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CHOOSING A NEIGHBORHOOD 

Here’s a scenario!  After months of searching you finally find your dream home, but it’s in a new neighborhood that you may not be familiar with. But not all is lost, there are a   few ways you can learn about the community so you’re fully informed before you dive in at the deep end – and buy your home.

Take a couple of walks around the community

Get the feel or as the kids would say “The Vibe” Taking a couple of long walks can accomplish a lot of things. And here is another trick- drive around the neighborhood BUT at different times of the day. There could be a ton of cars parked when everyone and their kids are home! How noisy is it? Are the main roads busy, any building  construction nearby?

Do a Dummy Run

Understand what your day-to-day will be like living in that neighborhood. Take a trip to work on your day off!  Don’t just look how it is on Google Earth!  Get out there and as they say “Get your hands dirty”. See if you can catch a neighbor in the garden and have a chat.

How’s the Public Transport?

Is there an LRT near or a bus stop? Maybe do a trial run and see how busy they get. If you can’t do this, try using the ‘time of day’ function on Google Maps to get an impression of what a rush hour commute looks like.

Online Research

Walk Score on Google maps is a good feature, you can learn about the walk ability, nearby amenities, professionals like doctors, dentists, pet parlor, and license places.

Finally, you see, it’s worth all the work to put yourself out because you could be there for a long time and as we say at Calgary Dream Homes - “No Surprises”

GET IN TOUCH TODAY – HAPPY HUNTING

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10 CHANCES TO SELL YOUR HOME

1) Price Your Home Right!

Your home must be priced at market value for Calgary, your community and street. This is the most important tip of all. Price it to high and your home will sit on the market and become an old listing. Buyers then become suspicious and think there is something wrong with the property. We have a responsibility as licensed Realtors to prepare you a detailed Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). This will give you the market value price range of your home, based on relevant and Comparable Active and Sold homes in your community.

2) Choose An Experienced Listing Realtor

Get the job done in the quickest time with the best conditions and price. Make sure you have all the information. Let us give you the full picture based on what is happening in your community, and what you can expect. This includes price range, days on market and advice on preparing to sell.

3) Prepare The Home to Sell And Compete with Other Listings

Properties that sell quickly are well prepared, from de-cluttering to the cleaning. Follow our tips of getting the home ready. Make sure the outside is looking good to, when buyers are thinking of particular homes, they drive-by them and image themselves in the area. They can also dismiss them without even going in!

4) Online Marketing Can Go Two Ways

In today’s world of Internet Home searches and with 92% of buyers looking online. The online presence has to be good. Creb provide the facility for 50 MLS photos and additional remarks. When we list Rural properties we also include Aerial Drone Photographs, to make sure the potential buyer can see the surrounding land as well. But remember, buyers today are looking at your home online alongside many others, so it has to grab them and make them look further in depth

5) Professional Photographs & Glossy Brochures.

It goes without saying that the photographs of your home have to be first class. Gone are the days (well nearly!) when Realtors would take photos on their phone with the toilet seat up, and all the clutter around. Standards are high and you will no doubt be competing with a similar home down the road, so it has to have the best shot. That goes for brochures to! If a potential buyer has looked at a lot of homes, let them have a glossy brochure to take away so they can remember what they liked about yours.

6) Property Repairs.

Make sure repairs & maintenance jobs are done before the home is listed. Such as ceiling stains, loose door handles and railings, painting touch ups. As a potential buyers walks through your home, they have your “list Price” in their mind. But as they walk around they are looking at “jobs” that need doing. Most buyers don’t mind “a project” to do, but not too many! Remember that a job that needs doing is not too expensive for a seller to do, but twice as expensive when the buyer is viewing it.

7) Negotiating with Buyers.

When an Offer comes in ensure you look at all offers and you are reasonable and negotiate in “good faith”. Be sensible when Home inspection comes back with issues that the seller should have sorted out. Price reduction may be necessary to close the deal if there are repair issues, such as roof repairs!

8) Showing Your Home

Preparing to show your home and allow us to take appointments can be stressful, but our policy is always “day before notice” especially with Rural bigger homes. So the trick is to always keep the home part ready to show, so you only have to do a quick tidy, especially if you are going to work. Curtains back – blinds open, make sure the home has lots of lights. If you are only out for the period of the showing- make sure you leave lights on in darker rooms.

9) Make Sure your Out And Remove Pets For Showings

Pets should be removed for all showings, maybe if you have a smaller dog, pop them in a cage in the garage. Some buyers won’t even enter a home if they know there is a dog around. . Buyers are put off property very quickly when pets are in the house. The Seller ideally should not be at home, people will discuss and stay longer if there is no one at home.

10) Make Sure There Are No Odours!

Especially cigarette smells, pet smells, spicy food smells and basement smells. If it is not the middle of winter- open the windows and let some air in. Those Plug-in air fresheners can to ok but nothing too heavy and not too many of them.

GET IN TOUCH TODAY

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ACREAGE LAND FOR SALE

RURAL LAND AROUND CALGARY  |  ACREAGE LIVING

Big City living in Calgary isn’t for everyone, some people like to look up at stars instead of the city lights. So moving out of a City or suburbs to a rural area might be next on your bucket list. If it is, here are a quick glance at what you need to look at, but we always advise to talk to a lender who understands rural sales, we can suggest a few.

  • How many acres are we talking? 5-10 acres is usually easier for a buyer because the mortgage generally qualifies parallel to a regular city home. The minimum down payment will normally be 5% of the purchase price if the property is under $1 Million.  Over a million and a minimum down payment will be 20%. Remember that an appraisal will be required in most instances, and a lender will generally only give value for up to 10 acres, the house and garage.  "Outbuildings" such as shops, barns, and Quonsets are almost always not included in the value of an appraisal.   

  • Zoning of the property must comply if we are treating it as a regular residential mortgage vs. agricultural land. "Country Residential" is commonly the zoning for these types of properties.  Rural is a larger acreage frequently 40, 80, or 160 acres (160 acres =1/4 section). Agricultural land is for farming use and cannot be financed by normal mortgage companies or banks.

  • Septic tanks and wells are typically found on acreages, which means a water potability test must be completed and a septic certificate is required from the municipality to confirm best practice. The lender needs to know that the water is safe. (Your realtor will help you with this.)

  • Potability reports are needed for all well water and flow rate, this will be required either upfront with the lender approval or at the lawyers before closing. We don’t suggest leaving it that late, it should be done before waiver day, before the conditions are lifted. No suprises!

  • Note. The income generated from a Calgary area acreage will not be included to help you qualify for a mortgage. Remember, if a lot of the income is being generated by the owner from  things like mineral rights, or leasing to a farmer, this may raise a red flag to lenders who could consider this more like a farm or business loan instead, which is a completely different process. 

There are lots to consider before you purchase the land to build your Calgary Dream Home, so take your time and speak to your lender, make sure they have a rural loan expert on hand, then call us.

Direct: 403-850-0669 info@calgarydreamhomes.com

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Buying a Calgary Home While Selling Your Current one.


Are you in the position where you want to find a new home – but need a buyer for your current home? Fortunately there are a few options for people who are buying one home while selling another:


Buying using financing

If you need the equity in your current home to purchase another home, you will need financing to buy before you sell. Most people with a firm sale on their current home go for a short term bridge loan. Yes, it is a high-interest loan intended to help you fund your down payment and other costs that you will repay when your sale goes through.


Another option is a home equity loan, which creates a lien on your property.  The bank has the right to repossess your home if you can't pay it back. Of course reducing the equity in your home whilst increasing your debt, won't look good on a mortgage application.


Selling with a delay

You have to have your timing right, but the best way to get approved for a mortgage is to have a buyer lined up for your house with a waiver to buy in place. Give yourself a longer possession period, your buyer is already ready to move and won't want to wait for you to find a new place. Buyers may agree to a relatively long closing period, maybe include in the contract, closing time can be reduced subject to agreement by buyer and seller.


Have a contingency plan

You may make the purchase of your new home subject to the sale of your own. This buyers clause is not always acceptable by a seller, especially if the seller has only just listed his property and is seeing a lot of action on it. You'll still be responsible for the deposit, but you'll get it back if the sale falls through. Unfortunately, this isn't a very great deal for the seller, they may be trying to manage the timing on a home purchase as well. With a “subject to the sale of the buyers home” you may have to show that your home is priced competitively to persuade the seller to accept your offer.


If you are going to need to make a home sale and a home purchase at the same time, we will need to go over your options with you.


Contact us today on 403-850-0669.

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Data is supplied by Pillar 9™ MLS® System. Pillar 9™ is the owner of the copyright in its MLS®System. Data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by Pillar 9™.
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