Occupied downtown Calgary office space at 2008 level

This is great news for the housing market as all those workers are moving into Calgary and will need places to live. There are details of the increasing need for housing in my free reports and most of these people will need a Calgary mortgage broker.

Large blocks of space short in supply

CALGARY — Occupied office space in downtown Calgary has surpassed the level reached during the height of the real estate market in the second quarter of 2008.

A report by Colliers International says that occupied space has reached 33.7 million square feet in the first quarter of this year. Read More

The ‘thrill’ of buying a house

You walk into the open house, take one look and say to yourself: This is it. It’s the house I have to live in. Where do I pay? A bidding war? I’m in.

Over my years of buying houses, I never bought one that did not have that frisson moment, that thrill of finding a place so suited to my wants. Indeed, I have in the past decided that I wanted to buy a house in what seems, in retrospect, to be nanoseconds. (By contrast, I’ve taken weeks to decide on the right pair of shoes.) Read More

Experts best at brokering mortgage

Denise Deveau, Postmedia News · Mar. 30, 2011 | Last Updated: Mar. 30, 2011 4:04 AM ET

Cheryl Hutton and Aaron Coates always thought getting a mortgage would be a challenge. But within 18 days of visiting a mortgage broker, they were able to close a deal on a new townhouse in Calgary without a hitch. Read More

Real estate: A ‘secret’ tax shelter

By Jason Heath

TFSAs have been a welcome addition to the tax shelter landscape in Canada, but they leave something to be desired for those with substantial assets and maxed out RRSP and TFSA room.

Film limited partnerships have disappeared, charitable donation tax shelters were flawed from the start and the investment tax credit for flow-through shares may or may not be extended in the next budget. Read More

Canada in middle of growth spurt, to lead G7 in first half of 2011: OECD

Canada is like the average student in the poor class, not the brilliant student in an average class. But, as Charlie Sheen says, “winning!”

By The Associated Press

OTTAWA – A leading international think-tank says Canada will lead its peers in the G7 in economic growth during the first half of this year. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says the outlook for economic growth has brightened for all G7 countries, with the exception of Japan . Read More