I’m pretty sure that you won’t be living in a “doublewide” but there’s little doubt that you’ll be disappointed in what you can buy for $300,000. The average east-end house is pushing the $400K mark right now.

I never solicit business here but your situation has me thinking. Is there any chance that you can make $350K work with your budget? If you can, I may have something next week that could work for you. I should have a whack of photos by Tuesday that I could email you. If you’re interested you can call me after Monday at 1-888-978-6676 or email norm(at)normfisher(dot)com. If you have selected an agent, that person is welcome to call on your behalf.

Regardless, I wish you two the best. Saskatoon really is a lovely city. You’re just kind of catching us at a bad time.

I stopped going to “agent’s open houses” some time ago because half of them were canceled without notice. Not very nice spending all of that time driving around to nowhere. Sheesh.

This is no excuse for bad service, but agent’s are spending far too much time deflecting potential buyers that they couldn’t hope to provide service to. Some days, my phone rings 40 to 50 times and I may get an additional 10-15 inquiries by email. I have had to hire a full time assistant to help me deal with it. Without her help, I could not even hope to respond to each one and still get some work done for my clients. I’m absolutely certain that some people have been surprised to find an a**hole answering my phone. That said, an agent has to find ways of dealing with it because it’s certainly not a good thing giving callers the bum’s rush, even if you feel like jumping off the edge of the earth.

But, enough about my problems. Thanks for listening.

What about giving your friend a go? He’d probably be glad to take these things off of your hands.

On the agent flip thing-my broker once suggested to me that “you’re either in the business to serve clients, or you’re in it to serve yourself. You can’t do a good job at both.” I agree. With the severe shortage of property over the last year, I’m not sure how you’d buy something without feeling like there’s a client you should be giving the opportunity to.

It’s almost impossible simply to find something with a real dining room, and I don’t think that is a huge thing to ask for…To put down every ounce of our savings and enter into a gambling game when I don’t even have a job yet….just to get an ugly- little thing that rivals the trailers I spent my childhood in—I find the whole idea to be a big let-down for all the work we’ve done.

It’s not entitlement. I just think there is no perspective in the market there for some reason. I personally worry a lot about the underprivileged in Saskatoon, and I haven’t even been there yet. I don’t know how they are surviving.

You’re fortunate to have a very good starting wage ($71,492 is the base salary for an assistant prof according to the HR website). Were you also told about the housing advance? I took out a 3,000 housing advance loan when I purchased my home here last year, and it helped that extra bit when I really needed it:

From the U of S HR website:

USFA Members

Faculty members are eligible for a housing advance for the purchase of a new home for their personal use (principal residence) in Saskatoon. Repayment of the advance is made by monthly payroll deduction.

The loan is a $12,000, interest free advance that is repayable over a maximum of 3 years.

Believe it or not, you’re in a good position relative to the majority of home seekers right now.

I realize there is a spectrum of service you’ll get from a particular agent, from useless and self serving (like those who wasted my time by not showing up to their open houses), to intelligent and highly capable (like Norm!).

Just wondering what are everybody’s experiences with the current crop of agents out there in Saskatoon. It seems I get really poor service from the agents I try to contact via email and phone to ask about properties and schedule showings. Top that off with all the stories I hear of agents spending their time flipping their own properties (which sounds like a conflict of interest kinda thing to me), and I gotta say it seems like there’s a lot of opportunists in agents clothing out there.

Seriously 4, 5, 6 percent of the purchase price? For what?

A friend of mine is an agent, and from some of the things I’ve heard from him, I wouldn’t want to pass some of these people on the street, let alone do a business transaction with them.

and if you end up coming, then welcome!

I think most of us got your point and there’s no need to apologize for feeling frustration at the state of Saskatoon’s housing market. You’re not alone.

Best wishes for a successful house hunting trip, and yes, please do let us know how it goes.

Yes! we are really fortunate, and my “high profile” job allows us to consider buying…

…or at least that’s what we thought because my girlfriend still has to find a job, and the salary of an assistant professor does not take you very far in Saskatoon’s market. Renting options (Kijiji.com) sare extremely limited and expensive [>1200 $ for 850 sqf!!]. We will be visiting Saskatoon during the first week of April. We need to find a place to stay and we are literally terrified…

Keep you posted!

I’m betting that ‘poor homeless’s name is more how the person feels when they see the pricing here….afterall it doesn’t do a whole lot for a person when they work their butts off, think they are making a pretty decent wage even according to thier peers, yet can’t afford a simple thing like a place to live…and so on. It’s a definite blow.

After one works thier ass off it’s not that great of a feeling to feel poor. It’s all about perspective so i find it funny that unapologetic seems to just jump in and have a ‘14 year olds chat room reaction’ to an actual issue.

There are many of us locally that wonder the same question as you….about who is able to afford a house here…if you bought before the prices went retarded then you were extremely lucky. I think a lot of people that can afford it here, either have a significant downpayment from selling thier previous house, are farmers that decided to move into the city after selling thier equipment and land, young spoiled kids who’s parents have ‘invested’ in thier kids by buying a property by refinancing thier own house that their kids tell thier friends that ‘they will have to pay them back’ but never really do….hrmmm and basically 2 steady income folks…if both people make 40-45 grand or more i think they can swing it too.

I don’t think you are being selfish or snobbish in saying you can only afford a certain range. It’s insane up here and for no good reason. There aren’t that many amenities, no beaches, etc…it is a beautiful city mind you, but i personally would STRONGLY reccommend taking a small ‘vacation’ here if you can just to see how it is before committing.

From friends I talk to in New Jersey, our food prices are way higher as well up here from meats to veggies…just try to check it out…in very great detail. Don’t trust the government of saskatchewan’s propaganda about how it’s the most wonderful place in the universe. Afterall i have a song that’s called Travelling thru the state of new jersey…to which my friend laughs becuase it’s so propagandized.

Best of luck to you!

After looking up narcissism in the dictionary, I have to say that you may just be right. Although when I looked up DINK, it couldn’t have meant what I thought it did. But that’s beside the point.

I too think the housing prices are ridiculously out of whack here in Saskatoon. But again Cindy, that’s not the point.

I think you said it yourself when you said that a condo or townhouse or small bungalow in avalon or whereever may not be their style. Boo-frieken hoo.

So, “Homeless” does not reek of entitlement, merely, someone in the same boat as hundreds (if not thousands) of others in Saskatoon. You, however reek of narcissism.

It sure scares the crap outta me! LoL

unapologetic,

You reek of callum. I think “Poor Homeless” was making a sarcastic statement regarding the situation here in Saskatoon, it IS pretty ridiculous. I also think that educated people shouldn’t have to pull out a 40-year mortgage just to be able to afford a modest house here! Maybe in New York, or Vancouver, but not here.

Over the years I have learned to take my idiocy in stride.

Nevertheless, a person referring to themselves as poor and homeless, despite their ability to afford a fairly substantial mortgage, reeks of self-entitlement.

Dear Homeless – I was in a similar position a number of months ago. Reached the conclusion that we could not stake our finances in Saskatoon and left for greener pastures where the incomes were more reasonable and prices had acclimatized over long periods. Good luck in your endeavors, Saskatoon is a beautiful city, but, I did a few months in New York for work, and have to say I was equally impressed!

I will be sure to shed a tear for you.

cordially,

a poorer than you but not nearly ‘poor’ person.

I can imagine that this is not a great deal of fun for you. Prices are through the roof and finding a “decent” house for 275-300 has become a challenge.

The “average income” here was about $742 per week in December of 2007. I believe I heard it’s up about 2% since then. It’s obviously a challenge for anyone earning at that level to enter this market.

Prices have been driven up by a sudden interest in our province which includes former Saskatchewanians moving back home and a whole hell of a lot of investment speculation.

I don’t know how long you plan to be in Saskatoon. If it’s less than a few years renting might be the better alternative, though as Heather suggested, that won’t be easy either.

None of the “economists” who report on real estate are calling for price declines but that’s not out of the question given the large increases we’ve seen and the fact that local incomes won’t support these prices. If people keep coming, I believe that the best case scenario is stabilization. If that trend stops, we’re in for some tough times moving things back to realistic levels.

Best wishes.

I’m glad you posted, it’s amazing somebody from New York is saying this about Saskatoon! No, everyone isn’t rich here, but no doubt the rich are getting richer.

Many people feel Saskatoon’s real estate has become overpriced and it should see some correction in a year. I’m more optimistic and think something’s going to give this year. Our vacancy rate is a big problem, so if you’re looking to rent your options will be extremely limited. Everything is currently up in the air, with the volatility in the U.S. and Canada’s slowing economy… it’s a bit helter skelter.

That being said, Saskatoon is a nice place to live… for the meanwhile. It’s nowhere close to the feel of a big city. Do you have family or friends here, have you visited before? When is the start date for your new job?

Despite my PhD degree I can’t figure out what the hell is going on in Saskatoon. I am a recently hired assistant prof @ the U of S. My girlfriend and I are trying to buy a place to move in before Jul 1st but the market is insane!

We will never of own a “decent” place on our price range (270-300k). Besides, we are really concern about buying right after such an steep price increase.

Can anyone explain to us who is able to afford a house there? What’s the average income in Saskatoon? Is everyone rich?? At this point seems that we are already “out of the market” and we will have to rent (assuming we can find something under 1200/month, that is!) Here (NY) housing prices are way more reasonable (at least taking into account the average income). Maybe I shall turn down the job offer….

/A homeless

J.

That link you posted is very interesting. Especially the part saying that the bank of Canada is expected to trim rates by 1.5 – 2% by August.

It’s amazing how much money ( er debt ) is being injected in to the U.S. right now. Things will start looking positive again soon starting with the Dow. The real estate market will seem to stablize. “That’s my next prediction”. It seems the international bankers are going to ramp it up again for one final push before they pull the trigger. After all, they love buying private banks and corporations for pennies on the dollar. Just ask Bear Stearns as J.P. Morgan is part of the federal reserve.

Funny indeed. I just had a look and it’s there.

Thanks for the link.

Sask. economy to lead the nation:

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/03/19/canadianeco.html

I expect to post some February stats today which includes a breakdown between condos and single family homes in the 5 major areas. Thanks for visiting.

Scared renter,

Things are starting to look a little different, and you’re right, inventory is up a fair bit in comparison to last year. 400 active listings is still far too weak to bring much in the way of balance.

Great example of the poor photography that this industry seems to get by on.

As an aside, look at mls #300739’s picture for a chuckle. Hard to know which house is for sale, and just wondering if the traffic light comes for no extra cost?