Calgary Agent's Blog: All Categories

Six months ago Calgary mother Melissa Hawach said goodbye to her 2 young daughters as they left for a holiday in Australia with her estranged husband, Lebanese national Joseph Hawach. When they failed to return home to Calgary 3 weeks later, the mother was told the children had been taken to war-torn Lebanon, where the man has citizenship, to avoid returning them to their mother.

After months and months of exhausting every legal avenue open to her (Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Canada), the Calgary woman now finds herself on the run in Lebanon with the 2 girls. She apparently hired 5 ex-British commandos to snatch her daughters back, which they successfully did this past Wednesday. 2 of the mercenaries were arrested later Wednesday at…

After spending 5 days familiarizing myself with my new Blackberry 7130e, I'd say this has to be one of the best smart-phones on the market. There's a fairly steep learning curve - fortunately several of my colleagues have the same phone and saved me hours in setting up and customizing various aspects of the unit.

First, the phone itself works great. Reception and voice quality is superior, and the speaker phone (which can be toggled on/off either by using the click-wheel or the (.) keyboard shortcut) is outstanding. People on the other end remarked at how clear voices were (using it both as a handset and/or speaker phone).

The address book is simple to set up and edit. Names, numbers & email address can be added on the fly (the address book also sync's…

Your weekly update of the Calgary MLS® Sales Stats

Calgary MLS Market Stats: Dec 1 thru 19, 2006 Single Family 2006 2005 Average Selling Price $399,418 $303,151 Median Selling Price $362,000 $265,000 New Listings 896 906 Sales 1,007 980 Sales to New Listing Ratio 112% 108% Sales to Active Listing Ratio 31% n/a …

Your weekly update of the Calgary MLS® Housing Stats

Calgary MLS Market Stats: Dec 1 thru 12, 2006 Single Family 2006 2005 Average Selling Price $393,825 $300,556 Median Selling Price $356,600 $263,000 New Listings 644 619 Sales 612 629 Sales to New Listing Ratio 95% 102% Sales to Active Listing Ratio 17% n/a …

Dec 07/06:  Figures released by CREB (the Calgary Real Estate Board) earlier this week indicated the Calgary housing market continues to be strong, with 2,313 sales recorded in November 2006.

The graph below displays the number of active listings (inventory) as a function of sales vs. time. The red-hot market in the first half of 2006 is clearly visible as the curve approaches a low of just 2 weeks inventory, followed by a softening of the market as listings rose to 7,000 the first week of October (3 months inventory). Continued strong sales coupled with expiries of overpriced listings has the inventory curve trending downwards again. 

December 4, 2006

Figures released today by the Calgary Real Estate Board indicate that in spite of the normal seasonable slowdowns, the strong Calgary economy continues to drive the resale housing market.

• November combined residential sales totalled 2,313 (an increase of 9.0% over last month and a decrease of 11.45% from Nov 2005)
• Average combined residential sale price* was $360,674 (an increase of 36.40% over Nov 2005 and a decrease of 3.58% from last month) *Combined Residential includes SF homes, condos, and Mobile Homes
• The Average SF Calgary home sold for $394,712  (an increase of 33.52% over Nov 2005)
• The Average Calgary condo sold for $282,680  (an increase of 46.59% over Nov 2005)
• New residential listings…

The recent slowdown in the Calgary real estate market is only temporary, as the fundamentals of both the Calgary and Alberta economy remain strong. According to Don Campbell, author of books that include Real Estate Investing in Canada and 97 Tips for Canadian Real Estate Investors, the real estate boom Calgary experienced from June 2005 through June 2006 "are indications of the true economics of the region".

Campbell's comments were featured in both the Calgary Herald and on ROB TV in late October 2006. Asked about the increase in number of Calgary MLS listings since June '06, Campbell suggested "there are a lot of 'fishers' out there who are putting their homes up for sale at ridiculous prices, hoping that people will grab them. They are either…