Paul Viau , Guaranty GMAC ,Halifax, N.S.

On a recent trip downtown I brought my camera along. Let me see if I can jog your memories from years gone by - Maybe some of you were here recently ,but it pretty much remanes timeless.

People Wandering from the Historic Properties to the Pier 21 where the cruise ships tie up. If its a nice day you might catch me at the my local fav. for a keiths or two.

The Lower Deck - Part of a three level complex housing a restaurant and two great pubs.

Part of the Historic Properties. Feels like your in a different era.

Then theres the Nova Scotian Crystal building where you can watch them hand craft magnificent works in crystal.

The Millennium building where Halifax made the news by hosting the G8 conference.

And of course! Our famous tug boat.

No wonder people seem to want to come here. -The lifestyle is so layed back!

You can see all these photos and much more if you check out my website - www.homesearchnovascotia.com

Reporting from the scene - Here in downtown Halifax , Nova Scotia. Only 450 miles from Boston -as the crow flies.

I guess if your going to take a boat.....3 or 4 days straight down the coast across the gulf of Maine -no course change - all the way to Nantucket.

So close to the U.S. and all the termoil thats been happening gripping the markets there and we have so far escaped much of the turn down so far- in the markets.

There was a good article in the Nova Scotia Business Review recently That documented the stats so far this year. Overall we are down a bit over last year ,but the inventory and the price for the units has remained fairly steady.

On a personal note - I'm seeing a fair bit of activity in the Halifax condo market as new buildings come stream in the coming months. See - www.homesearchnovascotia.com

A new report by the Conference Board of Canada has shed new light on the rosy economic prospects for the region. Halifax is expecting growth of 2.4% this year - The highest east of Manitoba. Due to construction projects just getting started and well underway.

The RIM building in Bedford is expected to be completed in the coming month with 1100 employees. --- for example.

This is the Armoury Square Condominium Building. Nearing Completion - very close to the downtown core.

There are numerous projects that have recent approvals as well - expected to get started 4th Quarter.

You can read about the report in a news snippet from the Nova Scotia Business Journal.

Check out www.homesearchnovascotia.com for the latest on Halifax and it's construcion projects and condos.

First of all I'll start by saying thanks to everyone who has contributed to this wonderful site over the last year and 2 months. I joined in June of 2007, I simply wanted to see what was involved with this blogging thing that I had read about.

It has now been 14 months since I started my learning. I determined early on in the process that the industry was changing and evolving into something completely different than I was used to. - My blogging worked and soon my cheif source of leads came from the blog.

On November 16 - I suffered a stroke. It was high blood pressure. Took me completely by suprise. In the hospital for 8 days. Anyway - I have a complete recovery . I went from not being able to talk to perfectly normal speech. I had to learn the keyboard over again. Right brain thinking has made me see things with a different light. My thinking is somewhat clearer now than it used to be.

The new me has teamed up with an investor in my business and I've just purchased some professional camera gear. I'm going to build a website based on these photos. And I will gain a huge advantage over my competetors as far as listings go. Combined with 25 -30 Professional shots ,I will offer a staging consult at no cost to the customer with payment at closing.

Website will be officially announced in two weeks - Part 2

I feel I owe it all to active Rain.

Here are some sample picts. I hope you all enjoy!

Photo 1 - Granbury Place Condo -- Taken with 17- 85mm lens on my canon EOS 49d

Photo 2 -- Kitchen in finished unit. 10 -22 wide angle view

Photo 3 -- Views from 12th floor. - Bedford Basin - Fairview Cove Container Terminal

I went for a quick spin in the boat with my son yesterday. I wanted to test my new camera - A Canon 40D.

Here are a few shots I took as we rounded the end of Mason's Point looking in various directions.

This is looking across at sheeps head Island - An upscale oceanfront subdivision. One house fetched $825,000 Canadian last fall.

This is a shot looking at Alongside at Mason's Point . - Very popular!

And this of a house currently on the market at $989,000 on the end of Mason's Point.

And to finish it off - A photo of Shining Waters Marine. It has become a destination for visiting yachts and includes a great restaurant over looking the water. I recommend a water tour from Shining Waters. - Or for the more adventurous -Rent a sea kayak and see the area up close!

Just 25 minutes to Halifax -- The St. Margarets Bay communities remain highly attractive now and should Double in value over the next 10 years.

WWW.homesearchnovacscotia.com