Hello everyone!
Welcome back to ‘Keeping it Real, Edmonton’, where we have on Real Guests to talk all about Real Estate.
In today’s post, we’re having a conversation with Adam Benke, a real estate agent who has been in the business since 2015. We chat about first-time homebuyers, infrastructure and zoning from an investment perspective, and how to avoid economic pitfalls when purchasing your first home.
Q: What specific area of the Edmonton real estate market do you specialize in?
[Adam Benke]: “We mainly focus on residential real estate. I would say I work with about 20-25% investors and the rest are either first time homebuyers or people that are buying up or buying down – wherever they are in their journey.”
Q: What sets you apart as a realtor?
[Adam Benke]: “I think the experience that my clients have speaks for itself. I mean, I don’t do any online marketing for myself. I strictly work as a repeat referral agent. I’m the number one agent in my brokerage for the last three years in a row, and it’s strictly just from working with clients, them referring me. I take the approach that my goal is just to help them. I feel that, ultimately, when you help somebody, they’ll help you. You take care of people, they’ll take care of you. So that’s always in the back of my mind. Regardless of if someone is buying a $100,000 condo because that’s what their budget allows, or they’re buying or selling a $2 million property – to me, it doesn’t really matter. The level of service is always the same for every single client. I think that [service] just kind of comes through.”
Q: How long have you been a realtor and what type of properties are first time homebuyers purchasing?
[Adam Benke]: “I’m in my ninth year of doing real estate now, so I’ve been helping people for almost a decade. […] Most first-time homebuyers that I’ve seen lately are still jumping to the fully detached homes – sometimes it’s a half duplex or a townhouse. But, for the most part, a lot of them are able to purchase fully detached houses. [Some clients buy] in an older neighbourhood [where] you’ve got more of an original house that needs more work – but yeah, they’re not afraid of it and most of them, from my experience, prefer to have that fully detached house with the yard and everything.”
Q: What are some of the key differences between the Edmonton and Calgary Real estate market?
[Adam Benke]: “100% Calgary is a separate market. I feel the biggest difference between places like Edmonton and Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, Edmonton and Ontario is affordability. I think that is what’s really driving a lot of buyers here right now, whether they’re buying for investment, whether they’re buying just because they want to own a house and they can’t own a house in Vancouver, or Ontario or even Calgary. I’ve had clients this year who have been priced out of the Calgary market, so they come up here. I believe the last stat that I looked at [stated] that the average house in Calgary compared to the average house in Edmonton [had a] 130 to 150 thousand dollar spread. So even Calgary is getting relatively unaffordable, which is really keeping the Edmonton market strong right now.”
Q: What changes are happening that people might not know about in the Edmonton market?
[Adam Benke]: “I know in a lot of the inner city neighbourhoods, the ones [with] houses from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s – they’re getting a lot of new streets. They’re tearing up the sewers, putting in new sewer lines. A big push that the city has done is for more densification within the city. On January 1st, they did a blanket rezoning of every single family lot in the city, and most of them are all designated as what’s called an ‘RS’ now, so as long as you meet the certain size requirements for the lot itself, you can build up to eight units on interior lots and ten plus units on a corner lot.
So a lot of these multi-family projects are popping up all over the city. A lot of that has to do with not only the zoning change, but the CMHC program that’s come out. It’s called the CMHC MLI program, which offers a lot of funding that wouldn’t normally be available to investors, a lot less than a 20% loan to value. I mean, if you hit certain criteria, you can get up to 95% loan to value and up to 50 year amortization, which is just insane from a commercial perspective. I would say that probably 20% of the deals I’ve done this year have been investors buying lots to build four-plexes, eight-plexes, that sort of thing. So we’re really densifying the inner city to avoid that, spreading it out.”
Q: Tell us more about the zoning change and the new CMHC MLI select program?
[Adam Benke]: “A lot of the red tape has been lifted. They can just go ahead and start building and submit their development permits. I’m seeing people who have been holding onto properties for the last, you know, 40, 50 years who no longer have a need for them and just want to really capitalize what they can do with them. A lot of old-time homeowners or property owners are taking their lots and seeing if they’re a good fit and exploring that option to build some multi-family [units] on it.”
Q: What are your predictions for the rest of the year?
[Adam Benke]: “I think the rest of this year is going to stay quite strong. I mean, the spring was very busy. I saw a bit of a summer slowdown, but not the typical summer slowdown I would normally expect. I think […] the Edmonton market is going to stay strong. I’m pretty sure our market’s going to be taking off here in the next 6-18 months, and that’s [due to] just the draw of people coming in to buy from an affordability standpoint.”
Q: What’s one piece of advice you would give to families and investors looking to buy in this market?
[Adam Benke]: “Make sure you have all of your ducks in a row. If you’re looking to purchase from a financing perspective because, you know, with the market as hard as it is, if a seller’s not confident that you have the means to be purchasing a home that you’re going after, they won’t even look at your offer. Pre-approvals hold a lot of weight to a seller when they’re considering offers, so it’s definitely important to align yourself with a mortgage professional that can get you set up for success when it comes for the right time to buy a house.”
Q: Anything else you would like to share with first-time buyers or new investors?
[Adam Benke]: “The biggest thing with being able to qualify for houses is the banks look at your income, and your debt load. So avoiding major purchases like new vehicles. I would hold off on buying a new car before getting into a house and especially what you don’t want to do is get qualified for a loan, get an offer accepted. It’s a done deal. You’re waiting for possession day to come. From the day that your move conditions till the day that possession happens, if you go and change your financial picture, like buying a new car in-between, the bank can pull funding on you and then you’re in a lot of trouble because now you’re supposed to buy a house that you don’t have money for. So waiting until you’re in that house before making any other major purchases is an important thing to be mindful of."
Q: Where can our readers find you?
[Adam Benke]: “You can find me on Instagram @benkerealestate or on benkerealestate.com as well. They can find me there, reach out at any time. I’m always down to have a friendly chat.”
ADAM is a local, born and raised in Edmonton. After high school he moved to Southern Alberta and tried working in Alberta’s infamous oil patch. wasn’t long here that he decided this was not for him and so he moved once again out to the west coast in the heart of Downtown Vancouver. He enjoyed the beauty the west coast offered and working outside up on a local ski resort. Still, he had a yearning for something more. He moved back to his roots in Edmonton where he went to NAIT and enrolled in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R) program. Right after graduating in 2007 he was offered a technical sales position with Kehoe Equipment Ltd, a local supplier of commercial and industrial HVAC equipment. He excelled in this position quickly becoming the top sales associate in the company. Though as good as he was, Adam still wanted more out of his working career and it was at this point in 2014 he decided a career in real estate was to be the next step. He is a big hearted man with a passion for helping people and being immersed in an ever changing environment. He enrolled in the Real Estate Associates Program completing his studies part-time while still work a full time. By the Spring of 2015 Adam was licensed and has seen year over year growth in his business since day one. In his free time Adam lives a very active life style exercising almost daily. He loves the outdoors and enjoys snowboarding, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.
- [Benke Real Estate, About, https://www.benkerealestate.com/about/]
If you are enjoying this summer series on the Edmonton market please let us know. Have any questions? Want us to interview someone specific? We are here for you! Let us know your feedback. sproutrto@gmail.com
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