Keeley Ward - Blog

Smoking In The Home Reduces The Value of YOUR HOME!!!

keeley.ward@century21.ca — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A recent survey of Ontario real estate agents in Ontario found that smoking in a home could lower the value of your property by up to 30 per cent.

The survey was sponsored by Pfizer Canada and besides the obvious damage by staining walls and carpets, it can leave a smell that is very hard to eliminate. I remember having a client close a deal and noticed a smell of smoke when they entered the home on closing. I asked why they didn’t notice the smell when they originally toured the home and they said fans were on with electric air fresheners plugged into the walls. That apparently masked the smell that day.

It makes sense that a home with a smoky smell or strong odour will be harder to sell as it will deter most buyers.

Similar statistics are found with resale cars where the prior owner was a heavy smoker and it is difficult to remove the smell from the upholstery.

Smoke or pet odours, such as cat urine, can cause headaches when trying to sell a home. There are solutions and companies that can solve these issues.

Restoration companies such as Winmar Disaster Restoration, Medallion Healthy Homes of Canada and Biosense Environmental offer solutions that can assist with these problems. The process involved is using concentrated ozone gas to get into all areas of the home, including the walls, to assist in cleaning out the smell, even when the home was occupied previously by heavy smokers.

There are, of course, household products such as vinegar that you can use for minor problem odours or an over-the-counter product such as Nature’s Miracle, to remove pet odours.

Buyers, be suspicious if you notice the fans going or electric air fresheners whenever visiting a home for the first time.

Sellers, don’t try to cover up or hide odour issues that you know about. Get rid of any foul odour before putting your home for sale, to maximize your return.

Save On Energy Printable Coupons!

keeley.ward@century21.ca — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Have you visited the Save On Energy website yet? If you haven't you should! There you will find some fabulous energy saving tips, seasonal ideas and valuable printable coupons to save you money on energy related purchases like light fixtures and so on!

They also have a pick up program for your old refridgerator, so if you have an old clunker that you want to get rid of check out this program!

I've included for your convenience the direct link to the printable coupons so you can take advantage of the savings right away!!!

https://www.saveonenergy.ca/Consumer/Programs/Instant-Rebates/Printable-COUPONS.aspx

Attract More Buyers With Curb Appeal!

keeley.ward@century21.ca — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Home Selling Advice to Help You Attract Potential Buyers

A large percentage of home buyers decide whether or not to look inside a house or take it seriously based on its curb appeal—the view they see when they drive by or arrive for a showing. You can help make sure they want to come inside your house by spending some time working on the its exterior appearance.

It's difficult to look at our own house in the same way that potential home buyers do, because when we become accustomed to the way something looks and functions, we can't see its faults. Decide right now to stop thinking of the property as a home. It's a house—a commodity you want to sell for the highest dollar possible.

Curb Appeal Exercise

The next time you come home, stop across the street or far enough down the driveway to get a good view of the house and its surroundings.

What is your first impression of the house and yard area?
What are the best exterior features of the house or lot? How can you enhance them?
What are the worst exterior features of the house or lot? How can you minimize or improve them?

Park where a potential buyer would and walk towards the house, looking around you as if it were your first visit. Is the approach clean and tidy? What could you do to make it more attractive?

Take photos of the home's exterior. If you have a digital camera, view the color versions first, then remove the color and look at it in black and white, because it's easier to see problems when color isn't around to affect our senses.

Make a list of the problem areas you discovered. Tackle clean up and repair chores first, then put some time into projects that make the grounds more attractive.

Kill mold and mildew on the house, sidewalks, roof, or driveway.
Stow away unnecessary garden implements and tools.
Clean windows and gutters.
Pressure wash dirty siding and dingy decks.
Edge sidewalks and remove vegetation growing between concrete or bricks.
Mow the lawn. Get rid of weeds.
Rake and dispose of leaves, even if your lot is wooded.
Trim tree limbs that are near or touching the home's roof.

Don't Forget the Rear View

Buyers doing a drive by will try their best to see your back yard. If it's visible from another street or from someone's driveway, include it in your curb appeal efforts.

Evening Curb Appeal

Do your curb appeal exercise again at dusk, because it isn't unusual for potential buyers to drive by houses in the evening.

One quick way to improve evening curb appeal is with lighting:

String low voltage lighting along your driveway, sidewalks, and near important landscaping elements.
Add a decorative street lamp or an attractive light fixture to a front porch.
Make sure lighting that's visible through front doors and windows enhances the home's appearance.

Landscaping Decisions

There are times that adding elements to your landscaping can improve curb appeal, but there are other times when removingsomething is even more effective.

For example, we had a listing for a large brick house with large white columns. Tall evergreens, planted in front of each column, had grown taller than the roof. They obscured the columns and windows and made it difficult to see the front of the house.

We suggested that the owner remove them. She trimmed them back, but it didn't do the trick—they were unattractive and still kept potential buyers from seeing the true character of the house.

I sold the house to a couple who could see past the trees. One of their first tasks after closing was to yank them out of the ground, instantly boosting the home's curb appeal.

Most buyers cannot visualize changes, and often won't take a second look at a house if the first look doesn't appeal to them. Home buyers who can visualize changes, and are prepared to make them, expect youto reduce the price of the house to compensate for the work they plan to do.

A Few Curb Appeal Tips

If you can budget it, a fresh paint job does wonders for a dingy house. Drive around your town to find color schemes that are appealing.
Install a more attractive front door, maybe something with leaded glass inserts.
If you can't justify the cost of a new door, consider replacing plain doorknob hardware with something more attractive.
If new hardware is beyond your budget, repaint or stain the door and polish the hardware?

If you brainstorm, you'll find that there's a solution to most problems—one that lets you stay within your budget. The trick is to find the areas where improvements are needed, then work on them as best you can.

Cottage Owners - as a cottage lake recedes, who owns the extra land???

keeley.ward@century21.ca — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This wonderful article from our friend Mark Weisleder explains:

By:Mark WeislederReal Estate, Published on Fri Apr 19 2013

One of the great benefits of owning a cottage is your access to the lake and the view. But what happens if the water drops and your dock is high and dry? Who owns the extra real estate?

Cottage boundaries are affected by a lot of things. The deed may be hundreds of years old and may include all the land to the water’s edge, or only include land to the high water mark, which is typically farther up the bank, where the first vegetation appears.

When Ontario’s cottage country lakes were surveyed in the late 1800s, surveyors allocated a 66 foot wide strip at the lake shore for a road. The purpose was for logging and to allow public access to the water. The road allowances were eventually transferred to the local townships, but in most cases no actual road was ever built along these allowances. Some cottagers have since built on this land, but don’t actually own it.

The Great Lakes have been receding due to climate change and water use, so beachfront has been expanding in some cases. The question is: who owns the land when the water retreats?

In many cases, there’s a rush by cottagers to secure the land for themselves. But it is often hard to figure out how to set the new boundaries, as it is not often a straight line.

Here’s a case in point:

Douglas and Jacqueline Andriet owned land in Grandview Bay on Cooking Lake, near Edmonton. Like many shallow prairie lakes, the Cooking Lake shoreline had receded in the past century. By 2008, the shoreline was about 1,000 feet less than the 1902 survey.

The Andriets, their neighbours, the County of Strathcona and the Alberta Government all got into a fight over who owned this large section of so-called accreted land. If the province owned it then the Andriets and other cottagers would have no right to access the water.

A trial judge decided that since the original deeds were to a fixed point, no one except the province could make a claim for the land. But a Court of Appeal decision dated January 25, 2008, decided the land should be equitably divided between the cottagers and the local county. The result was that a new survey was commissioned to permit each owner whose land touched the water to have some part of it.

The only way to figure out where your boundary lines are is to get a survey. I believe every lakefront cottage purchase should be conditional upon the buyer being satisfied with the results of a new survey.

In some cases, you can buy the shore road allowance from the local municipality for between $5,000 and $10,000. First you need a bylaw to close the road allowance and then a motion to sell it to you. An advantage in owning this land is that it will increase your lot size, allowing you to build a cottage addition.

Another reason for an up to date survey is to figure out whether you have proper access to your cottage. In some cases, it has turned out that where the road is located may not be where title says that your access actually is. If it is not a municipal road, then it may not be maintained in the winter.

Know your rights before you jump into a waterfront cottage