So I'm watching the Calgary Flames game earlier tonight and that inspires me to do something I haven't done in a long time – look at the MLS listings for our old neighbourhood in Calgary.
I'll admit that when we first left Calgary in 2004, I did this search on a WAY too regular basis. We'd bought a unit in an under-valued condo complex (due to an ongoing lawsuit with the developer – long story!) with the thought that if the lawsuit was resolved within a year or two, we'd potentially stand to make a killing.
That didn't happen and when we sold because I was offered a job back in Saskatchewan, we made a bit of money but not nearly the big score that I'd hoped for in the hot Calgary real estate market (we actually bought close to the top of the market plus a day's hesitation in making our offer meant we ended up in a bidding war with one other buyer. Try to explain to your parents back in Saskatchewan that you had to pay MORE than the list price for a place to live!)
That's all changed and the Alberta oil and resources boom has hit in Saskatchewan. Our province has the hottest economy in the country and after initially being depressed when we moved home that we'd never have a chance to potentially have such a big real estate gain, our house has ended up doubling in value in three years. When you look at the price we paid in Calgary and what we got when we sold versus the same ratio in Regina, it's no contest – Regina's real estate market has kicked ass the last few years and we timed our buy here WAY better.
Which is all a long way to say that when I looked at the condos in our old neighbourhood tonight, not only did I see a unit for sale in our old building but the exact unit that we used to own is currently listed! (Here's a pic from when we drove by it during a trip to Calgary earlier this summer.)
(Our unit was on the third floor, somewhere in the middle left of this picture. If I had a digital camera back then or was near a scanner, I'd be posting some of the wicked Calgary skyline view photos we took from our balcony!)
I don't know if the lawsuit got settled or not but our old condo's definitely jumped in price since we owned it as well – although it's been four years since we sold as opposed to the brief two years we owned it. One other irony? It's the same salesperson selling it as we used and who sold it to us when we bought it. He and his wife specialize in inner-city condos but it's hilarious that, like clockwork every few years, this guy is the one who's really making a score on this particular condo!
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