Jorge Branca - Blog

Condo Culture: Pay your maintenance fees..., or be forced to

jorge.branca@century21.ca — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Some new condominium buyers move in and forget they have to pay a monthly condo fee. I sit on the board; are we permitted to request 12 post-dated cheques for the year so we don’t have to chase these people down every month? Thanks for your advice!

According to the Condominium Act of Ontario, boards of directors are permitted to pass bylaws to govern the assessment and collection of contributions toward the common expenses. Therefore, if a bylaw confirms that post-dated cheques are mandatory, owners are responsible to provide them. Refusal to do so could result in the board obtaining a court order. The owners will be responsible for the additional costs incurred by the corporation to enforce the bylaw.

Post-dated cheques are very convenient for all parties involved and cannot be cashed prior to their date. There is also the option of setting up automatic monthly withdrawals from the owner’s bank account. This method would also require a bylaw, and each owner would need to provide a void cheque to the corporation. Either method will prevent late payments as well as several trips to the bank for the property manager or a board member.

There is no excuse for any owner to forget that they owe a monthly condo fee. A status certificate is sent to the prospective buyer’s solicitor, including details of when condo fees are due, the amount and to whom the cheques are made payable. The solicitor then relays this information to the buyer at closing.

New purchasers should visit the management office to drop off their condo cheques. (It is also the perfect time to confirm their name is registered in order to receive all the proper notices of condo meetings and other communications.) Paying the monthly maintenance fee should be a priority — the financial operations of your condo corporation depend on it.

Source: NP

Get Ready to Sell !!!

jorge.branca@century21.ca — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

To stage or not to stage? And if you do stage, do you admit to it? Submitting to this relatively new whim of real estate agents (do you think your parent’s ever staged their home?) somehow implies that the home you’ve been living in quite comfortably isn’t actually good enough for everyone else. The truth of the matter is that we can all learn a little something from professional home stagers. The good news is that many of these things are easy to do and budget-friendly to boot!

Declutter and Get Organized

The number one rule of home staging is to get rid of all clutter. The best way to do that is to have a designated place for everything whether it's file boxes in the office or storage jars in the kitchen. This task can seem daunting (which is why there are probably companies you can hire to do this for you) but if you think of tackling one room per weekend you could have a well organized and clutter-free house by end of summer.

Freshen Up with Paint

Home stagers will tell you that in order to have the best chance of selling your home you should choose neutral paint colours that appeal to a wide spectrum of buyers. I don’t know whether or not I absolutely agree with that but there is no denying that a freshly painted house seems cleaner, brighter and more welcoming. If it's been a few years (or decades!), you might want to consider a touch up. You’ll be amazed at what a difference a little paint can make.

Rearrange Furniture

Oftentimes, all it takes to revitalize your home is a simple reshuffling of the existing furniture. Don’t be surprised if your home stager tells you to move some of your items into storage and distribute what's left around the house. In order to create more space and flow you might want to remove some of the chairs from your dining room and add them to your living space. Conversely, you might take an occasional chair from your living room and place it in the hallway. See what rearranging your own furniture can do for your space.

Add Decorative Touches

The role of a good stylist is to add those small decorative touches that turn a ho-hum space into something intriguing and dynamic. Take a look through your closets and see what accessories you have that could make your place look a little more pulled-together. Look for items that are either all in the same colour palette or the same shape. Repetition is key!

Create Zones

Potential home buyers like to imagine their life in your space. By creating distinct zones of eating, relaxing, studying, playing and working, you allow them to envision a harmonious day-to-day routine in their new digs. Take the time to walk around your house to see if there are any spaces that are not being used to their full potential. Try to think as a stranger -- what would bother you if you weren't already totally used to it?

Are you selling? Have you made any worth-talking-about changes in your home that have helped?

Source: HGTV

Create a Garden in a Condo Deck

jorge.branca@century21.ca — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Most condo owners live in a concrete jungle with nary a lawn in site. Although your balcony isn’t rooted in soil, you can still plant a garden to bring in some green. All it takes is getting crafty and creative with nifty ideas to create the flourishing condo deck garden that you deserve.

Vertical Garden

Vertical gardens are ideal for condo decks. Use a living wall or screen to plant your garden and hang it on the wall. Succulents and herbs grow particularly well and look lush as the grass on the first day of May.

Flower Boxes

Flower boxes filled with a rainbow of your favourite blooms are sure to satisfy your green thumb. To conserve space, hang them on the railing of your balcony. They’ll make your deck look garden-gorgeous in no time.

Hanging Planters

Use these stunning bushels of foliage to breathe life into your patio. Just make sure you’re tall enough to water them (but not tall enough that you’ll bump your head!).

DIY Garden

A similar concept to the vertical garden, this one uses potted planters instead of a screen. Here’s how to make it: drill two holes in the back of tin cans and string heavy-duty wire through to make a loop that will hang on a nail. Poke some more holes at the bottom for drainage. To finish, paint and plant away!

Potted Plants

Use potted plants, big and small, to give flora and fauna a home on your deck. If space allows, large potted plants that are big enough to stand alone will look great. Alternatively, use little ones to plant your favourite herbs.

Source: HGTV

Some Real Homebuyers Regrets

jorge.branca@century21.ca — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Regrets, we’ve had a few: A 2012 TD Canada Trust first-time homebuyers report has found Canadian homebuyers admit to making rookie mistakes when they bought their first home.

If they could do it again, many say they would do things differently. The report notes 60% of people would make a bigger down payment; 60% would be more thorough when budgeting and 55% would buy a home sooner.

It also reveals many first-time buyers admit they overlooked some of the additional costs of home ownership: 29% say they didn’t budget for ongoing costs such as maintenance and utilities, 13% overlooked some of the one-time fees associated with buying a home, such as inspection fees and land transfer costs, and 6% didn’t budget for anything beyond the down payment and monthly mortgage payment.

Source: N.P.