Leo & Taylor Morrison

The Saskatchewan Real Estate market is booming! At levels not seen since 2014. Inventory levels are reaching a NEW LOW. In Saskatoon, listings fell 24% and in Prince Albert, they fell 18.3%. Because supply is so low and demand remains high, sellers are selling their homes faster and for a great price!

If you’re curious what you could sell your home for, ask us for a FREE Home Evaluation. This will tell you what you could sell your home for today.

-Léo & Taylor Morrison

SASKATOON

Sales in Saskatoon were up 35% from December 2019. Sales dollar volume increased, up 39.6%. Listings decreased, down 24%. Homes in the city are spending an average of 48 days. The average home price is $318,000, up 2.8% from last year. Saskatoon is exerting a very strong sellers’ market with a 79% ratio.

SASKATOON REGION

In the Saskatoon Region, sales increased, up 41.5% compared to December 2019. Sales dollar volume was up 28.4%. Listings decreased, down 27.9%. Homes are spending an average of 57 days on the market. The average home price is $313,956, down 3.8% from last year. The sales to new listings ratio is 75.9% resulting in a strong sellers’ market.

PRINCE ALBERT

Comparing to December 2019, this year experienced overall increases with sales being up 169%!! Sales dollar volume increased, up 199%. Listings were down 18.3%. The average home price went down by 7.4% to $180,500. Homes were spending an average of 92 days on market. PA has sales to new listings ratio of 109.2%.

PRINCE ALBERT REGION

This December, sales in the PA region were up 166% compared to  2019. Total sales volume was up 30.8%. Listings decreased, down 29%. Homes spent an ‘average days on market’ of 90 days. Average home prices increased by 3.7% to $213,971 from last year. PA region saw conditions favouring a sellers market, exerting a 103.7% sales to new listings ratio.

There is no doubt that 2020 was one for the books. It will be remembered as a year like no other. COVID-19 has caused significant national economic disruption, to say the least. While we’ve seen government intervention, record unemployment, mortgage payment deferrals, record low-interest rates, we’ve also seen continued growth in the housing market.

So what can we expect as we move into 2021? 

Jenn Slater from OneSt Mortgage has all the answers: 

“As we move towards 2021, we can see low interest rates and increased scrutiny on all mortgage applications are most likely in the cards.”

Slater shares the following 3 items to be aware in 2021: 

First – Low interest rates

Right now, both fixed and variable rate mortgage rates are at all-time lows. The cost to borrow money for a mortgage has never been cheaper. According to the Bank of Canada, we can expect them to stay low for the foreseeable future. “Interest rates are very low, and they are going to be there for a long time. Canadians and Canadian businesses are facing an unusual amount of uncertainty, so we have been unusually clear about the future path for interest rates.”

And while low interest rates are a good thing for financing property now, unfortunately, they won’t be as easy to access as in previous years.

Second – More scrutiny on mortgage applications

While we don’t expect lender or insurer guidelines to change much in the coming months, securing mortgage financing in a post-COVID economy has already proven to be harder as lenders apply increased scrutiny to each application. Every mortgage application is being looked at more deeply, and additional documentation is being requested to substantiate your application. Lenders are being more cautious about who they’re lending money to.

If you’re self-employed or rely on overtime, bonuses, or picking up additional shifts to make ends meet, securing a mortgage is going to be more difficult for you. As lenders look at a 2 year average for employment, if you took a hit to your income in 2020, that will impact you in 2021. Any type of non-guaranteed income will be more scrutinized.

If the pandemic impacted your employment and you deferred any payments (credit card, loan, line of credit, or mortgage), expect to be questioned. Lenders will ask for your story; they will want to know why you had to defer payments and how you are now in a better financial position.

Unfortunately, one of the common complaints about getting a mortgage is that it is very document-intensive. Lenders want to see a lot of supporting documents for every mortgage application. And moving into mortgage financing in 2021, you can expect even more requests for supporting documents.

Third – Have a plan in place

So while the housing market continues to grow and low rates make it a good time to buy, the best way to prepare for increased scrutiny and documentation on your mortgage application is to plan ahead.

If your mortgage is up for renewal, you’d like to refinance, or you’re planning on buying a new property, the best thing to do is to get started immediately. Getting together your documents will take time; having a plan on what that looks like is the way to go.

Let’s make a plan! Contact us to get started. 

Jenn Slater, Mortgage Associate

306.220.9622 | [email protected]

License #316444, Brokerage License #316566

Are you looking to move in 2021? 

If you’re looking to sell, you’ll probably want to get the best possible price for your property. Who wouldn’t? Unfortunately, there are many ways to inadvertently leave money on the table. How do you avoid that possibility? 

The 3 Ps of getting the best price for your home: 

 #1: Prep. 

Do everything you can to prepare your home so that it looks great to buyers. Clean, declutter, fix, and make improvements. Home staging can also help. Staging has been proven to pay off in the end; in fact, effectively staged homes have been shown to sell for up to 5% more than comparable unstaged properties. 

We know exactly what buyers look for when shopping for a home. A couple months before listing a property, we walk through homes and offer our clients a quick do list of things that will bring immense value when actually listing their home.

 #2: Pro. 

Seek a Real Estate Professionals to help you manage the big decision. Someone who, like us, understand the desire to work with people who truly care, as if they were family. Pros will help you with advice on how to prepare your home, the price range it should be listed at, the marketing plan to get the best exposure for your home, while helping you throughout your entire real estate journey. 

 #3 Price. 

Set the right asking price. This aspect is crucial and often overlooked. If it’s too low, you’ll attract only deal-hunters — and you will probably end up getting less than you should. If the asking price is too high, however, you’ll discourage those buyers who might otherwise be interested and willing to make a good offer. Be careful with pricing! 

We like to compare the pricing of real estate to red wine. Yes, red wine. When you first poor a glass of red wine, you have a good taste in your mouth. This is what happens when new houses are introduced onto the market. They are new, exciting and they look good! Then think of a glass of wine that has been sitting on the counter for 75 days, it doesn’t have the same appeal as to when you first opened the bottle. This is the danger of becoming stale on the market. Other buyers will wonder what is wrong with the property.

This comparison reveals the truth about pricing the house right. When we price homes, we want to place your home on the market for top dollar and remain like that fresh glass of red wine, new and exciting! 

These 3 Ps are easy to remember, but sometimes not so easy to implement! That’s why working with a real estate agent who has expertise, innovation and industry knowledge is so important. Text us to get the conversation started. We look forward to hearing from you!

-Léo & Taylor 

Taylor & Léo Morrison 
Colwell Banker Signature
(306) 370-8474
[email protected]

“The Saskatchewan real estate market continues to outshine last year. In October 2020, sales were up 38.4%, new listings up 1%, and median sale price up 7.8%. It is important to highlight that inventories are either becoming stagnant or decreasing however the number of active buyers is still high. The numbers prove it… Now is the perfect time to list a property! Across the board, Saskatoon and Prince Albert are exerting strong seller’s markets.”

-Léo & Taylor Morrison

SASKATOON

 Sales in Saskatoon are on the rise, up 40.5% from October 2019. Sales dollar volume is also increasing, up 56.4% in the city from $96.7M to $151.2M. Listings increased slightly, up 4%. Homes in the city are spending an average of 42 days on MLS. The average home price is $330,000, up 9.1% from last year. Saskatoon is exerting a buyers’ market with a 69% ratio – favouring sellers. 

SASKATOON REGION

 In the Saskatoon Region, sales are also on the rise, up 42.6% compared to October 2019. Sales dollar volume is up 26.2%. Listings are down 2.5%. Homes are spending an average of 50 days on the market. The average home price is $320,000, up 11.3% from last year. The Saskatoon Region has a sales to new listings ratio of 70.1- favouring sellers. 

PRINCE ALBERT

Comparing to October 2019, Prince Albert saw sales up by 5.1%. Sales volume dropped slightly by 0.9%. Listings increased significantly, up 34.8%. The average home price decreased 16% in the city from $250,000 to $210,000 from last year. Homes spent an average of 87 on the market. Prince Albert has a dominating sellers’ market – with 66.1% sales to new listings ratio. 

PRINCE ALBERT REGION

In the PA region, sales were up 28.6% compared to October 2019. Total sales volume was up 23.6%. Listings also increased, up 12.1%. Homes in the region stayed on the market longer than homes in the city at 100 days on average in 2020. Average home prices were down 6.4% to $234,000 from last year. Similar to the city, the region is also seeing a dominating sellers market, exerting a 71.6% sales to new listings ratio. 

Any questions? Feel free to get in touch with us and we’d be happy to explain it all!

With respect, 
Taylor and Léo 

Taylor & Léo Morrison 
Colwell Banker Signature
(306) 370-8474
[email protected]

 Have you ever considered investing in Real Estate? Need help analyzing deals to calculate your return on investment (ROI)? We specialize in this kind of stuff! 

Let’s take a look at 3 different investment strategies that we often analyze for ourselves and our clients, which could potentially make you big money: 

Type 1 – Flip

Flipping is a type of investing strategy where you purchase a property, add value to the place, and then sell it to make a profit.

For example, let’s take fla look at a flipping scenario: a buyer purchases a $250,000 property, puts $35,000 into home renovations, and then sells it for $350,000 in just short of 2 months. In this example, the investor would have made roughly $50,000 after paying real estate and lawyer fees and paying any holding expenses.

This is a strategy that makes an investor quick cash in a short period.

Type 2 – Turn-Key

A turnkey property is an investment strategy where an investor can purchase a property and immediately rent it out, hence the name “turn-key”.

Let’s take a look at a type 2 scenario: an investor buys a property for $350,000 and puts down 20% to bypass CMHC fees (the minimum % down for a property is 5%). A monthly mortgage payment along with all of the home exfipenses (*utilities, fire insurance, and taxes) is approximately $1,600. The investor rents the property out for $1,800. They would only be netting $200/month however in the long run, they are building equity! Enough equity so that in 5-10 years, a parent would have more than enough cash to put a child through an entire University degree just by selling the property.

Type 3 – BRRRR

BRRRR stands for Buy, fiRehab, Rent, Refinance, and Repeat. “This is an investment method that enables a buyer to borrow against the value of the property when it’s at it’s highest. This method, if done correctly, could help one recover most if not all the money invested in the property.”

This strategy involves a little more planning and details. A great explanation and example of the BRRRR method can be found on the BiggerPockets website in the following article: “How to Invest in Real Estate Using the BRRRR Method” by David Green.

Type 2 and 3 are strategies that build equity over a long period of time.

Taylor, being fresh in real estate, recommends the flipping strategy to build quick equity over a short period of time. She is currently saving her return on investments and coaching her clients (whom are following suit) to do the same. After saving substantial equity, her strategy is to enable herself to be able to invest in bigger BRRRR and Turnkey projects.

BRRRR is a method Leo likes to recommend to his clients. Having been in the industry for over 33 years, he enjoys helping his clients build their real estate portfolio. He personally has executed and holds several BRRRR and turnkey single-family and multi-family dwellings. There is no right or wrong strategy. It all depends on analyzing deals to ensure a strong return on investment. THAT is what we can help with! fiWe thrive on finding good deals and making our clients money.

The Dream:

If one were to hold 5 properties and pay them off by the time they were ready to retire, they could be netting around $5,000 / month just by continuing to rent the properties out. Keep in mind, there would be no mortgages on the investment properties therefore, the investor could sell a property and have the value of the home in cash, minus the real estate and lawyer fees. This in turn, provides the investor with a huge lump sum of cash to have available

Any questions? Feel free to get in touch with us and we’d be happy to explain it all!

With respect, 
Taylor and Léo 

Taylor & Léo Morrison 
Colwell Banker Signature
(306) 370-8474
[email protected]

“In last month’s overview, we expected the market to follow historical trends and slow down in September, but also expected to see higher sales numbers than September 2019. We were quite accurate as the September statistics show that the market continues to be quite resil-ient as COVID-19 cases rise, surpassing the 2019 sales figures. Even though the market is cooling down as we get closer to the winter months, the interest rates continue to remain low which is a good sign sales will proceed to surpass last years.”

-Léo & Taylor Morrison

SASKATOON

Sales in Saskatoon were up 41% from September 2019. Sales dollar volume increased by 43%from $107.7M to $154M. Listings increased 13.4%. Homes in the city are spending an average of 40 days on the market. The median home price is $345,000, an increase of 4.6% from last year. Saskatoon is exerting a sellers’ market with a 52.9% ratio.

SASKATOON REGION

Sales in the Saskatoon region were up 54.4% from September 2019. Sales dollar volume increased by 22.8% from $1,213.9M to 7$1,490.6M. Listings increased 6.7%. Homes in the region are spending an average of 51 days on the market. The median home price is $330,000, up by 6.5% from last year. Saska-toon region is exerting a sellers’ market with a 61.2% ratio.

PRINCE ALBERT

Sales in Prince Albert were steady from September 2019. Sales dollar volume decreased by 12% from $7.5M to $6.6M. Listings rose 19.6%. Homes in the city are spend-ing an average of 93 days on the market. The median home price is $225,500, a decrease of 8.7% from last year. Prince Albert is exerting a sellers’ market with a 44.8% ratio.

PRINCE ALBERT REGION

Sales in the Prince Albert region were up 54% from September 2019. Sales dollar volume increased by 24.7% from $104M to $129.7M Listings rose 7.1%. Homes in the region are spending an average of 93 days on the market. The median home price is $220,000, a decrease of 3.1% from last year. Prince Albert region is exerting a sellers’ market with a 63.6% ratio.

Any questions? Feel free to get in touch with us and we’d be happy to explain it all!

With respect, 
Taylor and Léo 

Taylor & Léo Morrison 
Colwell Banker Signature
(306) 370-8474
[email protected]

In a previous article about what Léo and Taylor can do for you as real estate consultants, we briefly mentioned the home evaluation process. This article will dive deeper into that process, and it will break down precisely what gives a home value in the Saskatchewan market.

Location, Location, Location

Homes generally hold a higher value in more convenient areas. A great example is comparing prices of downtown condos compared to ones in a typical suburb. The downtown location is a lot more convenient as it is closer to shopping centres, entertainment, recreation centres and employment opportunities. In Saskatchewan, the top 7 most expensive apartment/condo-style homes are within walking distance to downtown cores that hold values above $850,000. However, a home’s value isn’t exclusively based on its proximity to a downtown area. It can also be affected by its proximity to highways, ease of access to downtown centres, and local schools’ quality.

Neighbourhood Comparables

One of the most straightforward tools real estate consultants use is to analyze the housing market in a particular neighbourhood. They can determine what houses are selling and ones that aren’t based on the area and the price. Under normal circumstances, homes near each other are very similarly valued because of similar traits such as age and lot size. Using comparables can typically give a plus or minus $50,000-$75,000 price range estimate.

Home size and Usable Space

Square footage of a home is a key indicator of its value. After doing a quick search of the first 25 homes on the MLS market in Saskatoon, the average price per square foot in Adelaide Churchill was $290/square foot. Like the neighbourhood comparables, this ratio provides a baseline valuation for a home in the surrounding area. The price per square foot may be similar in other comparable regions, but the ratio will fluctuate depending on the specific neighbourhood. In addition to square footage, the home’s usable space matters when determining its value. Usable space is the square footage of the home minus any unlivable areas such as unfinished basements, garages and attics.

Age and condition

Newer homes are typically appraised at a higher value because the plumbing, electrical and structure itself are less prone to failure, and if they do, they’re most likely be covered by a warranty. That’s not to say older homes are valued less because they will break down, but instead, people tend to pay a premium for housing that is move-in-ready. For older homes, it’s important to pay attention to when the mechanical was upgraded, the roof was replaced and so on.

Energy Efficiency

We are all well aware of the harsh weather conditions in Saskatchewan. From 30°C in the summer to -30°C in the winter, which means air conditioners and furnaces take their turns running nearly all year round. Having energy-efficient appliances can help save homeowners hundreds of dollars a year on their power bills. The newer the appliances, the better since they will be less prone to failure. Also, each year companies come out with more efficient models. A home’s R-value or the insulation rating can significantly impact value. The better the house is insulated, the more energy-efficient it will be. Extra insulation is ideal in the attic and walls, including the basement, as often they can be overlooked or insulated to the minimum standard. Other ways to increase the R-value are through window upgrades with extra panes and weather stripping and energy-efficient exterior doors.