Marjorie and Doug's Blog

One would think that with digital cameras it would not be too difficult to get new photos posted that don't have snow on them.  Particularily with the primary photo, as it is the first photo they see.  When buyer's see a home with snow on it they know that it has been on the market for a while.  They will assume that there is something wrong with it.  With so many homes on the market it is easy to just go to the next photo that has green grass and shows the landscaping. 

Your clients will appreciate the effort if you take the time to go out and take new photos.  Perhaps they will even take them for you and email them to you so you can uplaod them to mls.

With the enhancements to MLXChange we can now have 20 photos of our listings for clients to view.  Have you taken the time to add extra shots so that your listing has an extra shot at getting sold?  Good photos are essential to getting a home sold. 

Before you do a price reduction, take a look at your photos and see if they really represent the house well.  Buyers love virtual tours and it does not cost much more to have the home professionally photographed at the same time.  Take a look at this tour done for us yesterday by Inner Circle. http://innercircleimaging.com/1mckay/707/east_lakeview_place.html

The tour also includes a slide show of the home. 

April so far has been a great month for sales in Chestermere Lake Alberta.  Not to wait for the end of the month, if we look at sales in the past 30 days there have been 23 homes that have sold.  There are another 11 sales that are pending.

At this time there are still 148 home to choose from, so if you have been waiting the selection is still good. 

Visit our website to view homes for sale www.chestermererealestate.com

You've sold your home, you can't wait for it to close before you make arrangements to buy another.  Unforeseen situations may occur, causing the buyers to be unable to close on the purchase of their home, leaving the sellers in a difficult situation.   For example:

• financing withdrawal
• job loss
• separation
• fire
• a surveying problem
• death of the purchaser

When these things happen the closing  may  be delayed or even cancel the closing of  the sale. With the RE/MAX Tranquilli-T program, if such a situation should occur anytime after all the conditions of the offer to purchase are met, the additional charges incurred over and above $300 may be covered by the program for a period of 180 days, up to a maximum of $25,000.

CLIENTS COVERED BY TRANQUILLI-T

• clients are reimbursed for additional expenses incurred due to such unforeseen circumstances.

CLIENTS NOT COVERED BY TRANQUILLI-T

• Clients must pay the additional expenses incurred due to the unforeseen circumstances.

 Terry and Janice's story

 Terry and Janice, a young couple, are in the process of selling their starter condo. They have found the home of their dreams, and have an offer on this home subject to their home selling.

Shortly thereafter, their RE/MAX agent obtains a purchase offer, for their present home, from Mr. and Mrs. Somerville. With-in two weeks all conditions are removed, and Marty and Joyce have removed condition on their new home and they are packing and preparing to move into their new home. 

However, a few days before the final documents are signed, Mr. Sommerville looses his job, and they no longer qualify for the mortgage. They phone their real estate agent to let him know.

The RE/MAX agent contacts his clients,  Terry and Janice, to tell them the bad news. They are devastated and very worried. They need the money to finalize the purchase of their dream home and they certainly can't afford to pay two mortgages at the same time.

With the help of their RE/MAX agent, Terry and Janice decide to put their home back on the market. Thanks to the fact that their agent had enrolled in the Tranquilli-T program, they qualify for coverage of a number of the expenses caused by the withdrawal, up to a maximum of $25,000* or 180 days. Terry and Janice need not worry about additional expenses either, such as electricity, gas, insurance, movers, storage, legal, banking and interest charges.

We are very pleased to be able to participate in this program which is only available to RE/MAX agents. We are always interested in any service that will make the real estate experience less stressful for our clients. Not every RE/MAX agent can offer this program, their entire office has to agree to enroll in the program, which is the situation with RE/MAX Lakeside in Chestermere.

Chestermere Lakefront Owners Can Purchase Land Adjoining Their Lots.

In Chestermere Lake there has been an ongoing dispute regarding the ownership of the land between the lakefront owner's lot and the waters edge.  When the land was sold the buyers understood they were getting the land to the lakefront, however when the land was surveyed, it was not surveyed to the waters edge.  The WID came back to the lakefront owners and offered to sell them the land under various conditions and prices.  Sometimes the WID threatened lakefront owners that they would knock down boathouses and docks if the owners did not purchase the land.  It has been most unpleasant and most unsettling to existing and potential lakefront owners.    Now the Town of Chestermere has stepped in and offered to buy the lands adjoining these properties and sell them back to the residents.  This is our response to the offer made by the town to the Lakefront  Owners.

 Anytime there is uncertainty with a property, the market will be impacted in a negative way.  For years this unresolved issue with the W.I.D. has kept land values lower than they should have been.  It has always astounded us that property in Sylvan Lake and Invermere should be worth more than properties at Chestermere Lake.  Should the issue be resolved it should positively impact the salability of lakefront properties.  In general we have been able to explain the situation to buyers, and for the most part, they have proceeded with the purchase of the property, understanding that they do not own the property right to the water's edge.  In fact when this agreement goes through, Chestermere will be one of the few places where you will own waterfront right to the shore.  

If you missed the December 18th meeting a copy of the power point presentation can be viewed at http://www.chestermere.ca/living_in_chestermere/hot_topics_in_town/chestermere_lakefront_owners)

 One thing that concerns us regarding the draft purchase agreement with the town  is that the town is requiring residents to apply for title consolidation. (This document can be downloaded from http://www.chestermere.ca/living_in_chestermere/hot_topics_in_town/chestermere_lakefront_owners).  There is no guarantee that the town that the town will grant the consolidation.  So you are unsure of what exactly you are paying for.  Can you use the land to increase your building envelope or not?  

Recently we had a purchaser that wanted to buy a property in the 800 block of the west side.  Now this particular strip of lakefront homes had a reserve that belonged to the town.  The homeowners bought the land from the town.  It was never consolidated into their titles.   The buyer needed more building envelope and went to the town to see what could be done.  The town would not let them use both pieces of land and he could not build the home that he wanted to.  He did not proceed with the sale. This happened in late 2008.

At the December 18^th Lakefront Owners Association Meeting, residents were assured that the titles would be consolidated.  This document does not guarantee that.   

We are also concerned that this document does not address the issue of boathouses.  Many residences on the lake have boathouses, they are an asset to the property.  No where is that mentioned.  After signing the agreement and paying your money, will you be allowed to continue to enjoy your boathouse which would be located on the land that you are purchasing? Or would you be required to tear it down? This should be made clear.

 For these reasons we do not like the draft purchase agreement.  If consolidation is guaranteed, we believe that the purchase of the land adjoining lakefront properties will be good for all lakefront owners.   If the agreement is signed the way it is you really do not know what you are buying, nor do you know what your rights are.

 We believe that the negotiated price is good; providing you can consolidate your titles and that you as owner can use the land as any homeowner would expect to use their entire lot.   If your titles cannot be consolidated and you do not have the full rights of ownership, the price is probably not a good deal.  Again we don't know because that has not been spelt out for us.   

 Anytime you are purchasing property, you must read and understand the document and any promises from the vendor must be on the document.  It does not matter what they say, what is in the written document is what matters.

 In our opinion there is still work to be done by the Lakefront Owners Association in making sure that the Lakefront Owners are getting the rights and privileges that should go with owning the property that they are being approached to purchase.  Otherwise we may be trading one problem for another, with no benefit and at a substantial cost to each property owner.

 Marjorie and Doug McKay

Realtors and Lakefront Residents.

RE/MAX Lakeside.

Composed with the care and skill of a master European craftsman this home was custom built for his daughter. A labor of love built this stunning 2,690 s.f. 2 Storey. Custom crafted cabinets & millwork, gleaming hardwood floors, granite counters, tile floors, central air, in-floor heat in the basement and garage. The residence level has a bonus entertainment room, 3 bedrooms with a 5 piece master bath. The main floor has graceful arched doorways with 2 storey vault in entrance and great room and a sweeping open staircase with duel landings, main floor den, a formal dining room with a Butler's pantry and nook for china cabinet, a gourmet kitchen, an eating nook a generous laundry/mud room and a 2 piece bath. The full walkout has bar with full appliances for entertaining out of the walkout. There are 2 bedrooms & a 4 piece bath on this level. The hot tub is located on the aggregate concrete patio underneath the 24 x 13' deck. All of this on a 57' x 109' lot backing onto a pond. Offered at $989,000.