As with just about anything in life, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things. When it comes to remodelling your home, you need to consider a number of factors, which are often complex and challenging, before deciding if a home renovation is of value.

It’s a good idea to start off by thinking about how long you plan to live in the house. Do you intend to raise your children there? Or is this home simply a stepping stone to something bigger and better? Perhaps you want to downsize now that the kids are gone or maybe your house is outdated and a little tired and in desperate need of some TLC?

Next consider your budget. Are you willing to spend $5,000 or $50,000 on that main-floor bathroom reno?

Now you need to devise a plan that honours your purpose and your budget. If you’ve always dreamed of cooking meals in a deluxe, restaurant-style kitchen and you have the funds to support this costly renovation and you think it’s well worth the expense, go for it. But be aware that changes you make today may not net you great gains five or ten years from now when you go to sell your house.  If, however, you’re updating your kitchen with the hope of selling quickly, nix the gourmet kitchen and go for something more modest and economical.

There is plenty of online information about how to determine the dollar value of a renovation. But there is no easy formula. Most of us know that in-ground swimming pools, wall-to-wall carpeting and sunroom additions aren’t the best remodeling projects, investment-wise. Getting the most bang for your home-improvement buck can be influenced by many factors, including your local real estate market and the style of home in which you live.

Knowing your neighbourhood before setting out to refurbish your home is critical. This will help you in your decision making and prevent you from making an alteration that may cause your house to stand out like a sore thumb. Also, understanding your neighbourhood will stop you from installing a $75,000 home theatre in a house that’s worth $400,000.

The Appraisal Institute of Canada (AIC) warns homeowners about spending too much for a home renovation:  “If the value of your house exceeds the average market value in your neighbourhood, your renovations will not yield much return. But if your house value is below the average, you can recover a larger part of the renovation costs.”

The AIC recommends choosing renovations that have a long life expectancy such as roofing and new windows, updating your kitchen and bathroom, cheaper upgrades such as paint and landscaping, and energy-efficient improvements.

It’s something of a real-estate mantra that reasonable kitchen and bathroom improvement projects tend to offer the highest rate of return on your investment. But remember not to overdo the remodel. Refurbishing your home to accommodate a separate apartment is also a good idea that will likely increase the value of your house in addition to your earnings thanks to the rental income.

In the end, you need to evaluate your finances and your current and future housing needs. And know that the only sure thing when renovating is having a home improvement project that will be anything but easy, cheap or fast.

It’s easy to understand why Torontonians want to crank up their heat and stay indoors during January and February. But don’t let cool temperatures and a little snow accumulation prevent you from exploring the city.

Despite the chill, there are plenty of fun and fascinating events taking place. Here’s our look at some of the more unique ones:

New Height for Rooftop Skating Rink

There is something decidedly exciting about skating outdoors but when you’re gliding amidst other towering rooftops there’s an added kick. Check out Molson Canadian’s 100-by-45-foot ice pad set 32 stories high atop the financial district at 120 Adelaide St. W. You can purchase ice time between January 29 and February 7.

The Hills are Alive with Toboggans

Toronto has a surprising number of great spots, from baby hills for real beginners to steep cliffs that only old seasoned sledders can navigate. Cedarvale Park, Winston Churchill Park, Christie Pits and Bickford Parks all offer good variety in terms of different size hills.

Winterlicious

One of the city’s favourite foodie festivals gets underway January 29 and runs to February 11. Winterlicious offers delicious cuisine and unique culinary events at more than 200 restaurants. For more details, see website for details .

Want Fries With That?

La Poutine Week is the crème de la crème of fried foodie festivals that begins Feb 1 and goes to Feb. 7. For $10, you get to try a poutine dish from participating restaurants and then vote on the best Poutine Week location.

Spot of Tea

If your tastes fun a bit more refined, perhaps you’d enjoy exploring the world of tea at the Toronto Tea Festival. The two-day event at the Toronto Reference Library takes place January 30 and 31. A one-day pass is $15; two-day pass is $25. For more info, click here.

Try the Castle on for Size

Casa Loma offer two popular escape games for the adventurous at heart. Blending fact with fiction and gaming with theatre, the escape games offered here – Escape from the Tower and King of the Bootleggers – require advanced bookings. If gaming isn’t for you, consider the January 23 Robbie Burns celebration which includes a four-course Johnnie Walker scotch pairing dinner. See website for more.

It`s hot. It`s cold. It`s slumping. It`s smoking.

Each of those descriptors has described the Toronto real estate market at one time or another. And while it`s important to pay the market its due, know also that if you`re thinking of selling your home now is probably one of the best times to do so.

If you are thinking of waiting for warmer temperatures when the blooms on the daffodils and forsythia cast a gorgeous golden glow on your home and invite prospective purchasers far and wide, think again. Springtime is when the bulk of homeowners will also decide it`s best to sell their homes. Yes, your blossoms will look pretty, but your house will have much more in the way of competition if you wait for spring.

While January may not seem like the ideal month to show your home, there is much less inventory on the market right now so your real estate is apt to stand out more. Besides if buyers are house hunting in January, they are likely very serious and motivated purchasers and not your run-of-the-mill tire-kicker types. Would you trudge through cold temperatures, ice and snow just to check out someone`s mudroom reno? Didn`t think so.

Bear in mind, too, that if you list your home in January, it will be viewed as a debutante, of sorts. Much of your house`s competition will be older listings that came on the market in November and December so with your house being the new kid on the block, that`s sure to drive and generate even greater interest.

Because there`s less inventory in January and February, bidding wars can be ferocious. And naturally, as the seller, that`s good news for you.

Since the business of real estate is a big part of our DNA at Freeman Real Estate we are always looking at new ways to showcase our products and services.

And what better way to do so than with videos that capture the essence of a neighbourhood and bring life to buildings, houses, condos and commercial spaces. That’s precisely what you’ll find at www.annexrealestate.com, Freeman’s latest website featuring the videos of ten key neighbourhoods thanks to a high-flying drone camera. The videos, which are set to music, feature both wide aerial shots of neighbourhoods and close-up views of houses, businesses, parks, public spaces, institutions, people and streetscapes.

“The vantage point you get is just spectacular,” says Elden Freeman, president of Freeman Real Estate. “The videos really do tell a story of each neighbourhood. I think people who aren’t particularly familiar with certain areas will definitely want to view these short films. They give you a better feel for an area and might help you decide if you would want to live or do business there. And if you are familiar with these neighbourhoods, I suggest viewing them as a reminder of how amazing, vibrant and beautiful our city really is.”

While nothing surpasses visiting a neighbourhood in person, the aerial views in each of the two-minute videos can’t be beat. Neighbourhoods featured include the Annex, Hillcrest, Casa Loma, Wychwood Park, Humewood-Cedarvale, Oakwood-Vaughan, South Annex, Little Italy, Seaton Village and Christie Village.

The website also includes plenty of information that will help you make an informed decision about your next real estate venture. Each neighbourhood’s average list price and sale price are posted in addition to the number of homes for sale and the number of homes that sold during the previous month. You can also search listings based on price and the number of bedrooms and/or bathrooms you require.

Happy watching.

Freeman Real Estate is once again inviting the community it serves to join its realtors, managers and owners for a free skate this weekend at the Bill Bolton Arena on 40 Rossmore Road in Toronto.

The free skate takes place on Saturday from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Refreshments will also be served.

A fixture within the business community of Seaton Village and Toronto’s independent real estate brokerage firms, Freeman has a long-standing tradition of community outreach and giving thanks to the clients and customers it has proudly served since 1972.

“The span of time we’ve spent on Bathurst Street has been good to the Freeman family,” says Elden Freeman, president of Freeman Real Estate. “And I think that goodness funnels back to the customers we’ve acquired in real estate. This is one small way we can show our gratitude and wish all of our clients and customers a Merry Christmas.”

The Freemans enjoy staging local community events year round and have organized historic tours of noteworthy neighbourhoods and sponsored dance performances as well as educational seminars that are open to the public.

Bear in mind that skating is great exercise because it’s easy on your joints and terrific for improving balance, coordination and muscle strength. You can also burn calories on ice skates. Be sure to dress in warm, light layers so you can adjust your clothing depending on how hot or cold you feel. You may want to consider a helmet as well.

Since space is limited at the free skate, you’re best to RSVP your intention to participate at frontdesk@freemanrealty.com or call at 416-535-3103.

See you on the ice!

Colour, shape, style and effort combined this past summer to create a painted street mural project thanks to the will, talent and hard work of those associated with the Regal Heights Residents Association.

Community activist Dave Meslin got the ball rolling a year ago when he proposed a neighbourhood street mural, which received immediate and unanimous support from the residents association. Using street chalk, Meslin coordinated the street project, which would pave the way this summer for something a little more permanent and a lot more ambitious.

Using paint, Meslin coordinated the design, sketch and painting of a street mural for Springmount Ave. just south of Rosemount. Meslin recruited local artist Melissa Frew and asked her to design a sketch. He suggested a water theme since the street painting was being placed directly over the buried Garrison Creek.

“The hardest part of making a street mural,” says Meslin, “is keeping the cars off the road while the paint dries, so when I heard about the Regal Heights Street Party it occurred to me that a pre-planned road closure would be the perfect opportunity to create our ground-level masterpiece.”

Meslin thought the mural team need a technical expert so he asked renowned street artist Victor Fraser to come on board and he accepted. From Melissa Frew’s sketch, the outlines for the mural were drawn and then on June 6, the day of the neighbourhood’s semi-annual street party, 20 area kids were asked to help paint inside the lines.

“The murals bring communities together in a collaborative creative process, building community and strengthening relationships,” says Meslin.  “As a bonus, the final product also serves as a traffic-calming measure as cars tend to slow down as they approach the painting.”

A push is now on at city hall to legalize the murals thanks to a permit process as other cities in Canada and the U.S. have done.

If you want to see more street murals in Toronto, Meslin suggests the following:

1. Contact your city councillor and ask why Toronto doesn’t have an official permit process.
2. Share this blog.
3. Don’t wait for the city to play catch-up with the rest of the world.  Organize a community mural in your neighbourhood this summer.

Little Italy, that area that is sometimes referred to as College Street West, earned its name after the many Italian immigrants who called the neighbourhood home and in spite of the wave of other immigrant populations who also took up residence there over the years.

Today, Toronto’s first Little Italy boasts night clubs and cafes, unique retail shops and small businesses. Thanks to its proximity to downtown, the neighbourhood is popular with young people also because of its vibrant nightlife and amenities.

Little Italy comprises mostly detached or semi-detached single family homes dating back to the early-1900s Edwardian period, with front porches and smaller lots.

A plaza at Grace and College features a statue of much-loved Italian son Johnny Lombardi, who established the country’s first Italian radio station there in 1966. CHIN was Canada’s first multicultural radio station and it launched from studios on the south side of College between Grace and Clinton, on the second floor of Lombardi’s supermarket at 637 College Street. The studio is now located at 622 College Street, and the section of the street has been officially nicknamed Johnny Lombardi Way by the City of Toronto.

Other neighboruhood markers include the Italian Walk of Fame on the sidewalk along College in front of the Royal Cinema. This permanent marker acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful persons of Italian heritage with inductees such as Dean Martin, Phil Esposito, Bobby Curtola and Julian Fantino.

Though more Portuguese now live in Little Italy than Italians, many of whom moved northwest of the city and to areas such as Vaughan and Mississauga, the neighbourhood has long been home to a wide assortment of cultures such as African Americans, eastern European Jews, South Americans and Asians.

The first Italians, though, began trickling into the area in the mid 1850s. Toward the end of that century, many of the Italian newcomers hailed from northern Italy or Genoa and they were often craftspersons, pedlars and service tradespersons.

But prior to the influx of Italians, the area housed a good number of black families thanks to Thornton Blackburn, a fugitive black American slave who made his way to Canada in the 1830s and bought up properties that he rented out to recently arrived black slaves.  The area became known as The Ward, which was an informal colloquialism for St. John’s Ward.

The Ward would see successive waves of refugees, immigrants and persons avoiding persecution in their homelands seeking shelter within the confines of this densely populated slum. It was home to refugees who escaped the European Revolution of 1848, the Irish Potato Famine, the Underground Railroad, as well as refugees from Russia and Eastern Europe.

The Ward became the centre of the city’s significant Jewish community.  By the 1920s, as the Jews became more settled and established, they moved west to Spadina and the Kensington Market area.

While many Italians have moved out of the neighbourhood, it still maintains a distinctly Italian sense thanks to its lively trattorias, outdoor cafes and neighbourhood pizzerias. Gelato anyone?

It is the colour of a neighbourhood that gives it its sense of purpose and its ethos. Colour is a feature that lends an interesting quality to something. In neighbourhoods, it can come from its people, institutions, commerce, architecture, nature and so much more.

Does it not strike you a tad ironic that the Cedarvale neighbourhood — once home to literary heavyweight Ernest Hemingway – does not possess one single public library? Certainly, Ernie would have seen it that way. But back in the 1920s, before he gained fame as a great American novelist, he was simply a newspaperman for the Toronto Daily Star. During his time here, Hemingway lived in an apartment in Cedarvale in what was then called the Cedarvale Mansions. Located at 1597-1599 Bathurst Street, the building is known today as The Hemingway and it is now a condominium.

Book worms need not fear, though. Cedarvale residents can access libraries nearby at the Oakwood Village, the Maria A. Shchuka, the Wychwood, the St. Clair-Dufferin or the Forest Hill public libraries.

The neighbourhood’s defining feature is the Cedarvale Ravine, which cuts a wide diagonal swath through the middle of Cedarvale. The 35-acre Cedarvale Park is nestled within the ravine and offers numerous recreational opportunities. Hemingway, by the way, is said to have frequented the park’s path, which back then was used as a cattle path.

A creek once ran through the park but now is completely buried. The ravine in this tony neighbourhood was slated for the development of mansions in the 1920s and ‘30s, but the Great Depression dashed that plan. Interestingly a few decades later, in the ‘60s and ‘70s, there was support for the Spadina Expressway, a highway that would be built right through the park. But strong opposition, led by former Cedarvale resident Jane Jacobs, halted the project.

The neighbourhood is known for some of its very good schools, the Reform Jewish day school, Leo Baeck,  St. Michael’s College School, a private, all-boys’ school and Forest Hill Collegiate, whose elite reputation among Toronto high schools has led parents to get caught cheating in an effort to get their children enrolled.

Cedarvale has a vibrant Jewish population, with Jews comprising two-thirds of the neighbourhood, and is home to the Holy Blossom Temple, founded in 1856, which is the oldest synagogue in Canada. There is also Holy Blossom Temple, Beth Tzedec Synagogue, The Village Shul and Beth Sholom Congregation.

While we can’t be 100 per cent certain, it’s said Cedarvale is home to some of the country’s notables such as Loblaw grocery king Galen Weston, singer Nelly Furtado and musician Drake.

An active community that cherishes the environment, Cedarvale residents established the innovative Families in Nature program which focuses on a grassy wetland habitat found in the centre of Cedarvale Park. Aided by over 300 volunteers, the program has helped plant trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and grasses and provided education for young and old.

Thinking about ways to while away the last few days of summer? Try attending some of the varied, fun and interesting outdoor festivals the city has in store over the next week or two:

Food truck Festival – Sept. 27

Bring your appetite to Downsview Park for this event featuring 16 delicious gourmet food trucks. Included in the line-up is Busters Sea Cove, ME.N.U Food Truck, Fit to Grill and Indian fusion nosh from Tdots Naansense.

Cider Festival – Sept. 26

Looking for an interesting and new way to cap off your summer? Look no further than the Toronto Cider Festival at the Yonge-Dundas Square. The event showcases craft ciders from across the country as well as Toronto food trucks, live music, cocktail competitions, games and contests.

Word on the Street – Sept. 27

This national celebration of literacy and the written word invites you to participate in author events, presentations, workshops, and to browse a marketplace that boasts one of the best selections of Canadian books and magazines. This free festival at Harbourfront Centre has something for all ages, from children and youth to adults and seniors.

 Woofstock – Sept. 26 & 27

At Woodbine Park, this admission-free event is the largest outdoor festival for dogs and their faithful owners in all of North America. With over 200,000 attendees and 150,000 canines, expect the unexpected in addition to a slew of doggy-related vendors and activities such as stupid dog tricks, canine beauty pageants and dog races.

Canada’s Walk of Fame Festival – Sept. 25 to Oct. 1

Showcasing 100 per cent Canadian talent, this festival features free performances at Yonge-Dundas Square, the Massey Hall concert series and new musical talent at the Horseshoe Tavern. Canadians in all fields are inducted into the hall of fame thanks to this non-profit organization that seeks to pay tribute and recognize Canadian achievement.

Gentleman’s Expo – Sept. 25 to 27

This celebration of manhood at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre covers every gentlemanly pursuit from fashion, cars and alcohol to sex, entrepreneurship and gaming with more than 100,000 square feet of brands and experiences.

Small World on Common Ground – Sept. 26 & 27

A free festival featuring music and arts on the grounds of historic Fort York. Enjoy this family friendly cultural feast that also includes spoken-word artists, pow wow fit sessions, crafts and food.

Like Fred and Ethel Mertz, those madcap but lovable landlords of I Love Lucy fame, you may have dreamt of managing a property with tenants or maybe just renting out the upper or lower floor of your house or perhaps buying a condo and having someone else pay off the mortgage.

So what’s holding you back? Are you afraid you’ll get the tenant from hell? Or maybe you fear you’ll be too soft on tenants who can’t pay their rent on time. Maybe you just don’t like people well enough to want to surround yourself with virtual strangers. With interest rates as low as they are, with Toronto’s red-hot real estate market and given the numbers moving to the city each year, now might be the time to consider diving in.

We designed a very unscientific test to see if you’re cut out to manage a rental property. Give it a try:

1. Handyman is a word that: _________

A) Gets your heart pumping with happy thoughts of many visits to Home Depot.

B) Is properly used for your skills as a grass cutter, eaves-trough cleaner and window washer.

C) Gets overused. I like repairman, as in phone one.

2. You and your partner’s financial goals are: _________

A) Completely simpatico.

B) On the same page 40 per cent of the time.

C) News to me. I had no idea my partner had financial goals.

3. Your idea of a rainy-day fund is: _________

A) Two per cent of the purchase price for maintenance and repairs plus more in reserves for unforeseen occurrences such as tenants failing to pay their rent.

B) Putting aside a few bucks for upkeep when it’s convenient for me.

C) Money you spend to lift your spirits during a downpour.

4. You see tenants as: _________

A) Valued and respected members of society just like me.

B) Good people for the most part.

C) Cash cows.

5. As a landlord, being hassled by tenants would mean: _________

A) Continually having to chase down those who didn’t pay their rent on time or having abusive renters who destroyed my property.

B) Sending out rent receipts on a regular basis.

C) Having to speak to them.

6. In conflict situations, you: _________

A) Always remain cool, calm and collected, handling each quarrel decisively with firm resolve and fairness.

B) Hesitate and change my mind several times when dealing with big issues.

C) Yell

Results:

If most of your answers were a’s, congratulations, you’ve got what it takes, you, landlord, you. Property management is right up your alley.

If you mostly answered b’s, you have some positive landlord qualities, but you might want to take a course to brush up on the rest. Workshops and courses are available. Check online in your area. You also might want to consider joining the Ontario Landlords Association, which offers discounts on credit checks plus other benefits.

If you scored mainly c’s, well, maybe you should leave your money in the bank.