Real Estate Blog - December, 2016

The Story of St. Nick

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Team Ken Richter!

This is our favourite time of year. Christmas is the perfect time to take a step back from busy day-to-day life and focus on what is really important: family. It’s the time to curl up by the fire, drink hot-cocoa, reminisce and wait for Santa Claus.

We all know the story of Santa Claus. He lives in the North Pole with Mrs. Claus and makes toys all year with the elves, which he then delivers via sleigh to children all across the world. However, did you know that Santa Claus is a tale based on a very real man from Turkey in the 4th century?

His name was St. Nicholas and he had a reputation for helping those in need. His parents had died, leaving him an enormous sum of money that he used to…

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Home Care During the Holidays

With Christmas quickly approaching many people are preparing to leave for vacation. Along with making sure you pack enough pairs of socks and that book you’ve been meaning to read, make sure that you also prepare your home for your absence. The most important thing you need to do to keep your home safe over the holidays is to make it appear occupied and well looked after. There are a number of ways you can do this:

Leave A Light Leaving a light on makes it look like someone is always home. Leaving a light on all the time is not very energy efficient, though. This is why we recommend investing in a light that you can control via your smartphone to turn on and off at certain times while you are away.

Turn On The Radio: Leaving a radio on is not only…

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Home Staging: Movie Rooms

This month we are going over some ways you can stage your media room. This is the room in your home that houses your books, games and T.V equipment. These rooms are really fun to decorate and stage because there is so much you can do with them. Here are some suggestions on how you can renovate, decorate and/or stage this room so that it makes the best impression possible:

A media room is where people go to escape their responsibilities. Make sure that this room caters to this by being cozy, welcoming and secluded. We recommend the walls be painted darker colours, such as navy blue, maroon, evergreen, grey, etc. These colours are relaxing and heavy, making people want to settle in and relax. Furniture should also be deep colours with lots of cushions…

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November 2016 Statistics

October was a strong month for the real estate market here in YYC. However, in November conditions turned back to previous trends. CREB® writes, “year- over-year monthly sales totalled 1,227 units, which is nearly three per cent lower than last year and 17 per cent below long-term averages.”

As we reported on back in November, major changes were made to Canada’s housing rules last month. The changes were aimed at helping Canadians keep from taking on larger mortgages than they could economically handle during a time when interest rates were incredibly low. For more information on this, check out an article on it HERE.

These changes may be helpful in the long run for people, but right now they are stopping many people from entering the market. This…

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