About Essex County, ON

I am going to take a little time to tell you about Charlie. He came from Michigan and made the trip across the border to Windsor, Ontario Canada to live with us in June of 2007. He immediately liked his new home in the Riverside Area. It has a big yard to run, play and terrorize squirrels! Charlie is very intelligent. He knows how to shake a paw, play dead, roll over and take a bow. He very loving and cuddly. He is with me right now as I am writing this post.

I have two sons, my youngest is a one year and my eldest is a two and a half year old white west highland terrior. He was my first baby. My youngest son Patrick throws toys out of the play pen and Charlie catches and returns them back. They do this for hours. Patrick laughs, laughs and laughs at Charlie. Charlie truly is part of our family!

Not everyone loves pets or Charlie as much as we do! This is a very important note to take into consideration when putting your home on the market. Some Buyer clients will not even step a foot on to a property for sale if they know there is a dog or cat inside. Sounds crazy but it is true. Some people are afraid of animals. Pets can leave odours, and have a potential home buyer concerned with allergies.

When preparing your home for sale in Windsor competition is fierce. Here are some tips for dealing with your "Charlie" and selling your home at the same time. Take a good look at your house. If you see any scratch marks at the doors or on the floors or furniture repair them. Tuck away all animal toys, leashes, food, water etc. Look around your back yard and get the pooper scooper out if necessary. Fill in any dug out holes in the yard with dirt and apply sod or plant seed to restore your lawn back to perfect shape. Ask a couple of friends to come over and give your house the "sniff test". Ask them what your house smells like. Be wary of unknown animal odours to your nose. Clean, clean, clean until they are eliminated.

Golden Rule Number One..Be sure pets are out of the house for all showings!!! As mentioned above some buyers will not even enter to look at a house if they know there is a pet inside.

Carrie-Lynn Macleod, Broker at Remo Valente Real Estate -here to help you with any of your real estate needs. Servicing Windsor Essex County and Surrounding areas - Riverside, Tecumseh, Lakeshore, Central Windsor, East Windsor ,South Cameron, Lasalle, South Windsor, Old Walkerville, Waterfront Properties, Forclosures and Bank Repossessed Properties. www.windsoronthouses.com I would be honoured to assist you with your move.

There are different views on whether it is a good or bad idea to hold an open house in Windsor Ontario. Some Agents will flatly refuse to do open houses at all because they feel open houses do not sell houses. Some Sellers will not authorize an open house on their home because they are private and only want qualified willing and able buyers looking at their castles.

I am of the opinion that some houses are good candidates to be held open and some are not. Read on and decide for yourself whether it would be advantageous to have your place held open here in Windsor.

Price is most definitely a factor to consider. If it is a high end property maybe it is not a good idea to have an open house. It might be more beneficial have pre-selected and pre-qualified potential buyers through by appointment. For numbers sake the price cut off here in Windsor may be around $400,000 and up unless other attributes about the property come into play. This may weed out the gawlkers and dreamers or those looking for decorating ideas. Homes in Windsor priced below the 400 mark are probably a good candidate for an open house.

Location should be thought about. If your home is located in a subdivision which is more like a maze and you even you have a difficult time finding your way to it, the potential buyers will have the same problem. This could directly affect the number of people who actually get to the property to view it. If you live out in the county on a nice quiet road you will no doubt have a quiet open house.

Think about if your home. Is it in a poor state of repair? It may only appeal to a buyer who is willing to do the work. An open house may not be an option. There are buyers out there who are willing to purchase "fixer uppers" but, they generally do not visit open houses. Many times they are more of the investor type who consider real estate their business. These are serious buyers who more than likely will schedule a visit during business hours. If your home shows well then I am sure an open house would be an option.

It is a good idea to check the calender and see what local activities are planned in the City of Windsor for the week-end you are thinking of scheduling your open house. Right now the Red Bull Air Races come to my mind. One prior summer, I was excited about holding a new East End listing open. It showed like a model home. It was located on a busy but, not too busy street in Tecumseh Town. The price was reasonable, not too high. You did not have to win the Lotto 649 or be Donald Trump to buy it. I thought an open house will surely find us a buyer for this family home. I am sure it would have if I did not schedule it on the day of the 1st Red Bull Air Races in Windsor. It was an unknown event to me and everyone else. I did not even know what Red Bull was? Well...the races were extremely successful and my open house on the other hand was not.

Holidays are not the most opportune time. For example the month of December is always a crazy month. Peoples lives get so busy. I would not recommendhaving an open house past the second week of December. Of course other holidays should be reflected upon as well.

We have a lot of different houses here in Windsor and different scenarios to think about to plan for a successful open house. I hope this helped a little bit.

2312 LOUIS
OPEN HOUSE: SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

NICELY DECORATED AND FRESHLY PAINTED, THIS 3 BEDROOM, 1.5 BATH BRICK HOME IS A MUST SEE. SPACIOUS LAYOUT. MASTER BEDROOM WITH SLIDING DOORS AND DECK. BIG KITCHEN, BUILT-IN APPLIANCES, BRIGHT DINING AREA WITH PATIO DOOR TO DECK, ABOVE GROUND POOL AND FENCED REAR YARD. HARDWOODS AND CERAMIC. FULL BASEMENT WITH STORAGE AND GRADE ENTRY. NEW HIGH EFFICIENCY FURNACE IN NOVEMBER 2008. CENTRAL AIR. GOOD WINDOWS AND UPDATED DOORS. UPDATED ROOF IN 2005. FULLY COVERED CONCRETE FRONT PORCH. LANDSCAPED. PRIVATE CUL-DE-SAC STREET. MOVE IN CONDITION. FLEXIBLE POSSESSION.

9617 MANITOU

CUSTOM BUILT QUALITY & STYLE, 4 BDRMS (2 UP, 2 DOWN), SPACIOUS APPROX 1700 SQ FT MAIN FLR PLUS FULL FINISHED BSMT. FULL BRICK/STONE EXTERIOR, HRWD FLRS, MAPLE KITCHEN W/GRANITE COUNTERS, SHARP LAYOUT W/DRAMATIC HIGH CEILINGS & GREAT COLOURS. 3 FULL BATHS INCLUDING ENSUITE W/JACUZZI. CERAMIC ENTRY & BATHS. OVERSIZED GARAGE, HUGE PIE LOT, MOSTLY FENCED W/BIG COVERED VINYL DECK & PATIOS (2), STAMPED CONCRETE DRIVE. IMMEDIATE POSSESSION.

The first Report on the State of the Environment in Windsor established baseline environmental indicators in 2007 for measurement in future years. Some interesting numbers are:

711 litres of wastewater treated per person per day

685 litres of drinking water used per person per day

274 days when air quality was good or very good

47.7 km of bike lanes

65,000-75,000 trees maintained by the city

Some of the concerns that have been raised by this report is that although our number of walking paths and bike trails have increased over the last few years, we are still below the levels of other cities, we waste too much water and we need to plant more trees.

The City of Windsor plans to use the data collected, which provide for 28 benchmark statistics, and do comparisons every 4 years to determine if we as a community are improving and meeting our goals.

Go to: http://www.citywindsor.ca/002881.asp to read the full report.

We can all do our part in softening our environmental footprint.

Don't forget to support your local farmer! Visit the Downtown Farmer's Market at: http://www.downtownfarmersmarket.ca