Former CREB® president Patti Beaudry recalls city's fast pace in 1997

Former CREB® president Patti Beaudry recalls 1997 as a bright spot in Calgary's real estate history, in which resale housing activity and prices hit then peak levels and the city's population experienced a newfound surge.

The economy was vibrant, with new jobs bringing newcomers to the city by planes, trains and automobiles, recalled the 35-year real estate veteran, who guided the organization's board of directors through its boom year. By year's end, the city's population gained 3.3 per cent to 934,300 compared to 2.4 per cent growth the year prior. Three years later, it hit the once-mythical one-million mark.

Calgary's housing market at the time illustrated the impact of this new wave of new residents. Sales in the resale residential sector jumped more than 20 per cent to 18,423, while prices surged by more than six per cent to $146,788, according to CREB®.

To guide Town for next 20 years

Okotoks has launched a new parks and recreation initiative that it hopes will guide planning efforts for the growing community south of Calgary.

The master plan is designed to provide an overall framework to guide the development, delivery, and continuous improvement of parks and recreation programs, services, and facilities for the next 10 to 20 years.

"Parks and recreation are important services that help us enjoy a great quality of life in Okotoks. The Recreation, Parks and Leisure Master Plan is a key initiative to help us effectively plan for the future of these services," said Mayor Bill Robertson.

Reality starting to sink in, says board president

Calgarians looking to sell their homes are slowly coming to the realization that it's a buyers' market and are beginning to manage their price expectations, says CREB® president Cliff Stevenson.

"I think there's still something to the fact that sellers are still adjusting to this – to the fact the pendulum has definitely swung in the buyers' favour. I think you've got some sellers that are obviously taking a bit longer to figure this out than others," said Stevenson, noting CREB® officially labelled it a buyers' market in November 2015 after three consecutive months of inventory increases.

Making a case against Wi-Fi in today's homes



It's a typical evening at home. Netflix is streaming on the big screen; the kids are downstairs playing on online game while blasting tunes from Spotify or Apple Music.

Mom is at her laptop catching up on some work through a VPN connection to her company's internal network, while dad's watching YouTube on his smartphone. Someone's probably checking Facebook, too.

And most, maybe all, of this is happening without a wired connection.

Wireless Internet is everywhere in our homes, but homeowners may rely in it more than they need to, say industry experts.

New site opens at Cannaught Park

The City of Calgary has opened its first fenced inner-city off-leash area at Connaught Park.

"There are almost 650 dogs licensed in the Beltline, and during public engagement we identified a need for a safe and dedicated off-leash space in the area," says Doug Marter, development manager for Calgary Parks.

Connaught Park, located at 11th Street and 14 Avenue S.W., was selected for its central location and because it was originally designed as a multi-use park, said the City.

Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators recognizes online tool

The City of Calgary's residential ePermit service captured top honours recently with a national award of excellence from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).

The online permitting tool, which launched last fall, won the 2016 CAMA Willis Award for Innovation in the Over 100,000 Population category.

Other winners in the category included Kindersley, Sask's, waste water project (Under 20,000 Population category) and Saint John, N.B.'s "one-stop development shop" initiative (20,001 to 100,000 Population category).

New national standards for home inspections will benefit consumers, industry says

Calgary home inspector Alan Fisher has heard his share of horror stories from homeowners who received less-than-optimal inspections prior to buying their homes.

Sadly, he said these tales of domestic woe are largely preventable given most stem from the unfortunate reality that not all home inspectors are equal when it comes to ferreting out potential issues.

"There are people out there offering a seven-day course where you write the test and you're certified," said Fisher, who owns Calgary-based Integra Home Inspection Services.

Secondary suites and sustainability highlight Sano Stante's year as CREB® president

The year was 2011: Naheed Nenshi was in his first full year as mayor, secondary suites had become part of Calgarians' daily lexicon and the term "sustainability" had started to creep into community development.

Looking back at it now, then CREB® president Sano Stante noted his year at the helm not only gave him a front-row seat to the action, but an enviable opportunity to influence change.

He noted his work with CREB® in advocating council to legalize secondary suites across the city stands out the most from his year of presidency.

"It's something I was really proud of," said Stante.

Seniors' groups welcome potential option to aging in place

Seniors' advocates in Calgary are cautiously praising a city council decision to look at a University of Calgary pilot project that's studying laneway housing as an option to aging in place.

In mid-May, council agreed to support a motion by Coun. Gian-Carlo Cara that would have City administration work with the university as it embarks on the next phase of its Aging-In-Place Laneway Housing project.

Kerby Centre CEO Luanne Whitmarsh called the idea, "a really interesting concept," but added more study needs to be done, such as ensuring that, "it isn't just going to make more isolation.

"Also, what does it look like? If (seniors) still need support and there are people entering the home instead of a grassy front yard, it's a back alley. We have to look at quality of life," she said.