6 Feb 10

Should Retiring Lead to Downsizing?

Retirement Downsizing
Freedom! Glorious freedom!

If you’re considering downsizing your Kitchener-Waterloo home, here’s a great article called Should Retiring Lead to Downsizing? outlining some of the things you should consider.

The usual time for downsizing is after the kids have all settled in to their own homes, or shortly after you retire. But with today’s increased concerns over energy costs many people are looking at downsizing earlier in life.

The primary motivation for downsizing in the K-W area is usually to save money. A smaller home costs less to purchase and less for utilities, and there is usually less maintenance too. Especially if your new downsized K-W home is in a condo development or senior community.

But convenience and security are just as important for many people. Many retirement living communities have controlled access and 24/7 security. Grocery and convenience stores, along with recreation facilities ae often within easy walking distance too.

For more information about downsizing in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, use the contact information here on this website. No matter what your situation we have dealt with many others in similar circumstances and we know the Waterloo Region area intimately.

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5 Feb 10

Making Your Own Green Household Cleaners

Do you wish you could pitch all those harsh commercial cleaning products and use something “greener”? Here is a video explaining how you can make your own cleaners out of ordinary things found in just about every K-W home.

Making Your Own Green Household Cleaners

Recent studies have compared the incidence of asthma in homes where commercial household cleaners are used on a regular basis to homes where such cleaners are not used. In one study the researchers found the product users were up to twice as likely to develop asthma.

But then this is what we should expect isn’t it? Most household cleaners contain chemicals that are toxic to our bodies – as well as the environment. Isn’t it completely predictable that our bodies would react in a negative way to these chemicals?

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1 Feb 10

Is It Worth Doing Improvements Before Selling Your Home?

Does spending money on improvements to your Waterloo Region home increase its resale value?

Of course not all homes are the same. But most real estate experts agree that no matter what condition your home is in, relatively inexpensive cosmetic improvements can make a big difference. But they also agree you are not nearly as likely to recover the costs of doing major renovations.

Let’s take a closer look at this. First, you have to realize that the price of your home is largely set by your location. That price is arrived at by comparing similar homes in your neighborhood and the values assigned to other homes with similar amenities. The result is that an exquisite home in a lower priced district in Waterloo Region will not get the same kind of offers as it would in a higher priced neighborhood in the same town. Yes, you can try to increase the selling price of your home by adding high-priced extras, but it doesn’t usually work.

Look at it this way: say you were a home buyer and you had a choice of buying two K-W homes with roughly the same features, with the only difference being the neighborhood. Same price, same features, different neighborhood. Wouldn’t you choose the one in the more expensive neighborhood? Well, most people would, and that’s why you should not count on significantly increasing the resale value of your home by building in high-priced features. And it’s also why expensive updating of things like kitchens and bathrooms may not be worth doing – because the value of your home will tend to be pre-determined by its location.

Instead, focus on improvements that will increase your home’s curb appeal and give the impression that you have taken care of your home, while keeping it fresh and clean – things like painting, cleaning and landscaping. By all means add improvements to your home for the sake of your own enjoyment.

But don’t assume you will get the cost of those improvements back when you go to sell your home. Kitchen and bathroom renovations will almost always improve your home’s appeal, and often increase the resale value of your home in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, or anywhere else for that matter. But those renovations may cost quite a bit and you have to take that into consideration. You’ll probably find you will not recover the full cost, and you might be better advised to simply sell for a bit lower and let the new owners do the renovations.

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1 Feb 10

7 Helpful Hints for Selling Your Kitchener-Waterloo Home in the Winter

Those of us who live in more northern locations have to cope with a cold, snowy winter that may stretch on for 6 months or longer. Making a home look attractive in the winter is more difficult.

In the winter the days are not as long, the trees have no leaves, there are no flowers in the gardens, and we have to trudge through the slush and snow to get through the front door.

This article called 7 Helpful Hints for Selling Your Home in the Winter offers some timely hints for overcoming some of the negatives that may be associated with buying in the winter.

With a little imagination you can turn the negatives into positives with just a little bit of effort.

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1 Feb 10

Your Kids Will Love Their Own Garden

The days in K-W are getting longer and before we know it we’ll be itching to get outside and dig in the earth. Why not plan to plant vegetables and well as flowers this spring? The exercise will do you good, and the harvest of your own organic produce will give you a great sense of accomplishment.

While you’re at it, encourage your children with a garden of their very own. Their natural curiosity in bugs, worms and sprouting seeds, can be turned into a fun project that will last all summer and in to the fall. Here are some helpful tips to get you started creating a garden for your children.

Copyright AgentMapIt Green Tips for Homeowners

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1 Feb 10

Should You Try Selling Your Own Kitchener-Waterloo Home?

Many people try to save money by selling their own Waterloo Region home. They get it in their heads that real estate agents charge too much for the service they provide. So they try one of the FSBO (for sale by owner) services available.

Deciding to go the FSBO route may be tempting, but you should consider the pros and cons before making that choice.

Here is an article that discusses the issues in a bit more detail. It is called FSBO or Real Estate Agent. It considers why using a real estate agent has several major advantages over trying to sell your home yourself.

Selling real estate is almost always a complicated legal and financial transaction. Real estate transactions involve special legal and financial arrangements. The simple fact is that Real Estate agents are best equipped to handle the diverse issues involved in a real estate transaction.

Making others aware of the fact that your home is for sale is very important too. The majority of the prospects for your home will come from other real estate agents. And using FSBO tends to cut these prospects out.

Copyright AgentMapIt Real Estate Articles

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28 Jan 10

Advice for First Time K-W Home Buyers

First time home buyersAre you one of the thousands of people in the Kitchener-Waterloo area who pays rent every month? Buying your own home is a way of diverting that rent money to your own prosperity rather than that of someone else.

The good news is that there has never been a better time to buy your first home. House prices are down, interest rates are down, Kitchener-Waterloo house selection is better than ever, and everyone seems to be offering incentives for first time home buyers.

Evaluate your finances

First time home buyers should begin by adding up the numbers. Begin by calculating how large a monthly mortgage payment you can swing. Monthly costs are another important factor in your budget. Research how large your down payment will need to be. Start with an honest evaluation of your financial situation.

Discuss your budget with your K-W real estate agent or mortgage consultant. A good rule of thumb is to keep your monthly mortgage and tax payments less than 30% of your total household income. In other words, if you earn $5000 per month, don’t spend more than $1500 a month on mortgage and taxes. Try not to buy something at the top of your affordability range. Chances are interest rates will be going up over the next few years, so it is best to take that into consideration.

What to look for in your dream home

Consider carefully what type of home you need and want. How many bedrooms do you need? How large will your family be in the next few years? Is it important to be close to your place of work, schools, parks, public transit?

Both older and newer Kitchener-Waterloo homes have their advantages. With a new home you will generally not be inheriting someone else’s problems. A newer home will probably not need a new roof, upgraded furnace or new windows. But newer homes also tend to lack character and are missing many of the the improvements that owners do to them.

It is not unusual for an older K-W home to need important and expensive upgrading. Many older homes need redecorating, new carpeting or flooring, as well as kitchen and bathroom upgrading. But often an older home has offsetting advantages such as a larger lot, mature trees and landscaping, and may be located nearer to shopping malls, hospitals and public transit. Older homes may also have improvements such as finished basements, decks or patios, and more mature landscaping.

Urban or rural?

Many new home buyers like the idea of buying a home in a new subdivision – usually in a newly developed section of a city. But that may not be your style. You may prefer something in a smaller town or in the country. The pace of life in a rural location is often a bit slower. But you may not have ready access to things like schools, shopping, theaters and recreational centers for the children. That will probably add to your cost of getting around because you will have to do more driving.

Deciding to buy your first home is one of the most important decisions you will make. One of the first things you should do is find a real estate agent who you can trust to help you through this exciting (and complicated) process.

Copyright AgentMapIt Real Estate Articles.

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27 Jan 10

Why Use a Real Estate Agent

It is not exaggerating to say that buying a Waterloo home is very complicated and very serious business. Most people don’t know where to begin.

There are complications in just about every aspect of a home purchase or sale: setting the price, dealing with mortgage companies and banks, making arrangements with lawyers, and so on. A real estate agent’s job is to handle these complex matters and relieve you of the stress involved in dealing with these mysterious requirements.

Of course that doesn’t even touch on the thing that Waterloo real estate agents spend most of their time doing. One of their most important jobs is arranging for people to see different homes. And just showing homes is not the end of it either. It involves asking the right questions, noticing potential hidden problems, and evaluating how different homes match the requirements of specific buyers.

A real estate agent brings buyers and sellers together and guides them through the transaction. When you hire an experienced Waterloo real estate agent you are hiring someone who knows the ins and outs of the process intimately. Just as with any complicated procedure that you are unfamiliar with it is possible to make serious mistakes that can cost thousands of dollars.

Copyright AgentMapIt Real Estate Articles.

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22 Jan 10

Wind Power for Your Waterloo Home – Is it Feasible?

Just about everyone has heard of the usual non-conventional ways of creating electricity for our homes – solar, wind, thermal, biodeisel – but are any of these really viable for use in Waterloo?

Take wind power, for example. The theory is that wind power is a very attractive alternative. It is free and plentiful. But what is involved in harnessing the wind for home use?

Generating electricity from wind in the Kitchener-Waterloo area involves four conditions: a fairly continuous source of wind blowing at a minimum of 10 miles per hour, a turbine to turn the motion of the windmill into usable power, a windmill to capture the blowing wind and send the energy to the turbine, and an interface with the power grid.

At first glance the most costly components are obviously the windmill and the turbine. Some enthusiasts think it is possible put together this kind of system for less than $500, but you have to be a pretty handy do-it-yourselfer to build a system like that. The components and instructions for building a home-based windmill system can be found on the internet. But you’ll soon discover this is not like snapping together some furniture from Ikea.

The kind of do-it-yourself systems we are talking about usually have limited electricity generating capability and are probably not very practical except as an additional method to help charge an already existing battery bank – such as an already existing solar array.

On the other hand, the cost of an out of the box windmill system for a typical home in Waterloo can set you back up to $40,000. Depending on where you live there may be tax credits and rebates. But chances are even if you find a way to build your own system, getting the money back you invest in such a system will very likely take quite a few years. Most reasonable calculations of the time to recover your costs put it at 15 years or more.

You don’t want to forget about maintenance of such a system either. One of the most important components of such a system is the battery pack. Just as with home solar systems you need a bank of batteries to store electricity when the wind is not blowing. To make a home-based electrical generating system a practical alternative to being on the municipal grid you will need the storage capacity of more than 100 car batteries. You can do the math. These are not just any batteries either. They are usually quite expensive and often have to be replace after a number of years.

There are negative environmental concerns too. If you live in a city or town, towers cannot just be erected anywhere you please. Many communities do not allow windmills to be placed on rooftops because of safety and esthetic considerations. Birds and windmills also don’t mix very well. They can be noisy enough to bother neighbors – especially if they are large enough to generate a practical amount of power.

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16 Jun 09

Green Ideas for A Great Lawn

lawn_care-250

We spend lots of time, energy and money making our lawns beautiful and user-friendly. Our climate and soil conditions in the Kitchener-Waterloo area are excellent for beautiful green lawns. Here are some tips for making them environmentally friendly as well.

1. Mulch Your Grass Clippings when possible – Grass clippings contain valuable nutrients taken right out of your soil. So isn’t it odd that we gather our grass clippings in bags and ship them off to a land fill somewhere on the other side of the county?

Did you know that mulching your grass and leaves can save you as many as two fertilizer applications every year? Most lawn mowers come with a mulching blade that chops grass and leaves into small pieces and deposits them right back into the lawn.

Mulched leaves – especially sugar and red maple leaves – provide a degree of natural weed control when mulched into the lawn. Sometimes it is not practical to mulch your leaves because you have too many of them. But often it is – and it helps your lawn too!

2. Plant trees, shrubs and flowers – You know that trees are good for the environment. They help clean the air, return moisture to the air and provide shade from the hot sun. Shrubs, flowers and bushes also have many benefits other than just adding beauty. They help stimulate the soil, add bio-diversity to your yard, and attract birds and other wildlife.

3. Use Fertilizer Wisely – Synthetic fertilizers almost always contain nitrogen and phosphorous. In most areas of Canada, including the Kitchener-Waterloo area, nitrogen is what your grass needs for healthy growth. Much of your lawn’s nitrogen requirements can be supplied by mulching your grass each time you mow it.

Phosphorous (the second number) is usually unnecessary for healthy lawns, and it has some negative effects on the environment. Phosphorous that ends up in our rivers, lakes and ponds stimulates plant growth which disrupts the habitat of fish and other water life. Look for a fertilizer than has “0″ phosphorous.

Organic fertilizers may actually contain more phosphorus than synthetic ones, so read the label carefully.

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