688 Warwick Rd, Edmonton – Beautiful. One word that sums up this newly listed home in Dunluce. With its 4-level split design, this property features 4 spacious bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms and a double detached garage. This home eagerly awaits its new owner, and by that, we mean YOU!

Dunluce 4 Level Split

Its splendid south facing backyard (complete with irrigation system) is ideal for providing substantial amounts of natural lighting. Accented by mature trees and low-maintenance landscaping, this is the perfect place to have barbecues all weekend long while watching the kids play.

Excellent Backyard

If the cover of a book is worth judging, then why stop there? Take a look at what’s inside that really makes this beauty stand out above the others.

House Interior

A smart combination of classic meets modern, this 1184 sq. ft. home features all the appliances you’d expect from a house of this caliber, but one thing you might not see coming is the generous amount of cabinet space!

Spacious Rooms

Find out how this could be yours by clicking here.

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EDMONTON- A new mandatory warranty program designed to protect people buying new homes across the province comes into affect this weekend.

The government calls the New Home Buyer Protection Act the strongest consumer home warranty protection plan in Canada.

“This legislation will help protect the single largest purchase that most people make…a home,” said Minister of Municipal Affairs Ken Hughes.

Ninety per cent of homes built in Alberta already have new home warranty, but the new legislation will require all builders to provide more comprehensive home warranty coverage for all new homes and condominiums built in the province.

At minimum, all new homes will have the following warranty protection:

• one year labour and materials – this covers the way the home was built or the materials it was built with, such as flooring and trim;
• two years distribution systems – this covers the labour and materials related to heating, plumbing and electrical systems;
• five years building envelope protection – this covers the exterior shell of the home, including the roof and walls, and includes a requirement for the warranty provider to offer the consumer the option to purchase two additional years of building envelope coverage; and,
• ten years coverage for key structural components, including its frame and foundation.

“Reputation is very important,” said Tally Hutchinson, vice president of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, Edmonton Region. “And we will continue to build homes with best practice and we think that this initiative is very, very important for the consumer and for the industry.”

However, not everyone is convinced. Homeowner Meaghen Allen took possession of her home over four months ago and says she’s still fighting with her builder over several issues.

“The side of our house stairwells, we didn’t have an exit there. The garage, the electrical to the garage, lighting fixtures. Just the quality of work, the stairs, the paint,” she said. “And just too, they were building properties next door to us.”

Allen says going through warranty hasn’t worked, either.

“My experience with New Home Warranty is that they don’t do anything,” she explained. “I have dealt with New Home Warranty (on) three different houses, and three different houses, nothing out of it.”

However, the province maintains it will hold builders and warranty companies accountable. In order to crack down on negligent builders, fines of up to $500,000 can be handed out. The Superintendent of Insurance will also investigate consumer complaints against warranty providers.

“Our new home buyer protection office has compliance officers who will monitor compliance,” said Ivan Moore, assistant deputy minister, Public Safety Division, Municipal Affairs.

The Act will only apply to homes with a building permit applied for after Saturday, Feb. 1.

The New Home Buyer Protection Act was passed in November 2012, and was originally supposed to come into effect last fall. However, that date was pushed back to Feb. 1, 2014 to give warranty providers more time to prepare, the government said.

For more information on the Act, including access to warranty information, visit the Government of Alberta’s website.

Source: GlobalNews.ca

Canadian new home prices rose more than expected in January and hit a record high, but the pace of growth was the slowest since March, adding to evidence that the housing sector is starting to cool.

But that was nation wide and things are a little different here in Alberta. There is just too much going on in the oil and gas industry that going to keep the Alberta economy very strong.

So I do expect prices of homes but new and resale to rise during the balance of this year and next year as well.

According to figures released by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) in May, housing starts in the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) totalled 355 units in April compared with 683 units in April 2008. After four months of activity so far this year, total housing starts have amounted to 1,116 units across Greater Edmonton, down from 2,998 units recorded during January to April of 2008.

Builders poured foundations for 206 single-detached homes in April, representing an increase of almost 16% from the 178 units started in April 2008. “This represents the first year-over-year improvement in single-detached activity since June 2007,” noted Richard Goatcher, CMHC’s Senior Market Analyst based in Edmonton. To the end of April, 607 single-detached homes began construction across Greater Edmonton, down from 835 units during the first four months of 2008.

Multi-family starts, which consist of semi-detached, row and apartment units, remained on a downtrend in April. A 26% year-over-year gain in row starts was offset by continued weakness in new apartment activity. Semi-detached, row and apartment starts totalled 149 units in April, representing a decrease of about 71% from the 505 multiple unit starts in the same month last year. Multiple starts have amounted to 509 units across Metro Edmonton from January through April, down nearly 77% from 2,163 multiple starts tallied in the first four months of 2008.

Housing starts in Alberta’s seven largest cities totalled 794 units in April, representing a decrease of 61% from 2,034 units in April 2008. All seven cities reported year-over-year declines.

Exclusive Listing 

Incredible 4 bedroom 2 storey with 2,244 sq.ft. of living space.  Features large family room, fireplace, hardwood and ceramic flooring, island kitchen, and a large master bedroom with 4 pce. ensuite and walk-in closet.  Price includes  all appliances.

Brand new 1,310 sq.ft. 3 bedroom 2 storey home.  Features many extra upgrades such as ceramic tile, hardwood, light fixtures, and upgraded berber carpet.  The large eat-in kitchen also features upgrade cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.  Upstairs the master bedroom has both a 4pce. ensuite bath and walk-in closet that you don’t have to worry about being so dark as it has it’s own window.  Purchase price includes a $850 landscaping deposit to be payable to new purchase upon completion of front landscaping.  The home also features a covered front veranda.

It’s house-hunting season. The FOR SALE signs are everywhere. The weekend Open Houses are beginning to heat up (even though the weather isn’t), and anyone thinking of moving house in the summer knows that now is the time for action. But in today’s tight economy we’re all working with a new set of unknowns. Gone are the days when we could treat a mortgage number as an abstract entity, assuming that somehow or other our wages would go up, the value of our properties would appreciate, and all would be well. Now, more than at any time in the lives of those currently in the housing market, we must think very carefully about our living arrangements. But it’s not all doom and gloom. In fact, there may be some good that comes at a time when, rather than feeling pushed to buy beyond our means, we’re being asked to reflect carefully on what we really want and need out of a home. Here are some points to ponder.

1. Avoid simplistic square foot equations.
Compared to people in many other parts of the world, we in North America have grown up in an age of rock-bottom real estate values. This has encouraged large building lots, houses whose size far outstrips our needs, and low-density suburbs that extend outside of a city’s core. There’s no denying the allure of having lots of elbow room and views of nature, along with all the conveniences of modern living, but we’d do well to remember that there’s not much evidence of a connection between the size of a house and its psychological value as a home. In fact, ongoing scientific studies suggest that how we use our living space is much more important than how much living space we have. It’s time to jettison the old-fashioned idea that the size of our home is a measure of our success and think instead of what we need to be happy.

2. Distinguish between what you want and what you want to be seen to have.
We each have many different selves and they can be difficult to keep straight. We have our inner, private selves, the selves we present to our partners and other loved ones, and the public faces we present to co-workers, acquaintances and strangers. When choosing a home, make sure that you are thinking of the person you really are rather than of the image you might want to convey publicly. This can be an exceptionally difficult distinction to make, but it is worth taking the time to do so. It’s not your image of yourself that has to live in your home, it’s you!

3. Value shared spaces.
When assessing whether a house will suit your needs, think of creative ways to combine functions within rooms to save space. Do you really need a separate dining room? Will a craft room ever be used? Does each child actually need a separate bedroom? Think carefully about how you use your current spaces and consider how you could consolidate, re-purpose and rationalize their various uses. Doing this properly can not only save you a fortune; it can transform the patterns of your life in ways that will increase your comfort and satisfaction.

4. Think creatively about outdoor play.
Most of us would like to have a giant backyard big enough for a play set, a pool, a garden and a small forest of trees, but building lots large enough to accommodate all of these wishes can constrain our house search and stretch our budget beyond the comfort level. If you have children, look for opportunities to stretch play areas by utilizing often-unused front yard spaces. Can neighbours join together to knock down some fences and make a shared yard? It can take some time to overcome our psychological resistance to such measures — when it comes to home spaces, we’re not used to sharing — but evidence suggests that such communal outdoor arrangements promote physical and mental health in both children and adults.

5. Buy for yourself and not for the next person.
When times are uncertain, it’s hard to resist the urge to try to plan for every eventuality, no matter how unlikely it might seem. This can mean that we begin to assess potential homes as investments as well as living spaces. To a point, there’s nothing wrong with this approach, especially if it helps our psychological comfort levels. But once we start looking at houses as if we are potential sellers rather than potential buyers, our perspectives can shift and we can lose sight of our own wants and needs. Think carefully about how to protect your own interests, but remember that right now you are the one who needs a home and your needs should come first.