I saw this clause in an Agreement of Purchase and Sale recently. Apparently the buyer has some interesting concerns.
'The seller warrants, to the best of their knowledge and belief, that the said property does not contain any hidden defects and that there have been no deaths, suicides, illegal activities, or murders on this property at any time, and that there are no neighbourhood conditions that could affect the buyer’s use, enjoyment, or perceived value of the property."
Owners have rights and obligations regarding maintenance and repair of fences and care of trees that are on their side of the property line. The Forestry Act of Ontario and similar statutes across the country indicate that if a tree trunk is on the boundary line between two adjoining properties, then it is jointly owned by both owners, and both owners have an obligation to maintain the tree.
Under the Line Fences Act and similar legislation, owners are encouraged to work together to build fences between their properties. The general rule is that each owner is responsible for half the cost to erect a simple fence between their properties.
It's a rule, not a law.
It was maybe not the best summer job I ever had but it was easily the most entertaining. Each night at around 11:00 pm, I was dropped at Richmond and Yonge with a broom and a dust pan and was told to spend the night sweeping the street.
Seven and one half hours later, I would have breakfast at the Ford Drugs Store counter just south of Gerrard (see in the photo here).
In between? What a show! The street never slept. Lots of music and just hanging around. I never witnessed one act of violence. What I did witness was every imaginable character having a heck of a good time.
This idea is being suggested again for 2012 and I'm all for it. Even though the street is being transformed quickly, particularly with the removal of historic sites like A&A Music and Sam's, the people will still flock to this enormous mall if given the chance.
During our visits to the Tommy Hunter Show back in the early 1980's, we met and performed with many legends. Billy Meek and Al Simmonds
are two greats who come to mind. The stars who visited us on the Ol' Back Porch were mostly gracious and great fun to be with. Ray Stevens was the exception. He thought we were losers because we didn't know one of his loser songs.
Perhaps the only visitor who didn't get it was George Lindsey.
We recorded two and maybe three episodes with him one night. His job was to come out and be funny for 2 or three minutes and our job was to book end his jokes with a song. Instead, he came out and spent 2 or 3 minutes promoting George Lindsey. There was nary a chuckle in his monologue
As a result, his episodes never aired. I could never figure out if he was just dumb or was overcome with a dose of vanity.
Too bad really. I played brilliantly that night and 2 million loyal Tommy Hunter fans did not get to hear me.
Oh, I forgot to mention. George (Goober) Lindsey died May 6th. He was 83.
Australian palliative care nurse (and avid blogger) Bronnie Ware recently published a new book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
The idea of dying with regrets is repugnant to begin with. However, it's not too late for me and my readers to learn and enjoy these words of wisdom.
“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”
“I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”
“I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
“I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
Saturday, I read this from an 81 year old actor we all know and love, Gordon Pinsent. He was talking about the feeling he gets when he returns to Toronto after being away for awhile. It says a lot about the energy in this great city and the drive he has to be great.
"I feel as though it's imperative that I go to work immediately. It's so tough in this country to get things going, you just have to keep at it at all times. I foolishly think that I can't miss a day, you know? I've got to keep going."
At 81, I hope I feel the need to "keep going". Go get 'em Gord.
This is a subject I think I'm qualified to discuss - the goings-on in a hockey dressing room.
I've been playing this game for the better part of 57 years. I've seen a lot of players in action, both on the ice and in the dressing room. While I hate to stereotype generally, I have no qualms about categorizing hockey players.
There is a lot of hostility between players. It's the nature of the game. Most of it simply stems from accidental encounters that occur in a fast paced game on a small sheet of ice. In spite of that, there is mostly a respect and a camaraderie that prevails. We all kind of know "stuff happens" and we happily accept it. No, I'll take it a step further and say we "like" it. It's part of the charm of the game.
However, there are certain male types who stand out from this crowd and don't really belong to the family. They can best be described as follows:
1. Unlike players who learned to play hockey in the rest of Canada, particularly in Quebec and Northern Ontario, West of the Rockies is not exactly a hot bed of quality hockey players. Mostly, they might be able to score the odd goal but when it comes to the grind of a hockey game, they remain on the periphery and seldom are they seen in the corners or in front of the net. As a result, when they do get a bump or get involved with some on ice fracas, they usually begin by whining a great deal and then opt to "sleep in" rather than drive to the rink to risk a hockey encounter.
2. These are the pretty boys of hockey. They have nice hair and no scars. They dress well, everything matches. They wear helmets because they have to. There's never any threat that they will hurt themselves because they're never seen in front of the net fighting for the puck. Nor are they seen in the corners with the grinders so there's virtually no risk to their body or face.
3. These are precious men who only like to score goals. They never seek the puck or fight for it. Rather, they float around the middle part of the rink and let the real players fight for possession. Then, much like lazy seagulls, they wait for the scraps to appear so they can scoop up the bounty and enjoy the benefits by skating in alone on the hapless goalies only to score the occasional goal. The sad part of this stereotype is their false bravado at actually having achieved something worthwhile. Yes they scored a goal but they didn't actually earn it. Sort of like Jeb Bush, the son of a president and a senator and the brother of a president bragging to the world that he is a self made man.
4. Some fellows see themselves as tough guys.. they holler obscenities and bash around smaller and older players than them and then they puff of their hairless chests and pretend they're big men. Sad is the only description for these alleged hockey players.
Karen and I have been searching for a "partner" to join us in our business. We've been looking, unsuccessfully, for well over a year. It's been a most edifying few months.
I learned the value of a "partner" shortly after Karen joined my solo operation 3 years ago. My business has grown enormously since we became a real estate twosome, not simply in terms of volume of sales, but more importantly in terms of quality of service and job satisfaction. Together we're much more knowledgeable, efficient and our customer satisfaction has soared. The most valuable strategic byproduct of this union is that our quality of life has improved. We have more fun, more time and each of us spends more time doing what we like to do.
Before the search began, we knew that there were job responsibilities in our operation that neither of us particularly enjoyed. So, we thought, why not find a licensed Realtor who has an aptitude for these duties and bring them in to the operation? The result would be that we'll do more of what we like to do and the new partner will work at what they like to do. The end result? A more efficient and happier operation. The three of us would be better agents. We'd learn from them and they'd learn from us. Real estate nirvana?
We've interviewed and considered numerous licensed Realtors this past year but have not found the right person. We yearn for someone who shares our values... honest, ethical, painfully reliable, tireless work ethic and all that. It's not easy to find agents (people) like this. However, the biggest obstacle we've discovered will be finding someone who shares our vision.
Our industry is full of successful Realtors who can make a good living selling houses. That's their focus. They sell a house on Monday and they begin focusing on selling another the next day or the next day or whatever. It's the linear approach to real estate (and life for that matter).
This is not, nor has it ever been my focus.
When I began my career as a Realtor 25 years ago, my idea was to use the basic model I used in developing the Whiskey Jack brand. Whiskey Jack was, and is, successful because they work tirelessly to provide a quality product, they're more reliable than most of their competitors and they continue to develop strong personal relationships with everyone they meet, both onstage and off. That's the foundation of this company.
That has also my real estate model since I began in July, 1987.
The fact is, we don't sell houses. Our clients sell houses. We sell our experience, our expertise and our time. The focus is not on the next sale. That will happen organically if our business foundation is solid.
So, when searching for a partner, we've learned that this is what we have to identify in the potential candidate before we move onto step two. If they don't share this vision, the union won't work.
Karen and I met briefly with The Pas native Susan Melnick yesterday. Her birthplace has nothing to do with this story but it's not every day you meet a The Pas native. If you're wondering, The Pas is a company town in northern Manitoba. It's one of those towns where the company whistle sounds a couple of times a day to indicate a change in shifts.
Susan's title is Manager, Resource Development. She's playing a major role in Woodgreen's annual Golf Tournament. This is the primary fund raiser for the organization so it is very important indeed. A lot of families are relying on the work she is doing over the next few weeks.
Karen and I are on the advisory committee, helping make decisions on how to make this a memorable event for all. It's a small role but it's fun and we enjoy working with Susan. She helped us immensely with our Toy Drive last December (see photo).
The Primary sponsor is our own company, RE/MAX Hallmark. The owners, Deb and Ken always pony up when they're needed and this is a big contribution on their part.
Our meeting was to discuss how to add to the auction items. This usually brings in many thousands of dollars so it's important that we find items and services and pretty much anything of value to offer up for the auction.
Might you have any thing to offer? Do you know someone?
Of all of the rock legends I grew up enjoying, Carlos has always been a step above the rest, not just in terms of his musicality but more importantly, his life. He was at Woodstock and he did look wasted like everyone else but this has not his public persona. Or as he said recently in an interview with Guy Dixon in the Globe and Mail, he is not a "tired camel", like many of his peers from that era. Ouch.
He continues, "I feel like a 13 year old. Everything is very effervescent for me. Whether it's spirituality or sex or music, I want it to be really full on."
It shows.
He goes on to say, "I feel like I'm thirsty to play. I just grab the guitar and remember what it felt like the first time I played it. And I play it until my fingers are black from the steel."
This is a definition of greatness, be it in business, in life or in music.
Yes, I'm a Realtor. However, as I've written about often here, that means I wear many hats.
One of the more undervalued and under promoted skills I offer and use every day is that of consultant (or as I've read recently, a disambiguator). The Oxford dictionary definition of a consultant is "a person who provides expert advice professionally".
Do I get paid for this? Not directly. Do I have to provide this service to be a Realtor? I think I do although many other Realtors may not. In fact, many may not be able to because of their limited knowledge and experience. I love this part of the job. It's Problem Solving 101 and I'm good at it.
Example:
Young man calls me and wants to meet to discuss buying a house with the help of his out of town parents. Next time his parents are in the city, we all meet at my office. They've never done anything like this before so there is lots to discuss.
I introduce them to a mortgage broker I know and trust so they can learn what their options are regarding principal of mortgage, the cash that mom and dad will be providing (are there restrictions because it's a gift?), monthly payments, carrying costs of the house and so on.
I introduce them to a real estate lawyer to discuss how to structure the ownership. Dad originally thought all three would be on title but when he learns that this property could become the principal residence of his son who in turn could use the capital gain as a tax free benefit, he admits it's wise to rethink this. This leads us to the idea of buying it as Tenants-in-Common i.e. each of them are on title but for a predetermined percentage. For example, mom and dad could each own 5% and their son could benefit from the capital gain on his 90%.
I'm then told the parents might retire to the city in a few years and take over the house form their son when he's ready to move up into a large and hopefully matrimonial home. This leads to a lengthy discussion about where they might actually like to live in relation to where their son would likely want to live. This part of the equation is very uncertain so this leads us to the idea of the house as a post retirement investment with rental potential. "Mmmm..." they say. "We hadn't thought of that".
We ended our meeting with the dad telling me has a lot to think about and discuss with his financial advisor. Next time we meet, we'll be much closer to proceeding with a purchase.
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