Robert Morrow

A Spokane, Washington family got a surprise arrival when a moose calf fell through a basement window and into a bedroom recently.

The Spokesman Review reports that the baby moose was apparently foraging in the shallow snow close to the house when it fell into a deep window well on Thursday. As it tried to get out and join its mother and sibling, the moose kicked in the window and ended up trapped in the bedroom.

Washington state wildlife biologist Woody Myers got the call, thinking at first the police officer who phoned him was joking.

Myers managed to shoot a tranquilizer dart into the moose's rump. Then, he and four other men used a tarp to haul the moose up a narrow stairway.

Wildlife officers were later able to track down the calf's mother and sibling and trucked the reunited family out near Mount Spokane for release.

The area has gotten more than three metres of snow in the past three weeks.

The Associated Press-Spokane

Robert J. Morrow is editor of www.HamiltonHomeReview.com, an online real estate magazine serving Greater Hamilton, Ontario. Click here for a FREE SUBSCRIPTION sent to your email monthly. Click here to receive new Hamilton area listings in your email daily.

I have always kept a close eye on the leading private sale companies/websites in Canada. I feel it is important for REALTORS(R) to know what's going on out there in the FSBO world. Most of the time, consumers of this product eventually turn to the REALTOR(R) industry for assistance when there homes don't sell using these technologies.

But some of the companies have been growing aggressively and we are lead to believe all is rosy for the future of the FSBO business.

So why then is one of the major chains allowing a franchisee to sell a key location here in Hamilton?

As you can see from this link, PropertyGuys Hamilton is up for sale. It is only one year old and when it first arrived, it annoyed many a Real Estate agent because they were giving their services away for free just to get signs on lawns. Although I didn't need the competition, I did admire the strategy and for a while, it seemed they had wedged their way in.

http://www.businesssellcanada.com/81216002.htm

But something has gone wrong. The economy? Or maybe the FSBO model just isn't working anymore, if it ever really did.

Is this the beginning of a sell-off of the country's largest FSBO franchise? Or is it just a one-off?

I'm open to comments, for and against.

Robert J. Morrow is editor of www.HamiltonHomeReview.com, an online real estate magazine serving Greater Hamilton, Ontario. Click here for a FREE SUBSCRIPTION sent to your email monthly. Click here to receive new Hamilton area listings in your email daily.

My friend Rita from Mortgage Alliance, here in Dundas, is on top of things once again. Here's a little insight from her on mortgages in this challenging economic time:

"It looks like those who are sitting in variable rate mortgages or credit lines, are getting an early {New Year's gift} this year. As expected the Bank of Canada did announce a drop in the overnight rate {before Christmas} but what was a little surprising was the fact that it was a full .75% drop.... That places the overnight bank rate at 1.75% which is the lowest since 1958. The Bank's have dropped their Prime lending rate by only .50 which makes Prime 3.50%

This is the lowest overnight rate's since 1958, now I was around in 1958 but too young to remember any of this.

I now have major lenders offering 5 year fixed rates at 4.99% and Prime +.60 is also a great way to go. So what I am telling you with this email is that if you have a fixed mortgage at above 5.00% it is a good time to consider breaking out and benefiting from the 50 year low in the Bank Rate. Re-financing early can save you thousands of dollars over the course of your mortgage with these lower rates and the savings in interest far outweighs the penalty to break your current mortgage, then you can sit back and relax for the next 5 years instead of worrying about what rates will be when your mortgage comes due."

My friend Rita Cruse can be reached at: rcruse@cogeco.ca
Office: 905-529-1199
Toll Free: 1-877-529-1199
Fax: 905-628-7917 or 1-866-805-9653

Robert J. Morrow is editor of www.HamiltonHomeReview.com, an online real estate magazine serving Greater Hamilton, Ontario. Click here for a FREE SUBSCRIPTION sent to your email monthly. Click here to receive new Hamilton area listings in your email daily.

Metrolinx is set to announce the biggest multicity bus purchase in Ontario history. And with it comes yet another well-needed tangible spark that the core is being revitalized. With improved bus service East-West and shortly thereafter, North-South, resale and rental properties will experience a surge. The improved service is ideal for connecting students and new MacMaster core workers to suburbs that need the growth and divert some of the housing attention away from West Hamilton.

Hamilton is one of many municipalities across Ontario that signed a deal with the provincial agency, Metrolinx, for the joint purchase of buses in 2009, with an option to buy more the following year.

Hamilton will get 17 diesel New Flyer buses in each of the next two years. Because they replace existing buses, one-third of their estimated $17 million cost will be covered by a provincial subsidy, according to Don Hull, director of Hamilton transit.

He also stated that Metrolinx will anounce full funding of $16.5 million for 18 diesel-electric hybrid 60-foot buses, as Hamilton's express east-west B line and coming north-south A line on James Street use these articulated buses.

Because of the joint-city purchase, Hamilton saved apx. $15,000 per bus. The articulated buses are part of a $32 milion grant for plant upgrades and more that Metrolinx has given Hamilton, to upgrade the B line and add a A line express route.

"It's huge for us," Hull told the Hamilton Spectator. It will allow the B line to be entirely serviced by these long, articulated buses (accordion centres).

In September 2009, Stage 1 of the A line on James will introduce five of the articulated buses. In addition, the city recently approved an expansion to the Rymal 44 route so that it will go from Eastgate Square to Centennial Parkway and all the way to Ancaster Businss Park.

Robert J. Morrow is editor of www.HamiltonHomeReview.com, an online real estate magazine serving Greater Hamilton, Ontario. Click here for a FREE SUBSCRIPTION sent to your email monthly. Click here to receive new Hamilton area listings in your email daily.

I know it's not a funny subject for women. I live with three females and am constantly reminded about putting down seats and cleaning after ones-self. It's not me, you understand, I also live with twin teenage boys.

I first noticed new urinal designs in a couple of new restaurants in town. Apparently, similar designs are making their way into bathroom reno's.

This article provides a little insight. But beware, if your wife reads it, the cost of the bathroom reno just went up.

http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/live/article/150307

Robert J. Morrow is editor of www.HamiltonHomeReview.com, an online real estate magazine serving Greater Hamilton, Ontario. Click here for a FREE SUBSCRIPTION sent to your email monthly. Click here to receive new Hamilton area listings in your email daily.