INNISFAIL - The town has taken a big step away from being its own realtor for its residential land stock, which has faced stagnant investor interest in recent years.
At its regular meeting on May 14, town council unanimously approved an administration recommendation to enter into realty listing agreements with locally owned RE/MAX Compass Realty to market and sell 27 remaining unsold town-owned lots within the Hazelwood Estates and Napoleon Meadows subdivisions.
The agreements with RE/MAX, which are for 12 months, call for the company to provide land sale services, including lot listings on various online sites and social media, as well as a marketing strategy with signage and advertising. Ads will also run in the Innisfail Province.
"We actually had an engagement meeting between council members and a real estate company and we learned what is going on in the market in Innisfail compared to other municipalities and how we can best leverage each other," said Todd Becker, the town's chief administrative officer. "That is their business, so let's utilize their resources, the experts to market our inventory of lots."
Becker said the agreement with RE/MAX does not totally remove the town from business involvement, noting the town will continue to market its assets but the "first go-to" or front line will be RE/MAX.
"We will still market in some capacity our lots," said Becker.
In a report to council last Dec. 11, it was stated a stakeholder engagement meeting was held between RE/MAX and town officials on Dec. 6. The report said there was a discussion to have town-owned property listed with a real estate company as "they are the frontline" for potential residential or non-residential buyers.
It was also stated in the report that a barrier to attracting developers to Innisfail is that the Town of Innisfail "could be considered in direct competition."
Since last October's municipal election the town has made it a strategic priority to find a solution to attract more developers to Innisfail for the construction of all types of housing options.
"We've always done it. Lots of communities do it, service lots and put them on the market but obviously our results certainly haven't been positive," said Mayor Jim Romane. "Last year we had one lot sold. We need some help. We're not in that business. This is a good test run for 12 months. Let's give it a good shot.
"We are looking at every possible angle and approach, available land -- everything we can so this would be good if we could stimulate some construction by getting some of these lots sold off to people and get some houses built," added the mayor.
For several decades the town has either been the original developer for some new local subdivisions or became involved with marketing and selling residential lots after housing projects were initiated by a private company.
In 2004 the town started the Upland Aspen project that ultimately had 39 lots, as well as one for an eight-unit condo. The Hazelwood project was originally started by Malibu Communities. The town later purchased 51 lots in 2010. There are four remaining. The town has been the developer for Napoleon Meadows since its inception in 2014. That housing project started with 42 lots. There are 23 remaining to be sold.
