Raj Khurana Realtor Calgary Region Homes

As per figures released by Calgary Real Estate Board, sales of single family homes in Calgary increased by 50% in February, 2009 compared to January, 2009 ( 825 in the month of February from 550 in January).

The number of condominium sales for the month of February 2009 increased by more than 50% from January 2009 ( 343 in Feb 2009 vs. 225 in January 2009).

The average price of a single family home in February 2009 increased by 0.6% from January 2009.

There are too many buyers who are waiting for prices to bottom out before they buy. The only thing they have to consider is whether there will be enough houses for them to make their selection.

There are a lot of free tools for converting Word to PDF Files. But most of the conversion softwares for converting PDF to Word limit the size of file. For example, some of the programs allow you to convert a few pages only. This means that if you have a file which contains 50 pages, the software might convert only first 5 pages only. I recently came across the following website which offers a free PDF to Word Conversion and the good news is that it does not limit the size of the file. So try it out for converting your PDF files to Word to edit and then change them back to PDF if you wish so.

www.free-pdf-to-word.com

Enjoy it!

You can now get a credit on your home renovations thanks to the Home Renovation Tax Credit proposed in the Harper Government's Economic Action Plan.

The Home Renovation Tax Credit will provide a one time, temporary 15% income tax credit on eligible home renovation expenditures for work performed, or goods acquired between January 27, 2009 and February 1, 2010. The credit may be claimed on eligible expenditures exceeding $1,000 but no more than $10,000.

Properties eligible for the credit include houses, cottages and condominium units that are owned for personal use. (i.e., not rental properties)

The Home Renovation Tax Credit will be family-based (i.e., one credit per family).

The 15-per-cent credit may be claimed on the portion of eligible expenditures exceeding $1,000, but not more than $10,000, meaning that the maximum tax credit that can be received is $1,350 (9000 * 15%).

Renovation costs for projects such as finishing a basement or re-modelling a kitchen will be eligible for the credit, along with associated expenses such as building permits, professional services, equipment rentals and incidental expenses.

And don't get all excited... routine repairs and maintenance will not qualify for the credit. You can not claim the the cost of purchasing furniture, appliances, audio-visual electronics or construction equipment for your tax credit.

So go for the renovation which might increase the resale price of hour house!

Raj Khurana
Your Realtor for life
raj@rajkhurana.ca

ABR, e-PRO, PFP, CERC Relocation Specialist

Are you one of the many home sellers trying to sell your house?

Did you choose the Realtor who quoted the highest price for your house?

This is the most common mistake made by many home. The Listing Realtor lists your house for the highest price and tells you that someone out there will pay this price. Did you ever stop to think that this is a buyers' market? Even if it was a balanced market, most of the buyers work with Professional Realtors, who act as their advisors. Why will a Buyer's agent make his client put an offer on a house which is way too over priced?

Anyway, you end up reducing the price of your house eventualy. But the window of opportunity has already closed as most of the serious buyers who looked at your house end up buying someone ellse's house. The only option you are left with is either have the listing expire or reduce your price way too much and some buyer will take advantage of your desparation.

So why not start with an optimum price at the first place?

Raj Khurana
RE/MAX R.E. Mountain View
ABR, e-PRO, PFP, CERC Relocation Specialist
(403) 701-5151

raj@rajkhurana.ca

Managing our day timer is bcoming as big a task as managing our time is. I am sure all of us use some sort of calendar. Sometime back I tried Google's free online calendar and realized that this is probably one of the best online appointmnet management tool.

The best part of the calendar is that you can allow others to schedule and change your calendar. So you may allow your assistant to schedule your work appointments and your wife to schedule your personal/ family appointments. ( Well some of us might not like the idea of your wife looking at your calendar to find what you have on your calendar). It sure will help avoid a lot of overlapping appointments.

You are able to import data from Outlook Calendar and the best part is that you can sync the calendar with your iPhone or Blackberry.

Google Calendar

Raj Khurana
RE/MAX R.E. Mountain View
ABR, e-PRO

raj@rajkhurana.ca