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!

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.