Real Estate Blog

Just 25-minutes due east of the City of Calgary lies Chestermere, offering so much life and so many possibilities that it can’t be called a bedroom community.  You can’t contain that much living in just one room.

Still growing and now a “city” in its own right, Chestermere is a vibrant, family-oriented community centred around a lake and connected pathways.  The lake was created a century ago when the Calgary District Irrigation Canal System was dug out of the prairie to bring water from the Bow River to area farmers and ranchers.  Small cottages appeared around the lake but once the value of the community was discovered the little community grew.  And grew.  Now there are luxury water-front residences around the lake and have become very desirable

From December to March, Calgary streets, sidewalks and pathways can be cold and icy.  There are hardy individuals that walk or run no matter what the weather, but there are plenty of facilities in Calgary where you can get your 10,000 daily steps done in climate controlled comfort, without the burden of a heavy winter jacket.

Walking is one of the best forms of exercise there is.  There’s no special equipment required and it helps beat the winter blues.  It helps to strengthen your muscles, keeps your joints moving and can reduce the risk of diabetes.

Some of the places listed below are free and others charge an admission fee.  Check our list of places to walk indoors and find a place close to your Calgary home.  Then start taking steps towards a

Ordering in food doesn’t have to mean pizza and Chinese Food.  Thanks to technology and a growing appetite for laziness in the kitchen, enjoying the cuisine of your favourite Calgary restaurant and skipping the dishes is easy as installing an app.  The Skip the Dishes app.

Order using your Smartphone or the Skip the Dishes website and find the line up of good restaurants in your area of the city.  Access the restaurant’s menu – you can order from multiple restaurants if you want.   Complete your order and the app connects you immediately with the restaurant.  Gone are the days of standing by the front window or down at the front door of your building watching and waiting for the delivery driver to come with your food.

Skip the Dishes has modernized

With miles of pathways along river banks and creeks, Calgary is a great city to exercise in.  If CrossFit is part of your fitness routine, you’re sure to find a gym close to your Calgary home.

CrossFit has been around since it was developed in 2000.  Unlike a gym with weights and treadmills, CrossFit provides a workout for the entire body, combining the best of cardio, weights, core training and even some elements of gymnastics.  Often incorporated into a boot-camp style of workout, this high-intensity program offers a ton of variety and gives you the most bang for your buck.  Each 45 to 60-minute workout rarely gets boring.  CrossFit gyms are in large facilities, similar to a warehouse, with programs offered in a class setting. 

There are CrossFit

Every time your realtor books a showing, your heart beats a little bit faster and the anticipation builds.  But then, an offer doesn’t come.  Sometimes you don’t even get constructive feedback.

If your home is on the market longer than you expected it’s time to drill down and figure out why.  What are the issues with your home and what can you do to improve the chances of a sale?  Some issues you can fix, some you can’t.

Here are some reasons, based on experience, why your home may be languishing on the market and what, if anything, you can do.

Market Conditions

Especially now, with average days on the market in Calgary being so high, this could be to blame.  However, if you haven’t received any offers at all, check to see if others in your

After building up equity over the years, your home might be your retirement plan.  Should you really sell it and rent, sell it and buy a smaller home?  Sell it and be a gypsy in an RV?  According to financial experts, the decision you make isn’t just about money.

It’s also about the pros and cons of being a property owner versus a renter.  It’s about lifestyle and how responsible you want to be, or how free you want to be.

Renting

For years, the advantage of owning a home has been the fact that it’s an asset that will increase in value the longer you have it.  It’s been an investment.  But if you’re retired, guess what.  You don’t have your whole life ahead of you in which that asset is going to gain more value.  And conversely, when the market

Valley Ridge is a picturesque community in north west Calgary, built on the southern edge of the Bow River Valley.  It’s located south of the Trans Canada Highway west of Bowfort Road and Winsport Canada Olympic Park. Once the home of Happy Valley Ski Resort, Valley Ridge is built around the stunning Valley Ridge Golf Course with beautiful upscale homes situated around the greens.

The community is also a shining example to the rest of Calgary how communities can provide social and recreational amenities within the neighbourhood to keep residents engaged and connected to each other.

In a recent article posted by the Calgary Real Estate Board, Valley Ridge community volunteer Dave McCarrel was recognized for his contributions to his fellow residents

The skis are tuned up and waxed ready for another season on the slopes or cross country.  Skiing is a fantastic past-time and excellent exercise and in Calgary, we’re so lucky that the mountains are just an hour away.

If you’re looking for a home in a Calgary community that brings the mountains even closer, here are a few neighbourhoods to consider.

Crestmont

This small enclave of upscale homes is just south of the Trans-Canada Highway on Calgary’s western edge.  There’s just one road leading into this secluded community and residents are only seconds from the highway west to Nakiska, Banff and Lake Louise.  It’s also just west of Winsport Canada Olympic Park, so keeners can even ski at night on the well-groomed slopes right next door.  Homes in

Entertain in style this holiday and save time by letting a professional decorate your home for the holidays.  You want your house to shine, inside and out, and decorating done right can take up a lot of time.  No matter how creative you are, a professional will still be one step ahead of you.

Here are some Santa-approved reasons why you might want to outsource your holiday decorating.

You Have No Time

We are all crunched for time in one way or another. But people with serious time issues, like working mothers, single fathers or people who travel frequently want the Christmas sparkle to just appear.  Whether you want a decorator to work with your personal decorations or bring items into your home, they’ll do all the bulb-replacing, tree-assembling

Your home is staged and ready to sell, but how does it smell?  You may be nose-blind to possible odours, and yes, being nose-blind really is a thing.  It’s an olfactory adaptation to familiar smells.  By turning off the receptors that pick up common every-day odours in your home, one is able to detect new and potentially hazardous odours.

Have you ever returned to your home in Calgary after being away and thought, gee – it’s musty in here.  But the next day you don’t smell it anymore?  You’ve become nose-blind.  You don't smell the pet odour, the musty furniture or the stale smell of cigarettes.

But getting back to selling your Calgary home – studies how that a majority of a person’s emotions can be triggered by a scent.  A smell can evoke memories