About Montreal Area, QC

Two major North American holidays have already passed this summer, as time flies quite quickly. These holidays were Victoria Day for Canadians and Memorial Weekend for Americans. For many of us, these holidays are considered the beginning of summer although, not officially. Many homeowners who are preparing to sell their home are faced with having guests stay with them during their transition. This leads to guests from out of town temporarily staying while the open house is taking place and while potential buyers are busy looking at every aspect of your home.

Your guests might not have their quarters in tip top shape. After all, they are on a vacation and tend to be more laid back as they should be. This is where staging a guest room is very important. What can be done to make your guest room while it is being occupied, still conform in unity with the entire house? This is very simple. Allow guests to know about home staging and what it entails and why you are using it. Explain to them that they must tidy all possessions left unattended within their room. These include luggage, digital camera, laptops etc. Personal belongings need to be placed away from the potential buyer's eye.

Towels should be clean and fresh. Spraying or burning any form of lavender scents are perfect for the bedroom as they are associated with slumber. Having the bed made at all times will also be a big bonus to potential buyers and the current homeowner.

In Montreal, the summer is so short that despite having your home for sale you can still enjoy and welcome guests despite your home being listed on the market.

How do you know when your work/self balance is OK or when it's out of whack? I recently discovered that the state of my work/self balance is reflected in the state of my toenails -- more specifically, whether they're painted or not. And more specific than that, whether the nail polish is relatively fresh (anything under a month old is good for me), contains less chips than I have toes, and is in a colour that has been seen in some salon or pharmacy, somewhere, in the last decade.

And so yesterday, when I found the time to paint my toenails -- and no, one coat does not count -- AND to let them dry before I shoved my feet into some high heels and clicked off to an appointment, I realized all's well, at least for the moment, in the work/self balance of Tanya's universe.

Yup, if I can find 10 minutes to do something for myself, that makes me feel a wee bit prettier than I did 10 minutes ago and that makes me feel like someone is taking care of me, I'm feeling pretty good, all things considered. (Of course, the fact that I only need 10 minutes of attention to feel like I'm being cared for is the subject of another blog...and long discussions with my therapist :)

What about you? How do you know when you've got the balance right?

Summer is quickly approaching, for many property owners of vacation homes business may be quite slow. Due to our countries economic situation, one of the first forms of entertainment that consumers eliminate is their vacations. For many summer vacation home rentals this can

become a major loss in revenue. Setting the stage for home staging your vacation home can make a big difference. Although, the market is down, there are a still a very high number of people who are still going on vacation and are still looking for summer rentals. Staging your summer home for potential clients can attract vacationers who never knew that about your rental or who never knew of your home's location as a vacation destination.

Your vacation home can be a condo or a small home located out of town, or even an unknown bed and breakfast. There are even beautiful recreational vehicles that are located near family loved amenities. All of these attract clients.

Summer is a very short season. Staging can help you attract as many clients as possible who in return can become regular clients for years to come. These clients in turn can spread the word on what a great property the stayed at refer your summer home to other vacationers.

Good Morning all ... hope you are enjoying your Sunday.

I got an email this morning from a Realtor, following a day of mass emails to agents from all over the Montreal area yesterday.

I was sort of taken back at first but thought I would rise to the challenge with the question she proposed

"How do you stage an empty condo that is just built? thanks anyway."

This just goes to prove we have a long way to go to educate some agents on the value of Staging.

Here is how I handled it...

"Well, if the condo is already built there isn't a problem. That's when Staging is most beneficial.

For the most part, as you probably already know, people (most) do not have imagination when it comes to an empty space. Really, what is where for them to look at? To connect with? Just big empty spaces that they rush through by poking their heads in and out of rooms. How can they make a connection? How can you slow them down when there is nothing there for them to connect with? It’s a lot harder for them to envision themselves living in that space when the stage isn’t set.

At this point, you had better hope that the condo has an amazing view ....or an amazing price!

We have staged many new condos, flipped houses and vacant homes ... I have included some pictures so you can see the difference a staged setting can make.

At Home Harmony we say from “ cold and empty to warm and inviting”….We think You will agree."

I included this and a few other photos to prove my point.

If Shakespeare's Hamlet were a 20-something living in Toronto today, chances are he'd be working on his first career. He'd have some inheritance in the bank, he might even be living in his mother's basement. He'd have little job security, no pension and would probably be soliloquizing about the same dilemma as everyone else his age: To buy or not to buy, that is the question; Whether 'tis nobler on the pocketbook to suffer the outrageous rent, or to take up a sea of mortgage payments, and by doing so, retire with equity.

With interest rates at the lowest they've been in more than 50 years and with home and condo prices in decline for the first time since 1996, many potential first-time buyers are viewing this as their best chance to buy into an otherwise unaffordable market.

That's partly what led Ren Ramkhelawan to buy his first highrise condo near Bathurst St. and Lake Shore Blvd. Ramkhelawan, a 27-year-old systems architect with a local charity, reckons he spent $18,000 in rent on his one-bedroom apartment at Spadina and Bloor Sts. After feeling he was "flushing rent down the toilet,"

Ramkhelawan started looking for a condo in October 2007 but was soon priced out of the market. "I'd make an offer and then the seller would get more offers, and before long it was just beyond my price range," he remembers. At one point in his search, he'd actually negotiated the purchase of a 500-square-foot condo for $222,000.

But he backed out because he felt it was too small and he'd be better off in his larger apartment. A year later, the economy had tanked, taking the condo market with it. He's now the proud new owner of a 700-square-foot, $227,000 condo. Though he's paying $200 more per month on the combination of condo fees, mortgage payments and property taxes than he was at his old $980-a-month apartment, he feels he's getting a better deal. "In the end, I wanted my own place. I wanted to know that I was investing in something instead of just handing my rent money away."

But Ramkhelawan, like many other first-time owners, doesn't see himself living in the condo for more than three years, when he plans to flip it and make a profit. Problem is, many in the realty business argue Ramkhelawan and others are banking on returns from a world that no longer exists. "Everyone wants to flip houses and condos like pancakes," says Greg Stanley, a mortgage broker. "Maybe we should have a change of view, thinking that a house is actually a home like they did in the old days. Back then, if you bought a house and sold it, it would be the same price. No one expected the houses to go up in value; they only expected to pay them off." The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development recently released data that show house prices have fallen in Canada, but prefaced it with the view that such prices "will have to fall still more ... if affordability, measured by the ratio of house prices to income, is to return to its long-term average."

If that's the case, then first-time buyers who choose to jump into the market now could see themselves carrying a hefty mortgage on a depreciating house. Anyone who bought a home when the market peaked in 1989 watched their "investment" plunge when the housing market tanked months later. Those homeowners still haven't recovered the pre-bust value of their homes two decades later, if you factor in inflation. "There's so many myths around real estate," says James McKellar, a professor of real property development at York University. "Let's not forget that before the 1980s, the motto was that a home was a money pit. Over a long period of time, housing does not keep pace with inflation. Don't look at it as an investment.

A house is a cost. You don't buy a car as a good investment – you buy because you need it." "The conditions (for buying) are favourable in terms of interest rates and affordability, but that's just one concern.Remove Formatting from selection "The decision to buy depends on your personal circumstances – that includes your personal needs and how secure you are in your job situation. Ask yourself: is your ability (to pay down a mortgage) going to be the same in a few years time?" The results may surprise you as, in some cases, those who rent and invest the money they would have otherwise thrown into their mortgage come out on top in the long-term. That said, a home is an asset and having to pay off a mortgage forces you to throw your savings into something instead of wasting your money.