4 Westpoint Garden SW

August 28th, 2015

Every once and a while a truly exceptional property will be put on the market that we feel deserves a little extra attention from potential home buyers. Like this stunning two story home in West Springs. This corer lot property has a south facing back yard with tons of privacy – and as an added bonus the western sidewalk is cleared by the city so there’s not extra work! Not only is the home perfectly located but it has so many built-ins and upgrades we didn’t know where to start! So we asked the current owners of the property to tell us their favorite things about their home. There answers are below.

Need a closer look? Check out our YouTube video. Ready to check it out for yourself? You can contact us directly here or tell your real estate agent you want to view C4015648.

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Is Your Realtor Experienced

August 25th, 2015

You Are Not A Guinea Pig!Passing a program and gaining book knowledge is one thing, but real world experience is something else altogether.

How would you feel about being a dentist’s first patient?

Don’t Put Your Dreams in Inexperienced Hands
When it comes to buying a property, you don’t want to put your dreams in the hands of someone who has little experience buying or selling.

Everyone has to learn, but don’t be the guinea pig. Don’t let someone gain his or her experience by the mistakes made on your purchase.

Instead, let the professionals who know what they are doing assist you in the journey and rest assured knowing you have the best help possible!

Let our professional staff help you!

The Fear of Condo Fees

August 17th, 2015

Condo FeesMany people fear condo fees but don’t fully understand why they even exist.

Every condo board is different and, therefore, all condo fees are different.
When it comes to understanding fees, there are a couple of things to consider…
• What do the condo fees include? Some options are heat, water, and sewer.
• Are fees being collected for future repair? Shingles, exterior siding, elevators, and common area carpets are just a few of the things that must be repaired.
• Are there outside and public use areas to be maintained?

You must decide if the fees are worth it to you not to have to take care of costs and repairs like this yourself, as you must do with a home.

If you want to live in a nice, well kept building, condo fees are a necessity.

Let our professional staff help you

Presenting an Offer in Today’s World

August 12th, 2015

presenting anHere’s how it used to go down…

Years ago all offers we’re presented directly to the sellers and their agent.

Now…
In this fast paced world most agents just e-mail the offers.

How we’re different at
We like to go the extra mile by asking permission to present in person giving us the opportunity to discover the seller’s motivation and the opportunity to express why they should sell to you.
It is about having someone to directly represent you and your qualities.

You don’t buy houses online, so why should your offer be presented that way?
Often, face to face and office presentations provide better results. Make sure you have someone on your side face to face if possible.

Let our professional staff help you!

The Benefit of Working with a Team

August 7th, 2015

The Benefits ofWhat’s the benefit of a team? Strength in numbers can avoid this possible scenario…

You have been looking for your dream home for three months. When it finally comes on the market your realtor is out of town. You miss out because someone else buys it — major disappointment!

Our team not only has one agent dedicated to you, but he/she is backed by not one, but three other full time agents. With 3 times the backup, you will always be looked after.

We want to make sure you get the property you desire and get settled in your new home with ease! Let our professional staff help you!

July Market Report Snapshot

August 4th, 2015

Stay ahead of the curve by following our Monthly Market Snapshot of the Calgary Real Estate Market. This shows what’s really happening! The market is driven by supply and demand so here we show the inventory (supply) and sales (demand) and the effect on the price of Calgary Real Estate. A simple way to keep up to date and ahead of most!
Below are the details along with a few comments, all numbers were taken from the Calgary Real Estate Boards Stats package for Realtors.
Find out what your Neighbor’s home sold for – Our market report is set up based on your community! Register for our Market Report at http://www.calgaryareasolds.com/

July saw very little change to our inventory levels and a decrease in sales numbers in both detached homes and apartment condos. This is quite typical for Calgary as people are vacationing in July and of course we have our annual Calgary Stampede. In addition to that we have had beautiful weather and people are taking advantage of that while it’s here.

Calgary Listing Inventory: Inventory went down in all categories except Apartment Condos this month. All changes are really insignificant.

 

Inventory  June  2015 July  2015 Change
Detached 2760 2728 -28
Attached 1114 1104 -10
Apartment 1196 1223 +27
Total City of Calgary 5070 5055 -15

 

Calgary Sales:
Sales for detached homes and apartment condos decreased this month while attached homes remained even. As mentioned above a decrease in sales in typical in July.

 

Sales June  2015 July  2015 Change % Change
Detached 1335 1222 -113 -8.5
Attached 449 449 0 0
Apartment 399 324 -75 -18.8
Total City of Calgary 2183 1995 -188 -8.6

Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:
Prices in all categories changed very little this month. Based on the absorption rate below my prediction is that detached and attached homes (in a Seller’s Market) will see small price increases while apartment condos (in a balanced market) should stay flat.

 

  Sales Prices June  2015  Benchmark Price  July  2015 Benchmark Price Change
Detached 515,500 515,300 -200
Attached 354,500 355,300 +800
Apartment 293,600 293,300 -300
Total City of Calgary 455,400 455,400 0

 

Sales Prices “Year to Date”

Year to date prices – All categories have decreased.

Sales Prices Dec 31, 2014   Benchmark Price  July  2015 Benchmark Price Change$ % Change
Detached 518,600 515,300 -3,300 -.64
Attached 356,200 355,300 -900 -.2
Apartment 300,400 293,300 -7,100 -2.4
Total City of Calgary 459,500 455,400 -4,100 .89

 

Absorption Rate (Months of Inventory) (the inventory divided by the number of sales in the last month). What does this mean you might ask?

 

Buyer’s Market >4.0 Drives prices down
Balanced Market Between 2.8 to 4.0 Prices typically remain stable
Seller’s Market <2.8 Drives prices up

 

*** Absorption Rate:   

In July the absorption rate increased marginally for all categories.  What this means is that the relation to sales over inventory decreased.  This leaves detached homes and attached homes in a seller’s market, while apartment condos have stayed in a balanced market but have reversed direction coming closer to a buyer’s market.

 

Absorption Rate   June  2015 July  2015 Change
Detached 2.13 2.23 +.10
Attached 2.44 2.46 +.02
Apartment 3.6 3.77 +.17
Total City of Calgary 2.44 2.53 +.09

 

**Please note that these numbers do change on a community basis and more so for towns.  If you would like to find stats on your community just let me know.  If you have any questions about this summary, the attached stats package or any Real Estate questions please feel free to contact us.

 

If you know anyone else who might enjoy seeing our monthly summary please feel free to pass this on. Gord, Eric, Brent

TSW Real Estate Group

The Neighbors

July 31st, 2015

And why you need to knowOne thing often overlooked when viewing property to buy is…
The Neighbors
When viewing homes it’s crucial to get an idea of what your neighbors are like. You don’t want the experience of falling in love with a house, purchasing, moving in and finding out your neighbors are a nightmare to deal with!
Good indicators are what their back yard and back lane look like. Is the property being well kept or piled up with junk? Do you want to live next door to a neighbor that has 3 dead cars in his back alley?
A simple knock on the door can provide invaluable information. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself and let the neighbors know you are looking at a nearby property. Ask some questions about the neighborhood and see what they have to say.
This can help you gain a better understanding of the neighborhood dynamics and with whom you will be sharing space.

Fair Market Value

July 23rd, 2015

UnderstandingSo what is this “fair market value?”

Fair market value is what a seller is willing to accept and what a buyer is willing to pay based on sales from similar properties.

Sold properties are compared based on the price they sold for, not on asking prices.
This is different from tax assessments, which are based on the last June’s data, often out of date.

Tax assessments can reveal a pattern, but not value.

It is important to get as up to date information as possible on fair market value before making a purchase.

July Monthly Update

July 3rd, 2015

Stay ahead of the curve by following our Monthly Market Snapshot of the Calgary Real Estate Market. This shows what’s really happening! The market is driven by supply and demand so here we show the inventory (supply) and sales (demand) and the effect on the price of Calgary Real Estate. A simple way to keep up to date and ahead of most!

Below are the details along with a few comments, all numbers were taken from the Calgary Real Estate Boards Stats package for Realtors.

Find out what your Neighbor’s home sold for – Our market report is set up based on your community! Register for our Market Report at http://www.calgaryareasolds.com/

 

June showed very little change to inventory, sales or prices.  Supply is tightening a little and we have moved back into a sellers market.

 

Calgary Listing Inventory:   Inventory went down in all categories this month.  This is typical for June as we approach the summer and holiday season and therefore see less listings.

Inventory 

May  2015 June  2015 Change
Detached 2913 2760 -163
Attached 1136 1114 -22
Apartment 1293 1196 -97
Total City of Calgary 5342 5070

-272

 

Calgary Sales:

Sales changed very little in all categories. The only significant category change is apartment condo’s  where sales went up by 11.1%.  A nice improvement as Condo sales have been slower that the other categories.

Sales May  2015 June  2015 Change % Change
Detached 1366 1335 -31 -2.2
Attached 465 449 -16 -3.4
Apartment 359 399 +40 +11.1
Total City of Calgary 2190 2183 -7 -.3

 

 

Calgary Real Estate Sales Prices:  

Prices in all categories increased marginally this month.  Based on the absorption rate below my prediction is that detached and attached homes will see small price increases while apartment condos should stay flat.

  Sales Prices May   2015

 Benchmark Price 

June  2015

Benchmark Price

Change
Detached 512,800 515,500 +2,700
Attached 354,000 354,500 +500
Apartment 294,800 293,600 -1,200
Total City of Calgary 454,100 455,400 +1,300

 

Sales Prices “Year to Date”   

Year to date prices – All categories have decreased.

Sales Prices Dec 31, 2014   Benchmark Price  June  2015 Benchmark Price Change

$

% Change
Detached 518,600 515,500 -3,100 -.6
Attached 356,200 354,500 -1,700 -.5
Apartment 300,400 293,600 -6,800 -2.2
Total City of Calgary 459,500 455,400 -4,100 -.9

 

Absorption Rate (Months of Inventory)   (the inventory divided by the number of sales in the last month). What does this mean you might ask?

Buyer’s Market >4.0 Drives prices down
Balanced Market Between 2.8 to 4.0 Prices typically remain stable
Seller’s Market <2.8 Drives prices up

 

*** Absorption Rate:   

The absorption rate decreased again for all categories.  What this means is that the relation to sales over inventory decreased.  This puts detached homes and attached homes into a seller’s market, while apartment condos have stayed in a balanced market but are inching their way back into sellers market territory.

 

Absorption Rate   May  2015 June  2015 Change
Detached 2.13 2.07 -.06
Attached 2.44 2.48 -.04
Apartment 3.6 3.0 -.6
Total City of Calgary 2.44 2.32 -.12

 

**Please note that these numbers do change on a community basis and more so for towns.  If you would like to find stats on your community just let me know.  If you have any questions about this summary, the attached stats package or any Real Estate questions please feel free to contact us.

 

Worth The Risk?

June 26th, 2015

Grow Ops

When you find a property that seems too good to be true for the price, you must ask yourself why it’s priced low.

 

There is a reason former grow ops have a lower price point.

Very few lenders will finance grow ops. If banks are not willing to finance, why should you be?

 

Think about it…

The property will always be a stigmatized property.

It’s required that you must disclose the nature of the property even if you sell 10 years later.

There are also no standards for remediation. One can only guess to the environmental damage.

 

Looking at a grow op? You may just want to think again.