All Blog Entries by Justin Havre

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Found 254 blog entries published by Justin Havre.

The Best Meditation Classes in Calgary, ABCalgary has a wide variety of excellent places to take meditation classes and places to learn about different types of meditating if you're interested in pursuing it. You can take group classes, acquire one-on-one training, and even go on retreats.

I Meditate Calgary

Coming each April, I Meditate Calgary will provide a gathering place for people to meditate together at the BMO Centre in the Palomino Room. This is an event to symbolize the need for a stress-free and violence-free society. By meditating, you can relax your mind and re-energize through breathing. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will lead the event, along with a few others coming up in the Calgary area.

Those interested in becoming a part of the movement can attend the launch event on April

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The Best Beer and Alcohol Tastings Across CalgaryTaking a tour of a brewery or a distillery can be quite a bit of fun. If you have a group of good friends that all enjoy beer or liquor, one of the Calgary boozy tours and tastings is perfect for you. Here are some of the top choices.

Eau Claire Distillery

This distillery is one of the most popular in the area. They took over the historic Turner Valley Theatre and allow tours regularly. With the historic building and the distillery all in one place, this is well worth the drive for your boozy tour.

You will get to enjoy a "farm-to-glass" distillery that uses all Alberta ingredients. If you just go for a tasting, you can visit from 10am to 4:30pm, Wednesday through Sunday. Tours are available by appointment only.

The Grizzly Paw

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Home Buying Red Flags All Buyers Must KnowBuying a new home is a huge investment, and buyers want to ensure that the home they buy is right for them. As buyers go to home showings, they will discover that some homes have big problems that become deal breakers. However, what they may not realize is that homes may also have problems that aren’t so obvious. Here are some big red flags, both visible and otherwise, that all home buyers should be looking out for to protect themselves  from a bad deal.

For informational purposes only. Always consult with a licensed real estate professional before proceeding with any real estate transaction.

1. Everyone Is Moving Out

Some seasons are more popular for moving than others, so buyers may see multiple homes in the same neighborhood for sale.

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The Best Neighbor Day Events in CalgaryNeighbour Day is a holiday in Calgary that began about 5 years ago, after the city experienced devastating floods and the local residents banned together to overcome the devastation. Now, it's a beloved annual tradition that aims to celebrate what makes the city of Calgary great. There are activities and events planned throughout the city, all of which are designed to bring people together.

These are the best celebration ideas for Neighbour Day in Calgary:

Neighbour Day Market

For centuries, markets have been a gathering place where people can take care of business, have a conversation with their neighbours and get a bite to eat. The first Neighbour Day Market will take place from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on June 15 at the Panorama Hills

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The Best Summer Festivals in CalgaryThere are a number of great festivals in Calgary year-round, and as the air warms up and spring gives way to summer, people flood the streets in search of a great festival to attend. If you're interested in visiting a festival this summer, look no further than one of these great Calgary summer festivals.

The Calgary Fringe Festival

The Calgary Fringe Festival is coming this August. This festival is an uncensored theatre festival and started in 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has become one of the largest art festivals in the world and the Calgary festival is the second largest in the world drawing nearly 800,000 guests each year.

Plenty of entertainment will be provided with many different shows taking the stage.

If you need more

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Home Addition Planning TipsInstead of buying a new home, some homeowners come to a point and need to update their space to meet changing needs. However, Canadian residents cannot build a home addition without taking into account various factors. Not doing so may result in issues when going to sell a home. What do homeowners need to know before constructing a home addition? Understand how to build an addition that will accommodate various needs and meet legal requirements.

Decide What You Need to Achieve

Determining specific goals will help in designing and budgeting for a home addition. Canadian residents may want to:

  • Improve traffic flow;
  • Boost storage space; or
  • Increase living space.

Homeowners need to map out what a home addition will accomplish,

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Buying a Home? Why Care About Credit ScoresCanadian residents may want to move from renting to owning a home. In some areas, it may be a great time to snap up an available property and start building equity in a home of your own. One key element that will be reviewed by any potential lender is that of a mortgage applicant's credit score. Potential homebuyers who anticipate requiring a mortgage loan in order to afford to purchase a home need to look at their credit scores and learn more about the relationship between credit scores and mortgage loans. Those with high credit scores may be easily preapproved for a mortgage, reducing the possibility of potential obstacles when working with a seller in competitive housing markets, such as Vancouver and Toronto.

A credit score is only one

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Adding a deck brings value even to Canadian homes. Read some examplesIt is understandable if adding a deck is not at the top of many Canadian homeowner's lists. Summers tend to be shorter and the time to enjoy them limited. With a little consideration, however, adding a deck can add real value to a home and help when planning to sell a home. Whether it is a smaller, straight-forward single level deck or a large, complex, multi-level deck designed for dining and socializing, here are several ways a deck can add value to any home.

Decks Have High Return on Investment

According to Remodeling Magazine's annual Cost vs Value Reports, adding a wood deck usually adds 75-80% of its cost to the value of a home. That means adding a deck that costs $10,000 will immediately add up to $8,000 to the value of a home. This is

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What to Know When Refinancing Your MortgageThere are times when it makes sense to refinance your mortgage. It is however, important to have a clear financial objective in mind to be able to choose the most appropriate loan.

Since interest rates are at a 40-year low, switching to a lower rate may save you a lot of money – possibly thousands of dollars per year. There are penalties for paying your mortgage loan out prior to renewal, however these could be offset by the extra money you save through a refinance.

For informational purposes only. Always consult with a mortgage specialist before proceeding with any real estate transaction.

Before deciding whether or not to refinance, you need to determine what you want to accomplish. Remember, a refinance doesn't pay off the debt; it just

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How to Effectively Negotiate the Cost of a HomeThere are many, many books written on negotiation. There are as many good books as there are bad. In the past, manipulation used to be the standard method of choice for negotiating. Learning how to control and use subtle techniques to get what you want, and then leave the other side without a leg to stand on. This ultimately led to prolonged negotiations, with one side feeling cheated. As a result, that side would likely choose not to do business with the other party in the future, or would go out of their way to compensate for their losses. As a result, both sides would lose.

Business has changed. The knowledge and expectation of consumers has increased dramatically. The average consumer has done their homework and now brings a lot more to the

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