Approx. 2500 Sq. feet of exquisite living space on 4 finished levels. Open-Concept Living room/Dining room has a huge picture window overlooking the spectacular garden oasis and city skyline…Its like owning your own park! Gorgeous custom Kitchen with stainless steel Appliances.

Wonderful above-grade family room with walk-out to south deck and garden. Enormous 3rd floor master suite. 4-Level floating staircase with huge skylights. Tremendous closet and storage space.

iceFEST is held in Yorkville on Saturday, February 25th and 26th, and features amazing ice sculptures along with some great treats for the kids including the “Winter Wilderness Exhibit,” celebrating Canada’s wild parklands. Also enjoy some great food from the fabulous restaurants in the area like Carens Wine and Cheese Bar, Crepes a GOGO and Sassafraz. To top it off, there will be some ice skating performances by “Glisse on Ice.”

Don’t forget to vote on your favourite ice sculpture for a chance to win some amazing prizes!

For more details visit: www.bloor-yorkville.com/icefest/default.html

The Toronto Interior Design show is back, running from Thursday, January 26th to Sunday, January 29th. IDS12 is one of the most anticipated Toronto shows (if you like design), and this year promises more of the same, including world renowned speakers like Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni. If you’re unfamiliar with him, you can see some of his amazing work here:

http://www.lissoniassociati.com/Site.aspx?lang=EN

As usual, there will be many exhibitors to excite your creativity and help you with any spring renovations you may be considering.

For a full list of speakers and exhibitors, or to buy tickets, visit:

http://www.interiordesignshow.com/

As forecast, 2011 proved to be the second best year on record, behind only the 93,193 residential properties reported sold in 2007. The 4,718 sales for December brought the total sales for the year to 89,347 properties sold. The next best year for reported sales was 2009, with 87,308 properties sold. By all accounts 2011 was an exceptionally strong year.

Forecasts for 2012 are mainly positive. The Toronto Real Estate Board and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s view is that because of broader economic conditions prices will increase moderately accompanied by slightly lower sales. Sales should see about 85,000 properties sold, and prices will increase over the year by a modest 4 percent. In 2011 prices increased (annualized) by 8 percent, from $431,276 2010 to $465,412 this year. Toronto has managed to avoid the housing market pit falls that have plagued many other jurisdictions, particularly the United States. Markets in the States have been in decline since 2005. If the forecast for 2012 proves accurate, and there is every reason to believe they will, we will enjoy a strong market, punctuated by moderate price increases, which in conjunction with low mortgage interest rates will ensure continued affordability.

To read the full update, please visit:
http://www.thechestnutparkblog.com/2012/01/toronto-market-update-december-2011/

This is a featured-packed luxury building with 24 hour concierge & on-site superintendent. The building also includes guest parking, a fully-equipped gym, sauna, party room, and bike storage.

One way would be the Migrating Landscapes competition, which arrives in Toronto next month. This is a fantastic architectural and design competition. Entrants from across the country will compete to make it onto our architectural Team Canada, who will then compete in the finals at the world-renowned Venice Architecture Biennale . This is considered the Olympics of Architecture, so it will definitely be the best of the best!

The competition challenges architects and designers to build models of residential buildings to reflect their personal stories of diversity and immigration. These models will be on display at Brookfield Place from February 6th – 24th, and the winners will be announced on February 22nd. Bonus: Entry to the exhibit is free! This is an incredible opportunity to see some amazing architectural designs and the incredible abilities of our young population to bring Canada’s diversity into their work. Who knows? These could be the future buildings we live in!

For more information, visit http://migratinglandscapes.ca/

With thanks to Jeffrey Cowan:

Q: We are purchasing our first home from a vendor and on the morning of closing, our real estate agent is informed by the seller that when they removed items packed into the back of a bedroom closet, there was some mould on the back wall, which was not apparent when we did our home inspection. I am nine months pregnant and worried about the health issues of mould. What would you suggest we do?

A: This could potentially be a very serious problem for you as an expectant mother as well as for the property as a whole.

The house and any problems that may develop are at the risk of the vendor up until the new deed is registered and you pay them the monies for the property.

The vendor has now exposed a potential problem and it needs to be addressed immediately.

Hopefully, you still have a visit left so you can obtain access to the property prior to the closing to see how far spread this problem is.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to determine if the mould has spread throughout the structure without the house being inspected by a professional mould inspector.

Your lawyer needs to draft a covenant for signature by the vendor clearly addressing this issue and having the vendor take responsibility for investigating the problem and any costs involved in remedying the mould issue. You may want to consider requesting a holdback from the proceeds because mould problems can be quite costly.

Fingers crossed that the problem isn’t widespread. In the meantime, I would avoid any contact by yourself in the exposed area because mould and babies are not a good combination.

Don’t let this happen to you! Here are some handy tips when checking out a potential new home:

• If you see boxes or items stored away, be sure to check behind them. Move them if necessary!
• Understand what mold looks like. The first sign of mold is discolouration and can come in many colours: black, white, orange, red, blue, yellow or violet. A great test is to drop a small amount of bleach onto the suspected area (make sure the current owner approves!). If the stain disappears or loses colour, it’s likely mold. If it doesn’t change, its safe.
• Smells. If the place has a musty or earthy smell, this could be a sign of mold.
• Moisture. Mold lives for moisture! Ensure that the place is dry, not damp.
]]> http://www.susanbandler.com/blog/mold/feed 1 http://www.susanbandler.com/blog/waterfront http://www.susanbandler.com/blog/waterfront#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:15:29 +0000 Susan Bandler http://www.susanbandler.com/?p=2580 On December 12th, Waterfront Toronto will be holding a public meeting at the Toronto reference library to present a new plan to city council. Here’s a few things that will be on the agenda:

Price tag for flooding. Flood proofing will be a major requirement when they go forward with the development of the waterfront. The mouth of the Don river would be shifted and three new channels added. The cost of this? About $634 million. Finding a way to fund it is a big challenge, and will likely be hotly debated on the 12th.

How fast can they do the redevelopment? A big issue is getting the Port Lands revitalized quicker, however how fast that will be is up for discussion. Original timelines showed the construction starting in about ten years, and completed in twenty-five to thirty years.

What are they doing? Currently Waterfront Toronto is open to all new ideas. Will they go with large scale retail, or an entertainment mecca?

Where will the proceeds go? The idea was to have the proceeds of the water redevelopment go into further developing the area, however many residents fear that the money could end up going to other projects.

Ferris Wheel? Councillor Doug Ford has been proposing a large ferris wheel, which the public has been less than enthused about. Even if this idea gets buried, we may still get a ferris wheel with Ontario place and their interest in revitalizing their floundering tourist attraction.

Either way, we can expect a lot of work around the waterfront over the next twenty (or so) years!

]]> http://www.susanbandler.com/blog/waterfront/feed 0