REALTOR SHARES GOOD LIFE IN ROOM
Becky Walters likes city’s friendly vibe
Calgary Real Estate Board president Becky Walters is upbeat about the real estate market in Calgary and area.
But she’s cautious about what the future will bring.
“This has been a fabulous year. We had predicted a good solid year and we’ve seen higher increases in sales than expected,” says Walters, who is also a realtor at Royal LePage Benchmark.
“It’s putting people back on their feet as far as the equity in their homes, if they purchased at the high end. We’re back to the high prices we saw back in 2007 in single family homes in Calgary — and we’re seeing condominium sales and prices of condominiums really increasing, which is great.
“The market here has been fabulous and in surrounding towns as well.”
Walters, who served on the CREB’s board of directors for six years before becoming president this year, expects the Calgary region housing market will see a little bit of a slowdown for the rest of the year — “not a drop-down, just a slowdown. The markets have really changed this year, so people need to talk to their realtor to understand what’s going on and get an update on what is happening with their home and their community.”
Born in Vancouver, Walters grew up in that city and Cranbrook, B.C., attending Okanagan College before moving to Calgary in 1987.
She lived in Langdon for several years, getting to know the countryside around Calgary as a real estate agent before moving into the city nearly two decades ago.
In addition to work and family, “volunteering is what rounds out our lives. We have always been very serious volunteers,” says Walters, who works with her husband, realtor Bret Walters, at Royal LePage Benchmark. “That’s one of the reasons we are in that office — the office promotes you being a volunteer. We’ve been in the same office for 25 years.”
Among her volunteer activities, Walters has served as president of the parent association at Lord Beaverbrook High School and as a fundraiser for Scouts Canada.
Bret volunteered for the Calgary Stampede for 20 years, and both he and Becky have been volunteering for more than 20 years with the Calgary Real Estate Board Charitable Foundation, which supports a wide range of shelter-related charities and nonprofit organizations.
The CREB Charitable Foundation has raised more than $4.8 million in the past 26 years.
Walters and her husband, who have two grown sons, live in a bi-level home built in 1989, located on a corner lot. There is a deck in the back and a patio in the front.
Question: Which room in your home is your favourite and why?
Answer: My living room. I have big south-facing windows, and I look out onto a large perennial garden with big trees and lots of irises, hydrangeas and all kinds of things. I have crystals hanging in the window that catch the light coming in.
Question: What activities do you — and other family members — do in this room?
Answer: We do all our celebrations in there. This is where we open our birthday presents and where we have our Christmas. There is a big brick fireplace that goes from floor to ceiling — it’s the centrepiece of the room. It’s a beautiful room. When we
We do all our celebrations in there. This is where we open our birthday presents and where we have our Christmas.
BECKY WALTERS, CREB
have wonderful thunder and lightning storms, we watch the lightning in the south end of the city from this room.
Question: What is your favourite piece of furniture in this room?
Answer: I have an antique black wooden chair with a stitched cushion that I got from my mother; and she got it from a pastor in Cranbrook in the 1960s. I expect the chair dates back to the 1930s or 1940s.
Question: What is your favourite piece of art in this room?
Answer: A big acrylic, about 36 by 40 inches [86 by 101 centimetres], of a spring forest. I had a girlfriend, Deb Hendrickson, paint it for me. It’s got all the spring colours — the peachy greens and pale lime greens you see when you’re driving down through river bottoms. It’s gorgeous.
Question: Who designed this room?
Answer: My husband and I did. In the last couple years we’ve replaced pretty much everything but the fireplace.
We’ve redone the floors, the windows, the trim, the paint and the ceiling.
Question: Do you think of it as exclusively your room, or one shared with others?
Answer: Definitely shared. I enjoy sitting in it by myself, but it is better shared.
Question: How long have you lived in your house?
Answer: Eighteen years. My kids were young when we moved out here.
Question: What community is your house in? What do you like about the area?
Answer: We live in McKenzie Lake. When I first started in real estate, I lived in the country. I used to come door-knocking here as a realtor back in the late ’80s, before it was a lake community.
When we moved here in 1995, it was still a small town out on the edge of the city. That was the atmosphere we were looking for. It’s a residential community, it’s not a commercial community. That’s something that is re- ally nice. If you are driving through McKenzie Lake it’s because you live here or because you are visiting family and friends. (We go to McKenzie Towne or 130th Avenue for shopping).
Now we’re surrounded by the city, but it still has great access to Deerfoot Trail, Highway 22X and the Bow River. We love to go down to the river. It’s about a twominute drive, or a 10-minute walk.
Question: Have you seen your street and/or community change since you’ve moved there?
Answer: Very much. It’s more than doubled in size, and we are now surrounded by all kinds of communities.
Question: What do you like most about living in Calgary?
Answer: Calgary is the friendliest city I have ever lived in. We have one of the highest rates of volunteerism in the world.
I think it makes people more aware of each other — they take care of each other more.
And, Calgary has Fish Creek Provincial Park, one of the largest urban parks in Canada.