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Preparing Your Home for Sale You've decided now is the time to sell your home and ask yourself what should I do to prepare my home for sale? I am yet to meet a person that did not want to get as much money as possible for their home.  The way to do this is to have it move in ready! Most people want to see a home that needs nothing done to it for them to be happy living in it.  This doesn't mean everything needs to be new, this means general maintenance around the home should be complete.  Caulking around windows should be in good condition or fresh, bathtubs and sinks should have clean good looking caulking.  If you have any broken ceramic tiles they should be replaced if possible.  Holes in walls should be repaired and painted. If you have flashy paint colours  you may want to consider painting a neutral colour to appeal to more buyers. Typically kitchens and bathrooms add the most value to your home, if these are dated you may want to consider renovating to get the most you can out of your home.  In…

Buying a Home Tips If you've purchased a home before you probably know some mistakes you made when you were looking for that first house. If you are a first time buyer maybe you need some tips. Some things to consider before purchasing: The first and most important is how much home can I afford? The first step is going to a mortgage broker and getting a genuine pre-approval. I say genuine because I have ran into issues with banks telling prospective home buyer's that they are pre-approved for a certain amount without ever checking their credit. If you have no credit obviously you cannot buy a home. I work with possibly the best mortgage guy in the business, call me, Brian Wright for details cell: 519-818-6321 Where do I want to live? Location is obviously important. If you have children or plan to have children you would want to focus on schools and how they are rated. The areas with the known better schools usually are in higher demand and therefore drives the home prices higher. If you don't…

Student Rental Tips The student market can be a lucrative business but landlords need to do their homework when selecting tenants as Tim Collins from Student Rental Investing explains. When renting to a ‘typical’ tenant, the normal checks that I undertook were references, job credentials and a credit check. I could then take all that information and make an educated decision on whether to rent out to that particular individual. I'm also a big believer in trusting your gut so if your intuition is screaming something’s not right, well then it's probably worth listening to. When it comes to students, things can be a bit trickier. Credit checks are irrelevant as students often have not had time to build credit check. As such, it may be necessary to do a credit check on the guarantor. By having a fabulous advertisement with great pictures and offering utilities for a nice affordable monthly price, you're likely to attract more than just students. It's not good practise to mix students with…

10 Steps: How to Make a Successful Relocation Move

Interest rates to remain low Interest rates to remain low and on hold for longer Thursday, October 23, 2014 - 15:00 The Bank of Canada announced on October 22nd, 2014 that it was holding its trend-setting overnight lending rate at 1 per cent. Its most recent rate announcement and Monetary Policy Report suggest a number of reasons why interest rates aren’t going up anytime soon: 1) Recovery in exports not ready to stand on own legs. Recent growth in the U.S. has led to a weaker Canada–U.S. currency exchange rate. That is good news for Canadian exports to the U.S. , our largest trading partner. The Bank still expects that the engine for Canadian economic growth will switch from consumer spending to exports. A hike in its trend-setting interest rate would put that in jeopardy, so making that switch depends in part on the Canadian dollar remaining at its weakened level. 2) Business investment remains weak. Stronger investment is the other engine for Canadian economic growth that the Bank expects to take over from…

LaSalle, Ontario Lasalle is a great community that is sought after by many home buyer's. Population is approxmately 30,000. We typically see many people moving up but staying within this area which borders Windsor and Amherstburg. Lasalle offers a great trail system for bicycler's or for those which like to walk. There is an abundance of wildlife to see when using the wooded trail system. I regularly see several Deer each time I visit this area on my mountain bike. Secondary schools inlude Sanwich Secondary and St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic Secondary school. Elementary schools include Lasalle Public, Holy Cross Catholic, École Monseigneur Augustin Caron, St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School and Sacred Heart. Lasalle offers plenty of amenities including local shopping at Zehrs, Freshco, fruit stands in the summer, several small boutique shops, health clubs, The Vollmer Complex, Essex Golf and Country Club and Ambassador golf. If you are considering a move to Lasalle we currently have resale…