RECA recognized for education, communication

The Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) was recently recognized for its educational and communications efforts with two awards from the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO).

RECA, a non-government agency responsible for governing the industry under Alberta's Real Estate Act, won an education award for its pre-licensing education course, the Practice of Rural Real Estate, and a communications award for the 2016 edition of the Advertising Guidelines.

The awards were presented at ARELLO's annual conference in late September in Vancouver.

Visitable housing offers more than accessibility for disabled individuals; it could be the future of single family homes in an increasingly aged society. So why isn't it catching on?

Carla Berezowski looks at many of Calgary's new neighbourhoods from the last decade and sees missed opportunities.

A specialist in barrier-free design, the consultant works mostly with aging Calgarians, retrofitting their homes to accommodate mobility needs.

"People are usually reacting to a situation like, 'My mom fell' and they want to make their house accessible to accommodate aging parents," said Berezowski, owner of Aging in Place Calgary.

CREB® Charitable Foundation increases Investing in Hope donations to $180k

For almost 30 years, Calgary real estate professionals have been making their communities a better place through the CREB® Charitable Foundation's Investing in Hope program.

This year, they're going to be doing even more.

In response to overwhelming need in Alberta, the CREB® Charitable Foundation has upped its annual donations through the popular program to $180,000 from $150,000. That means three additional charities, and a total of 18 organizations, will each receive $10,000 in 2016 to put toward their annual budgets.

2008 CREB® president Ed Jensen remembers 'one of the toughest years in Calgary real estate history'

In his final message as CREB® president, Ed Jensen summed up 2008 at the time as "one of the toughest years in Calgary real estate history."
Even looking back at it now, he is still pragmatic about what went on in that year, which was largely marred by a global financial crisis rooted in the collapse of the U.S. housing sector, accompanied by weakening energy prices.

"Our economy had been building rapidly and prosperously, but it started to slow down in the fall of 2007," he said. "In 2008, there was a shift from a sellers' market to a buyers' market. It happened gradually, over the
first quarter."

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."