Are schools important for selling your home in Calgary?

A community evolves over time and changes it’s needs. The community that I live in was established in the 1960’s and many of the original owners are at an age where they need to sell their property for something more manageable. With this, younger families are coming in. We have four schools in our neighbourhood, and a few years back the school board wanted to shut down one of our schools. I was part of the group to keep it open knowing that there were changes coming in the demographics of our community. We were successful and now the school that they wanted to close is near capacity.
http://www.innercityyyc.com/schools-important-selling-home-calgary.html

How market value is determined when buying or selling a home in Calgary

There are many criteria for determining the market value of a home as you can see. Making sure your home is priced correctly when you first place it on the market will grant you the best dollar amount for your property. When errors are made in pricing your home too high, price decreases will follow with the signal to the buyers that you’re motivated to sell. Pricing too low will definitely sell it fast, although did you get the best price possible for your home.
http://www.innercityyyc.com/market-value-determined-buying-selling-home-calgary.html

Calgary Inner City Real Estate Report November 2014

It looks as though the cold did have a bit of an affect on Calgary’s inner city market because we’ve seen more properties on the iStock_000023336579Mediummarket and less buyers signing contracts. This is clearly one of the highest inventory levels all year.

For bungalows and condos, the inventory is way up, creating an even further gap. Bungalows now have 3 months of inventory (Oct. <2 mths), condos 4.7 months of inventory (Oct. 3.4 mths), and 2 storey has 4.9 months of inventory (Oct. 4.5 mths). There’s lots of inventory now, but don’t be surprised if come mid December many of these homes that have been on the market for some time end up taking it off the market and re-listing in mid January. http://www.innercityyyc.com/calgary-inner-city-market-report-november-2014.html

3 things you must know when buying a house in Calgary’s winter months

During the winter months, the days get much shorter and looking at homes after 6 PM can be very dark. Be sure to pack a flashlight or load the app on your smart phone (that app is very handy!) for areas that have poor or no lighting. Give yourself extra time to get from property to property because traffic is slow and the roads can be messy and hard to get through. Parking can also be more difficult because of unplowed streets.
http://www.innercityyyc.com/3-things-must-know-buying-a-house-in-calgary-in-winter-months.html

Why you need an RPR (not title insurance) when buying a house in Calgary

Here’s the downside of not having a current RPR. Anything that isn’t in compliance will cost you money and time down the road. It could be when your neighbour sells and/or when you sell in the future. I’ve had issues getting compliance on my client’s property costing anywhere froTitleInsurance_thumbm $300 to $10,000 and taking anywhere from 5 weeks to 10 months to complete. When buying a property you shouldn’t be the one to incur the sellers issues or problems with the property. My personal pain… I have a cement pad on the side of my house, sitting on the utility right of way, (there since I bought this house) that reminds me why my buyers need a current RPR. This is an expense I will incur when I sell.
http://www.innercityyyc.com/need-rpr-buying-home-in-calgary.html

Buying a home in Calgary? Don’t do this after getting a mortgage pre-approval

I represented the seller of a condo and the buyer had the conditions of condo doc review and financing. A week went by and on the day the financing condition was to be removed I received a call from the buyer’s Realtor saying that they need an extension of 10 days for financing – “oh and by the way, we haven’t even started the condo docs since I want to make sure the financing went through first.” When I asked why 10 days, since that is a very long time to extend, she said that her client co-signed a car loan for a friend and the lender will no longer approve the mortgage because of this. The buyer needs to find someone else to co-sign the car loan so that the buyer can be removed from this obligation. Last I heard the buyer did find someone to replace him as co-signer and they’re waiting on the lender to resubmit the application.
http://www.innercityyyc.com/buying-home-in-calgary-dont-do-this.html

Never neglect this money grabber when owning a condo in Calgary

When you purchase a condo you will receive a set of condo documents passed on from the seller. The condo document review company will organize them and put them in a binder for you to store along with the purchase documents from your lawyer and real estate agent. Years down the road when you want to sell, most likely, your condo documents to be passed onto the next owner, will be out of date. To provide a complete set of condo documents you’ll need to contact the management company for copies that are missing. Now here’s the money grabber – depending on what you need to complete the set, it will cost you anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. Yes, extremely inflated prices to have someone use the copying machine, and even more frustrating when the files are all sent digitally.
http://www.innercityyyc.com/never-neglect-money-grabber-owning-condo-calgary.html