Mike Montague

This year has got to hold the record for in progress - road repair projects here in Barrie. There are at least as many orange road cones placed around our streets as there are tax payers I think. City Hall could make a few bucks if it were savvy and rented out advertising space on some of them to Barrie Realtors. Why not, I think we single handily finance the local transit system by paying to place our glowing faces on buses, benches, recycle bins and bus shelters all over town. The nice thing is the majority of long over due road repair and widening projects are getting done now and not being dragged over years and years.

Another thing I notice around Barrie is not only are the roads busier in town on the weekends of late, the driving style of many is gradually becoming more aggressive as well. I think much of the extra volume on the weekends can be attributed to residents who commute to Toronto Monday to Friday and are in town, out and about doing their shopping and local errand's on the weekend. They have to contend with the grid lock and big city road rage through the week leaving us more relaxed and stress free locally employed drivers to share our road etiquette with one another. Heaven forbid on a Wednesday mid day four of us should arrive at a four way stop simultaneously. We would still be there as it grew dark. “you go”, “no you”, “no please I insist”.

To those who have to suffer through the big city drive during the week I empathize as I did it for 18 years before moving back to the more user friendly City of Barrie.

Here are a few tips when driving in Barrie:

• There is a pretty good chance that person signaling to change into your lane ahead of you is not the same person who tried to send you head long into the guardrail as you tried to merge onto the Don Valley Parkway last Thursday. Go ahead, let them in, you'll likely feel good for the wave of thanks you get for the effort.
• Relax, that light that is turning orange a hundred yards up ahead will be green again in about a minute and a half, hit the peddle on the left. I know you watched the light turn red then green then red, again and again before you got through on Friday, but that was at Bloor and Bathurst and there were twenty cars between you and the clogged intersection.
• It's not the winning 6/49 ticket, it's just a Wal/Mart parking space for crying out loud!, you won't run out of gas looking for the next one like that time at Fairview mall, there are dozens more spots just like it in the next two isles. Save your horn for the World Cup finals.
• That person driving 40km/hour ahead of you likely knows something you don't about the latest speed trap locations in town. I know, scared turtles can bolt for short distances at a faster pace than the community safety zone speed limits but just take a breather and back off the bumper a bit. I'll bet you are less than ten minutes from your destination just like everyone else on the road in town right now. You spent more time at that intersection on Friday remember?
• You and I both know you have just enough time to make that left before that oncoming car hits you. You see that kind of physics in action every week day south of Hwy 7. But there's a pretty good chance the guy coming home from the curling rink in the other direction isn't as confident as you and might just spill his fresh Tim Horton's coffee in his lap out of shock.
• Be careful on the choice of hand gestures you use to converse with other drivers in Barrie, the middle finger pointed strait up is the signal for geese overhead to some local hunters. He needs to be focused on the road ahead, not gazing skyward for V formations of waterfowl. A simple wave or nod is the best and safest form of communication.

Relax, enjoy the weekend, it's one of the reasons you moved to Barrie to begin with remember? Before you know it, it will be Monday all over again.

Location , location. It might sell the neighbourhood but it wont necessarily sell your house. Your home needs some assets that will set it apart in its price range and make it stick in the minds of the potential buyers who will be visiting your and probably a half dozen or so other homes before and after on that day. We are taught that certain things will help to sell a home. An updated master bath with a soaker tub, a modern kitchen with higher end appliances and walk in closets are features that along with having your home well staged and clutter free will score it points with buyers who will be filing through to give it the once over.

If making gender specific remarks might get me in trouble then let me apologise here and now, as the rest of this article will be my observations over ten years as a Realtor of men and women and some of their differing home shopping behaviours. The above mentioned details of a home tend to catch the attention of the woman more so than the man in most instances. He is paying as much or more attention to her enthusiasm as to the home and if she is enthusiastic he will smile and follow along knowing her happiness is good for him too. If there is nothing about the home that appeals directly to him rather than saying so he is more likely to encourage the searching to continue and might make a couple “yes but” comments about the existing or potential faults such as the need for a new roof or windows, perhaps the lack of room in the driveway.

If there are at least one or two things about the home he sees that appeal to his testosterone driven needs such as a recroom hideaway, he will quietly continue to nod and smile, envisioning himself in the future picture possibly in front of a 60 inch big screen watching the super bowl half time show. Or maybe its the image of being surrounded by a dozen candles while in the corner soaker tub and Dianna Crawl playing softly in the background. I'd bet on the former to be safe.

There is one room in the house that is usually the last one to visit if at all. The garage. Typically the door is opened for five to ten seconds during a home showing. Everyone peeks in, the light is switched back off and they leave. On the few occasions I have had to show a home with a garage that even Jay Leno might approve of, the response is likely to be “honey why don't you go check out the bedrooms and those closets again, I’ll be in here” as he steps in and soaks it all in.

The last home like this I sold in 48 hours. It was only a single garage but it was insulated, had bright fluorescent tube lighting, a high wall mount heater and a rubberized painted flat grey floor. Across the back wall were black metal cabinets with stamped and chromed steel doors and a wall to wall work bench below. To finish it off was a beer fridge and a TV on a high wall bracket in the back corner. The owner had spent $500 on the cabinets, $400 on the foam insulation and $40 for the garage floor paint and for under $1000 dollars, turned the garage from a room likely to be overlooked into a big boy’s sanctuary making an older roof and windows things that could be dealt with.

You can spend $4000 or more on a new roof and three times that on new windows as part of your preparing to sell investments. These are all good things to make your home more saleable don’t get me wrong. At the very least you should stage your home and bring the interior finishing's up to date with paint and decent floors. My suggestion is instead of looking on the garage as the place to stack up all of your clutter while the sign is on the lawn, give some serious thought as to whether this might be the one room in your home that could set it apart from the competition and earn you back the expense and effort invested, a few times over.

This funny video emphasizes the point somewhat.

Schools are the number one consideration of home buyers with children.

The urban planning behind the City of Barrie has given easy access by its residents to schools and other community resources. Most of Barrie's elementary and secondary students live within walking distance of their schools. Have a look at the interactive map and the list of Barrie and area elementary and secondary schools. Public bus services link all areas of Barrie to our Secondary schools and to Georgian College.

Simcoe County District School Board
"The mission of the Simcoe County District School Board, serving diverse growing urban and rural communities in the Huronia and Georgian Bay region, is to ensure students reach their full potential to become responsible and contributing members of an ever-changing global society through quality programs which develop the skills of lifelong learning in a safe, caring environment enhanced by community support"

Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board
"We are a dynamic, growing Catholic School Board offering boundless opportunities for personal growth. Our students have the liberty to become life long learners through our commitment to Catholic curriculum rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through respect, dignity and understanding of each individual learning process we inspire our students to evolve into secure, confident and successful young adults"

The map link below will show you proximity of schools to areas of preference in planning your home purchase. Any further information on Barrie's education system I would be happy to provide for you.

Map of Barrie area School locations - (Interactive)

When's the last time you thought about your mortgage? Do you know your rate? Do you know when your term is up for renewal? Do you know what happens if you don't renew your mortgage? Many Canadians don't. It's no wonder when it comes time to renew a mortgage, many people fall into the auto renewal trap.

An Angus Reid survey, commissioned by ING Direct found that more than a quarter (27%)of Canadians with mortgages that have come up for renewal allowed their mortgages to automatically renew – meaning they didn't perform the same due diligence upon renewal as they did when they first got their mortgage. Letting your mortgage automatically renew often means you missed an opportunity to save money.

The same survey found that 40% of Canadians waited until 30 days or less before their closing date when they first applied or got pre-approved for their mortgage. Exhibiting the same behavior at renewal time leaves little time to exercise your options. Most big banks send out mortgage renewal letters around 30 days before you need to make a decision, which doesn't leave much time to negotiate or shop around for a better rate.

Canada's big banks also typically offer their posted rates to clients upon renewal. Their posted rates are about one per cent higher than what the average Canadian normally gets. On an average $200,000 mortgage with a five year fixed term, amortized over 25 years, a one per cent difference could save you roughly $10,000 in interest over that period (calculated using average current five year fixed rates of 4.24% verses 5.24%).

How to avoid the traps

• Know your options and exercise them. Remember that you are in control of your mortgage at renewal time, not your lender. It's your opportunity to make changes to your mortgage that will save you the most money over the long term.

• Don't wait until the mortgage renewal letter arrives in your mailbox. Pay attention to your mortgage term and when it's coming up for renewal. You can usually check your renewal date online.

• Start shopping around for rates at least 120 days before your mortgage comes up for renewal. Rate guarantees, offered by most banks, mean you will get the bank's lowest rate for a set period of time, usually 90 to 120 days, and if the rates go down during that period, you automatically still get the best rate.

• Savings may be realized in renewing before the end of your mortgage term given the historic lows rates have dropped to of late. Even after a penalty for early renewal some are finding their monthly payments drop by hundreds of dollars, more than making up for any fees imposed. Fees and penalties in most cases are tacked on to the new mortgage requiring no out of pocket expense to the borrower.

Knowing and avoiding these traps will help you take control of your mortgage and save your money. Book an appointment with your Mortgage rep and have them go over your mortgage to find out if you are getting the best deal available to you in the current market.

- News Canada