BARBARA GRUMME’S BLOG!

▪         Selecting your wall colour before choosing your flooring or fabrics is a common mistake

▪         Hanging a dining room chandelier too far from the table. Go with 3 feet from the table to the underside of the chandelier.

▪         Hanging artwork too high. The rule of thumb should be to hang your art work at eye level.

▪         Hanging mirrors in dark corners of a room. This common mistake only enhances the darkness of that corner.

▪         Painting ceilings a bright white is a common mistake. Soften the ceiling by using an antique or off-white colour.

▪         Purchasing furniture that does not fit your space. Ensure you measure the space, the openings and consider turns into the space before purchasing the new items.

Bees and wasps can be a pain to live around … literally. Exploring a number of traps and repellents could be the key to enjoy in the outdoors this season.

In the United States, at least 40 people die each year due to bee or wasp stings. Many other people face allergic reactions from the venom or serious pain.

Most bees are not aggressive and look to avoid scuffles with people.

They may sting out of perceived danger or fear or if a person comes too close to a nest or surprises the winged creature. Wasps, such as yellow jackets, could be a bit more spunky and territorial. Africanized killer bees do have the potential to swarm and be dangerous.

Repellents:

A first try at keeping wasps and bees away from outdoor living spaces should involve some sort of natural repellent. Many insects are put off by certain smells. You can try citronella.
Some people swear by baby powder, and dust it on themselves and other areas of the garden.

One of the more effective repellents are mock wasp nests. Because these insects are territorial and will often fight to the death, they won’t build a nest too close to another wasp nest.

Traps:

For those who have found that repellents simply aren’t making a dent in the bussing population, traps are the next option to try. It’s possible to make all-natural traps that don’t require harsh chemicals.

One of the most common traps can be made simply from an empty soda bottle. Cut off the top of the bottle so that it is in two parts, the round reservoir and the pouring spout. Fill the reservoir with water and a little dish liquid. Tie the bait to the bottom of the spout and invert the top of the bottle so that if forms a funnel into which the wasps will fly. Coat the entrance of the funnel with a little cooking oil or petroleum jelly so the wasp will slide into the opening. The wasp will investigate the bait and eventually tire of flying around inside of the bottle. The soapy water will be there to trap the wasp once it as fallen, and ensure that plain water tension will not suspend the wasp and prevent drowning.

If these types of traps are placed out early enough, an individual can sometimes trap the queen and cause the nest to be built elsewhere. Some tips include frequently changing the bait and burying the decease wasps so they cannot warn their friends of the danger through olfactory warnings. Different baits work better at different times of the year. In spring, try hamburger meat. In the summer, sweet sources of food such as crushed grapes will work.

Sprays:

Some people say that vinegar works to repel honeybees but can attract wasps. Others say that spraying bleach on wasps will kill them. Others argue it only angers them and causes it to sting. Commercial wasp sprays will be effective but can have a host of chemicals in them and may not be safe around children and pets. Sprays should be used as a last resort and used on existing nests or areas where bees are seen congregating. If hornets, wasps or other types of bees are nuisance that cannot be controlled by the homeowner, a professional should be brought in .  

Information was from:

Home and Garden advertising Feature!

Nothing makes more of an impact to your space than flooring. Flooring is a key ingredient to your overall decorating mix. Here are some fresh ideas for your floor selection:

Resilient Flooring: Vinyl, Linoleum sheet, tile and cork comes in a wide array of colours and patterns, is highly durable, fairly economical and comfortable. This flooring is thin and shows irregularities over time.

Carpeting: Comes in a wide array of colours and textures. A very comfortable types of flooring, easy to install, fairly economical and absorbs sound. This flooring, easy to install, fairly economical and absorbs sound. This flooring should not be installed in moisture-laden areas.

Laminate Flooring: Very easy to install and maintain. This flooring cannot be refinished and is not recommended for wet or moisture-laden areas.

Wood Flooring – More costly but adds to your home’s value. 

Information was by Kickstarters.ca

The best way to select a colour that is right for you is to draw from your own personality. Colours say alot about you and can instantly transform your space. Here are some basic colour tips:

* Reds and Oranges: Raises blood pressure, stimulates appetites and is very engaging

*Yellows emulate the warm sun’s rays

*  Grens are restful to the eyes

*Blues contrast reds and are more calming

*Purples and eggplant colours are sophisticated and rich in detail

Neutral colours such as grey, beige, brown, taupe and white are flexible and made to compliment your full colour palette

So, if you want to spice things up then add some colour and if you want to tone things down subtract and go with neutrals.

A god way to measure what to keep is ask yourself, when was the last time that I used/ wore / enjoyed this item? If the answer is longer than 12 months, then it’s time to get rid of it!

If you have several sentimental items, then neatly display them on a shelf so you can actually enjoy them.

Less is more, and by getting rid of clutter, the more important things reveal themselves.

Information was by Kickstarters.ca

De-Clutter

By removing clutter from your home, you simplify your life and save time to do the things you love to do. By taking charge and organizing your home, you will reduce stress and create more positive energy.

The First step is to lay out a plan by prioritizing the main spaces of your home. Don’t just dive in, as this will overwhelm you. Start with the room of greater need or priority.

▪         Start by tacking your larger problem areas first

▪         Chuck it down and remove the large elements.

▪         Your junk is another person’s treasure! Pick up a few large plastic bins, (Different Colours) and separate your items into 3 categories.

▪         Items to recycle/ throw away

▪         Items to give away to friends and family

▪         Items to keep

Information was by Kickstarters.ca

“The million dollar home is no longer the exclusive domain of the rich. In fact, many typical middle income Canadian families now own million-dollar residence due to soaring property prices,” says Elli Davis, sales representative for Royal LePage in Toronto. “Accessorizing the property with the hottest must-haves in a natural extension of living a luxury lifestyle and a way to stand out from the crowd.”

1. Elevator car lifts, indoor car washes – Luxury homeowners spare no expense for their priceless automobiles. Avid car collectors, especially in city homes where property size is limited, install elevator car lifts to expand garage capacity. Keeping a fleet of cars clean is no small feat. In act, for many it necessitates an on-premise indoor car wash.
2. Walk-in refrigerators – Professional kitchens akin to what one may find in a five-star restaurant have taken over luxury homes. With growing emphasis placed on home entertaining, walk-in refrigerators and multiple ovens, sinks and dishwashers are the norm for even the novice gourmet.
3. Spas, gyms and yoga and Pilates studios – the home gym has undergone a makeover and focus now is on complete health and wellness facilities. Professional-style spas complete with steam rooms and massage rooms overtake the outdated sauna or whirlpool. Yoga and Pilates studios trump stair climbers, treadmills and rowing machines.
4. Wine cellars and tasting rooms – Grand wine cellars often found in Rosedale, Forest Hill or West mount residence are the norm for today’s connoisseur. Individual cellars for red and white wines, as well as specialized tasting rooms equipped with various sinks and buckets for wine sampling are becoming all the rage. 
5. Concierge services – Concierge services are no longer limited to condominium owners or hotel guests. Today’s luxury homeowners use companies specializing in concierge. From accommodate particular hobbies or tasks, which are completely outfitted help to keep homeowners organized, are very popular making dinner reservations to picking up dry cleaning or purchasing opera tickets, concierge services are now a common trend within many luxury neighborhoods. There are several companies that will provide typical concierge services to homeowners, essentially acting as a live-out butler.
6. Media Rooms – media rooms that rival the local public theatre are as prevalent in luxury hoes as the family room. These windowless rooms typically boast a theatre-size screen, surround sound and rows of plush seats to accommodate large groups.
7. Wrapping and Sewing rooms – Specialized rooms to Dedicated rooms for gift wrapping boast everything from ribbons to paper varieties to bags and bows, while sowing rooms have every type of thread, button and zipper imaginable with tables and machines tailored to the home-owner’s needed. 
8. Structured wiring and security – Many luxury residence feature security capabilities (Such as wireless door locking), entertainment options and light settings that can be accessed remotely throughout a home in various rooms. Some properties are even equipped to remotely control security features in far-away cottages or second homes. Another innovative perk for those with deep packets is security systems that allow property owners to view their home while at work, at the cottage or holiday.
9. Home Elevators – As homes are increasing in size, and are being built higher to accommodate several floors, home elevators are becoming an accessory of convenience as well as necessity.
10. Heated driveways, walkways and garages – Manual snow removal is a thing of the past for those in exclusive neighborhoods that favour heated driveways, walkways and even garages. Built on top of heating coils, snow melts as soon as it touches these warm surfaces.

Information by:

Dorm it or own it?

Helen Morris, National Post 

As teens across the country are settling in to university, many, particularly first-years, will have moved into residence. The meal plans and structure of residence life can ease the transition to adulthood — as well as afford parents peace of mind.

The alternative is to head off campus and rent private housing. But as families increasingly review the finer points of their finances, they may opt to buy a property for the duration of their child’s studies so that they may get a return on their investment when Johnny finally goes off to work.

But before starting the research, before inspecting any properties or checking on financing, it is essential to take a very close look at the type of person your child is.

“You’ve got to make sure that your child is mature enough to handle [home ownership], otherwise you’re going to bear the burden of maintaining the house,” says John Nardi, a financial advisor at Edward Jones who has a number of clients who have bought property for children at university. “You don’t want to handhold them through the entire process … the child needs to be able to maintain the home. Make sure that they understand it’s their place and therefore [they must] treat it as such.”

Toronto realtor Julie Kinnear asks, “Are they responsible enough? That’s my bottom line. There’s a lot of costs involved in buying and selling; you can’t take it lightly,” and it’s not just a financial commitment. “I’ve had [situations] … where the student is so rowdy that the other owners in the building don’t want them to live there.”

Once you are sure your child can handle the rigours of owning and running a home, you must decide whether to invest in a house and perhaps rent out some of the rooms to your child’s friends or to buy a condo that may only house your child.

“One of my clients was going to buy a townhouse for her daughter in Kingston, but her daughter said ‘OK, well there’s six of us living together.’ To which the mother replied, ‘I’m not running a sorority.’ “

A property that is relatively easy to maintain should be a priority, Mr. Nardi says, so that the child does not get overwhelmed with the responsibility and allow studies to suffer.

Another issue to weigh when deciding whether to buy or rent is the length of time you will likely keep the property.

“A four-year university degree, that’s a relatively short period of time,” says Murray Pituley at Investors Group. “If in that time period, the market goes down, you could be sitting with a house that is worth a lot less than what you purchased it for. That’s a risk the parent has to be willing to take.”

Of course, when any young person leaves home, things don’t always turn out according to plan.

“There are a lot of surprises that could occur. You could buy a house for a child, thinking that child is going to go through university,” Mr. Pituley says. “Three months into it, he says, ‘Dad, Mum university is not for me … I’m going to quit.’ All of a sudden… you’re left holding all the risk, so to speak.”

Mr. Nardi says a tax expert can help decide whether to buy the house as an investment property in your own name or to give your child the money to purchase and hold the title. As the owner, expenses can be written off for an investment property, but capital gains tax will be due when the property is sold. However, there are ramifications for the future if the property is in the child’s name.

“When the child is ready to buy their next home they cannot take advantage of the first-time home buyers’ plan … because they’ve already owned a home,” Mr. Nardi says.

“I wouldn’t advise clients or anybody to focus on return on investment,” he adds. “To me, the biggest return on investment is what your kids are going to learn from owning something.”

Is buying a student a house better than renting?

Garry Marr, Financial Post 

It’s nearly back-to-school time and the last thing Pierre Ferland wants to talk about is student housing.

The chief executive of Maestro Realty Advisors, which is 55% owned by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, is leaving the student housing business — tired of the endless challenges of upkeep.

“We have four properties and we are probably going to exit them. We didn’t have a lot of success,” says Mr. Ferland. “We underestimated the management side of that business. It’s students, they don’t really care.”

Think John Belushi in Animal House.

If a CEO of a company that manages billions in real estate funds doesn’t think much of investing in student housing, should you be thinking about buying a property for your university-bound child?

It’s a tempting proposition for sure, when you consider the costs of housing. Even with today’s sky-high university fees, the bulk of the cost for sending your child away to university is going to be food and lodging.

Halifax-based broker Al Demings, a former executive director of the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors, says with five universities in his vicinity, a small chunk of the housing market has been dedicated to investment properties housing students.

“Starting in the late spring, June and July, we start to see people coming in looking to [invest]. It’s fairly common, I’ve dealt with several myself,” says Mr. Demings who works for Re/Max Nova. “If you’ve got a doctor in Toronto who is sending his daughter through Dalhousie Medical School, he knows she’s going to university for at least four or five years. They treat it as an investment and they’ve done quite well.”

There’s really two ways to go if you are considering buying a property this way: One is to buy a small condo for your child and the other is to buy a house and rent rooms.

“We are actually seeing students buying housing themselves. They scrape together money, rent to other students, and they come through university with no debts,” says the real estate agent.

One bedroom with a shared kitchen can easily generate $500 per month in rent. Multiply by three bedrooms and you’ve got $1,500 in rental income for that house. The price of a four-bedroom house can run from $250,000 to $400,000, but based on 20% down, the mortgage on a $300,000 home, for example, could be carried from the rent alone (based on today’s interest rates and a 25-year amortization schedule).

“The one thing that happened on the negative [side] is this option became so popular that values of homes were inflated,” says Mr. Demings. But that was two years ago, he says, and prices have since declined.

The one-bedroom option is probably a simpler way to go. In Halifax, a small condo that costs $200,000 to buy could rent for $900 a month. Four years of university could easily amount to $40,000 in rent because students generally have to pay for the summer months, which are almost impossible to sublet.

Let’s say you did buy that condo and put 20% down. Based on a four-year closed mortgage at 4%, your mortgage payments would be less than $850 per month. Taxes and condo fees would probably add another $325 to the monthly bill.

The bill is higher than the rent, but you are saving principal, a small amount in the first four years of a mortgage.

The real bet is on capital appreciation, which would have to be enough to offset the transaction costs and capital gains tax when you do sell it.

It’s a gamble and one that Al Nagy, an Edmonton-based certified financial planner with Investors Group, says a few of his clients have taken. He generally advocates owning versus renting, when you can make it work.

“You realize when you get into this type of investment, it’s almost an occupation. It’s a second source of income but you have effectively become a landlord,” says Mr. Nagy. “It’s more high maintenance because you do have to worry about when the plumbing breaks down.”

That everything includes the parties that are as much a part of university education as the academics. Do you want to invest in that?

Real Estate News – What you need to know about enjoying a home!

Spring Cleaning . . . Naturally

Freshen up your home naturally with products that won’t harm your family or the environment. Simple, natural products like baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, soap, water and a bit of elbow grease will cover most of your cleaning needs.

In the Kitchen:

If you have a vase or glass that is too narrow to clean by hand, throw in some rice and white vinegar, cover the top with your hand and shake vigorously

Get rid of stains on your countertops by letting lemon juice sit on them for a few minutes, then scrub the area with baking soda and wipe with a damp cloth

Bathroom Tips:

To clean your glass shower door, apply pure lemon juice onto the glass, spray it with warm water and wipe it of with a clean cloth

For black mold, combine salt, vinegar and liquid dish detergent. Apply it with a toothbrush, let it set for a could of hours and then wipe it with a clean cloth

Laundry Room Basics:

Vinegar is a natural fabric softener. Add half a cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle for soft, static-free clothes

Need a natural stain fighter? Mix 6 tablespoons of baking soda with half a cup of warm water and apply to stains before washing

All-Purpose ideas:

For an all-purpose cleaning spray, combine baking soda with white vinegar, a few drops of antibacterial teatree oil and water. Shake it up in a spray bottle

Use baking soda to control odors around your home. Sprinkle some in the garbage can before you insert the liner, keep a box where you store shoes and sports gear and of course, it works wonders in the fridge.

Information was by

Real Estate News