To buy or to wait? That’s what many would-be homebuyers are wondering right now. And if you’re in the same boat, you’re probably trying to figure out if it’s better to wait to buy a home or if now is the best time to jump into the market. 

Short answer: if you’re in a position to buy a home, now is a good time to buy. 

Why? Well, right now, the average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment is $2,300 per month in Canada. That’s a lot to be paying for rent, especially if you look at it over a long period of time. 

If you pay $2,300 a month in rent for the next 25 years, you’ll end up paying $690,000. That’s a huge amount of money–and it’s assuming that you’ll never see another rent increase, which is highly unlikely. 

The worst part about this though is that your landlord gets all of that money. You won’t ever see another cent of it. Once you pay your rent, your money is gone forever. 

Now, let’s compare that to owning a house. If you paid $2,300 a month on your mortgage payment, you’ll likely have your house paid off and then some by the end of 25 years. Then when you go to sell that home, you’ll get all of the money you paid into your mortgage back. That’s an easy $690,000! Plus, because real estate increases in value over time, you’ll probably make back more than you put into your mortgage. That’s my favourite part of real estate!

A home isn’t just a place you live–it’s like a giant savings account. You definitely can’t say that about renting. 

And I’m not sure about renting, but I know I would much rather get money back when I sell my home rather than having it all go into a landlord’s pocket. If you’re ready to put your monthly rent payment to work for you, then it’s time to buy a house. Reply to this email, and I’ll get you set up with a few resources to get you on the road to becoming a homeowner!

As a buyer, having a house appraise for less than you offered can feel like the end of the world. The deal can’t go through as is, so what are you supposed to do now? 

First, don’t stress out. Tons of buyers (and sellers) go through this every day, so you’re not alone. Remember that appraisals are an art, not an exact science. That means that there aren’t any set adjustments that appraisers make. Appraisers use their knowledge and experience to make a judgment about how much the house is worth in a fair market (not leaning towards the buyer or the seller).  

When the house appraises for less than you made an offer for, you’ll be looking at something called an appraisal gap. In most cases, a mortgage provider will only lend you the home’s appraised value. When you have an appraisal gap, that’s less than what you need to buy the home at the price you offered. For example, say you offered $350,000 on a house, but it only appraised for $300,000. That $50,000 is the appraisal gap, and chances are, your lender won’t lend you that money–they’ll only lend you $300,000 or the appraised value of the house. 

So what are you supposed to do if you find yourself in this situation? You have some options to look at. First, the seller can come down in price to the appraised value.

If they say no, you, the buyer, can pay the gap yourself. Or you and the seller can meet somewhere in the middle. 

If none of those options work and you’re just not able to come to a good agreement with the seller, you can back out of the contract. As long as you have an appraisal condition, you can always cancel the purchase contract as a last resort. 

An appraisal gap isn’t fun to deal with, I’ll be honest, but it’s not the end of the world. Even if the worst case scenario happens and you have to walk away from the deal, your agent will help you find a home that will be even better for you. 

The perfect home is out there, I promise, and I can help you find it! Just reply to this email and let’s get you a home that meets all your needs and wants.

Emmy is a performer! Thanks to her Stollerific team, Emmy was given the chance to walk again and shine like the star she is.

Since 2016, Emmy has been followed closely by her team at the Stollery to monitor a rare congenital deformity in her spine. After a successful spinal decompression surgery in 2019, she went home to recover. Unfortunately, a few days later, she popped one of the rods they placed during the surgery – effectively breaking her back. While performing her repair surgery, Emmy’s team discovered her hips needed to be fully repaired for her to be able to keep the rods in place. After two body cast changes, Emmy had a successful hip surgery.

Today, Emmy is able to twirl and dance, and her family is grateful to her whole team at the Stollery.

I am happy to be donating a portion of all my sales to the Children’s Miracle Network. Every single real estate transaction makes a lasting difference in the lives of sick children right in Lloydminster & Area.

Summer is here, and doesn’t it feel great? It’s time to bring that summer freshness inside and give your home a summer detox! Here are a few of my favourite things to do in the summer to get my home feeling clean and fresh for the rest of the season. 

– Buy plants as natural detoxifiers for cleaner air. Snake plants and spider plants are great for this and they really freshen up the look of a space. 

– Clean your air vents and replace your HVAC filter. Bonus? This will save you money on energy costs and help you conserve energy!

– Brighten things by cleaning your windows inside and out. Then open them up to let the fresh air in. 

– Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter to catch all the dust and allergens hiding in your carpet or on your floors. 

– Switch to all-natural cleaning products. Baking soda and white vinegar can replace so many of your cleaning products, which is awesome for your wallet. 

– Switch your dryer sheets out for reusable dryer balls. This is another tip that will save you money and help to conserve resources! I also love dryer balls because they make towels so soft and fluffy. 

Refreshing your home for the rest of the summer with green, clean products is a great way to detox your living space to make it healthier for you and your family. And the added bonus is that you’ll probably end up saving some money on top of feeling better!

If you want more tips like this, make sure you’re following me on social media! I post great info like this all the time–you don’t want to miss out!

Welcome to my monthly real estate market update for Lloydminster. Let us look at what happened with the real estate market last month.

Tune in for the Market 411…

55 Properties Sold in June of 2022.

The average selling price range was $338,551, with an average of 64 days on the market. 

THE WEEK IN MARKETS (IN EMOJI) ✂️ Not as bad as some recent weeks, but still not good: the S&P fell another 2%, and the TSX fell 1%. Bonds rallied, as investors lowered inflation expectations and ratcheted up recession fears. In fact, market pricing now implies that the BOC and the Fed will need to shift to cutting rates in the second half of 2023. In crypto, if you really want to know, Bitcoin and Ether both fell and are trading near 2022 lows. “WS” Is now the time to sell? Of course, it is. Feel free to contact me for a market evaluation.

Have you checked in on your home’s equity lately? Now is a great time to see what your equity looks like because, chances are, it’s increased! 

But let’s review what equity is before we jump into how you can find out how much you have. Equity in your home is how much money you have in your home–it’s the amount of your home that you actually own. The more equity the better because that means you’ll get more money from the deal when you sell your home!

Your equity increases over time for two reasons: you pay money into your mortgage and the value of your home increases. Because home values have been skyrocketing over the past couple of years, your home’s equity is probably more than the money you’ve paid into your mortgage. And that’s why you should check on your equity! 

Here’s how to do a quick and easy equity calculation. First, find your home’s current market value. You can check with your real estate agent to get an accurate valuation. If you just want a rough estimate, you can find an online estimate.

Next, look at your last mortgage bill and find how much you have left to pay on your mortgage. Once you have that number, you’ll just subtract that from your home’s current market value. 

The resulting number is the amount of your home that you actually own–how much you have in equity! For example, if your home is worth $350,000 right now, and you have $225,000 left on your mortgage, you would have $125,000 in equity. And the odds are good that the amount you have in equity is way more than you’ve made in mortgage payments. That’s the beauty of real estate–you can make money by doing nothing more than living in your home. 

If you want to talk about what to do with your home’s equity now that you’ve calculated it, just reply to this email!