The Home Tribe Real Estate Blog

Personalized Engagements Net Results

Strength is better in numbers. That statement rang true in November when the final suite in Elm Developments’ 189-unit Hampton Gardens was leased. The strategic partnership between Elm Developments, TruHome, and McCor Property Management ensured that despite the challenges 2020 brought, the Gardens outperformed similar southwest Edmonton properties and was leased at 100% capacity at the end of November. 

At TruHome, we held home-court advantage, supporting Ontario-based Elm Developments through their first Alberta development. Our extensive leasing experience, hyper-local marketing expertise, in-depth knowledge of the community, and social media engagement helped Elm understand the exclusive social and demographic needs of the Hamptons. These assets helped future tenants understand the value of the community, the location, and the amenities available to them in the surrounding areas.

With COVID, we could no longer rely on traditional methods like open houses and events to showcase new units. What can you expect from us?

• Highly personalized showings
• A safe environment, sanitizer, and social distancing
• An exclusive atmosphere, just for you.

The above strategies quickly made available Hamptons Gardens units a hot commodity, and we have continued to offer these personalized touchpoints for clients. 

The Hamptons’ rapid lease-up is uncommon, particularly here in Edmonton. Urban Analytics, a partner of TruHome, shared that  “It’s uncommon for buildings to fill this quickly, especially without incentives. The fact that TruHome and McCor were able to outperform the average occupancy time frame by 50% indicates that the units were priced appropriately, and the rent was kept consistent during the leasing process.” These are all considerations that you should expect from an experienced real estate team. For reference, the average time to fill similar complexes in Alberta is approximately 18 months, more than 50% longer than the Gardens.

If you’re a developer looking to enhance your next rental or for sale project, our team of experts can help you get the results you want. Let’s chat further about how we can help personalize your project to meet its maximum potential. 

With pandemic restrictions in Alberta for the long haul, residents of the Hamptons are enjoying an indoor oasis in their new homes, with luxurious on-site amenities including European inspired kitchens, and styled bathrooms for spa-inspired relaxation. Sound like the slice of paradise you’ve been dreaming of? 

Give us a call or send us a message to chat more about what we can do for you. Because without the promise of a tropical vacation on your horizon, and dropping temperatures here in YEG, you deserve to have your home be the getaway you’ve always wanted. 

Downtown Edmonton Restaurants To support

While We’re Still In Lockdown (and beyond)

It’s cold, it’s dark, and we’re on what seems to be day 5,000 of lockdown. Though ordering delivery pizza for dinner may seem like the easiest option, there are many restaurants in Edmonton that need support right now (and are just as easy to order from)! Here are 8 restaurants in YEG that would be super appreciative of your support—now more than ever. And what’s even better, the food is truly incredible.

1. King Noodle House

Its winter, which means soup is a must. Located in China Town, King Noodle House is offering authentic pho to-go. It’s pick-up and cash only, but you won’t regret supporting this family-owned business!

2. Pazzo Pazzo
A hidden gem, Pazzo Pazzo is an Italian restaurant located in Downtown Edmonton, near City Hall. This quaint restaurant serves Italian classics for lunch and dinner, and they’re currently offering 20% off phone-in pick-up orders. Make sure to try the Penne Pazzo! This is a favourite of Elisse & Caitlin’s. The pasta dishes are a generous size which makes them perfect for sharing!

3. Syphay

We don’t have enough good things to say about this Thai & Lao restaurant! Huge portions, incredible flavour, options galore. This restaurant is family-owned, and is run by three sisters named Katherine, Anita and Shawna. We highly recommend the Tofu Green Curry and the Pan Lad Nha.

4. Mercer Tavern

A pub-style restaurant, Mercer Tavern is always revamping its menu, has a ton of takeout options, and has many meal kits like nacho kits, chips & queso kits, and poutine kits. Yum! And if you’re feeling thirsty, they also have a ready-to-pour take-home drink menu. What’s more—they have their own delivery service!

5. The Local Omnivore

Located closer to 124 St, The Local Omnivore is best known for their meat-heavy and unique dishes. Their current take-out menu consists of a Hot Food menu and a Cold Food menu, and their current everyday special is 4 burgers for $20. If you ask us, the poutine is the best thing on the menu!

6.  Wholly Mac

A brand-new restaurant that has the same owners as Partake and Urban Diner (two amazing Edmonton restaurants you should also support!), Wholly Mac is a macaroni and cheese ONLY restaurant. Available through SkipTheDishes only, this restaurant definitely offers a unique experience that everyone needs to try once.

7.  Padmanadi

If you know, you know. This family-owned vegetarian & vegan restaurant offers the some of the best meat-free Thai, Chinese and Indian dishes in Edmonton. Even if you’re a meat lover, we promise you will still love the soy-based dishes they offer—like the King Pao Chicken. This is a popular spot for Elisse and her family with ginger beef and curry chicken always on their go to list.

8. Cosmic Pizza

Still craving that pizza? We don’t blame you. Located right off 104 Street, Cosmic Pizza offers some of the most flavourful and filling pizza in Edmonton, as well as other favourites like donairs, poutines, and chicken. You’ll never go back to the big-box pizza places after trying Cosmic—especially after trying their garlic cheesy bread!

And there you have it! We hope that we’ve inspired you to order from a local Edmonton restaurant the next time you’re looking to order take-out. And remember: picking up your order is always the best option, as third-party delivery services take a large cut from the restaurant. Supporting local has never tasted so good!

Featured Guest Blogger:

Alli Harrison is an Edmonton-based marketing & communications professional with extensive experience working with small businesses. Learn all about her by visiting her Instagram, Twitter & LinkedIn.

Step 1:

Know Where Your Money Is Going

Step 2:

Figure Out Where You Can Cut Back On Your Expenses

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Buying an Edmonton home? Planning your wish list: number of bedrooms, bathrooms, style? Or maybe you are an Edmonton Real Estate Investor looking for the right property to build your next project. We recommend considering the homes lot size or dimensions. Depending on your Edmonton lots dimensions, it may yield more or less value. Edmonton Infill builders will especially find this true when they are sourcing out building sites as a 33 wide or a 50 wide or larger, will drastically change the possibilities of what can be built.

Take the Edmonton skinny home – which is typically a 17 wide home built on a 25 wide lot. These narrow homes are usually built on an existing 50 wide lot that is subdivided to make room for 2 homes. The benefit for home buyers of this is the further densification of more core neighbourhoods to accommodate more residents and offer newer or potentially more affordable alternatives.

At TruHome, we are often on the search for great Edmonton homes that offer further benefits for investors or buyers to consider so being able to track down the dimensions of a lot is extremely important. We also have always been and continue to be big advocates for making more data accessible and open, so when we launched a way to search for information on an Edmonton lots dimensions (Internal Tool – Not Fully Polished), it only made sense to not keep this as an internal tool, but rather open it up and make it accessible.

Try out our new tool here: https://www.yourtruhome.com/edmonton-land-size

We hope you enjoy this tool as much as we do. Be sure to share it, use it and let us know what you think and of course reach out and let us know how we can help you buy, sell or invest in Edmonton Real Estate.

This week we heard the news that CMHC was changing some of their requirements for obtaining an insured mortgage. What CMHC highlighted is that starting July 1st, 2020:

• Limiting the Gross/Total Debt Servicing (GDS/TDS) ratios to our standard requirements of 35/42;
• Establish minimum credit score of 680 for at least one borrower; and
• Non-traditional sources of down payment that increase indebtedness will no longer be treated as equity for insurance purposes.

We get it, your probably wondering, what exactly does this mean to me? Simply speaking, obtaining your next Edmonton home may become more challenging after July 1st if (like many) you are looking to secure an insured mortgage.

To put even more simply, in speaking to Edmonton Mortgage Broker Dallas Sleeman, “this move will effectively reduce the purchasing capacity of buyers by about 10%”.  Meaning if you were approved for $500,000 – after July 1st, you may only qualify for $450,000. She also went on to mention that those who have been struggling with managing their credit will also have a tougher time getting a mortgage as at least one borrower will need to show minimum credit score of 680. She has shared some additional information that highlights the differences at On The Mark Mortgages website.

While there are other insurance options out there for Edmonton Home Buyers including Genworth and Canada Guarantee, it is difficult to determine if they will implement similar rules as well.

So… I’m sure your wondering, is there any GOOD NEWS? Absolutely there is! What this change means is now, even more so could be the ideal time to buy. Buyers that remove the conditions on a purchase prior to July 1st will not have to meet these new criteria. As Dallas put it, “The one bright side of the equation is that we have 3-ish weeks to get active files approved under the old rules to the finish line. So if you have any clients that are actively shopping, I would get live offers in ASAP. As long as the file is approved with conditions removed prior to July 1, the deal can still close after July 1.”

The real question is: What are you waiting for? Our Edmonton real estate team and our amazing mortgage broker partners are ready to help you realize your life goals one house at a time. Simply send us a quick message and lets chat about how we can secure your next home before July 1st.

• Book An Edmonton Buyers Consult
• Book An Edmonton Home Evaluation To Find Out If It Is A Good Time To Sell

More info from CMHC.

• Dear Homeowner, 

  Life is certainly creating unexpected circumstances, that are shaping our current lives and that will in some way or another impact our futures. 

  Not all news is BAD news though, which feels good to report. As an essential service, we continued to assist our clients both in the buying and selling journey.

• Each client has a unique story as to WHY it made sense to them; new job opportunities, needing to “downsize” for health reasons, having their home sold, to build more financial freedom, to reduce debt…and the list goes on. 

  The same is true for you as to why you are choosing to stay in your current home or why you’ve been, like us, “looking” at real estate while you have spent more time at home. 

  Whatever the reason you have been contemplating a move, we want you to know:

  • The Market Is Moving Forward:

    • In fact, one of the biggest challenges we are facing is a lack of inventory.  Sellers that have chosen to take advantage of this are in many ways yielding more money right now and selling faster.

  • There Are Buyers Waiting For The Right Home:

    • While our sellers are less physical showings – our listings are attracting more vetted (qualified) buyers who are making quick decisions in terms of moving forward. 

  • You Deserve To Be Informed:

    • Our true role goes beyond buying and selling. As your real estate advisors, we want to ensure you are kept informed about the value of your home on an ongoing basis. This ensures you can make the most informed decision about whether to stay or move, to refinance or even to invest in a new property. Talk to us about getting this information on a consistent basis. 

  • We Want To Keep You Safe:

    • Due to COVID-19, we are taking strict measures to ensure everyone’s safety. From how we are increasing our virtual options, to how we are validating who enters your home and how. We would be happy to discuss the protocols we have in place to protect your health and home’s best interests. 

  If selling your home or gaining more knowledge about the Edmonton Real Estate market is on your priority list for 2020, we would be honoured to be part of your team of advisors. We are passionate about putting your needs first and have a proven track record of success that highlights that.

  Curious about what your Edmonton home is worth? Try our interactive Edmonton home evaluation tool here. Ready to talk about getting your home sold? Give us a call or send a msg.

I am not going to lie, COVID-19 has rocked us all to the core in one way or another. It has affected our day to day lives and how we show up to do what we do. As of March 28, 2019 though, Edmonton Real Estate was classified as an essential service in Alberta which I do feel is a good thing. There are various reasons why people are looking to buy and sell and this also allows us to help them and ensure our current closings get completed as expected. The last thing we would want is for people to not get access to their already purchased Edmonton homes.

While we are still hustling and supporting our clients, we need to stress this does not mean business as usual. We are taking extra care in ensuring our clients are protected, adding additional marketing resources to give buyers more access to homes virtually and ensuring our health and safety too. You can read more about some of our services in this regard here: https://yeg.realestate/safety

I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but check the stock market every day and the same holds true for my real estate investments. It is important to have an understanding of where you are at so that you can make informed decisions in respects to what is right for you and your family. For some buying or selling will make sense now and for others, it won’t and that is okay. The greatest opportunity we can get is to keep you up to date on what is happening so that when the time is right we can be by your side to help you move forward then. Please reach out to us and tell us about how we can support your real estate needs.

We also want to point out that our role is and always will be in an advisor, consultant capacity and are here to help our customers build and manage their wealth through Edmonton real estate. We are doing our best to connect and engage with all our clients to see how they are doing and to see how we can support them at this time (relationships first and foremost). Whether you need help getting something like a few groceries to yourself, need someone to connect/talk with or want to stay informed of the Edmonton Real Estate market, we are 100% here for you. We want to help make a positive difference in your lives and our community.

Please let us know how we can support you during this trying time!

Your TruHome Real Estate Team

If you haven’t done so already, looking into the options being made available to defer your Edmonton mortgage may be something worth looking into. You can ask to defer your mortgage up to 6 months and may even be able to defer other loans and/or credit cards. Please expect a potentially lengthy wait time and be sure to ask important questions regarding deferral. If you don’t already know where to call – here is a list of all banks for your reference:

ATB Financial | 1-800-332-8383 |www.atb.com

B2B Bank | 1 800 263 8349 | www.b2bbank.com

Bank of Montreal (BMO) |  1-877-895-3278 | www.bmo.com

Bridgewater Bank|  1-866-243-4301 | www.bridgewaterbank.ca

Canadian Imperial Bank Of Canada (CIBC) |  1-800-465-2422 | www.cibc.com

CMLS Financial |  1-888-995-2657 | www.cmls.ca
Optimum Mortgage 1-866-441-3775 |www.optimummortgage.ca
Equitable Bank |  1-888-334-3313 | www.equitablebank.ca
Connect First Credit Union |  403-736-4000 | www.connectfirstcu.com
Chinook Financial | 403-934-3358 | www.chinookfinancial.com
First Calgary Financial | 403-736-4000 | www.firstcalgary.com
First National | 1-888-488-0794 | www.firstnational.ca
Haventree Bank | 1-855-272-0051 | www.haventreebank.com
Home Trust | 1-855-270-3630 | www.hometrust.ca
HSBC | 1-888-310-4722 | www.hsbc.ca
ICICI Bank | 1-888-424-2422 | www.icicibank.com
Manulife | 1-877-765-2265 | www.manulife.ca
MCAP | 1-800-265-2624 | www.mcap.com
Merix | 1-877-637-4911 | www.merixfinancial.com
Marathon Mortgage | 1-855-503-6060 | www.marathonmortgage.ca
Royal Bank Of Canada (RBC) | 1-866-809-5800 | www.rbcroyalbank.com
RFA Capital Holdings | 1-877-416-7873 | www.rfa.ca
RMG Mortgages | 1-866-809-5800 | www.rmgmortgages.ca
Scotia Bank | 1-800-472-6842 | www.scotiabank.com
Servus Credit Union | 1-877-378-8728 | www.servus.ca
Street Capital 1-866-683-8090 (Now part of RFA)
TD Canada Trust |  1-866-222-3456 |www.td.com

Important Questions You Should Consider Asking:

1. Will your property tax portion be deferred?

2. How will the interest be calculated on these deferred payments?

3. Is the life insurance portion also deferred?

4. What will happen at the end of the term?

5. Will the payments be blended into the remainder of the term after the deferment period (ideal option)?

Please remember, our Edmonton real estate team is here for you during this time. Stay healthy and safe.

There are many ways Edmonton Home Buyers can view properties right now. We wanted to highlight a few ways we can continue to offer this service:

• Search Edmonton Real Estate Online
  • We showcase all Edmonton Homes For Sale at yourtruhome.com and yeg.realestate
  • You Can Download our Apple iPhone and Apple TV Apps to search all listings, simply look up Edmonton Real Estate
  • You Can try out our TruMatch home finder based on Lifestyle Needs.
  • You Can See All Edmonton Condos For Sale By Building

When you find the Edmonton Homes you would like to learn more about, consider your options for viewing:

• Did you know we can offer tours via Facetime or Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger
• Or we could look at recording/sending you a video tour
• We are open to discussing booking an in-person viewing to qualified buyers who are fit to view.

Of course, we encourage all prospective buyers to review information on Alberta Health Services to make an informed decision about what is best for them and their families.

We are STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS – We just need to navigate the waters a little differently and change up how we can service our customers. Our Edmonton Real Estate team is here to be a resource to you, whether you need help getting something dropped off to your house, a person to talk to, or advice or assistance in navigating the home buying and selling process.

Last night, we sent emails out to all our sellers, providing some guidance regarding procedures to take if allowing showings at this time. Of course, we are also focused on discussing the right option for you at this time as ultimately it will be different for everyone. Here are a few tips we advised when it comes to proceeding with in-person showings: