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There truly are benefits to both scenarios and it ultimately depends on your situation! Lets start with the cons of buying a new home in Calgary: Amenities, services, and important details to many buyers like access to public transportation may not be built for many years. New communities like Auburn Bay will eventually have LRT lines directly accessible from the community, but these developments do take time! With new home builds, you'll also be paying the GST on the purchase, you won't be able to see the home until it's finished. Benefits of buying a new home in Calgary: New! From the bones, to the walls, the floors, the windows, and the guts of the home (furnace/Hot water tank/Etc) typically backed by a brand new Alberta home owners builder warranty! You'll find these homes have lower costs as they're more efficient in numerous ways.

There are numerous ways of calculating how much home you can afford, but our general guideline is to take your total monthly costs for housing which includes taxes, maintenance, utilities, insurance, and mortgage payments SHOULD NOT exceed over 30% of your gross monthly income. With plenty of financial representatives often stating that you should not exceed 40% of your income for all monthly debts (Credit card, car payments, mortgage payments, etc) We highly recommend that you speak with one of our mortgage Impact partners, they'll help you find a realistic and well thought out budget for your next home approval, this process will help you understand what your purchasing power is, and from there you can shape and form your search further! Some factors that will shape your purchasing power are Your total debts and monthly payments (current) Your credit score and history Current interest rates How much of a down payment you have saved up Your income

Nothing! We typically have clients that are shocked to hear and find this out, but as a buyer, you aren't going to be shelling out any cash for utilizing our team as a home buyer. Our fees are compensated through the sellers, it's one of the many reasons you should always consult with the Real Estate Partners team and to review any exclusive buyers agent agreement, all the terms and conditions of compensation and our duties as REALTORS® are completely outlined!

Absolutely we can help! In fact when you work with an agent who isn't on the listing side, you know you're working with someone who solely has your interests in mind.

Not necessarily! The biggest limitation will be inventory, if (for example) you're in search of a home built from 2004 to present, over 1,800 square feet, under $650,000 in any newer community, you'll have plenty of options to pick from, but if you're looking for a Bungalow renovated after 2006 in a select few inner city communities, you may be limited to how many options you have. In terms of volume, after you've seen anywhere from 3 to 10 homes, many buyers are able to develop a more thorough and clear understanding of what they need, want, and prefer in a home and are able to move faster (i.e. write an offer) as well. It's also important to note that the number of showings to when you write an offer is a personal preference and comes down to how you prefer to operate. We have buyers who write offers on their first viewings, while we have others who see upwards of 30 homes over a few months of searching.

The typical minimum down payment for purchasing a home on a principal residence is 5%, when the property is for investment purposes, you'll typically be required to have a 20% down payment. A $400,000 property for example at minimum would require $20,000 down, and would require $80,000 for a standard uninsured mortgage where you wouldn't have insurance fees. There are exceptions to all of these numbers and details, and we always recommend you speak with our mortgage impact partners to fully understand your purchasing power.

There are a number of costs associated with purchasing a property in Calgary, as a buyer you won't be responsible for the costs of utilizing the services of a REALTOR®, but you will have a few other costs that should be considered. When you purchase a home, typically you'll have a few conditions, these can be financing, home inspection, condo document review, and others. Condominium document review, these typically will cost between $350 - $500 This cost and typical condition allows you to have someone professionally review the management of a condominium's documents and finances, allowing you to have a better understanding of how healthy the condominium corporation is and whether there are potential upcoming special assessments that could end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars or more. Moving - If you're not ready or are unable to take on the task of moving your home, a moving company becomes an incredible relief to your move and will typically cost you anywhere from $500 to $1,000 for your average bungalow and two storey home. Legal Fees - These are the costs associated with the closing of your home, money is held in trust, title transferred to you, and much more. Legal fees will vary depending on the price you pay for the home, but will typically run you between $800 and $1,500 Cleaning the home - Many of our clients are surprised to find out that a home doesn't have to be fully cleaned before being handed over to you the new buyers, this can be sometimes inserted as part of the contract, it's not seen very often, and if you'd like to ensure your home is cleaned professionally before you move in, expect to budget at least 3 hours and you'll typically see rates of $35 to $40 per hour. Home Inspections are on average done 90% of the time our buyers purchase a property, there are times where we don't see them, for example when a client is buying a condominium they sometimes will not perform a home inspection, or when purchasing a new build it varies whether a client will have their own inspection done. The costs for a professional home inspection will also vary depending on the size of the home, but your typical costs for a home inspection will be $350 - $600

There are a few questions you should ask every agent that you interview who wants to sell your home.

Specific to my area and property, how many similar homes have you sold?

Your agent should not only be thoroughly knowledgeable with your area, but your type of home as well. Whether it's a condominium

a single family home in an established community, or a luxury home. Each property requires specific marketing and reach in order to maximize their exposure.

What ratio of homes that you list, sell?

- An important question to ask and know, if an agent only sells a small % of the homes that they list, you might need to understand why why that is and if they're the right fit for your needs.

Can you show me reviews?

One of the easiest way to verify the volume and service level of your agent is by asking for reviews of their services. With over 100 Calgary real estate reviews on Google our team takes pride in the work we do and truly appreciate the great feedback and insight our clients give us!

While this may be an easy answer for some, the truth is, it's complicated. There are a few different factors to consider when deciding whether you should buy or sell. One of the first things to consider is whether you can hold two homes (your current and a new one) at the same time. While we can certainly provide advice on how to sell your home fast, some properties simply take longer than others to sell on average, this could be because there are limited buyers for it and ultimately our goal is to get you the most amount of money possible in your sale. The other thing to consider is the home you're looking to purchase and how desirable and common it is. If you're looking to buy a typical single family home in one of the newer more densely populated communities, you may not require much time to find the right house in your search. Ultimately this decision should be made with your agent, utilize the latest market data specific to your home to have an educated understanding of what your home should sell for and roughly how long it will take, along with the same information for homes you're thinking about buying.

This typically will depend on the type of property that you're selling and a few other points. Condominium owners will need to provide the latest condominium documents,

There are a few ways to do this, first things first you can utilize our quick home value estimator to obtain an instant price for your home, while we do love this tool and believe it to be pretty accurate most of the time, it's not perfect, and we always recommend you book a free home evaluation so one of our talented agents can run a thorough market analysis

1. Do you have any suggestions to maximize the value in my sale (i.e. minor / major repairs, cleaning, staging, painting, etc.)?
2. What are my total costs for selling a home?
3. How many transactions do you have in a year?
4. What does your marketing plan entail?
5. Do you have a real estate Youtube channel ?
6. What separates you from other REALTORS® in Calgary that could sell my home?
7. When is the best time to list my home for sale?

No. The price you decide to list and sell your home for is entirely up to you. An agent should be providing you with a CMA Comparative Market Analysis and demonstrating to you where they believe your home should be priced based on recent and past sales of comparable homes. Take into consideration and discuss various strategies your agent may employ and if you're unable to gain traction on your listing how future price reductions would look.

We definitely don't recommend this! While we're beyond confident in our ability to help hundreds of buyers and sellers every year to achieve their real estate goals, it's important clients truly understand the value in our services, we always recommend interviewing with multiple agents so you can best determine who will serve you and your specific needs best.