There is no doubt about it! Even if the weather is relatively pleasant, your
home won’t show as well in the winter as it would in the summer, especially
from the outside. Fortunately, there are many ways to make your home look
more attractive and appealing to buyers during the winter season.
First, before showing your home to a potential buyer, clear your front
walkway. Make sure fence doors and gates open freely. Also, clear off the
backyard deck or patio area. You want buyers to be able to explore around
your property without any obstructions.
In short, do everything you can to make the experience of walking up to
your front door and around your property as pleasant as possible.
Second, clear away any boots, shoes and other outerwear from the front
foyer. You want buyers to focus on your beautiful home, not a cluttered
entranceway. Also, have mats on both the outside and inside of your main
entranceway. This will give buyers – as well as you and your family – a
chance to wipe their boots and shoes.
Next, adjust your thermostat. You want your home to feel warm, cozy and
comfortable for potential buyers.
Finally, remember that in the winter, homes show much better during the
day. In the evening, it may be too dark to fully appreciate your property. So
work with your REALTOR® to schedule viewings during the day whenever
possible. If you can, also have pictures of your property available that
showcase what it looks like in the summer. That takes planning. So if you're
even just casually thinking of the possibility of selling your home, take some
good "summer" pictures.
Want more advice on how to sell your home in the winter? Call today.
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Preparing Your Home For Winter Showings!
Monday, 3 December 2012
Thursday Night Jazz Party
Thursday Night Jazz Party
Date: December 6, 2012
Venue: The Home Smith Bar at the Old Mill, Toronto 7:30 to 10:30 pm
Jazz party featuring Don Naduriak and Don Laws as well as some very special surprise guests!!
A great evening of Jazz and Latin Jazz!
Friday Night Jazz Party!!
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Friday Night Jazz Series- Latin and Jazz Lula Lounge 8 pm
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Mississauga Arts Council annual Cranberry Breakfast
MISSISSAUGA ARTS COUNCIL ANNUAL CRANBERRY BREAKFAST! LATIN JAZZ SENSATION, LAURA FERNANDEZ EXPLORES “BALANCING YOUR ART, BALANCING YOUR LIFE”
Date: December 7, 2012
Venue: 7:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Living Arts Centre (4141 Living Arts Drive).
With the holidays approaching and family and friends toasting, the Mississauga Arts Council invites you to celebrate the season at its annual Cranberry Breakfast, Balancing your Art, Balancing your Life on Friday, December 7, 2012 from 7:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the Living Arts Centre (4141 Living Arts Drive).
The Cranberry Breakfast is an invigorating morning of networking, inspiration, a delicious holiday breakfast, raffle prizes and entertainment. The morning will be hosted by Singer/Songwriter and Jazz FM Radio personality, Laura Fernandez, who will be sharing her secrets to balancing her busy career as a sought-after musician, media personality, realtor and mother. “My life has always been a balance of art and function. I dream, I work hard and I do my best to make things work and to fulfill my responsibilities without compromising my responsibility to myself and to my art. I also have great faith and a lot of help and encouragement!” expresses Laura Fernandez.
If you feel overwhelmed and fragmented as a busy artist, come to this interactive event and learn tips on balancing the modern day demands of being an artist. Come and enjoy a keynote discussion by Laura followed by a spicy performance of her original Latin Jazz compositions.
This is definitely one event you won’t want to miss! Some of the topics that will be covered by Laura include: How to balance a “day job” with your arts career; Finding time to work at your craft; Balancing family life with your career; Valuing “downtime”; The importance of identifying goals; How to become a ‘thriving artist’ instead of ‘starving artist’; How to avoid over-commitment and spreading yourself too thin. Following Laura’s discussion and performance, we will open the floor to you, giving everyone in attendance the opportunity to announce any upcoming events they would like to promote and share their triumphs from the past year.
The Cranberry Breakfast will be held at the Living Arts Centre, located at 4141 Living Arts Drive. Tickets are now available to purchase for $25 for MAC members and $30 for non-members. They can be purchased by calling the office at 905-615-4278 or emailing info@mississaugaartscouncil.com. For more information, please go online at www.mississaugaartscouncil.com. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MissArtsCouncil and Twitter @MissArtsCouncil.
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Opening for Eliades Ochoa and la Banda Patria _ Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
What a wonderful experience! Sold out shows in all three cities, beatuful venues also. I was surrounded by great talent and generosity. A special thank you to Noah Zacharin who played along side me on the tour, the organizers and Eliades Ochoa and la Banda Patria! Here are some highlights of the Toronto show at the Danforth Music Hall. Thanks to Robert M Saxe for the great photos!
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Real Estate in Toronto
Should your home’s selling price be made public?
Canada's competition commissioner says any member of the public should be able to find out a home's sale price.
Should you care whether someone knows how much you paid for your home?
Some people think that information should be made public, while others believe that constitutes an invasion of privacy. Why should a stranger have access to that kind of information?
This issue is a big bone of contention and now the basis of a lawsuit launched by Ottawa’s Commissioner of Competition against the Toronto Real Estate Board. The commissioner holds that anyone should be able to go onto a real estate brokerage’s website and see any price of a recently sold home in their neighbourhood. In Ontario, real estate agents can view prices through their local MLS system, but members of the public cannot. In Canada, only Nova Scotia lets everyone see this information, while in the United States, access is for the most part universal.
Read more about the lawsuit here.
More of my clients are asking if there is a way to keep the price they paid for their home off the title records that are accessible by anyone. It can be done if you make arrangements to pay the land transfer tax before closing. This way you keep the price you paid off the title.
The competition commissioner believes that if sold prices were publicly available, buyers could figure out what to offer on a home themselves and would not need to employ a real estate agent. In my view, it wouldn’t change anything because there are many varied reasons why a home sells for a particular price. For example:
•Two houses on the same street, the same size, built by the same builder, may have different views and layouts, which can make a big difference in their curb appeal.
•The price is affected by seller motivations. One vendor may have to sell quickly because she has bought a house, or has had a change of life circumstance, whether through death, marriage breakup, or job relocation.
•A history of sewage backups could affect a selling price, or whether the house backs onto a park or ravine, or is close to a hydro tower.
•What about a wind farm that has just been announced as coming to your area, a crazy neighbour, or a halfway house located on the same block?
In the U.S., sold prices have been available for years. A study compiled by the National Association of Realtors found that 89 per cent of deals done in 2011 were handled by real estate agents. This figure was much higher than it had been before the Internet came into common use.
Before the lawyers make too much money fighting over privacy, my hope is that this issue can be settled amicably and that buyers and sellers continue to receive all the information they need, whichever way they might try to buy or sell a home.
thanks to Mark Weisleder for sharing his knowledge with us.
Mark is a real estate lawyer in Toronto , Canada