Happy Anniversary
Almost time to celebrate
Last week, I asked our readers - you, if anyone is interested in attending a webinar on how I’m preparing for the upcoming economic downturn.
Many of you have responded, if you’re interested in learning more, click here to read last week’s newsletter:
https://www.whyalbertanow.ca/p/chips-are-stacked-against-the-us
June 11, 2024 was when I published the 1st newsletter of Why Alberta Now to share my thoughts on the Alberta real estate market.
In 2 weeks, we will be celebrating our 1st year Anniversary of the newsletter!
Image credit: Celebration Vectors by Vecteezy
A year ago, I saw the stars aligning and believed another historic boom in the Alberta real estate market is in the making.
If you've been following Alberta real estate, you have seen the activities showed up in many places:
Lethbridge, Alberta, where I started my real estate investing journey is on fire
Even though Calgary's market slowed down this year compared to last year, it has jumped a ton over the past few years
Edmonton finally caught on. In almost a blink of an eye, it seems like everyone I know in real estate are talking about investing in Edmonton
Funny how in just few years, or as recent as few months ago, some people were having serious concerns about investing in Alberta.
The reasons I often heard was:
It's too cold
There are too many rednecks
I coined the term NCNR during one of the presentations - No Cold No Rednecks
NCNR was the primary reason people didn't want to invest in Alberta.
Today, NCNR doesn't seem like an issue anymore?
Does that mean Global Warming made Alberta the new Mexico?
Or all these rednecks decided to paint their necks a different color?
Ok, I understand these are bad jokes.
Really bad.
The point is, perception change.
When perception change, it pushes the market much lower or higher than the underlying value it represents.
It's the blindspots we all have as humans.
Hard to see the true value of something when it's filtered through a colored lens.
Whether that's good or bad.
That's what makes investing so interesting.
There's the value of an investment, and then there's also the perception of the value of an investment.
To navigate between the two, is what makes someone an okay investor vs. a great investor like Warren Buffett.
Just because Alberta real estate market went up, it didn't make my job simple
It made my job easier, but certainly not simple navigating in this climate:
We've seen bond rates shoots up and drops in the following weeks. Affecting the interest rates on our mortgages.
When it's few hundred thousand dollars, a 0.25% change in mortgage rate may not seem much, when the mortgage is in the millions, that 0.25% matters, a lot!
We've seen properties being a challenge to value, because there was so little inventory, there was no comps for the appraisers to rely on for months.
We've seen rules drastically changed at CMHC affecting how projects could be financed. Affecting some projects requiring a significant higher capital up front than before.
What a year it has been!
Not to mention, in this past year, we also lived through:
August 2024 stock market flash crash
US election
Canadian election
Tariff wars
April 2025 stock market flash crash
Stubbornly high interest rate in the US
These were just the highlights!
The initial intention of this newsletter was to share my thoughts on the Alberta real estate market sprinkled with macro economics
It was a way to merge what I do - developing infill multifamily rental properties in Edmonton.
With what I find interests in - macro economics and geo political dynamics.
I trust that you have found my newsletters valuable.
If you have been following me for a while, you know how much I enjoy following the markets and economy.
A lot of my families and friends have told me I have a way of connecting the dots and explaining something seemingly complex such as investing, finance or macro economics in a way it is easily understood by them.
As the time went on, you may have noticed I shifted to write more newsletters on the markets and economy, less so on the Alberta real estate market.
I believe an investor will be better served by understanding the "bigger picture"
You see, as much as I have no control over what the bond rate is at every single day, what I do have control over is on the strategy we deploy in response to the macro economic conditions.
It's the mindset:
Don't fight the rip current
Whenever there's something that's much more powerful than you, fighting it is futile.
This is why I think it's important to study the macro economy, geo political events.
In the long run, these things will have a much bigger impact on the ROI of our investments than what we actually invested in.
For example, lower interest rates make real estate prices go up as more people can afford getting financing or bigger mortgages.
Anyone will look like a genius real estate investor when they are making money from the market appreciation, when in reality, it's the low interest rate that's doing the heavy lifting.
Another example, if the US is successful at charging 25% on Canadian exports, it will slow the Canadian economy down.
It doesn't matter how great one company is at preparing for a slower economy, if the company depends most of its revenue from Canadian domestic consumptions or exporting to the US, it will be affected in a big way.
These are the "bigger picture" events to pay attention to.
Introducing: EC Research Group
For months, I have been feeling that I've "outgrown" the Why Alberta Now brand.
I didn't know what to rename the newsletter to.
Few months ago, I mentioned switching to the title "7 to 8 Figure Investors".
Since then, many of my close investors, advisors, and readers have mentioned to me privately that the brand "7 to 8 Figure Investors" doesn't resonate with them.
I appreciate their valuable feedbacks and insights.
Many of them are readers of this newsletter, I want to say:
Thank you!
After weeks of brainstorming, we arrived at the name "EC Research Group".
You can expect the same from this newsletter, with a new name.
I will cover the finance and investing news, major geo political events, and macro economy - aka. the "big picture" things to look out for on the horizon that could impact your investments.
I will share what I uncovered - connecting the dots and uncovering information that is not shared by the mainstream media.
I will continue to publish the newsletter with this clear intention - to give you the information I would want if our roles were reversed.
Co-Hosting EC Research Group Launch Parties
I'm considering hosting several EC Research Group Launch Parties to kick off this new brand.
It's been great meeting many of you online when we hosted our webinars.
I'd love to meet you in person!
I'm looking for co-hosts to coordinate organizing local meet ups in the coming months.
This is a great way to connect, meet other like-minded investors and chat about real things that are not convenient to talk about in an open setting.
If you're interested, here's a form to fill out as a co-host:
https://forms.gle/DaprxrFcVVKjwTRW8
If you like my work, I invite you to share it with others.
Eric Chang
Edmonton, Alberta
May 27, 2025
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