Alright, you have a conditional purchase contract in place on a home and one of the conditions is for the satifactory review of the property through a home inspection.

One of the mistakes that some buyers make is assuming when their licensed home inspector finds issues with a home (and they always do) that they have an opportunity to renegotiate the purchase price with the seller prior to releasing their condition.

A mistake? YES!

The home inspection condition provides the buyer two alternatives: a) to accept a home, blemishes and all, and release their condition, or b) to not release their condition because of the blemishes identified in the home inspection  (and thereby nullifying the purchase contract). There is no "option c" that automatically permits the renegotiation of the price.

Occasionally, if some issues are found that it is believed the seller is completely unaware of, then it might be worth trying to get the seller to lower their purchase price...

If you're considering buying a condominium apartment, you’ll have a pretty wide variety to choose from in Calgary these days. Some view the top floor units as the best and therefore are willing to pay a small premium in price; with the middle and ground floors as somewhat less desirable. The debate about ground floor apartment condos is always pretty polarized. Either they are almost as highly desirable as the top floor or they are absolutely hated. There really doesn’t seem to be a view of “they’re the same as second or third floor apartments.

In the resale condominium market, they seem to be valued higher than second floor units, but less than third or fourth floor units. They do seem to take a little longer to sell because there are somewhat fewer people willing to consider them as a purchase option, I presume.

Some people love the fact that the ground floor condo apartments most often come with direct access to the outside and have a door that can...

At this time every year I receive emails and calls from consumers and past clients asking for an updated Comparative Market Analyis (CMA) to help determine if the City of Calgary's Tax Assessment is accurate or if it should be appealed. Well, the first answer is that real estate agents cannot do market evalations for anything but determining the value of a home in the current market for the purpose of buying or selling. We cannot provide CMAs for the purpose of appealing your taxes. The reason for this is that most real estate agents and brokers are not certified or licensed to provide appraisals. And, the methods we use to calculate market values are not appropriate for calculating either an appraised value nor an assessed value for tax purposes. Real estate agents and brokers consider current and future market demand for a CMA, while the other methods cannot.

While the values may or may not be similar, they are actually quite different.

First, let me explain what is a property tax...

It sure is a crazy real estate market here in Calgary these days.

In line with that, we're seeing some crazy things that some buyers are trying to add to a purchase contract AFTER it has been agreed to and signed. Here a few examples:

A "pre-possession walk-through" of the home at a mutually convenient time. An okay idea if it had been written in at the offer stage, however there is no benefit in doing so since the existing standard contract terms fully protect the buyer. And it's not a great idea to try to add this term after the fact. There is absolutely no upside for the seller to agree to that term. The use of this term is used specifically for when work that had to be completed had to be inspected -- of course adding a properly worded hold-back clause would be necessary at the same time or the term is a complete waste of time.

A term added regarding protection for the buyer should a home be destroyed prior to closing date. That is already covered in the standard...