Real Estate Blog

A big beautiful kitchen in your luxury home starts with a good design.  The very first priority, whether you’re designing it yourself or if you’re working with a professional, is to look at your lifestyle and to consider that activities in the kitchen must be supported by the layout and amenities in the kitchen.  Only then can you create a map of your kitchen, understanding the workflow that needs to take place there.

Designate your workspace

When designing the flow you can establish where designated work areas should be.  Once you’ve identified the primary spaces, either for food preparation, cooking, clean up, dish storage, paperwork areas and entertainment hubs, then you can decide where cabinets should be placed.  Designate areas for each of

We all know that famous Christmas movie when the sincere but inept Clark Griswold slides off the roof of his home while putting up Christmas decorations.

Funny in a movie, but not in real life.

Christmas light installation is becoming big business as home owners realize that a professional can put up more lights, in less time and in a safe manner.  Plus, to get that perfect Pinterest or Houzz look, it takes a crew of people with big ladders and even a truck with a bucket.

Hiring an installation company to decorate the exterior is a great idea for seniors, too.

Hire Wisely

Since hanging Christmas lights is purely seasonal it’s an easy job for landscaping, construction, arborists or roofing companies to pick up since winter is an off-season.

As a hobby or as an investment, the art of wine appreciation and collection is growing in popularity in Calgary.  As more Calgary home owners take up wine collection, the demand for custom builders to provide space for a cellar is also increasing.  This feature in high-end Calgary homes reflects the collector himself and is as elegant, rustic, small or large as the homeowner demands.  Storage space, display cases, a tasting area – it’s all part and parcel of this new vintage of wine collector.

When planning for a wine cellar, whether you’re in the blue print stage of a new custom home or renovating existing space, there are a few questions that your contractor should ask:

The purpose of your wine room

Most luxury home owners who collect wine want

There are some colours which highlight all that is wrong in your bathroom.   Brown can be one of them.

Brown, especially dark brown, isn’t the wrong colour in all cases.  For example, an ornate powder room painted in a dark brown with a beautiful mirror straight out of Snow White, wall scones with soft lighting and sparkling fixtures can seem like a jewelry box.

However, for Joe Ordinary bathroom, brown can do a few nasty things such as:

• Emphasizing your flimsy baseboards
• Shining a spot light on tacky white plastic switch plates.
• Making your brown towels and bathmat appear dirty.
• Turning your cream-colour floor or shower curtain a gloomy shade of ugly.

Brown bathrooms don’t age well and despite your best efforts to scrub it

If you're new to skiing, it's best to start skiing at the resort that is known to be the best for beginners and Sun Peaks Resort is known to be just that. It consists of a friendly vibe with plenty of beginner's slopes to choose from that are conveniently located right off the centre of the village and lifts. There are plenty of opportunities to learn here as well.

The Ski School

Sun Peaks Resort has a fantastic ski school that gives you plenty of versatility with either half or full days of ski classes. Their learn to Ski/Snowboard packages include lessons, lift pass, and rental equipment to give you everything you need as a beginner.

The Property

The resort consists of three gorgeous peaks including Mount Tod, Mount Morrisey, and Sundance.

Olympic Park has become a well-known site for several activities and has become home to several year round activities. For those of you who are more of a sports enthusiast this is going to be right up your alley. With so many things to do you'll find yourself frequenting this place and doing something different all the time. Here are just a few of the many things you can partake in while visiting Olympic Park.

Mountain Biking

One great way to get the heart pumping while seeing the beautiful and picturesque scenery is with biking. There are 11 bike trails to be exact allowing you to pick a different one each day. There are chairlifts that can take you to some of the more challenging bike trails allowing you to see some of the best views as compared

It’s not unusual for Calgary luxury homes to have a triple-car garage but that’s often not enough room to tinker with vintage vehicles, posh cars and collector motorcycles.

Where to “Stash” your collection

The Stash is a new luxury garage with storage and service bays for luxury vehicles, located between Calgary and Okotoks on Highway 2A.  It’s handy for those living in the south part of Calgary, Heritage Pointe and De Winton.

The Stash offers luxury car owners 38 condominium-style bays, each just over 1,200 square-feet which is large enough for six vehicles.  Bays are available for purchase at quarter of a million dollars each, with monthly condo fees in the $150 range.   Washrooms and a mezzanine are available to owners, for an extra

Next to the exclusive neighbourhood of Heritage Pointe just south of Calgary’s city limits is the next estate community of Artesia.

The popularity of Heritage Pointe, a luxury lake and golf course community west of Highway 2 on the Pine Creek Valley area on the Bow River, precipitated the building of new estate community just next door. Artesia offers the same breath-taking mountain vistas, generous estate lots on a variety of elevations to maximize views with the country-life style perfect for a growing family.

Five builders are participating in this new luxury real estate community.  The Heritage Pointe developer responsible for Artesia wanted an executive neighbourhood that would equal or rival its DeWinton golf course community, now more than 20

Renting or owning anything can be a very hard decision to make. However, when it comes to renting or owning a luxury condo in Calgary the decision can be quite clear.

The Disadvantages of Owning

In most situations it would be more advantageous to own instead of renting, but in the case of luxury condos in Calgary, it doesn’t make sense. After you pay your down payment and your monthly mortgage, you still have other expenses such as your condo fees and your property taxes. Those fees will usually put you over the cost of renting in Calgary, which is generally around $5,000 a month.

You might think that it’s not really a big deal that rent is less than your mortgage because you own it and the money is going towards paying off your condo. However,

Could the City of Calgary’s new develop plan push home prices higher?

A public policy group thinks so and says that’s not a good thing. 

Plus, the plan will make getting around town very difficult.

A Univeristy of Calgary urban economist has studied Calgary’s Municipal Development Plan and he thinks people who want to live close to their work place will have to pay more for their home or more in rent. Plus they’ll actually spend more time commuting.

Richard Arnott, who recently released a report on his findings through the policy group, was commenting on the City’s call for creating high density communities.  He says that low density may not be a bad thing after all. 

Arnott believes an appropriate level of density in urban areas can strike