The Home Tribe Real Estate Blog

Hello Edmonton Real Estate – What Is Going On? (A Recap From May)

• 1,771 properties were sold in the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (up 18% from April)
• 1,119 single family detached homes were sold in the Edmonton CMA (19% percent increase from April)
• 449 condos and 203 duplex/rowhouses sold (up 5% and 37% from April, respectively)
• $382,695 was the average all-residential price for May (up by over 1% from April)

“While new listings coming onto the market were down this May compared to 2015, inventory continues to remain strong with more than 8,000 residential properties on the market at month’s end,” REALTORS® Association of Edmonton Chair Steve Sedgwick said. “The fact that we haven’t seen a significant decline in prices is giving buyers more assurance. They are making purchases based on market stability and good selection.”

What Is Happening In Your Area – Stats Wise?

We are excited to annouce that we are now launching monthly stats based on region. Central Edmonton Dwellers (Downtown & Oliver)  – check out stats specific to this area below. Don’t live in the core? Contact us to get updated on what’s happening in your hood. 

When we designed our Edmonton Building Age Map and wrote about Edmonton’s Urban Sprawl, we did not anticipate all the feedback and thoughts we would receive from Edmontonians and other great people through Twitter. Rather than just keeping the conversation there, we thought it would be useful to further share some of the thoughts and ideas here. Keep the #yegurbansprawl conversation going, by further sharing your thoughts on this heated topic.

• @adgelessness – “We have city’s to manage and service those effects to satisfy our choice of lifestyle.”
• @salcomm – “So many thoughts on sprawl. #1 dense suburbs still car centric. #2 Amenities in power centres, strip malls separated by big roads. #3 Neighbourhoods pw.o. alleys have to demolish hses and add more driveways crossing sidewalks to densify. #4 people still leaving to breed in the burbs. Weak connection between high density builds & less sprawl or affordability. Suburbs may be dense but still very car centric. Amenities a drive away across big roads. Street design 60yrs old. First, [we need to] stop building new developments using failed patterns.”
• @tstewarts – “My thoughts are we need to start building up.”
• @RobMeekel – “There’s a few things I’d say, first of all “urban sprawl” is designed as a negative term. No matter what side of an issue there’s usually more to it than people know and/or want to share. All cards on table needed. Which is OK if you are from that point of view but greater density has its own set of negative issues, conversation needs balance. Building codes have not kept up with Higher density, we now build zero property line 4 feet apart wrapped in combustible plastic siding. One house starts on fire its guaranteed that surely neighbouring properties will too, older 50s & 60s residential driveways were barriers. Smaller streets, more people, cars stacked on top of each other create streets its dangerous for children to be out on. In #YYC we have issues with 2nd scary suites (catch my POV?) people who buy R1 to live don’t want them, but property investors (which I am too) wanna buy on the low end and have re-zoned for profit (rentals). It doesn’t help that #yyc for years neglected to have sufficient multi-unit & multi family requirements in new residential areas. So when rental is tight (boom years) they use it as excuse to “need” more rental re-zoning. This leads to anger amongst property owners with different views. I don’t want anything but R1 where I live, my biggest investment was by choice in R1. My other properties (by specific choice) have been zoned multi from the start.”

These are all great points. The key to enhancing our city is conversation to allow for new possibilities to emerge regarding the needs of Edmonton’s urban planning.It is up to all of us to design and build places we love living in and our proud of! By re-looking at design concepts for urban planning and shifting our perspectives, we will find the right balance between “urban vs. suburban” “growing up and out” and making this city of ours even greater.

Questions to think about when it comes to property assessment changes?

Buying a home is likely one of the biggest decisions of a person’s life from a financial perspective. For this reason, Home Tribe aims to help people use data and science to make better and more informed decisions related to buying a home. In addition to our Home Tribe Match function, which relies heavily on numerous datasets related to real estate, we will be expanding our blog to bring some of this data out from behind the scenes, and to showcase other cool information that is relevant or just plain awesome.

With property taxes in the news over this past month, we thought it would be a great time to release our latest data visualization map. Similar in appearance to the building age map we published in March, this map highlights the areas of the city of Edmonton where property assessment values have either increased or decreased in the last year. You can view our Edmonton property comparison visualization of 2015-2016 here.

You may have also come across the City of Edmonton’s amusing videos that attempt to illuminate the process the City uses to determine the value of every property in Edmonton on an annual basis. Even after watching the videos, I still had questions about how these assessment increases or decreases vary from place to place within Edmonton. Our Assessed Values map does a great job of illuminating how the assessed values changed in the past year, using open data from the City’s Open Data Catalogue.

One feature of this data that jumped out at me right away is the distinctive barrier in northern Edmonton, 137 ave. On the north side of this road property taxes almost all increased significantly (one notable exception being Londonderry Mall), on the south side they decreased. In fact, the neighbourhood in the city with the greatest decrease in assessment values, Athlone, is on the west side of this zone. Use the search bar in the top right of the map to pinpoint Athlone, or other

Another interesting pattern that I noticed is the tendency for houses on the edge of a neighbourhood to have the opposite trend as the houses on the inside of the same neighbourhood in some areas of the city, most notably in the south west. Is this effect partially due to nice river valley views, or, in the case of decreases, river valley land slide danger (such as along Whitemud Rd)? In the most expensive neighbourhood in town, Westbrook Estates, there is an interesting inner row of houses that decreased their assessed value in contrast to the rest of the neighbourhood. Is this due to the fact that they border onto the Derrick Golf Club, and there could be more stray golf ball danger now than last year?

As you can probably tell, more often than not, looking at data in this way can raise more questions than it answers. This certainly isn’t a bad thing though, without a great visualization of data like this, it’s hard to even determine what questions to ask!

“It All Starts With One Can”

It all starts with a mission of creativity and giving back to the community to “feed and inspire the world – one can at a time”. This is exactly what Canstruction is all about:

Canstruction^® is a unique charity which hosts competitions, exhibitions and events showcasing colossal structures made out of full cans of food. After the structures are built, the cansculptures^® go on display to the public as a giant art exhibition. At the end of the event, all food is donated to local hunger relief organizations.

Recognized for our commitment to innovation, hunger relief  and collaboration, our work has helped raise nearly 40 million pounds of food since 1992.  Canstruction^® events are hosted in over 150 cities around the world including North America, Australia, South America, Europe and Asia.

This week Canstruction Edmonton is being held with the sculptures on display from May 8 – 18, 2016 at the University of Alberta Enterprise Square. We have been informed there will be 11 teams participating and that 5 of them will be star wars themed. Admission is virtually free, however, they are asking everyone to provide a non-perishable food item or a monetary donation for the food banks.

Looking to get involved and participate next year? Here are 4 good reasons to consider:

1. It’s for the food bank. People are in need.
2. Be part of your community. Join the fun and enjoy all the CANsculptures!
3. Challenge your creativity and skill at bringing your vision to life!
4. Finish with a tangible work of art and a life experience!

Perfect starter home is awaiting new owners! Enter this fantastic half duplex and experience a large entryway leading into an open kitchen and bright living room. The kitchen has plenty of counter space for cooking and entertaining, while the living room comes complete with a beautiful gas fireplace one can cozy up to. Upstairs, your bonus room awaits, ideal for movie night with the family along with 3 bedrooms. The master bedroom features a full ensuite and a walk in closet. This home is located in the desirable community of Matt Berry which is minutes away from the amenities you need and easy access to the Anthony Henday and Manning Drive. Move quick, as this Matt Berry Home will surely sell fast, contact Elisse Moreno to view!

You won’t want to miss this fantastic two storey townhouse located in beautiful Norshire Gardens. The main floor features a bright living room, dining area and upgraded kitchen complete with maple cabinets and newer appliances. The upstairs boasts 3 bedrooms with a great sized master bedroom, a 4 piece bathroom and a large linen closet. This spotless home is ready for new owners and has been meticulously maintained which is apparent with the newer hot water tank/furnace(4-5 years old), roof shingles, windows and the nicely landscaped yard. Did we also mention that your pets are welcome? Act fast, as this listing is a definite must see. To view this Well Kept Home for yourself, simply contact Elisse Moreno for more information!

Last month, the TruHome team was excited to launch our Edmonton Building Age Map in partnership with Beta City Yeg and help from many amazing Edmontonians including Wesley Andreas and Trevor Prentice. The launch of this interactive map in the end brought about much debate and excitement, largely due to the conversations being had city wide about Urban Sprawl and the impact it could have on future city budgets.

On March 18, 2016 – Don Iveson wrote his own blog about “Calculating Our Real Costs Of Our Growth” in which he advises about the future potential cost of new communities. According to their calculations, “when [the city of Edmonton considers] the full life cycle of this infrastructure and the delivery of city services to these growth areas, the model shows a revenue shortfall of $1.4 billion over the next 50 years.” To be fair to Don though, he is certainly not stating that growth of this kind is inherently bad, but is rather trying to provoke a deeper conversation about how growth can be paid for.

Based on his question, one has to ask the question as to whether higher density is the answer? Or, whose taxes should be higher – those in the urban regions of the city or those in the suburban regions? These are not easy answers, nor are we trying to advise on an answer. Our goal, is to present more thoughts and ideas to continue to this discussion as to how we can aspire to build better neighbourhoods no matter where they are built.

Yes, higher density needs to be part of the overall conversation, however, many people may not be aware that the newer communities that are being built are more dense then their neighbourhoods of the past (1950’s-1960’s). In fact, previously one hectre acre would say approx. 10 houses, while now you’ll see 20.

The Canadian Home Builders Association – Alberta is also being proactive in doing their own research on economic growth and how it impacts the city of Edmonton. This week, they are exploring Denver, a city similar to Edmonton, who has been proactively seeking alternative housing solutions to combat these very questions and issues. I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Cashman, the Communication Manager last week about Urban Sprawl and their organization. From it came some very insightful and interesting dialogue.

Paul brought up some great points about Edmonton highlighting the importance of balance: “giving choices that people want”. We talked about the fact that Edmonton is unique in the sense that not all jobs are located around the core. Many Edmonton employees work in the suburban areas or even outside in Nisku or Leduc, making the southern most  Edmonton neighbours ideal for commutability and raising a family.

We also have discussed the concept that Edmonton is very much a “prairie” city in which many people have grown up and are used to having their own “land”, meaning that not everyone wants to live in a condo type setting. Times are changing though, and the different home ownership options in the Edmonton Real Estate market are definitely highlighting this fact.

Another big part of the equation comes down to affordability. At the end of the day, people are going to go where they can afford to buy the kind of Edmonton real estate they want.

What are your thoughts on Urban Sprawl, and the future of the city of Edmonton’s growth?

Want to learn more about TruHome’s Edmonton Building Age Map? Read more about it in these publications:

• Edmonton Examiner
• Maps Mania
• The Map Room
• Spacing Edmonton
• Canadian Geographic

Buying a home is likely one of the biggest decisions of a person’s life from a financial perspective. For this reason, Home Tribe aims to help people use data and science to make better and more informed decisions related to buying a home. In addition to our Home Tribe Match function, which relies heavily on numerous datasets related to real estate, we will be expanding our blog to bring some of this data out from behind the scenes, and to showcase other cool information that is relevant or just plain awesome. 

Through our participation with the vibrant community of data enthusiasts  in Edmonton, we recently came across a request to redeploy the open source Chicago Building Age Map for Edmonton. The Home Tribe team was excited to take on the challenge. View the visualization of the City of Edmonton’s Building Age Map. 

Creating a local version of this map required some pretty intense data, including one of my personal favourite datasets that has been released through the City of Edmonton’s Open Data Catalogue: the rooflines dataset. I love this set because of the sheer amount of info it contains, which is clearly evident when you load it as a map. Combining this with the more recently released data on the year each building in Edmonton was built, allowed our team to put together the crazy visualization that you see below.

To really give the map a local feel, we figured it would be important to customize the date ranges that allow for focusing on specific periods of Edmonton’s history. Edmonton’s Architectural Heritage website divides our history into five major periods including “Urban Settlement”, “Urban Growth”, “The War Years” and “The Post War Years”. This was a great place to start, but we thought it would also be worthwhile looking at how population changed in Edmonton, and of course when there were major construction booms. Neighbourhood planner and Spruce Avenue Neighbourhood Historian, Wesley Andreas, also helped confirm and refine our planned time periods. Combining much of this information, and balancing it with the actual number of buildings built in each time period from the dataset displayed, we were able to subtly improve the history lesson that goes along with this quite eye-catching display of two extremely intense city datasets.

Have some fun; try to find the answers to these questions:

• What did the city look like at the end of WWII?
• When was your house built and how does this align with nearby areas?
• In what areas has the city been expanding most in the last decade or so?

On a budget? Purchase a couple tulips and some fake moss. Place them all in an old jar and voila!

Enjoy Decorating Your Edmonton Home This Easter With Our Tips

Forget the Easter bunny and splurging on chocolates! This Easter, I say we celebrate the arrival of Spring. After all, we did survive a harsh Edmonton winter…the thought of walking my dog in 30-something below zero still makes me shiver. So, how exactly does one celebrate Spring? By decorating your Edmonton condo of course! (Think bright colourful tulips, chirping birds, and lush green plants.)

Follow these Easter decorating tips to help you shake away the winter blues and make your Edmonton condo feel like something off a Disney movie.

• Incorporate Natural Elements To Your Edmonton Home’s Interior: Hit up the nearest Michaels or Bed Bath & Beyond for some supplies and incorporate spring-themed natural elements such as a tiny bird’s nest, tulips, succulents, or moss to your home’s interior.
• Transform Flat Surfaces Into A Seasonal Display: Fireplace mantels, side tables, and the centre of your dinette make great locations for a seasonal display.
• Add An Easter Wreath To Your Door: Welcome your guests and passerby’s with a colourful Easter wreath. Simply attach some egg-filled nests, twine-and-raffia carrots, and some moss.
• Create A Zesty Centrepiece: It’s super easy to make, just purchase an all-white Easter Centrepiece then add halved oranges and lemons. All you need to do is cut the fruit, skewer the halves on floral picks, and slide them into arrangements before your guests arrive. It’s enough to make Snow White jealous!

There are so many tips and Easter decorating tips out there that keeping track of them would be a full-time job! Nevertheless we would love to read your tips and tricks for celebrating spring, decorating for Easter, or entertaining kids with Easter-themed activities. Do you have a great Easter decorating idea? Be sure to leave a comment below.

2016 is the REALTORS® Community Foundation’s (RCF) 30th year of giving back. RCF is an Edmonton based organization that brings together realtors with local communities to assist in funding and supporting charities that focus on homelessness, shelter, hunger, preventing crime, and other special projects.

Just like Elisse and our Home Tribe team, RCF is dedicated to caring, sharing and investing in our community!

In 2015, Elisse donated a portion of funds for each deal she closed. Thanks to our contributions and other amazing agents in the Edmonton region , RCF was able to announce that $308,000 went directly to some fantastic Edmonton and surrounding area charities!

These charities included working with hungry children,homeless youth, people suffering with addictions or mental illness and more. Each of these were all given a hand up because of the parts Realtors played in RCF’s collective success.

As Jill Didow would say, “Realtors are truly the most generous people i know”. By donating, we have been a part of helping over 50 charities with 100,000 people and counting being assisted. Discover more about the Realtors Community Foundation of Edmonton and how Realtors support and care for their communities.