improved choice and price stability contribute to a balanced housing market

Creb.ca

Calgary, May 3, 2010 - Calgary's housing market continues at a healthy and balanced pace, according to figures released today by the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB®).

The number of single family homes sold in April 2010 in the city of Calgary was up 5 per cent from the same time a year ago, while condominium sales saw an increase of 10 per cent from the same time a year ago.

April 2010 saw 1,352 single family homes sold in the city of Calgary. This is a decrease of 3 per cent from 1,396 sales in March 2010. In April 2009, single family home sales totaled 1,290. The number of condominium sales for the month of April 2010 was 639. This was an increase of 5 per cent from the 609 condominium transactions recorded in March 2010. In April 2009, condominium sales were 579.

"Continued economic optimism, improved choice and price stability are all contributing to a healthy and balanced housing market in Calgary," says Diane Scott, president of CREB®. "Calgary's housing market is set to simmer, not sizzle in 2010. We can be grateful that we are not facing any real danger of a housing bubble here in our market."

"There has been some talk about a bubble in some parts of Canada but the rapid price increases seen in Vancouver, Victoria and southern Ontario have not been seen in Calgary," Scott acknowledges. "Single family house prices are coming back nicely compared to 2009," says Scott.

The average price of a single family home in the city of Calgary in April 2010 was $460,378, showing an decrease of 2 per cent from March 2010, when the average price was $471,269, and showing an increase of 8 per cent from April 2009, when the average price was $426,311. The average price of a condominium in the city of Calgary was $289,588, showing a 2 per cent decrease from March 2010, when the average price was $296,660 and a 4 per cent increase over last year, when the average price was $277,953. Average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time, but does not indicate actual prices in centres comprised of widely divergent neighbourhoods, or account for price differentials between geographical areas.

The median price of a single family home in the city of Calgary for April 2010 was $417,000, showing a 1 per cent decrease from March 2010, when the median price was $423,000, and a 10 per cent increase from April 2009, when the median price was $380,000. The median price of a condominium in April 2010 was $267,500, showing a 3 per cent decrease from March 2010, when the median was $275,000. That's up 7 per cent from April 2009, when the median price was $251,000.

All city of Calgary MLS® statistics include properties listed and sold only within Calgary's city limits. The median price is the price that is midway between the least expensive and most expensive home sold in an area during a given period of time. During that time, half the buyers bought homes that cost more than the median price and half bought homes for less than the median price.

"Our average price is holding relatively steady," says Scott. "The pace of price increase has been tempered by the rate of new listings that has been growing faster than sales. Sales levels are still well below the high demand from 2004-2008, mainly because we are still not seeing high job growth and unemployment has remained high."

Single family listings in the city of Calgary added for the month of April totaled 3,082, an increase of 3 per cent from March 2010 when 2,988 new listings were added, and showing an increase of 53 per cent from April 2009, when 2,010 new listings came to the market. Condominium new listings in the city of Calgary added for April 2010 were 1,335, down 3 per cent from March 2010, when the MLS® saw 1,376 condo listings coming to the market. This is an increase of 38 per cent from April 2009, when new condominium listings added were 967.

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