Muddy York: Toronto Real Estate Blog

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Toronto Island House and History Tour
Sunday, June 13, 2010                 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Tickets: www.torontoislandhousetour.eventbrite.com or call 416-203-0942

On June 13, 2010, Toronto Island Grannies in Spirit will host a tour of distinctive homes and community buildings on Toronto Island, each with its own story to tell. The tour will feature a selection of historic, renovated, original and new homes. Ticket holders will have the opportunity to meet Island residents and view historic photographs and memorabilia.

The Toronto Island community started as a “tent city” in the early 1900s. It is now a unique, year-round — and car-free — neighbourhood, with more than 650 residents living in 262 homes. There are no stores, banks, or ATMs. Some of the houses were purchased out of the Simpson’s catalogue in the 1930s. Others were floated from Hanlan’s Point when the Island Airport was built. And still others have been renovated or designed by architects to make optimal use of small spaces. The community is part of the urban landscape, yet magically removed from the city by a fifteen minute ferry ride.
Grannies in Spirit is one of over 230 grandmother groups across Canada in the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, one of the great grassroots movements in Canada. In the four years since it was initiated by the Stephen Lewis Foundation, the campaign has raised more than $7 million for projects in Sub-Saharan Africa that support African grandmothers and their grandchildren orphaned by AIDS. All proceeds from the House and History Tour will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Date:                Sunday, June 13, 2010
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Tickets: Adults $40, children 13 and under $15 www.torontoislandhousetour.eventbrite.com  or call 416-203-0942
Location: Wards Island. Take Toronto Island Ferry (foot of Bay Street, west side of Westin Harbour Castle Hotel) to Wards Island (every half hour in June; adults $6.50 return)

The Bank of Canada boosted the overnight rate by 25 bps to 0.50% yesterday, hinting that further reductions in amount of stimulus are forthcoming but providing no concrete timetable for additional rate increases. While the domestic economy is performing in line with the Bank’s forecast, the external environment remains volatile, with the Bank pointing to tensions in Europe and the continued deleveraging across the global economy as likely to “temper the pace of global growth.” “Given the considerable uncertainty surrounding the outlook, any further reduction of monetary stimulus would have to be weighed carefully against domestic and global economic developments,” the Bank said.  Additionally, the Bank highlighted that, even with today’s rate increase, there remains “considerable monetary stimulus in place.”

The Bank also announced that it is re-establishing its standard operating framework for implementing monetary policy. The 50 bps operating band for the overnight rate was re-established.

The economy posted a solid 6.1% annualized growth rate in the first quarter of 2010 building on an already impressive 4.9% increase in the fourth quarter of 2009. The solid gains during these two quarters provided strong evidence that the stimulative monetary and fiscal measures helped to pull the Canadian economy out of the recent slump. The 0.6% gain in March’s GDP indicated strong momentum late in the first quarter setting up for the strength to be maintained in the second quarter. The surge in payrolls in April also corroborates this view with a smaller, but still positive, report for May expected on Friday, June 4, 2010.

While the global environment presents risks to Canada’s economic outlook, the strength in the domestic economy and a core inflation rate that is only marginally below the 2% target took precedence in today’s rate decision. Furthermore, the statement indicates that the strength of the domestic economy will see the Bank continue to reduce the amount of stimulus, although the statement did not provide clear guidance about the pace of interest rate increases. So far, the Bank assesses that the effects of external events on Canada’s economy have “been limited.”  On balance, the statement supports our view that the Bank views domestic economic conditions as strong enough that the ultra-low level of interest rates is no longer needed and that the recovery can withstand a gradual rise in interest rates going forward. To that end, we expect that the Bank will raise the policy rate to 1.5% in 2010 and that the tightening will continue in 2011 as the Bank moves the policy rate closer to neutral by the time Canada’s output gap is eliminated.

Source:  RBC:  Dawn Desjardins, Assistant Chief Economist, RBC Economics

The Waterfront BIA is inviting everyone to the Family Day Celebration being held on February 15, 2010 at Toronto’s Waterfront with lots to do for everyone as well as a draw for a family trip for 4 to the Quebec Winter Carnival in 2011!

DATE:   Monday, February 15, 2010
TIME:   11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
PLACE:  Toronto Waterfront, Queen’s Quay Terminal, Harbourfront Centre

For more details, please contact:

The Waterfront BIA
Queen’s Quay Terminal, South Atrium
207 Queen’s Quay West, P.O. Box 100
Toronto, ON  M5J 1A7
Tel: 416.596.9821
Email: info@waterfrontbia.com
Web: www.waterfrontbia.com

Many homeowners in Ontario have heard of Smart Meters, and soon those who have not will have to: the provincial government has mandated that all homes in Ontario have Smart Meters installed by the end of 2010.

According to a recent Canadian Ipsos-Reid survey, about one-third of Ontarians who use the internet are completely unaware of Smart Meters, and only one-quarter of Canadians outside Ontario have even heard of them. After having the Smart Meter concept explained to them, 37 per cent of online Canadians became only “somewhat interested” in Smart Meters, contrasted by the 23 per cent who were “extremely interested” and finally, four out of ten Canadians are just plain not interested in Smart Meters.

Currently meters must be read manually, but most residential meters are only read bi-monthly resulting in estimated bills. Even when the meter is read, human or machine error and improper readings can still result in these padded energy bills, and when no reading is available and without a SmartMeter, some companies may just use the reading from the year prior. Imagine making strict sacrafices and a sincere effort to reduce energy consumption and cut costs while having the bill just end up based on use from last year instead.

Smart Meters will allow energy consumption to be monitored by the hour, resulting in the possibility of pricing for different times of the day as well as allowing consumers to be more involved in keeping up with the growing “going green” initiative by allowing them to make informed choices about conserving electricity. Consumers can focus on shifting their high-energy use to lower price periods, for example: using certain energy-hogging appliances (especially those 10 years or older) such as air conditioners, washers, dryers and electric stoves during off-peak times. Costs per kWh vary by three different times: off-peak, mid-peak and on-peak being the most expensive at 9.1 cents per kWh and ranging from around 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the summer. Debt retirement and delivery charges on electricity bills are also mostly determined by an individual’s energy use and can add to the savings.

Keeping the central air on without a Smart Meter costs between 19.95 cents and 23.10 cents per kWh, but during off-peak times with a Smart Meter and time-of-use billing, the cost is significantly less at 14.70 cents.

Soon it may be very easy for anyone to monitor their energy usage closely with PowerMeter, a new Google program currently being tested and planned for later this year. The tool will allow users to view their home electricity consumption on their personal iGoogle page, as well as compare results with those of neighbours and gain a better insight into how they can be more efficient.

Some companies have already implemented time-of-use rates and others will begin rolling out this method of billing this year. Customers will also be notified in advance before time-of-use billing goes into effect.

By Carson Dunlop & Associates

An Uplifting Experience
Truss uplift has nothing to do with plastic surgery or under- garments. It is a phenomenon common in homes built with roof trusses as opposed to rafters.

If a house suffers from truss uplift, the top floor ceilings literally lift off the interior walls in the winter. They drop back down in the summer. Needless to say, this is a tad disconcerting to the homeowner. At first glance, one might assume that the floors have settled. Actually the ceiling has gone up – sometimes creating a gap of as much as two inches where interior walls meet the ceilings.

What is a Truss?
Trusses are prefabricated structural assemblies which hold up the roof and the top floor ceilings. Trusses tend to be a stronger lighter and less expensive approach to roof framing.

Trusses are strong because they make use of the most efficient geometric shape we know of – the triangle. Trusses are a series of triangles fastened together with gusset plates. The outside members of a truss are called chords while the inner pieces are known as webs.

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