« October 2004 | Main | December 2004 »
Sale of mansion for charity donation
A Toronto charity will be up $50,000 if a million-dollar mansion in Thornhill sells before Christmas Day.
Toronto real estate salesperson Jim Common has pledged to make the donation, out of his sales commission, to the CHUMCity Christmas Wish foundation if the house, at 34 Idleswift Dr. sells by Dec. 25. It's the third year he has made the pledge; both previous houses sold by the deadline.
"Christmas is for kids," Mr. Common said, "and I want to make as many Christmas wishes come true this year for Toronto's less fortunate children."
Mr. Common on, an 11-year veteran of the real estate world, also pledges to donate 1 per cent of his commissions to charity on every house he sells between now and Christmas Eve. It's all an effort to help charity and promote his business, he says.
Last year he beat his deadline on a $1.34-million home and the year before, he was successful with a $3-million mansion.
This year's home is a new, Tyndall stone 4,000-square-foot structure with rock gardens and flower beds.
November 25, 2004 in Agency Matters | Permalink | Comments (0)
Did Someone Say Bubble?
Canada's rocketing real estate market is defying pessimists -- heck, it's defying realists. KATHERINE MACKLEM explains why, thanks to a solid economy and nesting boomers, it's here to stay.
IN 2001, Lindsay and Chris Sukornyk bought a 130-year-old house in Toronto's chi-chi Yorkville area. The property had been well cared for, but it hadn't been updated since the 1940s. Protecting its heritage facade, they demolished it from the inside out. They stripped walls right down to the frame, tore out old wiring and plumbing, dug out the basement, reinforced the foundation and ripped off the home's back end to extend it and accommodate a third storey.
The couple, professionals who now are both 27 years old, had custom-made kitchen cabinets installed and bought top-of-the-line appliances. Washrooms were equipped with designer-name sinks, heated floors and exquisite tiles. They painted the walls Zen-calm colours and chose urban-chic furniture. They planted perennials in the backyard and laid a gravel path to the two-car parking spot. Then, after spending a couple of hundred thousand dollars and months living on the third floor with a hot plate and a beer fridge in lieu of a kitchen, they sold it.
The Sukornyks are a bit shy about explicitly spelling out how much they made, but suffice it to say they sold it for well into the seven figures, double what they'd paid for it. "It's insane," Lindsay says.
Sean Wesenberg encountered insanity of a different sort. Last February, he camped out overnight in a lineup snaking down Georgia Street. No, not for hot concert tickets -- rather, he spent the cold night on the sidewalk for a chance to bid on a condo in Vancouver's coveted Yaletown. The property, which is just now starting to go up, occupies the last parcel of land in the area available for new buildings. The developer was selling 500 units in two towers starting the following day at noon.
About 30 people were ahead of him when Wesenberg, armed with heavy winter clothing and a sleeping bag, joined the queue at 2 a.m. As night turned into day, the line swelled, with many people slipping into spots held by friends or agents in front of Wesenberg. When the sales office finally opened, 150 buyers were ahead of him -- and many of them bought two or three units. Finally, around 3 p.m., 13 hours after he staked out his spot on the sidewalk, Wesenberg was at the front of the line -- and all five of his top choices were gone. Instead, for $370,000, he signed his name to the last two-bedroom unit on a desirable corner.
Just last month, the developer put the units of a third planned tower up for sale. Some of them went for $30,000 more than the same-size condos in Wesenberg's building. "It's pretty crazy," Wesenberg, 33, says.
LIKE AN ITCH, real estate markets are intensely local. But just about everywhere in Canada residential markets are on fire -- and have been, in many areas, for several years. Since 2001, property values in most of the country have risen anywhere from 25 to 50 per cent. In parts of Montreal and Kelowna, B.C., they have doubled, or more, in just 12 months. Figures like these, combined with tales of fierce bidding wars, contribute to the fear that markets across Canada are warped, that prices are out of line with home values and that, yes, almost the whole country is in the midst of a real estate bubble. Yet, despite hair-raising sticker prices, many real estate experts reject the notion of a bubble. "This has been a market that has defied all real estate fundamentals," says Jeff Rubin, chief economist at CIBC World Markets. And the unusual conditions that are feeding it show little sign of abating.
FACTOR 1: MONEY IS DIRT CHEAP
Rubin, a provocative market watcher who sealed his reputation by calling Toronto's real estate bubble just before it burst in 1990, says the market in Canada would have run out of steam by now if factors that usually drive real estate cycles were driving this one. Normally, changes in things like the balance between buyers and sellers, or the ratio of renters to homeowners, or the amount of annual household income (itself affected by employment levels), will have a decisive impact on the housing market. But in today's world, with interest rates lower than they have been since the '60s, the only factor that counts is the record-low cost of a mortgage.
Don Saynor, one of the many renters who are leaping into home ownership, has been lured by the promise of money that is, in his words, "really really really cheap." Besides, he's still hurting from his stock market woes. His RRSP has improved over the past year, but still, he says of his losses, "it's, like, my God!" His interest in the real estate market was piqued when banks recently started offering no-down-payment mortgages, and he's found one bank that gives -- sort of -- five per cent of the purchase price back to the mortgage client (the interest rate, natch, is slightly higher than market). Thinking both about lifestyle and resale value, Saynor, a 38-year-old who works in advertising, is now searching for the perfect loft-style condo in Toronto for up to $350,000. He believes lofts will stay trendy. It no longer makes sense to fork over $1,200 a month to a landlord. "I'm sick of not paying myself," he says. Even though a mortgage will jack up Saynor's monthly housing cost by at least $1,000, it will be worth it, he says. "Basically, it's forced savings for me. I don't want to wait any more."
FACTOR #2: HOMES ARE CHEAP
(RELATIVELY SPEAKING)
Many buyers are like Saynor, eager to get in before property values reach the stratosphere. Those who a couple of years ago decided to wait for the market to cool are now kicking themselves. That's par for the course during the run-up in all real estate cycles. What's unusual this time around is that the main concern for many purchasers is not a property's sticker price. Rather, it's how much house they can afford to carry through their mortgage payments.
Every three months, economist Carl Gomez prepares a revealing report on what's called the Housing Affordability Index. If there is one statistic that explains today's real estate market conditions, this it is. Gomez, of Royal Bank of Canada, combines various sets of data to arrive at the percentage of household income that goes toward paying for the home. In Toronto, at the height of the 1990 bubble, when mortgage rates were averaging 13.25 per cent, the cost of carrying a house was an unfathomable 71 per cent of pre-tax household income. (Given that taxes easily eat up another 30 per cent, what did those people eat?) It's Vancouverites, though, who earn the dubious distinction of consistently having the least left over after paying their monthly housing bills (including utilities, taxes, etc.), a ratio that sits today at roughly 46 per cent. While it's the highest in the country, houses in Vancouver are actually 15 per cent more affordable than they were in 1997, Gomez says. Except for a tiny moment in '86, Vancouver's affordability index has always been above 40 per cent, peaking in '94 at 64 per cent. Just about everywhere else in Canada, the affordability rate today hovers around the very healthy level of 30 per cent.
On a market-wide basis, bankers begin to worry only when the ratio passes 35 per cent. Which implies that real estate markets just about everywhere in Canada have a way to go before they peak. Gomez rejects the word boom, because it suggests a subsequent bust. "I'd say this is a robust, strong housing market with some moderation ahead," he says. "But it won't collapse." Does that mean it's a good time to sell and not a good time to buy? "It's definitely a seller's market, but given the affordability, it's still a good time to buy," he says.
Rubin agrees it will be a while before this market turns sour. "It'll continue as long as interest rates continue to be low," he says. Contrary to popular wisdom -- and the bond market -- which expects interest rates to creep up in the near future, Rubin goes so far as to suggest there won't be a rate increase in the U.S. (which can trigger a copycat jump in Canada) at all this year. "Never in the history of the Federal Reserve Board has it raised rates during an election year," Rubin says. In Canada, not only are interest rates not going up, they may come down further, he predicts. "As long as interest rates stay at these levels, the housing market will continue to defy what normally are fundamental constraints."
FACTOR #3: BOOMERS WANT TO RETIRE IN STYLE
And then there are the boomers, that generation which, just by sheer numbers, is irritatingly influential. Its front end, approaching 60 years of age, are downsizing, as 60-year-olds tend to do. But instead of moving into more modest homes, they still want "all the bells and whistles," says Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage. Meanwhile, the back end of the boomer generation, the 40-somethings, are in upgrade mode: if they aren't already living in the house of their dreams, they figure now is the time to go out and find it. In realtors' lingo, they are the move-up crowd, and they are putting a lot of pressure on the middle of the market.
It's pressure Clara Garfield and her husband know well. The two thirtysomething professionals began their search for a house in September 2002. They thought they'd spend a few months getting familiar with the central Toronto market, where they wanted to live, and then be in a position to buy a house the following spring. Their initial target price was $650,000. Wrong, and wrong. They visited more than 150 houses, even coming to recognize the faces of competing bidders. The months wore on. Garfield (not her real name) became pregnant. Houses were rejected for not having parking, for being too dark or needing too much work. Still, they placed offers on 10 different properties. In two cases, they were explicitly told the vendors would not accept list price. Each time, their bid was trumped. One house, listed at $669,000, sold for $900,000. "That was stretching reality," she says.
Garfield's baby was born. He's now a happy, gurgling, eight-month-old boy. "It's a long-running joke among our family and friends. Everyone else that was looking is already living in their house," she says. "There were points when we were so frustrated. We just wanted to buy a goddamn house." They kept looking, and a couple of weeks ago made yet another offer, this time on a well-maintained, three-storey Edwardian whose list price had just been lowered to $895,000. They offered precisely that on condition the property pass an inspection, which would happen two days later. The vendor accepted. The Garfields take possession in June. "In this market, you have no idea what will happen with the price," Garfield says. "But they probably could have got more money."
Amid the general optimism, there is one pocket of the real estate market causing some concern. That's condos in Toronto, which RBC's Gomez says are showing bubble-like signs. Resale prices, particularly among the new towers in or near downtown, have begun to drop while more buildings continue to go up. The fear is that a glut of these condos will trigger a price collapse in the sector. In Vancouver, Gomez says, the story is entirely different. Land is at such a premium, buyers will continue to snap up condos as fast as they become available -- even if that means spending the night on the sidewalk.
November 23, 2004 in Buying a Home | Permalink | Comments (0)
Upscale condos in Lawrence Park
Tower Hill Development's Lawrence Park Condominiums offer a central location, terrific selection of suites and, as construction of the buildings is almost finished, move-in dates within 60 days.
Preview registration is under way.
Located at Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue West, the site consists of four mid-rise buildings designed by Page and Steele Architects Planners, with interiors by Bryon Patton of Patton & Associates.
A total of 338 suites are available in two five-storey and two six-storey buildings, with a selection of one- and two-bedroom designs, many with dens.
Suites range from 636 to 1,152 square feet in size and are priced from the low $200,000s.
They include a variety of features, such as granite kitchen countertops, designer cabinetry and expansive windows for bright living spaces.
"They're basically built, so buyers have the opportunity to see what they'll be getting. They can walk through the actual unit they want, take a look at the buildings and tour the neighbourhood," says Russell Masters, vice-president of Tower Hill.
"They can also walk through our four furnished models suites to see the terrific finishes we offer."
In addition to the condo buildings, there is one apartment building on site and it is 70 per cent leased.
The project offers amenities both inside and out. There is a private park with almost two acres of gardens, as well as meandering stone pathways and a waterfall. Indoors, there is approximately 10,000 square feet of space for billiards, virtual golf, a fitness centre, Internet café, fireplace lounge, theatre and entertainment room. A 24-hour concierge and security service will also be provided.
"The buildings really fit within the community of Lawrence Park. People who already live in the neighbourhood and are selling their larger homes still want to live here because it's such an established neighbourhood," Mr. Masters says.
The upscale residential community is nestled between the grounds of Havergal College and the playing fields of Lawrence Park Collegiate. To the north is a collection of trendy shops and restaurants, and Chatsworth Ravine Park is nearby.
The bus stops directly at the doorstep, providing easy connections to the Yonge Street subway station just minutes away.
November 22, 2004 in Location, Location ... | Permalink | Comments (0)
Toronto real estate resources
If you're buying or selling a house, whether it's for the first time or the fourth, you want to be well-informed about what's happening in the market, financing and the real estate industry. From this post, you can find out how to finance your new home, what the market trends have been over the past decade, the latest articles about the market and the real estate industry.
Some very good resource are available for you from the goverment and banking associations.
One is the CMHC's Step-by-Step Workbook for Homebuyers. Click here to go to the web site or here to download the workbook in Adobe Acrobat format.
Another is 'Mortgage Wise" from the Canadian Bankers Association (www.cba.ca). Click here to download the publication in Adobe Acrobat format.
You can also check out the Toronto Star's "Your First Home" section by clicking here.
For information on the Toronto Real Estate Board, click here.
November 21, 2004 in Buying a Home | Permalink | Comments (0)
They plan where you live
Planning firm behind key developments from Toronto's Beach to Collingwood Community designers may be the best-kept secret in town, reports Tracy Hanes
You may never have heard of the MBTW Group/Watchorn Architect Inc., but chances are you've heard of its work.
The Beach, the Garden Residences of Avondale, the Village of Brooklin, Oak Park, the Village at York University and the Shipyards at Collingwood are just a few of the developments in which the Toronto firm has played a key role.
In Brooklin, for example, MBTW came up with the idea of creating a development that harkens back to a time when neighbours chatted across their front porches.
And the colourful "painted ladies" townhouses at the Beach across from Ashbridges Bay were partially inspired by partner Steven Wimmer's love of San Francisco's famous frame houses.
The company, which operates from a funky renovated warehouse in the Leslie St. and Eglinton Ave. area, specializes in the master planning and design of communities. Its four specialties are urban design, architecture, landscape architecture and golf community design.
"We may be the best-kept secret in town," says Gary Watchorn, one of five principals at MBTW, which started more than 25 years ago and now has a staff of 70. The other partners are Wimmer, Alexander Topps, Peter Kanitsch and Pat Bollenberghe.
Located at the end of a dead-end street, the office reflects the company's creative flair. There's a putting green and galley kitchen in the open-concept, lime-green lobby.
And there are no walls beneath the lofty ceilings in the main work area, encouraging interaction between departments.
"We pride ourselves, as a group, as being visionary," says Watchorn. "We're passionate about the work we do. We think outside the box. A developer will come to us and say, `Here's what I've got. What's possible?' We want to come up with great ideas, but we also want to see them built."
Watchorn says there has been a clouding of the line between builder and developer over the past dozen years.
"That serves us well, because we can put together a comprehensive package, from the initial idea to the last tree planted. Developers have a much higher regard for the project when they are also the builder."
MBTW is often involved in a project from the moment a developer comes looking for a vision for a raw piece of land until last tree is planted.
It often creates the image for the development and may also set out the land-use planning, architectural-design guidelines and controls, park and streetscape planning and landscape design.
While designing a site, Wimmer says he tries to envision "anything you see when walking the dog. A big transformer sitting on a lawn could influence your impression. A laneway product (houses with rear garages and lanes) needs a special streetscape, and so does a corner lot."
Watchorn and his colleagues may be involved with a project for its 10- to 15-year lifespan.
"If we've done our jobs well, in 20 years, you won't know we've even been there," he adds. "As a community evolves, it should integrate seamlessly into the surrounding neighbourhood."
That's the group's goal at the Shipyards of Collingwood, a residential and commercial development now going through the preliminary approval stage.
The former Canada Steamship Lines' shipbuilding site had been inaccessible to the public and obscured the view of Nottawasaga Bay.
Another consultant had come up with a concept for the brownfield site, but it would have privatized the waterfront and focused on residential condos. The proposal was not well received by local residents.
MBTW felt it was important to create a destination landmark, with public access, not simply a housing development.
"People were surprised when we suggested this as an urban project," explains Wimmer, who says he and his co-workers envisioned the site as an extension of the main street — with shops, cafes, a public plaza and a waterfront promenade that celebrates the town's shipbuilding heritage,as well as housing.
For three days, MBTW led a public charrette (a collaborative design workshop integrating local community views and professional opinions) and were the lead designers for the Slokker Canada/Fram Building Group project.
The result is a mixed-use community with a promenade that links waterfront parks to the east and west of the development, streets and pedestrian mews lined by townhouses and mid-rise apartments, with some commercial space at grade level.
The town's main street (Pine St.) will be extended to a public plaza with shops and cafes. There will be some on-street parking, but most will be underground to keep the neighbourhood pedestrian-focused.
Watchorn and Wimmer offered some insight into other GTA projects the company has been involved with:
VILLAGE OF BROOKLIN
As Watchorn explains it, in the late 1980s and early '90s, the era of big houses and big lots was about to change, as the trend moved towards quality, not quantity.
"There seemed to be a yearning for a Leave It to Beaver world, where people could sit on their porches and talk to their neighbours," he says. "The developer, the Sorbara Group, came to us for a vision, and we interviewed builders and went to the ratepayers for feedback."
Brooklin, an historic hamlet in north Whitby, had an old-fashioned main street and many buildings with old-Ontario, Victorian-style architecture. The Sorbara project was the first major expansion of the hamlet in 40 years.
Watchorn and his team created a vision that was inspired by, and would complement, the existing village. The community was built as a series of neighbourhood enclaves and the houses were designed to reflect period architectural styles.
Watchorn convinced builder Tribute Homes to offer houses with detached, rear-lot garages and all-clapboard designs, despite the "all-brick, two-car-garage" mindset at the time.
One-third of Brooklin buyers opted for rear garages and one-third went for non-brick homes.
The front-porch community set a precedent for every development since in Brooklin, which has become one of the most desirable communities in the eastern GTA.
"When (Tribute CEO) Howard Sokolowski came to Brooklin, he thought of himself as a builder," says Watchorn. "But, as a result of it, he came to see himself as a community builder."
THE BEACH
When asked by Metrus Development Inc. to create a vision for the former Woodbine Racetrack site, the MBTW team walked every street in the surrounding Beach neighbourhood and took photographs.
"We put them all up on the wall and, while the streets were great and the character was great, we realized the individual pieces themselves weren't great on their own.
It was the collection of those pieces that created the whole," says Wimmer.
The plan was to embrace the old and new, building on the existing street grid and enhancing the views to Lake Ontario.
The firm mixed different housing types and developed concepts for mixed-use buildings, mid-rise apartments and townhouse blocks. Cafes and shops line the community's main street.
Developer Marco Muzzo kept a prime piece of the site to build on his own, and the resulting "painted ladies" were inspired partially by Wimmer's love of San Francisco's colourful houses.
The firm was also hired by the City of Toronto to create and implement a new vision for the 10-hectare waterfront Woodbine Park, adjacent to the Beach community.
The new park will recreate wetland and wildlife habitats, reuse historical elements such as the clock tower from the former racetrack, and become a new location for festivals held each summer at Kew Beach Park.
VILLAGE AT YORK UNIVERSITY
"The big question for us was how can we move from a suburban campus to a 24-hour urban campus like Harvard?" says Watchorn of this project, another Sorbara/Tribute initiative.
The firm has developed a master plan for 60 hectares, combining private and public uses, a variety of housing choices and a mix of student accommodation and office/commercial or institutional uses.
The surrounding greenspaces and woodlots inspired MBTW to create an open-space network within the campus.
For the housing, the group looked to the Annex neighbourhood around the University of Toronto and replicated the flat roofs that suggest an urban/university environment. The flat-roofed homes have become the most popular sellers.
November 20, 2004 in Location, Location ... | Permalink | Comments (0)
Stable prices, healthy market
According to the latest Urbanation report, the condominium market continued to exhibit remarkable strength in the third quarter as more than 2,600 people became new condominium homeowners during this time.
Our statistics show sales of new condominium units in the first nine months of 2004 were 23 per cent ahead of the same time last year. As well, unsold inventory has fallen by 20 per cent compared to the same time last year — despite the addition of 68 new condominium projects and more than 12,000 units over the past 12 months.
New condominium prices have also remained remarkably stable over the past several years, rising only as much as construction cost increases. The net result: a healthy condominium market where there are currently 113 projects under construction that have already pre-sold more than 81 per cent of their suites. And there are 59 projects in their pre-construction phase that have already pre-sold more than 51 per cent of their suites.
So what is going on out there?
The key to understanding what is happening in the condominium market is to understand how demand has changed, particularly as our population has grown and matured over the past 25 years.
In the 1980s, demand for condominiums was driven largely by demand from speculators and investors looking to make a quick buck, resulting in a sharp increase in both sales activity and prices over a very short period of time and creating an unsustainable bubble.
In contrast, condominium buyers today are savvy, well-educated consumers who are taking the time to shop around and compare projects to find the best value for their money.
This means prices have remained both competitive and affordable as the condominium market is being driven largely by "real buyers" looking for "real homes" to move into.
Strong competition has been beneficial to consumers as many projects are offering attractive incentives, such as free maintenance fees or free upgrades.
Demand for condominiums has never been more broadly based than it is today.
Buyers include young first-time homebuyers (without children) looking for small, affordably priced condominiums in urban locations; 30 to 40-something second-time home buyers (still without children) moving from small one-bedroom units into something slightly larger in urban locations; and older, move-down empty nesters looking to trade in their family homes for large suites in their current neighbourhoods.
Demand has also never been more diversified in terms of location. Condominium projects are now found throughout the city in the 416 and 905 regions, including: downtown Toronto, King West Village, Entertainment District, St. Lawrence Market, Harbourfront, North York City Centre, Bayview Village, Scarborough City Centre, Agincourt, Don Mills, High Park, South Etobicoke, The Kingsway, Weston, Mississauga City Centre, Markham Town Centre, Richmond Hill, Woodbridge, Pickering and Milton.
The growth in demand for condominiums makes sense as the population continues to mature and grow — as young people leave the family home; as people get married later in life and delay having children; as empty nesters look at condominiums as a way to gain freedom to do the things they really want to do now that the children have left home.
Overall, demand from these buyers has accounted for over 80 per cent of all new condominium sales in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) over the past decade, with investors accounting for the balance of condominium demand.
However, today's investors are very different from investors in the 1980s.
Whereas in the 1980s, investors were typically buying with the intention of "flipping" their units, today's investors tend to be involved in more long-term thinking and buying with the intention of renting. They see real estate as a relatively safe and secure place for their money, particularly in such a dynamic and growing city as Toronto.
Investor interest also tends to be concentrated in certain locations in Toronto, typically in highly urban locations near conveniences, such as the subway, shopping or entertainment. This makes sense, as renters tend to be younger in age and are typically attracted to vibrant, urban locations.
I often hear concerns from prospective condominium buyers about purchasing in a building where they believe there are a lot of investors. There seems to be this misconception that condominium renters somehow decrease the value of a building. However, there is no empirical data to support this claim.
The decision to purchase a condominium should be based ultimately on location, price and value for money, rather than concerns about the number of potential investors in the building
November 20, 2004 in Watching the Market | Permalink | Comments (0)
New plan for Pickering airport
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority released a draft plan Tuesday to build a $2 billion airport on land expropriated by Ottawa more than 30 years ago, for just that purpose.
The airport will be built in stages over a 30-year period and may eventually handle 11 million passengers a year.
The airport authority said the facility would be located north of the town of Pickering, just east of Toronto, and would generate $5 billion a year. Money for the airport would be raised privately through bonds and the securities market, said Steve Shaw, vice-president of the airport authority.
He said the new regional airport would take pressure off Toronto's Pearson International Airport, which generates annual traffic of about 50 million passengers per year.
"Pearson will always be the major international facility, but clearly there is a need for regional facilities," Shaw said. "General aviation needs to be accommodated. Pearson cannot handle that."
Among the general aviation traffic handled by the new airport would be recreational and company aircraft, including helicopters, and flying schools.
Ottawa has been gathering land
The federal government started expropriating land for a second international airport for Toronto more than three decades ago.
It abandoned a Pickering airport project in 1972 after public opposition and a withdrawal of provincial government support.
Some people who live in the area oppose the new plan. Stephen Frederick, president of Voters Organized to Cancel Airport Lands, said the area does not need another airport.
"The [passenger] forecasts are exaggerated to try and substantiate an airport," Frederick told the Globe and Mail. "It's ludicrous and it is just going to lead to a complete waste of resources."
Montreal's Mirabel Airport closed last month after opening to great fanfare in 1975. Supporters predicted that Mirabel would become a gateway to the world, luring 60 million passengers annually by 2010. At its peak, it drew no more than three million people a year.
November 20, 2004 in Location, Location ... | Permalink | Comments (0)
Martha Stewart at De Boer's
Home-style diva Martha Stewart may be cooling her heels in a U.S. prison for insider trading of a biotech stock, but her furniture line is hot. "It has done phenomenally well in the States," says Suanne de Boer, general manager of De Boer's Furniture stores.
"In fact the furniture sales went up when she had her problems."
This month, De Boer's has opened Martha Stewart galleries in its Toronto and Ottawa stores, featuring the two-year-old line, which is manufactured by U.S.-based Bernhardt Furniture. "The whole line is really eclectic," she says. "You don't buy a matching bedroom set. It's the kind where you can pick certain pieces, and they all work together." There are three Martha Stewart collections, says de Boer, each named for one of her homes and "inspired" by the furnishings in that particular dwelling: Lily Pond, Skylands and Turkey Hill. All would be considered formal or traditional with a contemporary flair, and fit equally well into a modern or traditional environment, she says. "She has managed to bridge that gap," says de Boer. The furniture line also comes with a full range of Martha Stewart fabrics. Bernhardt is a high-end manufacturer, and the pieces are by no means cheap. A nickel-plated bed frame, for example, including headboard, footboard and rails, sells for $2,349, while a chair in with bamboo-style detailing on the wood, is priced at $1,249. Many of the Martha Stewart pieces are smaller in scale, and multifunctional. Armoires contain desk components, such as the Amsterdam Secretary, a wood piece with nickel inlays that's priced at $3,469. A small cocktail table also offers filing storage.
November 20, 2004 in Home Maintenance | Permalink | Comments (0)
The New Age of Mortgages
In today's day and age, the world is at our fingertips, literally. Every day more and more people are getting online and using the internet to do things they used to have to leave the house for. Computers are being used for everything; from tasks as small as researching homework projects to processes as large as buying homes. If you're a computer user who's looking to buy or refinance a home, you may be surprised to learn that the days of having to visit your local lending office for your mortgage are long gone.
If you're in the market for a mortgage, you may want to consider looking into using an online mortgage broker. There are a number of benefits to using this method of finding a mortgage. You can apply for your mortgage at your own convenience, the application process tends to be shorter, there are normally no application fees required, and the sites often offer tools needed to figure out what you qualify for and how much your monthly payments will be.
Because the application process occurs online, you can go to the website when you choose; 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This enables consumers seeking a mortgage to be free of the time constraints imposed on them by working with brick and motor lenders that adhere to scheduled business hours. There is no need to take time off of work or out of your already hectic schedule to apply for a mortgage when all you have to do is visit a single website in your spare time.
Another benefit of using an online mortgage broker is that often, the lenders the broker represents will compete for your business and you can see the different rate quotes that you are being offered. This allows you to choose the mortgage that is best for you and gives you more control over the entire process.
However, it is important for consumers to remember that the Internet is a big place, and a place where many predators like to take advantage of honest, hardworking consumers. If you do decide to pursue your mortgage online, make sure that you work with a reputable broker to avoid the problems that can occur if dealing with a less than reputable individual or firm. There are signs to look for to make sure you are dealing with a reputable company. Check with the company's local BBB or the online BBB to make sure there are no complaints against them. Also, if a broker wants you to pay them to apply online, steer clear of them. The actual online application should be free of charge.
November 20, 2004 in Mortgage Financing | Permalink | Comments (0)
Pickering plan enrages residents
They live in places like Claremont, Green River and Greenwood — hamlets just outside the federally owned lands that might one day become Pickering Airport — and they're worried about noise, pollution and their taxes.
They gathered yesterday outside a satellite office of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority in the mostly boarded-up village of Brougham to announce how frightened and enraged they are at the prospect of a $2 billion, 30-year project that will see a "reliever" airport open there by 2012. "We thought this was a dead issue," said Katharine Maydell, who now rents the Brougham home she bought in 1971 because it was expropriated in '72. "My husband hoped for many years that we could buy back our property. That hope seems to be dead now." The 40 protesters were farmers, business workers, bankers, moms and dads. Some of them, like Maydell, helped kill the original idea in 1975. Some, like Green River's Mike Mead, are new to the area and new to the cause. "This (airport) doesn't make a lot of sense," said Mead. "Apart from the destruction of the proven agricultural land and the destruction of these communities in this neighbourhood, to me it seems a total waste, and the process I don't think has been totally democratic yet." If Transport Canada and the GTAA want Pickering Airport to fly, then their loudest critics are going to need convincing. The soft sell started yesterday with a media-only briefing from spokesperson Steve Shaw, who said the airport would be built in stages, only as needed. "It's not a moment of decision," said Shaw. "Whether an airport remains on the Pickering lands remains the decisions of the federal government. This decision will not be made until after this plan is subject to public scrutiny and expert examination through an extended environmental assessment." Federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre needs to give his approval for an assessment to go forward. Shaw said forecasts show Pearson being at capacity in about 20 years, with a more immediate need for a regional airport to unify the operations of airports in Buttonville, Markham and Oshawa. While the airport would take general aviation and business jets, the runways would be big enough to land 737s and 757s, mid-sized jets favoured by low-cost airlines. Shaw said he didn't foresee that traffic until 2018 or so, when a third runway might be built. "The last thing we want to do is build an airport that will sit empty," said Shaw. "The idea is to end the question mark over whether an airport should be built or not." Next week the GTAA takes its show to communities across Durham, starting Tuesday at Claremont Community Centre. Politicians in Durham are sure to keep an eye on protesters as well as Durham's economic well-being. Many view the airport as the key to opening up Durham to the riches of development enjoyed in Peel and York regions. "The city of Pickering has been in limbo for 30 years, so I'm glad to see there's a process that's going to provide for broad public input and participation," said Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan. "There's boarded-up houses up here. I'm not happy with that. I'm happy that after 34 years, we're going to come to a conclusion of the saga." Protesters were able to kill the airport because it became a provincial election issue in 1975. While the federal government had every intention of building an international airport to replace Toronto's Pearson International, then premier Bill Davis said his government wouldn't build the roads or sewers to serve it. Premier Dalton McGuinty, whose government wants to develop land it owns due south of the airport site, said he is watching the Pickering scheme closely. "I know that we're going to take a very close look at it right now. We'll have to see exactly how it fits in with our plan for growth, our greenspace development." Protesters lobbed a couple of shots at the GTAA's plan. They were worried about noise from aircraft while likening it to Montreal's $500 million white elephant Mirabel Airport, now closed to passenger traffic. "This is a different role, serves a different purpose in a different time and different need," said Shaw, bristling at the Mirabel reference. As for noise, Shaw said GTAA studies show that the communities of Claremont, Greenwood and Green River are just outside "noise contours." Protester Mead replied: "I think they ought to talk to people who live currently near airports. I don't know whether that one's true." The GTAA, a private, not-for-profit company set up by Ottawa to run Pearson, would fund the $2 billion through bonds paid for by landing and airport improvement fees. That's the same method that is paying for the $4.4 billion redevelopment of Pearson that has resulted in Toronto being among the most expensive airports in the world for airlines. "The political leadership needs to put a leash on the Greater Toronto Airports Authority," said Harry Gow, former president of lobby group Transport 2000. "It's time for Ottawa to admit that the governance structure used by Canada's airports is fatally flawed."November 18, 2004 in Location, Location ... | Permalink | Comments (0)
