CALGARY -- With uncertainty surrounding who will be the next president of the United States, one Calgary realtor says he has been fielding calls from Americans on both sides of the political spectrum.
“(I've heard from people in) New York, Florida, Nevada, California Washington State - and they’re reaching out from all over (the U.S.),” said Justin Havre, of Remax First.
Havre says he started receiving emails and calls several months ago from Americans looking at buying property or immigrating to Canada.
“They got to put down a minimum 35 per cent if they do want to have a mortgage through Canadian banks,” Havre said.
Collaboration imperative
As for the impact on Alberta, the pending result will have all levels of government working together, according to one Mount Royal University political scientist.
“What’s going to happen in Canada is there is going to be a lot more efforts to work collaboratively," said Lori Williams. “Particularly between provinces and the federal government to try to advance Alberta’s interests.”
The premier says an investment of $1.5 billion into the Keystone XL pipeline was an opportunity the province took, so it wouldn’t “put all of its eggs in one basket” on the Trans Mountain pipeline, which has faced significant delays.
“We sent a message with that investment, that we aren’t going to passively sit by allowing others who seek to landlock Alberta’s energy to win that fight,” said Jason Kenney.
For Havre, the strong U.S. dollar is a major selling point when talking to potential U.S. clients interested in buying Calgary real estate.
“We also have conversations with several Americans who have operations or companies in the U.S. that are looking to come up here,” said Havre.
“Simply (they want to) get paid in American dollars, and the conversion (to Canadian dollars) will certainly help their pocketbooks quite nicely."
