GARDENERS NEEDED THIS WEEKEND The Alternative High School Community Garden is looking to recruit a few good volunteers for upcoming Garden Rebuild workdays. When: Friday October 3rd & Saturday October 4th, 2008 Friday – 9:00am to 12:00 pm  On Friday we will be working with CADO clients and a few students to remove all the wood and plant material from the circle section of the garden. Refreshments will be provided throughout the day as well as a pizza lunch for all volunteers at 12:00 pm.   Saturday – 10:00am to 2:00pm Saturday we will be dealing with the remaining soil, moving the garden shed and moving and repairing the existing 4' x 8' boxes. Refreshments will be provided throughout the day as well as a pizza lunch for all volunteers at 12:00 pm.   Where: Alternative High School Commu... 10/02/2008

  In November or December Marda Loop, South Calgary, Altadore, and Garrison Woods will be enjoying the installation of a New Gateway Feature! Calgary Transit has finally agreed to fund the installation of this (first) structure – which will be on the east side of 33 Avenue and Crowchild Trail SW.   The design for the second structure is complete, however, the BRZ and community will have to raise the money, this installation can also proceed.  The budget to do this would be around $150,000.  It would be great to initiate a Local Improvement project to  accomplish this.  The link below provides more information and the contacts to initiate such a project:   http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_565867_0_0_18/Local+Improvements+and+Special+Taxes.htm   There are drawings... 09/29/2008

I'm Spencer Caldwell of Gentry Realty, a real estate brokerage based in Arizona. You may already be familiar with a few of my partners who blog here. Last June I made another trip to Calgary, Canada and made an appearance on City TV. I was able to share a few Arizona real estate investment opportunities. This show aired on June 6th and we've come across  even more properties to offer.  For all Canadian agents- we would love to work with your referrals. ********** Gentry Realty In Canada from Spencer Caldwell on Vimeo. ********** Spencer Caldwell is an agent with Gentry Realty. He can be reached at 480.283.4425 or SpencerCaldwell@GentryAZ.com. 09/25/2008

This summer I had the privilege of staging an executive home assessed at 2.8 million $$$.  It was a big project and one that I am proud of.  The home was over 5600 sq feet with three livingrooms, five bedrooms, a media room, 4 bathrooms and a beautiful loft.  For this project I hired experienced stagers to be part of my team.  These 5 wonderful ladies pulled up their sleeves and worked hard to give this home a fresh and inviting look.  With their hard work and talents, this occupied home went from being incomplete to stunning.  I thank Gisele, Sue, Kristi, Pauline and Dianne for their hard work. Here are several after pictures of this staging. The house had stunning architecture and beautiful woodwork.  In this living room we defined a sitting area with the focal point being the firepla... 09/10/2008

On Aug 24, I had the race of my dreams ... taking 28 minutes of my best time, qualifying for the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, and finishing 3rd in my age group. About 10 months ago ... I booked my Kona accommodations from Oct 2-17 ... for WHEN I qualify for the World Championships on Oct 11. My mind set was ... Kona or bust. Since I did not register for IMC, I had to qualify to get there. I qualified in Oliver, BC on June 1.  "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."       Johann Wolfgang von Goethe I had a great race ... Swim Time - 1:01:12 In my opinion ... this is a pretty smoking time. I don't deserve it. In the pool, I work hard to hang onto my mates that swim IM in 1:10 and 1:15.  How did you do it? I swam on the ins... 09/03/2008

Safe Plant Suggestions for Calgary When selling your house, curb appeal is extremely important. Remember that buyers see the outside first, and you want them to be impressed when they first see your property. A quick and easy way to dress up the outside is with plants. If you have a flowerbed that is not utilized or overgrown with weeds, that's great. Remove the weeds, add some nice compost or garden mix soil and put in some of below mentioned plants plants. By the way, in Calgary we are Zone 3. So you can purchase any plants that say Zone 3 or lower. These plants grow well in the Calgary area: 1) All types Pink Spirea - Approx. sizes 3'h x 4'w Summer blooms. Full to part sun 2) All types White Spirea - Approx. size 4'h x 5'w Spring blooms. Full to part sun 3) All types Potentilla 3' x ... 08/30/2008

Strong Buyer's Market Continues The Calgary real estate market remains in territory that I think is best described as a "very much a buyer's market" according to the July 2008 MLS stats. Total Calgary Metro listings at the end of July was 9217, and properties sold was 1848, yielding an overall Absorption Rate of 5.15. (See Chart A and Chart A2) Although the number of listings continues to come down since the "high water mark" of 10,617 in May 2008, there are still far more properties on the market than there are buyers to absorb them. This continues to bring prices down as sellers who are serious about selling adjust to the facts of the market.Single Family (SF) House sales continue to outpace condos. The absorption rate for SF Houses stands at 4.92 at the end of July and for condos it ... 08/10/2008

Below is my weekly market stats update. I call your attention to a growing gap between the condo and house markets (see the second chart and the red arrrow). If this trend continues I'll write in detail about it in next month's Monthly Market Report (in about 2 weeks). In the meantime... my advice is be careful if you are selling a condo - it is crucial that it be priced right if you are serious about selling it. For background you may want to read my Monthly Market Report from February 2008 or my blog post here from a few weeks ago where I talk about predictions regarding this emerging trend. July 19, 2008 Current Listings Sold in Last 30 Days Absorption Rate (?) Single family (SF) Houses 6468 1440 4.49 Condos 3028 555 5.46 Combined (SF and Condos) 9496 1995 4.76 What is Absorption Rat... 07/19/2008

A new Calgary real estate website has been launched for Calgary and Surrounding communities. I am excited to announce that Calgary Home Owners can now instantly price their home online in a matter of minutes, 24 hrs a day. www.CalgaryPropertyValues.ca has special software that allows users to compare comparable homes to theirs in their community to get a better idea of the current market value of their property. With the market changing from month to month a home owner can use the site for free and as often as they like to determine their Calgary House Value. Home buyers may also find the site useful to compare a home they are thinking of buying to determine that they are paying the right price for their next home. This will help them make an educated decision when buying their new prop... 07/16/2008

Thinking of doing some renovations on your Calgary area home, but concerned about the horror stories you have seen and heard, such as on "Holmes on Homes", the popular HGTV show? The Calgary Region Home Builders Association (CRHBA) , part of the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA) may have the answer for you. CRHBA has rolled out it's participation in http://www.renomark.ca/Calgary, a non-profit website it says will help refer home owners to reputable home renovators in Calgary. Renomark works, they say, by ensuring that all member contractors do the following: They must be members in good standing of the CRHBA, must abide by it's Code of Ethics, and attend 4 CRHBA training sessions per year to maintain their level of knowledge. They must provide clients with detailed written cont... 07/12/2008

For the "live" version of this report with interactive graphs click here. July 12, 2008 Current Listings Sold in Last 30 Days Absorption Rate (?) Single family (SF) Houses 6505 1476 4.41 Condos 3075 567 5.42 Combined (SF and Condos) 9580 2043 4.69 What is Absorption Rate? Click here for an explanation Looking for Andrew's Monthly Market Report? Click Here. 07/12/2008

As a professional stager I spent a lot of time networking and advertising my business, talking to home sellers and Realtors. I am always curious to hear their stories as to why they decide to stage their vacant listing or not. It makes me understand my target market better and focus my activities accordingly. My experience as a stager have convinced me that staging adds significant value to every vacant house. this is how potential buyers can see the lifestyle they pursue living there. Statistics show that a staged home sells faster for more money than a vacant would: Well established Realtors assured me that it adds about 10% to the value of the home and therefore the selling price.  Investing in staging will save money in the end by not spending your time on facilitating open houses, ... 07/07/2008

The Calgary real estate market has moved toward a more balanced state after 4 months of sliding farther into a buyers market, according to the MLS stats for June 2008. The overall Absorption Rate stands at 5.11 at the end of June, with Condos lagging behind at 5.89 and Single Family Houses (SF) leading the way at 4.81. That is a fairly significant gap between houses and condos, 1.09, and in fact the biggest gap since I have been tracking the statistics in this way (July 2006). Condo sellers, in particular it seems, continue to struggle with a lack of buyers willing to pay their asking price. See Chart A. In the 12 months from June 2007 to June 2008 the median prices for a house, 2-bedroom condo and 1-bedroom condo have dropped $31k, $28k and $19k respectively. In terms of percentage: 7%... 07/03/2008

2008 First Quarter Average Canadian Home Prices Region  Detached Bungalows Standard Two Storey Standard Condominium  Q1 2008 Average Q1 2007 Average Bungalow % Change Q1 2008 Average Q1 2007 Average 2 Storey % Change Q1 2008 Average Q1 2007 Average Condo % Change Halifax $207,333 $190,000 9.1%  $246,333 $200,000 23.2%  $152,000 $144,000 5.6%  Charlottetown $155,000 $145,000 6.9%  $185,000 $175,000 5.7%  $105,000 $100,000 5.0%  Moncton $152,000 $138,000 10.1%  $135,300 $132,000 2.5%  - - - Fredericton $160,000 $156,000 2.6%  $197,000 $187,000 5.3%  $126,000 $131,000 -3.8%  Saint John $185,000 $161,700 14.4%  $264,000 $210,400 25.5%  $142,000 $118,500 19.8%  St. John's $164,000 $145,000 13.1%  $229,333 $200,000 14.7%  $173,333 $148,333 16.9%  Atlantic $170,556 $155,950 9.4%  $209,494 $18... 07/03/2008

The June 2008 edition of CMHC’s “Housing Now” report for Calgary and area was issued on Sunday. June 2008 Housing Now - http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/esub/64167/64167_2008_M06.pdf We have reached a new record of multi-family (apartment condos, townhouses and semi-attached homes) homes under construction. The total in May was 11,915, of which 9,432 were apartment-style condos. This is worrisome considering the condo market stands at an Absorption rate of 5.2 this week, There are already considerably more condos on the market than buyers. The silver lining though is that the inventory of “completed but not occupied” units actually decreased from April to May – 655 new units were completed but 673 units were absorbed (by sales or rentals). The fairly healthy rental market (2.0% vacancy ... 06/30/2008

Here is the weekly market update for Calgary. The deviation between condos and houses continues. If you look at Houses-only things are looking somewhat rosey with the Absorption Rate moving rapidly in the direction of a balanced market. But condos, which are one third of the market in the city of Calgary, are pulling the numbers down. June 28, 2008 Current Listings Sold in Last 30 Days Absorption Rate (?) Single family (SF) Houses 6942 1545 4.49 Condos 3263 628 5.2 Combined (SF and Condos) 10205 2173 4.7 What is Absorption Rate? Click here for an explanation Looking for Andrew's Monthly Market Report? Click Here.   06/28/2008

5 Ways to Make Your House Sellable. Since it is a buyer's real estate market in Calgary and with over 15,000 active listings, sellers need to make the 1st impression count and here are 5 simple ways to make your house sellable. Remember when you found your current home? You walked in and got the feeling it was a great fit for you and your family. Now that you're selling your house, you need to make that same impression on the next potential buyer. Here's how to do it. 1) Clean and de-clutter Make sure your kitchen, bathrooms, and floors sparkle. Use old fashioned elbow grease or call in professional cleaners to get the job done. Can you walk into your walk-in closet? Does your car barely fit into your garage? Start packing early and put your seasonal and personal things into storage. Ma... 06/24/2008

Earlier this year, I received a call from homeowners who were looking to sell their rental property.  This modest house was in need of a fresh look and a WOW factor in order for it to sell quickly.  Wisely, this couple decided to invest in getting this property ready for selling.  Following a consultation I had with them, they worked hard at cleaning the home, updating light fixtures, replacing countertops, repairing worn areas and repainting the entire home.  Once the work was done, the house was ready to be showcased with modern furniture and colourful accessories.  Using the furniture we defined the areas for buyers to clearly understand the floor plan.  The accessories added warmth and interest to a simple design.  The furniture layout and traffic flow was inviting and comfortable. ... 06/23/2008

It looks like the trend to a more balanced market continues. Solds are up and inventories are coming down. You can say you heard it here first - 2 weeks before you will read about it in the Herald. June 21, 2008 Current Listings Sold in Last 30 Days Absorption Rate (?) Single family (SF) Houses 7058 1485 4.75 Condos 3308 645 5.13 Combined (SF and Condos) 10366 2130 4.87 What is Absorption Rate? Click here for an explanation - Andrew Kyle 06/21/2008

Amazing days in Calgary ... I love the light in the sky this time of year.    Schools out ... or nearly out ... and Stampede is coming. Oh yea! I'm having a SUMMER SOLSTICE SALE! Effective this evening, the following properties have been drastically reduced in Price ... and are amoung the best value in the Neighborhoods! ·         121 West Springs PL SW, MLS # C3323780, $ 899,745    Amazing Value/Estate Home (Building cost were at least $1 Million). ·         1312 48 AV NW, MLS # C3333822, $ 395,445                Great 5 bedroom home just 48 blocks from Downtown ... near Calgary Winter Club! ·         199 TEMPLEBY DR NE, MLS # C3330025, $ 339,925    Good family home ... new double garage. ·         602, 1111 15 AV SW, MLS # C3327096, $$ 239,000        Downtown Condo, $29,000 down (assu... 06/20/2008