Are you at that point in your life where you think what more do I really need? Where it’s more about the giving than the receiving? Likely the same could be said for many of us.

During this season of giving, it’s a little awkward to show up empty handed. Besides, people enjoy showing their loved ones that they’re thought of and cared for in the form of physical gift. With that in mind and so you don’t come off as a Grinch this holiday season, why not consider some of the following suggestions for green gift giving:

Consumables 

These make a fabulous gift for the pragmatist on your list. Does he like movies or the ballet? Get him tickets for a show. Is she into fair-trade organic coffee? How about a gift certificate to her favourite gourmet java shop? The list can be quite endless with presents you consume: chocolate, a gift certificate for a pedicure, wine, a cooking class or a professional organizer for the unorganized person in your life.

Homemade Goodies 

No eye rolling allowed. Gifts made from own hands can be some of the most treasured. Are you an especially talented potter? Do you enjoy baking? How about knitting or jewelry making? A personal gift certificate entitling the bearer to breakfast in bed, a foot massage or a weekend bike ride is a highly individual gift. Your personal touch will earn high praise.

Recycled Gifts 

And no we don’t mean Aunt Sally’s doilies. Thankfully, the world is starting to catch on because the amount of recycled gifts you can acquire is quite amazing. Try Etsy or Uncommon Goods. That’s where you’ll find recycled wine glasses, wine bottles flattened into serving trays, clothes repurposed as bags, belts and wallets made out of fire hose and picture frames fashioned from tires.

Your Time 

When everyone is frantically trying to get 16 things done in a 30-minute window and never managing to clear their to-do list not even for a minute, you know time is of the essence. Why not offer some of yours? Your sister-in-law with the triplets might appreciate a break. Your uncle who is care giving for his ailing wife might, too.  Maybe even your teenager might appreciate a bit of downtime from school, jobs and social media. Let them know you’re there and willing to lend a helping hand.

Freeman Real Estate is reprising its community giving this holiday season with a charitable gift that is even bigger and better than last year’s.

The family-run boutique realtor is stepping up its contribution to the community this year on Sunday, December 17 with a GREAT TURKEY GIVE that will see some 9,000 pounds of turkey given to members of the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

This is the second annual turkey giveaway for the Bathurst Street realtor, which launched the GIVE in 2016 as a way of giving back to the community and keeping the tradition of Ed Mirvish alive.

Freeman is located at 988 Bathurst Street, just four blocks north of the former Honest Ed’s store, which gave away free turkeys during the holidays for many years. Freeman is a company with a reputation for supporting community causes, charities and interests.

“For over 40 years, starting with my father, the Freeman family has been practicing real estate at this very location on Bathurst Street,” says Elden Freeman, Broker of Record. “The community we serve means a lot to us. Giving away turkeys is our way of saying thank you, engaging with those we serve and hopefully inspiring others to spread generosity and goodwill during the holiday season.”

Freeman has partnered with Bathurst Street organizations Spirit of Math, 918 Bathurst and A Nerd’s World for the giveaway. Spirit of Math is a leader in after-school mathematics education. Located in the Annex, 918 Bathurst is a centre for culture, arts, media and education. A Nerd’s World is a one-stop shop for all your online marketing needs.

The turkeys are completely free of charge and for each turkey given Freeman plans to donate to St. Alban’s Boys & Girls Club, an organization that offers programming for children and youth.

On hand to help give away the turkeys will be Toronto city councilors Mike Layton, Joe Mihevc, Joe Cressy and a number of other political figures and local celebrities.

The GIVE begins at 9 a.m. at Freeman Real Estate located at 988 Bathurst Street.

When it comes to a city as great as Toronto it’s easy to have a little hubris. And with that, its inhabitants are sometimes accused of the short-sighted belief that the city is the centre of the universe.

And while on some level that may hold true, it doesn’t when it comes to house prices. In fact, a recent study by Century 21 Canada shows that seven out the country’s 10 most expensive neighbourhoods belong to our friends out west in and around Metro Vancouver.

Downtown Toronto made the number three spot on the list, while Oakville placed fifth and Richmond Hill, tenth. All the remaining seven spots belong to our friends in Vancouver.

The study measured price-per-square-foot (PPSF) for typical homes in cities and towns across Canada. Using information from Century 21’s independently owned and operated franchise offices, the study gathered information on house prices in the years 1997, 2006 and 2017.

Downtown Montreal ranked as the 12^th most expensive neighbourhood, while Victoria was 18^th, Saskatoon placed 31^st, and Ottawa was 41^st.

According to the study, Oakville leads the pack when it comes to escalating house prices, outstripping every other Canadian area. The price for a detached home in Oakville in 1997 was $105.77 PPSF. By this year, that number had ballooned to $627.33, a 493 per cent jump in 20 years. After Oakville, downtown Montreal is the community that claims the second fastest PPSF house growth with hikes in that city of 468 per cent over the same time period.

The data also showed that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were the only provinces to experience falling prices in the past decade. Windsor followed by Moncton and Halifax came in at the least expensive cities in which to buy.

A house in Vancouver’s west side is priced at $1210 PPSF. Downtown Vancouver has a PPSF of $962.75. Downtown Toronto comes in with $818.86 PPSF. West Vancouver is at $816.61 PPSF. And Oakville comes in at $627.33.

If you think Canada’s numbers are high, take a look at other countries. The average PPSF in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong is over $3500. This number is 3.5 times pricier than Beijing, which is deemed the second-most expensive city with a PPSF of just over $1000. Shanghai comes in third with $955.39.

Lowest price on the list?  Maricaibo-Zuila in Venezuela at an average PPSF of $10.17.

When making a significant purchase the decision to rent or to own can be an easy one. Own or rent your house? If you live in Canada, most people would say it’s better to own. How about a car? Again, many would say owning is the better option, unless, of course, you use your vehicle for work. You may want to lease it then.

In Ontario, most of us rent our water heaters, paying in the neighbourhood of $15 to $30 per month. According to Rob Engen of the Toronto Star, most Ontarians rent their water heaters, while most Albertans buy theirs. Why? It’s force of habit.

The top argument for buying your own water heater is that over time you end up paying less than if you rent yours indefinitely. Let’s say you spend $1600 to buy and install your own water heater. The average lifespan is about 15 years, so providing nothing goes wrong with the water heater, you are paying $8.88 per month to own that appliance.

According to Direct Energy, a water heater requires servicing every five years.  And parts and labour can escalate, costing several hundred dollars. But know what repairs and breakdowns to water heaters aren’t all that commonplace.

Even if your water heater leaks and creates damage to your home, rest assured that your house insurance policy will cover the repairs.

According to Hoerner Heating & Plumbing, the beauty of owning your own heater means you can make the switch to a tankless water heater, which thanks to its on-demand system, will save you money in energy costs. At $4000 to $45000, they are at least double the cost of conventional tanks, yet they are more efficient as they provide households with an infinite supply of hot water.

The other benefit is that a tankless heater has about double the lifespan of a conventional one. Finally, a tankless system means more space in your home as these heaters are tiny compared to the tank size of a standard hot water heater.

Companies that are in the business of renting water heaters naturally offer numerous arguments in their favour. They say the advantages range from a rental fee that is affordable, same-day service, no charge for parts and labour and peace of mind.

What you decide on will depend also on how long you plan to live in your home. If it’s only for a few years, renting your heater might be a better choice. If you intend to stay longer, you can finance the appliance so your payments are the same as a rental fee.  Either way, be sure to take the time to read rental plans and compare contracts. If you’re thinking of buying, talk to an experience plumber.

Sources: www.torontostar.com, www.hoerner.ca, www.yellowpages.ca

October is here and besides giving thanks and paying tribute to our ghoulish side, the month’s changing leaves and falling temperatures are a steady reminder that winter is on its way.

So let’s consider how to give our lawns and gardens a last bit of TLC before the snow flies.

Hydration

As living organisms, we all need it. It’s important to give all of your plants and especially your trees, a good watering this month. Their roots will need lots of moisture in the coming months so make use of those rain barrels and start collecting water. Fall is also the perfect time to aerate your soil, which allows oxygen, water and fertilizer to get at the roots of your grass.

Put Roses to Bed

These garden beauties not only deserve but need some extra care. Clear debris and leaves from the base of the plant as not doing so can help harbour disease and create problems for the plant next year. To avoid damage due to freezing, pile soil or mulch on the plant base. Do the same for other shrubs and perennials that might suffer from freezing temperatures.

Trim Grass Lower

A lower cutting height makes leaf-raking much easier, inhibits diseases and helps dry out the soil more quickly in springtime.

Fertilize 

Fall is the best time of year to do this. But you want to make sure the product you use has minimal impact on the environment. Switch to lawn fertilizers that are high in slow-release nitrogen and ones that contain no phosphorus. Both are designed to give lawns nutrients as needed which reduces run-off that harms waterways.

Cover Bald Spots

The easiest way to do this is with an all-in-one lawn repair mix sold at most home centres and garden spots. The ready-to-use mixture contains grass seed, fertilizer and organic mulch.

Feed the Birds

As food sources grow scarcer, don’t forget our feathered friends. Wild bird seed mixes, black or striped sunflower seed, peanuts and suet in balls or blocks are good choices. Also be sure to empty and clean your bird feeders and fill with fresh seed.

Divide & Conquer

Now is the time to dig up perennials that have grown too large for their space or to move plants that aren’t working where you originally placed them. While you’re at it, now is also the time to plant bulbs for colourful springtime displays.

Let the Air In

Don’t forget to winterize irrigation systems in an effort to prevent frozen pipe damage.

It’s about to get tougher to qualify for a mortgage thanks to new rules recently proposed by Canada’s federal banking regulator.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is taking aim at uninsured mortgages or those who have down payments of 20 per cent or more. The regulator wants to see stress tests for those borrowers similar to what is happening in the insured market.

That would mean buyers now need to qualify based on the highest posted five-year fixed rate, which is a rate of 4.64 per cent, about two per cent higher than the rate offered by most lenders.

Since buyers will have to qualify for a higher interest rate under this new proposal that means their purchasing power will diminish some estimate by as much as 20 per cent because they won’t be able to borrow as much as before.

But is extending tougher mortgage rules to all borrowers the right tact to take? Or is this another heavy-handed measure that will pop another air hole in the housing market and possibly flatten the wider economy?

This would definitely be a more controversial policy change than those made in the past, says Toronto mortgage broker David Larock. It impacts the borrowers with large down payments who don’t need mortgage default insurance, and that’s a large swath of the market. It’s starting to seem like our regulators are going to keep making changes until they put our real estate markets on their backs.

The new rule not only affects home buyers but also home owners looking to refinance.

About four out of five Canadian mortgages are conventional, uninsured loans with the big six banks holding 32 percentage points of that total. Credit unions have eight percentage points and six percentage points are held by small to medium-sized institutions, including mortgage investment corporations.

The proposal comes following a move by Ottawa last year to require that all insured mortgages undergo a stress test to establish if borrowers could make their payments in the event of such changes as a job loss or interest rate hike. The move is Ottawa’s response to the growing debt of Canadian households, the highest among G7 countries.

Expect the new rule to be in place by next spring at the latest.

Oprah and the other of our world insist that having gratitude in our hearts is the means to a happy and fulfilling life.

That sounds reasonable. After all, gratitude is an emotion that expresses thanks and appreciation for what you have. It focuses on your glass as half full, not half empty. At the same time, being grateful is a constant struggle for many because it is in direct conflict with our consumer-driven culture that perpetuates a never-fully satisfied desire for more.

Let’s look, for example, at where we live. How fortunate are we to live in a vibrant, culture-rich city that’s only volatility has been the real estate market. Believe it or not, as realtors, we’re happy to see the market returning to some sense of normalcy. The unpredictability of the spring market was never sustainable and it’s good for everyone now that cooler heads prevail.

So as we approach Thanksgiving, in the spirit of expressing gratitude, here’s a lighthearted look some of the people and things we want to publicly appreciate:

The Media: Buyers and sellers need to sit up and listen. The real estate market is no longer what it once was. You want scores of multiple offers and how much over your asking price did you say you wanted? Probably not going to happen. We’re glad the media continues to harp on the GTA’s cooling market but is anybody paying attention to the news?

FOMO: The Fear of Missing Out is a common and repeated folly of not just social-media addicted youth. FOMO also takes root in the real estate market. Just look at the frenzied April market in which more than 77 per cent of Toronto sales went for over asking. FOMO fuels real estate activity so we kind of love it. Sorry.

Foreign Buyers: We are most sympathetic to your plight given the Ontario government’s move to curb foreign ownership with a non-resident speculation tax.

Condos: What’s not to love? They’re attractively and affordably packaged homes minus a lot of the work, often with great amenities and views to boot. And the condo market is still experiencing somewhat of a boom with increased prices and sales. Your kingdom for a condo? You bet.

Pumpkins: Dotting streetscapes and front porches from St. John’s to Victoria, these big orange jack-o-lanterns add a pop of happy to neighbourhoods as fall foliage displays a variety of warm colours in preparation for winter. Best of all, is the gastronomic enthusiasm with which people use the gourds. From ravioli, cookies and salsa to potato chips, candy and bagels, if there’s a food that can be pumpkinized, someone has already thought of it.

Hope everyone had a well resting Thanksgiving!

Summertime can’t be beat for backyard barbecues, enjoying the cottage and tending to your lawn and garden. But that’s not to say that summer doesn’t come without its challenges and perhaps one of the most annoying are pesky pests.

To be fair, most lawn and garden insects are beneficial with some naturalists claiming that fewer than two per cent are considered harmful. In fact, many insects, including ladybugs, fireflies, praying mantis, spiders and wasps will actually keep harmful insects from devouring your lawn and will also help to pollinate your plants. But it’s that two per cent that can wreak havoc on your plants, flowers and grass, making your best gardening efforts a big waste of time and money.

With that in mind, let’s look at how to handle unwanted pests without hurting beneficial insects and the world in which we live.

If your lawn is victim to a small infestation of unwanted bugs, you can try picking them off by hand. If that sounds unbearable, you can try homemade garlic and pepper sprays. You can also try insecticidal soap on pests.

Traps are another good eco-friendly option. The kind that allow an insect to enter and not leave are best for wasps and other bugs. Place insect traps around the periphery of your property so that the pests are taken out of commission before they’ve chewed up your grass and plants.

Bacillus thuringiensis or more commonly named BT is a naturally occurring soil bacteria ideal for controlling cabbageworm, tent caterpillars, gypsy moth, tomato hornworm and other leaf eating caterpillars.

To control beetles and other insects with shells, try diatomaceous earth, a fine silica powder made from the fossilized shells of already minute creatures called diatoms. The razor sharp powder destroys the shells of crawling insects, but does not harm earthworms, pets, or humans. Different bugs are susceptible to different extents (even beetles differ somewhat), so check before buying.

To identify a grub problem in your lawn, look for brown patches. If you’re still uncertain, dig up a bit of sod near the brown patch. If you see more than ten grubs per square foot, you should take action. Below that, there’s no need.

Use beneficial nematodes, which are tiny worms that feed on the larval, or grub, stage of the beetle. It takes a few weeks for nematodes to establish themselves in the soil and to parasitize their grub hosts, so it’s best to apply them before the situation has gotten completely out of hand. Be sure to carefully read the instructions for applying nematodes. Since they are living things they can also die. Follow the directions otherwise your time and money will be wasted.

What goes up must inevitably come down and for the first time in months the average sale price in Toronto did just that with detached homes dipping in July to below $1 million.

That figure is notable for more than just psychological reasons. With price tags below a million dollars, the real estate market is open to more consumers and that’s good news for everyone.

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), August figures show the average detached home in the GTA sold for $972,212. That’s down from $1,000,336 at the end of July.  The average price in August has fallen about $230,000 or 19 per cent since the market’s peak in March.

It’s widely believed the provincial government’s new housing rules introduced in April put the brakes on the city’s red-hot real estate market, controls some believe were necessary to calm out-of-control housing prices.

While the price drop is great news for buyers, TREB says the market in the GTA is expected to post a record year nevertheless. According to TREB, the average sale price of a detached home in July was $996,970, which is still a 13.3 per cent hike over house prices from one year ago.

Says TREB’s board president Mark McLean:  As we move towards a new record for home sales this year, it is important to point out that home ownership demand has been driven not only by low borrowing costs, but also by the fact that the greater Toronto area economy has been performing quite well, with the unemployment rate lower compared to last year.

The under one million figure is an average that combines house sales numbers from across the GTA. If you’re looking at detached homes strictly in Toronto you are likely still paying in the seven-figure range. Based on TREB figures from August, single-family homes there still average about $1.2 million, though that figure is down considerably from March when it hit a peak of $1.56 million.

The $1 million mark is significant because of changes introduced in 2014 which excluded government-backed mortgages on homes sold for more than seven figures. The ban targeted hot real estate markets in Toronto and Vancouver.

Think foreign investment is the cause behind high-priced homes in Toronto and Vancouver? Or how about the immigrant population growth in those centres? Could it be a lack of developable land or maybe it’s speculators?

With the exception of something catastrophic, it’s rarely a single cause that will prompt the kind of heavy volatility we’ve seen recently in those housing markets.

In fact, the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank asserts that higher home prices are the result of declining interest rates and rising incomes that allowed Canadians to qualify for much bigger mortgages over the past two decades.

Increased borrowing power, brought about by falling interest rates and rising incomes, is potentially the most overlooked and least understood factor influencing home prices across Canada,  Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute, said in a media release last month.

The study ” Interest Rates and Mortgage Borrowing Power in Canada ” says that between 2000 and 2016, interest rates dropped from 7 to 2.7 per cent. During that time, the lower interest rates increased a potential home buyer’s mortgage-borrowing power by 53 per cent.

At the same time, average family incomes grew by 53 per cent. And when you factor in low interest rates with higher wages, the mortgage-borrowing power of the average Canadian climbed by a whopping 126 per cent.

In terms of city centres with the highest mortgage-borrowing power, Calgary came in first at 161 per cent, followed by Vancouver at 118 per cent, Montreal at 115 per cent and Toronto at 100.

This increase in borrowing power ”in simple terms” means that an average Canadian family, dedicating the same share of their income to monthly mortgage payments, can afford a mortgage that’s more than twice as big now as it would have been in 2000, Veldhuis said.

Canadians potential to borrow more money has resulted in homebuyers bidding up the price of homes since the supply of housing is not immediately responsive to changes in demand.

As would-be homebuyers and governments contend with rising prices across Canada, policy makers should look closely at the impact of interest rates, rising incomes and increased mortgage borrowing power on home prices, Veldhuis added.