Calgary Real Estate - Homes for Sale in Calgary

CALGARY REAL ESTATE PRICES UP DESPITE MORE LISTINGS

2008-04-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

According to CREA and an article in the Calgary Herald today prices on a detached bungalow home went up 9.9% while condo prices increased 6.9%.

That's a lot more money to have to pay for a new home now than buying a year ago.

This is despite the increase in Calgary real estate listings hitting the market recently. It looks like property may take longer to sell but sellers are holding out and prices aren't dropping.

RIght now here is lots to choose from but if you are waiting to make an offer you may end up paying more. And a year from now you'll pay more again.

Welist.com no longer available

2008-03-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

So it has been 2 days since Welist.com went offline.

If you have a property for sale by owner with Welist.com you are going to be mighty pissed off. Especially seeing as how it happened on the weekend.

Their domain name has expired so either they are out of business or just not very studious when it comes to small little details like that. Of course their entire business is built on the branding of that URL so this could be a catastrophe. Current bidding on snagging that domain is over $1000.

Well, we are still up and running. For all you for sale by owners in Calgary now is the time to visit www.buyahomecalgary.com and list your calgary home for sale.

FOR SALE BY OWNER CALGARY

2008-03-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

Attention all FSBO, For Sale by Owner in the Calgary Area:

Sellers in the Calgary real estate market have a new option to sell their property faster. Buyahomecalgary.com now offers home sellers the ability to list their property for sale with photos and description to reach hundreds of targeted buyers everyday.

They can also list open house dates and times and edit and control their listing through their own unique account. Changes they make through the control panel are updated instantly.

Other websites make you wait and sometimes you have to go through the hassle of emailing them your photos or text which results in delays in processing.

If you are a Calgary FSBO then be sure to sign up and sell your house or condo faster!

MOVING TO CALGARY

2008-03-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

If you are relocating to Calgary you are probably looking for a home for sale. We have many Calgary real estate listings that aren't available anywhere else.

Our website is one of only 3 listed on the official Calgary Economic Development website under the Calgary Housing and Moving to Calgary headings.

Not only do we offer homes and condos for sale by owner, by realtor and by developer, we also offer a comprehensive list of other websites for your research.

Search our Calgary real estate listings by clicking here.

Free - Calgary Real Estate Listings

2008-03-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.

Buyahomecalgary.com has just launched an awesome new service. We are now featuring properties for sale. We decided that we could design a better website than what is out there - and we have! A search feature that actually works! Listings specifically for Calgary!

HOMEBUYERS - CHECK OUR NEW CALGARY REAL ESTATE LISTINGS
Looking to buy a new home in Calgary? New Condo? Recreational Real Estate? Browse our Calgary real estate listings service. A superior interface and search page is designed to be quick and easy to find what you are looking for. Try it!

PRIVATE HOME SELLERS/FSBOs -
This will help you sell your property faster and it's FREE!! Limited time offer! Try our Basic Plan for free. Reach hundreds of buyers everyday looking to buy your house or condo. List your Calgary condo or home for sale here!

REALTORS/DEVELOPERS : WE OFFER SPECIAL REAL ESTATE LISTING PACKAGES FOR YOU
If you have several Calgary properties to sell sign up NOW. These aren't random eyeballs, these are targeted prospects!! Get your product or service in front of hundred of buyers coming to our site every month! To add your Calgary houses for sale click here!

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About BuyAHomeCalgary.com
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Our site has been around since 2003 listing Calgary Real Estate related websites. Now we are featuring properties for sale.

A superior interface and search page is designed so it's quick and easy to find what buyers are looking for.
BuyAHomeCalgary.com gets almost 8000 visits a month and over 53,000 page views. Our visits have been increasing 25% every 3 months. (P.S. Monthly hits, which many sites use incorrectly to gauge their traffic, are not a relevant metric. If someone tells you how many "hits" their site is getting they are using the wrong terminology and have the wrong information).

BuyAHomeCalgary.com is a pure-play web portal. Almost all of our visitors come from global search engines or bookmarks. How do we get so much traffic? We are very well placed and considered an authority site in Google, MSN, Teoma, All The Web, Yahoo and others for the most common search keywords and phrases particular to the Calgary Real Estate market.

Our 200-300 visitors per day are not random but highly targeted. Because we are a highly focused niche our audience can considered of much higher quality to our advertising partners.

Visit our site to check it out for yourself - www.buyahomecalgary.com

YEE HAW - Calgary Stampede

2006-07-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

Yee HAW - that's the sound a donkey makes. YAHOO! - that the sound thousands of people celebrating Calgary's biggest event of the year make.

The Calgary Stampede is here. Starting with the Annual Stampede Parade on Friday morning July 7 and continuing for 10 days, the biggest outdoor show on earth is quite a party. Don't forget to see the agricultural exhibits and of course the rodeo and chuckwagon races - that's the real essence. But, so is a ride on the midway and a corndog!

Happy Stampeding!

Buying New? Avoid Headaches

2006-06-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

Just because the housing market in Calgary is totally on fire doesn't mean that you have to accept shoddy construction and/or poor workmanship. A new home should provide a lifetime of enjoyment not just six months.

If buying a new home make sure to do your due dilligence and research the reputation of the companies involved. Ask a homeowner who bought from the same company or perhaps your soon to be new neighbors how their 1- 2 year old home is holding up.

And avoid headaches by knowing what your responsibilities are, the builders and subcontractors.

Here is a chronicle of one Calgarian's problems with a recent new home purchase for your sober reflection.

THINK LIKE AN INVESTOR AND SAVE MONEY

2006-02-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

When buying a home you should be thinking more like an investor.

This may be the largest purchase of your life. All buyers should be thinking of return on investment and tax strategies.

Real estate can represent more than 60 per cent of your net worth on retirement and successful real estate investing (even if it is your first home) can offer greater financial freedom.

The biggest factor is Capital Gains - the difference between what you bought and eventually sold your property for. And you want to pay as little tax on that profit as possible. If is your primary residence the profit or capital gain made on your principal residence is tax-free.

It doesn't matter whether you are buying through a Calgary Realtor or a Calgary For Sale By Owner (FSBO) property think more like an investor and save your money.

Here is a great article for more info on this topic from the Realty Times

New Condos, New Communities

2006-01-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

Just added a number of new links to various categories in our database for new condos, new communities and some home builders based in Calgary.

If you know of a website we are missing or find a link out of date please let us know so we can continue to provide the most relevant and useful information on Calgary Real Estate.

BTW we have passed another milestone and are averaging OVER 400 people per day visiting Buyahomecalgary.com. That's 800 eyeballs/day or 24,000 eyeballs per month.

Thank you!

MORTGAGE POWER

2006-01-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

Are you already pre-approved for a mortgage? Do you have to renew your current mortgage? Did you shop around first?

There is absolutely no need to accept the first mortgage offer that comes your way. As the customer you have the power to negotiate!! Talk to different lenders and LET THEM KNOW you are shopping and comparing. The difference in a few points on your monthly interest can make a real difference.

The best rate so far for a closed mortgage 5 year term (as of Jan10,2006) - MyMortgageStore.ca @ 4.82%

Some banks are as high as 6.3%. Do the math!

REAL ESTATE PRICES TO DROP 50%

2005-11-28T10:08:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting article from CNN regarding the affect of the web on living patterns and, ultimately, real estate prices.

"Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen predicts that more people will live in rural settings, with technology enabling them to do almost anything they like, be it work or play, without leaving their homes."

"The effect will be a drop in the price of real estate in densely populated areas as people choose to live in small towns, causing the population of big cities to decline. Given the nature of real estate, he warned that even a drop in demand by 20 percent could cause prices to be cut in half."

I can see how this effect will take time but may possibly turn into a tidal wave as technology becomes more seamless, useful and ubiquitous. Anyone care to wager?

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/05/12/visionary.nielsen/index.html

NO MORE COOKIE CUTTER REALTOR WEBSITES

2005-11-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

NOTICE: The following posting has been edited. I have removed the example URLs as one of the parties named was a little "upset". The point was that many realtors use templates or packaged websites. These are always low quality but more importantly it looks bad if you visit 3 different realtors but they all use the same "package website" template. The smart ones don't. They care about their business and their image and that provides a clue as to how they may treat their customers.
Read on for more...

Website 1 (URL deleted - substitute one of hundreds of realtor websites)
Website 2 (URL deleted - substitute one of hundreds of realtor websites)

Take a look at the above two websites. Notice anything, say, a little bit similar? They are cookie cutter websites! They are identical except the names and faces at the top. I'm assuming that they are in fact different people with different skill sets and personalities. I'll bet their newspaper ads aren't identical.

Why in the world would they settle for this as their web presence? Did they just get lazy and order a "web package"? The same as 500 other realtors?

If you hit more than 5 Calgary realtor websites you'll find the same thing in at least 3 of them. The same "helpful" articles, the same layout, the same atrocious design.

Most Realtors still don't get the web. Which means they still don't know how to use it to maximize their real estate dealings. Which affects you.

When deciding on a realtor visit their website and compare to a few others. Ask yourself if you want to work with a cookie cutter Realtor.

85% OF HOMEBUYERS USED INTERNET

2005-11-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

OK, OK, I guess this internet thing is really taking off (duh).

A recent survey by Ispos-Reid reported 85% of those who bought a home in the past two years used the Internet to help buy their home, and 78% said it played a significant role in the purchase process. 85%!! 78%!!

People like to shop. People like to compare. Driving from one house to another, driving from one community all the way across town to see another community - that's a lot of work, too much time and too much gas while spewing emissions.

So the internet is useful because you can easily shop and compare. You can also do it on your own time AND halfway across the country. And you don't have some high pressure salesperson in your face. That comes later.

However, if you can't find the website you can't include it in your shopping.

Do you see where Buyahomecalgary.com comes in? We provide a single website listing all the other websites concerning Calgary real estate. Makes it easy to shop and compare and it sure beats driving.

CALGARY HOMEBUYERS - DON'T FORGET CLOSING COSTS

2005-11-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

Buying a home means a lot of paperwork. There are also more costs involved than just the purchase price. You need to determine how much your closing costs are going to be and set aside a pool of money to cover them.

Finding out you "just" have enough isn't good enough if you can't pay these fees.

Here are some of the "closing" costs you need to be prepared for (from the ING Direct website):

Closing Costs Checklist

CALGARY HOMEBUYING INFO - STEP BY STEP

2005-11-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

Excellent information presented in a clear and straight forward manner. It's actually useful.

Buying a home doesn't have to be daunting and you don't have to go through the homebuying process feeling helpless and unsure. CMHC's Homebuying Step by Step guide provides you with clear, straightforward information on who to consult, what to ask and what to do. You'll know what to expect and be in control every step of the way, and you can sign on the dotted line with peace of mind.

Visit the site.

OUT OF DATE REAL ESTATE INFO

2005-11-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here's another site I was going to recommend because there is some good home buying information. However when I went to check the Average Canadian Housing Prices link the numbers they had were from 2001! Anyway, just FYI - Calgary Real Estate average price for a home back then was $176,300.

Websites are all about trust and building credibility. Would this affect your decision to work with RBC?

Check it out for yourself at www.rbcroyalbank.com/buyingahome.

GREEN HOMES - HOW TO SAVE MONEY AND THE EARTH

2005-11-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

I was very excited when I heard about the EcoTrust demo home. If you want to find out more how about how to save energy and water and ultimately save yourself some money, then it is worth taking a look. It is located at 566 Chapparral Drive S.E.

I'm including the link to their website for more information but the site itself is poorly designed.

albertaecotrust.com

FINANCING TIPS - FIXED VS. VARIABLE

2005-11-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

Are you a gambler? Can you see the future? Look at these 2 different types of mortgages and you may save a lot of money.

Fixed Rate Mortgage

If you think interest rates are on the rise, you may want to consider a fixed rate term. A fixed interest rate protects you against rising interest rates for the term. Plus, you have the security of knowing exactly how much your regular payment of principal and interest will be. In other words, if your mortgage payment is $1200/month it will always be $1200/month with the same fixed amount (say $500 depending on the interest rate) going towards interest and the same fixed amount ($700 in this example) always going toward the principal.

Variable Rate Mortgage

While a variable rate carries a certain level of risk, the rewards can be worth it. Basically, the amount of interest you pay changes as the Prime Rate changes. A Variable Rate mortgage can save you money while also keeping your options open during times of fluctuating interest rates. In other words, if you mortgage payment is $1200/month it will always be $1200/month but some months ( when interest rates drop) more of that money will go to paying the principal and less to paying interest. Conversely when interest rates rise you may still be paying $1200/ month BUT less money goes to the principal and more ends up paying off interest.

If interest rates drop or stay low you will be able to pay off your house sooner and build equity faster. With a Variable Rate mortgage you may also still have the option of switching to a Fixed Rate Mortgage if you think interest rates are going to go up.

CALGARY REAL ESTATE TIPS - SELL YOUR HOME FASTER

2005-11-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

You may have read that one of the most important things you can do when selling your home is keep it clean and uncluttered. Well, many people have different views on what is tidy and many people cannot abide not having their stuff around close by.

Today's Tip: Get over it! If you are going to SELL your house clear out everything. Start packing up your personal possessions and plan on putting them in storage. If you haven't used something in the last 2 months, store it.

Look at a showhome to see how the property is displayed - there isn't alot of stuff lying around. Just a few small items to give it the right warm and welcoming feel.

By REALLY cleaning up the clutter you will sell your home faster!