great homes + happy people = done deals
Here are the stories of some of the wonderful people I’ve helped buy and sell homes.
Every situation is a complex puzzle of people + homes matchmaking. For buyers, I dig deep to help them evaluate their lifestyle needs and then guide them to the best homes and communities for their lives. For sellers, I identify and market the unique value of their property in effective ways that attract potential buyers who truly value what their home has to offer.
I would love to add your success story to my list!
201, 680 Princeton Way
The owners of this luxury condo had it listed with another realtor for five months without success. After seeing me quickly selling their next-door neighbor’s same-size condo for more than what they were listed at they asked if I would help them out. They were very nice people and I was happy to take over their listing.
That said, this was a challenging listing. It was perfectly located across from Prince’s Island in the heart of Eau Claire and was originally built to a high standard. However, most potential buyers thought it needed extensive updating and the condo board decided to take the private elevator out of commission for almost two months while I was trying to sell it. So instead of impressing potential buyers with the private elevator doors opening directly into their potential new home, we had to trudge up and down the back service stairs to access the home and then its basement parkade.
This sale of a downtown rental condo was a bit tricky. First off, because the tenants were from a foreign country and didn’t want anyone viewing the property while they lived there. Second, because the same tenants had a clause that required the owners to provide a six-month notice to end the lease, and with a very much below-market rental rate they didn’t have any incentive to leave.
1305 Lakeview Green III
This one is a beauty! The home and the deal.
Working with repeat clients who are very experienced real estate investors, I had spent the better part of 2023 helping them them purchase multiple homes in the increasingly competitive Calgary market. Their investment strategy was to buy three homes, each priced in the affordable under $600,000 price range, to serve both as great inner-city investments and as toe-holds into the market for their three university-aged children. As a result, each home had to meet the needs and desires of one of their children (as a potential first home to live in and to gradually purchase from their parents), as well as an attractive and profitable rental property until the child was ready to take it on.
84 Hidden Vale Close
Once again, I was working with some established homeowners who wanted to find a property for their adult children to gain a toe-hold into the competitive Calgary market. In this case, my buyers wanted a home that would allow one daughter and her partner to live upstairs while the other daughter and partner could also have a comfortable and similar quality home downstairs. In other words, a run-of-the-mill basement suite was not going to cut it.
Their initial budget was up to $550,000 but after viewing many sub-par illegal suite properties in their chosen communities, they raised this to $600,000. On the August long weekend, while others were out of town, we viewed a nearby home with a horrendously “renovated” and very unappealing basement suite. Thinking this would likely be another bust outing, we went to 84 Hidden Vale Close and were thrilled to have a very different experience!
Roomy and Bright Dalhousie Family Home
After 26 years of raising their family in this quintessential family home the, now widowed and soon-to-be empty-nested, owner asked me to guide her through her first solo home-selling process.
I was happy to do so, but first spent several months showing her potential purchase options that might fit her next empty-nest phase of life. It was important to narrow down the options and determine what she really wanted before making any big moves and giving up her existing family home to which she had moved as a newlywed so many years ago.
3312 – 49 Street SW
My clients and I were hunting for a solid investment property in their preferred SW Calgary communities – the Glendale, Glenbrook, Glamorgan, Killarney, Westgate, and Rosscarrock area. They wanted a solid, three-bedroom bungalow with either a good-quality, in-place basement suite or the potential for the addition of a legal suite.
3312 – 49 Street SW fit the bill and was unusual in that it was listed on a weekday with offers to be reviewed on Friday – hence, no weekend showings. This would likely reduce the number of bidders competing on offer review day as fewer people would see it before then.
My buyers and I knew that good properties move fast and we went to view this pretty bungalow immediately.