Whether you are buying, selling, financing or re-financing, there is a good chance your home will be subject to an appraisal to assess its value.

As an important aspect of almost all residential real estate transactions, CREB®Now spoke with Kira Penner (Canadian Residential Appraiser) to discuss the appraisal process and clarify some key points when contemplating the value of your home. Penner has been with Avison Young Valuation and Advisory Services (formerly Linnell Taylor Lipman and Associates) since 2005.

Residential dwellings are generally appraised using the direct comparison approach. This means that your home is compared with similar homes in your community and surrounding neighborhoods using current sales data. The appraised value reflects the age, condition and size of your home in relation to those properties that have recently sold in your area. If there has been a fair amount of sales activity, appraisers try to use data that is no older than 90 days. Similarly, your home's value is in part based on being able to successfully market and obtain a sale in approximately a 90-day period.

Boost your soil, save your back and protect the environment this spring with biochar

Al Chomica, formerly from Calgary, is explaining to me over the phone how biochar, a new garden product he is testing, holds both minerals and soil life firmly. He has been making biochar for years, but this spring he is excited to try a new commercial source.

Biochar, a natural long-lasting form of soil humus, is created from burning organic matter in a low-oxygen environment. It is not wood ash. It is the hard part left over after the fire. Chomica says it stockpiles food in the soil, saves your back and will improve the world.

New water heater technology and incentives are making tankless systems feasible for more Calgarians

here's nothing better than being in plenty of hot water. Not the metaphorical kind, the real stuff. If you've ever felt the shower go cold while you're still covered with soap and shampoo, you know what I mean.

But new water heater technology is helping reduce the likelihood you'll run out of the hot stuff, while providing environmental and money-saving benefits.

"Hey guess what Anne? I grew some cat grass for Roscoe!"

I was calling my friend ahead of my flight to Calgary and was just so excited. In just five days the cat grass seeds I'd planted had sprouted in their little four-inch pot and were now ready to eat. It was a special treat I was hoping my friend's cat would enjoy.

Calgary couple renovates instead of moving and loves the result

Fifteen years ago, Glen and Janet Belbeck moved into their brand new spec home in McKenzie Towne's Inverness area. Back then, the community sat at the extreme end of the city, with coyotes, deer and rabbits frolicking in the fields nearby.

More than a dozen years later, the couple, with two kids grown up and moved out, decided to purchase a McKenzie Lake home with their dream view of the mountains, overlooking the Bow River.

But when the economy went sideways, and their Inverness home's outdated country kitchen failed to impress buyers who had showhomes to choose from in newer neighbourhoods, the Belbecks decided to stay put and invest in a large-scale renovation.

How to welcome spring when you live on an acreage

John Paulsen has lived on his five-and-a-quarter acres in Springbank for more than two decades.

"It was always my dream to live on an acreage."

And he made that dream come true when he designed and built his home in Springbank, after living in Calgary's Silver Springs community.