The Waterfront Calgary development contains residences ranging in size from one bedroom, two bedrooms, three bedrooms, and even loft-and-bedroom combinations. As buildings within the development are as high as 20 floors, views facing both the Bow River and Calgary’s downtown city centre are both spectacular. This is yet another perk of Calgary’s newest and finest urban condo development.

©2010 Calgary Condo Blog. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Calgary Condo Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Get it in writing!

In a recent bulletin from the Alberta Real Estate Association to members of the Alberta Real Estate industry it was noted that some Lenders are now requiring a condition for review and approval of condo docs by the “insurer” before they will finance the deal.

While this may not on the surface appear to be a big deal the issue has been that this condition has only come up at the stage when the instruction for the mortgage are sent to the Buyers Lawyer. The other issue with this lenders condition is that it often is above and beyond any condo document inspection that a Buyer has completed during the normal process of the offer to purchase.

As is always the best practice is to get it in writing! So far this condition has only been seen with purchases made that require an insurer (usually less than 25% down). The important lesson in all of this – get a statement in writing from the Lender that as a Buyer you have fully satisfied all of the lenders conditions prior to removing the conditions on a purchase contract.

©2010 Calgary Condo Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The second one in the list is for Springbank Hill Calgary Condos on the Springbank Hill Calgary site.

As always you can check out the various quadrant sites for Calgary Condos as well.

North West Calgary Condos
North East Calgary Condos
South West Calgary Condos
South East Calgary Condos
Search for Calgary Real Estate

©2010 Calgary Condo Blog. All Rights Reserved.

You can of course always check out the various quadrant sites for Condos. If you are Buying or Selling a Condo in Calgary I hope that you find these site (and of course my services) useful.

North West Calgary Condos
North East Calgary Condos
South West Calgary Condos
South East Calgary Condos
Search for Calgary Real Estate

©2010 Calgary Condo Blog. All Rights Reserved.

So many times the lack of having all the documents ready for the prospective buyer to look at causes a delay in the sale. At times it can leave a sense of anxiety with the Buyer wondering if the Seller is holding something back information wise.

In a market that favours the Buyer it is in your best interest when getting ready to sell your Calgary Condo that you make sure that you have everything ready and organized.

The more information that you provide to the Buyer the more likely that they will be able to make an informed decision in the purchase. It may seem like a hassle and sometime frustrating to deal with the Management company to make sure that you have all of the up to date documents but is well worth it in the end.

A partial list of the documents that you will need to hang on to include:

Registered Condo Plan
Condo Bylaws
Financial Statements
Condo Budget
Statement of Monthly Condo Contributions
AGM Minutes
Copy of the Insurance Certificate
Reserve Fund Study

This is not the complete list but covers most of the important documents that will be required for a review by the Buyer. Although these documents can be ordered (at a highly inflated rate for a rush order) from the Condo Management company saving them when you get them in the mail is a much cheaper alternative.

This is not the complete list but covers most of the important documents that will be required for a review by the Buyer. Although these documents can be ordered (at a highly inflated rate for a rush order) from the Condo Management company saving them when you get them in the mail is a much cheaper alternative.

For more information about these Condo Documents feel free to contact me.

©2010 Calgary Condo Blog. All Rights Reserved.

From the Real Estate Perspective it has been a busy last little while trying to get things updated and switched over from my former office (Royal LePage Foothills) to the new office at RE/MAX Alpine Realty both in the real world and in the online world.

First of all I would like to acknowledge all the support, encouragement and learning that I was given while at my last office. As for the reason that I moved to another office it really boils down to my belief that ‘change is a good thing’ and without constantly challenging yourself and adapting to an ever changing business environment you never really move forward.

As for my choice in office to move to it was based on a number of things one of which is that the first contact that I had with the Broker/Owner at RE/MAX Alpine Realty was online. Jessica focuses a great deal of her energy and time online as do I. She opened the new office in Calgary as an iRealty office. This was to focus on REALTORS® who understand that the market has and is constantly moving further to being Internet based and driven. I have always focused on Internet marketing as opposed to the old school marketing. The iRealty concept was a great fit for where I saw my business heading. I work from home, the car, coffee shops and at clients homes. This concept is only going to get bigger and front what I have seen in person while visiting the US on several occasions it is where anyone that want to be succeed in the coming years.

Check back on occasion for updates on this site or feel free to post comments or share thoughts. If you have a topic of interest for Calgary Home owners let me know.

And yes the post is duplicated on my Calgary Home Page Blog site….I am not planning to do that very often but it was fitting in this case.

©2010 Calgary Condo Blog. All Rights Reserved.

A basic definition of a Condominium is that it is a form of legal ownership.  To expand on that it is a form of ownership in which a portion of the common areas is shared collectively with all owners often called common areas and the other portion is that which is owned by an individual(s) and these owners are often referred to as Unit owners.

In Alberta Condominiums are regulated under the Condominium Property Act.  The Act details many of the requirements that must be followed by a Condominium Corporation in terms of how the Property deals with owners and the business of the Corporation.

When I am dealing with Clients on the purchase of a Condo I often refer back to the idea of buying into a business when you own a Condo.  Since you are buying into a form of ownership that is partly shared with others it is important to understand how that ‘business’ is run. 

Simply going on the fact that you love the layout or the location is not enough and you should have a good understanding of where the Corporation is in terms of it’s financial position.  Not to worry if that sounds like an overwhelming aspect as there are companies whose sole focus is to review the documentation to ensure that you will be fully informed about your purchase.

Condominium ownership is really a lifestyle choice when you bring it right down to the basics.  It is not a form of ownership that everyone will be comfortable with but it is an important segment of the Calgary Real Estate market.

©2010 Calgary Condo Blog. All Rights Reserved.