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The REALTORS® Association of Edmonton (RAE), founded in 1927, is a professional association of real estate brokers and associates in the Greater Edmonton Area and beyond.
Welcome to the RAEdio podcast brought to you by RAE, the Realtors Association of Edmonton. So that's the RAE in our radio. We deliver easy to understand market insights, some homeowner tips, perspectives from industry experts so that you can feel informed and empowered wherever you are in your home ownership journey because better decisions start with better information. And our first guest on the radio podcast is Darlene Reed. She's the board chair of the Realtor Association of Edmonton.
Mark Connolly:Hello, Darlene, and welcome.
Darlene Reid:Morning.
Mark Connolly:So, Darlene, off the top, let's just define RAE. What is RAE, the Realtors Association of Edmonton?
Darlene Reid:Well, the Realtors Association of Edmonton is a membership of realtors in the Edmonton and surrounding areas. We're at just over 5,400 members currently, and we have been around a long time. We're about to celebrate our hundredth year anniversary here in 2027.
Mark Connolly:Wow. Hundred years. Now I think everybody's heard of realtor. They've also heard of real estate agents. Now is a realtor always a real estate agent, and is a real estate agent always a realtor?
Darlene Reid:There is a difference between the two. So to become a real estate agent, you have to be licensed with our provincial body, which is RICA. If you wanna be a realtor, which is a trademarked designation, which follows a different set of code of conduct and and ethical guidelines, you have to be a member of a local real estate board, which then allows you to be a member of our national association, which is the Canadian Real Estate Association.
Mark Connolly:I expect when you talk about those kind of things, the rules and regulations, that's to protect the consumer, I would imagine.
Darlene Reid:It is to protect the consumer, and it is to, you know, protect our agents in that we are a self governing body. So we have rules and regulations internally with our within our own real estate association locally. We have obviously some, legislative guidelines to follow under the Real Estate Act, which is administered through RECA. And then we also have bylaws and the code of ethics that's really implemented nationally, but it's up to the local boards to enforce it. So as a self governing industry, we are expected to basically tattle on each other.
Darlene Reid:So when we see someone doing something wrong we're expected to call them out and say hey you did something wrong we need to fix this because we're upholding the integrity of our profession for all of us.
Mark Connolly:Yeah. And I guess when you're trying to instill that sort of thing in a realtor, you you you have all kinds of training and whatnot. I mean, I've been down to your office, and I see all the, opportunity there is for different courses and that sort of thing, but that's something that, obviously, you would take pretty seriously.
Darlene Reid:We do take education and training very seriously, and, we just actually redid our new strategic plan, and one of our key focuses is professionalism. And in talking to my colleagues around the province, it seems to be a key focus for all the associations in Alberta is to really enhance our professionalism and enhance consumer confidence in realtors.
Mark Connolly:Yeah. Now do you know who Phil Dunphy is?
Darlene Reid:No.
Mark Connolly:Phil Dunphy is a character in the, TV show Modern Family, a sitcom, and he is a realtor. And he's very proud of it. And you have to find out about Whitfield Dunphy, Darlene, because he is the funniest realtor going. And he's also very, very strict about what he can and cannot do. So I think that could be part of your training session, Modern Family.
Darlene Reid:Okay. As long as he is professional.
Mark Connolly:He is. He's very, very professional. So this podcast itself, you know, it's it's fun for me to be part of it. Obviously, I've got a long career in journalism. I've talked a lot realtors over the years when I hosted, you know, radio programs and talked about, know, buying and selling houses and all kinds of other things.
Mark Connolly:So for the Realtors Association of Edmonton, why do you think this podcast could be good for you, for the realtors, and also for people who are buying and selling houses?
Darlene Reid:Well, this is a great educational opportunity. So it's great for the public to kinda learn what we do and what services we can provide them and how realtors can protect them. And it is good for our association and just awareness out there. So it's it's really good for both.
Mark Connolly:What what do you think, are some of the things that people wonder? Because they probably ask you a lot of questions about being a realtor and about buying and selling houses, that sort thing. Where where are some of the things that come to mind for you that you deal with?
Darlene Reid:Well, people think we make too much money, which I mean there is you can have a very lucrative career in this, but it does come at an expense. There's you do spend a lot. When you do a listing, you're spending money photographers and RMS and your errors and emissions insurance and your commercial liability insurance and your licensing fees and signage, like the expenses go up. So when people think, oh, they're making this huge commission, there's actually a lot that goes into it. And there's a lot of expenses in training because we do have you know, yearly, professional upgrade courses that we're expected to take.
Darlene Reid:We're expected to attend like our we just had our area government liaison days, so we're expected to stay informed on what's happening in the market and to do that is a cost. And Yeah. You know, realtors can be specialized in different areas. So if someone is specializing in condominiums, they may pay extra to take extra courses around that so that they become the local expert in that area. So there is a cost to it.
Darlene Reid:So, yes, realtors can get compensated, you know, by commissions, but there also is a cost to to doing the job.
Mark Connolly:I think one thing a lot of people wonder about, are commissions negotiable? Is it a set fee? And does it vary from place to place?
Darlene Reid:So it's actually the competition law. That's federal legislation that states all commissions are negotiable.
Mark Connolly:Okay.
Darlene Reid:So that is is the legislation. So there is no set fixed rate of commissions in anywhere in Canada. Every brokerage, every agent might have a different model. They may be willing to negotiate. They may not depending on what their brokerage policies are, but that doesn't, stop the consumer from going around and sourcing out and interviewing several different agents and seeing what services they can provide for what cost.
Mark Connolly:Well, let's talk about those services because realtors do all kinds of things. So, you know, it could be a lot or it could be a little, I would imagine. So what role does a realtor play for a buyer or a seller? Or I guess I guess we'll try to tackle both.
Darlene Reid:Sure. So there are different levels of of real estate services you could get. There we have something now called mere postings where you could call up a a brokerage and they literally just put your listing on MLS. They don't give you any other services. You are still basically representing negotiating for yourself and advertising yourself.
Darlene Reid:Okay. If you if you choose to go with, like, a full service, model, you're going to get, you know, your professional signage, measurements. There's some new legislation that we have to measure every single property that we list. We can't rely on builder blueprints. We can't rely on tax data.
Darlene Reid:You have to actually have every property measured, professionally with certain guidelines like duplexes. It's interior, you know, paint to paint and detect homes you extrapolate for the walls. There's different criteria which has, caused it's actually brought a lot of consistency to our our listings and a lot more accuracy because some builders would include a covered deck as part of the square footage, which we know it's not livable year round. So now that are they
Mark Connolly:trying to do, darling? Come on.
Darlene Reid:Realtors will have the the properties professionally measured, which protects the seller from a lawsuit down the route the road from misrepresentation. So that is a service they provide. They provide access to the, MLS, so you're getting exposure, you know, across Canada through realtor.c and through your local board. You get professional advice, so you'll get, access to any statistical data and, some forecasting and projections on where the market might go based on economic factors. So you'll get the best advice on pricing your home.
Darlene Reid:When it comes to negotiations, when you get an offer, our realtor realtors are very good at negotiating and advocating for their clients, so you get that protection too. And then the one of the biggest ones is all Realtors in Alberta carry reex insurance, which is errors and emissions insurance. So if something does go sideways, you are covered under your Realtors insurance for errors and emissions.
Mark Connolly:Yeah, that would be a very important thing, I would think. You wanna be protected.
Darlene Reid:Especially on such a big purchase.
Mark Connolly:Yeah. I mean, this is I mean, it is the biggest purchase for most people in their lives, and it can be very serious, especially now. I mean, the way things have gone, say, in the last twenty years, the way home prices have gone, it's very, very difficult people for now to afford homes. So when they make that deal, they wanna be pretty sure, I would imagine.
Darlene Reid:Yeah. It is. And, in the market, like, just in the last year, there was so much change in Edmonton area just in 2025 with the market. We started the year with very low inventory. There were a lot of multiple offers.
Darlene Reid:People who weren't represented by a realtor were were losing out a lot more because the realtor's aid, you have the communication internally with your colleagues. You kinda know what might be hitting the market. And, there's some relationships built among colleagues that you know that I've done a deal with that realtor. I know that they usually preapprove their clients. They're probably solid clients versus someone you don't know.
Darlene Reid:And so when you're in a multiple offer situation and you're working with a realtor, they can best advise you on the best condition terms to put in that they feel might be most favorable to that seller so that you can win out in those multiple offers because at the beginning of this year, it was pretty, challenging for buyers. There was a lot of disappointed buyers.
Mark Connolly:You know, it's interesting when you talk about the price of homes because, and we often hear in the news when they're talking nationally about what's happening. Edmonton is one of the most affordable places to live in Canada. And you're talking about homes that are, say, 400 to 425,000 being the average. But, know, people are going out and buying homes. They're looking at it and they're saying, wait a minute.
Mark Connolly:This is 600. This is 700, $800,000. I thought the average was 400. You know? So things seem more expensive than you might believe if you're just watching the news and and talking about the big picture, Okay.
Darlene Reid:Affordability is very subjective. Right? We Right. We're known as the most affordable major city across Canada, and, you you know, you read these headlines of the housing markets crashing. Prices are going down.
Darlene Reid:Well, not in Edmonton. Yeah. Very interestingly, we're we're ending this year with our inventories up a little. Sales are down a little. You would normally expect prices to be down a little.
Darlene Reid:Well, they're not. Prices are still moving up, and they're still up year over year, and that's been consistent. We've been up year over year this whole all of 2025. But what was really interesting is I just spent some time in Toronto, and it was really interesting to hear how on a million dollar home, their development charges for the municipalities is 36% of a home. So on a million dollar home, $360,000 of that home is going straight to your municipality.
Darlene Reid:And Edmonton has one of the lowest development charges. We're only 4%. So when you're talking affordability, that plays a huge role in it. Like, to take $360,000 out of a million purchase, that almost brings you closer to what Edmonton values are. So Edmonton is still affordable, but when you're looking at you know, you I've got, you know, a 22 year old.
Darlene Reid:When you're looking at them moving out of your basement eventually
Mark Connolly:Right.
Darlene Reid:$400,000 home isn't really affordable to someone who's just graduated university and, you know, starting in the lower, you know, salary brackets.
Mark Connolly:No. For sure. And, you know, it brings you to the question about when you look forward and you're thinking, oh, one day, I'd like to buy a home. You start saving up. You put all that money away.
Mark Connolly:You're doing all kinds things to get there. At what point do you talk to somebody, to a realtor and say, okay. Well, I eventually wanna buy a house. When do I need to start thinking about it and talking to you to give me an idea of what I might be able to afford?
Darlene Reid:Well, that's that is interesting because we've heard from people that I keep saving, but the mark keeps moving. I keep saving, but the prices keep going up, and they keep telling me I need to save more and more. Like, when am I gonna catch up? You know, the advice I would give is is speak to your realtor as soon as the idea pops into your head. I always say there's no bad time, you know, to buy into real estate.
Mark Connolly:Yeah.
Darlene Reid:And, you know, if you talk to a realtor, they can connect you with mortgage brokers, banks, you know, whoever they use. They usually give you one or two different lenders to talk to and see who can offer you the best rate. Get your preapproval done so you know what you qualify for, and try to enter that market. Even if maybe, you know, your dream is to have a single family home with your white picket fence, maybe you don't start there. Maybe you start in a condo or a townhome and then build some equity up and then you sell and buy.
Darlene Reid:Because when you're buying and selling in the same market, it doesn't matter if it's a high or low market because you're gonna sell low, buy low, or you're gonna sell high, buy high. So if you start building that equity early, it's easier to transition to that future dream home.
Mark Connolly:I mean, may seem like a simple question, but a lot of people probably won't know. What is equity in a home?
Darlene Reid:So equity in a home is if you buy a home, say you buy a home for 400,000 and you know you've got a basically, a high ratio mortgage, so you're put 5% down. So you don't have a lot of equity to start. But in a year, house prices went up, and now they're 480,000, but you only paid 400 and you're slowly paying down that mortgage. So right away, just with the economy and house prices going up, you just built yourself $80,000 equity in that home. So when you go to sell it, whatever you sell it for, less your mortgage cost, that's the equity.
Darlene Reid:That's your return on your investment.
Mark Connolly:Yeah. I see. Alright. Let's talk about going forward in 2026 then. What what, you mentioned that home prices keep going up in Edmonton.
Mark Connolly:What are you foreseeing in in in the New Year?
Darlene Reid:Well, I wish I had my crystal ball. We do have a forecast coming up at Ray in January, which is one of our biggest events of the year. We have a lot of industry partners that, attend and wanna hear what we're predicting. But it's it's gonna be a very, a very well, it's gonna be a very interesting year to watch because we've got a lot of factors that are gonna influence our home prices. And, you know, we've got our friends down south with the tariffs that could affect, you know, building costs on new builds.
Darlene Reid:And we've got, you know, our friends down in Ottawa who set the interest rates, and so we'll have to see what happens with inter interest rates if they stay low. Like, you know, we got spoiled at the 1.5%, and now we're at, like, 3.5%, which is still a good interest rate when you look at you know, over time, like, I remember, you know, in 2005 getting 5.1 and thinking I won the lottery. So 3% still isn't a bad interest rate, but it's the perception. So it's it's gonna be watching interest rates. It's gonna really depend on inventory.
Darlene Reid:If our inventory levels stay where they are, which is just turning from a seller's market to a balanced market, it still could be a very hot market, and we could see prices still go up. If it shifts to more of a buyer's market where we have more inventory, then we could see prices stabilize or maybe go down. I don't think they're gonna go down, but maybe if the inventory really takes a big hike and the sales drop, we could see that because then there's obviously, more room to negotiate for buyers.
Mark Connolly:Well, I think way back to when I bought my first house, the interest rate was 12 and a half percent. Now the house was not 400,000. That was a lot different back then. So but it it was pretty high. When you were talking about real estate conditions in the city, it's not the same in every neighborhood either.
Mark Connolly:Right? Like, there's different things that happen in different neighborhoods that could affect whether you can afford or not afford. And and I would think a realtor can give you the advice about, yeah. Well, you can you know, if you wanna live in this part of the city, you have much more access, I would think.
Darlene Reid:Yeah. Absolutely. So it's very interesting to see. We so Edmonton doesn't just track Edmonton. We also track our surrounding communities.
Darlene Reid:And we've seen a lot of uptick in the places like Beaumont, Leduc, even Spruce Grove. So people who think, well, you know, it's not just about the house price. They look at taxes. So when you go to get your preapproval, they're putting in all your debts. Well, your property tax is now considered a debt.
Darlene Reid:So when you go to some of these outlying communities and the property taxes are a little lower, people can afford a little more house than they could in Edmonton. So, yes, there's specific communities. Like, last year, Keswick was one of our top selling neighborhoods and, just, south or West of Secord there on the West End really grew a lot. They're they had the biggest price jump. So it also depends on demand within areas of how much those house prices are gonna retain their value, go up, or maybe stay maintained or even go down a little bit.
Darlene Reid:Right. But it was interesting because if people are willing to go outside of the city boundaries, you can actually buy a home. Like, my son actually purchased a home in New Sarepta, which is, like, fifteen minutes from Leduc for $95,000 last year. Really? So you can still do it if you're willing to go thirty minutes out of the city.
Mark Connolly:Sure. I mean, it would be a sacrifice for some people. For other people, it wouldn't matter at all. They'd be like, yeah. That's fine for me.
Mark Connolly:When you look at the time of year you buy, I think to myself, well, boy, the spring must be a hot time to buy a house or to sell a house. Do the seasons matter a lot?
Darlene Reid:So they don't matter a lot. Anytime is a good time to buy a home. Winter,
Mark Connolly:people the realtor.
Darlene Reid:Yeah. But winter, typically, people like, I'm not moving in the winter, but sometimes you can get a bit of a better deal in the winter. So if you're willing to, you know, make that trade. The reason spring tends to be the busiest time is schools. So people with young children, they wanna buy in the neighborhoods that they wanna register their children in school, and you have to you have either a purchase contract or be living in that zoning to register for that school, especially with how full our schools are.
Darlene Reid:I mean, some of even the local schools have gone to lottery systems. So you see a lot of, rush in the spring for people to buy because they need that purchase contract to register their kids for school. So that is one of the drivers for spring. Summer tends to be a little slower because a lot of people are on vacation. They're on holidays with their kids.
Darlene Reid:They're not interested in dragging their kids to look at houses.
Mark Connolly:Yeah. I I would imagine. Alright. Let's talk about then, figuring out who you want to help you buy your house. How do you or sell.
Mark Connolly:How do you contact a realtor and how do you I mean, usually, I I know through a lot of friends, it's kind of recommendations. They'll say, oh, I work with so and so, and they're really good. What kind of things, though, should you ask a realtor when you're considering to hire them basically?
Darlene Reid:I always encourage people talk to at least three realtors. We have all our members listed on our website at the Realtors Association of Edmonton. They're all licensed on Rica. Like, all the ones that are licensed, you can go and search the names. Ask for recommendations.
Darlene Reid:Ask on Facebook groups. And when you meet with your realtor, you wanna ask them, you know, how many years experience do you have? Do you have any experience selling homes in my neighborhood? Do you have experience selling this type of home? Is it a custom built home?
Darlene Reid:Is it a condo? Is it a townhome? Like, you how much experience do you have selling this product type? And ask them, what are your marketing strategies? You know?
Darlene Reid:What are your sales numbers? What is your record? What is your sales to, you know, listing price ratio? Like, you wanna ask all these questions, and you wanna find somebody that is a right fit for you because personality and relationships play a big part in real estate.
Mark Connolly:Oh, I would imagine. I mean, I I've seen you know, I've worked with a number of different realtors over the years buying and selling homes, and and mostly it's been through a friend who might recommend somebody. And but I I find that and you probably know this too as a realtor yourself. Sometimes you just click with people and you think, okay. I because a sense of trust, even though you have all those rules and regulations that are guaranteed this person's, you know, where you want, you want that sense of trust, I would think.
Darlene Reid:It is trust. And it's it's interesting because when you first get your real estate license, they always say to you, you know, work your network of family and friends. Right. Well, sometimes your family and friends don't wanna use you, and and you can kind of understand why because you have a close relationship, and it's very easy to say, well, that's my family. We can wait.
Darlene Reid:I'm gonna service this person first. So sometimes people want that arm's length independent, unbiased representation. So, it is interesting that they do tell you the first thing is to, you know, work your network, your circle of influence, and your family and friends, but sometimes that's not always the best route to go because family and friends want someone totally independent, and that's okay.
Mark Connolly:Yeah. And for sure, mean, it's it's a business arrangement. Right? You wanna have that feeling that this person takes me seriously. They're actually providing me a service, and they're working for me.
Mark Connolly:Right?
Darlene Reid:Yep. Yep.
Mark Connolly:That's cool. Alright. So, Darlene, I hope you've enjoyed this first episode of the podcast. If there's anything I've missed that you wanted me to ask and you wanted to mention, go ahead.
Darlene Reid:No. I think this has been wonderful. This has been a great conversation.
Mark Connolly:Well, the one thing we wanna ask all of our guests to conclude our podcast is for you personally, what makes a house a home?
Darlene Reid:Well, for me personally, a house that makes a home would be a common living area where you can make those memories that will just last a lifetime. It's not and for me, it's not about the kitchen, the bathroom, the yard. It's about having that communal space where you have your family gatherings, you have your birthday celebrations, you have your holiday celebrations, and you're making those memories that you can carry with you for a lifetime.
Mark Connolly:Darlene, that's a great answer. Love it. Thanks for being a guest on the podcast.
Darlene Reid:Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Mark Connolly:That's Darlene Reed. She's the board chair of the Realtor Association of Edmonton and our first guest on the radio podcast.