Colleen McGinnis has thought about finding her own homes for her rent-to-own real estate investment company, RCM Homes Ltd.

But when your business plan calls for one to two home purchases a month - and you're responsible for sourcing those properties and for handling most of the property management issues - experience says you build relationships with real estate agents, then bank on their access to the multiple listing service (MLS).

New information from the Calgary Real Estate Board's MLS shows the service posted record highs for listings, sales and prices in March of 2005. While MLS doesn't account for 100 per cent of this city's residential real estate market, it definitely covers the lion's share of the industry, making it a key focus of musings about what the numbers all mean.

And what do record MLS statistics tell us? Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) president Marilyn Jones says the news is all good - although the actual numbers probably say more about continued market strength versus a surge in market activity.

File photo by Mike Sturk, Business Edge
Calgary Real Estate Board president Marilyn Jones says the MLS news is "all good".

CREB data using MLS figures shows the totals for residential listings and sales in a one-month period hit their highest-ever levels in March. According to that data, 4,165 units came on to the MLS market last month, compared to 3,468 for February 2005 and 4,084 in March of 2004. The 4,165 units listed in March equals 3,037 single-family units, 1,090 condo units and 38 mobile homes.

Combined with January and February figures, 11,100 residential units have been placed on the MLS market between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2005.

"If you look at this year's statistics over last year, it's not that big a difference," especially when you calculate the March 2004-March 2005 increase of 80 listings over more than 4,500 agents, says Jones, a Realtor with Century 21 Bamber Realty Ltd.

Moreover, the statistics beg context and "Calgary is a growing city," adds Jones. Low interest rates, a strong local economy, a high number of head offices and a well-educated workforce all give the residential real estate market built-in strength.

Jones expects 2005 to post a higher immigration rate than 2004, in part thanks to moves such as Imperial Oil relocating its head offices to Calgary from Ontario. The Imperial Oil buyers "are certainly not all coming at once," but they have started to enter the market and are buying homes across a variety of price ranges Jones describes as $150,000 and up.

Others in the business tell her these sales range from condominiums to luxury single-family homes and that a number of the relocated employees are first-time home buyers, a fact that bodes well for future strength in the move-up market.

CREB data show record listings for March also translated into record sales. In March 2,967 units sold. That beat last year's record of 2,824, also set in March. Year-to-date sales (end of March) tallied 6,805 units, up from 6,224 sold in the same time frame last year.

The same report says the year-to-date average sales price for combined residential units is $245,144, compared to $220,528 for Jan. 1 to March 31, 2004. CREB warns that average-price information is useful in establishing trends over time, but must be understood as an average, since the figure does not account for widely divergent neighbourhoods or for price differentials.

Real estate investor McGinnis agrees with Jones' contention that vendors need to understand that a strong market does not mean every home will sell quickly.

McGinnis's company has purchased 10 properties since it was incorporated in February 2004, but she's toured far more. Like Jones, McGinnis insists vendors "do have to have a good product and again, it does have to be priced properly."

A property located in a neighbourhood of homes priced in the $200,000 range, for example, will not fetch that price if it's not well maintained or needs significant upgrading. "There are some homes (in many price brackets) that have been on the market for more than 90 days," a situation that usually translates into an asking price that's too high - or a property with too many problems, notes Jones.

McGinnis's firm looks to buy undervalued property that can be quickly renovated and put on the market. To speed the property search and let her focus on other aspects of the core business, McGinnis works with MLS agents, since "experience tells me they have better access to properties than I do."

When all goes well, that access equals another holding in RCM's portfolio. The company, which includes McGinnis's daughter and son-in-law, took possession of one home on Friday, April 8. Their renovators were on site by the Monday morning, with plans to have the home on the rental market by May 1.

The real issue for home buyers in today's market, including investors who want a particular kind of property, is choice, adds Jones.

She says buyers who don't limit their search to a specific part of the city will find they have more choice than those who significantly narrow their options. In some sought-after neighbourhoods, selection is very limited and the properties sell very fast, she adds.

McGinnis agrees. RCM will take possession of a rent-to-own home in Coventry Hills at the end of April. McGinnis says she toured that home with an agent the day it hit the market - and there were others waiting to enter the home as soon as they finished.

So, while the market may not really be all that hotter than usual, there's no time to mull over a good deal, says McGinnis. It's sort of like: Buy now, or move on to another deal later.

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)