A home with central air

Do you have central air in your home? If you do, you’re probably counting your blessings! People who put a pool in this summer are also very happy. This has been the hottest July ever!

If you don’t have central air conditioning, you must be suffering. I hope you are managing to keep cool somehow.

If you don’t have central air, you might want to consider installing it in your home or moving into a home that has it. This can be the last heat wave that you suffer through. Maybe it’s time to make a change.

People with allergies, babies, the elderly and those battling illnesses will all feel more comfortable with central air. For many people, it’s not a luxury but a necessity.

In many parts of the world air conditioning is a necessity. Every building, every car, every home is air-conditioned. We’ve been lucky so far. But, our climate is changing.

A lot of people have been suffering this month without air conditioning in their homes and workplaces. There’s all kinds of good advice for them: keep hydrated, cover the windows facing south with heavy curtains or blinds, place a bowl of cold water in front of a fan, spend time in the public library or in the mall, etc.

You’re probably sick of hearing all the good advice of people sitting in their cool offices and going to their cool homes! (Maybe you’re a bit short-tempered right now. It’s the heat.)

All that advice is great for the short-term. We have to deal with this heat right now. But, what about next year, and the year after that? You’re not getting younger and healthier. If you’re still young, maybe you’re planning to start a family. You’ll want the best for your babies.

For the long term, think about getting yourself into an air-conditioned home. 

I can help to find you a home with central air conditioning, and maybe a pool too.

Check out my website. There are lots of homes to look at. Call me or send me an email and let me know what else you want in a home. We’ll work together to find you the best place at the best deal.

Interest Rates

Surprise!!! Surprise!!!  The interest rates remain untouched today but "they" still warn us about future rises!

Going back to 2010, "they" said the economy was too weak for a rate hike and the cold dark days of 2009 were still fresh in our memories. Too many folks had lost their jobs, closed their businesses and gone bankrupt in 2009.

However, as if by MAGIC, and after having a sunny and warm February, "they" decided to hike the rates anyway!

All those promises of not touching the rates until the Third Quarter simply went out the window in an instant. The results were quietly catastrophic!

More businesses suffered and fewer people found jobs. The weakening of the US Dollar resulted in the strengthening of the CDN Dollar which didn't help our manufacturing sector at all. The real estate market did not cool off as "they" had predicted either!

This year "they" seem to be smarter and are keeping their hands off the interest rates in hopes of stimulating the economy for real.

Having a Majority Government must have helped this decision if you ask me.

People are still buying and selling homes in the GTA, York, Peel, and Durham Regions and although activity level has gone down somewhat, home prices have not gone down.

I am no expert in financial matters, but I have learned not to listen to "them".

Just like the Weatherman, "they" can be wrong everyday without fear of losing their jobs!

So do what is best for YOUR family: If a move will help the quality of life for you, then just do it, and in my humble opinion, interest rates cannot go up that much in the near future (:-D

You can afford to buy a house. Do it.

Not to be outdone by my wife, I’m going to quote Mark Twain.

Renate blogged today about singing and dancing. That Mark Twain quote could have been a Shania Twain quote.

Here’s one that has teeth:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

I like this one because it includes fishing. I like the image of taking to the water to explore and dream.

It also appeals to me because I’m getting to the point in my life where I’m starting to look back and evaluate things. I think about these things when I’m on a lake or in the woods. When I get back to “reality” I feel inspired to make a change, to go ahead and shake things up a bit.

Just do it! Nike got to the point.

I like to quote Newton’s first law of motion too: A body at rest tends to stay at rest. This appeals to me because it’s simple physics but it means so much more.

If you’re satisfied with who you are, what you’re doing, where you live, your weight, your hairstyle, then don’t make any changes. If you don’t change anything, chances are things will tend to stay the same- your weight, your income. Ok, your hair might grow.

But, get out of your routine and you’ll see some changes, improvement. Leave the safe harbour behind.

Almost twenty years ago, Renate and I made some big decisions, took some risks and sailed off to Newmarket.  We scraped together a down payment for a house, went over-budget, and bought our first house near Main Street and Davis Drive. That was the best thing we ever did! We could not have done it in Toronto. If we had stayed, we’d still be renting. We didn’t even dare dream of a house like the one we now own!

Take the first step today. Call me or email me and ask me about getting into a house in Newmarket. We could get you into something in Bradford or Keswick too. You can get a lot of house for your money up here.

Do it.

Fishing near Newmarket

I took the family fishing yesterday.

We have a little boat with a motor and a mini-van with a hitch. We have a good spot to put the boat into the water on Lake Simcoe just up the street. (Well, about 17km up Leslie.)

Living in Newmarket has its advantages: from our house to the lake in less than half-an-hour!

When fishing with 3 females, it’s good to have a spot with a porta-potty. And, with young female family members, it’s good to have a spot near home so that you don’t spend more time in the car than on the lake. That spot is at the bottom of Cook’s Bay in Keswick.

In no time at all, we were on the lake and catching fish. Catching and catching! I would hook a worm and hand the rod over to one daughter and then the other would be handing me a rod with a fish on it. Hook a worm, then release a fish, hook, release, and so on: Non-Stop Action!

We kept 15. A good large-mouth bass, several perch and some sunfish. Victoria, my 11-year-old, counted her catches: 30!

I cleaned the fish when we got home and soon they were in the frying pan. Talk about fresh fish!

These are the family memories my girls will cherish forever: Dad taking us out on the boat and hardly getting a chance to fish because we’re catching a fish on every cast, and then Dad fries up our catch for supper, and the blue lake and the green shoreline under the bright blue sky and our beautiful home in Newmarket.

We won’t remember the sunburn.

Fireworks for Canada Day

I rode my bike up the Tom Taylor Trail, north of Davis where it's called the Mabel Davis Trail to see Newmarket's Canada Day Fireworks. Amazing view from across the river. And, so close you could smell the fireworks and feel the explosions in your chest.

My family had gone to a friend's house, which backs right on to the end of George Richardson Park where the fireworks are set. They reported an amazing experience too. Best ever.

It seemed to me too that this year's Canada Day fireworks were the longest and most spectacular ever. Maybe it was my awesome viewing spot, but it was really something!

I noticed that people were doing bigger and better fireworks of their own this year too. Not a recession year for the fireworks industry?

In fact, every weekend since Victoria Day in May we've been hearing fireworks going off in our neighbourhood. There is a law that prohibits using fireworks any time other than Victoria Day and Canada Day. It doesn't seem to be enforced. I wish it would be.

Please, people, use up all of your fireworks on the appropriate days! Obey the law. Don't set off fireworks any other time.

Fireworks are great twice a year. But, that's enough.