Jennifer Zammit, A.C.C.I.

Yesterday a Realtor doing an Open House in London Ontario. Here are some tips from OREA regarding saftey on the job.

REALTORS® face more on-the-job risks than many other business professionals because of your frequent contact with strangers in various public and private places. We are committed to helping REALTORS® stay safe while working with prospects and clients.

Learn how to be safe at open houses, in your car, at the office and showing properties. Here are the of the basic safety rules you should follow every day:

1. Keep a charged cell phone with you at all times.
2. Don't put your home phone number on your business card.
3. Never advertise a property as vacant.
4. Always take your own car for showings.
5. Let potential buyers take the lead when exploring a home, with you following behind.
6. Always have new clients meet you at your office the first time.
7. Find out as much as you can about prospects.
8. Know your sales area. Preview the property.
9. Trust your instincts. If you're suspicious, it's better to walk away from a listing or a showing.

Momentum may be building in the London-area real estate market, with June sales up 5% over the same month last year.

Sales had not been in positive territory since last September and bottomed out last November -- when they were 41% below the same month in 2007.

But last month, the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) said, 946 detached homes and condominiums sold in June, up from 903 in June 2008.

Year-to-date sales for 2009 are still down about 20% compared to the first half of 2008.

LSTAR president Joe Hough said consumer confidence has been steadily improving and low mortgage rates and federal government incentives are drawing more and more buyers into the market.

Hough noted St. Thomas had an especially good month in June, with 90 sales in the city -- an increase of 32.4% over the same month last year

"I'm feeling very positive. Every month, we're gaining a bit of steam."

A few months ago buyers were gaining the upper hand as the number of homes listed jumped about 25%.

But Hough said the market is getting more balanced and there have even been bidding wars.

"We have seen a few here. When a property is priced right, people recognize that," Hough said.

He said the market is still weighted toward modestly priced homes.

There was more improvement in prices last month. The average year-to-date house price was $211,584, down just 0.7% from the first six months of 2008.

The average price bottomed out in January when it was 2.8% below the same month last year.

The London-St Thomas area is following a national trend with sales and prices showing signs of revival in major markets across Canada.

"Sales activity is now closer to the pre-recession peak than it is to the recent low point reached last January," said Dale Ripplinger, president of the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Hough said homes sales act as economic stimulus. CREA has calculated each home sale generates $32,000 in spinoff spending on furniture, appliances and renovations.

Hough said the revival in resale homes would eventually filter through to the new home construction market as overall demand for housing builds.

"This is going to help everything. I don't think we will see a buying frenzy again but we will see a more stable market."

Almost everybody loves pets except the home buyer who is buying your house. Don't ask me why, but that's often how it works out. Home sellers who adore their pets -- and I count myself as a huge pet lover -- have a hard time imagining the negative attitudes others harbor against pets. So, while this might be a bitter pill to swallow, if you want to get top dollar for your house, pay attention to how much you might lose with a dog or cat in residence.

Why Don't Home Buyers Like Your Pet?

• Nervousness. Pets make some people very uncomfortable. Not everybody grew up with a family pet or enjoys outings at the zoo. Fur and four legs does not a human make.
• Fear. Real and irrational. It's not only dogs that instill fear in people. All kinds of silly wives' tales and superstitions involve cats.
• Inexperience. Pets are not always predictable.
• Your pets aren't their pets. They imagine yours bite, jump, vomit, claw, spit-up hairballs or are just plain hyper and bad.

#1 Preferred Pet Solution

You're not going to like this but I'll say it anyway, fully realizing that this very excellent piece of advice is likely to fall on deaf ears. The best thing to do to ensure top price for your home is to relocate your pets while your home is on the market. Putting them in the back yard, in the garage or in another room that you keep locked is insufficient, and it's not fair to them. You need to remove them from the house.

• Let a friend or relative care for Fluffy and Spike.
• Board them at a kennel.
• Send them on vacation.

Overcoming Negatives Associated with Your Pets

If you shrug off all professional advice and absolutely refuse to move your pets out of the house, then at least minimize the objections and nuisance factors, real or otherwise:

• Cat Litter Boxes & Dog Potty Pads

  Keep them out of sight and impeccably clean. Nothing turns off buyers faster than opening the door to the laundry room and being greeted by a full or stinky cat box.

• Carpet & Floor Pet Stains

  Hire professionals to remove the stains. Buyers will spot them and form unfavorable opinions about the rest of the house. If the stains can't be removed, then remove the floor covering and replace it.

• Pet Odors and Smells
  1. Cat urine is the worst. Without question. The. Worst. Bring in a neighbor to do a whiff test.
  2. Do not use air fresheners. People with allergies will react.
  3. Enzyme Eaters - Go to your vets and ask them what they use to combat a skunk attack. The same thing will reduce other pet odours.

Remove Signs of a Pet

You may be required by state law to disclose that pets have lived in your home, but you don't need to advertise that pets live at your house. Removing signs that you have a pet is simply smart practice. Why turn off a buyer at the get-go? It's those first impressions that are so all-fired important.

• Do not put photos online showing your cat asleep on the bed
• Seal up doggie doors
  
• Put away food and water bowls when not in use
• Vacuum religiously, every day, sometimes twice a day
• Pick up pet toys and put them away
• Pack up cat trees and other signs of cat paraphernalia (you know who you are)
• Remove photos of pets from refrigerator, walls and table tops
• Pack up all cages, carriers and other tell-tale signs

Showing Your House

Put your pets into a carrier and attach a note warning buyers not to disturb them. The last thing you need is somebody sticking their hand inside the carrier and getting bit or scratched. You can't predict how your pet will react when locked up and alone.

OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada is declaring the recession essentially over, saying Canada's economy will begin growing this summer after nine months of stagnation and lead most of the industrialized world next year. The rosy assessment - despite numerous cautions and caveats - rippled through the markets Thursday, lifting the loonie and many stocks. "We believe the economy will grow this quarter," bank governor Mark Carney told a news conference. "Things are unfolding a little faster in terms of the recovery in (consumer and business) confidence and financial conditions." However, experts say the renewed growth after three quarters of economic shrinkage - two straight declining quarters is the technical definition of a recession - won't lead to job growth until much later, when companies regain confidence and begin hiring again. Earlier, the bank had dropped its April call for a one per cent contraction this quarter and now says the economy will instead expand by 1.3 per cent annualized. That will be followed by a three per cent advance in the last three months of this year, and three per cent growth next year. But Carney also issued a caution that recovery "is not a foregone conclusion," and that the economy remains dependent on massive government stimulus and his own conditional pledge to keep the policy interest rate at the historic low of 0.25 per cent until mid-2010. Without such interventions in Canada and around the world, economies would still be spiralling downwards, he said. Even with recent improvements, Carney said the part of the economy that impacts Canadians most directly - jobs - will continue to deteriorate even as output perks up. Economists say that's because employers are unlikely to take on new workers until they are certain demand will last. ""It is going to be a tough, long, hard slog to get this country back to full employment and Mr. Carney is hinting at that we are not out of the woods yet," agreed, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, repeating his call for expansion of employment insurance benefits." Statistics Canada calculates 370,000 jobs have disappeared since October, and some economists believe more than 500,000 will be lost before labour markets begin to recover. While more optimistic than most forecasts, Carney concedes the bounce-back is modest by historical standards. In fact, he does not have the economy returning to full capacity until mid-2011. Currently, the bank estimates the Canadian economy is operating 3.5 per cent below capacity. Still, the markets chose to see the bright side of Carney's new outlook. The Toronto stock market surged more than 243 points Thursday, while the Canadian dollar gained more than a full cent on currency markets to close at 92.04 cents US. The latter result won't please the central banker, who again voiced his concern that a stubbornly high-priced loonie will cut into the recovery because it will price some Canadian exports out of world markets. Many economists doubt that the central bank would intervene to reign in the loonie, however, although the bank's governing council has not ruled out action. Carney also said there remains a risk that the fragile financial systems in the United States and Europe may contain more unpleasant surprises, such as last September's collapse of Lehman Brothers, and deliver another body-blow to the economy. But the most likely scenario, he said, is that the Canadian economy will keep advancing over the next two years without a pronounced fall-back in 2011 once the tens of billions in federal and provincial stimulus spending is exhausted. In an event in Toronto, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters he believes the economy is entering a period of modest growth. "Consumer confidence is relatively strong and growing, we are seeing good home sales numbers (and) some improvement in retail sales," he explained. Coincidentally, the Conference Board of Canada issued results of its latest consumer confidence survey Thursday, showing the index rose modestly in July. It was the fifth straight monthly improvement. Flaherty reiterated his contention that Canada went into the slump later than the U.S. and will rebound more strong. The Bank of Canada fully agrees. In fact, it sees Canada rebounding at more than twice the rate in the U.S., which it expects to grow only by 1.4 per cent next year. Europe's recovery will be even weaker, with a 0.7 per cent advance next year. The strongest engine of growth globally is China, expected to rebound to 8.3 per cent growth next year, almost two points higher than predicted three months ago. The bank credits Canada's ability to grow out of recession earlier than it thought in April to a sooner bounce-back in commodity prices and underlying strengths in the economy, including a relatively stable financial sector and households that were less indebted than in the United States. As well, wage increases have remained relatively healthy at about three per cent annually than might have been expected given massive layoffs, falling inflation, and production cutbacks. But the bank also sees future improvements for Canada's export sector, which it says will disproportionately benefit from the U.S. recovery starting next year. Just as Canadian exports of autos and wood products were hardest hit during the downturn, they will be boosted more than other industries once demand returns in the U.S., the report states.