Allison James

Buying your first home is a huge, life-changing event.  First-time buyers face a gauntlet of difficult choices – from budget considerations to neighborhood choices to financing options.  For many, the first and sometimes most difficult decision is whether to buy a condo or a single-family home.

As an experienced real estate professional and Certified Condominium Specialist with a large family of my own, I am well qualified to coach my young buyers in their first dive into the real estate pool.  I urge those who are not quite sure what they want to carefully consider the following questions.

How much money do you have to spend?

While there are certainly many high-end expensive projects, condominiums are, in general, more affordable than single-family homes, even after factoring in the cost of monthly maintenance fees.  For many first-time buyers, owning a condo is the perfect avenue to becoming a homeowner.

Do you plan on having children in the near future?

As any parent will tell you, having kids changes everything.  If you plan on having a large family quickly, you may well want the added square footage and yard space that comes with a single-family home.  If you’re not planning to have children for five or more years, consider starting out with a condo and then moving on to a single-family home when the time is right.

How do you spend your spare time?

Owning a house is a major responsibility and a lot of work.  If you work full-time during the week, that leaves weekends for housecleaning, gardening, lawn mowing, etc.  Snow removal can’t even wait for the weekend.  Imagine yourself with a beautiful day with nothing to do.  How do you want to spend the free time – gardening or snowboarding?  Houses need constant maintenance and repair.  How handy are you when it comes to fixing things?  If you can’t tell a hammer from a screwdriver, start with a condo.  It’s a great way to begin your education as a property owner and begin to understand how things work.

In the end, the most important consideration is often a lifestyle choice.  In general, I believe that many first-time buyers will do well by starting with a condo.  There are countless complexes located in the hub sections of town in walking distance to transportation, shops and restaurants.  It can be a very attractive lifestyle for young professionals.  If you do decide to buy a condo, make sure you are informed and educated as to what you are buying.  Condominiums come with associations, fees, rules and regulations.  Read and understand the rules with the help of a professional and make sure you can live with them.

Life is a series of continual transitions and home ownership is no different.  Many of my clients have found themselves going from a rental apartment to owning a condo to a single-family home and then back to a condo.  It is my pleasure and privilege to help at every stage in the remarkable journey.

Do you need to move to celebrate the changes that are happening in your life? Let me serve you in helping you make the move to the place or home that reflects where you are in life’s journey! I will listen to your needs and use my knowledge and expertise to make this a smooth transition to the right place for you to call home in Calgary. Contact me at 403-708-5873, ajames16@gmail.com, or www.allisonjames.com and let’s get on with your journey!

About Allison James

Allison James has been a realtor® since 1999 with Century 21 Bamber Realty Ltd. in the changing Calgary real estate market. A Century 21 Centurion Award 2007 recipient and a member of CREA and AREA, she specializes in residential real estate and has her designations as a Seniors Real Estate Specialist and a Certified Condominium Specialist. These designations testify that she has the expertise and resources to help her clients make a smooth transition to the next step in their life journey. She enjoys helping her clients as they move through many of the same stages of life that she, too, has experienced. The fact that the majority of her business comes from past clients and/or referrals from satisfied clients speaks volumes about her dedication to the high quality of service that she offers her clients to meet their Calgary and surrounding area real estate needs. She is a mother of four who are all on their own now, and a grandmother of eight. Besides helping people buy or sell real estate, she loves spending time with her family, being active outdoors, traveling and meeting new people, photography, playing the drums, reading, scuba diving, listening to music, learning new things, and nurturing her spiritual growth.

It’s been nearly a year since the historic Calgary floods of 2013.  A rare combination of weather conditions converged on the frozen ground to create perfect conditions for flooding.  Hopefully, this particular set of weather phenomena will not meet again in our lifetimes. The region’s economy and real estate market took a hard hit but bounced back with a vengeance.  Still, it’s not easy to forget the poignant images of damage and destruction.

No matter where you live, the possibility of water damage always exists – from burst pipes, sewer problems or heavy rains. Even desert areas are susceptible to flash flooding.  Obviously, if you live in a low-lying area in proximity to a body of water, the risk is heightened.  The main thing I tell my clients is to focus on being informed in order to understand the potential risk.  Here are key areas to focus on in looking at a house to buy or protecting a home you already own.

Flood Maps and Insurance

Take a careful look at flood maps to see if the house is in a designated flood zone.  Then talk to your property insurer to see what coverage, if any, is available.  Generally, in Canada, damage caused by overland flooding is not covered by insurance.  This doesn’t mean you can’t buy the house. It’s simply a matter of understanding your risk so you can weigh all factors.

Gutters and Downspouts

Make sure they are present, properly installed and in good working order.  Many gutter and drainage systems require periodic maintenance to remove leaves, debris, etc.  While it may seem obvious, the downspouts need to be directed away from the foundation and extend at least six feet away from the house.

Grading

The grading of the soil surrounding the house needs to be raked so that the water runs away from the structure on a gentle slope.  Over time, both the structure and the soil will settle and the grade will need a periodic reevaluation and buildup, as necessary.

Sump Pumps

The basement sump pump and drainage system must be in good working order.  A backup battery or generator to run the pump in the event of a power failure is highly desirable.

Backwater Valves

A properly installed backwater valve can prevent major damage due to a backup from the home’s main sewer line.

In a 2012 publication, the Insurance Bureau of Canada estimated that Canadian insurers pay over $1.3 billion annually in claims relating to water damage.  Unfortunately, that number is now rising. Take a minute to review the available flood plain data and history of the property and understand the limitations and exclusions in insurance coverage.  Most importantly, stay informed!

Do you need to move to celebrate the changes that are happening in your life? Let me serve you in helping you make the move to the place or home that reflects where you are in life’s journey! I will listen to your needs and use my knowledge and expertise to make this a smooth transition to the right place for you to call home in Calgary. Contact me at 403-708-5873, ajames16@gmail.com, or www.allisonjames.com and let’s get on with your journey!

About Allison James

Allison James has been a realtor® since 1999 with Century 21 Bamber Realty Ltd. in the changing Calgary real estate market. A Century 21 Centurion Award 2007 recipient and a member of CREA and AREA, she specializes in residential real estate and has her designations as a Seniors Real Estate Specialist and a Certified Condominium Specialist. These designations testify that she has the expertise and resources to help her clients make a smooth transition to the next step in their life journey. She enjoys helping her clients as they move through many of the same stages of life that she, too, has experienced. The fact that the majority of her business comes from past clients and/or referrals from satisfied clients speaks volumes about her dedication to the high quality of service that she offers her clients to meet their Calgary and surrounding area real estate needs. She is a mother of four who are all on their own now, and a grandmother of eight. Besides helping people buy or sell real estate, she loves spending time with her family, being active outdoors, traveling and meeting new people, photography, playing the drums, reading, scuba diving, listening to music, learning new things, and nurturing her spiritual growth.

The Calgary real estate market continues to grow as 2014 gets underway, and it shows no signs of letting up! Price growth since 2005 has been more than 200% in some neighborhoods, such as Altadore. New and existing homes are selling quickly, and there are plenty of good reasons to celebrate the vibrant city.

Lots of jobs

For one thing, there’s plenty of employment. Genworth Canada’s report on the Conference Board of Canada’s Autumn Metropolitan Housing Outlook predicts that Calgary’s unemployment rates will drop slightly to around 4.6% in 2014, a trend they anticipate will continue for the next few years. Meanwhile, job growth will add nearly 3% to the region’s employment opportunities.

Exciting culture

But of course, employment is just one of the things that make an area attractive. We all want to have lifestyles that allow us to enjoy life to its fullest, and this makes Calgary even more attractive. The city offers many opportunities to celebrate food and fun, which makes it a top choice for residents.

Locals are already familiar with the popular Calgary Stampede that draws thousands every summer. This year, Shania Twain will be the star performer amid rodeo performances, talented youth shows, a petting zoo for kids, exciting carnival rides, and a vibrant midway. This is one of the most popular cultural events every summer throughout the province.

Our location near the Rocky Mountains provides appealing opportunities both for people who want a healthy lifestyle and those who enjoy outdoor activities like hunting, skiing, golf, and fishing. Walking, bicycling, and exercising at local recreation centers are readily available to everyone.

Dining, shopping, and art round out the Calgary experience and have been garnering international attention. Both the New York Times and The Guardian have noted that our city has transformed into a cultural hub worth experiencing in 2014, listing us in their respective annual “Where to Go in 2014” guides.

All these things are what make our city a wonderful place to live in, and the Calgary real estate market has been reflecting this desirability for nearly a decade, with no signs of letting up anytime soon.

Do you need to move to celebrate the changes that are happening in your life? Let me serve you in helping you make the move to the place or home that reflects where you are in life’s journey! I will listen to your needs and use my knowledge and expertise to make this a smooth transition to the right place for you to call home in Calgary. Contact me at 403-708-5873, ajames16@gmail.com, or www.allisonjames.com and let’s get on with your journey!

About Allison James

Allison James has been a realtor® since 1999 with Century 21 Bamber Realty Ltd. in the changing Calgary real estate market. A Century 21 Centurion Award 2007 recipient and a member of CREA and AREA, she specializes in residential real estate and has her designations as a Seniors Real Estate Specialist and a Certified Condominium Specialist. These designations testify that she has the expertise and resources to help her clients make a smooth transition to the next step in their life journey. She enjoys helping her clients as they move through many of the same stages of life that she, too, has experienced. The fact that the majority of her business comes from past clients and/or referrals from satisfied clients speaks volumes about her dedication to the high quality of service that she offers her clients to meet their Calgary and surrounding area real estate needs. She is a mother of four who are all on their own now, and a grandmother of eight. Besides helping people buy or sell real estate, she loves spending time with her family, being active outdoors, traveling and meeting new people, photography, playing the drums, reading, scuba diving, listening to music, learning new things, and nurturing her spiritual growth.

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia.org & Purpletwinkie

It will soon be Valentine’s Day, and I want to send all of you all the love in the world! These are exciting days for Calgary real estate. Calgary is a place full of culture, beautiful scenery, and exciting nightlife. I have been a Calgary real estate agent for 15 years because I fell in love with the area many years ago.

If you are considering buying a home in the Calgary area, I’d love for you to know about some of my favorite restaurants in the area that will surely be filled with couples on Valentine’s Day.

I prefer to support local restaurants as I find the food is usually exceptional and the service excellent versus the major chains, and am happy to recommend the following:

The Himalayan

The Himalayan over on 17th Avenue SW has excellent Nepalese food and is a favorite of the locals in the area. If you enjoy Indian or Asian dishes, check out the Himalayan on your next visit to the area.

Spiros

If you are not a fan of Nepalese food, you can head over to Spiros, an authentic Greek restaurant where you can order pulled lamb pizza, among many other traditional dishes. Not interested in trying pulled lamb? Spiros has plenty of basic dishes for the less adventurous eater.

La Chaumiere Restaurant

Ranked #46 of 2,824 restaurants in Calgary, La Chaumiere is a great place for fine French cuisine.

If you are looking into Calgary real estate, I can give you the inside scoop on this fun neighborhood full of diverse places to eat and interesting nightlife. I enjoy this area because there is always something to do here, places to see and nature to enjoy. I know that if you come and check out Calgary real estate, you will fall in love with it just like I did 15 years ago.

Do you need to move to celebrate the changes that are happening in your life? Let me serve you in helping you make the move to the place or home that reflects where you are in life’s journey! I will listen to your needs and use my knowledge and expertise to make this a smooth transition to the right place for you to call home in Calgary. Contact me at 403-708-5873, ajames16@gmail.com , or www.allisonjames.com and let’s get on with your journey!

About Allison James

Allison James has been a realtor® since 1999 with Century 21 Bamber Realty Ltd. in the changing Calgary real estate market. A Century 21 Centurion Award 2007 recipient and a member of CREA and AREA, she specializes in residential real estate and has her designations as a Seniors Real Estate Specialist and a Certified Condominium Specialist. These designations testify that she has the expertise and resources to help her clients make a smooth transition to the next step in their life journey. She enjoys helping her clients as they move through many of the same stages of life that she, too, has experienced. The fact that the majority of her business comes from past clients and/or referrals from satisfied clients speaks volumes about her dedication to the high quality of service that she offers her clients to meet their Calgary and surrounding area real estate needs. She is a mother of four who are all on their own now, and a grandmother of eight. Besides helping people buy or sell real estate, she loves spending time with her family, being active outdoors, traveling and meeting new people, photography, playing the drums, reading, scuba diving, listening to music, learning new things, and nurturing her spiritual growth.

Image Courtesy of Abdallah

So Calgary real estate is red-hot (Best Place to Live in Canada and fifth in the world!); but it wasn’t always this hot. It used to be that when people had to move to Calgary, they’d feel dejected, thinking it was too quiet, too laid-back. Today, there’s no place they’d rather be.

Cowtown

Calgary’s modern history (its full history goes back 11,000 years to Canada’s aboriginal peoples) actually didn’t start out that quietly. It came with the railway trains in 1883 which soon made Calgary an important commercial and agricultural center, and a transportation and distribution hub. It became a town a year later and a city after a decade.

First the chugs of the trains, then the moos of the cows. The offer of free homestead land in the city drew hordes of migrants the world over. Ranching became big in Calgary, until it emerged as the center of Canada’s cattle marketing and meatpacking industries, from which it got its nickname, Cowtown. In 1912, the Calgary Stampede was born as a small agricultural roadshow and rodeo to showcase Calgary’s local products and cowboy culture, and it has since been held yearly with a big local and global following.

Boomtown

But the cows’ moos were all but drowned out by the oil boom in Calgary after the discovery of big oil reserves there in 1947 and the rise in oil prices with the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s. People the world over flocked to the city, driving its population up by 70% in 18 years and then by 50% in the next 18 years. Suddenly, high-rise buildings and skyscrapers lined the horizon and filled the downtown streets, and the city even became the first Canadian city to host the Winter Olympic Games, in 1988. But the drop in oil prices in the 1980s dragged Calgary’s economy along. Yet like a true cowboy, it rose from its fall a decade later by diversifying its economy from mainly oil and agriculture to include manufacturing, transportation, services, IT and e-commerce, and tourism, this last due to Calgary’s natural beauty and diversity from being lodged between the Canadian Rockies and the Canadian Prairies, and with two rivers running through it. Today, Calgary is a highly urbanized cosmopolitan town with an average household income that’s one of the highest in Canada and an unemployment rate that’s almost half the national average, but it has kept its cowboy’s down-to-earth and can-do spirit burning bright, which is what lifted it so quickly from the record flood in June last year.

I’ve proudly been calling Calgary my home since March, 1999 and have been a Calgary Realtor® for 14 years. I still get a high each time I tell people the story of Calgary’s rise from a quiet town to boomtown. Does anyone have other great stories to tell about Calgary? Let’s hear them!

Do you need to move to celebrate the changes that are happening in your life? Let me serve you in helping you make the move to the place or home that reflects where you are in life’s journey! I will listen to your needs and use my knowledge and expertise to make this a smooth transition to the right place for you to call home in Calgary. Contact me at 403-708-5873, ajames16@gmail.com , or www.allisonjames.com and let’s get on with your journey!

About Allison James

Allison James has been a realtor® since 1999 with Century 21 Bamber Realty Ltd. in the changing Calgary real estate market. A Century 21 Centurion Award 2007 recipient and a member of CREA and AREA, she specializes in residential real estate and has her designations as a Seniors Real Estate Specialist and a Certified Condominium Specialist. These designations testify that she has the expertise and resources to help her clients make a smooth transition to the next step in their life journey. She enjoys helping her clients as they move through many of the same stages of life that she, too, has experienced. The fact that the majority of her business comes from past clients and/or referrals from satisfied clients speaks volumes about her dedication to the high quality of service that she offers her clients to meet their Calgary and surrounding area real estate needs. She is a mother of four who are all on their own now, and a grandmother of eight. Besides helping people buy or sell real estate, she loves spending time with her family, being active outdoors, traveling and meeting new people, photography, playing the drums, reading, scuba diving, listening to music, learning new things, and nurturing her spiritual growth.

Image Courtesy of Ashurii from DeviantArt.com

The holidays are over and it’s back to business as usual for most of us, but I’m sure there’s some holiday cheer left to go around. Let me add to that: it’s cold outside, but the Calgary real estate market is seen to shine bright due to projections of sustained economic growth. The city of Calgary capped a year that saw an 11 per cent growth in sales volume for the entire 12 months of 2013. City residential sales sold units for 2013 totaled 23,489. Prices for the year were up by 8.6 per cent over 2012. Housing demand is high and inventory tight, but we expect home listings to take off again this month to help balance out the market.

I invite you to keep reading my blog posts for key information and updates on Calgary, apart from useful buyer or seller tips. Let’s connect on social media. I love meeting new friends online, keeping in touch, sharing my thoughts and feelings and reading about those of others, and helping out in whatever way I can. My online presence makes it easy for me to stay close to my clients through the many changes in their lives, and makes it easy for them to refer me to their family and friends as I meet and even exceed their expectations. Again, though, balance with the good old personal touch is the key.

I’m looking forward to better weather myself after the cold winter. I don’t ski, but I plan on getting out and going hiking as weather permits. One of the reasons why I love living here in Calgary is that we’re so close to the mountains. The feeling I get when I’m up in the mountains energizes and refreshes me.

Another reason is the culture scene. I’m looking forward to going to some of my favorite outdoor music venues in the summer months, and participating in the Circles of Rhythm drum circle that happens weekly all year — sometimes during the summer, taking place outdoors. Music helps soothe me, sharpen my focus, and expand my energy, so I eagerly await Calgary’s summer musical events.

There’s a lot more happening in this highly rated city that would appeal to the most active and discriminating home buyers. All in all, a good life is waiting in 2014 for anyone who’s seriously considering Calgary real estate for their home.

Do you need to move to celebrate the changes that are happening in your life? Let me serve you in helping you make the move to the place or home that reflects where you are in life’s journey! I will listen to your needs and use my knowledge and expertise to make this a smooth transition to the right place for you to call home in Calgary. Contact me at 403-708-5873, ajames16@gmail.com , or www.allisonjames.com and let’s get on with your journey!

About Allison James

Allison James has been a realtor® since 1999 with Century 21 Bamber Realty Ltd. in the changing Calgary real estate market. A Century 21 Centurion Award 2007 recipient and a member of CREA and AREA, she specializes in residential real estate and has her designations as a Seniors Real Estate Specialist and a Certified Condominium Specialist. These designations testify that she has the expertise and resources to help her clients make a smooth transition to the next step in their life journey. She enjoys helping her clients as they move through many of the same stages of life that she, too, has experienced. The fact that the majority of her business comes from past clients and/or referrals from satisfied clients speaks volumes about her dedication to the high quality of service that she offers her clients to meet their Calgary and surrounding area real estate needs. She is a mother of four who are all on their own now, and a grandmother of eight. Besides helping people buy or sell real estate, she loves spending time with her family, being active outdoors, traveling and meeting new people, photography, playing the drums, reading, scuba diving, listening to music, learning new things, and nurturing her spiritual growth.