Canada Day Events in Kitchener - Waterloo 2015

 

Happy Canada Day! 

 

Please check links as some events have admission  charges....

July 1 Canada Day Celebrations at University Of Waterloo
All day events and fireworks
http://uwaterloo.ca/canada-day/about-canada-day-celebrations


CANADA DAY IN DOWNTOWN
Civic Square, City Hall Kitchener
Come celebrate Canada Day with us in Downtown Kitchener from 4 pm - 11 pm! This exciting celebration will feature live Canadian entertainment, fireworks from the roof top of Kitchener City Hall, a licensed beer garden, downtown food vendors to satisfy your hunger, and much more!
This years lineup of performers include Hollerado, Fefe Dobson and Treble Charger!
http://www.kitchenerevents.ca/en/whatson/Canada_Day.asp

Canada Day @ Bingemans - Kingpin Lounge
Boston Pizza Kingpin for live music on the patio from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm AND watch FREE fireworks at dusk!
http://www.bingemans.com/events/


Canada Day Celebrations in Cambridge
All day events and fireworks
http://www.cambridgecanadaday.ca/home.html

Canada Day @ Cambridge Calvary Church
beginning at 7pm
Bouncy Castles, Prizes, Music, Food and Fireworks
http://calvarycambridge.com/canadaday/

Canada Day Celebrations in Guelph
All day events and fireworks
http://www.canadadayinthepark.ca/

Canada Day In New Hamburg

Monday July 01,  10:00 am

Scott Park - New Hamburg

All Day events and Fireworks

Event times are listed here http://www.newhamburgindependent.ca/whats-on/events/ just scroll down to July 1st

Canada Day Trivia

With Canada Day just around the corner here is some Canadian Trivia!

• James Naismith, the Canadian who invented basketball, actually invented it in the US – in Springfield, Massachusetts while teaching athletics at a YMCA.
• An estimated 75% of all alcohol consumed in Canada is beer.
• There are more than 1400 airports in Canada.
• An estimated 60% of the global polar bear population can be found in Canada.
• Nearly 1/3 of Canada is forested.
• One in five Canadians were born in another country.
• Newfoundland was the first place in Canada settled by explorers - around 1000 AD, but it was the last province to join Canada – in 1949.
• There is a crater on Mars that is named after a Canadian city (NFLD); the Gander Crater.
• Next to Paris, France, Montreal is the largest city of French-speaking people in the world.
• Wasaga Beach, ON is home to the longest freshwater beach in the world.
• The oldest golf club in North America is the Royal Montreal Golf Club, founded in 1873.
• At nearly 55 metres (180 ft) in height, the tallest totem pole in the world stands in Victoria, BC.

Happy Canada Day!!!

6 Things to Do As Soon As You Move Into Your New Home

1. Change the locks. You really don’t know who else has keys to your home, so change the locks. That ensures you’re the only person who has access. Install new deadbolts yourself for as little as $10 per lock, or call a locksmith — if you supply the new locks, they typically charge about $20-$30 per lock for labor.


2. Check for plumbing leaks. Your home inspector should do this for you before closing, but it never hurts to double-check.  Keep an eye out for dripping faucets and running toilets, and check your water heater for signs of a leak.

Here’s a neat trick: Check your water meter at the beginning and end of a two-hour window in which no water is being used in your house. If the reading is different, you have a leak.

3. Steam clean carpets. Do this before you move your furniture in, and your new home life will be off to a fresh start. You can pay a professional carpet cleaning service — you’ll pay about $50 per room; most services require a minimum of about $100 before they’ll come out — or you can rent a steam cleaner for about $30 per day and do the work yourself.


4. Wipe out your cabinets. Another no-brainer before you move in your dishes and bathroom supplies. Make sure to wipe inside and out, preferably with a non-toxic cleaner, and replace contact paper if necessary.


5. Give critters the heave-ho. That includes mice, rats, bats, termites, roaches, and any other uninvited guests. There are any number of DIY ways to get rid of pests, but if you need to bring out the big guns, an initial visit from a pest removal service will run you $100-$300, followed by monthly or quarterly visits at about $50 each time.


6. Introduce yourself to your circuit breaker box and main water valve.

It’s a good idea to figure out which fuses control what parts of your house and label them accordingly. This will take two people: One to stand in the room where the power is supposed to go off, the other to trip the fuses and yell, “Did that work? How about now?”

You’ll want to know how to turn off your main water valve if you have a plumbing emergency or if you’re going out of town. Just locate the valve — it could be inside or outside your house — and turn the knob until it’s off. Test it by turning on any faucet in the house; no water should come out.

Contact me today for a Free Home Value Report or a Home Buyer's Toolkit!

Changes to Garbage Collection Coming for Waterloo Region

Don't get to used to your weekly pickup of pretty much anything and everything you can drag to the curb!          

Regional politicians voted May 26 on new garbage collection rules but the move has been a long time in the making, with work starting in 2012 on the Waste Management Master Plan.                        

Politicians are considering two options —one has already been endorsed by some politicians and was earlier recommended by staff.

Option one would see garbage collected every other week, with a limit of up to four bags. Recycling and green bins would be collected every week.

Option two would see garbage, green bins and blue bins collected every week, with a limit of up to two garbage bags.

With both options yard waste would be picked up twice a month from April to November. Large appliances, up to three, would be picked up every two weeks. The existing special and downtown business services would continue.

Residents would have to pay a fee for extra bags of garbage.

Staff say Option 1 could save up to $1.5 million annually and Option 2 up to $750,000.

New rules would go into effect in 2017 when current waste collection contracts end but approval is slated for May 26 so garbage contractors have time to adapt to the new collection routine.

Ahead of the decision later this month, here's a look at key studies, decisions and public input that lead to the proposed cuts.

The master plan

In November 2013 politicians endorsed the 20-year Waste Management Master Plan that emphasized sustainable practices and diversion.

The last plan was completed in 1986.

Proposed changes to garbage collection flow directly from the document.

A new look at waste management here is driven by several factors including shrinking revenues, environmental goals and a desire to extend the life of the Erb Street landfill, which has an estimated 20 years of capacity left.

According to a regional report at the time the plan was approved about 119 of 230 Ontario municipalities had some form of user-pay system for garbage.

The green bin contract

Politicians say they want more residents to use their green bins to divert waste from the landfill but that proposed collection cuts have nothing to do with a costly organics processing contract with the City of Guelph.

Since October 2013, the region has paid $2.3 million annually to Guelph to process green bin waste.

The price is based on 20,000 tonnes per year being trucked there, at $116.82 per tonne. If the region doesn't meet its target, it still pays the $2.3 million. The region is barely collecting 9,000 tonnes now.

The public

More than 7,500 people told the region what they think about garbage here in late 2014 and early 2015 through telephone and online surveys, email and other forms of feedback.

In a regional telephone survey of 511 people that staff consider representative of the average citizen of the region, 68 per cent said two bags of garbage would be a good limit if there was weekly garbage pickup.

Thirty-five per cent said three to four bags would work for garbage collection every two weeks and 34 per cent of people said they would prefer at least five bags of garbage permitted if it's only collected every other week.

The top three concerns about bi-weekly bag collection residents had, according to the phone and online survey were smell, storage and animals.

About 41 per cent of residents said they would buy bag tags if they had extra garbage.

The other 59 per cent said they would store the garbage or use waste transfer stations.

Some have criticized the survey, suggesting the questions were limiting.

At a public input meeting earlier this month 10 residents told politicians what they think of the plans.

It was a mix between those who said they already pay for garbage with property taxes and shouldn't be charged additional fees and those who support the changes or even further limits.

Canadian Real Estate Market Forecast into 2016

Canadian Real Estate Market Overview

Canada has been enjoying a strong, stable real estate market for some years, with near historic low interest rates, and balanced market conditions in most major markets across the country.

On a national level, industry forecasts about the Canadian real estate scene are generally positive both for this year and expected to further improve in 2016.  

 

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) latest unit sales forecast:

·         The national sales forecast for 2015 is similar to last year, with 475,000 sales expected

·         A dramatic decline in oil prices has slowed sales and led to a rapid shift in market balance in Alberta, and to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan. 

·         Annual sales in these provinces are expected to come in well below the elevated levels they posted last year.

·         There is a notable disparity of forecasts for markets across the country, although the majority of provinces are forecasting gains

·         The lower Canadian dollar, declining mortgage rates and stronger U.S. economy are expected to spur economic and job growth in Canada

While the number of unit sales has remained relatively constant across Canada in recent years that has definitely not been the case with prices, which have climbed to record or near record levels in most major markets across the country.  CREA’s 2015 forecast for home prices calls for:

·         Average residential home prices are expected to increase nationally by 2% in 2015, despite regional disparities.

·         The average national MLS home price is forecast to be $416,200 this year

So, your next question is likely to be, how do these industry forecasts relate to what economists and the media are saying about the impact of the oil shock on Canada’s housing market?   According to industry accounts, its impact will be geographically divergent.  Regions like Alberta, and also Saskatchewan, which are highly exposed to the energy sector have seen more of an impact than in other provinces.  Meanwhile, most regions of Canada are expected to be positively impacted from low interest rates.

 

Of course, news can turn on a dime.  In March, the Bank of Canada held interest rates steady, citing that the surprise cut of six weeks before had already “delivered the monetary stimulus to counter the hit from lower oil prices”.   We’ve also seen some very strong sales stats coming out of Toronto, and Vancouver, so the national outlook is good overall, but there is currently a large disparity in economic and market conditions across the country. 

The news for next year is increasingly positive, with sales expected to rebound according to CREA’s latest forecast for 2016:

·         National sales are expected to rebound by 1.7% next year, to reach 482,700 units

·         A sales recovery is expected in previously hard-hit Alberta and Saskatchewan

·         Strengthening economic conditions are expected to result in improving sales

·         The average national price is forecast to rise a further 1.9% next year

·         The average MLS price nationally is expected to be $424,100 in 2016

·         A shortage of supply of single family homes, particularly in the Greater Toronto area, will expected to result in strongest price gains in Ontario (+2.5%) and in Alberta

·         Price gains in the rebounding Alberta market are expected to exceed the national average, increasing by 2.4% in 2016

So while no one has a crystal ball, industry forecasts are positive, and there are strong fundamentals in place that are expected to continue to support the housing market.  Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world, and in 2015 we expect to welcome a near-record number of immigrants, to surpass 266,000 people.  And they all need housing.

 

The most important thing to bear in mind, is that although real estate activity is forecast nationally, it is transacted locally.  Market conditions can vary dramatically from city to city, or between neighbourhoods, and even on the same street. 
Contact me today for a custom Home Value Report and find out what your home is worth! 

As the Weather Heated up in May, So Did Home Sales in Kitchnener - Waterloo!

There were 553 home sales in Kitchener-Waterloo last month though the MLS® System of the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of REALTORS® (KWAR). This represents an 8.4% increase compared to May of 2014, and 9.6% above the 5 year average for the month May.

With a total of 2,926 home sales occurring through the KWARs MLS System®, year-to-date sales are 3.3% above the five year average. Although sales numbers in Kitchener-Waterloo are higher in comparison to May of last year, they are on par with the month of April, at 1.7% above last month’s residential sales numbers, a difference of nine home sales.

It’s been a very busy but typical spring market. Low mortgage interest rates and a diverse local economy continue to support home buying in Waterloo region.

Much like the month of April, sales activity in the $300,000 – $349,999 posted a healthy increase in the month of May with 126 homes sold in that range, a 24.8% increase from the same time last year. Sales in the $400,000 - $499,999 also increased with 81 sold in this price range, a 28.6% increase.

Sales in KW included 355 single detached homes (up 4.7 %), 113 condominium units (up 28.4%), 44 semi-detached (up 2.3%) and 40 freehold townhouses (up 8.1%).

The average sale price of all residential sales through the KWAR’s MLS® System increased 0.7% to $347,541 compared to the same time last year. Within the cities of Kitchener-Waterloo residential sale prices increased 1.6 percent to $343,750 compared to May 2014. Single detached homes sold for an average price of $390,704 an increase of 1.1% compared to last year. Condominium market prices were up 7.1%, with the average condo unit selling for $237,649.

Contact me today to find out what YOUR home is worth!