Urban vs. Suburban

The decision to live urban or suburban in Calgary is an oftencontested one.

Do you go with the potential smaller spaces and higher rents but easier access to varied amenities of the Inner City or do you go for a home with a yard and a garage but a longer commute? Most often, the decision lies with what is best for you and your family. For those looking to learn more about anything and everything to do with living in suburbia or choosing the downtown, this year's Calgary Home + Design Show — running Sept. 20-23 — is featuring Sarah Daniels and Philip DuMoulin of HGTV's Urban Suburban.

Urban Suburban sees the sister/ brother REALTOR® team in a different city each week helping a family find their dream home. Daniels shows suburban homes while Philip shows urban and the homeowner makes the decision on the best home for them inthe end.

The duo recently shot a show in Calgary pitting the community of Aspen Woods against Marda Loop.

"Calgary is a little bit different because the suburbs are that much newer than they are in a lot of other cities in Canada," said Daniels, explaining in Calgary a community like Aspen Woods would be considered the suburbs while in Vancouver, things are a little different. Daniels lives in White Rock, a city of about 60,000 people near Vancouver but considered a suburb of the city.

"There's subdivisions within White Rock and Surrey," she said. "There's Bridlewood and Elgin etc. but they are not suburbs per se the way they are in Calgary."

Daniels presentation at the Home + Design Show is Suburban Stereotypes Shattered in which she debunks the myths many hold about living outside the Inner City.

"I think people have giant stereotypes about they're going to all of a sudden lose touch with their friends all that kind of stuff based on locale and that's not really what happens," she said. "I can get to the city back and forth really easily, I don't have to go in during rush hours so it all works out fine.

"It's just that you have to be able to accept the fact, do you want to have some more space? A lot of the time you're going to have to move somewhere you may not know and I certainly would suggest that people who are biased against the suburbs, go out and take a look at the suburbs again because they've certainly changed." DuMoulin explained more urban properties have some stereotypes of their own.

"It all depends on where you're at, in terms of actually where you're at in our great nation but I always think that people think they will get a very small place for the money they're going to spend which is not always true."

DuMoulin will be bringing his expertise in that area to the show with the presentation Finding the Right Property in which he shares tips on zeroing in on the best areas, features and amenities for a new home.

As well as Daniels and DuMoulin, this years Home + Design Show main stage celebrities include Calgarians Alykhan Velji, Janet Mah, Bruce Hopkins, Joanne Dafoe, Ricky Zayshley and Kelly Inglis.

The show encompasses not only home design, but yard design, food and other home related amenities. Features of the show include Family Day with an appearance by Bob the Builder; The IKEA Chair Lift which will see design and décor personalities creating five distinct chairs to be auctioned off with proceeds going to the Make A Wish of Southern Alberta Foundation; Ask A Designer which allows attendees to the show to have free 10-minute consultations with design professionals; and the Foodie Design Competition which includes five of Calgary's most prominent foodies battling against one another in a food design competition.

Tickets are available at the door or via the Internet at www.calgaryhds.com. Refer to page B22 for details on how to save $4 on admission.

Tagged: Calgary Real Estate | Calgary Real Estate News