Homes Sales Expected To Rise

Calgary Real Estate News

An improvement of economic outlook and strengthen of consumer confidence is the main factors of the Canadian Real Estate Association in raising its outlook for home sales this year. Want to read more in depth on this article? Just click the link below.An improvement of economic outlook and strengthen of consumer confidence is the main factors of the Canadian Real Estate Association in raising its outlook for home sales this year. Want to read more in depth on this article? Just click the link below.

Homes Sales Expected To Rise – Calgary Real Estate

What is Your Favorite Nickname for Calgary?

We are wondering what you think is the best nickname, slang term, motto, label, catch phrase, slogan… for Calgary Alberta?

We are in the process of creating some new marketing and want your input. Once we have a number of great suggestions (which I know you have in you), if you give us a suggestion or comment on our Facebook group page we’ll do a draw for a $30 gift card to Catch Restaurant and Oyster Bar.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

In order to have your name entered into this draw that will happen at the end of this week, leave your suggestion on our Facebook Group page.

Jared & Rebecca

Being a REALTOR ® Sucks!

A couple of nights ago on a late Sunday evening, I showed up at my clients house at 10:30 pm after spending the evening negotiating a deal for them. When I showed up at the door the first words from my clients mouth are “Your job SUCKS!”. Now yes, being out at 10:30 pm on a Sunday night isn’t the most exciting or ‘fun’ time to be out and about and some could say that it ’sucks’. Sometimes their are articles written about your industry that labels it as ‘rigged’ and calls clients like mine ‘ignorant’. Now I’m not saying that the industry is perfect, it’s not and there are many things that have to change for it to get better… but I digress.

Being a REALTOR ® isn’t for everyone in fact I choose to work very hard for my clients, thus I’m out driving around this beautiful city of mine at 10:30 pm on a Sunday night getting signatures.

If you have read this far, your probably waiting to read a long list of why being a REALTOR ® sucks… well, your not going to find that here.  Truth be told, Rebecca and I enjoy what we do and love meeting the people we do because of our profession.  I’ve attempted to put together a few reasons why we truly enjoy doing what we do.  This isn’t everything, but it’s a start.

1. Technology
   Now for some this may not be a legitimate reason to love something, but I truly enjoy the new gadgets and toys that we get to use and implement into our business that helps out the bottom dollar for our clients.  I was with some clients last night and we were signing a contract on my iPad and they said… and I quote… “This makes one of the most boring things about selling our house actually really fun and enjoyable”… Now I was shocked to hear that, but it’s true.  As soon as I pull out the iPad to use for signing most clients are impressed and excited to use it.

   The other part of the technology is all the online marketing and mediums that I get to use and experiment with.  This blog for example and being able to be creative with it is something I love and enjoy.  Creating videos while teaching and educating through them is a powerful tool that I truly enjoy and I hope you as a reader of this blog enjoy watching them.

2. Flexibility
   Now what do I mean by flexibility… I’m not talking that I can do stretches like Kipper or would ever attempt to do so, I’m talking about the flexibility that being in business for myself gives us the greatest flexibility as a family with a new little one.  I am a huge promotor of being an entrepreneur and love to help others find their own inner entrepreneurial spirit.  Because I know of and experience the power of being an entrepreneur every day, it’s something that if I see someone who could have it, I want to help stretch that person to become their own boss.  Being in business for ourselves allows us to set our own schedules, unless it is 10:30 pm on a Sunday night =-) … but to be frank, we can schedule holidays when we want to as we have built a solid team around us to ensure that our clients and business still runs smoothly while we are away.
3. The People
   And lastly… The People… This to me is the single biggest reason why we love what we do.  What other profession allows you to find and search out people like ourselves, who you will get along with well and become close friends with over time.  We have been sooo blessed by the clients (many are now considered good friends) that we have been given the privilege to work with.  We have been invited to countless number of weddings, Christmas parties and birthday parties and have had the honor of being invited to some of our clients most memorable experiences in their lives… and we got to be there to experience them.  Rebecca was even in a wedding of one of our clients.  We have held day old babies, helped out those that were going through tough times and have even been argued about by a couple that was getting married about who should sell their house until they realized that she knew Rebecca and he new Me… Crazy!

   “The people” is why we do this.  We get to meet someone new each week and help them find a new home where they will have some of the best times and memories of their lives.  

We are truly blessed in our business and want to thank you for that.  Every year our business grows and we receive more referrals and are able to help more and more people buy their perfect homes and sell what was their home and help them find a new place.

Like in any business their are trade off’s, and if I need to be out at 10:30 pm on a Sunday as a trade off for what we get in return for what we do… I think I can manage that!

Thank YOU!  Because of you, this is why we do what we do!

Jared & Rebecca

Being a REALTOR ® Sucks!

A couple of nights ago on a late Sunday evening, I showed up at my clients house at 10:30 pm after spending the evening negotiating a deal for them. When I showed up at the door the first words from my clients mouth are “Your job SUCKS!”. Now yes, being out at 10:30 pm on a Sunday night isn’t the most exciting or ‘fun’ time to be out and about and some could say that it ’sucks’. Sometimes their are articles written about your industry that labels it as ‘rigged’ and calls clients like mine ‘ignorant’. Now I’m not saying that the industry is perfect, it’s not and there are many things that have to change for it to get better… but I digress.

Being a REALTOR ® isn’t for everyone in fact I choose to work very hard for my clients, thus I’m out driving around this beautiful city of mine at 10:30 pm on a Sunday night getting signatures.

If you have read this far, your probably waiting to read a long list of why being a REALTOR ® sucks… well, your not going to find that here.  Truth be told, Rebecca and I enjoy what we do and love meeting the people we do because of our profession.  I’ve attempted to put together a few reasons why we truly enjoy doing what we do.  This isn’t everything, but it’s a start.

1. Technology
   Now for some this may not be a legitimate reason to love something, but I truly enjoy the new gadgets and toys that we get to use and implement into our business that helps out the bottom dollar for our clients.  I was with some clients last night and we were signing a contract on my iPad and they said… and I quote… “This makes one of the most boring things about selling our house actually really fun and enjoyable”… Now I was shocked to hear that, but it’s true.  As soon as I pull out the iPad to use for signing most clients are impressed and excited to use it.

   The other part of the technology is all the online marketing and mediums that I get to use and experiment with.  This blog for example and being able to be creative with it is something I love and enjoy.  Creating videos while teaching and educating through them is a powerful tool that I truly enjoy and I hope you as a reader of this blog enjoy watching them.

2. Flexibility
   Now what do I mean by flexibility… I’m not talking that I can do stretches like Kipper or would ever attempt to do so, I’m talking about the flexibility that being in business for myself gives us the greatest flexibility as a family with a new little one.  I am a huge promotor of being an entrepreneur and love to help others find their own inner entrepreneurial spirit.  Because I know of and experience the power of being an entrepreneur every day, it’s something that if I see someone who could have it, I want to help stretch that person to become their own boss.  Being in business for ourselves allows us to set our own schedules, unless it is 10:30 pm on a Sunday night =-) … but to be frank, we can schedule holidays when we want to as we have built a solid team around us to ensure that our clients and business still runs smoothly while we are away.
3. The People
   And lastly… The People… This to me is the single biggest reason why we love what we do.  What other profession allows you to find and search out people like ourselves, who you will get along with well and become close friends with over time.  We have been sooo blessed by the clients (many are now considered good friends) that we have been given the privilege to work with.  We have been invited to countless number of weddings, Christmas parties and birthday parties and have had the honor of being invited to some of our clients most memorable experiences in their lives… and we got to be there to experience them.  Rebecca was even in a wedding of one of our clients.  We have held day old babies, helped out those that were going through tough times and have even been argued about by a couple that was getting married about who should sell their house until they realized that she knew Rebecca and he new Me… Crazy!

   “The people” is why we do this.  We get to meet someone new each week and help them find a new home where they will have some of the best times and memories of their lives.  

We are truly blessed in our business and want to thank you for that.  Every year our business grows and we receive more referrals and are able to help more and more people buy their perfect homes and sell what was their home and help them find a new place.

Like in any business their are trade off’s, and if I need to be out at 10:30 pm on a Sunday as a trade off for what we get in return for what we do… I think I can manage that!

Thank YOU!  Because of you, this is why we do what we do!

Jared & Rebecca

Buying a House in Calgary vs. Selling a Home in Calgary

Jared Chamberlain uncovers some interesting findings regarding Buying a house in Calgary versus Selling a home in Calgary. For any thoughts or feedback please leave a comment below or email Jared at Jared@tcgroup.ca

Jared & Rebecca

Cranston & Mckenzie Traffic Nightmare

If you are driving to or are thinking of heading to Cranston, the entrance lights are a nightmare. This pic doesn’t do it justice as there is a line of apx. 20-30 min long to get here.

Jared & Rebecca

Did the Calgary Real Estate Market go Up or Down?

Are Values Increasing or Decreasing in Calgary?

I was reading through the Calgary Real Estate Boards stats and reports from September 2010 and noticed something very interesting…

The report said the following:

The average price of a single family home in the city of Calgary in September 2010 was $460,278, showing a 3 per cent increase from August 2010, when the average price was $445,617 all the while, the median price of a single family home in the city of Calgary for September 2010 was $390,000, showing a 1 per cent decrease from August 2010 when the median price was 395,000.

How is it possible that the market can go up and down at the same time… Let’s dig into this and understand why it’s important to go look at the median prices versus the average prices.

In the month of August there were a total of 25 properties that sold over the $1 Million mark.  Considering August was a slow month, this is great… Out of those 25 homes there were only 2 properties that were above the $2 Million price point, $2.3 Mill and $2.6 Mill.

In the month of September 2010 there were a total of 34 properties over the $1 Million mark.  This is a big jump from August.  Along with the increased number of transactions, the price point was also much higher… There were 4 transactions that were in the $2 Million price point along with one that sold for $3.5 Million.

So, when the report said that the prices in Calgary went up and the media reported the same,  Calgarians were lead to believe that the real estate market in Calgary was on the upswing.  When in reality and when you pull back the curtain, you will see that the prices in Calgary actually declined from the month before.  The median of a range of numbers is determined by ordering all numbers from beginning to end and picking the middle one, or in the case of real estate, the sale prices for that month.  On the other hand, the average sale price, where you’d add all the numbers up (or sale prices) and divide by number of sales, gives us the average price.

When you use the median to look at the real estate market values in Calgary, this will take out the super high values and the low values and give us a true indication of what has happened.

So, in saying all this… Did the market go up or down?  What do you think?

Jared & Rebecca

#FF This Week’s #YYC Tweeps to Follow

So here are my #FF for this week on twitter… These are some great people that have a superb talent that you should check out…

@lnicholsphoto

Lindsay Nichols has a great eye and a great passion for family photography… Follow her on twitter and check out her website at http://www.lindsaynicholsphotography.com

@w_chris_davies

Chris Davies is a talented Social Media marketing individual along with a true talent in real estate investing.  He is going to be joining the ranks of a REALTOR® up in Edmonton very soon.  Follow him and you will have a lot of knowledge on both subjects… Ok… he’s not in Calgary, but he deserves to be on this list…

@lonnietaylor

If you are looking to find out what is happening in Calgary and see this amazing city through the lens of someone who’s living in it, Lonnie is your guy… Follow him and see what Calgary, an amazing city may I add, has to offer!

So those are this week’s #FF (Follow Friday) individuals on Twitter…

Who are you following that we should all know about?

Jared & Rebecca