Celebrate Toronto 2017

This is a great event for the whole family! This Festival is honoring Toronto's 183rd anniversary with skating, local vendors, food trucks, activities and more to celebrate the past, present and future of our city. The event runs Sunday March 5 from noon-6 pm, Monday 6-10:30 pm at Nathan Phillips Square 100 Queen W. Free admission! For more information visit http://www.celebratetoronto.ca/
Enjoy!
Karen

Personal Emergency Preparedness

This is a great idea! The Memorial Park Library in East York is have a Personal Emergency Preparedness workshop on how to prepare for yourself and your family. Have a plan, prepare a kit, stay informed. The workshop is March 4 from 2-3 pm at S. Walter Stewart Library 170 Memorial Park, Toronto Free!

Enjoy!
Karen

Happy first day of March!

The first day of Spring is March 20! Can you believe how fast winter zoomed by? Enjoy life to the fullest everyday!

Karen

Family Day - What's Open and What's Not

It’s Family Day weekend, and temperatures are expected to hover around 10 C — perfect for getting outside to enjoy the holiday.

Before you head out, here’s a roundup of what’s open, what’s closed and special events on Monday (thanks to the Toronto Star).

Services

All provincial government offices, including Service Ontario (online services are still available) are closed.

Municipal employment and social services locations are also not operating, along with waste drop-off depots and all Toronto Public Library branches.

Garbage collection will be mostly normal, with a few exceptions. Details can be found on the City of Toronto website.

Canada Post offices — not including those inside private businesses — will be open, and mail will be collected and delivered as normal.

Banks, however, are closed.

Transit

The TTC will be operating on a holiday schedule — essentially the Sunday schedule, but starting at approximately 6 a.m. Any routes that don’t normally run on Sundays won’t be operating. Full details are available at ttc.ca.

GO Transit will be running on a Saturday schedule.

Food

Most stores run by major grocery chains, like Loblaws, FreshCo, No Frills and Metro, are closed.

However, all Rabba locations are open, along with the following stores:

Loblaws at 60 Carlton St. (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

Sobey’s at 777 Bay St. (8 a.m. to 11 p.m.), 207 Queens Quay (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and 22 Fort York Blvd. (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

Metro at 444 Yonge St. (open 24 hours)

Whole Foods at 87 Avenue Rd. (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

Drink

All LCBO and Beer Store locations are closed.

However, three Wine Rack stores are open:

1235 Bay St. (10 a.m. to 11 p.m.)

10 Dundas St. E (9 a.m. to 11 p.m.)

472 Yonge St. (10 a.m. to 11 p.m.)

Shopping

The Yorkdale, Fairview, Sherway Gardens, Bayview Village, Dufferin and Scarborough Town Centre malls are closed Monday.

A few others will be open with special hours:

The Toronto Eaton Centre (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

Vaughan Mills (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

Square One (11 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

Activities

Though it may be too warm to enjoy them, municipally-run skating rinks are open Monday. So are the Riverdale Farm, High Park Zoo, Allan Gardens, Centennial Park, community centres and swimming pools.

Some of the city’s favourite tourist attractions also have special programs for Family Day.

TIFF has two. The Next Wave Film Festival for the next generation of movie lovers runs Feb. 17 to 19. Anyone under the age of 25 can watch films for free, and the festival includes special guests and activities.

DigiPlaySpace, TIFF’s family-friendly digital exhibition is also back starting Feb. 18. The theme this year is “Creative Machines,” and kids and adults alike can try out augmented reality and high-tech installations. More information is available on the TIFF website.

The AGO is open 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and will be running Family Day programs for families. That includes kite-making, yoga, a screening of a film written by two local kids and performances. Find more on the AGO website.

The ROM is running Family Day programs as well, with special musical performances, workshops and film screenings. More information is online at rom.on.ca.

For a more offbeat pick, the World’s Biggest Improv Tournament has two shows Monday at the Social Capital Theatre, one at 7 p.m. and another at 8:30 p.m. Ticket information is at socap.ca.

You can also have a lakeside walk and check out the Winter Stations Design Competition, which opens Monday. Eight installations can be found at lifeguard stations from Victoria Park to Woodbine — find a map at winterstations.com.

The Toronto Zoo is also open, as are the Ripley’s Aquarium and CN Tower.

From our family to yours, have a happy and safe long weekend!

Karen

The 411 on appraisals

Here is a great update from one of our favorite mortgage specialists:

Appraisals are becoming a very hot topic so perhaps I can refresh you on the process:

Appraisals are mandatory on almost all properties with 20% or more down payment. Reason being is that the lender cannot go to the insurer (CMHC) and see if they agree with the value, therefore we have to send someone out there and inspect the property. Sometimes rarely you will see an auto-valuation by the banks (Scotia does this), but almost always now you'll see an appraisal request.

Some lenders allow me to use "my" preferred appraiser, some mandate I order on an anonymous 3rd party system. Some ask for TWO appraisals on properties over $1M and lend on the lower of the two if there's a discrepancy. Ouch!

Suffice to say I am not seeing many appraisals not hit the market but it is definitely happening especially if there are no comparables. If no comparables are available, some appraisers are allowed to use time-adjustment which is basically adding x% of value based on the timing since the last sale (say it was over 6 months ago). One of my top appraisers I just spoke to said over 95% of properties ARE appraising, so we are still in relatively good shape here.

However, I can't stress this enough. ALWAYS let's have a chat about the property before you make any offers. It'll save us a lot of heartache to get an assessment of value from the appraiser AND to have that "what-if" conversation with our buyers to make sure there is some back-up in case of shortfall.

Thanks for reading!

Jake

Smoke detector tip

Just heard a great tip on 680 News this morning...we all know to replace our smoke detector batteries 2x a year BUT also light a candle and blow it out right next to the detector. If the smoke doesn't make the alarm go off then it means there is too much dust on the sensor. Clean it and all will be well!

Be safe out there!
Karen

Family Day Weekend at The Toronto Zoo

This is such a wonderful place to visit. If you are looking for something to do this weekend then I encourage you to visit the Toronto Zoo at 361 Old Finch, Toronto. This weekend you can meet the giant panda cubs, check out the walking trails, explore indoor tropical pavilions plus daily animal keeper talks from February 18-20, 9:30 am-4:30 pm daily. Admission is $14-$23, child 2 & under free.   For more information visit http://www.torontozoo.com/.

Enjoy!
Karen

Happy Valentine's!

This is a day to tell the people you love how much they mean to you. Do something nice without expecting something in return. Pay it forward and spread the love!

Karen

January 2017 Toronto Real Estate Stats

Wow! Are these statistics ever interesting. One thing is for sure and that's house prices are moving up and up and up due to little inventory. The prediction is that in the year 2066 the average sale price of a home will be $4,000,000!!! I feel sorry for my grand babies. Please let me know if you have any questions about these numbers or the real estate market.

Karen

Stay Physically Fit!

How great is this? This Friday learn how to keep physically fit, inside and outside at Mosaic Home Care Services 1929 Bayview, Suite 215H, Toronto,1:30-3 pm. Free! For more information call 416-322-7002 or visit Mosaic.

Enjoy!
Karen

Free Weekend At Aga Khan Museum

Free weekend at the Aga Khan Museum (77 Wynford, Toronto). Visitors will have access to Syria: A Living History and Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians plus pop-up performances by local musicians throughout the weekend. Saturday-Sunday 10 am-6 pm. Free! I've always wanted to see inside and now is my chance! For more information visit Aga Khan.

Karen