Real Estate Blog - Bowness Homes for Sale

Wants vs. Needs

Congratulations, you have decided to purchase a home! Whether you are planning on purchasing the property for personal use or as a rental/investment property, there is a lot to consider. You may feel overwhelmed as you begin to consider all that goes into purchasing a home: finding a real estate agent, getting a mortgage pre-approved, dealing with your existing property (or properties), etc. Take a deep breath.

The first thing you need to figure out is what your wants are, versus what are you needs when it comes to your new property. Here is what to do:

Make a list with two columns. One column will be for your wants, the other for your needs. 

Address the wants column first. After all, this is where you get to have fun! Your wants list may…

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New Year's Eve Fun Facts

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! We hope you enjoy a fun, safe evening ringing in 2022! Just like last year, I think everyone is more than ready to begin a new year. Hopefully this one brings us a step closer to some normality after a tumultuous two years. 

Here are some fun facts about New Year's Eve to get you pumped up for tonight:

• The very first New Year's Eve was celebrated 4,000 years by the ancient Babylonians.
• Celebrating with friends and family is a tradition because legend has it the first people you see will either give you good or bad luck; make sure you look at someone who likes you!
• The first ball drop in Times Square New York was in 1907. They used the ball, covered in 25 watt bulbs, because of a fireworks ban. Now the…

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Best Christmas Lights in Calgary

Calgary loves to celebrate the holidays. A drive through any neighbourhood will quickly get you in the Christmas spirit. In Bowness, Christmas wreaths are lights adorn the streetlights and shops, giving the community even more of a festive, small-town feel. It is our favourite time of the year to drive through one of our favourite communities. 

Here is an inexpensive holiday activity idea: get a cup of hot chocolate from Tim Hortons and take a drive through the city. Set your radio to 95.9 CHRM for non-stop Christmas music and turn up the heat. Not sure where to start on this beautiful, Christmas adventure? Here are some places to check out:

1). Downtown Core: Many buildings in the downtown core are adorned with Christmas lights inside and out.…

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Holiday Decorating While Selling

One of the most important things you can do when selling your home is to stage it properly. Staging is the art of presenting your home in its best possible light. When staging your home you want buyers to come away remembering it as clean, bright and open. They should be able to picture themselves lounging on the couch in the living room or having breakfast in the kitchen.

If you are looking for an idea of what a well-staged home looks like, visit a staged new infill. There are professionals you can hire to stage your home for you, as you will see in a show home. You can also stage your home yourself. Check out this link to read all of our blogs on home staging! 

Home staging is easy, but what about during the holidays? What if you want to…

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Shop Local this Christmas

Calgary has a thriving small business sector that we always like to encourage people to check out. It is important to support small local businesses and the Calgarian's that pour their hearts into them, especially this year as many Calgary businesses have faced loses due to COVID-19. As they say, when you shop from a big box store, a CEO doesn't blink twice. When you shop from a small business, the owner does a little happy dance. Support a fellow Calgarian this Christmas by buying your holiday gifts from one of these local shops:

• Outside The Shape: A curated shop with items from local YYC makers. You can find everything from candles to jewelry to workshops here!
• Plant: Your succulent dreams will come true in his gorgeous shop featuring all…

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Home Resolutions

In the New Year many people make personal resolutions, such as losing weight, advancing in their career, paying off debt, etc. Kicking off the new year with specific goals in mind will help you stay focused. There is nothing quite like the start of a new year, in this case 2020, to inspire you to be the best you. 

Read about The Most Popular New Year's Resolutions. 

While many of us make personal and professional resolutions, another area of your life to set some goals for is your home! Here are some suggestions:

• Renovate: Make this the year you finally renovate that room you have been wanting to forever, or to finish a renovation you began but abandoned. You don't have to complete it in one day; you can do it in phases. Looking for advice…

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How to Save BIG this Black Friday

Canada has fully embraced Black Friday and Cyber Monday, both days marked by incredible retail sales. For many Canadians, this long weekend of savings has marked the start (and end) of all Christmas shopping. Many retailers boast incredible sales, free shipping and one-day-only savings events. Want to take advantage of this year's great deals? Here are some tips:

1). Make a list & check it twice: What are you hoping to get during this weekends deals? Make a list and check it twice. Consider everything: gifts, work clothes, food, home goods, etc.. Literally everything will be on sale somewhere. Having a list will help you stay focused and not forget anything. However, be flexible! You never know what great deals could await... 

2). Be Informed: On…

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House Hotel: Renting Your Home to Travellers

With the advent of the digital age comes a series of tech innovations aimed at making life more efficient. From searching for the best pizza place in town to messaging thousands of friends and family at once, the golden era of the internet is here. Love it or hate it, it is not going away anytime soon. 

For homeowners, the advancement of technology has helped them better find service providers for their property, secure their property, keep tabs on their property and easily access important property guidelines and documents. Most agree that these advancements are generally positive, but there is one new app that people are split on: Airbnb.

Airbnb and services like it are designed to enable homeowners to rent out their property, either a single room…

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What You Need to Know About a Fixer Upper

If HGTV is any indication, people love the idea of renovating a home. Shows like Fixer Upper and Property Brothers are wildly popular, audiences tuning in every week to see neglected homes turn into dream homes. There's something about an underdog that people love to root for--homes included. 

These shows are inspiring. They make fixing up a home seem easy! You drive past an old house and say, "some exposed brick would do that property wonders," or, "it's got great bones - imagine what a fresh coat of paint could do!" Don't let the edited smiles of Chip and Joanna Gaines fool you; renovating a home is hard work. It can be incredibly rewarding and profitable, but you should know these things before making an offer on that shack down the street:

1).…

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Experience Matters

When you are thinking of real estate, especially now in 2019 during Calgary’s challenging real estate
market, think no further than to hire myself, Ken Richter for excellent service and ultimate results. As
your trusted professional Realtor® I have 30+ years of experience, 2018 ranked Top 6 Individual Agent at
RE/MAX Real Estate (Central), the #1 Selling Real Estate Office Worldwide for 19 consecutive years and
finished in the Top 100 in RE/MAX Western Canada once again. Contact me today at 403-630-6363 or ken@kenrichter.com.

This month the Calgary Real Estate Board released it's 2019 forecast, which echoed much of what we've heard in the last year: this economic climate is making buying and selling homes challenging. 

CREB® Chief Economist…

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