- In this video, you'll learn
if buying a home in 2020 is right for you,
including if prices will go up or down.
That's starting right now.
- [Narrator] Welcome to "Homebuyer's School",
brought to you by Brookfield Residential.
(upbeat music)
- Hi, everyone, I'm Carl.
Welcome to another "Homebuyer's School" school video,
a channel where you get the latest strategies, tactics,
and tips from home buying experts.
And remember, if this is your first time on this channel
and you wanna get the latest strategies from the experts,
hit the subscription button below,
hit the little notification bell,
so you don't miss anything.
So today, I'm joined by local realtor,
Brad McCallum with RE/MAX First,
and the topic were gonna cover
is, should I buy a home in 2020?
So Brad, if I haven't bought a home yet
and I'm thinking about buying a home in 2020,
is it a good time to buy a home in 2020?
- Listen, you should never ask a realtor this
'cause it's always a good time to buy.
No, I'm just kidding.
I personally, I actually do think
that it is going to be a good opportunity
for people to enter the market.
The trepidation I think a lot of people have,
especially in our local market,
is that at the beginning of the year,
there was forecasts that housing was probably
going to drop in price
and obviously, if you're a buyer,
you don't wanna buy something today
if you're worried that it might actually
drop in price a year from now.
So what we've actually seen though in our local market
is there has been a real stabilization.
So over the last six or seven months,
we've seen a decrease in inventory,
we've seen, not necessarily an increase in sales,
but a lot more balance returning to the market.
There is about 3 1/2 to four months supply
in some of the different sectors
and that's a fairly balanced market.
The challenge that we face right now
is just the general mood, right?
If you watch the news too much, you can start to realize
that there's all these events you have
no control over. - Yes.
- But if your own life, if you're getting married
or your family's growing or it's time for you to make that,
buy that first investment property,
let your own situation be the guide
on whether or not it's the right time to buy not.
Don't try to time the market.
- Because I think unless you live in Vancouver
or Toronto, which the markets are very, very different.
- Yes.
- I also think that,
let's say the prices do come down a little bit.
- Okay. - Right?
It's not like your gonna sell your home within three months
of buying it, right?
So I think it is an investment,
at least two, three, five, 10 years, right?
So it doesn't make sense to just follow that fluctuation.
- Absolutely, so here's the thing.
There is an analogy of no one wants
to catch a falling knife, right?
You want it to hit the floor, pick it up safely.
And so, that's the idea with falling home prices,
that buyers get a little bit nervous if they see some drop.
But the reality is is home prices, every year,
in steady markets, in up markets,
there is fluctuation of always two or 3%.
They might start the year saying,
"Oh, there's going to be a 4% appreciation in price,"
and we see one, or we see 7%, so no one has a crystal ball.
No one knows what the next year is going to be
and I think, once again,
it goes back to your own personal situation.
If you're making an investment
and you're trying to time the market
and sell it in a year,
it's almost never a good decision to take that approach.
But if your window is three to five years,
which is sort of a common time for someone
to buy their first home
or before they move to their next home,
then you're probably going to be fine.
I'm actually quite bullish on Calgary.
I'm bullish on the housing market
if you give yourself enough time to market.
It's the same thing like in investments.
They say invest a little bit every month for the long-term
and 34 years from now, you're gonna be so glad you did.
I'm 41-years old, I know friends who didn't buy their homes,
and it never got cheaper.
- I never thought, yeah - It just never did.
- Well, it's funny 'cause one of the questions
I was gonna ask you is,
do you think prices will go down in 2020?
But I don't think it really matters, right?
Because the market fluctuates
and like you said, you don't know what
are the situations that will come in 2020.
- I mean, in our local market, so many different factors
that could be down a percent, that could be up a percent,
or could be up as many as five or 6%.
There is so many things.
One thing I know is that if there's a fluctuation
of just a little bit, it doesn't matter if your horizon
is a five-year horizon.
It doesn't matter
and the more important question that you should be asking,
'cause most of us, it's like one of those primary goals
is to have a home.
And if that's something that you want
and something you need for your family,
there's a whole bunch of non-monetary reasons
to have that sense of permanence,
to be able to offer that to your family.
I mean, there's so much more value
that you are going to get from it
than just the return when you sell your home,
even five years from now.
- Well, it's interesting 'cause I know we've gotten
comments in the past from videos saying,
"Hey, when you did a video on should I buy a home in 2019,"
and I got some comments saying,
"Well, you didn't answer the question."
But I'm like, I think the question
that has to come back to you is look at your situation.
Is it a good time for maybe you to buy
in 2019 or 2020, right?
Has your situation changed?
Is your family growing?
Is your family getting smaller, right?
Do you need to move? - Do you need changing?
- Yes, have you gotten a new job
that you can't possibly commute
or you'd like a very closer commute?
I think that would probably be the answer is ask yourself.
Is it the right time for you to buy?
- Absolutely, housing is one of those
basic needs that people have.
We need a roof over our head - Yes.
- And we are inside, especially in our climate,
we're inside our homes for six months
out of the year. - Yes.
- There is a real quality of life tick that you get
when you're in a space that you enjoy.
- Perfect, so do you have anything else to add
in terms of buying a home in 2020?
- Yeah, I mean, I would just say
don't follow the headlines too closely.
If you follow those headlines,
you're going to believe, that any point in time,
that the entire world is falling apart
and that there's never a good time to buy a home,
and that's the thing.
I've been there too, I can understand that.
What I would say, though, is that over the long-term,
I read a statistic once.
I know it was for America,
so I don't know how it applies to Canada,
but a 65-year-old citizen of the United States,
who is a home owner, his average worth is about $380,000.
A 65-year-old citizen of the United States who's a renter,
his average worth is about $7,500.
So even if you do nothing else in your life,
if you don't save for the future,
you don't put away for RRSPs,
if you just make that monthly payment on your mortgage,
you're going to be gifted with a safety blanket
25 years from now when you've paid off your house.
It's one of the simplest paths for the everyday person
to build wealth for their family
and for themselves and their retirement.
- So you actually touched on something.
If you want to know more about renting versus owning,
check out our video here in the description below.
So the question of the day I have for you is,
are you planning to buy a home in 2020, why or why not?
Let us know in the comment section below.
If you wanna know more about buying or building a home,
check out this video here, as well as other
home buying videos in our playlist here.
And don't forget to subscribe
and I'll catch you in our next video.