Lethbridge Open House

Lethbridge real estate, mortgage, and open house info. Stop by this property and talk about Lethbridge real estate, mortgage financing options, or about real estate investment options. I am glad to talk about what is going on in Lethbridge with anyone who finds it as interesting as myself. Come check this home out and lets meet face to face.

Open House

Saturday October 17th, 2-4pm

2509 18 ST North LETHBRIDGE

2509 18 ST North LETHBRIDGE

Come check out this open house, this is a great family home in an excellent location. The home features a large fenced and treed backyard for the kids, 2 car parking off the rear lane for dad, a freshly renovated kitchen, living room, and dining room with sliding doors out to the deck for mom. Upstairs, the master bedroom has a full 3 piece ensuite, 2 more bedrooms for the kids, and a renovated main bath.

The 2 lower levels feature a large playroom for the kids, laundry area, storage area, a rec room, and a 4th room which can be used as a bedroom or office, plus a brand new 3 piece bath too.

This great family home is in move in condition and ready for a new family. It is located at the very end of a cul-de-sac and so the street is free from traffic and safe for the kids. This nice and quiet location yet close to shopping and tranportation and is great for those who want peace and security and know the value of location location location.

BONUS: stop by my open house and enter your name into my draw for tickets to the sold out Brooks & Dunn concert!

I try to travel to Cuba as often as possible, both for a vacation and to deliver charitable aid donations. This started as something small and keeps growing every year. We have taken several friends and family members down with us, each time filling suitcases full of clothes, shoes, medicine, and other necessities.

As a result of this, I try to stay current on news that affects Cuba. Here is a recent article about Cuba and H1N1.

Travel Alert: Cuba Joins Swine Flu Quarantine

Are Canadian Interest Rates heading up? YES

The question is how much and how fast. The conference board of Canada predicts that the rate will move next year and fairly quickly. Here is a write up from CBC news about the issue. This is something that anyone who is interested inf financing or refinancing real estate should be aware of.

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Conference Board predicts 4% bank rate in 2 years

The Conference Board of Canada said Friday it expects the Canadian economy will grow 2.9 per cent in 2010 and the Bank of Canada will raise its target for the bank rate to four per cent by 2011.

The rate is now 0.25 per cent and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney has committed to keep the rate there until the spring of 2010.

Conference Board predicts the bank rate will reach 4% by 2011. (CBC)

The Ottawa-based think-tank also predicted growth of 3.6 the following year.

The prediction was on the higher end of many forecasts but consistent with what Bank of Canada expects.

The board's analysis concluded Canadian consumers — encouraged by low interest rates — are becoming more confident and willing to spend.

While private business investment will pick up, it said, about $106 billion in profit has disappeared from corporate balance sheets in Canada over the last nine months, and tight cash and lending will hold back a strong recovery in private investment until 2011.

The Board said government stimulus measures worldwide have rescued financial markets and are expected to continue to have an effect into 2010.

The Board concluded the U.S. economy "has hit bottom," and that while the U.S. economy is growing, it will show little strength until 2011 because of low consumer spending and tepid private investment.

CBC news published this story about the Alberta politicians taking a pay cut. This announcement has been met with cynicism as just last year these same politicians gave themselves a 34% raise. So really, is giving back a small portion of that a big deal?

Alberta premier, ministers to take pay cut

Actual cut to Stelmach's total compensation is 5.4%: taxpayer group

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Alberta's premier and cabinet ministers are taking cuts to their salary top-ups, an announcement that comes a day after a televised speech by Ed Stelmach.

Stelmach will take an immediate 15 per cent cut, or $12,196, to his premier's allowance. Ministers are reducing their cabinet allowance by 10 per cent, or $6,391.

Every MLA makes $78,138, a portion of which is a tax-free allowance. Before the cuts announced Thursday, Stelmach had an additional allowance as premier of $81,312, while cabinet ministers with portfolios made an extra $63,912.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation estimates the premier makes $226,000 a year once tax savings and top-ups for committee work are taken into account, while cabinet ministers make $196,865. That would mean the actual cut to the premier's total compensation is 5.4 per cent, and for cabinet members it's 3.2, said Scott Henning, the group's Alberta director.

"It was a whole lot less impressive after I saw that," Hennig said.

'I have a bit of a reluctance to give kudos to them because of the 34 per cent increase they gave themselves last year.'—Doug Knight, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees

On Corus Radio's The Rutherford Show Thursday morning, Stelmach said the reductions were discussed at a cabinet meeting Wednesday.

"I asked them to join me in terms of the salary reductions," said the premier. "I said, 'I'm taking a 15 per cent reduction. I asked cabinet [for] 10 per cent and they all agreed. Put[ting] it in with the address would have just clouded the message."

Stelmach's chief of staff, Ron Glen, and Brian Manning, head of the provincial civil service, are also taking a 10 per cent pay cut. How much money that will save was not announced.

Shortly after almost sweeping the March 2008 election, Stelmach and his cabinet voted themselves a salary increase of more than 30 per cent, as well as a pay hike for committee work by backbench MLAs.

The president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, Doug Knight, said Stelmach's announcement doesn't impress him.

"I'm sure the premier and the cabinet ministers are trying to make the point that they're doing their share," he said. "I have a bit of a reluctance to give kudos to them because of the 34 per cent increase they gave themselves last year."

The previous pay hike also prompted Hennig to temper his praise for Thursday's announcement.

"It's tough to applaud the premier and his cabinet for doing this after taking a 30 per cent pay hike the year before, but I guess it's better than doing nothing and it's at least a start," he said.

No raises for senior managers

On Wednesday night, Stelmach announced that the Alberta government would also freeze the 6,500 salaries of senior bureaucrats for two years to achieve savings of $22 million.

Stelmach said he was also hoping public sector employees would agree to voluntarily freeze their wages over the next two years to help the province weather the economic downturn.

Both Knight, and his counterpart at the Alberta Teachers' Association, Carol Henderson, said they have yet to be officially asked to freeze their members' salaries.

But that would mean opening up collective agreements.

"We have contracts in place that he said he was going to honour and I'm hoping that he will respect that," Knight said. "I know that the implications of the salaries being frozen [for] management for two years will be weighing heavily when we go back to bargaining."

Speech meant to reassure Albertans

Wednesday's recorded television address was a bid to reassure Albertans that Stelmach's Progressive Conservative government has a solid economic recovery plan amid a rising deficit and plummeting energy revenues.

Stelmach outlined a general four-point plan to get the province — currently forecasting a record $6.9-billion deficit this fiscal year — back into a surplus position in three years, without raising taxes.

Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason called on the Progressive Conservative party to reimburse the provincial coffers for the $134,000 it cost to produce and broadcast the video, because he said it was a partisan political announcement.

"There's nothing new in what he had to say, it was simply regurgitating the same old story," said Mason.

Added Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann: "Like many Albertans, I was expecting more. This was a very flat and uninspiring message."

The following article by Virginia Galt, published in the Globe and Mail, details the situtation that the Bank of Canada faces. The Canadian dollar keeps rising as the price of comodities increases and the Canadian economy continues to leave many of its problems behind. As the dollar rises it puts pressure on the Bank of Canada to raise rates to prevent inflation.

Will Canadian interest rates go up next week? Will the Bank of Canada stick to its previous position that they would leave rates alone until middle of 2010? As a real estate professional this is an issue that I speak about daily with my clients.

Here is the full text of the article.

Virginia Galt

Globe and Mail