Second career was a natural transition for 2001 CREB® president Marlene Swinton

After years of managing her late husband's architecture practice, Marlene Swinton was looking for a change.

"I wanted to do something different and my cousin said, 'why not real estate? You know buildings.' I thought it might be really interesting, so I took a course and I loved it," said Swinton, who went on to fulfill a 27-year-long career in the industry that included a term as CREB®'s president in 2001.

Proposed bylaw looks to add stricter regulations

Airdrie's decision to follow suit with other municipalities in the province and regulate controversial ride-sharing services is redundant, costly and unnecessary, said opponents to the proposed amended taxi bylaw.

Earlier this month, the City of Airdrie unveiled the amendment that would require app-based ride-sharing companies like Uber to follow similar regulations as traditional taxi companies.

The change would require all vehicles to undergo 134-point inspections, more involved licensing upgrades requiring Class 1, 2 or 4, background/criminal records checks and hefty commercial insurance rates.

Net-zero technology promises to revolutionize homebuilding

As provincial and federal building regulations become more focused on sustainable development, BONE Structure founder and CEO Marc Bovet has seized the momentum and is helping to reshape the way we think about homebuilding.

After a personal homebuilding project went sour 10 years ago, Bovet, fuelled by frustration, took it upon himself to innovate a better way to build.

He talked to people, researched and looked at the ideology behind Lego, eventually coming to the "aha moment" that formed the premise behind BONE Structure.

City revisiting inner-city development

Almost 15 years ago, Naz Virani made the shift from chef to homebuilder and developer. Since then, he has been one of a handful of builders at the fore of Calgary's gentrification.

In the early 2000s, Virani founded Sarina Homes, and began what he describes as a journey to transform the inner-city, one infill home at a time.

"A lot has changed since we started the business," he recalled. "We started out building single-family homes, then moved into semi-detached and then fourplex designs."

Don't make the mistake; plant your bulbs now

It's simple garden envy, but there is a cure.

And it doesn't matter if your patch is just a tiny spot beside a townhome or a broad sweeping patch in a big country acreage.

If you are in a new garden and don't add bulbs now, you will regret it next spring. There is no shortcut to the blooming beauty we welcome with spring bulbs.

Here are some further tips:

Advice from the experts

Buying a home will be the biggest purchasing decision most of us will face in our lifetimes. Adding to the weight of that decision is going through it the first time.

"Buying a home can bring together both excitement and stress, especially for a first-time homebuyer," said RBC Financial regional vice-president Joshua Johner.

"First-time homebuyers often need extra advice throughout the process. It's difficult to know exactly what to expect, but most issues can be resolved by doing a little homework at the outset."

Annual Calgary Home + Design Show comes to town at the perfect time

Alberta's home renovations sector is booming.

The Calgary Home + Design Show is back for its 34th year.

Seems like a match made in heaven.

Brought about by ongoing economic uncertainty, more Albertans are looking for ways to upgrade their space rather than their place. According to Statistics Canada, investment on residential renovation in the province has increased by 3.8 per cent over the first six months of 2015 to $3.1 billion.

Speech-recognition tech offers in-home potential. But beware



As speech-recognition technology becomes increasingly reliable, it has the potential to become the interface of choice for just about every device we use.

On the surface, it makes sense. After all, people speak at an average of 150 words per minute, while most of us can barely type 40 on a good day.

But as convenient and novel as being able to talk to your computer, thermostat, lights and appliances might be, it comes with a few cautions.

Housing experts urge buyers to consider all the options before building, buying 

For Jennifer Weisgerber and Ian Muller, both 25, buying – and building – their first home has been the most important decision of their lives.

Muller, who installs fire sprinklers, and Weisgerber, who works for a company that sells parts for road construction, rented a townhome in Okotoks for five years. Last January, they signed with Morrison Homes to build a 1,700-square-foot three-bedroom home in the southeast Calgary community of Auburn Bay.

Housing market offers some surprises, different perceptions, say local experts

A quick look at today's real estate market might not exactly fill first-time homebuyers with optimistic anticipation. Yet dig deeper and there's plenty of reason to get excited, say housing experts.

Even though home sales are down by double-digit percentages in terms of units sold and money spent compared to a year ago, the average selling price is up slightly — about two per cent, to $474,605 in August, according to CREB®.