My First Home: Manjit Minhas

Famous entrepreneur and television personality Manjit Minhas has no problem remembering the first home she ever bought in Calgary.

It's because she's still living in it 13 years later.

Minhas, co-founder and co-owner of Minhas Brewery and one of the dragons on the CBC TV series Dragons' Den, says she bought the home when she was 25 years old.

"It was bought with cash," said Minhas, who was 19 when she launched her family's beer empire with her brother Ravinder.

"It was definitely my first big purchase," she said. "My brother and I had kind of made it, and there was money in the bank."

"I had a great real estate agent ... Definitely helped guide me through it. In the end, I was very happy with my decision." - Manjit Minhas, Minhas Brewery co-founder and co-owner

It's a two-storey home with almost 7,000 square feet of space, backing onto Arbour Lake in northwest Calgary.

"I moved into that house straight from my parents' house. It's so funny, it's right down the street from my parents' house. I got married two years later," said Minhas, adding the house then underwent some renovations. "My brother actually lives five doors down from me as well.

"I definitely am a believer in real estate. I have multiple homes, but that definitely is my Calgary residence. ... As an individual and an entrepreneur who travels a lot, you don't feel like you're working out of a box or a suitcase or a hotel all of the time. My Calgary home was my first purchase, and after that, I bought in the Caribbean and I bought in California and I bought in Wisconsin."

Minhas loves the location of her Calgary home, which offers easy access to the downtown. It also has a big backyard.

"I definitely love having separate areas to do separate things in – office space, space for the kids, family room, separate living room, dining room," she said. "It's an open-air-concept home with high ceilings in multiple areas of the house."

Minhas was no real estate rookie when she purchased her first home. She had commercial real estate experience from the family business, as well as experience with residential investment properties.

"But a home definitely is a different purchase because it's more personal," she said. "I had a great real estate agent, who moved away from Calgary and we're still very close friends. Definitely helped guide me through it. In the end, I was very happy with my decision."

Want to read another My First Home story? Click here to see W. Brett Wilson's first home