Why Use A REALTOR®: When Buying or Selling a Home

Real estate transactions are one of the biggest financial investments most people encounter in their lifetime. Seeing the small upside cost and the large downside risk, it would be unwise to consider a deal in real estate without the professional assistance of a REALTOR®.

Whether buying or selling, you’re involved in a complex process requiring many professionals. One of these professionals is a REALTOR®, who’s responsible for making the transaction as efficient and as easy as possible for you. Your REALTOR® will ensure the transaction is completed competently and professionally. You can get advice from someone with an in-depth knowledge of the local housing market. And you can count on the help of a professional who has committed to serve you with...

CMHC on Deck to Make Things Easier for Self-Employed Borrowers

Qualifying for a mortgage is the first step when looking for Calgary homes for sale, as this is an integral part of the process that prepares you to obtain the keys to your beautiful new home. Canada Mortgage and Housing...

When buying a house in Calgary,  finding the right real estate agent to represent you is one of the keys to finding the right home to suit your needs. As you search through your options, it is helpful to understand the differences between a real estate broker and a real estate agent as well as how these professionals can help you through the buying process. 

What is the Difference Between a Real Estate Agent and Real Estate Broker? 

A real estate broker is a professional who is licensed to manage his or her own business. As independent sales people, they often sell real estate that is owned buy others. In addition...

What to Expect When Buying your First Calgary Condo 

Your journey in purchasing a condo for the first time can be both challenging and exciting. You have to be all prepped up for all types of soul-searching and decision-making. After all, this is one of the biggest investments of your life and you don’t want to end up making the wrong choice. 

By now, you might have countless questions running through your mind. Here is some relevant information to point you in the right direction: 

Know what you want....

We think it’s going to be a fairly decent year for real estate in Calgary.

This morning was the annual Calgary Real Estate Board’s Forecast Breakfast and whether the market is up, down or sideways we always come away with renewed vigor and optimism about how the year is going to go.   And today’s event was no excpetion.

CREB always likes to be cautiously optimistic and has announced that 2018 will offer its share of challenges.  The road to economic recovery continues to be bumpy – nothing is happening overnight – but there’s every indication that we can safely adopt an optimistic attitude.

The Short Term

Over coffee and dainties this morning, we heard...

It’s a fresh New Year, full of promise and optimism especially when it comes to Calgary Real Estate.  What will happen with house prices?  Will condo prices ever pick up after a 10-year slump?  And, now that I’ve waited for the recession to end, should I sell this year?

As I write this, we’ve all just learned that Amazon  has chosen not to relocate a facility for its HQ2 in Calgary.  We didn’t even make the short list of 20 different cities (like Toronto did).  I read a few predictions about 2018 from various Calgarians at the end of December that declared that Amazon and the reported 50,000 new jobs that would come with it would boost our real estate market.  So, nothing to do now but go onward.

We love to tout storm water ponds as community features when selling homes in Calgary. Listed on feature sheets as community benefits, today’s storm water ponds are surrounded by graceful bull rushes and native grasses gently blowing in the breeze, attracting water fowl and reflecting with the red and orange hues of a setting sun.

This time of year as the ponds freeze over, seemingly presenting an opportunity for some old-fashioned 3 on 3 pond hockey, the community ponds can turn from treasure to tragedy real quick.  Because even if we were to sustain temperatures of -20 for weeks at a time in Calgary,...

Your little piece of Calgary real estate could quietly be killing you.

The soil on the Canadian prairies has some of the highest concentrations of naturally occurring radon gas in the country.  There’s no odour – no taste and no hissing sound as it seeps into your home.  While scientists have been compiling data on the prevalence of radon in Calgary since the 1970s, there is still not enough data to truly give us the whole picture.  But the preliminary findings are enough that every Calgary home owner should take action.

I watched some news stories this week about radon gas in the city and a new campaign called ...

How Important is Resale Value?

With the January 1 mortgage rules on the horizon, estimated to affect about 20% of home buyers, people are scrambling to understand what exactly they can afford.  The fear – if you want to call it “fear” – is that people will be forced into a lower price range and will get less home than they want and perhaps, have to buy in different neighbourhood.

It’s important to keep one of the basic tenents of buying real estate in Calgary, and that is:  is this home a sound investment with good resale value down the road.  You want a property...