Real Estate Blog

It’s business as usual at the Calgary Polo Club.

Despite being an exclusive sport, the current economy in our city doesn’t seem to have had an impact on this somewhat elitist past time.

The Calgary Polo Club was established in 1890 with its current location south of the city in DeWinton next door to Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School and as far as hobbies go, the sport is not cheap.

Richard Coté is the club president and in a recent interview with the CBC he said that the Club is always open to working with members.  Retention is important to keep the rural facility up and running.

He also stressed the fact that there are ways to reduce the cost for both beginners and for the club’s elite players.

New members really need a pair of appropriate

Completely residential, Eagle Ridge is a very small luxury neighbourhood in South West Calgary.  With just three streets, 97 homes and 500 residents, you can’t get more intimate than this.  There are no stores, no gas stations, no office buildings and that means, no traffic.

It’s also one of Calgary’s top luxury neighbourhoods. In fact, in a poll conducted within the last five years, Eagle Ridge ranked 18th among luxury neighbourhoods in the entire country.

Eagle Ridge Location

This highly exclusive and private neighbourhood has just one road in off 75 Ave SW to the west of 14 St SW.   Eagle Ridge is tucked in between Heritage Park Historical Village to the south and Rockyview General Hospital to the north with the Glenmore Reservoir immediately

When the City of Calgary looked out into the future in 2014, they were looking from a place of prosperity.  Where oil prices were high and employment rates were just as high. Folks could absorb a hike in property tax in exchange for improved services from the City.

Today it’s a different picture and reaction to 2016 taxes from Calgarians is fairly negative.  And, there’s another 4% or so hike coming in 2017.

Take for example, 34-year-old Dan Willmott who recently redeveloped a property in the South West community of Wildwood. Built from the foundation up on a 60-foot wide lot, the $550,000 bungalow became a $1.7 million dollar two-storey home and property taxes doubled.  Now, the young man’s bill is over $700 a month. Luckily, there are two incomes

A nice-looking driveway is an integral part of your home’s curb appeal.  It has to look nice, be durable, functional and long-lasting.  However, the material you choose for your driveway has to be attractive but more importantly, it has to be appropriate for your soil conditions, nearby vegetation and the climate in the area in which you live.  Should you pour concrete, spread asphalt or lay bricks and paving stones?   Let’s look at the options.

Concrete

This is a popular middle-of-the-road choice because it’s durable, does not require a lot of maintenance and is great wherever.  You can do a lot with concrete these days with a wide variety of colours that you can add to the mix.  You can add texture so that it’s non-slip or etched to resemble

Are you one of the 40% of homeowners in Canada that didn’t quite have enough money between paydays to keep your life going?  That’s how many Canadians are out there – four in 10 – that were caught short in the last 24 months according to a new survey just published.

This dismal picture was captured by Manulife Bank, which issued the survey results along with a warning that rising debit among Canadians could present a crisis among those homeowners that couldn’t absorb the extra expense that rising interest rates could bring. The banker also discovered that this is a troubling issue across every province and not just in major markets where expensive housing and huge mortgages are an issue.

Manulife Bank of Canada surveyed more than 2,300 homeowners

If you worry that your chosen exterior colour will clash with the neighbourhood, think smaller.  Think about what you’ve planted in your garden.  Or, what you’d like to plant.

Calgary gardening guru Donna Balzer offers some wise tips for home owners who have spent a lot of money on perennials and trees for their yard. That includes people who have purchased a brand new home that requires landscaping or who have completely renovating the exterior of your home.  You don’t want a colour disaster happening in your garden.

As Balzer explains, trees such as Blue-chip junipers won’t stand out if you plant them in front of dark blue siding or painted stucco.  Amur cherries are another example.  They have a fantastic copper-coloured bark.  If you plant them

The art of taking kitchen scraps and using them in the garden is not new.  Composting has morphed from standard farm kitchen procedure to hippie commune idea to being a mainstream must-do thing.

Today, yard waste, kitchen waste, dryer lint, coffee grounds and even chicken bones are recycled as compost, not always for the benefit of gardens which we may or may not have, but for the benefit of keeping this unnecessary waste out of the landfill.  And with today’s curbside pickup service from private firms and municipalities, it seems quite ordinary now to keep your rotten tomatoes in a bucket under the sink til the next pickup day.

New technologies

A firm called Hop Compost has been working in Calgary since last year and has kept almost a million

We love our dogs but hate what they to do the grass.  It’s glaringly apparent in spring when the grass turns green everywhere but your pup’s favourite pee spot.

No doubt neighbours have given you all kinds of advice of home remedies of what to feed your dog or put on the ground to neutralize the damage.  That includes giving your dog tomato juice (heard that one?) to putting sugar on the grass where your dog has just gone.  Some might be successful, some not.

What we do know

A doggie’s urine contains high volumes of nitrogen.   This is what is burning or killing the grass.  It’s what happens when you put too much lawn fertilizer on one spot. You’ll notice that the grass circling a pee spot is quite green and grows quickly.  That’s because diluted

Countless fires happen every year because of faulty electrical in the home.  Wiring, incorrect use of extension cords, faulty appliances – the list goes on and on and a lot of fires can be prevented.

Start with your breaker panel

Whether you have a fuse box or breaker panel, you should know when the last inspection was. There should be a label indicating the date of your last inspection, and this is important if you are not the original owner of your home.  The City of Calgary, like most municipalities in the country, requires you to have your panel inspected only if you have renovated or added more electrical from an addition.  However, there are many consumer advocacy groups that recommend having a professional check your electrical every decade

Built on a gentle westward slope, the upscale community of Pump Hill is located on the west side of 14 St SW between Southland Drive SW and 90 Ave SW. 

In the early days this community was a collection of acreages and market gardens way out in the country that supplied the new city of Calgary with vegetables.  The city finally grew out to this area in the mid-20th century but it remained a tight-knit community of homes on one, two and three-acre lots until well into the 1970s.  Horses still grazed on the corner lot at 14th and 90th Avenue until 2000.

Land over the crest of the hill was developed in the 1970s with paved roads and large estate-sized homes, with an adult-only villa community constructed in the mid-1990s. But the majority of Pump Hill