Mike Ouellette • Real Estate

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Mike Ouellette • Real Estate I help guide empty nesters in Calgary and the surrounding areas through the downsizing process seamlessly, using my Signature 5-step plan for Downsizing.

I’d been selling real estate for over 30 years and many of my clients and friends were asking when I was going to retire. I hadn’t thought about it very much but figured they knew something I didn’t, so I started to look into it. A few years passed and I looked into a few different opportunities, but nothing felt right. Then Covid came along and I found myself with a large volume of time to sit and think and assess things. It was a volume of time I don’t think I’ve experienced in over 3 decades. For over 30 years, I’d been going full tilt. Building a demanding business while raising 3 boys. I was driving to hockey arenas, BMX tracks, swimming pools, rodeo arenas, and running a small farm. I had completely lost track of where I was going. Then a funny thing happened. I decided to use the newfound time I had to do some deep soul-searching. I started with some basic things. Health, I started to eat better, and healthier. Fitness, I started to train way more. Mindset, I read several books and listened to inspirational podcasts. I started feeling better, healthier, more energetic and grateful, and excited about life. Now I needed to find something to channel all that energy and excitement into. Something I would love doing and something that would suit my newfound energy level. And it dawned on me, I was already doing it! Being a Realtor was a grind when I was doing a hundred other things at the same time, but now I’m not. My life is simple now. I realized that I love being a Realtor and I love helping people! And now that I’ve realized this, I have a whole new passion for my work. I can completely empathize with young families. They outgrow their home and feel completely overwhelmed by the thought of moving. That’s exactly where I come in. I can take so much of that stress away. I can streamline the process with my Signature 5 Step Plan For Upsizing. This allows young families to enjoy the lifelong memories they are creating. My pleasure in life comes from helping someone else to realize their dreams. I wake up excited every day now looking for another opportunity to help someone.

10/15/2026

Seems like a little thing, but can feel like a pretty big thing too!

10/14/2026

The older I get, the more I appreciate mornings like this.

10/13/2026

Nobody tells you how heavy an empty house can be.

When a senior in the family passes, their house often lands on someone who never lived in it.

That's what happened to a client of mine. His aunt passed away, and as executor, her house in Kingsland became his to sell. 🏡

He'd never lived there.

But now it was his to worry about.

The insurance. The bills that kept coming. Whether anyone had been by to check on it lately.

And before any of that, a whole house of her things to sort. What the family wanted. What could be sold or donated. What had to go to the dump. 📦

By the time it was empty, he was worn out.

Two weeks after the offer went firm, it closed.

Somewhere along the way, he'd told me, "When I hand over the keys, I'll be popping a cork on a bottle of ch*****ne." 🍾

The worry had been the heaviest part.

And it was finally off his mind. 💛

10/12/2026

Here's why so few people know how much stuff they have.

In a house that size, nothing ever had to leave. 🏡

There was always another shelf. Another closet. A corner of the basement where things could wait.

So things waited.

The skates from every Calgary winter. The paint for a room you redid ten years ago. The box marked "misc" that nobody's opened since it was taped shut. ⛸️

None of it looks like much on its own.

It only adds up when it all has to fit somewhere smaller.

That's not a failing. That's thirty years of a full life, kept by people who had the room.

But it does mean downsizing usually takes more boxes than people guess.

Knowing that ahead of time won't shrink the pile.

It might just make it a little less of a surprise. 💛

Comment “GUIDE” and I’ll send you a copy of my 5-Step Downsizing Guide.

10/08/2026

The hardest part of bringing up downsizing with your parents isn't the conversation.

It's the quiet after.

You said it. Gently, the way you practised in the car. 🚗

And then nothing. Nobody mentions it at Sunday dinner. Mom changes the subject. Dad asks how work's going.

It's easy to read that as a no.

Most of the time, it isn't.

Quiet is often what thinking looks like from the outside. 💛

Thirty years in one Calgary house doesn't get sorted out between dinner and dessert.

So let the quiet be quiet. Don't fill it with a second reason or a better argument.

They heard you.

Give it some room, and see what they bring back. 🏡

Comment "PARENTS WORKSHEET" and I'll send you a copy of my Downsizing Discovery Worksheet for Helping Your Parents.

10/07/2026

Glad to get some hikes in before the weather turns.

This was out at Blue Rock, a fairly steep one with a gain of 477 m in elevation, so the legs definitely felt it.

Address

#10, 6020 1A Street SW
Calgary, AB
T2H0G3

Telephone

+14032594141

Website

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