The Evans Real Estate Group Blog
Broker, Evans Real Estate Group
Considering moving to another neighbourhood in Ottawa? Concerned about the crime in the area, and you and your family’s safety? Have a look at the Ottawa Police Service’s Crime Mapping Tool!
It is a new, Google-based, crime mapping tool that is available to give you the power to know what is going on in your neighbourhood by viewing calls for police service
http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/resources/crime_analysis_statistics/crimereports.cfm
By DEREK PUDDICOMBE, Sun Media
The enormous amount of rain that fell on the city in two days has resulted in a massive sewage spill.
The city estimates 175 million litres of sewage overflowed into the Ottawa River from Thursday to Saturday. That’s almost double what has spilled into the river since the beginning of the year, and brings the total amount dumped into the river to about 700 million litres, almost double the annual amount.
To help stem future sewage overflows, the city is installing five real-time control systems to monitor and manage the flow of stormwater and sewage into the river.
City officials say the $30-million technology won’t entirely stop the the amount of sewage and stormwater that spills into the river but will decrease it by 65%.
The systems are expected to be installed by next spring.
Original Link: http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/07/27/10282236.html
Many of my friends and fellow REALTORS have been severely impacted by the rain last Friday. I thank the stars I only had one inch of water in my unfinished basement; some people had up to four feet of sewage in theirs.
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/07/25/10260016.html
Related Story:
Family has no insurance to cover $100G in damages
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/07/27/10282176.html
Home Buyers Tax Credit and Home Renovations Tax Credit.
Did you know that on your 2009 Personal Income Tax Return, there will be a new line included to allow you to claim the above credits?
Do you qualify?
Have a quick look at the following links to find out – and be prepared to SAVE money.
Home Buyers Tax Credit: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/bdgt/2009/fqhbtc-eng.html
Home Renovations Tax Credit: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/sgmnts/hmwnr/hrtc/menu-eng.html
Lance Armstrong is one of those remarkable humans that has a story strong enough to inspire others to take action. He is the type of person whose struggles make your common complaints appear minimal in comparison. If you haven’t heard Lance’s story, then you’ve seriously missed learning from one of the most dedicated and heroic figures of modern times.
Allow me to give you a quick update. In 1996, Lance was diagnosed with testicular cancer and was found to have tumors on both his brain and his lungs. After successful surgery, Lance didn’t just waddle through life and get to live a lifestyle similar to the healthiest of us, definitely not…he topped that by a long shot.
Since his surgery in 1996, he has gone on to:
To be fair, if I continued the bullet-points they could really go on forever. Not only is the Tour de France one of the most grueling race courses in the world, but being able to win it 7 years in a row and after life saving surgery is nothing short of miraculous.
But as you are about to find out, Lance doesn’t believe in miracles. I have been so inspired by Lance’s dedication that I thought his lessons would be great advice to anyone looking to get the most out of life. Whether young or old, I think anyone can benefit from his outlook…
Know that Pain is Temporary
Sometimes, to get what we want out of life we really have to work for it; we have to battle through the hard times. I’m sure all of you reading this can relate to a time in your life where you had to literally push yourself to keep going.
However, you must also realize that pain is temporary so unless you have set impossible goals, your struggles and efforts won’t last forever. The results will come to you.
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”
Realize you Have Two Choices
Whether it’s seeing the positive in things versus the negative or deciding to go for something or not, there are a lot of great possibilities in life on the other side of two choices. For Lance, those two choices he decided to focus on were a great testament to his mindset: you either give up or you die trying.
“If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or Fight Like Hell.”
Go for What You Want Now, Before it’s Too Late
We really never know what is around the corner. Our partner could become pregnant, there could be a family emergency where we need to lend funds, or we may even be in a critical health situation that physically stops us from completing our goals. We often wait till it is too late in life before we go for the things we want. We save money for our pensions and decide we are going to live then; the downside to that of course being that we are in our worst physical shape.
“Without the illness I would never have been forced to re-evaluate my life and my career. I know if I had not had cancer, I would not have won the Tour de France.”
Don’t focus on Potential Failures
One of the things that really gets me down in life is the people that manage to talk themselves out of brilliant ideas and situations before they’ve even tried them out – before they’ve even given things a shot. Sure, you could fail at whatever you would like to accomplish; you could fail miserably. On the other side of the coin, you could also burn your hand on the toaster tomorrow morning but you’re still going to put the bread in the machine.
Don’t look for reasons not to do something, look for everything that is going to help you succeed in doing it.
“If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on.”
Put Everything into your Goals
In my opinion, half-hearted efforts are going to get half-hearted results. If you don’t put the time or effort into something, you aren’t going to get your desired outcome. Whatever it is that you want, literally immerse yourself in the life of having it. Study the subject, set practical hours to work on your goals and actually stick to your plan.
If you do feel like giving up, just appreciate that other people going for the same thing are feeling that as well, and while they might let those feelings take over them, you won’t.
I figure the faster I pedal, the faster I can retire.
Lance is one of those people I’ve admired since hearing his story and watching the dedication he puts into training, day in and day out. To me, he is the epitome of success where hard work generates results.
Original Source: http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/03/lance-armstrongs-guide-to-getting-what.html
The industry group said actual home sales totalled 147,351 units in the second quarter of 2009, up 1.4% from the same quarter of 2008.
Home sales rose 8.7% in June from May on a seasonally adjusted basis. They were up 17.9% from June 2008, using non-seasonally adjusted figures.
“This is on par with the record for the month of June, set in 2007, and is the fourth highest ever for activity in any month on record,” CREA said in a report.
A total of 41,304 homes changed hands in the month.
The report is the latest piece of evidence showing that consumers are venturing back into the home market, encouraged by low mortgage rates and signs that the worst of the recession is over.
“The recovery in the Canadian housing market continued in earnest in June …,” said Millan Mulraine, economics strategist at TD Securities.
“With prices remaining quite favourable and low borrowing rates enhancing affordability, it is likely that this uptick in sale activity may continue for some time as the recovery in the housing sector takes hold,” he said.
The average home price rose 3.6% year-over-year to a record high $326,613 in June.
On a quarterly basis, the average price was up 0.5% from a year earlier to $318,696.
But CREA said strong sales activity in a handful of very expensive markets was distorting the national average to make prices look unusually high.
Sales growth in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton contributed most to the national increase.
The inventory of unsold resale homes — measured as the number of months it would take to sell the stock of houses at the current sales rate — fell to its lowest level since August 2007 at 4.2 months.
Original Source: http://www.nationalpost.com/homes/story.html?id=1802820
By Mohammed Adam, Canwest News ServiceJuly 13, 2009
As controversies over green-power projects erupt across Ontario, Ottawa is quietly leading a revolution in solar farming that will soon make the nation’s capital home to one of the largest solar-energy plants of its kind in North America.
An 80-hectare farm in West Carleton, just west of Ottawa, is about to undergo a $100-million investment that will see 300,000 silvery solar panels installed there. Once this solar farm becomes operational at the end of the year, it’s expected to generate about 20 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 7,000 homes during peak hours. It will be Canada’s largest photovoltaic plant, one that converts sunlight directly into electricity.
The project, which is being undertaken by EDF EN Canada, the Canadian arm of the French renewable-energy firm, EDFEnergies Nouvelles, is made up of two parallel installations feeding into the provincial grid. The land has been leased for 20 years from a local farmer. “We’re trying to make a revolution happen in solar energy,” said a company spokesman.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Sometimes I like to browse the internet and find some of the nicest master bathrooms from around the world.
Here are a quick few:
Taken from the Ontario Real Estate Association’s Provincial Reference Manual, with additional reference at end.
Any provision in a tenancy agreement that forbids animals (frequently refferred to as the no pet provision) is in violation of the Act (Residential Tenancies Act). In other words, a no pet provision in a tenancy agreement is void (Section 14). However, exceptions do apply; e.g. provisions in the Ontario Human Rights Code and pet restrictions in condomiums (subject to certain qualifications). A condominium declaration may contain enforceable provisions (e.g. no pet provisions), relating to the occupation and use of units and common elements.
Any tenant or landlord involved in a dispute is strongly advised to contact the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal and/or seek expert advice.
The landlord ay make an application for an order to terminate the the tenancy and evict the tenant under selected circumstances concerning animals; e.g. where the animal causes substancial interference with reasonable enjoyment, causes serious allergic reaction or the animal is inherently dangerous.
The Tribunal will not make an order without being satisfied that:
– the tenant is in fact keepin an animal; and,
– The past behaviour of an animal of that species has substancially interfered with the reasonable enjoyment of the landlord and other tenants; and that the animal did cause or contribute to substancial interference; or
– the presence of an animal of that species has caused a serious allergic reaction; and that the animal did cause or contribute to the allergic reaction;or
-The species or breed is inherently dangerous to the safety of the landlord or other tenants.
Resource: http://www.ltb.gov.on.ca/en/index.html
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