Real Estate Blog

You love the fall colours but hate cleaning up all those dead leaves in your yard.  Raking can be back-breaking and mulching seems so easy; yet some say it will damage your grass.  What is a home owner to do?

What the experts say

Fall leaves according to Scott’s Canada, a leading lawn care and fertilizer manufacturer, should be mulched.  It’s easier and the clean up can be done in an afternoon or less.  Apart from the labour involved, organic material has nutrients and by breaking down the leaves you’ll release those nutrients back onto the grass. Studies have been done at Purdue, Cornell and Michigan State Universities in this regard. Mulched leaves left over the winter didn’t damage the grass in any way or negatively impact the pH of the soil. 

There’s nothing like sitting on the deck of your home with a cup of coffee and looking out to the horizon.  What would you like to see on your horizon? Mountains to the west or the sparkling city skyline?  The river valley?  Fields of ripening canola or a deep, still forest?

Calgary is situated in a unique geographical area, caught between the prairie grasslands and the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  It’s where flat terrain meets rolling hills and valleys. The topography  provides the perfect opportunity to buy a home with a view in just about every quadrant of the city.  It depends what you’re looking for.

Here’s a quick scan of some of the many communities in Calgary where many homes have amazing views.

Mahogany:  This new community in the

Next time you visit a patient in Foothills or take a trip to the ER you may hold our local hospital in higher esteem once you learn about how inportant this institution is.

Foothills Hospital is one of Calgary’s iconic structures, standing proudly at the summit of 29 ST NW at 16 Ave NW in the community of Parkdale.  Built in 1966 at a cost of $21 million, the hospital has morphed into a large medical complex and is one of this country’s most recognized medical centres and one of Canada’s leading hospitals.  Countless Calgarians were born there, had their tonsils or appendix out there or said their final goodbyes to friends and family. 

As part of the University of Calgary and operated under the authority of the provincial body Alberta Health

It’s a term that real estate professionals like to throw around. Comparables, or “comps”.  This terms refers to the process of reviewing other homes in the general area that are similar in size or location and style which have recently sold.  It’s part of the analysis to see how the property considered for sale stacks up against the competition.  While you want to consider what similar property types are currently listed at to see where you might fit it, it’s the recently sold properties that will give you a truer picture.

Comparables aren’t black and white

There are some grey areas when it comes to comparables.  While it is sort of a science, there are lots of variables which can be open to interpretation. 

For example, it’s important to look at

See a house you really like?  Want to see the inside?  No problem – almost all residential listings in Calgary are available online, complete with price and a series of professionally shot photos.  There might even be a video tour offered.  In fact, you might even get a 3D tour of that home thanks to a new camera being used by the Calgary Real Estate Board.

The technology used by video game manufacturers has made its way to the real world.  If you watched the Olympic Games on TV recently, you likely noticed that CBC was offering a look at the games via “virtual reality” on its website, allowing you to look all over the stadium in Rio.

The Matterport Pro, purchased by CREB® for a cool $8,000, is currently being used to capture images for online 3D

The mid-year shake down by the Calgary Real Estate Board shows that higher-priced properties in our city seem to have some staying power.

While the number of sales of residential properties priced at over $1 million is up in the first six months of 2016, from 347 the first six months of last year to 371 this year, those 24 additional transactions seem like a huge deal all things considered.

One would think that with layoffs happening every month and potential home sellers taking a wait-and-see approach, that if any type of property would be suffering the most, it would be the high-end big-ticket properties. 

Yes, home and condos – resale and new - priced in the millions are doing well.

Why is this happening?

CREB®’s chief economist

Kitchens may be where the resale money is but bathrooms are tired of running a close second. Straight from the pages of Home and Garden are this year’s top trends in bathroom design and renovation. 

Basin Tubs

Free-standing bathtubs are the luxurious offspring of the old claw foot tubs.  We love us some deep dish bathtubs without the weird feet.  Today’s free-standing basin tubs remind us of being in a Roman spa.  They are classically designed with an inviting shape and have a thick rim.  If you have a claw foot tub and are in no hurry to get rid of it, you could build a skirt around it for modern appeal.

Tub and Shower Combination

You may be thinking, what?  What’s new about that?  The difference is that the shower head is beside the tub, not

When you’re looking for a new home in Calgary, first impressions mean everything.   You either like it and want to see more, or you don’t. 

However, as the seller, curb appeal can be very subjective.  You may treasure the lawn ornaments in your front yard, collected from years of family vacations.  You might love your Carrigana hedge, maybe slightly bushy but it reminds you of your Grandmother’s farm in Manitoba.  Or your too-long front lawn is something you strive for because it’s a root preservation tactic.  However a potential buyer may not share your enthusiasm.

That’s why Calgary gardening guru Donna Balzer has decided to write the book on curb appeal in our city and is looking for help from Calgary home owners, house stagers and REALTORS®

Here in Calgary, we have a front row seat to what’s been happening as a result of oil prices falling through the floor.  We’ve watched while downtown office buildings have started to empty as the unemployment rate has almost doubled.  There have been salary cuts, less spending going on in our stores and the sheer volume of sales in real estate is also down.

Yet despite the dreary news coming at us almost daily, real estate prices have hardly dropped.  Maybe a half percentage here and there.  It would appear that the only thing stable in our economy, relatively speaking, are home prices.  The average sale price in Calgary in the first six months of 2016 is $479,464 according to the Calgary Real Estate Board. Comparing this to the 2014 average that just

A very cool luxury town home development is going in at the corner of Parkdale Boulevard and 29 Street NW.   It’s a high-profile location and is attracting a lot of attention. Constructed by Brookfield Residential, the 24-home project at this prime inner-city location will offer townhomes in the low $600,000s and up.

Excellent Location

Parkdale is a beautiful community with old elm trees and Manitoba Maples with a variety of luxury infill homes located throughout the neighbourhood.  A townhome in The Henry is an excellent opportunity to enjoy a maintenance-free lifestyle and to get into this neighbourhood for under $1 million.

The location is second to none.  It’s right across the street from the pathway on the north side of the Bow River.  Run