Steven Wolf TailSteven Wolf Tail; Strathmore AB, July 1st 2018 post race.

As the day was warm and they were going to be there for a while, I went out to offer water for men and dogs. My dog followed me out, and a conversation ensued about dogs and dads - my dog and one of the crew members coming from the same First Nation down south - and about one young man's knee injury. He said he'd come off a horse during a relay race, a sport I'd never heard of. He had to get back to the fencing, but invited us out to Strathmore over the weekend to see this relay. 

On arriving at the rodeo grounds, armed with our usual kit of cameras and long lenses, we asked if we could cross the track and shoot from the infield. "No problem", someone said, "just watch out for the horses." 

We had zero clue what we were about to see. ZEEE RO. We didn't know about the regalia, the team colours, the war paint, or how intense, fast, dangerous and absolutely mind-blowing this sport, Indian Relay, is. At the end of the first race, all 3.2 minutes of it encompasing three heats, we could barely breathe. We both stood there looking at each other going "Holy absolute crap, that was AMAZING." It has been a very long time since I fell in love that fast and that hard. 

I stepped out onto the track hoping to catch the riders returning to the start line, thinking they would continue around the track again to cool down their horses. Nope. What I didn't know was four still-hot thoroughbreds were coming at me from behind. The race is counter-clockwise but they come back clockwise. Suddenly, a big strong arm was around my back and my face was mashed into someone's chest as they dragged me out of the way... Above me, I heard a voice say, "We're going to have to keep you alive." That's how I met Dexter Bruised Head, who was created the Canadian Indian Relay Racing Association (CIRRA). 

Having done what he promised, and me being very much still alive, he asked if I would photograph the winners of each heat. 

I had still not found our young friend, Steven Wolf Tail, who had invited us to come see relay. I had just photographed a team wearing bright crimson shirts, when the rider jumped off his horse, sprinted across the track and hugged me. Steven. 

Since that day, my spouse and co-photographer and I have followed relay around southern Alberta. We have been welcomed by the teams and their families, by the communities where relays take place. It has been the quintessential experience of our lives. 

From day one, we decided to support relay, and the teams, with photography. We don't charge the teams for our work, and we fund our travels to relays ourselves. The sport is growing and becoming more known outside the nations. 

In 2019, we had a conversation with Dexter, and with the coordinator of the Strathmore event, Lavina Many Guns, about our putting together an exhibition of images along side a discussion of the term "Indian," and a description of relay - it's history (400 years!), its unique presence in Alberta and western Saskatchewan, in the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Cree nations here. They were in support, and our first exhibition was mounted at Calgary's then brand-new central library from June to August that year. 

Since then, the exhibition has been exhibited four more times in Calgary. 

Thanks to many, many people - Steven Wolf Tail and his parents, Wyonah and Irv, Dexter, Lavina, the teams and riders and their families, and Minoru Ueda (fellow potter - that's a whole 'nother story), the exhibition, INDIAN. RELAY. travelled to Japan, where it was exhibited at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo from June to September 2022. From there, it is going to The Equine Cultural Foundation's two locations: Tokyo, March and April 2023, and Osaka, April to June 2023. Concurrently, the exhibition will be at The Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples in Abashiri, on the north east cost of Hokkaido. Also conncurrently, the exhibition is mounted at the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC until the end of March 2023. 

Let's do some costing:

According to CREB, in the Calgary market, the average selling price for single-family detached homes is not only stable, but rising over the same period last year.

October Average Price:
October 2019: $530,764
October 2020: $554,985

November Averages:
November 2019: $529,880
November 2020: $536,073

From: https://www.creb.com/Housing_Statistics/Daily_Housing_Summary/?tab=2

Calculations:
Using the 7/3 commission rule and assuming splitting the commission, based on the November average of $536,000 (rounded), an at-list sale will provide a total commission of $10,040 to each agent. Delete the average cost of marketing this same single-family detached home - $1000 - $1500 - and the net is in the area of $8500.

As a benchmark, average annual salary for realtors in Alberta is $89,000. Using that average, we can understand the average number of annual sales per professional will hover between 10 and 15 assuming a mix of single-family and condo/townhome sales. 

High-quality real estate photography for a single-family detached listings will be between $250 and $300 + GST (not including add-ons - social media bumps, drone, measurements). 

If a realtor reserves one half of the commission from one sale for future photography - after costs - providing, on average, $4200, they will put aside enough reserve funds to finance high-quality professional photography for 16 listings - slightly above the average number of sales for realtors in Alberta.

What we know:

• Professional photography results in faster sales and at-list completions.
• Professional photography is very important to sellers and critical to realtors in terms of the quality of their marketing and reputation.
• Consistently excellent marketing and care of reputation are two of the key factors sellers use to choose specific realtors.
• Consistently pleased sellers whose listings sell quickly for list price will refer their real estate professional to others in their networks.

Caveat: Opting for no, or poor photography for small or low-value listings? 
Not every listing will produce a huge commission. True. The question is "Who is attached to those low-return listings?" The bang for the "excellent work" buck can be huge - in reach and value when real estate professions consider who else may be attached to a low-value listing. 

• Is the listing occupied by a younger person whose parents put up their down payment? The parents and their contacts and circles are potential clients with much higher-value listings. Are they seeing excellent marketing regardless of return, or are they seeing "This one doesn't matter to me"? 
• Is the property owned by a landlord? That landlord may have several other properties in their portfolio and will certainly have other multi-unit-owning landlords in their network.

High-quality, professional real estate photography must be your first choice
Always choosing pro photography will, demonstrably, result in faster sales, more at-list completions, more referrals and at least one more sale annually. ONE additional annual sale provides the reserve fund $$ for TWO YEARS of professional photography without the realtor seeing any decrease in their annual revenue.

Photography is a business expense - a cost of doing business that provides a tax write down. The $4200 (average) that pays for photography for 16 listings is, in reality, enough to finance double that number thanks to that tax payment reduction.

The Facts
The numbers prove high-quality professional real estate photography is an essential, valuable, worthwhile part of doing business. Gorgeous, well-crafted photography forms the basis of excellent marketing and of creating and maintaining your reputation as a dedicated, client-focused, determined professional.

WHY HIRE ME?
There is good photography and there is great photography. Many photographers in our local market have good technical skills but may not pay appropriate attention to details:

• Skewed, bowed, crooked walls
• Dizzying perspective shots
• Cut-off or protruding items in the frame
• Poor composition
• Items blocking the view
• Too much focus on not-for-sale items -furniture, decorations
• Distracting, over-processed windows that pull the viewer's attention from the rooms
• Animals and/or people in the shot
• Photographer and/or their gear reflected in glass.

My work is bespoke, considered, excellent.
Whether you're seeking professional photography for a 1000 square foot condo or a 7000 square foot estate, I provide the same, high-quality, representative photography. My goal is to wow your clients and support your marketing and your reputation.  

I look forward to working with you, and providing high-quality professional real estate photography that will delight your clients, make your marketing glow, and support your professional reputation.

Our OFFER. 

• Excellent, high-quality real estate photography for residential listings, commercial listings, leasing portfolios, and archival photography for contractors, builders, heritage planners, and developers. 
• We coordinate your photography, your measurements, your drone photography (if/when required), virtual reality tours (Matterport), full floor plans and drawings, design services (NCIDQ/LEED certified), staging and staging consultations. Cleaning (move out/move in) on request. 

Call me today to learn more. 

Julie. 
 

This is the story of an old dog, a guy with an injury, and a fence…. The BraveSteven Wolf Tail Rider, Brave, Jockey, Athlete, Warrior, Chief, Son, Friend, Brother.

In March, 2018, big metal diggers came to tear down the old house next door. We weren’t sad to see it go, given an “interesting” tenant, who had, for the preceding two years, made our day-to-day tense and unpleasant. it was so bad, and the landlord so unwilling to act, we finally contacted a few developers to see if they'd be interested in purchasing the lot next door.  Wonder of wonders, within a month, a developer did buy the lot next door! When the sold sign went up three days after listing, we were thrilled. Two months later, said horrifying tenant boxed up his belongings and left.

The builder, Truman Homes, is very efficient with their projects. The home next door went from tear-down to ready-for-occupancy in just over four months.

Two days before the end of June, a crew of four men, accompanied by a lovely old dog, set up shop in our backyard to remove the old fence and began installing the new. This new fence was an omen of sorts; a definitive, solid barrier between the past and its difficulties and a new chapter.

The old dog lolled peacefully in the warm sun, enjoying the cool grass in the back yard. Eventually, I went out to bring him water, and to say hello to the crew. As I chatted to one of the men, I noticed he had an injury to his leg, and asked him how it had happened. “I came off a horse,” he explained, adding “At a race.” Intrigued, I asked what kind of racing, to which he replied, “Indian relay,”  and, “You should come tomorrow; we’re racing at Strathmore.”

 We did not know then how much this young man’s invitation to the relay would change our summer and our lives. We went, armed with cameras and a hope we’d have a chance to photograph our new friend. The atmosphere was electric, but as we were as yet uninitiated, we did not understand the excitement and intensity of this sport.  As the grandstand began to fill, we could feel anticipation building.

 On a whim, we asked the nearest official-looking person if we could cross the track and shoot from the infield. Yes, but hurry on; the horses and riders were coming in to the area in front of the grandstand.

 Races last a bare three minutes;  Four or five teams of three men with two stirred up and ready-to-run horses take their places in “boxes” delineated with flour lines whist the riders — braves, warriors, chiefs, and maiden racers — fight to keep their mounts held at the start line, waiting for the blast of the start horn. One hot second after that sound, the track is a furry of horseflesh, flying dirt, colour, heat, and screaming riders flashing by.

A bare minute later, they race full tilt towards the boxes, slowing at the last possible moment. The riders are in the air, flying off one still-running horse and bounding with astonishing strength and grace onto the next, then hell-bent-for-leather around the track again. Sweat and mud flying, they race into the boxes, and seconds later they’re off for the last round. Five heartbeats later they’re flying breakneck towards the finish line. The adrenaline is palpable.

We were hooked. In those three minutes,  we didn’t want to be anywhere else but at the relay for the rest of the summer.  We headed down to Kainai First Nation in early July for the rodeo and pow wow. To say I'd become a full-on relay groupie would be benign.

One afternoon, I was with a good friend, and was carrying on like a five-year-old at an amusement park when my friend casually interjected, "I know what your next project should be...." FLASH!!!

As an aside, in March of 2018, I had wrapped up the sixth year of a street photography project that had taken me and my colleague, Chris Tait, around the world. That project had morphed from an accidental one-year thing to a much longer project via a series of unanticipated events. We had decided, after our fifth year travelling, to have a retrospective in year six rather than travel, and to then retire that project. I was feeling quite adrift without a show to put up, so my friend's casual suggestion cemented immediately.

The following weekend, we were at Piikanni First Nation in Brocket, Alberta, and I asked our new friend and rider, Steven Wolf Tail, if he would be willing and comfortable to be the subject of this project. He was, and his parents were as well.

We followed Steven to several more races and then to Walla Walla Washington for the first ever international Championship Relay, where we were granted media access for the weekend.

We are beyond grateful to Steven, his mother Wyonah and his dad Irvin for letting us in to their lives, and to the competitors and people in the nations we've travelled to for their hospitality and friendship. It's been an unparalleled experience. We've learned so much this year.

EXHIBITIONS
Calgary Public Library, New Central Branch: Main floor, June and July 2019; Indigenous section
The Peanut Gallery, October and November 2019

Rosso Coffee Roasters: July and August 2020: Rosso Inglewood and Rosso Ramsay

We have been short-listed to Exhibit at the Prince Takamado Gallery, Canadian Embassy, Tokyo: Watch this space!

With our deep thanks to Steven Wolf Tail and his mother and father, Wyonah and Irv Wolf Tail and to the Canadian Indian Relay Racing Association (CIRRA). 

The tour culminated in a request for a $17,000 "initial investment" which was somehow magically going to be worth more money "next week," a monthly payment of $851 USD on top of that, all for the benefit of "ownership," "transferability," and only 10 years of payments at that rate. We did the math and the cost was about $170,000 USD for the privilege of only paying $650 per week for the 20 weeks vacation we could use in the next 20 years...  Three hours later, we (ok me) became a bit testy, as we wanted to be on our way over to Isla Mujeres... 45 minutes more and we were finally on the pier awaiting transfer, armed with a new beach bag, a bottle of questionable tequila and $300 pesos for the return taxi to our hotel.

As an aside, we had every intention of busing back to the hotel - 12 pesos per person is so cheap! My spouse wanted to make a stop at the Chedraui though. Chedraui is the Mexican equivalent of Walmart. They're everywhere. The one right in the bend of the road in the zona hotelaria is very upscale and has a fantastic food floor - it's a must-see for sure. So we debarked from the bus in front of what we thought was our target. I often leave the travel planning to my spouse - he really likes maps and stuff - and this night was no exception. Except we weren't at the right location. No worries, the other location was only 2k down the road - a nice walk on a warm night, so we set off, only to discover yet again, we were still FAR away from the correct location and we were now unsure of where the bus stop back south was... so the $300 pesos was ultimately spent on taxi fare. My spouse checked his map and realised how far off the mark we were... poor guy. He was chagrined, but nothing a nice meal and some mescal didn't fix.

Isla Mujeres is my favourite place on the Carribian side of Mexico. It's a tiny, weird island 1/2 a km wide and about 7 kms long, with a pirate history, great beaches, some interesting places to visit - a sea turtle intepretive centre and some ruins at the south end of the island - and some pretty great restaurants and shops at the north end. LOADs of US expats living there. My spouse mused about what might happen were one to enter a crowded place and yell "Maintenance Enforcement!" Isla is definitely worth a day trip and wonderful as a place to spend a few days. The bulk of the tourists head back over to the mainland at the end of the day, and Isla becomes very Mexican in the evenings. Good food, good music.

The day trip to Salvatica was loads of fun. The facility has an interesting history - some expat who crashed his plane there 90 years ago, and decided to stick around. There is an old, wrecked DC3 on the site - rumoured to be the real McCoy. Who knows.... There are a bunch of zip lines, some of which you're flying on in "Superman" position, and others hanging. They have a jungle roller coaster complete with noisy, rough, "is this safe" rickety metal tracks. There's a gorgeous cenote - essentially a 25 foot deep crater in the limestone - filled with lovely, cool water, into which you can dive or fling off a trapeze line. And there are ATVs and some lovely, huge mud puddles to plow through, following which you're back to the cenote to dive in and wash the red mud off. Included is a mid-day meal and a light supper of chicken, rice and beans. Very satisfying after a fun day.

So. Advice. Pick your battles. You may pick up a GREAT deal on an adventure, meaning you may end up saving a wad of cash by giving up 90 minutes of your time, providing you are offered this through your hotel. The deals offered at the various kiosks in La Isla, and various other locations littered throughout the zona hotelaria, however are "avoid, avoid." Those deals are not "sweet" enough by any stretch and the 90 minutes can quickly turn into three hours of forceful, confusing sales pitches.

Above all, be forewarned: these sales pitches SOUND like they're potentially selling a great deal. They do NOT. They are as close to a scam as legally possible and they rope you in to a non-resellable "investment" that is not an investment at all. Learn to smile, nod, take the freebies, and say NO. A lot. To whatever they offer.

Commercial Use of Photography:
"Any commercial use is prohibited without the author’s authorization. The customer may give the photo to another individual (such as his mother or his sister), but may not sell it. He also may not give it to an organization (for example, the firm for which he works), so that the business can use it in its communications or on its website, because this constitutes commercial use, related to marketing and public relations."

A professional photographer will have structured packages, but unless that photographer is a commercial photographer, and if you haven't disclosed your intentions, you may not see a section in that contract specifying the license fee for commercial use.

Don't assume that fee won't apply if you are going to commercialize your images. You must tell your photographer what your intentions are. It is not enough to say, "I just want a few digital images for my website," and saying that can get you into trouble if, later, those images appear in an ad campaign.

As always, if you're not sure, ask.

I learned a lot of things in the last year and a half - about social behaviour, about patience, about ear-plugs, about wind, and what it does to curtained gazebos, and about the minutia of the landlord/tenant legislation in Alberta. I also learned about what it feels like to be a potential seller, and how a careless comment can put a hole in a heart....

Our neighbour of more than 20 years has an agreement with their landlord which allows them to sublet. There have always been sub-tenants next door, but in all that time, beyond the occasional parking crunch (mostly on-street around here), there have been zero issues.

Last year, a sub-tenant moved in, leaving all propriety, manners, and privacy somewhere else.  Our dining room window faces their stairs and porch. Between the six times daily smoking on the porch punctuated by also-six-times-daily phlegm ejection into junipers beside the stairs, the sub-tenant was an ever-present fixture. It didn't help their attire of choice, regardless of weather,  was shorts. Just shorts, and I mean JUST shorts..... nothing else.  At. All.And, if that tenant wasn't on the porch, they were in the back yard, where they'd placed their bbq against the fence (no, I don't know what they were thinking...), which meant they were either watching us come and go from the front, or watching us through the fence; hence the curtained gazebo. Also hence the opaque window film and a change from open for breeze to closed to keep out the smoke.

The situation did not improve after I lost my cool one day and suggested, strongly, the tenant please, please use his bathroom indoors as a receptacle for what was coming out of his lungs. This did not land well, and was met with strong language and threats, an uptake in phlegm ejection and the addition of "farmer blows."

Worse, the tenant began to listen for our back door; any time they heard us outside, they were out there, smoking and spewing... it was gross. Eighteen months of daily incursions resulted in two letters to the owner and, finally, when it got to be too much, a phone call.

It was at this point I understood one of the finer points of the provincial tenancy act is this: our neighbour of 20 years is the tenant of the landlord. They are the landlord of the tenant they sublet to. What this meant is the actual owner didn't necessarily have the legal footing to act with respect to the sub-tenant, although he did speak to his long-term tenant. It didn't make any difference, unfortunately; the sub-tenant was on a mission.

For the record, the tenants in the other side of the residence - a duplex - have posed some challenges over the last 10 years as well, including an aggressive dog and one of them hitting my car and busting off the front bumper while my entire family was watching during dinner, and their "I didn't do that and I have no idea who you are, or where you live," comments when we confronted them....

So, around the time the entire situation became unbearable, I mentioned the residence to a builder who is very active in this community. I didn't expect that mention would result in anything, necessarily.

Imagine my joy three weeks later, when a For Sale sign appeared on the lawn next door! I was ecstatic but my enthusiasm turned into confusion and not a little panic within hours, when said builder, hoping to acquire an "assembly" a term I'd never heard, made us an offer.

As a real estate photographer, I am regularly in contact with realtors, sellers, buyers and buyers agents. I thought I had a pretty good handle on the drill, until this offer landed in my ear.

I know this builder well. They do beautiful work. Because I had made the initial overture to the builder, and because I had suggested our property might also be available, and because the rep knows what work I do, their representative rightly felt free to speak frankly to me. There is a gap, however, between business, and one's attachment to the home they've lived in for 30 years; the rep's comment, "You should take this deal, your house is just a tear-down" was an unintended but painful slap. It was at that moment my understanding of how a little comment - and a presumption - can kill a deal. To be clear, the rep in no way meant to be hurtful but I was shocked by how hard that comment hit, even though I know it is correct. But that unintended lack of awareness killed the deal for me.

The lesson I learned is this; even though a seller/potential seller brings you the deal, is motivated, driven, decided - whatever - they will have bits of their heart and soul stored in the walls and spaces of their home. Even knowing the seller wants it sold, we must always keep, in our back pocket, the knowledge sellers will leave a bit of themselves in that home.

I bear no ill-will at all towards that builder's rep. He has an excellent reputation, and was doing his job. I'm very glad to have had this experience. It shone a bright light on a little, important detail.

• On average, realtors sell between 12 and 15 homes a year. Some are very high-producers and some not; generally, however, those figures form the average.
• In major markets, single-family homes sell between $450,000 and $650,000 - and again, these are averages; Vancouver and Toronto currently skew national averages quite a bit.
• Most commissions are shared between two realtors, so, on an average sale, each realtor will make in the area of $9000 before brokerage fees and marketing costs, based on the average sold price.

Photography for an entire year is half of one commission, is a cost of doing business and is a write-off against annual income: Win/Win.

Some people see photography as an unnecessary cost; here's how I see it:

• It is important to understand almost all those looking for a realtor, and those looking to buy a home, begin their research on line. On this basis alone, the quality of listing photography is paramount. Why? because studies over the last five years show clearly home-seekers click away from poorly-photographed listings: your listing may be wonderful, but if it doesn't look wonderful on line, a potential buyer may skip over it. Worse, if your listings look poor, potential clients will move on to another realtor, whose listings look great.
• From the client's perspective, excellent listing photography means the seller sees their home looking gorgeous. My goal is to hear, "Wow, that looks amazing! I'd buy that," from the client.
• From the realtor's perspective, if their MLS listings consistently look gorgeous they'll attract more - and better - clients. Clients are attracted by beautiful listings and beautiful listings mean a dedicated professional realtor.
• Beautifully-photographed listings sell faster. This is a fact, and this also plays into reputation and more importantly, into referrals!
• Clients have higher regard for realtors who have a team of professionals around them.

Beautiful photography matters; it is influential, it establishes you as a pro and as a reliable professional, and, most importantly, it shows your clients they are your primary concern.

An easy way to see better what a potential buyer will see when they view your for-sale home is to photograph each room, and view the images on a computer screen. Pay attention to what items in those images jump out, or draw your eye, and make notes for each room. Note clutter, burnt-out or different colour light bulbs, crooked lamp shades, damaged or dirty walls, items showing above cabinets or below beds. Take one shot from the door of each bedroom, and from two angles of your living room, kitchen and basement.

Main Floor

De-clutter and make space. You may be very comfortable in your space, but if you intend to sell and sell quickly, your goal is to make buyers comfortable in that space. Give potential buyers every opportunity to see themselves and their stuff in that space.

• Remove personal items - knick-knacks, personal photos, magazines, newspapers, anything you don't use at least on a weekly basis.
• Hide your TV/stereo remotes in a drawer.
• Edit your furniture; make your rooms look larger by removing anything that doesn't need to be there.
• Vacuum/sweep floors, including under rugs and throws.
• De-clutter your kitchen, and be ruthless about it. Remove anything you don't use every day. Scrub and shine the sink and counter tops, and wipe down cabinets.
• Hide dishcloths, dish scrubs, dish washing soap; if these items are out, your potential buyer instantly thinks, "needs cleaning." Out of view and your buyer thinks, "Already very clean."
• Clean off the fridge. There should be nothing on top of or attached to the fridge.
• Remove items from bulletin boards.
• Hide the garbage bins - and fire your photographer if they photograph garbage bins inside the house. Nobody wants to buy trash.

Bedrooms

• Make the beds. Make, not pull up the sheets; make them and dress them up a bit. If your box spring is exposed, get a bed skirt. This will instantly make the room look cleaner, and gives you extra under-bed, invisible storage.
• Remove laundry hampers and hang up/store all clothing; your buyer wants to step into their potential bedroom, not to feel like they're invading your private space.
• If you're having showings, wash the sheets; you may not be able to smell yourself, but anyone viewing the home will. Clean sheets make a huge difference.
• Deodorize carpets with baking soda: buy large boxes of baking soda, perforate the box top with a sturdy skewer to make 10 - 15 large-ish holes, and sprinkle the baking soda over your carpets. Let it sit for 30 - 45 minutes, then vacuum.
• Store extra blankets and bedding.

Basement

• If your basement is finished, treat it as you would your main floor living areas: de-clutter, remove personal items, sweep/vacuum and deodorize. On the point of deodorize, take care with spray scents and incense; those can leave bitter smells, and some people are sensitive to strong odours. Wash anything washable - blankets and throws, and throw pillows if they're washable. Most throws and pillows can spend 10 minutes in a warm dryer, with a dryer sheet, to freshen up.
• If your basement is unfinished, the more you can contain items in one area, the larger the space will look and the easier it will be for potential buyers to imagine themselves and their stuff there.
• Use clean sheets to "wall off" your storage area; by hiding your boxes you instantly make the basement clean!

Bathrooms

• Of all the rooms in your home, the bathrooms must be spotless. Clean the floors and super-clean mirrors; spend money on a set of good, white or off-white towels - and only have those up for photos and showings
• Hang a white shower curtain; remove old bathroom/shower rugs; make sure the area around the sink(s), shower and tub are free of mould and discolouration. Beach if necessary, or remove and replace old caulking/silcone
• De-clutter your personal care items. Box up everything you don't use daily. Items you use often - every couple days or weekly at least - can be stored in drawers or under the sink. During photography and showings, your shower and bath should be empty of personal care items
• Remove branded items and clear counters around the sink; these areas should be free of soaps, toothbrushes, hair brushes, and personal items.
• Some personal items should be removed all together. Although they should not, potential buyers will open cupboards and drawers, so certain personal items should disappear entirely during showings.

Exteriors

• Curb-appeal also matters: store garden tools, hoses, shovels, toys and lawn/yard-care implements; hide trash bins; cut the lawn, or shovel; make sure all pathways are clear and free from debris and ice. 
• Spray gate hinges and locks with WD-40 and tighten up any loose gate screws. Make sure your lawn/common areas are free of dog and cat 'dirt.'

Photography

After the amount of work you will do to prepare your home for sale, you should expect excellent photography. A gorgeous home can look used and dark when poorly photographed.

• Insist your realtor use a skilled, professional real estate photographer.
• Check out potential realtors' listings on MLS.ca to see the quality of their listing photography.
• More than 95 percent of potential buyers start their search on line.
• Of that 95 percent, more than 90 percent skip listings with poor photography.

As a point of reference, on average, realtors sell 10 - 15 homes per year. The cost of professional photography for 15 listings is approximately equal to HALF the commission of ONE listing, and that cost is a tax write-off business expense. Professional photography should be part of your realtor's marketing package.

Staging
Selling a home is a lot of work, the goal being a quick sale. A staged home will always photograph better and sell more quickly than a comparable lived-in home. If it's all too much, or you don't have time to prepare, there are excellent organisation and staging companies in YYC; definitely worth contacting, if you don't have time, or need assistance preparing your home for sale.

Save Time and Reduce Stress Prior to Moving:
As you edit the furnishings and clutter in your home, begin packing away (in labelled boxes) all non-essential items. Anything you don't use on a regular basis should be boxed and labelled. As a bonus, you'll be able to start your "donate" and "toss" boxes. When it comes time to move, you may find you have 50 percent of the job done - a huge stress reducer prior to a move.

Need some specific help?

Want professional photography?
Email me! info@julievincentphotography

Transportation from Orly (ORY): take the ORLYVAL train to metro Anthony, and take the metro to your hotel, or taxi from here. It's fun, inexpensive and fast. That said, if there are more than two travelling, and your hotel is down town, taxi right from Orly is your least expensive option if you're ready to try out Parisian traffic. The Orlyval train and metro combination is fast and safe though, and filled with people who live in the city.

While in Paris, if you intend to use the metro more than twice a day during your stay, get a metro pass. It's called a Navigo Pass and you can purchase them in most metro stations, including Anthony. You will need a 1" x 1" photo of yourself for this pass, so bring one, or you'll be stuck paying 5 Euros for photos in a photo booth. The pass is, as Chris put it, an arts and crafts project involving sticking things together and then fitting the two-part card into its plastic holder, in the correct manner so the numbers line up and your photo and signature are stuck down correctly. The metro police are in full swing on weekends, so a properly created Navigo pass is de rigeur.

Walk. Just do it. The city is really beautiful and there are cafes and parks everywhere. Like I say, we walked 85 Kms in five days and it was zero effort.

Eat. Because you will walk a lot of kilometres and the food is gorgeous. I lost about 5 lbs the week we were there and ate lovely cheese and meats, pain au chocolat, brioche, and eggs for breakfast - washed down with also-lovely coffee.

Watch your wallet; an inside, zipped pocket is a really, really good idea. Also watch your phone, which should also be in an inside, zipped pocket. Otherwise, you may discover your phone being hawked on a side walk near a metro in an out-lying community...

Learn to say No several times in succession: in Montmartre and at the Tour Eiffel, and various other tourist spots, there are groups of men selling all sorts of crap, including bracelets made of embroidery floss - read: worth about 3 cents - which they will make and attach to your wrist before you know what has hit you, and then demand money. Say NO and also "Do Not Touch Me." English is fine. Also say NO to groups of young women who approach you to sign a "petition" and give money to the deaf. They're not deaf and they're pocketing your money - and your wallet if you're not paying attention. Hold on to your wallet and your cash. Same goes for busy metro cars and cafes; don't leave your phone or wallet on a table at a cafe, as occasionally people will pass by and hook your belongings, and make a run for it.

The cafe at the Grand Mosque of Paris is well worth going to. They serve lovely sweets and savouries and a delicious, sweet mint tea. There's a restaurant there as well if you want a meal. You may enter the mosque itself if your head is covered (women).

Go to Le Bouillon Chartier. This bistro is a very authentic, turn of the century restaurant that offers homey traditional food served up by severe and very efficient waiters. Fantastic. 7 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre. Nearest metro is just two blocks away: Bonne Nouvelle. 

Also go to Du Pain et Des Idees. Just go. Seriously. You will thank us. Fantastic, world-class pastries, particularly the "escargot" made of pistachios or coffee and noisette. There's a coffee shop facing. You'll need that coffee. Address is 34 Rue Yves Toudic and the closest metro is Jacques Bonsergent. Three block walk in a lovely area.

After you're filled up with delicious pastries you can walk about 20 minutes east to Pere Lachaise cemetery, or take the metro from either Jacques Bonsergent or Republique to metro Pere Lachaise. You'll need the walk and the cemetery is amazing. Jim Morrison and Edit Piaff, among about 90 notables "live" here. Map at the entrance (take a photo with your phone). Free entry.

The area around Jules Jovin metro is lovely and quaint, and has some pretty interesting butchers. Apparently it is traditional to leave some of the feathers on the bodies of birds, and the heads still attached, but skinned... fascinating but gross for the unprepared. Excellent food directly across from the metro station at Nord Sud. Stuff on the "Snack" part of the menu is HUGE, particularly the Croque Madame. Fun metro; they have a manege - meaning merry-go-round and a sweet shop right there.

Talking to folks
Paris is a pretty bilingual city, all in all. People who can will speak English, if you don't speak French. Even if you do speak French - I'm fluently bilingual - if your accent is from somewhere else, likely they'll revert to English. If you want to speak French, persist, or ask to continue in French.

Going back?
Mais certs!