Recent Blog Posts by Carol Ireland

Town of Wasaga Beach Street Index

Are you looking to buy a home in Wasaga Beach!   Click here to see active properties on the market.     Street Name Town 10th Street South Wasaga Beach 12th Street North Wasaga Beach 12th Street South Wasaga Beach 13th Street North Wasaga Beach 13th Street South Wasaga Beach 14th Street North Wasaga Beach 14th Street South Wasaga ...

Area Real Estate Activity Up in First Quarter

MLS® sales activity reported through the Georgian Triangle Association of REALTORS® (which includes the municipalities of Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Blue Mountains, Grey Highlands and Meaford) posted a healthy gain of 16% for the 1st quarter of 2012 with 403 properties changing hands in the first three months of the year versus 347 in the 1st quarter of 2011. Overall, 1st quarter ...

Vertical blinds make a full fashion come back

(NC)—Vertical blinds were originally welcomed into the home, not for their good looks but for the good job they could do. Nothing covers big windows and doors so well; nothing gets out of the way more completely when patio season comes around; and nothing is so practical for cleaning. But sometimes, the way they looked took second place to functionality. Now that has changed. Fashion, always ...

Simcoe County School Bus Zones

I found this great website and thought I would share it with everyone. Whether you are new to the area or just curious what the zones are. This site makes it easy to find out which buses are running cancelled or experiencing some interuptions in extreme weather conditions. The West Zones includes: Collingwood, Stayner and Wasaga Beach West Weather Zone Elementary Schools – Simcoe County ...

REALTOR® Services

Maybe you're buying a home for the first time. Or maybe you're selling your old home to move up to something new. Whatever the reason, the buying and selling of a home is a big event. It's an intricate process involving many specialists. One of these specialists is a REALTOR®, whose job it is to make the transfer of property as easy as possible.   But not all licensed or registered Brokers ...

Most Ontarians confused about HST and resale homes

56% mistakenly believe HST applies to purchase price Toronto, Ontario, October 27, 2010 – An Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) and released today reveals that fully 56 percent of Ontarians mistakenly believe that the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) applies to the full purchase price of a resale home. In fact the HST is only levied on the various ...

Choosing the right mortgage

(NC)—Mortgage options can be confusing for first time home buyers. Choosing what's right for you depends on a number of factors, including your comfort with interest rate risk and when you plan to sell your home. “First time home buyers should sit down with a professional and ensure they know exactly what each mortgage option means to them,” says Chris Wisniewski, Associate Vice ...

Buying A New Home Gets A Little Tougher!

OTTAWA — New federal measures meant to cool the red-hot housing market will make it more difficult for homebuyers to qualify for government-backed mortgages, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty acknowledged this morning. Some buyers will have to settle for less expensive houses or a bigger mortgage as a result of the rule changes brought in by the Conservatives. To give the financial industry time ...

New Year brings tax breaks and tax changes

Tax Brackets, Credits Higher The taxable income thresholds in all four federal tax brackets were increased by 2.5 per cent in 2009 to mirror changes in the consumer-price index (CPI). All indexed non-refundable tax credits also increased by 2.5 per cent in 2009 in order to reflect the CPI adjustment. Increases in the thresholds for the lower and middle-income tax brackets will positively affect ...

Buying your first home

(NC)—There's nothing quite like owning your own home – getting to know your neighbours, decorating your home and creating a place that you can call your own. But owning a home is not quite as simple as finding the right home in the right neighbourhood; your financial situation can be an important factor in the type of home you can afford. For example, you will need to determine how much ...

REALTOR® Services

  Maybe you're buying a home for the first time. Or maybe you're selling your old home to move up to something new. Whatever the reason, the buying and selling of a home is a big event. It's an intricate process involving many specialists. One of these specialists is a REALTOR®, whose job it is to make the transfer of property as easy as possible.   But not ...

MLS® home sales grow stronger in the third quarter

OTTAWA – October 15th, 2009 – National resale housing activity climbed to the highest level of any third quarter on record. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) home sales via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) Systems of Canadian real estate boards totalled 135,182 units in the third quarter of 2009, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). ...

DAZZLE HER WITH QUARTZ - The Next Step In Flooring

(NC)—Over the last few years, designers, builders and architects have been preaching the benefits and strengths of quartz as a premium surface material and now most savvy homeowners across the country have caught up to this hot trend. Unique in combining depth and colour consistency with low maintenance and unrivaled durability, quartz has emerged as the preferred countertop material in homes ...

They Don't Want Your House!

The last thing that a bank, credit union or insurer wants is to take back your house. All the insurers have programs in place to help you keep your house during troubled times. Whether it's no payments for a period of time or reduced payments, they all want to work it out. Most if not all financial institutions have skip-a-payment plans or can capitalize overdue payments. Once you get behind ...

Downpayment Assistance

Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program's Homeownership Program The purpose of the Homeownership Component of the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program (AHP) is to provide down payment assistance in the form of a forgivable loan to eligible individuals and families for the purchase of a home.  All homes purchased must be new homes or conversions from non-residential use that have not previously ...

It's Coming Back!!!!!!

Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program's Homeownership Program     Recently, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing announced a new wave of funding for the Canada-Ontario Affordable Homeownership Program.   Program guidelines and application forms are coming soon....so please continue to check my website for further updates.  

Affordable Housing Program

Do you Know Someone who is throwing money away on Rent, because they can't afford a Down Payment? Contact Carol Ireland at 1-888-429-2121 for the full details.  Here are just a few of the facts: HOME OWNERSHIP PROGRAM FACT SHEET The Federal and Provincial governments have provided the County of Simcoe with $1.2 million funding to provide down payment assistance to a minimum of 138 ...