Calgary Answers · Buying · Value

What Makes One Homeworth more than another?

Roughly in order of how much they move the number — and the order surprises most buyers.

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In rough order of impact

  1. Location, at the community level. The single biggest factor and the one you cannot change.
  2. Location, at the street and lot level. Backing green space versus an arterial. A quiet crescent versus a shortcut. This gap within one community is frequently larger than buyers expect.
  3. Size and usable layout. Above-grade square footage and bedroom count, weighted by whether the layout actually works.
  4. Condition and age of expensive systems — roof, furnace, windows, and whether the kitchen and bathrooms are current.
  5. Garage and parking. Matters more here than in milder cities. Why →
  6. Basement development, particularly whether it was permitted and whether there is a legal suite. More →
  7. Outlook and orientation — view, sun, and which way the yard faces. The Calgary trade-off →

How to compare two homes properly

Take the differences one at a time and ask what each is worth to the next buyer, not to you. A basement gym is worth a lot to you and nothing to someone who wants a fourth bedroom. A double garage is worth something to almost everybody.

Then check the direction of your reasoning. Buyers reliably over-weight what is visible and easy to change — paint, staging, fixtures — and under-weight what is permanent. The market does the reverse over time. What actually narrows the buyer pool →

If you find yourself justifying a location compromise because of a renovation, pause. The renovation is the part you could have done yourself.