Have you checked your mail yet? 2021 Property Taxes are coming to you soon. You must know every detail about it.

The officials said that 90 to 95% of the city would not increase its taxes. Is this true? We can only tell once we see the tax bills. All we can do for now is to be prepared.

City Assessed Value Vs. Market Value

The average price of the city has dropped by $10,000, based on their city assessed value. City assessed value is different from market value. Market value is much more tied to the actual value that someone is willing to pay for your house, not what the city is assessing.

Citizens will pay taxes based on city assessed value. Understanding that difference, you have to make sure that you know what the market is doing around

What is the spring real estate market in Calgary?

In real estate, the way we talk about the market is similar to the weather system, like winter, spring, summer, and fall. Typically, spring and fall markets are the busier markets, then winter and summer are slower.

Jared & Rebecca Chamberlain have worked in the real estate industry for about 17 years now. They have seen the spring market start as early as February and as late as June. The spring market can hit at any time.

Various reasons trigger the start of the spring market. Sometimes, lack of inventory gets buyers a little bit more curious and adds a sense of urgency. Other times it the economy or some employees receive bonuses in February.

Is spring a good time to buy a house?

Are you planning on buying or selling a home? There are some key questions that you must ask realtors to understand how they work. Hearing the realtors’ responses will uncover their ability to work with you and help you achieve your goals.

Ask these questions to distinguish the best realtor for you.

Question #1: Do you make all your income through real estate sales, or are there other sources of income for you?

This question will make you understand a realtor’s motivations. It encompasses how they work and the amount of work they are willing to give.

Being a real estate agent is tough; it can be all-consuming. Ensure that if you put in an offer, your agent will be around and able to help you out full time.

In our brokerage, everyone's full

We have a fantastic story about a couple who recently bought and sold a house with Chamberlain Real Estate Group. Natalie was born and raised in Calgary, and her husband, Vin, was from Vietnam.

Journey to Calgary

Vin’s family stayed in a refugee camp in Thailand because they tried to escape when pirates attacked them. A church in Thorncrest sponsored their entire family of 15 to go to Canada.

They arrived in Calgary Herald during the 1970s. His parents had money in Vietnam, but they cleaned toilets for a living when they came here. Their journey wasn't easy, but they worked hard and thrived.

Natalie and Vin met at a hair school in Calgary. Back in Vietnam, Vin's father got wealthy because of his hair salon. He worked so hard that he ended up

When you are looking at homes, there are a few things that you want to pay attention to.

We know from our own experience that it can be exciting when looking at your next home for you and your family. Sometimes the focus can be on the size of rooms, the flow of the spaces, what the colours of cabinets look like and so on.

These are important; however, there are 6 things that you need to look at if you are in a home and think that this home could be the next one.

We invited Matt and Laura from Braemyn Homes to talk about the six things you should check when looking for new homes and the costs associated with fixing or upgrading them.

1. Furnaces

The first thing that you need to check is the furnace. Many think that furnace repair costs as

We invited a fantastic, young couple to talk about their recent condo purchase. This couple shared how they did it, why they did it and much more.

Zendalee works at a school, and Davey is a freelance photographer & videographer. They have been married for two years now.

Their perception of real estate people is from the movies. They think agents are just out to make a dollar and get crazy commissions.

Education is Key

Before the purchase of their condo, the couple had some fears. Primarily, they were unsure about what they were looking for.

They don’t know a lot of real estate terminology, which gave them the feeling of not being educated enough to make the right decision.

Their mindset shifted when Zendalee attended a class for first

Is living in the inner-city with a family a good idea? Should you do it?

We've had lots of clients who have talked about moving to the inner-city in Calgary. One of them is Jeremy Duncan; he made that change and moved to the inner city with his family. He lives at Crescent Heights on the west side of Center Street.

From Suburbs to Inner City

Their first place was a condo in Toronto, Scarborough. They moved to Calgary in 2004 and immediately started looking for a condo downtown.

Their agent pushed them to buy a starter home in the suburbs. Looking back, it was great for them financially.

His family ended up buying a starter home in Tuscany. They stayed there for about nine years. But it wasn't quite what they envisioned having.

Their

We reviewed the October 2020 market update, and here are the numbers for all condos and houses.

The benchmark selling price now is $ 422,000, which is up a half percent compared to last year. The total sales number is at 1,764, which is up 22% compared to the previous year.

New buyers come into the market to take advantage of the massive swing in interest rates. Last year’s interest rates at this time were as high as 3.5%, and now it’s down 1.5 to 1.6%. That’s about a 2% difference.

The actual number of new listings went up 3.8%. This is good because there is a momentum in supply and demand. But inventory is not there. We only have 5,800 homes on the market; that's down 12% compared to last year.

There are some opportunities now for sellers.

Should you Buy or Sell First?

Everybody has their idea of a Dream House. They have this clear picture in their head of how it looks – from the lot area, theme, interior design, down to the tiniest details.

So, what happens when one day, while you’re going on with your daily activities, then, all of a sudden, you catch wind of a house that just came on the market?

You might realize you are now staring at your dream house.

Should you jump on ahead and start packing your stuff and get ready to move up to your dream house? Or should you take a moment to prepare your current place to be put on sale?

This whole thing of buying and selling first comes a lot when someone has a home that they need to sell, and they want to buy a new one.

We have

As we enter into colder months, one would think that the market should slow down. Given everything going on, we see the opposite. There is great momentum in the market right now. Many Calgarians are making moves within Calgary instead of making holidays and travel plans. The fact that the inventory has decreased over 12% compared to last year indicates how tight the market is. When we see that tied with an increase in sales by 35% for detached homes, 21% for semi-detached and 8.5% for townhomes, we are in a shortage of options and inventory.

Buyers

If you are in this market and looking to purchase, depending on your price point, be prepared for multiple offers. If you see a home that will work well for you for the coming years and crosses off many