by Admin | Jan 18, 2017 | Organisation, Real Estate Information, Selling
CALL YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT
One mistake that home owners make when they are ready to sell their home is getting their home “ready” to sell before they call an agent. The home owners will make repairs or upgrades that have will little or no return on their investment. Your real estate agent (hey, that’s me) will give you tips on what renovations are necessary to sell, if any.
DE-CLUTTER
Remove everything but the essentials. Donate what you don’t want and store the rest. Plenty of people prefer to use storage units for items they want to keep. Take a minute to organize kitchen cabinets, closets, bathrooms and the pantry. It if looks like a clothing store in your closet and a well-fronted grocery store, you’re doing great.
DE-PERSONALIZE
Potential buyers want to be able to walk into your home and imagine themselves living there. They can’t do that if you have pictures of your family up and decor like “Thomas Family. Established in 1988” hanging on the front door. Remove these items, and any built-in items that you’ll be taking with you. Place personal items from your bathroom vanity in accessible boxes.
DEEP CLEAN
Wax the floors, dust everything, and polish metals. Get every single crack and crevice as clean as it can be and remove odd odors. If this seems like an overwhelming task, break it down into smaller tasks and put it on a calendar.
REPAIR THE BASICS
If the door squeaks, get some WD-40. If the bathroom needs re-caulked, that’s okay. Small projects are good, large ones are not (i.e. you do not need to replace all of the windows in your house). The biggest project you should tackle is painting bright colored walls. Bright colored walls says to potential buyers “this is going to take work.” Try neutral colors, off whites and light grays.
SPRUCE UP THE CURB APPEAL
Maintain the lawn, pressure wash the exterior, and clean up the shrubbery. Hire a professional or shell out a couple of bucks for flowers or seasonal plants for the garden!
by Admin | Jan 16, 2017 | Organisation
Living in a small space can be quite a challenge! If you’re like most people, you tend to let stuff accumulate, and that can make you feel quite claustrophobic. But with a few suggestions, you can learn how to manage your space and all your stuff!
The first thing to do is to let go of unnecessary items. If there is something in storage that you haven’t used in six months to a year, you probably won’t use it again. Also, a good place to check is your closet. Go through each piece of clothing and if you haven’t worn it in the past year, it’s time to get rid of it. The best thing to do is to donate the goods to your local charity. There are plenty of unfortunate people out there who would treasure what you consider trash!
Now it’s time to tackle the stuff that you do have. When living in a small space, it’s all about storage. Consider multi-function furniture such as chests and ottomans that are useful for storage of blankets and clothes and can be used as tables or seats. A futon can serve as a couch during the day and a bed at night. With the things that you do have, it’s best to try and store as much as possible as to make the room appear uncluttered. Less is definitely more in the case of small space living.
On the same note, bigger is also better. Small furniture does not make the room appear bigger. Rather, larger, bolder pieces of furniture draw the eye to them creating the illusion of a bigger room.
Create a wall of shelving to put books, magazines, and knick knacks. Grouping most of your belongings in one place rather than scattered all around the room frees up space to move around. Place baskets on the shelves for stray items and papers. Baskets can also be used to hold magazines and placed next to the couch or a chair.
Light is important in a small room. Try hanging a big mirror opposite the window(s) to reflect light into the room. Also, try to keep the fabrics used in the room a light color. In my studio I use a beige colored slipcover over my futon which I then cover with different colored pillows. Remember that dark colors absorb light and light colors reflect light.
You can divide space in a room by using screens or bookcases. Screens or bookshelves can be inexpensively made by purchasing wood at your local hardware or home store. They can be covered with fabric or painted to add a personal touch. Area rugs are also a good way to create division in a room.
With a little creativity you can make living in a small space as comfortable as living in a castle!
by:
Maria Palma
by Admin | Jan 12, 2017 | Household Info
Before you spend money on the latest energy-efficient gizmo that’s supposed to save you money, let’s look at some energy saving ideas that will really help you save home energy. The strategies that we will look at will maximize the effort you put in, and help reduce your home energy consumption.
First sit down and think about all the different ways your family uses energy around the house. Now put an approximate type and cost of energy used. You may have trouble breaking down the cost but try to do it. Now all you have to do is find ways to save on your resources at the same time cut your costs. You may have to think creatively but it can be done.
So here are some tips to get you started:
- Turn the lights off when you’re not using them. This is really simple and easy to do. Do you really need your bedroom light on when you’re in the living room? Do you leave lights on when you leave the house? Do you even need more than one light on in a room for what you are doing? Believe it or not it makes a big difference.
- Turn all electronics and other appliances off when you’re not using them. No one can do everything at the same time. Can you really listen to a radio, watch television, and use your computer all at the same time?
- Set your thermostat down a couple of degrees in winter, or up in summer, to conserve energy. And dress appropriately indoors for the time of year it is. For instance in winter, put on a sweater or some extra clothing, or may snuggle under a blanket to stay warm. In the summer, wear less and stay cooler naturally.
- Only turn an appliance on when you have a full load. This is true especially for the washing machine, dryer and even the dishwasher. It is amazing how much extra energy is used doing multiple small loads in comparison to one full load.
- Do regular maintenance on your appliances. Keeping them clean means they don’t have to work as hard. Changing filters reduces the energy needed to accomplish a task. Regular care will also mean any maintenance bills that you might come up against may well be cheaper.
- Be careful how you use your water. Like when brushing your teeth or washing your hands, use only the water you need. Don’t let the water run the entire time. Also, try and use less water if you take a bath, or control your shower times.
- Simply let your hair air dry, instead of using a blow drier every day.
- Lower the temperature on your water heater to 120 degrees F.
Don’t forget the bigger projects as well.
- Seal the cracks around your doors and windows. You are paying for your hot air that escapes through cracks all around your house. You need to make sure you are doing all you can to keep the warm air you’re paying for inside your house.
- You also need to check your house’s insulation. Though this has been done by many homeowners nevertheless you still need to do it before you pass it over. It is probably the biggest thing in reducing heating costs.
Now some of these things may seem trivial to you but let me assure you that even the small things add up over time. And really most of them you won’t even notice the difference to your life except your bills.
These tips and suggestions will make your home more affordable, and take some strain off of our world’s resources. Just think if all of us would make a few of these changes, it would make a huge difference.
by: Dave McIntosh
by Admin | Nov 16, 2016 | Real Estate Information
If you’re looking into the option of buying a house, you probably already know that the Mortgage Rules have changed recently, and you’re probably concerned.
What is this new rule anyway?
“Effective October 17th all high ratio buyers will have to qualify at the benchmark rate for all terms.”
And just what does that even mean?
It means that you’ll have to qualify for a higher interest rate than what you’ll actually end up paying, which will reduce the dollar amount for which you’ll qualify.
Dominion Lending Centres gives this example:
“… a home buyer currently qualified to purchase with 10% down for a mortgage of $527,000. After October 17th, this home buyer would qualify for a $420,000 mortgage. This equates to a 20% drop in buying power. (All things being equal in terms of property taxes, income, debts, etc).”
So what do we do?
In this situation, you have a few of options:
- Make up for the shortfall with more money down; or
- Add another person to the mortgage to help qualify; or
- Purchase a lower priced property
But mostly…talk with your REALTOR® Ann Hayes, and your mortgage professional about your options.
So what’s the purpose all this?
Well, the new mortgage rules will likely reduce the risk of a housing crash. The government and the banks are looking out for own interests in keeping the housing market going, but in looking out for their own, they’re also looking out for yours. Qualifying for a lower amount might just put less stress on your wallet. That can’t be too bad.
by Admin | Oct 5, 2016 | Household Info
Let me preface this post by saying…I like using chemical store-bought cleaners. I mean, I really like using them. I know everyone is jumping on the “all-natural, eco-friendly, chemical-free” band-wagon for cleaning products, so my stance is usually an unpopular one. Feel free to disagree with me, but I like the smell of chemical house-cleaning products. To me, it’s the smell of a clean house.
But yesterday I took the advice of a post I saw on Facebook. It told me how to make my bathtub sparkle. My bathtub never sparkles! My husband is a mechanic. And a volunteer fireman. And a part-time hockey player. I also have a 3 1/2 year old son who, like any other little boy, is like a magnet for dirt and grime and other sticky things. My bathtub never sparkles.
I do my best though. And the only thing I’ve found that helps me (somewhat) easily remove the grime from my bathtub is Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They work wonders, but it still takes a lot of elbow grease to get my bathtub clean.
So a couple of a days ago I was scrolling through new Facebook posts and my friend Mikie had posted a video on how to make your bathtub sparkle, using only two ingredients found in your home. I saved the video, like I save many posts (usually to never see them again anyway). Then yesterday it came time to clean my grimy bathtub, and I remembered the post, and I looked it up and thought ‘hey, let’s try that!’
The instructions are to take 1 part dish soap and 1 part warm white vinegar, mix it together in a spray bottle, spray it on your tub, leave it for 20 minutes and then simply wipe away the grime. I have about 5 types of vinegar in my cupboards. White vinegar was not one of them so I used Apple Cider Vinegar (right, I know that’s weird). I didn’t have much faith that it would work. So I warmed it up and mixed it with the dish soap, wandered upstairs to my bathroom and spray the heck out of the bathtub. The smell was stifling (vinegar is never easy on your lungs). But as I didn’t have much faith that it would work, I didn’t bother waiting 20 minutes, I didn’t want to waste my time. So nearly right after I finished spraying my bathtub I grabbed my sponge to start wiping.
Despite the Apple Cider Vinegar, despite not waiting 20 minutes, one quick, easy wipe and that one little spot of my bathtub was so shiny white I just stared at it for a moment, almost wanting to believe I was seeing things. But no, less elbow grease and more sparkle than Magic Erasers!
For the record, it also works on toilets and sinks.
I wonder if I can add chemicals to make it smell better?
Anyway, here’s the video, found from here.
Do you have any favourite cleaning tips? Feel free to comment!!
Take care!
