Buying a home is likely one of the biggest decisions of a person’s life from a financial perspective. For this reason, Home Tribe aims to help people use data and science to make better and more informed decisions related to buying a home. In addition to our Home Tribe Match function, which relies heavily on numerous datasets related to real estate, we will be expanding our blog to bring some of this data out from behind the scenes, and to showcase other cool information that is relevant or just plain awesome. 

Through our participation with the vibrant community of data enthusiasts  in Edmonton, we recently came across a request to redeploy the open source Chicago Building Age Map for Edmonton. The Home Tribe team was excited to take on the challenge. View the visualization of the City of Edmonton’s Building Age Map. 

Creating a local version of this map required some pretty intense data, including one of my personal favourite datasets that has been released through the City of Edmonton’s Open Data Catalogue: the rooflines dataset. I love this set because of the sheer amount of info it contains, which is clearly evident when you load it as a map. Combining this with the more recently released data on the year each building in Edmonton was built, allowed our team to put together the crazy visualization that you see below.

To really give the map a local feel, we figured it would be important to customize the date ranges that allow for focusing on specific periods of Edmonton’s history. Edmonton’s Architectural Heritage website divides our history into five major periods including “Urban Settlement”, “Urban Growth”, “The War Years” and “The Post War Years”. This was a great place to start, but we thought it would also be worthwhile looking at how population changed in Edmonton, and of course when there were major construction booms. Neighbourhood planner and Spruce Avenue Neighbourhood Historian, Wesley Andreas, also helped confirm and refine our planned time periods. Combining much of this information, and balancing it with the actual number of buildings built in each time period from the dataset displayed, we were able to subtly improve the history lesson that goes along with this quite eye-catching display of two extremely intense city datasets.

Have some fun; try to find the answers to these questions:

• What did the city look like at the end of WWII?
• When was your house built and how does this align with nearby areas?
• In what areas has the city been expanding most in the last decade or so?

On a budget? Purchase a couple tulips and some fake moss. Place them all in an old jar and voila!

Enjoy Decorating Your Edmonton Home This Easter With Our Tips

Forget the Easter bunny and splurging on chocolates! This Easter, I say we celebrate the arrival of Spring. After all, we did survive a harsh Edmonton winter…the thought of walking my dog in 30-something below zero still makes me shiver. So, how exactly does one celebrate Spring? By decorating your Edmonton condo of course! (Think bright colourful tulips, chirping birds, and lush green plants.)

Follow these Easter decorating tips to help you shake away the winter blues and make your Edmonton condo feel like something off a Disney movie.

• Incorporate Natural Elements To Your Edmonton Home’s Interior: Hit up the nearest Michaels or Bed Bath & Beyond for some supplies and incorporate spring-themed natural elements such as a tiny bird’s nest, tulips, succulents, or moss to your home’s interior.
• Transform Flat Surfaces Into A Seasonal Display: Fireplace mantels, side tables, and the centre of your dinette make great locations for a seasonal display.
• Add An Easter Wreath To Your Door: Welcome your guests and passerby’s with a colourful Easter wreath. Simply attach some egg-filled nests, twine-and-raffia carrots, and some moss.
• Create A Zesty Centrepiece: It’s super easy to make, just purchase an all-white Easter Centrepiece then add halved oranges and lemons. All you need to do is cut the fruit, skewer the halves on floral picks, and slide them into arrangements before your guests arrive. It’s enough to make Snow White jealous!

There are so many tips and Easter decorating tips out there that keeping track of them would be a full-time job! Nevertheless we would love to read your tips and tricks for celebrating spring, decorating for Easter, or entertaining kids with Easter-themed activities. Do you have a great Easter decorating idea? Be sure to leave a comment below.

2016 is the REALTORS® Community Foundation’s (RCF) 30th year of giving back. RCF is an Edmonton based organization that brings together realtors with local communities to assist in funding and supporting charities that focus on homelessness, shelter, hunger, preventing crime, and other special projects.

Just like Elisse and our Home Tribe team, RCF is dedicated to caring, sharing and investing in our community!

In 2015, Elisse donated a portion of funds for each deal she closed. Thanks to our contributions and other amazing agents in the Edmonton region , RCF was able to announce that $308,000 went directly to some fantastic Edmonton and surrounding area charities!

These charities included working with hungry children,homeless youth, people suffering with addictions or mental illness and more. Each of these were all given a hand up because of the parts Realtors played in RCF’s collective success.

As Jill Didow would say, “Realtors are truly the most generous people i know”. By donating, we have been a part of helping over 50 charities with 100,000 people and counting being assisted. Discover more about the Realtors Community Foundation of Edmonton and how Realtors support and care for their communities.

Building Improvement into Your Mortgage

When prospectivee home buyers get into bidding wars trying to buy the home of their dreams, it can often price out those with lower incomes or first time home buyers with small down payments. In this type of market, it can be more beneficial to purchase a fixer-upper at a lower initial cost and then renovate the home to increase its value. However, the renovations can also be costly, which deters many buyers from taking on such a big commitment. To assist with the process, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which issues government mortgage loans to those with down payments of less than 20 percent, developed the CMHC Improvements Program.

What Is the CMHC Improvements Program?

Under this program, the CMHC allows home buyers to include the costs of renovations into the amount of the mortgage. Qualified borrowers can borrow up to 10 percent of the improved value of the home to cover the costs of the renovations. The upgrades must improve the home itself, so new appliances will not be covered, as you may decide to take them with you if you decide to sell the house.

Benefits to the Home Buyer

This program can be a great option for first time home buyers who cannot afford to make a large down payment and fund renovations at the same time. It is also a great way to quickly build equity in the home, as the home’s value increases as soon as the renovations are complete. By rolling the costs into the mortgage, buyers can take advantage of the low interest rate. This is a much less expensive financing option; funding renovations and repairs with a credit card, personal loan or line of credit will cost the buyer a lot more in the long run as these options come with much higher interest rates. In addition, by increasing the value of the home, the homeowner will make a nice profit when he or she decides to sell the house later on.

Benefits to the Community

This program does not just help the homebuyer; it helps the entire community as well. When the value of one home in a neighbourhood increases, it improves the quality of the area. It can contribute to raising the value of other nearby homes as well. This can help those homeowners afford to make renovations, and the cycle continues.

The process of obtaining a mortgage and purchasing a home can be a daunting one. A qualified real estate agent can help. For all your Edmonton home buying and selling needs, contact Elisse Moreno at HomeTribe. Our talented team is standing by to help get you into your dream home.

The last half of 2015 was quite the time for Elisse Moreno and all of us here at Home Tribe! Not only was Home Tribe (our new app matching buyers to their ideal homes based on lifestyle) launched in Oct 2015, Elisse was also recognized at her office with two very prestigious awards:

• RE/MAX Excellence Rookie of the Year
• Executive Sale Club – given to RE/MAX Sales Associates whose paid commissions in a given year totalled $50,000 to $99,999. (sales from June -Dec 2015)

We want to thank everyone who helped us achieve such amazing success in 2015:

• This includes our many business mentors
• Our unbelievable clients who help us wake up everyday excited and ready to do more
• Our families including my husband Roberto Moreno and my father Wayne William Heine who is also a rockstar REALTOR is his own right.

2016 promises to be an even more exciting year – we hope you join us on our journey of helping enhance the Edmonton Real Estate market!