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!

One of our past clients called today to tell us about a project that they are building in Mexico near Le Paz Mexico. Deborah & Rick Iwaszkiw of Chestermere Lake are developing a 36 lot project ocean view on the sea of Cortez. Lots are $35,000 us and it will cost about $85/ foot to build. If you thought that a nice retirement home was going to cost too much, have a look at their website. http://canamexbuilders.com/. There are maps, photos and cost of living estimates there.

They have had great success so far in that they have already sold 19 lots by word of mouth. Maybe this will be a little bit of Chestermere in Mexico, and that sounds pretty good to me...

RE/MAX is Chestermere's Top Real Estate company. The stats are out and it looks like RE/MAX is in the lead. In fact RE/MAX realtors sell about 23.6% of the market. In second place MaxWell had 17% of the market.

Doug and I sold about 10% of the market and we moved from owning our own MaxWell Franchise to RE/MAX Lakeside in Chestermere in August last year. (We wanted to spend more time selling and less time doing administration.) So it will be interesting to see how the figures will change in 2009. Likely RE/MAX will increase it's market share in Chestermere to be closer to the 34.7% share that they have in Calgary.

The Developer, Isle of Man has just released 10 building lots onto mls. These lots have architectural controls but you can choose your lot and then choose your builder, or sub-contract yourself. These lots are about 50 feet wide x 108 feet, depending on the lot you choose. See the lots highlighted in green.

You can also choose your realtor on these lots. Listed by CIR Realty, these lots are on MLS so you can choose the realtor that you are comfortable with to help you.

We have been helping people buy and sell homes in Chestermere for 16 years and we are in the top 5% of agents in Calgary and area. We live right to the West of these lots. We can work with you as your buyer's agent to help you secure the terms and conditions that you need to make these lots the spot for your new home.

Chestermere Lake is 5 miles from the Calgary City limit. It is 20 minutes from the airport and about 25 minutes to downtown Calgary. It is a town of 12,000 and we have great access to schools, shopping and recreation. The town is centred around a 750 acre lake that you can waterski, sail, fish and enjoy. The town has a very active recreation centre, library, and many groups and clubs you can join. Visit our website for more information on Chestermere Real Estate and the Chestermere Lifestyle. www.chestermererealestate.com