Cool Homes: Municipal Hall

When the 1964 Chatham Township Municipal Hall,  located in Ontario went up for sale in 1994, Roni Brown who is an avid antique hunter and interior decorator, jumped up at the chance and scooped it up to live here with her family. It became a slow transformation project for her with a lot of sacrifices made along the way. The property sits on 2 acres of land, is 1,900 square feet and comes with a 5,600 square foot outbuilding/garage. She had a lot of changes done to adapt the property for family living while keeping some of the original elements. Roni keep the original brass plaque listing those responsible for the buildings creation, the raised stage and the original chevron-patterned VCT flooring. She also kept an old rounded exit sign and acoustic tile on portions of the 12.5 ft ceiling. After living and enjoying her home for 18 years she has put it up for sale, for a whopping $244,900, wow! Here it is....

What do you think? Pretty cool huh?

If you have a cool space or uniquely decorated place that you would like me to feature, make sure to contact me!


***Images via Globe and Mail***

Renovation Tips...Part 1

I figured with 5 home renovation projects under my belt, I could post some renovation tips and share some of my knowledge that I have learned thus far. My disclaimer here is that I'm not claiming to be an expert and all of these may not apply to your own personal situation, I'm just sharing my knowledge. Also my experience comes from renovating old homes in downtown Toronto so my advice comes from dealing with those types of homes. Now since that's out of the way, let's begin!

The Contractor:

• Do research before your project begins- before getting a quote research various things such as, the way things should be done properly, different approaches, the big no's, etc. Knowledge gives you power to negotiate, but remember who the real expert is
• HGTV is not realistic- keep in mind that when watching renovation shows on HGTV, there is a lot of behind the scenes happening that is never shown on TV. These TV shows have big crews of 15 + people working on the house so the timelines are unrealistic for a regular home renovation. Also only selected mistakes and delays are shown on TV
• Get more then 1 quote- get multiple quotes, you're about to spend thousands of dollars of your hard earned money, isn't it worth it? Rule of thumb, 2-3 quotes for smaller projects, 4-5 quotes for bigger projects, but remember the lowest bid is not necessarily the best one
• Don't under value your contractor- although some times we can get carried away negotiation,  don't forget contractors work hard, have overhead to pay and also need to make a living. Also getting them to commit to a lower price then they would normally does not motivate them to start and finish your project faster, they may take side jobs to make up the shortfall which hurts you in the end. Instead ask for deeper discounts on material (if you're not purchasing it yourself) as contractors get commercial discounts
• References- ask for references and check up on them to see the quality of the contractors work and how easy it is to work with them
• Contracts- insist on contracts with a break down of how much everything will cost so that there is no discrepancies at the end when it's time to pay
• Hire specialists-although general contractors are jack of all trades and may give you a better quote because they are doing all the work, throughout the project this may back fire on you for several reasons. If your contractor gets sick, the project comes to a halt and may not meet your deadline, the project will not move as fast as you anticipated as one person can only do so much and contractors can become overwhelmed, which further delays you. The saying goes jack of all trades or master at one.
• Communication is key- Ensure your contractors understand your vision for your project. Don't be afraid to speak up and let your contractors know when they are doing something wrong or something you don't like, remember this is your money, risk and investment and communication is key with any relationship, whether it's personal or business
• Make a list- of everything that needs to be done in your home and set realistic deadlines for each task so that everyone is on the same page. Make sure your contractor has a copy of this list and re-evaluate it with them every week. If the contractor is consistently not meeting your deadlines then have a sit down and find out why, are your deadlines unrealistic or are the contractors not fully committed to the tasks at hand?
• Payment plan- make a structured payment plan with your contractor. Don't give them all the money upfront or hold onto it until the end of the project. Most contractors require a deposit upfront which makes me concerned. Talk to your contractor and come up with a plan where you pay them every week, 2 weeks or 3 weeks for work that has been done or hours put in. I'm a strong believer in paying for work that's completed and not promises of future work to be done
• Attitude- although craftsmanship is important, so is the attitude of your contractor and how well you work with them, it ensures a smooth renovation. You want a contractor that is a problem solver and not a drama queen every time they are faced with an unforeseen obstacle
• Supervision is a must-giving your contractor free rein on YOUR project is not advisable. Make sure either yourself or someone you know, is always dropping by the home to note progress and to let your contractors know someone is always watching. If you have extra time, find an excuse to be at the home for extended periods of time each day, as from my experience people tend to work harder and take less breaks when you are there working too
• No such thing as a perfect contractor- they all come with their flaws, you just need to decide what you can live with and what you cannot live with as you have to deal with these contractors every day during your renovation and see them in your home

***Most important tip....TRUST YOUR CONTRACTOR! If you can't trust them, then you shouldn't hire them to renovate one of your biggest investments. There's a lot of shady contractors out there which give the good ones a bad rap, just like any profession. So make sure to take the time to find the one that's right for you, isn't it worth it?

Well that concludes part 1 of my renovations tips. Make sure to pop by next week for part 2, where I will be discussing The House.

Did you find these helpful? Have any of your own tips you would like to share?

My Finds In Aberfoyle...

I had a very relaxing long weekend, but it wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the Aberfoyle antique market. My boyfriend is in the midst of renovating his next project and since it's getting close to the end, I'm already thinking about how we are going to decorate it. We have a lot of items already from the last renovation project I helped him with, but there were a few items on my wish list that I needed to find in Aberfoyle this weekend and they were....

• 2 lamps I could re-finish
• tall wooden ladder
• handles for a barn door
• wheels for a barn door

Luckily we were very successful in finding everything right before it started to rain heavily, at which point we packed up the car and called it a day!

Here are our finds...

I have DIY dreams for these bad boys which will sit on a table behind his couch. Best find of the day...only $20 for the pair!

I also have plans for this wooden ladder, paint plans that is, don't worry I will feature all the after photos on the blog

I did some barn doors in my last project as closet doors in one of the bedrooms, here it is...

Now we are going to take it one step further for his house and add a track that you can see and some wheels, just like this....

Source: countryliving.com via Aleksandra on Pinterest

   

He will make the doors himself, just like in my house, but then we will add these to make it look like the picture above, along with the track

I also wanted to take this home with me, but unfortunately it was a no go, oh well there's always next time!

Although I was thinking some paint and a cool bulb with a cage would have looked amazing!

What do you think of our finds? Have any great finds from Aberfoyle that you would like to share?

Sneak Peek Fridays

Here it is again, your list of open houses happening this weekend in the Dovercourt-Wallace-Emerson-Junction neighbourhoods. Make sure to check back here every Friday for the "list".

For more information on any of these homes, shoot me an email (oleksaka@gmail.com) and I will be more then happy to send you the complete listing and answer any questions you may have.

Also if you would like neighbourhood stats emailed to you on a monthly basis for the Dovercourt-Wallace-Emerson-Junction neighbourhoods, please go to http://www.torontoweststats.com/ to get yourself on the list!

Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

Saturday August 4th, 2012:

371 Wallace Ave  Suite 26 $ 525,000
Open house times: 2:00PM – 4:00PM
Mls#: W2393761

75 Brandon Ave $ 649,000
Open house times: 1:00PM – 5:00PM
Mls#: W2431240

Sunday August 5th, 2012:

371 Wallace Ave  Suite 26 $ 525,000
Open house times: 2:00PM – 4:00PM
Mls#: W2393761
75 Turntable Cres  Suite 124 $ 319,000
Open house times: 2:00PM – 4:00PM
Mls#: W2429259


Want to know what else is happening in the Junction Triangle neighbourhood this weekend? Then check out my neighbourhood news, just click here.

Happy house hunting!

Neighbourhood News: Junction Triangle

Are you around this long weekend and don't know what to do in the Junction Triangle? Well here's what's happening in your neighbourhood...

Junction Farmers Market

• runs every Saturday morning through the summer to early fall
• June 2-October 13, 2012
• 8:30am-12:30pm
• Located in the Green P parking lot at Dundas St W and Pacific
• fresh local food

Really, Really, Free Market (RRFM)

• runs every first Saturday of the month, rain or shine!
• located in Campbell Park
• 10:00am-2:00pm
• it's a place where people bring what they have, take what they need and leave the rest
• no money, bartering or trading involved
• remaining items will be donated
• includes items and services such as clothes, books, food, furniture, haircuts, gardening, music lessons, etc

Want to check out some houses in the neighbourhood? Then visit my Sneak Peek Fridays for your list of open houses happening this weekend, just click here.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Social Media In Real Estate: The Basics

Skye Nicholson-Smith, social media coordinator from Streetseed is here today to talk about real estate and social media...the basics. Streetseed is an innovative real estate search platform, helping homeowners, buyers, sellers, renters, real estate agents, landlords and property managers find and share important information about homes for sale and rent. Skye take it away.....

In today’s day and age in which just about anything and anyone has their own Facebook or Twitter account and YouTube channel sometimes it’s important to stop and think: How can I optimize my social media presence? What is the purpose of my social media presence? Yes, Twitter and Facebook are great online marketing tools where you can get your message to a large number of people in a short amount of time, establish a brand, and among other benefits join at zero cost. But, like any tool, social media has to be used properly. For real estate agents and professionals social media is a great marketing and communications tool if used effectively.

The first rule of thumb to effectively market your personal, or company, brand with social media is to ensure you are not just having a one way conversation. To successfully market your brand interact with other real estate professionals and the general consumer base. Whether it’s to link to their blog, or to respond to or ask real estate related questions, it will create a sense of goodwill among professionals and for the general consumer base it will make sure your name is top of mind because you have interacted directly with them.

When posting on any social media site it is also important to create a balance. Of course as a real estate professional it is important that you meet your bottom line and share your latest listings or advertise open houses over social media but, there should also be a minority of your tweets and posts that have a personal touch to them. This could be an anecdote from your day but it could also be something that straddles the personal/professional line such as a Twitpic of you and your clients at the house you’ve just sold them.

One common mistake on Twitter and Facebook for real estate agents and professionals is not thinking before you tweet. Think about what the point of your tweet is, are you trying to increase sales? Get people to an open house? Increase referrals? Get people checking your website or blog? Share a personal story? It is essential to be aware of what you are trying to get people to do with the post. As well, always work to optimize your social media presence by using techniques like employing common real estate jargon and phrases, tags, and links to blogs and other relevant online content to improve search engine rankings. This is more technical than simply sending out a tweet linking to your listing but it is a great online marketing technique that can increase your real estate brand’s visibility.

Finally, take advantage of social media! Whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or your blog use social media as a resource. Yes it is there for you get your message out and increase your professional presence but if you’re really get involved you will discover new sites to list your properties, other real estate professionals (home inspectors, mortgage brokers, movers, etc.) to connect and collaborate with and a better overall sense of what the real estate climate is beyond the basics. If you immerse yourself in potential and previous clients and fellow real estate agents and other professionals you will be sure to have a better understanding of the ever evolving world of real estate and what clients want, need, and lack. Being in tune with how local and national events affect your real estate market is essential to stay competitive in the market and being connected online with up to date real estate market trends and with social media.

Thanks Skye for this very informative post. Make sure to follow Streetseed on twitter @streetseed, like them on Facebook (I already did) and catch Skye on Streetseed's blog.

Did you find this helpful? Skye and I would love to hear your feedback.

Reasons To Buy Now

It's still a great time to buy despite the new mortgage rules and predictions about the real estate market via the media. I give you some food for thought as to why it's a good time to buy now in my guest post for the Streetseed blog, just click here.

What are your thoughts?