MAXIMUM LIFESTYLE. Over 5,000 sq. ft. of estate living on the lake less than 1 year old. Fully developed this 4 + 1 bedroom home has a lot of room for friends and family. With 4 bedrooms up and a master bedroom with a retreat overlooking the lake, you are sure to enjoy the residence level. All the bells and whistles are here. Gas fireplace, steam shower, deep jetted tub, huge walk-in. The main floor has a flex room with double sided fireplace, large great room, open kitchen & nook overlooking the lake. There is a sweeping spiral staircase, a 2 storey vault and great use of windows. The walkout has a games area, media room, rumpus room and 5th bedroom. Priced at much less than they paid the builder, before they added landscaping, concrete patio and more. Call today their loss can be your gain! Chestermere Lake is a 750 acre lake that you can waterski, sail and windsurf on. Only 25 minutes to downtown Calgary, Chestermere is an easy commute to the air-port and has quick access to the deerfoot.

Not another cookie-cutter home-this home is truly unique! You'll love it for the kitchen. He will love it for the triple garage. You will both agree it is the most beautiful home on the block. Imagine a master craftsman finishing his own custom bungalow. Not burdened by someone else's budget or imagination he builds the kitchen he has always wanted to build. He also builds in desks, custom closets and wall units. The mill-work in the home is second to none! He knew the developer so he got an over-sized corner lot that he could fit 871 sq. ft. of garage with an over-sized triple with middle bay sized to fit an RV. Stunning design with great-room floor plan, fully wired for sound. Many exceptional finishes. Walkout basement has roughed in in-floor heat. Seller will develop basement to same standard for new owner at $40/sq. ft.

Have you run out of room? Need more space, can't find a home on the lake that will take all of your toys? Then look no more! This home has on over-sized triple that is heated and insulated, a large driveway and room for more toys down the ramp on the side of the house. This home has 6 bedrooms and a guest suite or office over the garage. Custom designed for this lot, this home takes advantage of the view from every angle. Nascor construction makes this home warmer, quieter and cleaner than a home with conventional fiberglass insulation. This home also has radiant heat throughout that is generated from two full size boilers. There is so much more to say about this home but you really just have to come and see it. Call Doug McKay at 207-1776 to view.

The ultimate lake home at Chestermere Lake is only 5 miles from the Calgary City Limit and 30 minutes to downtown Calgary. Stunning 2 1/2 story custom built, home has many, many upgrades inside and out!! Maple hardwood, granite counters, steam shower, in-floor heating, triple garage, hot tub, fire-pit, private dock (with boat hoist) and the best location Chestermere Lake has to offer! Custom designed features throughout show pride of ownership. Five bedrooms on one floor, main floor den, play room for the kids, 2nd floor laundry, exercise loft, media/home theatre room and the over-sized triple attached garage make this one of Chestermere's premier lakefront homes with 53' x 200' deep lot. This home is located in a quiet location and has a natural sandy lakebed, afternoon sun and incredible sunsets with a mountain view. Embrace lake living every day when you combine your recreational property and your full-time home into one. Great home! Great value!! Wonderful lifestyle.

As RE/MAX is a sponsor of Spruce Meadows we have free family tickets available on a first come-first serve basis. 

On June 10th  to 14th there is the Nationals

Agrium presents "Growing the Next Generation."  Friday Saturday and Sunday

Spruce Meadows Canadian Show Jumping Championship

Spruce Meadows Prarie Dogs Presented by Kozy Shack. Friday Saturday and Sunday

On July 1-5 the is the North American Show Jumping Championship

Sunlife Financials' International Plaza Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday

The Canadian Forces "Feau du Joie" Saturday and Sunday.

Spruce Meadows Prairie Dogs Presented by Kozy Shack. Friday Saturday and Sunday

On September 9-13 there is the Masters featuring best show jumping athletes from 15 nations

over 200 exhibits in t Equi-fair

BP festival of nations

Spruce Meadows Prairie Dogs Presented by Kozy Shack. Friday Saturday and Sunday

Please contact our office at 403-569-2900 for free tickets subject to availability.  If you are not in Chestermere please check with the RE/MAX office nearest you for tickets.

Visit the Spruce Meadows Website for more information.

http://www.sprucemeadows.com/

Rainbow Creek Elementary is holding a comedy and magic night to raise funds for their playground.  Tickets are $20 and there will be a silent auctions, door prize and 50/50 draw.  

There will be a cash bar and appetizers will be served.

This event will be held at the Chestermere Community centre on Saturday June 20 for 7pm to midnight. 

 For tickets call Lori Skehar 403-235-0845

We are sponsoring free movie nights for teens.  We  had a problem getting a place to show them as the library has limited hours.  Our town council has been kind enough to open the large foyer area so that we can show them there.  Doug and I bought the rights from ACF films to show pre-release movies to the public, so the kids would be able to go to a movie right here in Chestermere.  We are showing Knowing, a thriller with Nicholas Gage on the 11th and Push another thriller on June 18,  On the 11 the movie will be shown from 6 to 8 pm. and on the 18th from 8 to 10 pm.  These are pre-release movies, so they are still fairly new, they have not been released to the video stores or cable TV.

There is no charge for this YELL  (Youth Encouraging Lasting Leadership) event.

One would think that with digital cameras it would not be too difficult to get new photos posted that don't have snow on them.  Particularily with the primary photo, as it is the first photo they see.  When buyer's see a home with snow on it they know that it has been on the market for a while.  They will assume that there is something wrong with it.  With so many homes on the market it is easy to just go to the next photo that has green grass and shows the landscaping. 

Your clients will appreciate the effort if you take the time to go out and take new photos.  Perhaps they will even take them for you and email them to you so you can uplaod them to mls.

With the enhancements to MLXChange we can now have 20 photos of our listings for clients to view.  Have you taken the time to add extra shots so that your listing has an extra shot at getting sold?  Good photos are essential to getting a home sold. 

Before you do a price reduction, take a look at your photos and see if they really represent the house well.  Buyers love virtual tours and it does not cost much more to have the home professionally photographed at the same time.  Take a look at this tour done for us yesterday by Inner Circle. http://innercircleimaging.com/1mckay/707/east_lakeview_place.html

The tour also includes a slide show of the home. 

We see a lot of sellers get into trouble when they list their homes, before they have an up-to-date real property report. 

A real property report used to be called a survey, but the real property report has more information than the survey did.  It shows where all the improvements are on the property;  such as the deck, the shed and of course the house and garage. 

This website will answer any questions you may have about real property reports.

http://www.alsa.ab.ca/GeneralInfo/rpr.htm#What_is_a_Real_Property_Report

The town of  Chestermere and all municipalities have bylaws as to how close your shed can be to the house, to the end of your property etc.  The real property report will show all of these things, after you have the real property report you need to take it to the town of Chestermere and ask for a stamp of compliance.  Here is the form you will need to complete for the town.  This will cost you $85 for normal service or $185 for rush service. (at the time this blog was written).

http://chestermere.ca/images/uploads/Compliance_Cover_Letter.pdf

The standard real estate contract asks for a real property report with compliance to be sent to the buyer's lawyer 10 days before closing.  So it will save you money if you have it before your home is listed.  Please note that the town will not look at a RPR that is over one year old. 

These are the things you have to look out for.

If you have a rpr with compliance that is not more than a few years old and nothing has changed that will likely be acceptable to the purchaser.  

If you have added a deck over 12 inches in height or a fence, or added any accessory buildings larger than 11.2 square metres. (120 sq. ft.) you will need to update your real property report.

Before you order in a real property report you should make sure that your decks and accessory buildings comply with the town's bylaws. If they don't you will have to make a special application to have them approved, or you will have to be resurveyed at your cost once you move the problem. We have seen people have their shed too close to the property line and have to move it and then have it resurveyed and if you check before hand you can move it first, and they not pay survey fees twice.

Here is the town brochure on building a deck

http://chestermere.ca/images/uploads/16_Deck_Brochure.pdf

Here is information on sheds. http://chestermere.ca/images/uploads/AccBuilding_Brochure_Jan_2009.pdf

We hope that knowing this will save you some headaches.....Next blog what if my RPR does not comply?

 

You are ready to look at homes so you call an agent with a list of homes that you would like to see!  But wait a minute, are you really prepared to enter the market and compete for the perfect home. 

The first thing we should do is to make sure you are ready for the market.  

Do you have to sell your home before you can buy a home?  If so you need to know what your home will sell for and we should do an evaluation for you.  

Will you need a mortgage on the new home?  If so we should set up a meeting with a mortgage broker and he can make sure all of your paperwork is in order.  Financial institutions may want to see your tax returns for the past three years, they may want a letter of verification from your employer, they will want to see where you are getting the down payment from.  Since November the financial institutions have tightened up and credit is harder to get.  A good mortgage broker will package your information in a manner that makes it more likely that you will get the mortgage you want.  He or she will also get you a better rate by putting your application out to more than one institution for them to compete for your business. 

It takes longer with self-employed people to verify their income.  All financial institutions are seriously looking at everyone to make sure that they are credit worthy.  Even if your bank knows you, they may need to send your application to CMHC and they will require written financial statements from your accountant.  We have excellent mortgage brokers that we work with regularly.  Please ask for a phone number if you need it.  

The reasons for doing these steps first are many:

 1) If you find a great house, chances are that someone else will think it is great too.  If they have done their homework, and you haven't they will be able to prove with a letter from a financial institution that they are pre-qualified.  If they do not need to sell their home to buy another they will likely be successful in getting the home you want.  We do not wish this on anyone, so we want to have everything in order for you.  

 2)  Your home may not be worth as much as you think!  Market values are down and you need an up-to-date evaluation so that you know how much equity you are looking at.  

 3)  It will save you time and frustration as you won't look at homes you cannot buy.

 4)  Ideally your home should be sold before you look.  If not it should be market ready.  If we make an offer on a home subject to your home selling your home will need to be on the market in 24 hours.  

To do an evaluation we need to walk thru your home, and get the size and finishes.  We will then do a written evaluation comparing your home to others that have sold.  It will take you about 15 minutes, and then you will know what you have to work with.  This should be our next step.  At this time we can make recommendations to get your home market ready.  We do this for you without any obligation or commitment on your part. 

Once we have all of these things in order you are ready to begin your search for the perfect new home for your family!