The Jenn Foley Show

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

All right. So everybody wants to know what is happening in the real estate market, all across Canada and throughout the world. And so we are talking today to Sandra pike. Who's a well known, well established and successful realtor in Halifax, Nova Scotia. So welcome.

Sandra Pike:

Oh, it's great to talk to you, Jan. And again, if we can't be in person, we just have to do it this way. Right.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

That's right. So, yeah. Um, great to see you and you, and I've known each other for some time and any opportunity that I get to send referrals your way. I definitely do. And, uh, so I wanna hear from you about the housing market out there in, uh, Nova Scotia, what's going on?

Sandra Pike:

Well, you know, I will, uh, tell you, we are the third city in Canada with the least amount of inventory. I know in Toronto, uh, what was I looking at stats last week? There was like 3,500 homes for sale. Yeah. Yeah. And here, uh, we, uh, I've been in the industry now since 2010 and we were typically in a, uh, buyer's market, meaning that we would have anywhere from 10 to 18 months of inventory. And, uh, but now we're down, let's say to a week of inventory, so it, uh, oh, wow. It certainly has been challenging for buyers and agents and, uh, but it's, it's been, uh, you know, I like about the market is that I continually have to pivot and learn, uh, you know, of, of how to deal with, uh, you know, various scenarios that are coming up, uh, you know, especially when pricing a home.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Yeah. So are you wearing flats? Cause I know you're the deals and heels girl and uh, with the market being as busy as it's been, are you, uh, so switching over to flats yet? So yes, that's a yes, right?

Sandra Pike:

No, I, um, no, it's so funny. Uh, I haven't, I don't typically work with a lot of buyers. Uh, I do in the beginning of the year, then I switch over, uh, into listing cause that's when people or typically come into the market, but, um, you know, our market has shifted so much since 2020. It's been, uh, you know, from when our, uh, I remember getting in the, uh, industry and our average house price was 2 65.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

And what is it now?

Sandra Pike:

Yeah. And then, you know, last year I think it was, uh, 4 0 4 or sorry, 4 65. And, and now we're upwards, uh, over, uh, half a million. Like it's, it's just crazy, just the increase of, of how quickly it just jumped up.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

And where are most of these people coming from? Are these locals, are these people coming from other provinces? Where, where are you seeing or hearing that the majority are coming from?

Sandra Pike:

So I feel that we would have a bit of a mix, um, because our problems did so good during COVID, uh, with Dr. Strang and our government officials. Um, you know, we had people who were from, uh, let's say inter, uh, you know, not inter provincial, let's say within Canada, that would've moved to Halifax because of that. And we did have some people from the states, but having said that, uh, you know, we also had, let's say, we'll call them CFAs, come from away. We had people who were from, uh, Atlantic Canada and, uh, you know, they just wanted to come back home because they realize now that they didn't have to be in their corporate settings, that they could come home and work. Um, the, the, another burst, I will tell you that happened in 2021 for us here in 2020. So we are a military city and in 2020, we didn't have the military came, uh, coming here.

Sandra Pike:

And, uh, so in 2021, we had two years of military moving here. And a lot of those buyers, or the military moves were coming from, uh, parts of Canada where the housing, uh, you know, was even further along the, the COVID boom, more so than we were. And they were cash buyers. So, you know, typically military coming here would be around three, 400,000. Now they were coming in like minimum budgets of 700,000. And, you know, that just kept driving the prices up. So last year I believe 81% of the homes that sold. So that equates to about 6,000 in change, uh, either sold at asking or above asking, uh, last year. And the same thing is happening again this year.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Now, are you finding out there that, um, homes are getting priced well below market value and then going over like that people are intentionally, uh, their properties below market value in order to drive the interest.

Sandra Pike:

I would tell you, there is a small percentage of agents who are doing that, and I just wish they would stop because what's happening is yes, we've realized that we are in a competitive market, but if you are listing, so I'll give you an example. We had a pro property here that was listed at three 15 and it sold $575,000 over asking that should have never happened. Right? Yeah. And, uh, because you'll get a buyer and, you know, we're educating our buyers like, so last year, the average over asking and all of Metro was around $56,000. However, there were several that sold over a hundred. Um, but the average, if you, you know, took it in a hole, was that, and so if we're telling our buyers, well, the average over, you know, asking was, is this, you know, this should help you get an offer, but then you have something going 500,000 over asking. I mean, like, don't be you the, the disappointment that you're put, you know, on that particular buyer. And, um, you know, I get it, we all wanna make as much money as we can for our sellers, but I think you need, I, I don't list properties like that. I don't, I don't believe in that. I think that's just, my integrity's just different, I guess when it comes to, uh,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

So it's not happening a lot then in your marketplace. No, you have some of it,

Sandra Pike:

It, you know what it happened. Uh, two weeks ago I saw something that was listed for two 19 and it should have been listed a hundred thousand dollars more. And, uh, yeah.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

So if I, I had $500,000 to spend, what would that buy me in your area?

Sandra Pike:

Well, uh, so at 500,000, I am asking you to start looking at homes that are at 300,000 and homes that are at 300,000, uh, you know, they are probably within a 20 to 40 minute drive of, uh, you know, the city center, uh, you know, they may need work. Um, will you get a bungalow for 500? Absolutely. Um, but it could need a bit of work. Uh, you can get a semi detached probably that has been upgraded, but even new construction in most areas, I can't even get you for for 700,000. And that just boom. Uh, there was a house out in, uh, Ingo shores that two years ago, you would've bought brand new construction or in, sorry, in 2019 at 4 29, that same, uh, uh, split entry now is selling for over eight, 10.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Wow. So,

Sandra Pike:

Yeah, it's changed. And, um, I was in an offer the other day and it was listed for 6 39 and in December, a similar house listed at the same price sold for 7 29. And so I go to my buyer at the time. I said, you know, we should go in at, uh, 7 49. That should be, you know, that should cut it because I'm, I'm higher than the last one that's sold and still, you know, giving the, the Bo the seller a hundred thousand dollars over asking. So

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

What happened?

Sandra Pike:

Uh, what, so what happened was, so the agent, uh, so when we get all our offers in, we will send out to the agents that are, you know, we have X amount of offers. Would you like to stay the same? Or, or would you like to change it? Anyway, we ended up changing ours to 815,000, uh, just because of the competition that, that went in. And that was $166,000 over asking,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Did you get it?

Sandra Pike:

Oh, yes, we got it. Yeah. You know, there was three offers I come to find out, uh, that were in the eight hundreds. So we just happened to be a little bit more sharper with the pen. And, uh, but you know, what, once was a hundred thousand offers over asking it's gone up to 150. It's

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sandra Pike:

And I think that's like everywhere across Canada, except probably, you know, more, uh, higher number.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Yeah. So if I was moving to Halifax, tell me, um, some of the things that I could find in the local areas, like I know you've got hospitals and airports and that kind of stuff, but what makes, uh, the area unique in your opinion?

Sandra Pike:

They have newfound Landers here.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Oh yeah,

Sandra Pike:

No, uh, what makes Halifax unique? Uh, you know, it's, um, I'll be honest with you. And I moved here in 2007. I hated it. Uh, and I am from Newfoundland originally. Uh, but I lived in, uh, Ottawa for about, uh, 20 years. So coming here, uh, I find, found it hard meeting people, to be honest, um,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Is the pace, is the pace a lot slower in terms of lifestyle and, and all of that. Like if you said you went to Ottawa, which would be very fast paced, right? Yep. And then shifting back to, um, no Scotia, so lifestyle would be slower paced. What can I expect?

Sandra Pike:

So the lifestyle and seafood, you know, well, yes, but so being here now for 13 years, I will tell you that it's so good to be back home and for several reasons. And, um, it's very safe here. Uh, you know, I think that's, uh, paramount for a lot of people. We have some great universities, you know, with the Dow Mount St Mary's and each university would have its own different attribute of why it would be better than the other, uh, you know, one of the, um, uh, one of the developers here downtown, I think they came in, uh, for the best building, like in Canada, I think it was last year. Uh, one of the new buildings that were being built and, um, there's just so much, uh, activity that's happening and so many changes and all changes for the good, especially in the downtown core.

Sandra Pike:

Um, you know, it's, uh, Halifax is a wonderful, and although a lot of our locals feel that the, you know, the housing prices are just astronomically high and they are relatively speaking here, uh, you know, from what we're used to. But if you're coming from, uh, you know, Vancouver, if you're coming from Toronto and you are seeing the house prices here, uh, you can just buy it and cash and not have to worry. So, you know, it's, uh, there's some great restaurants. We have a lot of cultural diversity and it's, it's a nice place to be. It really is. And

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

So before we, uh, end our video here today, let me ask you this. So we're talking about restaurants. If I came to visit you, where would you take me for a restaurant?

Sandra Pike:

Like that question? Well, I'm gonna take you to two places.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

OK. Uh,

Sandra Pike:

One of my favorite places is the bicycle thief that's, uh, downtown. And, uh, I love going in there. Uh, the service is impeccable. It's amazing. It is right on the waterfront. So during the summer, you can sit outside a beautiful patio. And, uh, last year, uh, they came up with these earths or UTS, and it's two people I think, per most of them. So they're on the outside and they're little, uh, little houses and they are, they have a heater in them. They have a nice little blanket you can put over you and, uh, you can still be COVID friendly and go lovely places. So I would go there now, uh, the other place that I would frequent, or even you to go for desserts or, but the food there is incredible as well. Uh, I would be definitely hitting the Meile not only are the owners from Newfoundland, they own Yos winery here. And, uh, you know, the they're so hospitable when you come up and the place is absolutely beautiful. So it's, uh, yeah, definitely two places. Uh, it'd be, take me to, um, uh, when you were coming here.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Awesome. So I'm gonna be getting on a jet plane, come out there and, uh, we'll go.

Sandra Pike:

Absolutely. We have the new house now, so there's tons of room.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And, uh, if anybody needs to, uh, get any information about the Halifax Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia, then, uh, Sandra pike and her team are your go-to, uh, crew.

Sandra Pike:

Uh, thank you, Jennifer.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

All right. Thanks.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

About making a move. Are you thinking about making a move to Calgary, Alberta, or wondering where you can buy some going pretty cheap today. I've got a special guest with us. His name is Pete de young. Did I say that correct, Pete?

Pete de Jong:

Well, it's actually the Jay it's a Dutch name. So the Jay in, in, uh, Holland has said like a Y. So it's actually Pete de young, but close enough.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

All right.

Pete de Jong:

Just think Pete de young and the restless, then you'll remember.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

All right. So I am curious if I was a buyer looking to move to Calgary, Alberta. I wanna know what can I expect to buy and tell me, um, the average home price what's hot. What's not, and, uh, yeah, let's dig right in

Pete de Jong:

For sure. Well, the average price of real estate in Calgary is like 4 72, but if you're looking at a detached house

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

That takes into account condos and

Pete de Jong:

Everything,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Everything

Pete de Jong:

Okay. Yeah. 4 72, but you know, you're probably gonna, you know, if you're looking at a detached house it's a little bit higher. We're at five 60 is average, uh, detached house. So five 60, it's up about 12% from, uh, sorry. It's up 14% from last year. Um, but it's still relatively cheap compared to Toronto or Vancouver, those surrounding areas.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Yeah. I'm outside of Toronto. I'm about 40 minutes outside of Toronto, half an hour, 40 minutes. And, uh, we're seeing appreci of 30% or more right's year overs.

Pete de Jong:

So yeah.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

And our average price has gone up over a million. Now two years ago, our average price was in around six, 700. So, uh, yeah. So your prices seem like a really good deal. So if I can get a detached house and what kind of square footage and how many bedrooms would I've been looking at roughly for, for that sort of price range?

Pete de Jong:

Yeah, that'd be a, like a, a 12 to 1500 square foot house, three bedrooms up and, you know, possibly one or two down

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

And possibly a garage

Pete de Jong:

And, and a, and a garage as well. Yeah. Two car detached garage, for sure. Yeah. I mean, of course it depends on which area the city you're gonna look at. Right. So Calgary is real, really separated. If you look at the Northeast, you're gonna get a much better deal in dollar per square foot. Where's

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

The, where's the best neighborhood to buy in where where's the hot spot in Calgary that everybody wants to buy in?

Pete de Jong:

Yeah, well, that's kinda subjective. I, I will say this though is Calgary is a very downtown centric city. So, um, the closer yard to down town in Calgary, or at least even close to close to L R T, which is our, our rapid transit train system. Okay. Uh, if you're close to downtown or even close to rapid transit, uh, you're, you're gonna be worth a little bit more, but especially downtown. Uh, and by the way, uh, in 2015, our market really went for a, a, a big dip and, and it's it recovering from that? Like, it was really, really bad and it actually most affected the downtown area. So, um, the area most affected is downtown and the area that's, we're probably gonna see the best growth is gonna be downtown as well. So

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

I think there's a big opportunity here for people that want to, uh, invest or make a move. Right. I mean, you've got really great prices. And, uh, so for investments, what is that looking like for, for someone that wants to buy a rental property?

Pete de Jong:

Well, here's what it, here's what it looks like. If you look at 2018, 2019 and 2020. Yeah. Those were the worst three years in Calgary, real estate board history going at least 20 years back. Okay. And in fact, we sold less homes each one of those years than we had even 20 years ago. And the city's 50% larger than it was. So you have to understand, we've just been through three of like really, really, really bad years in, in real estate. And of course, that's, you know, prices have taken a hit vacancy rates have taken a, hit, everything. It was really bad. But what we're seeing now is we're seeing the economy bounce back in a real way, and you're gonna see prices come back. Um, very strongly. I don't know if we're gonna see it at Toronto or Vancouver levels, but I would suspect we are, you know, is because we've, we just have so much ground to make up that, um, you know, when you're seeing oil and gas at the prices they are now, again, you're gonna see the, the city bounce back in a, in a real big way. So this is, yeah, this is where, I mean, you know, what are they say? You know, you want to yin when everyone yangs and, and, you know, so, so right now it's

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Like the opposite direction of where everybody else is going. Right?

Pete de Jong:

Yeah. So our prices have, have, have been declining for three years or whatever, and now you can really, you know, they're starting to go up, but, um, you're, you're still catching the beginning of it if you invest in Calgary now. Okay. And there's still pockets, you know, like I said, within, within the real estate market, of course, there's different segments. And I'd say if, especially if you're gonna look at condos right now. Yeah. There's really, really great opportunities to, to make some money.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Yeah. So what would be on the low end? I think you mentioned to me 250,000, you can buy an older condo for, and then, uh,

Pete de Jong:

You know, I, I just bought a one bedroom condo close to downtown and I mean, like really close to downtown for 140, that's a one bedroom condo. Now that's in a, in a 1962 building with an original kitchen. So, um, but that's, so that's kind of bargain based

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

That for yourself or for

Pete de Jong:

No, for myself. Yeah. Okay. But I've been telling people for a while that, you know, one bedroom condos took a real hit during COVID because who wants to live in a one bedroom condo when you can't have a roommate during COVID and you can't work from home and stuff. So, so really been beaten up. Um, but you know, they weren't traditionally. So, so this condo I bought for 140, they were selling for 180, 190, you know, only a few years ago. And I think they're gonna bounce right back up to that. And probably even go higher, especially when you consider that Calgary or that Canada is allowing in 400,000 immigrants a year, it's not gonna take before they figure out that it's gonna be hard to live in Vancouver, Toronto, which is generally where they have gone in the past and say, well, where else can we live in Canada? And, uh, seeing as Calgary is kind of the city of opportunity right now, I think we're gonna get flooded with, um, with newcomers and to them a one or two bedroom condo downtown is gonna be perfect.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Yeah. That's awesome. So are you guys experiencing the multiple offers and, and holding off offers that we're seeing here in the, uh, Toronto east area?

Pete de Jong:

Yeah, we are though. Uh, but only within the detached housing market so that the detached market has really, really, um, gone, gone nuts. Um, when you start looking at condos, it, it hasn't hit it yet. Now I always do say that a rising tide does lift all ships and you will see condos. I think you will see that in the condo market, in the, in the near future. I don't know when obviously, but I would suspect pretty soon, you're gonna start seeing that happen.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. And, uh, so if I came to visit you, where would we be going out for lunch?

Pete de Jong:

We would be going out for lunch. Well, if I could get you to, to eat east Indian food or Pakistani food, cuz that really is the best food

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Like that. Yep.

Pete de Jong:

Yeah. There's a place in the Northeast, which is where, which is where you're gonna get all that kind of food. Um, at least the, some of the best, uh, Indian food's gonna be in the Northeast. And I would take you to a place called hot millions. It's called hot. I think I talked to you earlier about it and I called it millionaires. It's not, it's called hot million. And yeah,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

I looked up, I did look it up and I thought, oh, there's, it's not the name of it. Maybe it's this one. Yeah,

Pete de Jong:

No it's called hot millions or hot million and it's fantastic. Yeah. It's like, it's like the restaurant is a nice clean place. It's nothing, nothing fancy.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Those are the best, best, best type of restaurants. Totally.

Pete de Jong:

Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So we'd probably go there for, uh, for lunch and otherwise, if you like Vietnamese, we'd probably go again up in the Northeast, but we'd probably go to a place called Quinn and uh, where the, the Vietnamese food is amazing too. So yeah, one of those two.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Very good. Well, thanks so much for joining me today and talking all about real estate in time market

Pete de Jong:

Anytime. Hey, can I, um, can I mention my website in case anyone wants to look me up and me ask me more questions? Sure. So if you wanna, if you wanna see my website and be able to get ahold of me through there, um, by all means I'm at www.twoeightzerokeys.com, which is two eight, zero. Keys is also my phone number. If you just wanna phone me, but otherwise, um, go to my website at 2 8 0 keys, K E Y s.com. And, uh, you can leave a note from me there. There's actually a little robot guy on my website. If you click on him, it'll say beep bot PBO. And, uh, it's my PBO. And you can just leave a note from me there. I'd be happy to get back to you.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Oh, there you go. All.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Today more and more buyers we know are making a move out of the major cities and moving out onto the outskirts, um, outlying areas. And today we are speaking with Connor Coultrup. Did I say it correctly?

Connor Coultrup:

You did. Yes. Thank you.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

All right. Excellent. Uh, he's a realtor in king car Ontario. So tell where is Concor. I know it's somewhere west of Toronto, but tell us a little bit more where it is. Yeah,

Connor Coultrup:

That is, that is, uh, basically the gist of it. So we're right on the lake here on shoreline and as such, uh, all the realtors around here have to cover a pretty large area. Conard's really small town of only about 12,000 people on the sign. Okay. We're a huge tourist location. So during the summer we are F flooded with people. We have a ton of events. We have a ton of tourists and during the winter, like right now, it's incredibly quiet. Okay. Uh, so we, we get pretty used to

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Traveling snowmobile country.

Connor Coultrup:

Pardon?

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Would it be snowmobile country?

Connor Coultrup:

Oh, absolutely. Uh, we, we got three directions. Uh, two of them are towns north and south, and we got farms two to the right. And, uh, we got the water on the left. So we often joke, uh, when people are asking us from the city buyers, can I get a waterfront property? We say, sure. You can pick the whole town

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Cause it's right on the water.

Connor Coultrup:

Yep. And that's, that's true for the whole surrounding area. So, uh, I'm based outta con garden, but I do service, uh, port ELGAN and as well, which simply put are the towns, uh, north and south.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

All right. So we wanna talk today a little bit about the housing market and what's happening in Concor. Um, you know, it's 20, 22 and a lot of major areas are experiencing, you know, housing, um, high housing demand. I don't wanna say housing supply issues. I think it's more, uh, demand issues, right? Where there's a number of buyers that are, um, looking to attain affordable housing, um, along with also getting out of a lot of the major cities, right. Getting out of the congestion and all that. So first off, where are you seeing most of the buyers coming from? Are they locals or are you seeing an influx out of area buyers coming into the area?

Connor Coultrup:

It depends on how you quantify the question. The buyers we have, there are tons and tons of local buyers. If you're asking about these successful buyers, a lot of them are coming from the cities. Okay. We are, we're in the midst of a huge bidding war on almost all properties for the first time. In a long time, we used to say that, you know, the million dollar range was our absolute top end of the market. That's becoming increasingly common. Um, we've had 97 million listings, uh, within a half

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Hour 97 million

Connor Coultrup:

Over the last year. And, um, based off that the last six months. Oh, meaning

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Meaning 97 homes at a million,

Connor Coultrup:

Yes. At a million or over

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. I misunderstood it.

Connor Coultrup:

Yeah. And, uh, within the last six months we've had probably about 68, 69, uh, million dollar listing. So that's showing us the price is constantly escalating, um, in a way that we haven't predicted. And we're certainly not used to around here. The most affordable housing for the area used to be in the 1 75 to 200 range maybe would be a really good entry point for our area. Uh, that's now pretty much at the minimum 3 15, 3 25 for exactly the same home. Uh, so it's just,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

So what would you get for that price point for 300,000,

Connor Coultrup:

Uh, a road townhouse or a condo? Okay. Uh, there's two specific locations. We have hunter street and we have the Durham and Walsh condos. Uh, those are our most affordable areas, uh, within full town. And those are, uh, increasing in price dramatically to the point where people have not been able to keep up with it. Um, so we have inventory issues, supply issues, and a whole lot of buyers coming from areas that we weren't expecting.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. And so how far away are you from like a major city?

Connor Coultrup:

Uh, the closest city, most people tend to know is Ellen sound and that's about a solid drive. Um, we're gonna be about two and a half hours from Toronto, uh, about an hour and a half hour 45 to London's we're, we're kind of just, uh, just on the fringe edge of everything, but a lot of people are coming down here for, uh, tourist, uh, Airbnbs have been picking up quite frequently cuz we have a lot less rules around here, at least from a municipal standpoint. Um, yes, we also have a, do you

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Have a hospital there

Connor Coultrup:

For home too?

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Do you have a hospital or where would the nearest hospital be?

Connor Coultrup:

We do we have a hospital right in town.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. All right. And so overall, what would you say your average sale price is recently? Let's say for January.

Connor Coultrup:

Sure. Uh, average sale price is sitting at, uh, 748,000 right now. Um, it's a, we have a whole lot of new builds being the primary influx of inventory coming into the market. So,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

So you do have new builds,

Connor Coultrup:

Tons of new builds. Uh, we've got four or five local builders that have been around here for a very long time now. Uh, so they're well known, well respected. Uh, the issue is just timing. Uh, if you're trying to buy a new build right now, you're probably not breaking ground until next year at this point, because all the builders are just so tied up with their current projects already.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. Well that's good to know. So they are breaking ground and they are starting to build, which will ease up on some of the, uh, demand. You can hear my dog in the background.

Connor Coultrup:

Sorry.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Um, okay. So for that 700, what would you say? 7 42?

Connor Coultrup:

Uh, 7 48 is our average right now. Uh, first time home buyer. So to get in for, uh, anywhere from 3 25 on the low end for, but for a detached single family home, you're probably looking at least four 50 to 500 at this point.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. So if I was a buyer coming to your area, um, would it be fair expectation that your marketplace would be not taking offers right away that a house gets put on the market and they're withholding offers for a period of time or can they offer on a property at any time?

Connor Coultrup:

Um, the, the former is definitely more correct. We have a lot of properties holding offers. I, I would say the vast majority, perhaps a month or two ago, we saw that practice kind of faded out, but it finally hit us. Um, just looking at the weekly stats even we've had less new inventory coming in than properties leaving the market, uh, every week for almost as long as I have memory for several months. And it's got us down to the point where we do not have the inventory to keep up. So, uh, yes, it brought back the habit of holding offers, even though, uh, the buyers have been pushing it back against it really hard. Uh, it's still a practice that the sellers are using just because of the extreme demand.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

And so what are you seeing in your area in terms of appreciation from year over year?

Connor Coultrup:

Sure, we had, um, so the Ontario average was sitting at, I think about 18.1%. If I remember that correctly, um, from last year to this year, uh, con card is sitting more in the 30% zone. Uh, so we have seen drastic price increases and that's going back to the point I was mentioning before where, uh, at least from a local standpoint, we are, uh, surprised and shocked by the prices. And it's been really affecting our buyers habits because, uh, there's the general sentiment that homes are not worth what they're selling for, but due to the inventory issue, there's, there's nothing to pick from. So, uh, put it in perspective for you. Uh, last week Congar had six homes on the market of any price range, so there was just nothing to be able to choose from.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

And yeah, I think that's across the board, right. So I think that's across the board, which is really a shame because, uh, there's people that wanna buy. And I, I also think too, there's a lot of people that are hanging onto properties right. As investment properties. And so that's also impacting some of the shortage.

Connor Coultrup:

Yes, absolutely. Um, anything in the, uh, it feels weird calling it the lower price bracket, but honestly anything under $500,000, especially under four 50 D uh, right now we are seeing, uh, investors coming through in droves and they're winning because they're able to drop conditions, which is not something we often advise as buyer clients. But the unfortunate reality is if everything else is the same, people take the offer that is perceived as less risky, but it's making, uh, buyers and first and homeowners miss out on a, a massive scale.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Yeah. And I also think too, those type of buyers also have a little more, um, cash flow typically, right? Yes. When they're coming from out of other areas, so they can, they can purchase and out other buyers. Right.

Connor Coultrup:

Completely. And then that's been something we've been trying to adjust to, uh, really rapidly is our real estate is cheap for other people. Um, if you live locally, your whole life, the prices are soaring at a rate we can't comprehend. But if you're coming from the city, the prices for the size of homes and the size of the plots of land as well, we have pretty big pieces of property around here, at least on average. Um, the real estate is super cheap around here. So we have city buyers and I shouldn't just say city, but out of town buyers, um, being

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Where you them come from though, purchase

Connor Coultrup:

Prices,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Are they coming from London or the, they coming from Toronto? Where are they? Where are they coming from? Mostly

Connor Coultrup:

Our biggest, I

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Know in my area they're Toronto.

Connor Coultrup:

Yes. Our, our biggest influx is actually the Kitchener Waterloo area. Um, it's really not that far, all things considered. And a lot of the people from there tend to come down here for vacationing anyways. So they're roughly familiar with the area. So is

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

It like cottage country there?

Connor Coultrup:

Yes. I would say at least 25% of our buyers are from kitchen or Waterloo. If you're just looking at where the buyer agents are coming from. Yeah. Um, we've had a good influx from London. Uh, we've had a surprising influx from, uh, from Hamilton, which, I mean, I'm a little biased towards I, I went to McMaster university there, so I know the area well, but we've had a lot of buyers coming down from Hamilton, which I wasn't expecting, but definitely the most prominent is Kitchener Waterloo.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. So if I, uh, last question. So if I was coming to visit your town of con garden, um, where would we go for lunch?

Connor Coultrup:

Ooh, let's

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Give a shout out to, let's give a shout to a local business.

Connor Coultrup:

Oh, you're gonna get me in

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Or in couple,

Connor Coultrup:

Uh, I have to give a shout to, to multiple businesses.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. Then let's,

Connor Coultrup:

There's bar down on the main street, um, run by Atlanta and Lewis. They're they're just fantastic. There's the hogs bro. Also on main street. Uh, they,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Is that a restaurant? Pardon? Is that a restaurant or a pub or what is that? The hogs bar?

Connor Coultrup:

Uh, it it's a pub style. They have fantastic food, highly recommend a really diverse drink menu. Um, really friendly staff. Uh, probably one of my favorite spots. It's really hard to go wrong. Um, in kingergarten for restaurants, we have a lot of really, really good places, but, uh, one of the, uh, personal favorites, I guess yeah. Would be, uh, bar down and hog's breath as well. Both of them are just fantastic.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. And what about the beaches there?

Connor Coultrup:

Uh, yeah, we have a blue flag, blue flag beach. Um, sorry, sorry for the stutter there.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

That's

Connor Coultrup:

Okay. And it is, uh, fantastic. They're packed, uh, all summer long. So if you're coming down to the area for the first time, but you know, there are a couple spots that are nice and private that the, uh, general pub public doesn't know about. Um, but yeah, the main beach is filled

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Only the locals know about that.

Connor Coultrup:

Seriously there there's

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

I know

Connor Coultrup:

Free spots that you could always go to that are never busy. Um, but the, the main beach is, uh,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Cause the tourists don't know it.

Connor Coultrup:

Yeah. The main beach is busy all summer long, but that's a huge part of the, uh, the industry here. We have the nuclear plant, which is the, probably the primary employer here and after that it's tourism.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

All right. Awesome. Well, thanks so much Connor. And, uh, we'll drop your, uh, contact info in the comments below.

Connor Coultrup:

Perfect. I appreciate your time. Thanks for talking to me, Jennifer.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Thanks.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

All right. So today we're talking about the housing market in colo, BC with our guest Ken Armstrong. So Ken tell us what's been happening in the, uh, BC market there where you are.

Kent Armstrong:

Sure. Sure. Well, and thanks for having me. So, and, and funny enough, I was just pulling some stats, uh, to other yesterday for, for one of my newsletters. And those numbers really kind of tell the story of where we're at here in colon, especially the last two years. So our inventory is down like 70%, which is just massive. So yesterday we had 850 listings of all property types in Cologna we in February, 2019, we had almost 3000 thousand, right. It's pretty typical for us to carry between, say like 2,800 and, and 3,500 listings. And we've been cruising along, you know, at a thousand or less for, uh, probably 12 months now. So, um, the, the inventory being so little has just drove prices basically, you know, through the roof for our area. So, um, you know, our, our average single family house price for February is gonna be right around 1.3 million.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

So, okay. So what would 1.3 million buy me

Kent Armstrong:

1.3 million would buy you probably, you know, a, a typical family home in a, in one of our family neighborhoods. That's probably not, probably not renovated, you know, probably a nineties build, you know, maybe lipstick. Yeah. Detached. Yeah. Yeah. So

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

What do you see? Mostly there,

Kent Armstrong

Mostly here we are like two, one or two stories with a walkout basement. Cause in colo, we're in a valley, everything's on a hillside, so most of our homes will have a walkout base. So it's a question of whether it's one or two stories on top, about,

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Do you have a lot of condos there or is it more

Kent Armstrong:

We, we do. So, you know, and that's something in the last five years, we've built a lot more of here. So we saw our first like 35 and 40 plus story tower, um, high rises built here. And, but again, that market is getting super pinched as well, just because with, you know, uh, detached homes and, you know, attached town homes, type things, um, getting so expensive is just push more people into condo. So yeah. Yeah. It's pretty, pretty strong sellers conditions for any property type here.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

And are you seeing a lot of people coming from out of province? Uh, and if you do, where are they coming from?

Kent Armstrong:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and that's the biggest trend in Cologna, you know, we've always been a place where people know of have been interested in living because of the lifestyle and the weather we get here, but the question was always, well, what do you do for work? And, you know, in the last five to six years as work, remote has become more of an option. So we've seen more people coming from Ontario and BC where we used to, most of our outta town buyers used to be from Alberta buying second homes or recreational type properties here. Now we're seeing a major Exodus of people coming from the greater Vancouver area, looking for a lifestyle shift. And, you know, I, I get calls every week from people, you know, in say the greater Toronto area or, or places like that saying, Hey, like we're hearing a lot about KU, you know, we wanna invest there. Like, what can you tell me? Right. And, and up until the last couple years, we didn't get a lot of those calls from that parties.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Okay. And, uh, so what are some of the major highlights there in collo? What would I find if I came to visit?

Kent Armstrong:

Yeah, I mean, I think hands down the best part about living here is we get four distinct seasons and they're all awesome. So we're heading into spring right now. You know, the golf courses are starting to open, but you can still go to big white and ski or snowboard of the day. So that get that's gets to be kind of a cool transition year. And then, and then, you know, obviously we head into summer, we're known for our lakes and wineries and outdoor activities, but that transitions into the fall too, and kind of into the fall harvest. And then the snow comes back and like said, we're, you know, whether you're you want to ski snowboard, cross country ski hike, like we, it all here. And, and we know, you know, during COVID people obviously started to prioritize that stuff in their lifestyle more, and Cologna just exploded kinda as a result of that.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

You said, uh, your landscaping is very hilly.

Kent Armstrong:

Yeah.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

So what else might I expect to see if I came there? I've never been to Cologna so

Kent Armstrong:

Sure, sure. Yeah. I mean, you, you think we're kind of at a valley bottom beside this, this beautiful lake. So, you know, we're quite known for our homes perched up on the hill, kind of looking down the valley with pretty spectacular lake views. And we're, you know, we're, we're at around 225,000 people here now, so we've grown enough to the point where, you know, we're a city, that's got all the services you want, but it still kind of got that small town feel to it. Yeah. Um, but it's nice because our, our, our, so we we've got the highest population growth in Canada since 2016. So we're three times the national average. So as a result of that, everything here is new too, which is kind of nice, you know, new infrastructure, new buildings, you know, new recreational options. So yeah, it's honestly a fun time to be in Colonna.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Cool. And so if I came to visit and, uh, we were gonna go out for lunch, where would we head to?

Kent Armstrong:

We would head, well, there's a number of places. I I'm pretty partial to the, the cactus club at the, a club down on the waterfront. Um, but there, again, with a growth here, there there's so many new, uh, dining options. There's a new place in town called split. This that just opened if you're into kind of burgers and that kind of thing. But, um, you know, there there's a lot here. It's really world class. It's surprising. I think when people come here and, and then they know kind of where we're located in the size of the city, I think they're, they're always impressed when they get here for one, you know, the money that's been attracted here and the investments, um, that are made. So there's, there's honestly pretty, pretty awesome options for everything.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Well, that's awesome. So I'm gonna let you, uh, show at your website and they can find you there and reach

Kent Armstrong:

Need to. Awesome. Yep. So you, you can find me, uh, at Kent armstrong.ca to get your, uh, home search started in Cologna and follow me on Instagram at Kent Armstrong Cologna for, or for market updates and, and some local spotlights.

Jennifer Foley Realtor:

Awesome. Thanks so much.

Kent Armstrong:

Okay. Thanks.

.