Spring Home Maintenance Checklist

Signs of spring include robins appearing, crocuses poking through the earth, buds popping out on tree branches — and homeowners who start thinking about maintenance work.

There are many possible tasks, but some should take priority. From the top down, here are spring projects that will help keep your house in tip-top condition.

Gutter Guard

Winter conditions dumped debris back into the trenches, so it’s time for the springtime gutter purge. As long as you can reach gutters safely, climb a ladder and pull out the accumulated muck. Blast water from a hose to clean the downspout. If gutters are out of reach, it doesn’t mean you get a pass on this chore. Call a professional.

Roof Reconnaissance

While you’re already on the ladder cleaning out…

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Dealing with the untidy house next door and the best way to sort it all out....

Curb appeal can increase or decrease a home’s value by 30%

How do you deal with a neighbour who does not look after their property like you when you are going to list your home for sale?

Neighbour disputes can arise from a variety of circumstances. The best way to tackle a dispute with a neighbour is to talk it out and find a mutually agreeable solution. If the dispute is not resolved through constructive talks, there are legal remedies to address them. Note that suing a neighbour in court may be a lengthy, stressful, and costly process, but it is an option to exercise when all else fails. 

The most common types of neighbour disputes arise from:

• Untidy premises;
• Nose complaints;
• Mishandling of dogs and other pets;
• …

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Go solar! How does solar power work?

If you’re eager to lower your carbon footprint and also save on energy bills, equipping your home for solar power is a great option.

There are several things to consider in the quest to go green:

How does solar power work?

Solar power is generated by thin silicon panels, divided into photovoltaic cells, which act as semiconductors. When sunlight hits the cells, it excites the electrons and produces a direct electrical current.  To generate power for your home, the panels are either installed on your rooftop or angle mounted on your property. Most urban users favour a rooftop set-up so they won’t have to sacrifice valuable backyard real estate, but it’s not unusual to see a freestanding panel in rural areas where properties are generally…

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Renovating without a permit can be a costly mistake

There is an important part of taking on a home renovation -- the building permit.

You may know of friends who have had their basements finished over the past few years and maybe none have obtained a building permit first. They assumed that since the renovation did not extend beyond the existing walls of their home, they were free to make any changes they wished. According to Ray Leclair, a real estate lawyer your friends have been breaking the law.

"It's a municipal by-law under building code," he says. "The impact of it is that there could be a fine for the homeowner or the municipality can say remove the structure or they'll condemn the property."

Most of us realize that major renovations such as building an addition to a home require a…

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Renovation stress builds a range of emotions

As many have said, renovations can be a lot like giving birth!

They’re painful, they make you want to scream, and cause you to ask yourself why you’re bearing the brunt of all the work. And yet, you love the result and often end up repeating the whole thing.

Houzz.com’s Remodeling & Relationships Survey of Canadian users, conducted online this past December and January, found a number of issues that caused pain, including the fact that:

• 18% made a significant design decision without telling their partner
• 8% snuck away to catch a break
• 9% neglected to mention the price of something.

Those are the little white lies of the fixer-upper set, but in a number of cases, things got even worse:

• 5% admitted to secretly throwing…

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4 Tips to Enhance the Curb Appeal of Your Home

Everyone wants to live in a beautiful home.

We all a house that attracts compliments from friends and family. It is a proud feeling, indeed, when you stay in a home that is the envy of entire neighborhood. Owning such a home, however, is no piece of cake. Even if not too much, it still does require a certain amount of effort, time and knowledge to keep it well-maintained and updated.

People who live in houses with front yards or lawns need to be more patient and careful about taking good care of the grass and foliage and keep it free of uninvited pests, insects and rodents.

Enhancing the curb appeal of your home is all about increasing the visual appeal of your front yard or lawn, which in turn, elevates the overall splendor of your home…

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The art of making an offer to buy a house

When buying a house, getting your offer right is both very important and very difficult.

What do you need to consider? How do you make your offer stand out? How do you get your offer accepted? And how do you ensure that you are getting the best deal? These are some of the questions that you might already be struggling with, so to help you out, we have put together some of the key things to consider.

What to consider before making the offer

Ask yourself...

• What are my long term plans?
• Will I live here for more than a few years?
• Can I commit to paying my mortgage on time every month?
• Will I like the neighbourhood?
• Am I ready for the expenses of a home?

Use our calculators page for help with affordability

Other things to…

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Whether to Update Your Home or Sell As-Is

Listing your home for sale: Should you update, or should you sell as-is?

When listing your home for sale, should you spend the money to make some home improvements, or should you sell it as-is?  Of course, as in most questions of this sort, it depends on the particular improvements that your home needs, and it depends on the local market trends. It depends on your goals as a seller. It also depends on the condition of the homes that are your closest competition.

 The Mind of A Seller VS. the Mind of A Buyer

In my experience, there is a different calculation that goes on in the mind of the seller, compared to that which is in the mind of a buyer.  For instance, if the carpet in your bedrooms is original carpet in your 18-year-old home, there…

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How to try to win a multiple offer situation with today's low inventory

The spring home-buying season is in full swing.

But there is just one problem: Low housing inventory in most price points of the market.

And no matter how much the demand is there and how much lenders are willing lend, it means little if there are no houses to buy.

As a result, the few houses left end up being fought over in multiple offers, leaving many borrowers without a house.

Here are a few tips that may help you win a multiple offer situation:

1. Offer Full Price or More. Money is a major factor in a seller’s decision, but not the only one.
2. Good sized deposit. Show the seller you are committed with a good sized deposit to stand by your “word” (purchase agreement) to buy the home.
3. Cash is King. Go in with cash if possible to…

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How To Make The Most Money When You Sell Your House

The two most important elements of selling a home have always been 1.) Price and 2.) Condition but maybe today there is a third factor.

MARKETING can be equally -and sometimes more- important when selling a home as price and condition. Professional marketing is the secret sauce that sells homes! There are more options to market a home than ever before. The way a home is marketed online determines how much attention it gets as in cases where homes that were priced too high end up in multiple offer situations due to impressive marketing presentations online. On the opposite side there are homes that sell for less than they are worth due to poor marketing efforts.  When people start to sell their home most of the time they haven't thought much about the…

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