For many people, buying a first home is an exciting, but stressful, experience. CREB®Now spoke with a few members of Calgary's business community to find out what it was like making that first big investment in their lives.

Calgary's collection of decades-old malls are getting much-needed facelifts

Consumer demand is driving a wave of commercial real estate development in the city with several major shopping centres poised to get major makeovers this year and next.

Deerfoot Mall in the city's northeast, as well as Northland Village Mall and Stadium Shopping Centre in the northwest, are all in the planning or development stages of redevelopment.

Michael Kehoe, an Alberta-based retail specialist with Fairfield Commercial Real Estate Inc., said the collective changes reflect landlords' attempts to breathe new life into decades-old retail hubs, of which there are plenty in the city.

Where will Calgary's newest hot spot emerge?

People are always on the lookout for the next big thing, and that search extends to the world of real estate.

When it comes to reading the proverbial crystal ball as to which community will emerge as Calgary's next inner-city hot spot, the author of the blog The Everyday Tourist, Richard White, suggests one look north.

"The northwest inner-city communities are becoming much more urban and desirable," says White, explaining the growth of these communities has coincided with the relatively recent expansion of facilities like the Alberta Children's Hospital, the Foothills Medical Centre, SAIT and the University of Calgary campus.