Kitchener Waterloo, ON

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a colourless and odourless gas which is a common by-product of the combustion of fossil fuels. The burning of natural gas, propane, oil, wood, kerosene and coal produce CO. Exhaust from your car or gas mower also produce this potentially dangerous gas.

Because you can't see, taste or smell it carbon dioxide cannot easily be detected. It can cause serious health problems ranging from flu like symptoms with mild exposure to unconsciousness and death with extreme exposure. Even low levels of CO can be harmful because it accumulates in the blood and depletes the ability of blood to carry oxygen.

The risk of CO poisoning can be minimized by installing at least one CO detector in your home. Select a unit that is stamped with the Canadian Standard Association (CSA) label. Detectors are available either battery operated or plug in units that plug into an electrical outlet. Care must be taken to replace batteries on a regular basis and plug in devices should not be connected to an outlet controlled by a wall switch. Detectors should be replaced at least every five years.

Most manufacturers specify where you should locate their CO detector. In general, the best place is close to the sleeping areas where you will hear it while sleeping. Follow the manufacturers instructions and install a detector on each floor containing a sleeping area. Test the units regularly to confirm they are operational.

Reducing the risk of CO entering the home is the best defense. To reduce risk:

• Have a qualified technician service fuel burning appliances yearly
• Have a qualified technician inspect chimneys, dampers and vents for cracks, blockages, corrosion or holes.
• Ensure adequate air supply to furnace and hot water appliance rooms, particularly when powerful kitchen fans are used. A qualified technician can check that fumes are not pulled back down the chimney.
• Do not start a vehicle or lawnmower in a closed garage. Open the door first and pull the car out immediately. Shut the door to prevent exhaust fumes from being drawn into the house.
• Avoid the use of kerosene space heaters.
• Maintain the seals around entry doors from the garage to the house and install an automatic closer on the door.
• Seal all wall penetrations between an attached garage and the house.
• Never operate a barbeque indoors or in an attached garage.

If your detector sounds an alarm, evacuate the house immediately including pets. Notify your neighbours if you live in a duplex, row house or apartment and call your gas utility, heating contractor or fire department.

www.welcomehomeinspections.ca

Ever since we started our business, we have been very blessed in working with knowledgeable and really savvy realtors. From the start, these realtors weren't asking why they should use our services for their listings - they were telling US why! I find that incredibly refreshing after encountering other realtors who just can't see the merit in home staging.

A lot of the realtors who don't see the merit, are also unable to see past the expense of hiring a home stager to do consultations for their clients. We offer special realtor rates to agents who use our services on a regular basis - as many other home staging companies do. This makes it affordable to include a home staging consultation in with the other services realtors offer and it sets them apart - especially where we live because home staging is not as prevalent yet.

When we chat about the benefits of offering home staging consults as part of a realtor's services, we generally give the following reasons why it's so important:

• Offering a home staging consult tells the client right away how committed the agent is to ensuring that the house sells fast and for top dollar
• Emphasizes to the client the importance of the home's appearance and creates an understanding that there is definitely a strong connection between the listing price and the readiness of the house prior to putting it on the market
• Allows the realtor to maintain strong client relations as a third party critique distances the agent from the recommendations being made but also ensures that the items which need to be done, will be done so that the realtor can sell the house quickly and for as close to the asking price as possible.
• Helps in all the marketing a realtor has to do in order to get the home sold - the property will look good both online and in person so the house, statistically speaking, will have fewer DOM
• Will impress clients - especially the ones who are increasingly cognizant of how vital appearance is. We work with home owners all the time who are HGTV savvy and who are willing to put some money into their homes in order to get them sold. This is not a trend which is not going to disappear anytime soon - it is the real estate service in the U.S and is gaining increasing popularity in Canada.

Establishing a partnership with a great staging company as well will give realtors referral clients because we do a lot of work with clients who are getting ready to list and who haven't yet contacted an agent. We refer these clients to agents we have a great relationship with and it has worked out profitably for them when they get a listing that's already ready and the clients are eager to work with them because they have worked with us!

We are aware that not every listing requires full staging. Some listings just need a stager to go through and create a report for them to follow - but at least the clients have that report and if that's all the money that is spent then is a really inexpensive way to ensure the house looks great! When more than a report is required and real work needs to be done on a listing then choosing a home staging company which has great professional trade resources is a vital. Our company, Rooms in Bloom, works with a great team of trades which we use when our clients need more than just staging.

Partnerships are vital in any profession however in real estate, when people's lives are put on hold while they are selling their homes, everyone involved in that field needs to support and work with each other to help ease the stress. We always maintain that home staging is a powerful tool which should be utilized so that everyone benefits: the sellers, the buyers, the realtors and the home stagers!

I have a new listing on Hawkswood Drive (Parcel 1), near Woolwich Street in Kitchener. List price $170,000. Purchase this lot or have your own dream home custom built by well established, high-end builder "Holtz Fine Homes". Lot dimensions 44.95 x 114.83 x 44.95 x 107.28. Exclusive Listing, visit www.johnsummers1.com for more information.

The average sale price of all residential properties sold in Kitchener-Waterloo and area held steady at almost $266,000, down only slightly from last month's average of $267,500 and up from last year's overall average of nearly $248,900. Industry experts from RE/MAX and CMHC predicted average price increases of 5 and 6.2 percent respectively for 2008. Year-to-date average sale prices for all residential properties sold through the Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Board are up 6.7 percent to $265,500.

While sales results were mixed depending on the particular price range, demand for higher priced homes remained buoyant in August, with sales of properties in the $400,000-plus jumping 26 percent.

Karen Shartun, President of the Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Board says, "Properties in lower price ranges experienced a more general decline in sales. For example, the number of homes selling for between $200,000 - $225,000 were down almost 50 percent." This sounds like a decline, but not really... Properties in these lower price ranges have increased in value and are now selling in higher price ranges. Buyers at or around the $200,000 mark are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of decent product at this price point. Multiple offers and "bidding wars" remain common in this market.

The summer is traditionally a slower real estate market while buyers, sellers and agents are distracted vacations and other summer activities. Fall is a great time to be in the market for both buyers and sellers, second only to the Spring Market. More sales activity means faster sales for sellers and more properties to choose from for buyers.

If you want to get moved this year or early next year, now is the time to get the ball rolling. Give me a call or send me an email. I'm never too busy for your business or referrals.

This house is a lovely bungalow which we were called in to help with before it went on the market. The home owner was an older lady who had moved to a nursing home and her relatives who lived outside the country were put in charge of getting the house sold. Our first impressions of the house were a lot of wallpaper, clutter and religious items. We were hired to stage but also to manage the wallpaper removal/painting project, general repairs and to de-clutter the house.

Once done, the house was neutral and appealing to a wide range of buyers - and within 10 days a young family had snapped the house up!

Small second bedroom. This room actually contained a double bed and the larger bedroom contained this single bed. We switched them and then had all the patterned wallpaper, flowery border and religious effects taken down.

Second bedroom "after" we were finished.

Master Bedroom "before" but also after we had the pink wall colour neutralized and the flowery border removed.

Master Bedroom "After"

Dining Room Area "Before"

Dining Room Area "After"

Living Room "Before"

Living Room "After"

All in all, we were really pleased with how the house turned out. We believe that by removing all the wallpaper/borders and staging the home simply we allowed buyers to see the potential and charm of the home.