Behind-the-scene details of how communities in Calgary come to life

For casual observers, it might appear that new neighbourhoods just sprout from the ground overnight.

In fact, those first show homes only come after years of planning and negotiation.

"When people see the graders out there, people think that's the start of a community, but it starts long before," said Brookfield Residential senior manager of strategic initiatives Grace Lui.

In the case of Brookfield's up-and-coming Livingston development in north Calgary, for example, grading might have started this year, but land acquisition took place 15 years ago. The new community, which will be comprised of 10,000 homes on 514 hectares of land just north of Stoney Trail, will welcome its first show homes in 2017.

Homeowners to benefit from redevelopment, says company behind initiative

An ambitious multi-year plan to breathe new life into Deerfoot Mall in north Calgary stands to benefit nearby homeowners in a big way, says the company behind the massive redevelopment.

In early 2016, Vancouver-based Shape Properties announced it would be transforming the decades-old property at Deerfoot Trail and 64th Avenue N.E. from a traditional closed mall into a state-of-the-art open shopping centre dubbed Deerfoot City, complete with everything from a restaurant campus to style district.

"For local property owners, Deerfoot City is nothing but a good story," said Shape Properties executive vice-president Darren Kwiatkowski, whose company purchased the site from Ivanhoe Cambridge in 2011 for a reported $78 million.

Home + Garden Show returns to Stampede grounds Feb. 25-28

Change your world, one cabbage at a time: That's how Calgary gardening guru Donna Balzer wants to inspire folks at this year's Calgary Home + Garden Show, which runs Feb. 25 to 28.

"I'll help people understand why it's so important for us to take control of our own food," said Balzer, a CREB®Now regular columnist who will be among dozens of featured presenters at the four-day event, which is expected to attract more than 60,000 visitors this year.

"I want people to realize they can have an impact and help them discover how they can do it."

Renters with kids face uphill battle

After her marriage broke down in 2013, Kelly Farley needed to find a home to rent for her and her two teen daughters. She wanted to stay close to the northwest Calgary neighbourhood where the girls had grown up and to keep them in the same schools.

Eventually she found the main floor of a house; another tenant lived in the basement. It wasn't the best situation, but things got worse before they were better.

The basement tenant moved out and the landlord decided to sell the house. Then, just weeks after Farley moved out, the landlord relisted the main-floor unit — for more money than Farley had been paying, and more than she could afford.

"It was a grim search and I became desperate," said Farley of her house-hunting search. "When you have kids and you're going through a family breakdown, as a renter, all you want to know is that you have a safe, stable place to land."

Amenities rank high for lake community residents

A cottage lifestyle within Calgary: that's how local urban expert Richard White described Calgary's lakeside communities.

"I know several people who love the idea of cottage life in the city. They'll invest more in a house, because they don't need to buy a house and a cottage," said White.

Buyers are not only focused on the inside of their homes, but also on the outside, added Scott Hamilton, marketing and communications director for Hopewell Residential, the developer behind Mahogany in the city's southeast.

"People are looking for recreational amenities that are convenient...Calgary is not lake country traditionally, so to have a lake is really attractive," he said.

Calgary inventory levels ease

Despite the 18 per cent year-over-year decline in June home sales, for a total of 2,183 units, transaction levels remain only five per cent below the 10 year average for June and three per cent above levels over the past five years.

"We've seen less concern from consumers lately," said CREB® president Corinne Lyall. "One of the main reasons is that we haven't seen the worst case scenarios play out in the energy and housing sectors.

"Consumers who were waiting for wide-spread price declines have been surprised to see that it just hasn't happened yet, and so they've decided to take advantage of the improved selection and lower lending rates.