Category: General

Six ways you could be wasting space, and how to fix the problem

Have you ever considered doing a space audit in your home, analysing those rooms where the lay-out could be so much better? If you’re considering putting your home on the market this spring selling season, or planning for a summer campaign, you should take a careful look at whether you’re wasting space in your home.…
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Prepare your home for buyers with these six tips

What’s the true secret to a successful home sale? Is it location, size, design, price or presentation? Of course, it’s a combination of all of these facets of a property. The most powerful factor will depend on the individual buyer.  However, there’s one element homeowners often underestimate despite the advice of their agent: the importance…
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Values still growing as market awaits rate cuts

Reading and interpreting market moves is a challenging occupation when figuring out whether it’s a great time to buy and sell property. One minute prices are buoyant, the nextreports are swirling about the heat coming out of the market.  And then there’s the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) teasing us with the hope of a…
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Sales are up with more homes coming onto the market

A chink of light has appeared at the end of the tunnel of American property sales.  For the first time in five months home sales are up, rising 1.3% in July compared with June and signaling a potential turning point. Using annualized figures, America is on track to buy and sell 3.95 million homes over…
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Why painting can give you the summertime blues

With the days warming and summer approaching, it’s understandable if you think it’s a great time to repaint the exterior of your home. Surely, summer is the best time of year to break-out the brushes because there’s less threat of the rain and damp that would compromise the drying of the paint?  Admittedly, one downside…
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Affordability emerging as Canadians enjoy two rate cuts

WIth two interest rate cuts under our belt, and more promised by the Bank of Canada, how is this affecting the spending power of those wanting to buy their first home, or upgrade to a bigger property? So far, Canada has seen rates cut for two successive months, moving the cost of cash from 5%…
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If your home feels ‘blah’, give it a dopamine hit

Does your home make you happy? It’s a simple yet incisive question aimed at revealing whether you truly enjoy your sanctuary. If you quietly confess that, actually, you don’t love your house or apartment, then ask why not. What’s the problem? How can you change your mood towards your home? Ambivalence or disappointment are emotions…
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Should you open a branch of The Bank of Mom and Dad?

Parents are being called the “Sandwich Generation”, caught between helping their own children as well as their mothers and fathers, a consequence of living longer. The days when parents’ greatest concern was paying for the kids’ college education have now morphed into helping them onto the property ownership ladder. It’s amazing to think that almost…
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Investors lead charge to put market in positive spring mood

A jump of 30% in the value of investor loans has buoyed the real estate market as it prepares for a huge spring selling season. Loans for owner-occupiers are also higher, rising 13.2% compared with the corresponding period 12 months ago. The total value of new housing loans rose 1.3% in June to $29.2 billion…
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How hard will the BoC go on the next rate cut?

For months now, owners have been keeping a keen eye on the falling rate of inflation in the hope it would signal cheaper mortgage costs and boost the property market. Now Canada’s inflation is 2.5%. It doesn’t mean anything is any cheaper, but it signals the fast pace of price rises, which most global economies…
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