Real Estate Blog - October, 2015

5 Places to Go to Capture Alberta’s Natural Beauty

Alberta has a pretty strong reputation for itself—especially with the oil market in the turmoil it’s in.  However, contrary to popular belief, Alberta has a lot more going for it than oil and fossil fuels.  It also has some of the most beautiful destinations in Canada.  Here are the top five spots you need to check out to see all of Alberta’s natural beauty in its fullest.

Banff National Park

Banff National Park is one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Alberta.  Located 130kms west of Calgary, the area features impressive mountain scenery, major ski resorts, gorgeous lakes, glaciers, trails, and abundant wildlife, including grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, caribou, and elk.

Lake Louise

Beautiful turquoise waters that…

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Finding Daycare in Sherwood Park, Alberta

Moving to a new area can be a challenge, especially when it means having to relocate all of the amenities you already had.  You probably didn’t even realize how many amenities in your town were so important to you until you suddenly found yourself without them.  Don’t despair; re-finding the things you need in your new town doesn’t need to be such a hassle.  Start with the most important things first, like finding daycare in Sherwood Park for your youngsters.

 Here are a few daycare centres to keep in mind during your search:

For a child care and out of school care centre, consider Kidz in the Park.  From infant to school-aged child, if you are working on finding daycare in Sherwood Park, Kidz in the Park is a good starting point, offering flexible…

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Best Rated Parks in Stony Plain

Some of the best rated parks are located in Stony Plain, Alberta—why not check them out for yourself this weekend?

There are three major parks in Stony Plain, but some of the best rated park spaces in Stony Plain aren’t limited to those designated as parks.  Stony Plain also has a wide variety of green space to offer, including trails, playgrounds, and community gardens.

Stony Plain has three main parks: Rotary Park, Shikaoi Park, and Whispering Waters Park.

 Rotary Park is easily on of the best rated parks in Stony Plain.  Located just off the main entrance into town, the park features a pond, paved walking trail, playground, gazebo, picnic area, and large open-space green areas.  In the spring and summer, you can take your kids to feed the…

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How to Sell a Vacant House

Selling a vacant house can be a challenge.  While you want to eliminate your personal influences when selling a home, a house that is completely empty can come across as cold and uninviting.  Here are a few tips to keep in mind when selling a vacant house.

1) Maintain your staging.

You still want to stage your vacant home after you move out of it.  In fact, your staging becomes even more important, because the things you place around the home need to make it feel lived-in, comfortable, and inviting.  Keep your staging light, but definitely keep it in mind.  Keep a couple towels, toilet paper, soap, and a bath mat in the bathroom.  You may even want to stage a couple bottles of shampoo, and definitely keep the shower curtain in the picture. 

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How to Make Your Home Say “Buy Me”

If you have sold a house before, you know it can be a challenge to make an impact on a tricky real estate market.  Making sure your home is working for you instead of against you can make all the difference.  Here are a few tips to follow to help your home say “buy me” to your potential buyers.

1) Clear out the clutter.

Removing the majority of your personal items can eliminate a lot of clutter and better show off how much space the home has to offer, but it has another advantage, too.  By getting rid of the evidence that you own the home, the potential home buyers can better envision themselves—and their personal items—in the home.

2) Staging is everything.

You want to clear out your personal items, but you don’t want to clear everything…

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How to Identify a Pet-Friendly Home

You have a lot to consider when looking for a new home.  Is it close to schools, work, transit, grocery stores, doctor’s offices, the dentist?  It’s a lot to keep in mind, and pet owners have even more to consider.  If you have pets, then you need to be able to identify pet friendly housing options before you start making offers.  Here are a few tips to help you get started.

1) Is there a vet nearby?

Whether you have cats, dogs, birds, or reptiles, you need to make sure the right services are nearby in case something goes wrong.  Look into the local vet clinics, but don’t just check to see that they are there.  Make sure there is a clinic nearby that is able to look after the specific pet you own.

2) Are there pet stores handy?

There is…

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Tips for Buying an Older Home

Buying an older home has a lot of appeal.  You get the charm and character that doesn’t get put into the architecture of the modern-built home, and you gain the opportunity to provide restoration and unique touches so you can fix the home up your way.  That said, there are also a lot of things you need to watch out for when buying an older home to ensure you aren’t just throwing a mortgage at a money pit.

Here are a few tips to follow to help you ensure that isn’t the case.

1) You need support.

Or rather, your house needs support.  The first thing you need to look at is the foundation.  If you see crumbling cement, you may be looking at something called sulphate attack, a chemical reaction between cement and soil that occurs in the foundations of…

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How to Attract Home Buyers—Fast

If you need to sell your home in a hurry, you don’t just need to attract gawkers into your home; you need to attract serious home buyers—and lots of them.  Here are a few tips to help you attract real home buyers so you can sell your home fast.

1) Pictures.

These days, online listings are everything when it comes to real estate, but it isn’t quite as simple as slapping up the address and hoping people will come check it out.  You can seriously improve your odds of selling your home in a hurry by posting pictures—but you need to be careful.  Curb appeal is still an important aspect of selling your home, even in jpeg format.  Make sure your home is staged before you take your picture.  The lawns should be mowed, any painting and repairs should be…

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Top 5 Things to Do in Leduc

Moving to a new town is never easy.  It takes time to orient yourself, find things to do, and figure out what your new home has to offer.  Fortunately, Leduc, Alberta makes the acclimatization period easy.

1) The Multipurpose Facility.

The number one rated thing to do in Leduc involves its multipurpose facility.  From soccer fields to swimming pools to ice rinks, Leduc has it all.  Whether you want to sign your kids up for sports, volunteer as coach or ref, participate in a few games yourself, or simply enjoy swimming a few laps of the pool, Leduc’s multipurpose facility has you covered.

2) The Energy Discovery Centre.

Want to learn about the history—and the geology—of the oil industry in Leduc?  The number two thing to do in Leduc is the…

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Things to Look for in Your Seniors’ Home

Making the move out of your home and into seniors’ housing is a big move.  You may be moving into a more convenient and manageable space, but you aren’t just leaving a house behind you, you are leaving your home behind you, too—a home that is familiar to you; a home that feels like home.

You can take all of your memories with you, and you can take the things with you that will quickly make your new seniors’ home feel homey, too, but there are a few things you might want to consider looking for when it comes down to choosing the right seniors’ home for you.

1) Accessibility

Some people choose to buy or rent seniors’ housing because they are already experiencing some mobility issues (with stairs, etc.) while others simply want to sluff off some of…

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