According to a number of surveys, Calgary is one of the most liveable places in Canada. The city, nestled within the province of Alberta, was even considered the cleanest city in the country by Forbes. It also helps that the region is a very bustling community, with much of the action centered on its downtown district.

Calgary’s rise to fame can be attributed to Alberta’s sudden oil boom around 1999. Wisely, many businesses flocked to the city, hoping to capitalize on the economic wave Calgary was riding on. Today, the city is replete with skyscrapers, offices, and numerous shopping and dining options, yet unlike other congested cities in Canada, a good number of the new houses in Calgary are built in areas of expansion. This means homebuyers can look forward to enjoying city life while having entire houses to themselves.

Buying a home in Calgary can be tricky. Properties around and in the city can fetch a premium price, and such things discourage first-time buyers. Fortunately, local real estate professionals can help buyers find a house that perfectly fits their budgets. Calgary’s a wonderful place to live in, and it certainly pays to know exactly which houses are the best in the region.

Moving to Calgary may be one of the best decisions you'll ever make in your life, with the city being given an impressive liveability rating by the Economic Intelligence Unit. Calgary also has a total of 222 neighbourhoods, and you will likely find an area wherein you can completely feel at home. The real estate properties available in the city also abound, and looking through the information in online resources can give you a clear idea of your options— whether you intend to buy a single-family home, condominium, or a town home.

While each real estate option has its own advantages, one thing you do have to prepare for if you choose either town home or condominium living is the Homeowners Association Fee. HOA fees are used to cover the costs of the cleaning and maintenance of common areas like lobbies, main entryways, and parking spaces. HOA fees are also used to ensure amenities like tennis courts, gyms, entertainment areas, pools, and others are kept in good condition and repair work is done as needed.

Property owners mandate its occupants or residents to pay HOA fees, and ideally, the amount and required date of payment is specified on the Land Title Certificate, which your realtor will inform you of before you sign on any paperwork detailing your purchase of the property. Do carefully read the terms involved in HOA fees since in Canada, failure to pay the due HOA fees may lead to costly lawsuits.

If you’re working in the logistics industry, you do understand that there are lot of variables to deal with. Stocking up on required goods, finding space for them, and making sure they get shipped to their intended destination on time are among the chief problems you’ll deal with every day. However, there will be times when the supply train is bringing in more product than your current facilities can deal with at the moment. One solution is to lease a warehouse.

Finding a suitable warehouse for your company requires a thorough assessment of existing operations. The evaluation will include the availability and condition of electrical fixtures and water outlets, determining the total floor area you’ll need, and your overall budget. The last one is essential because the rental will be factored into your operational expenses per month. Security issues can play a role if the prospect facility is a bit far from your business place; the research will include accommodations for employees and security personnel.

Consult a Realtor about your specifications for the warehouse. The agent can help identify commercial properties that fit those needs and set up a meeting with the property management company running it. Even if the negotiations and the rates work in your favor, make sure to hammer out all important details in the lease contract before you ever sign it.

MoneySense.ca has named Calgary as 2013's Best City in terms of weather, employment rate, housing prices, property tax, and other factors. It isn't surprising at all if a lot of people start moving near or even in the City. If you are having trouble picking out the house you want, then read on and the following tips might be helpful:

• The Neighborhood – Aside from choosing the house itself, you need to find a good neighborhood. Find out if the community has local markets, ease of access to public transport, schools, and other things you might need. Some of the neighborhoods that have been acknowledged recently as good places to live in Calgary include Arbour Lake, Acadia, and Varsity.
  
  
• Closer or Farther from the Center? - Like other cities, homes near downtown are more expensive because of the location advantage. If you don't mind the commute, then a home located a bit far off the city center can be cheaper.
  
  
• The Quadrants – Calgary is subdivided into different quadrants (Southwest, Northwest, Southeast, and Northeast), and each has their own advantages. For example, Northeast is closer to the airport while the Southeast is closer to commercial and industrial areas.
  

You can check several resources online to guide you in finding a new home. Research is important when buying a home, so be sure to read about the surroundings of your prospective house before you sign any contract.

Reports that surfaced in October suggest that the housing market in Calgary, Alberta is currently at a price hike, which is sending people on the fringe between buying a house now or waiting for rates to subside. This is a constant debate in the real estate industry, where some people advise that people should take the leap while the prices are still low, and others claiming that waiting for a better window is the way to go.

The rise in the housing market is a simple matter of economics; as the supply goes down (Calgary home inventory is low in all categories), the demand will rise. This demand can only be offset by allowing the prices to increase as well, thus the national price increase of 1.2% to 4.1% within the third quarter of 2013.

Advocates of securing your home purchase as soon as possible say that the soaring prices of homes and mortgages will only increase in the coming years. Hence, it should be best to get yourself started now, and have it refinanced should the market begin to subside significantly.

Some people on the other hand argue that the risk of the market soaring “too fast, too high” is unlikely. One of the grounds for their argument stems from the fact that as homebuilding improves, supply should gain a better foothold, thus eliminating excess demand.

Just recently, real estate sales in Calgary topped the national average by 5.6 per cent. It is hoped that the industry's growth will be sustained in the next couple of months. This fact is surely thrilling a lot of home buyers who have been dreaming to settle in Calgary for good. Here are some tips you can follow to find a suitable property for sale.


First, you might want to save up for a sizeable down payment so you can pay a huge amount upfront and thereby reduce your monthly fees. Before obtaining any sort of financing, be sure to understand how mortgage works. Likewise, find a reliable mortgage lender that can offer reasonable rates.

Meanwhile, keep in mind that aside from the home’s market value, you’ll need to shoulder a bunch of additional charges that come along with the purchase. Be prepared to pay for services like property surveying, land registration, and local authority searches. It's also possible that the previous owner may have left some bills unpaid, which you’ll need to take care of as well.

Just like any other big-ticket purchase, you need to carefully inspect a house before buying it and moving in. If you have next to zero knowledge about this aspect, seek the help of your real estate agent.

Commercial real estate in Calgary is one of the largest in Canada, with about 65 million square feet of office space in the downtown and suburban areas, and about 127 million square feet of industrial space in the south east and north east. With such a large inventory, foreign and domestic investors are sure to find a commercial property in the city that best suits their interests and needs.

Aside from office buildings, retail centers like shopping malls are very popular because they can be rented on a long-term basis—provided tenants agree on a “triple net lease agreement” in their contract. This clause ensures that the investor's returns won't go down as taxes and operating expenditures increase. Meanwhile, resorts and hotels generally represent a huge gamble because while they generate large profits, they can be quite a handful to manage. Savvy investors are known to lease out hotels and resorts to companies who can run them in their stead.

Other investors also purchase plots of land for development, which is arguably the riskiest but most lucrative venture they can take. On one hand, land development brings with it a slew of construction and legal requirements, but on the other hand, investors can develop the property as they see fit. The city of Calgary may require investors to work with the Development and Building Approvals Business Unit before any land purchases can be finalized.

When that once-spacious condo unit starts to feel a little cramped for you and your family, it's a sign that you should consider purchasing a house. Take care, though. Purchasing a house is a big financial decision. As such, there are many factors you should look into before signing on that dotted line:

Visit a house you're interested in during different times of the day. How is traffic in the area during the morning rush? What about traffic in the evening? This helps you get a better understanding of the community before you move in. In addition, talking to your potential neighbors can paint a clearer picture of a neighborhood's pros and cons.

Always put a premium on the condition of the kitchen. The kitchen is generally considered the heart of a home, where you and the members of your family will undoubtedly converge. As such, a spacious, yet efficient kitchen is ideal. Take note of everything a house's set kitchen has to offer and determine it meets your needs, since the kitchen is the usually the most expensive room in a house to remodel.

When looking at the bathroom, be vigilant in checking for any leaks and cracks in the tub, shower, and toilet. Take note of the total number of bathrooms and see if it's enough to suit the current and future needs of your family. Be thorough with your assessment because the bathroom can cost a pretty penny when remodeled.

According to the Calgary Herald, Vancouver and Calgary led the housing boom in Canada in September 2013. While this trend can be attributed to various factors, it is said that the sudden increase in demand for construction, due to heavy flooding, may be the biggest contributing factor. Under normal circumstances, however, the housing market can only improve if certain things happen over a prolonged period.

First, a steady population growth has to be observed given that it can have a huge impact on the demand for brand-new houses. The exact opposite can be a bad thing since a decline in population also entails a decline in home buyers and, consequently, consumer demand. In any case, population growth has to be supported by sizable employment opportunities to ensure that families can afford to pay for their housing needs and daily expenses.

Education and employment help create pleasant and vibrant neighborhoods since crime rates tend to go down once more people have legitimate, paying jobs. In turn, such an atmosphere allows businesses and schools to thrive, thereby enticing people from other cities to move in. This influx of buyers is usually what real estate companies look for before they can tell whether or not the real estate market is indeed improving.

Purchasing real estate, whether as an investment or a property to move into, is always a big financial decision. As such, do your best to avoid some of these common mistakes some people make when purchasing real estate:

A lot of people jump the gun without checking their credit reports and getting pre-approved for loans. While it may seem like a minor detail, checking your credit report and scores beforehand gives you time to correct any mistakes you may find, and more time to improve your credit rating. Getting pre-approved for a loan also helps speed up the closing process.

Hiring an inspector to check for any problems a house may have that the agent did not mention may seem like an obvious necessity, but you'd be surprised at the amount of people that skip the inspection process or do not complete it. Spare yourself the headache of future repairs and risking your safety and have a home inspector check a house before you invest in it.

Lastly, there will come a time when you may eventually have to move out and sell the property you are about to buy, so do take into account its resale value. Most people don't look that far ahead and purchase real estate without considering its resale value. This ends up making the house harder to sell in the future, with some people selling their homes at huge discounts just to close a sale, thereby losing money.