At first glance, it looks like any other new home.

Avalon Master Builders’ Discovery 4 House is a quaint two-storey with cedar shakes and stone detailing, an eye-catching crimson door, grey siding and a spacious front deck.

But upon closer inspection, there are other, more unexpected details as well — solar panels on the roof, solar thermal panels framing the windows and a solar thermal balustrade offer just a hint of what this forward-thinking home is all about.

“The Discovery 4 House is the culmination of years of work towards meeting our vision of building Net-Zero homes at no additional cost to consumers by 2015,” says Ryan Scott, Avalon’s CEO.

“This was a really interesting challenge, but once you look around, you’ll see it’s come together really, really well.”

The home — which is currently located on the SAIT campus, but will move to its permanent home in McKenzie Towne this spring — offers not just new technology, but old favourites as well.

The front foyer looks to a sunny dining room at right, where honey-hued maple hardwood comes with a history.

Reclaimed from a school gym in Canmore, the flooring is not only attractive, but eco-friendly.

At the back of the home, an L-shaped kitchen is outfitted with espresso-hued, shaker style cabinetry, along with a central island and corner pantry.

A spacious dining nook, private back entry and convenient laundr y room and half-bath complete the thoughtfully-planned main floor — however, there’s more to this space than meets the eye.

“What you don’t see is the structural insulated panel walls, which give you a much more consistent building envelope,” Scott says.

“It also gives you more than double the insulative properties for the same thickness. We also have triple-pane, low-E, argon-filled windows and LED lights, which are very efficient.”

The same standards apply upstairs, he adds, where environmentally friendly carpeting is plush underfoot, and where two secondary bedrooms, a generous full bath and a welcoming master bedroom await.

With its cosy, attic-inspired feel and a sunny, spacious ensuite, the master bedroom is an inviting space to relax much like the rest of the home.

“The house feels comfortable, like a normal house,” Scott says.

“It’s simple to operate and comfortable to live in.”

And even better, the Net-Zero home creates all the energy it consumes on an annual basis through its innovative use of photovoltaic energy, solar thermal energy and eco-friendly technologies.

But even with the space-age sounding extras, Ald. Bob Hawkesworth says the home is perfectly livable, and serves as a reminder to home buyers of just what’s possible in modern home design.

“One home may seem like a small step, but when you think about it, that’s how real change happens — with one small step,” he says.

“I see not just Calgary’s first Net-Zero home, I see the future it represents.”

FAST FACTS BUILDER: Avalon Master Builder AREA: Currently at SAIT, moving to McKenzie Towne this spring. PRICE: $550,000 including lot, landscaping and double-car garage. DIRECTIONS: Take 16 Ave. to 12 St. N.W. Turn into SAIT campus. Turn right at traffic circle and follow to Discovery 4 House. HOURS: Monday to Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m., weekends and holidays, noon to 5 p.m. CONTACT: For information, visit http://www.avalonmasterbuilder.com

CALGARY - Calgary’s economy will rebound nicely this year and go on to lead the country starting in 2011, the Conference Board of Canada said Wednesday.

In its annual outlook for the cities, the board forecast Calgary’s economy will grow three per cent this year. That comes after a 2.3 per cent decline in 2009, the first drop in two decades.

“Fortunately, the initial stages of an economic recovery are starting to take hold,” the board said in its winter outlook.

“Both housing demand and prices are on the rebound, whil overall consumer confidence is gaining some upward momentum.”

Retail sales are expected to jump 4.2 per cent this year, the forecast said.

In 2010, Calgary’s economic growth will put it in the middle of the pack at 10th place. Vancouver is expected to lead the group at 4.5 per cent, boosted by the Olympic Games that begin next month.

A full recovery in the oilpatch should help propel Calgary’s economic growth to 4.4 per cent in 2010, the strongest among the provinces, the report noted.

This won’t hurt a bit, homebuyers.

Calgary housing became slightly more affordable in 2009, but it’s still just the 23rd most affordable place to own a home from a list of 28 Canadian cities, according to the Winnipeg-based Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

In a study released Monday, the centre found Thunder Bay and Windsor, both in Ontario, were tied for most affordable Canadian cities and Vancouver was the least affordable.

In fact, Vancouver was also the least affordable among the 272 cities in the international study, which covered Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

As Canada’s resale housing market boomed and prices rose in 2009, affordability fell, sending the national average to a reading of 3.7 from 3.5 the year before. (A higher score indicates less affordability).

That would place Canada’s overall housing market in the “moderately unaffordable” category — from 3.1 to 4.0. The numbers are calculated by dividing the median residential house sale price for the third quarter by median annual gross household income.

In Vancouver, for example, a median home price of $540,900 was divided by median household income of $58,200 to create a multiple of 9.3, which the group describes as “severely unaffordable” — any reading of 5.1 and over.

Calgary, with an affordability index of 4.6, is just slightly less affordable than Prairie rivals Saskatoon (4.4) and Edmonton (4.1). On the international list, Calgary is 188th and its nearest neighbours are Eugene-Springfield, Ore.; Palmerston North-Manawatu, New Zealand; and Dundee, U.K. It’s just slightly more affordable than Dublin, Ireland.

Calgary and Edmonton became fractionally more affordable in 2009 after climbing two points over the previous four years. In 2008, Calgary’s index was 4.8 and Edmonton’s was 4.2.

Toronto moved from a reading of 4.8 to 5.2, moving it into the severely unaffordable category, while Montreal moved from a reading of 4.6 to 4.9.

“Montreal is approaching severely unaffordable for the first time. It appears Montreal has caught up to its urban growth limit and this has now become a real constraint on land supply,” the group said.

Victoria was second only to Vancouver, with its reading rising from 7.4 to 7.9, while Ottawa’ hot housing market remained within the realm of the moderately unaffordable, at least as measured as part of the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area, with a reading of 3.8, up from 3.4 the year before.

dhealing@theherald.canwest.com

Calgary Herald

Here is a good video I found on YouTube about Calgary. Even though we have Country Bars & Stampede, we’re definitely not that Country .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9S02NDPs_s

watch?v=U9S02NDPs_s

CALGARY - In two years, Calgary’s resale real estate market has gone from “sizzle to fizzle to simmer,” incoming Calgary Real Estate Board president Diane Scott said Wednesday.

Aff ordability and low interest rates will keep the pot slowly boiling this year, creating modest growth in sales and prices, she predicted as the board hosted its annual forecast conference.

A panel of economists mostly concurred with the board’s projection of a continuation of the gradual recovery experienced in the second half of 2009, faltering later this year as low interest rates rise to more normal levels.

Scott told about 1,000 real estate agents in attendance a recovery in Calgary’s market is highly dependent on prices for oil and gas.

“Calgary and Alberta remain tied to global energy markets and, ultimately, the outlook for oil and gas will play a big role in employment and migration to Calgary,” she said. “The good news is we have the energy to recover.

“The road will be a little bumpy, but there is light on the horizon.”

The board estimates Calgary-region single-family home sales will climb to 17,000 from 14,440 in 2009 and 7,000 condominium units will change hands, versus 6,328 last year.

In 2007, single-family sales added up to 18,438 and there were 8,236 condos sold. In 2008, the numbers were 13,455 and 5,661, respectively, with the single-family number the lowest since 1996.

The board predicts the average price for a single-family home in Calgary in 2010 will jump six per cent to $470,000 from $442,327 last year and the average condo price will rise 4.3 per cent to $296,000 from $283,734 in 2009.

The average single-family home price peaked at $505,920 in July 2007 and condo prices hit a record $332,237 in May 2007.

Surrounding towns are expected to experience 14 per cent higher sales and 3.2 per cent growth in average prices.

The downtown apartment condo market is expected to be particularly slow this year, while smaller, single-family homes and lower-priced segments will lead in sales and price growth.

Scott noted that younger people buying starter homes have fuelled the market’s recovery so far. Better afford-ability will help encourage 15,000 people to relocate to Calgary this year, the board predicts.

The low level of listings in the market at year-end is expected to grow throughout 2010, giving buyers more options.

“We will not likely tip to a seller’s market until the end of 2010 and into 2011,” said Scott, describing the current market as “balanced.”

Panellist Adam Legge, chief economist for Calgary Economic Development, said he doesn’t think the pace of the recovery in the city in the second half of 2009 is sustainable because the recovery in the larger economy is largely based on stimulus spending and inventory replacement.

He said news Tuesday that the ConocoPhillips and Total plan to expand production at the Surmont in situ oilsands discovery near Fort McMurray, while encouraging, won’t necessarily help create jobs and confidence in Calgary.

“We’re going to see probably a number of years of very, very tepid growth in Calgary,” he said. “There’s not going to be any zooming to the nearly eight per cent GDP growth we saw in 2006.”

Warren Jestin, chief economist for Scotiabank, said he’s not a “double-dipper” — a proponent of a quick return to recession — but he does predict better-than-expected growth in the national economy in early 2010 to slow down in the second half of the year as the Bank of Canada raises its trendsetting interest rate by as much as 200 basis points.

He said the economy, after bumping along the bottom in the first half of 2009, is in a “good news” phase now, but that’s only because there’s less frequent bad news (such as Wednesday’s stock market sell-off).

Two real estate agents questioned panellist Richard Cho, Calgary market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., about whether the federal government will increase the minimum allowable down payment for first-time homebuyers above the existing five per cent.

Cho said the government is looking at it as an option, to prevent homebuyers from taking on too much debt, but added that the change wouldn’t have a great impact on the housing market because not many people use it.

dhealing@theherald. canwest.com

The Home Sweet Hom Team will be teaming up with Donna Lodberg ( www.donnalodberg.com )& Jaime Coulter ( http://jamiecoulter.ca )  from The Mortgage Center at this years Wedding Fair. Please stop by our booth and say HI & enter to WIN A 42″ Television!

Show Information

Calgary’s largest and longest running Bridal Fair® !

The Wedding Fair is the most popular bridal show in Alberta.

Sunday, January 24, 2010
Roundup Centre ~ Stampede Park
Exhibition Hall open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Fashion Shows at 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m. & 4:00 p.m.

Attending a bridal show is very helpful in planning your wedding because you can meet with many Calgary and area wedding specialists all in one location. Bring your girlfriends, mom, and even your fiancé and enjoy the day. Many vendors will be giving away items as a promotion of the show, and you can only benefit from these if you attend. Each bride will receive a complimentary copy of the Calgary Bride and have the opportunity of getting the latest copy of Weddingbells Magazine for the discounted rate of $2.00.

Tips for Attending a Bridal Show

1. Wear comfortable clothing and walking shoes. You’ll be glad you did.
2. Be prepared to register at the door. Be patient! This is well worth it.
3. Bring preprinted self-adhesive address labels if you have them with your name, address, phone, email, and wedding date. This will save you time and allow you to sign up for anything you want very quickly.
4. Bring a pen and print very clearly when registering for anything.
5. Bring your cheque book in case you decide to book services or hold dates with a deposit. Be sure to check on refund policies before giving any money, and read the contract carefully before signing.
6. Collect any information you are interested in - take it home to look over again when you have some quiet time.
7. If you cannot attend, send someone in your place to register you for prizes and collect information on services you need.
8. It is nice if your fiancé attends with you and he will enjoy the “Groom’s Room” Many guys attend, so he won’t be the only one there!
9. Allow yourself three hours to visit the exhibits and watch the exciting fashion show

Relax and have fun—this is your wedding.

Info provided by : http://www.theweddingfair.ca/