As the real estate agent for one of the most expensive houses on Calgary's residential MLS market, Lori Dahlberg insists the estate home is worth every penny of the listed price, a cool $5.39 million.

With 10,000 square feet of detailed interior opulence nestled amidst two acres of exquisite exterior landscaping (including 600 tons of Rundle stone moved onto the site), "you couldn't build this home for this money now," says Dahlberg, with the confidence of an agent whose 20 years in the business includes five years in new home construction and a working knowledge of price-per-square-foot building costs.

Money aside, a similar home would likely take two years to build, perhaps more, given the current state of Calgary's booming new home construction and renovation market, says Dahlberg, who knows good value when she sees it - and considers this listing a deal waiting to happen.

But it's also a deal she's working hard to make happen - and that dedication to finding the right buyer is why Dahlberg and three other real estate agents with Royal LePage Foothills recently hosted this city's first by-invitation-only tour of five estate properties, all located in one of Calgary's most-expensive neighbourhoods, Elbow Valley Estates.

John Cornegge photo, courtesy of Royal LePage Foothills
This shiny kitchen in the Elbow Valley Estates home is part of the $5.39-million price tag.

All five homes in the early-May tour range in price from $2.5 million to $5.39 million, with three of them listed at more than $4 million.

While homes in the $750,000 to $1.5-million range in the Calgary area are selling quickly in today's market, "the number of buyers looking for homes over the $2-million mark are increasing as well," says Rachelle Starnes, one of the tour's main organizers. Homes valued over that figure, however, "are usually very unique and may take up to a year to find the perfect buyers."

To ease that process, Dahlberg and Starnes, who have listings on the same Elbow Valley street, decided to invite former clients and real estate agents who specialize in what the industry calls, "properties of distinction," to see two of their listings, valued at $5.39 and $4.9 million, respectively. Their plan expanded to include two homes being sold by Heather Waddell and a fourth by Pam Nagai, with each agent having input into the final list of more than 300 invited guests.

More than 150 people participated in the actual tour, which included an impressive selection of beverages and hors d'oeuvres as the visitors moved from home to home, picking up marketing kits and exchanging business cards.

"It was wonderful," says agent Gordon Ross, with Re/Max Real Estate (Central). While he'd seen and shown some of the homes before, he liked the opportunity to meet and visit with other agents working in the same market, a market he says is on the upswing.

Moving to Calgary from Vancouver five years ago, Ross got into real estate because he believed the Calgary market was undervalued and that prices would be shifting up. "You need to understand that 10 years ago there weren't any million-dollar homes for sale in Calgary. That has shifted dramatically."

MLS numbers support that his prediction has held true. Three years ago, Business Edge reported the highest-priced house for sale in Alberta at $3.9 million. As of early last week, MLS listings linked to the Calgary Real Estate Board included 100 lots, single-family homes or condos listed at more than $1 million. Of that, 26 properties were listed at more than $2 million, including one $7-million listing for a home located on a 1.2-acre lot in the southwest community of Bel Aire.

The raw numbers aren't as high in Edmonton, where the real estate board's MLS website reveals 14 homes listed above the $1-million mark and three over $2 million, including the city's top-end price of $2.798 million for a 1.4-acre river estate property in Edmonton's southwest.

Ross says his clients include Calgarians - and a growing number of international buyers who see "Calgary is an exceptional city to live in ... (they) see a lifestyle that they can really embrace, and this is a 'can-do' city."

Research tells Starnes the high-end buyers of the larger homes tend to be in the 35-45 age range, have two kids and dual incomes. "A number of buyers are also purchasing in Alberta for tax reasons.

John Cornegge photo, courtesy of Royal LePage Foothills
The Elbow Valley Estates home that was one of the centrepieces of the recent tour features a spacious bath, above, and a spectacular lounge, see photo below.

They are moving from out-of-the-country and from within Canada, due to the favourable tax haven."

While a lot of the groundwork needed to sell a home is the same, regardless of the final price tag, Starnes admits she aims to focus solely on the high-end market and is a stickler for detail. She organizes garden pots if a client is out of town for a showing - and sends over her own housekeeper if clients don't have time to tidy their home prior to a showing.

Homes at this end of the price spectrum can't be marketed via a traditional open house, adds Waddell.

By putting two of her Elbow Valley homes in the recent tour, she got to meet - or get reacquainted with - more than 150 people linked to the upper-end housing market in Calgary, a fact that virtually guarantees the event will equal business in an industry that savvy agents recognize "is all about chatter."

Dahlberg agrees. "You never know in real estate where your clients come from."

Best of all, those participating in the tour proved that chatter works. "A number of the guests have been back through for second showings this past week and I am working on an offer presently," says Starnes.

Dahlberg's also had two private showings and inquiries from another real estate agent. Looking at the bigger picture, she liked how the tour re-connected her with previous clients, some of whom she's already worked with several times.

"An event of this nature brings out people who would not normally think of looking at these homes," adds Starnes, who says she would organize a similar event in the future because the "pressure-free environment" gave clients a chance to compare homes in a similar price range.

John Cornegge photo, courtesy of Royal LePage Foothills
The lounge.

John Cornegge photo, courtesy of Royal LePage Foothills
The luxury bedroom.

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)