I spent yesterday staging a home in the country for sale — not finished yet, and of course I always forget to take before pictures but the homeowner took a few, so here goes! (I will try to do better when I finish up next weekend). The living room bothered me — that shelf really had no purpose and I don’t like a shelf that close to the top of a sofa. We took it down and I hung up some art. The photograph the homeowner took doesn’t really show the transformation — we never take our own photographs head on this way — but you will see there’s a new floor rug, different cushions and a new piece of ..read more

Looking back over this year, it was a little crazy. I got back to boxing (I finally achieved Level 5) and feel like I have mostly recovered from my Moderna vaccine injury after 2 1/2 years. I have only minor recurrent brain fog from time to time although I still have peripheral neuropathy and probably always will. I couldn’t write or draw or paint for a couple of years, because of it, and even writing SHADOW PLAY was a struggle because of ongoing issue with word selection. I’d have to look up the spelling of common words and would frequently get common sayings wrong (close, but not correct), b ..read more

Not going to lie, this was a tough year with a lot of challenges. But I’m happy to learn that I was awarded the Royal LePage President’s Gold Award this year — I honestly didn’t think I would hit any of the awards level this year. “Congratulations Peggy, you have won the President’s Gold Award, based on GCI. Top 20% of all individuals in Ontario, GCI Top 25% of all agents in Ontario, GCI.” I’m not sure that I understand the difference between an “individual” winning this award and an “agent” winning this award,” but my guess is that some people work on teams. I don’t. I do it all on my own ..read more

So, we have new legislation in place in Ontario that governs realtors and how transactions can be handled. The biggest change is that in a multiple offer situation, the seller now has the right to decide (without the buyer’s consent) to disclose any or all parts of an offer or even something from one offer and something else from another offer, to other interested buyers at seller’s sole discretion. So they can release information, for example, about the highest price in an offer they’ve received, but not necessarily that it’s a conditional offer. Or they can release a closing date, or the amo ..read more

I haven’t posted about real estate for a while because a) I’ve been trying to figure out where this market is headed and b) I created a publishing imprint in the late summer called ReBound Press! I’ll tell you about that first, and then I’ll discuss one of the changes to the Ontario legislation that governs realtors. Most of the changes are backroom stuff that won’t change the way you buy or sell your home, but there is a major change with respect to offer presentation that I’ll get to shortly. But first, ReBound Press! Many of you know I’m a mystery author — my debut novel, THE BEGGAR’S OPERA ..read more

Below are the locations of our sock bins for donations to Sock it to Christmas! Last year we collected over 1,600 pairs of brand new winter socks. The men’s socks go to Good Shepherds and The Mission; women’s and children’s socks go to the Parkdale Food Centre’s Soup and Socks Program! We plan to pull the bins on the December 16 weekend, so we can sort the socks into sizes and drop them off where needed. Help us give the gift of warmth this Christmas! Our drop off bin locations are as follows: Royal LePage Team, 1723 Carling Avenue (near Broadview) Royal LePage Team, 3101 Strandherd Drive, Bar ..read more

“I love this house. It’s immaculate. Everything in it has been upgraded. Other buyers are interested in it too and I don’t want to lose it. Do I really need a home inspection?” Yes, you do. A million times, yes. Unless you have a wallet full of cash and a tolerance for the unexpected. Let me give you three recent examples of where a home inspection proved to be invaluable. In example #1, the home was absolutely lovely and extremely well-maintained. The buyers had a chat outside about whether they should have a home inspection or not but finally decided to go a conditional offer, and their offe ..read more

Well, I just had an interesting experience. I was looking at making an offer on a row unit which is the middle unit of three. It is fully fenced and backs right on NCC bike paths. The NCC metal fence runs along the back yard of this unit and it doesn’t have a gate. There is a gate in the back yard fence between this unit and the one beside it, which usually connotes an easement or right of way, permitting the middle unit reasonable access. This could mean the middle unit owner bringing around a lawn mower from time to time, for example, that is stored in a garage or shed at the front of the ho ..read more

So I guess this makes it official! This is the kind of award you can’t possibly get unless you have wonderful clients who trust you with their business. So a huge thank you to all of mine last year (and to all the past clients who referred them to me) — this one’s for you ..read more

I was asked by a Twitter pal to discuss what’s affordable for someone making an income of $60-70K a year. Okay, so affordability in this context is going to mean what a buyer can qualify to buy, i.e. what the lender considers they are able to afford. I was hoping to get a breakdown of specific numbers from a mortgage broker pal but he’s off on a cruise so I talked to York Polk, another mortgage broker I work with from time to time, and he says the rough rule of thumb is that you can afford four times your gross income. That assumes no major debts or other obligations, but it’s a guideline. Let ..read more