The Evans Real Estate Group Blog

So you’ve heard me ramble and post about the HST doomsday for new homesales, and it goes in one ear and out the other. How about I give you my interpretation about how this could open an opportunity for you?

Here is what I am thinking: we both know that many people buy a new home pre-construction to save some money (builders, like most people after all, want money ASAP), and what they do is buy it bare bones, get in while the area is still being developed and do the upgrades themselves, thus saving them the margin that builders make on doing the work in-house. They then put the house on the market at the same time as the rest of the ones in the development, but now the margin made on the improvements goes in THEIR pocket and not the builders. Simple enough.

Can you imagine what will happen to these new homes once HST kicks in? HST is PST and GST combined and is set to hit us in January. So instead of now buying a 300K home and paying 15K in GST ON TOP of the price (300K + 5%), but now you would pay the additional 8%, so 24K, making your total 339K (300 + 5% + 8%)! Can you imagine???

How do you think the market will react? For one, now that new home sales are going to cost 8% more, you could argue that all RESALES could be sly enough, all things remaining the same,  to start asking for as much as 7.99% more and be considered a relative bargain (albeit a slight one).

But what the new homes are going to do is drop their prices, naturally. They need to liquidate their homes and pay their obligations, and people are going to go shop at the 7.99% increased resale ‘bargain bin’ to get what they need. Im guessing they will offer all kinds of incentives to purchase their homes as well.

What I think will happen is that in expectation of the looming HST, and given that no one can predict with 100% certainty how the economy will be in the spring, new homes will drop even further this fall/winter. ON TOP OF THAT – money is CHEAP right now. Our in-house broker John Walsh just emailed me new 5 year fixed rates at 4.02%!!!

Where I see a huge opportunity: Take advantage of CHEAP money and LOW prices on new homes in the fall, buy bare bones, upgrade it yourself, and then throw it on the market in the Spring as a RESALE comparable to its neighbouring NEW HOMES and not only put the upgrade margin in YOUR JEANS, but provide the added incentive to the buyer by not requiring them to pay the blended tax rate since your home is not a NEW one anymore (resale now) and thus GST, or by then HST, will NOT BE APPLICABLE.  WIN/WIN!!!

Hey – why not be sly yourself and increase your margin by %7.99 and get in the ‘bargain bin’ with a practially new home?

My idea of an opportunity.

Heck, I would do a 9 month business plan on this, map it out in a project format, get some quotes and commitments, go to a lender and finance a half dozen of these babies over the winter.  There a risk/reward possibility and a half.

So we know its going to happen in Jan – the question is: What are you going to do about it?

Inspired by something that happend yesterday.

My posting was as follows:   “What happened was that I discovered someone that I thought was a great person and a friend was actually a phony. I only discovered it when tough times called for tough decisions and they tried to be greedy, deceptive and manipulative. They tried to look out for themselves by double-crossing me and it honestly saddens me to see them resort to that. The saying ” When the grass gets short, you see the snakes” is pretty true. A sad reality of business is that people like that often are the ones who succeed – but I wont let it infect my ethics one bit. Thats not how I live my life and its not how I do business. Thanks again.”

Have any of you had similar experiences?

The fact of the matter is that wearing your heart on your sleeve will sometimes get you burned – and it might happen often. Im a big believer that being nice and willing to help is not something that should ever be scolded or even hampered by a bad experience. There are alot of miserable people out there, and misery loves company. They want to make people around them miserable and will spread negativity like the plague.

Be true to yourself, be who you want to be, and be proud of it.

The world doesnt need pessimists or destructive personalities. It needs strong minded individuals that are willing to be themselves and move forward with their lives.

You dont always need to be helping others, but atleast help yourself.

Cheers

We live in a culture where everyone seems to worry. Turn on the news – someone got shot, there’s mercury in the fish we eat, the cows have got BSE, a new super-flu is coming, terrorists are regrouping… on and on it goes.

If you take all of this stuff seriously, it’s likely that you’ll never go out, never eat, never travel, or never take any kind of risk at all. But in fact, worry makes no sense at all.

Here are some reasons why worry really is a pointless and damaging activity, though I suspect we all know this deep down.

Things never happen the way you imagine. When you worry, you are predicting the future. You are saying ‘I know that things will turn out badly.’ But this just isn’t the case. You have no idea how the future is going to turn out, except to say that it will not be what you think it will be. So why worry?

Worry means you give away your power.

Some People are so entrenched in worry that they cannot see any other way to live. But worry robs you of your power to be proactive. The truth is that you are in control and you can choose how to react to situations, so why choose to give that power away so easily and so unconsciously?

Worrying is completely unproductive.
Why waste your energy doing something that gets you nowhere. On a treadmill, at least you get some exercise, but worry is a truly pointless activity. Spend your time and energy on something more useful.

Worry distorts reality.
We live in an age where people live longer, have better access to health care, have more opportunity for personal and professional growth, more chance to travel, greater access to information and lifelong education, and many other wonderful things. Yes, there are risks and potential dangers, but worry magnifies these disproportionately and blinds us to the wonders of our age.

Worrying is bad for your health.
Worry is not a normal state of mind and it adversely affects your health, even your physical health. When you worry, physical changes are happening in your body which are very damaging. It increases stress which can increase blood pressure, cause higher levels of stomach acid, cause muscle tension and headaches, among many other things.

Worry is not natural.
Do little children worry? Do animals worry? Do all adults worry? There is nothing inherent in being human that means you have to worry. Worry is a pathology, a distortion of our natural, healthy state.

Do you know the most frequent instruction given in the Bible? Surprisingly, it is not ‘love one another’ or ‘love God’ or anything like that. It is simple ‘do not be afraid.’ I don’t know how many times it appears, but I’ve seen estimates between 100 and 366 times. You don’t have to be religious to realize that this is good advice.

So how can we break out of this worry habit? Like all habits, it might not be easy to do, but there are some clear, simple and effective steps you can take to eliminate worry from your life.

Realize that you are in control.
In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey tells us that the first step to a better life is the realization that we are free to choose how to react to circumstances. Worry is a choice – it’s inside our own head and, as such, it is within the sphere of our own influence.

Recognize that worry is a habit.
Like all habits, there is a momentum to worry, and it might not be easy to break away from this, especially if you’ve been a worrier all your life. But it’s possible to change any habit.

Keep things in perspective.
E. Joseph Crossman said, ‘If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.’ Are you still worrying about those things? Will all this stuff matter in 100 years from now?

Face your fears.
Nelson DeMille said that ‘Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face.’ After you do something that scares you, you’ll probably find it wasn’t as bad as you thought. With time, all your worry will dissipate.

Stop trying to be in control of everything.
You cannot control the whole world. Things happen that are truly outside our circle of influence, and so we need to relax and accept that sometimes things just happen as they will. This is part of life, and worry will not change it one little bit.

Stop taking yourself so seriously.
If you fail, so what? If you screw up, is it the end of the world? Are you really so important that the world will stop turning if you get things wrong? Life is not that serious.

Worry is a dangerous and poisonous thing. You must not let it eat away at you.
Finally, one of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain. ‘I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.’

Original Source: http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/12/why-worry.html

What kind of Real Estate help can I provide during this RAINY summer? Hmmm… How about TIPS on staying DRY in a tent while camping?

PERFECT!

Just for all of you that want to GET OUT and have fun regardless of the weather – ENJOY!

Introduction

Instructions

Things You’ll Need

• Large tarp
• Small camping shovel
• Twine
• Heavy duty foil

Steps

Step One

 Click to enlarge

Choose your campsite carefully. Pick the highest ground on your site as the place for your tent. In the midst of trees is best.

 

Step Three

 Click to enlarge

Tie your tarp over your tent. Tie twine onto each corner of your tarp and on two sides across from each other in the middle. It must be long enough to tie around the nearby trees. Make sure it is tied higher in the center, from the sides, than on the corners, but it must be taut and not touch the material of your tent.

 

Step Five

 Click to enlarge

Save your embers. You can keep the coals of your campfire going by putting a makeshift tent of foil over it, until the downpour subsides.

 

Step Seven

 Click to enlarge

Dry your tent before taking it down. This will extend the life of your tent, and keep it from getting moldy. If you have to take it down, at least open it in your garage or outside when you get home and let it dry. Follow these steps and your camping trip will survive the rainstorm.

Tips & Warnings

• Put tarp above tent, so that it cannot blow downward and touch it.
• Dig trench around tent.
• Dig drain-off canal from trench.
• Cover coals of your fire to keep them from extinguishing.
• Don’t stay in a tent during an electrical storm, move to shelter, if only your car.
• Don’t touch the fabric of your tent, while it is raining or while it is wet.
• Don’t store a wet tent.

Original Source: http://www.ehow.com/PrintArticle.html?id=4544688

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: 

Flooding trashes homes

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:

• Become a professional road racing cyclist
• Win the Tour de France 7  consecutive times, breaking a record of 5 by Miguel Indurain and others
• Not only did he win it, but he won it consecutively from 1999-2005
• Named Worldwide sports athlete of the year in 1999
• He won ESPN’s Best Male Athlete award 4 years in a row
• …and so much more.

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