Mike Carlin was pleased to introduce Marnie Cardell as our guest speaker. Mike had first met Marnie on a home build in Ensenada, Mexico, in 2008 - so they were old buds from working so closely in that time. Marnie just joined Calgary West in December of '09. Dan Doherty sponsored her. Marnie quickly volunteered to do her "classification talk" on virtually no notice. Thanks Marnie for filling in so well!

Starting off asking a couple of questions: Do you take vacations? And do you own a vacation home? Marnie got the feel of the audience because she was talking to us on her vocation of resort properties and real estate tourism. She has worked on resort projects in the US, Central America, Mexico and Canada. However, the recession that started in the US turned the tap off. People rethought ownership in a luxury timeshare, hotel or fractional ownership in upscale properties.

The times brought risk versus uncertainty to the surface, meaning potential buyers are not sure of the length of the downturn or they see permanent changes on the horizon. Behavior can change by living with uncertainty, people get more accustomed and more accepting of it.

The crash of Merrill Lynch affected the building and development industry by about $63 billion with major resort names being heavily affected. We've had recessions before in Canada, but this one seemed deeper. We have learned to live with unrest, perhaps because we are cautious, as seen in how much money is in Canadian bank accounts, and our seemingly faster rebound this time around.

It's a buyer's market if you are interested in properties in Canada, the US, Mexico or points even farther south. Marnie's advice in this market is take plenty of time to do your due diligence, go see, do your homework, talk to the locals, talk to lots of people. There is some new development which has been reevaluated, perhaps into smaller unit sizing and luxury extras dropped. Financing is slowly coming from large financial institutions. Potential buyers are tending to want to be closer to home, and wanting to possibly be more involved in a community.

An interesting side bar to the recession is in Mexico. The country got really hit because of the H1N1 flu, travelers worried about catching the bug, and so cancelled travel plans. The hospitality industry, ie: the restaurant servers who are traditionally very low paid, are really suffering because they heavily depend on tips. So if you're traveling please remember to give a good tip for good service. There seems to be an emerging middle class in Mexico due largely to the fact that mortgages are now available, where they weren't before, apparently.

Because of the downturn, Marnie said she's more involved than ever in the community, politics, kids' sports, the marketing board at Heritage Park, recycling (she helped her community dry run the green box concept), her church, her husband, and service groups, namely Calgary West. She's working on Strawberry Shortcake and will head out to Ensenada in February for another build. Turns out her personal motto is very fitting "Can do"!

Robyn thanked Marnie on behalf of the club for an excellent talk, and for stepping in at the very last minute! She was awarded a treasured Boltman as a thank-you!

reported by Lynne Thornton