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Stories Tagged - Calgary Real Estate News
June 10, 2015 | CREBNow
Property taxes: a breakdown
Calgary's Smarter Growth Initiative - a collaboration between the Canadian Home Builders Association - Calgary Region and the Urban Development Institute - created an informational video to answer just that.
June 03, 2015 | CREBNow
PTQ: Laura Parsons
Laura Parsons is the Calgary area manager for mortgage specialists with Bank of Montreal. She recently took some time to chat with CREBNow about how oil prices have affected the lending market, what borrowers should know about low rates and what the Calgary Stampede means to the city.
June 03, 2015 | CREBNow
Coming together
A new 12-storey development has officially opened in Calgary to provide affordable homes for low-income residents.
The 1010 Centre, owned by The Mustard Seed, includes 224 furnished units, as well as support services including employment coaching, a computer lab and assigned support workers for residents.
The centre is located downtown on Centre Street S.E.
"For 30 years, the Mustard Seed has been caring for Calgarians experiencing poverty and homelessness. With the completion of The 1010 Centre, we are now able to provide 224 safe, new, affordable home to low-income and formerly homeless residents," said Mustard Seed CEO Stephen Wile.
June 03, 2015 | CREBNow
Construction connection
The sound of hammers has quieted in Calgary.
Following a record-breaking year for new home construction in the city, the pace has slowed considerably in 2015.
Through the first five months of year, the number of new homes starts in Calgary has numbered 3,954 – a 32.5 per cent drop from the same period in 2014.
The decline was even more dramatic in April, with just 777 homes breaking ground during the month compared to 1,952 during the same time last year – a decline of more than 50 per cent.
June 01, 2015 | CREBNow
Market moves towards balanced conditions
For the first time since December 2014, Calgary's residential unadjusted benchmark prices improved over the previous month. Within the city of Calgary, housing prices totaled $454,100 in May, a monthly and year-over-year increase of 0.55 and 0.96 per cent.
"For the third month in the row, new listings have eased compared to last year, helping push the market toward more balanced conditions, despite the current environment of slower sales activity," said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. "This has helped prevent further declines in the unadjusted benchmark price."
May 26, 2015 | CREBNow
Save green by going green
Whether it is through appliances, heating or cooling, homes use a lot of energy.
In Canada, space heating accounts for more than 60 per cent of residential energy use and makes up a good proportion of a home's overall energy bill.
While the environmental reasons for reducing the energy use of a home are many, there are also financial reasons to add a little green to your home.
May 26, 2015 | CREBNow
Roar!
From community impact to mentorship distinction, Calgary's real estate community honoured some of the city's most exceptional REALTORS® at the second annual ROAR Awards this past weekend.
At this year's event, which was held at TELUS Spark, and emceed by Canadian comedienne and actress Jessica Holmes, five exceptional REALTORS® took home hardware in categories that included Marketing Excellence, Mentorship Distinction, Community Impact, Commitment to Education, along with the award for People's REALTOR®.
"It's humbling to think that people took time out of their busy lives [to nominate me]. It's really an honour," said Leisa Fuller of Century 21 PowerRealty.ca, who took home the award for the People's Realtor®.
The award, which is voted on by the public, is given to an individual who consistently goes above and beyond to deliver exemplary customer service to clients.
"Every client that hires doesn't have to – they decide to. And they pay us to do a job that I really love. I just can't imagine doing anything else," said Fuller.
With more than 140 nominations for this year's awards, ROAR committee chair Robyn Hauck said picking the winners wasn't an easy process. Nominations came from the public, in the case of the People's Realtor® award, or REALTORS®, in the case of the other four categories. Winners were eventually screened, interviewed and selected by sub-committees consisting of REALTORS®, past winners and community liaisons.
"At the end of the day, the people we selected were clearly the top performers who consistently went beyond what's expected to excel, inspire, give back and help others succeed," said Hauck. "This is what the ROARs are all about and what it means to be among the best in real estate.
"The winners are examples of what clients look for in a REALTOR®: professional, reliable, courteous and committed to providing the best possible experience. We were so impressed with all the nominees this year. They've all worked hard to deliver outstanding results for their clients and the ROAR Awards made sure their efforts didn't go unnoticed."
Lindsey Smith of CIR Realty took home the Commitment to Education Award for his devotion to professional development, commitment to sharing new concepts, teaching and for encouraging others.
"I think education for me is something that is a bit of a selfish pursuit, because those of you who are mentors and are giving back know that in order to teach someone you have to learn the stuff so in depth yourself that you become so much better," he said.
Milton Brandson of Century 21 PowerRealty.ca walked away with the award for Community Impact for his involvement with the Rotary Club of Airdrie, among other local commitments, for the past three decades.
"I think volunteering for me is not about a specific program or project but an accumulation of 35 years of small service in small ways," he said.
Singling out the REALTOR® who uses creativity to take their brand to the next level, the Marketing Excellence award recognized Chris Mulders of CIR Realty. The Airdrie-born-and-raised REALTOR® is behind www.airdrie360.com, which regularly features neighbourhood posts, videos, photos and real estate market reports.
"In addition to helping me grow my business, [marketing] has really let me meet some incredible people and do some good in my community," said Mulders.
Robyn Moser of CIR Realty was honoured for actively transfering her knowledge and good working habits to the next generation.
"My mentors were the people who probably didn't even know it," she said.
"And for me, that was a big thing. We've all made impacts in our community and our industry to people in our industry, and we have no idea that we've done these amazing things and made someone want to be better, drive to be better and strive to be better and even to see the possibility to be better."
For more information about the ROAR Awards, visit www.roarawards.com.
May 22, 2015 | CREBNow
ROAR awards name best local REALTORS
REALTORS® who demonstrate role model-calibre performance in specific areas of real estate were recognized on May 23 the ROAR Awards celebration event.
ROAR Awards are a CREB® initiative, and stand for recognizing accomplished REALTORS®.
May 20, 2015 | CREBNow
The 'best backyard'
P.J Lavergne has called the Beltline home for the last 10 years.
"It's so close to everything," he said. "I don't drive, so it makes life easy. I'm, at most, a 10-minute walk from anything I could ever need."
Lavergne, who heads local rock 'n roll band Napalmpom, added the area's relaxed atmosphere comes through in the attitude of its residents.
May 20, 2015 | CREBNow
Carless condo a go
In a rare move, all 13 members of Calgary's city council agreed to approve a once-controversial "carless" condo development in the East Village.
Located directly east of the old St. Louis Hotel, N3 is set to include 167 units that developer Knightsbridge Homes says are priced $70,000 less than comparable developments because of the lack of a parkade.
N3 buyers will get a furnished unit, as well as a free bicycle and $500 Car2Go credit.
"Everybody thought we were nuts," Knightsbridge president Joe Starkman said about the carless development. "There is a market out there for young people; the car just isn't a priority."
