I don’t mean to brag, but I timed the housing market perfectly — I bought at the absolute peak!
My move to Okotoks this spring just so happened to coincide with the crest of the wave the real estate market had been riding through the early part of 2022, which peaked in May when the benchmark price in town hit $560,000, up almost 19 per cent from the same month a year earlier.
That benchmark price has gradually been clawed back in the ensuing four months because no market, regardless of how hot it might get, ever continues upward unabated, and now sits about $20,000 below spring’s high-water mark.
I’ve never been one to be too terribly concerned about market timing as I’ve long believed that if you manage to reap the rewards of selling high, you’re more than likely going to have to buy in an equally balmy market if you're staying local, so gains made at one end don’t go as far at the other. We arrived from Beaumont where the market was thankfully toastier in the spring than it is now.
Likewise, if you happen to sell at a low ebb, you benefit by buying when prices are depressed, so you’re not any worse off. I accept that the market will go up over time, but that rise will not be in a straight line, so as long as you’re in it for the long haul, you’ll be OK.
The ideal scenario would be to sell high and then wait for the inevitable correction before buying, but even if you’re able to time it right, which is no easy feat, the logistics of doing so are problematic. Not only are the costs and hassles of a double move significant drawbacks that eat into your margin, but there’s little likelihood you’ll find a short-term rental, at least not in these parts.
When we were looking for a place back in May, the market was moving at such a frenetic pace that we actually considered the rental option, but it became a moot point when there simply wasn't anything available. It wasn’t so much to wait for prices to come down, but rather to allow the market to cool off, so we weren’t trying to buy at a time when houses were selling the day they were listed, often with multiple offers.
Jumping into the biggest purchase of your life because the clock is ticking far faster than you’d like is unnerving, to say the least, but the thought of not pulling the trigger, which means not having anywhere to go when it’s time to vacate the old place, is every bit as worrisome. Living in a hotel with your belongings in storage is hardly an attractive option.
Faced with this proverbial gun to the head, we took the plunge, but not long after we moved in, we realized the new place wasn’t all we were looking for, so, suffice it to say, that situation has been rectified and we’re extremely happy now.
In hindsight, it would have been far nicer to have bought during a more measured market, but sometimes life just doesn’t work out that way.
