You are ready to look at homes so you call an agent with a list of homes that you would like to see!  But wait a minute, are you really prepared to enter the market and compete for the perfect home. 

The first thing we should do is to make sure you are ready for the market.  

Do you have to sell your home before you can buy a home?  If so you need to know what your home will sell for and we should do an evaluation for you.  

Will you need a mortgage on the new home?  If so we should set up a meeting with a mortgage broker and he can make sure all of your paperwork is in order.  Financial institutions may want to see your tax returns for the past three years, they may want a letter of verification from your employer, they will want to see where you are getting the down payment from.  Since November the financial institutions have tightened up and credit is harder to get.  A good mortgage broker will package your information in a manner that makes it more likely that you will get the mortgage you want.  He or she will also get you a better rate by putting your application out to more than one institution for them to compete for your business. 

It takes longer with self-employed people to verify their income.  All financial institutions are seriously looking at everyone to make sure that they are credit worthy.  Even if your bank knows you, they may need to send your application to CMHC and they will require written financial statements from your accountant.  We have excellent mortgage brokers that we work with regularly.  Please ask for a phone number if you need it.  

The reasons for doing these steps first are many:

 1) If you find a great house, chances are that someone else will think it is great too.  If they have done their homework, and you haven't they will be able to prove with a letter from a financial institution that they are pre-qualified.  If they do not need to sell their home to buy another they will likely be successful in getting the home you want.  We do not wish this on anyone, so we want to have everything in order for you.  

 2)  Your home may not be worth as much as you think!  Market values are down and you need an up-to-date evaluation so that you know how much equity you are looking at.  

 3)  It will save you time and frustration as you won't look at homes you cannot buy.

 4)  Ideally your home should be sold before you look.  If not it should be market ready.  If we make an offer on a home subject to your home selling your home will need to be on the market in 24 hours.  

To do an evaluation we need to walk thru your home, and get the size and finishes.  We will then do a written evaluation comparing your home to others that have sold.  It will take you about 15 minutes, and then you will know what you have to work with.  This should be our next step.  At this time we can make recommendations to get your home market ready.  We do this for you without any obligation or commitment on your part. 

Once we have all of these things in order you are ready to begin your search for the perfect new home for your family!

RE/MAX is Chestermere's Top Real Estate company.  The stats are out and it looks like RE/MAX is in the lead.  In fact RE/MAX realtors sell about 23.6% of the market.  In second place MaxWell had 17% of the market.  

Doug and I sold about 10% of the market and we moved from owning our own MaxWell Franchise to RE/MAX Lakeside in Chestermere in August last year.  (We wanted to spend more time selling and less time doing administration.)  So it will be interesting to see how the figures will change in 2009.  Likely RE/MAX will increase it's market share in Chestermere to be closer to the 34.7% share that they have in Calgary.

I just got an angry email from a supplier threatening legal action if he does not receive payment immediately on an invoice that he emailed. 

We had a dispute over the invoice as the prices charged were much higher than we had previously agreed.  We had received an email saying they were going to revise the invoice but had not received a new invoice. We only pay on invoice, the tax department prefers it that way.

Today I get an e-mail threatening legal action because he sent out an email with the revised invoice.  I have not received this revised invoice and as a client that has always paid their bills on time if they were for the agreed amount, I resent the letter threatening legal action.

Email can be filtered out because it does not have a subject line, it can be not accepted if the attachment is too large, perhaps he thinks he attached it to another email and did not.  Maybe you forgot a . maybe you sent it to an old email address.  Who can be sure. 

Just because you send an email does not mean it was received.   

The thing is, if you have a good client, and you invoice them incorrectly it is up to you to correct the problem and send them a new invoice.   You might want to call and make sure that they actually got the invoice before sending out a threatening and insulting letter.  

Once you send a threatening letter you cannot expect the relationship to be the same.  Something to consider if you are in a competitive business. 

For the record I do not like emailed invoices, as very often they are filtered out and sent to the junk pile, and you cannot be sure that they are even read.  Whereas if you spend the money to print an invoice, put it in an envelope and mail it, the chances are that it will get where it is going even if you forget to address it perfectly.

The other option would be to go to an email confirmation service like Fabusend where you can check to see if your email has been read.  Through settlement room you can send e-mails that are registered and you can know if the attachments have been read or not.. Either of these options would be better and cost less in the long run  than alienating clients.

The Developer, Isle of Man has just released 10 building lots onto mls.  These lots have architectural controls but you can choose your lot and then choose your builder, or sub-contract yourself.  These lots are about 50 feet wide x 108 feet, depending on the lot you choose. See the lots highlighted in green.

You can also choose your realtor on these lots.  Listed by CIR Realty, these lots are on MLS so you can choose the realtor that you are comfortable with to help you. 

We have been helping people buy and sell homes in Chestermere for 16 years and we are in the top 5% of agents in Calgary and area.  We live right to the West of these lots.  We can work with you as your buyer's agent to help you secure the terms and conditions that you need to make these lots the spot for your new home. 

Chestermere Lake is 5 miles from the Calgary City limit.  It is 20 minutes from the airport and about 25 minutes to downtown Calgary.  It is a town of 12,000 and we have great access to schools, shopping and recreation.  The town is centred around a 750 acre lake that you can waterski, sail, fish and enjoy.  The town has a very active recreation centre, library, and many groups and clubs you can join.  Visit our website for more information on Chestermere Real Estate and the Chestermere Lifestyle.  www.chestermererealestate.com

RE/MAX supports Yard Sale For The Cure on May 30.  You can clean up your clutter and support the fight against cancer at the same time.  When you participate in Yard Sale For The Cure you decide the percentage of your sales that you want to contribute.  You decide whether you want your dollars to go to research, treatment, prevention or survivorship in your community.  You can also make a donation to your local treatment centre should you choose to do so.  100% of all donations are directed to the recipient charities. Online donations get an automatic charitable receipt through email.

How do you get started.  Visit www.yardsaleforthecure.com and register  for $20 you will receive a host kit which will have a Garage Sale for the Cure sign, a baseball cap with the yard sale for the cure logo, balloons, promotion signs and an information package.  (you can register up to May 27th and still receive your kit on time.)

  If You Can't Host A Yard Sale You Can Shop on May 30^th, 2009.

We can't all have yard sales; someone has to come out and shop!  Please encourage your friends, family & neighbours to shop at Yard Sale for the Cure sales across the country.

Visit this link on Google Earth to find a garage sale near you.  Map it. Shop it.

So the Calgary Real Estate Board has changed the rules.  Article 19 is out and agents are going to have to be more careful than ever who they give their time to. 

Now it does not matter how many time an agent shows a buyer a home.  If the buyer decides to write with someone else the agent that writes the offer will get all of the commission.  Before the agent that introduced the home was entitled to some commission, if they had not abandoned the client. I can understand that the old way caused problems in that it was hard to prove, and there were always disputes. It did make our profession look bad always squabbling about commission.

Will this force us all to have Buyers Agency Contracts signed?  They tried that before, and they could not get the Realtors behind it. Perhaps this rule will change that. 

A Buyer's Agency contract is in everyone's best interest.  It spells out the responsibilities and rights of both the agent and the buyer, just like the listing contract does. 

What will happen when buyer's want the listing agent to drop everything and show them their listing?  How will they take it when they are told that if they want to view properties they will have to hire their own agent? 

It works in other locations, I am sure it will work here.  We will just have to get used to not giving away our time.  Buyers will have to take the time to choose an agent, get qualified, determine their needs and then start looking at property with their own agent.  Truly a much more professional approach.

In 17 years this is the latest that the ice has been completely off of the Lake.  Last year it was off May 2, so May 4th is not that much later.  The earliest the ice has been off was April 11th.  The lake level will be at full operating level by the weekend.  So all the waterskiiers, sailors can get ready to enjoy Chestermere.

You have been waiting for the right time to buy. If your job is secure and your credit is good, now would be the time. Real estate prices are defined by the law of supply and demand. While prices have been dropping that could begin to change as inventory levels have been reducing and sales have been increasing, leading us to believe that the Calgary and area market is about to stabilize. One of the most important considerations as to whether now is a good time or not is the availability of all time low interest rates. Take a look at the following table.

As you can see you have a lot more buying power just through the lowering of the interest rate.

Now if you take into account the amount that the property you want to buy has dropped, you really have a great opportunity to buy that home that even one year ago, you could not hope to afford.

Sounds great, what is your first step. Call us for a buyer's interview, we will arrange to have you pre-qualified so you know exactly what you can afford and what the payments will be.

We specialize in Buyer's Agency, today you have an option. You can retain your own real estate professional to represent your interests when it come to the purchase of your home. We can represent you whether you are buying from a builder, any real estate company, or a for sale by owner. You do not have to deal with the seller's agent, nor should you as they work for the seller, (unless all parties agree to a situation where the agent works for both parties.) It Is A Great Time to Buy A Home Now!

As your Buyer's Agent we have your needs and your best interests at heart. To learn more about the benefits of Buyer's Agency and how we can help you secure the home of your dreams please call us for a free consultation. Remember it does not cost you any thing to have your own representation, but it may save you thousands.