Recent Blog Posts by Kelly Lantz

FREE moving truck for your use!!

Our manager Joel Ives is always working to come up with new promotional ideas and I think this is my favorite so far.  Joel purchased a MOVING TRUCK which we will make available free to any clients buying or selling with Century 21.  All you have to do is book your moving date in advance. The truck is also available for any community event, just let us know and we can book it for you. ...

Real Estate Videos - How Not to be Boring

Real Estate Videos are as a rule quite frankly, boring. This one, however is not.  Via Matthew Ferrara

Habitat for Humanity ReStore

When you are moving, often there are items of furniture that you don't want or need to take with you.  There is a great service here in Charlottetown to help you:  the Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 365 Mount Edward Road accepts donations of used and new furniture, appliances and building supplies.   The sale of these products help Habitat to fund the building projects.  ...

Getting Your House Ready for Spring Market

My phone is ringing with clients preparing to list for the spring market.  There are many things you can do to get your house ready to list.  I know my house never looked better than it did when I put it on the market (making me wonder, why am I selling? :)  I came across this article and found it very helpful with some great tips about getting your house ready.  Enjoy! Getting ...

Brighton Clover Farm - Heart of the Community

When we were house hunting, my husband's main criteria was that our house within walking distance to Norman's also known as The Brighton Clover Farm.   This little gem of a store has been operating in our neighborhood for as long as most residents can remember.  It's a small store but you can get *anything* in there, from paint thinner to imported spices to the best deli counter in town.  ...

Patterson Terrace Condominium Development - Queen Street, Charlottetown PEI

Kelly Lantz of Century 21 Colonial Realty in Charlottetown is excited to announce that Patterson Terrace, the new construction downtown Charlottetown condominium development, is ready for occupancy. Where did the name come from?  In discussions with Catherine Hennessey (local historian) the name Walter Patterson emerged. Walter Patterson was the first British governor appointed to Ile St. ...

Living in Brighton, PEI

The small neighborhood of Brighton is located close to downtown Charlottetown.  The boundry goes from Victoria Park around Queen Elizabeth Drive, up to Nassau and then down Spring Park Road.  See a map here. When we were house hunting for our second home, my husband Rob said his only criteria was that it be within walking distance of the Brighton Clover Farm (also known as Norman's).  ...

How Will Google Wave Change Real Estate?

I love my Gmail account and how it allows me to manage my contacts.  This week, I was invited to "Google Wave" and I am feeling my way around it.  In the process, I found this great article about how Google Wave may impact real estate transactions.  It's very interesting and fun, and seems to be a great way to manage things online - better service for our clients is always the goal, ...

OPEN HOUSE TODAY - Sunday October 4 - BRIGHTON

I am having an open house today at 81 Edinburgh Drive in Brighton from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.  To get there, take North River Road to Nassau Street, turn on Nassau towards the water and at the stop sign, take a right and you will see the Century 21 sign from there. This house is a great family home featuring 4 large bedrooms including an amazing master suite with a completely renovated  ...

I need a house in Brighton or West Royalty

I have qualified buyers looking for a home in the Western end of Charlottetown - Brighton, Lewis Point Park, Orchard Hill Park, Bell Heights area.  We are looking for 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a garage would be nice but not a deal breaker if there is not one.  Our price range is up to $270,000.  If you have a match, please contact me. 

Canada's 10 Healthiest Housing Markets - July 2009

The Canadian housing market appears to be picking up steam, as prices climbed an average of 4.2% across Canada in June, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). However, some areas are struggling. The top ten healthiest markets include two in Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Halifax / Dartmouth.  For the rest of the top ten click here.  For the 10 most ...

Congratulations on your new home!

My clients sent me this photo of them going into their new home for the first time as the new owners, I thought it was very sweet.  Lily and I set a new record for the most homes viewed in the shortest time ("House Hunting is not a sport!" was the subject line of one of our emails).  In the end they decided on Brighton, and I am very happy to have another young family moved into our neighborhood.  ...

Finally! Great relevant local market updates

My colleague Paul Boenisch has recently relocated here from Vancouver, and he has a knack for numbers.  Paul has started a blog and is tracking the PEI data for sales / closings / list prices in user friendly graphs which is very valuable information for consumers and agents alike.  I have always wanted to present the data as well as Paul does, but just have never had the time... here ...

A Family's Dream House on Prince Edward Island

A friend of mine in the US sent me this link today, to an article from Country Living Magazine.  The article is a very touching story about a family who came to PEI for vacations and eventually built their custom dream summer home here.  Click here to read the story.

Bike to work? Brighton works.

I really liked this blog post on the national century21.ca website.  My husband Rob and I chose to live very close to the downtown area in Brighton, and our house purchase was 100% based on location, location, location.  If you are a local, you may relate to his one and only house specification as "we must be walking distance to the Brighton Clover Farm."  I couldn't really ...

Bright Outlook for PEI Real Estate Market, Spring 2009 - Lead Story on Compass

Monday, April 13, 2009 - Lead story on Compass (local CBC News show) is about the bright and sunny outlook for the Real Estate market in Prince Edward Island.  The latest MLS sales statistics show that the sales for the first quarter here on PEI are bucking the trends in big cities, and are acutally up.  Watch the video here:

Buyers drawn into real estate market in February

Resale housing activity in Canada in February 2009 was up from seasonally adjusted levels the previous month, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). A total of 28,669 homes traded hands via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) nationally in February 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis. This is 8.6 per cent above seasonally adjusted levels in January ...

Mortgage and Home Buying Seminar - Centum

Last evening, I attended a Mortgage and Home Buying Seminar put on by Ritchie Simpson and Perri Craig of Centum Financial.  My own mortgage is up for renewal, and I also wanted to hear about what is going on with rates at the moment for my clients.  Rates are really fantastic right now, so it is a great time to buy in Charlottetown.  I think these types of seminars will be happening ...

A Sure Sign of Spring ....

Running out of brochures at a Sunday open house.  Even though the weather was more winter-like than spring, I had an open house today at 245 Upton Road, and I was very pleased to see such a great turnout of potential buyers.  Eternally optimisitic, I printed off 25 brochures to bring with me, and in the span of two hours, I had 24 groups come through.  From speaking to most of the ...

Century 21 Internet Marketing - Individual Domain Names for Each Property

The Century21.ca website is the most search-effective real estate website in Canada and is now offering each property a unique domain name to assist with online marketing.  The domain names are registered based on the property address.  For example www.245UptonRd.com will take you directly to the website showcasing this property.  Century 21 also provides easy access to ...

Online Tag - 7 Things Post

There is a game of online tag going around town, my husband Rob Lantz tagged me.  When you are 'tagged', you are supposed to write 7 things about yourself, then tag 7 more bloggers.  Here are mine: 1.  My first real job (other than babysitting) was as an ice cream scooper at the old Garden City Dairy on the corner of University and Fitzroy (former Playhouse Bar).  I worked ...

Why Some Houses Don’t Sell & How to Avoid 4 Costly Mistakes

This is a reprint of a blog post on the national Century 21 website.  I thought it was very informative, so I am reposting here for my clients. You put your house up for sale and the listing expired without a sale.  What went wrong?  The majority of houses sell during the initial listing time, usually a period of three months or more.  But - as you've found out - some don't sell. What ...

"How's the Market These Days?"

This question comes up a lot lately, so I thought I would compare the past few years in terms of listings and sales volume by month.  The data* is for Residential Sales in the Greater Charlottetown Area, including Stratford and Cornwall, back to 2005.    While inventory is up and the sales volume is down, prices have remained fairly steady in this area.  It ...

When to Consider buying a "Diamond in the Rough"

Let's face it.  When you visit a home during a scheduled viewing or open house, you're usually seeing it at its best.   The rooms are tidy. The sinks are clean. The closets are organized and uncluttered. Even the lighting is set to its brightest. That's just good old-fashioned marketing. However, not every house you see will actually look this way. For any number of reasons, a house ...

OPEN HOUSE WEEKEND

Spring is the season for open houses so this weekend I will be hosting two of them.  Please come down to 41 Grafton Street to view this prime location, recently rezoned commercial and freshly painted throughout.  Open house Saturday April 12 from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.  On Sunday from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. I will be hosting an open house at 11 Palmers Lane.  Hope to see you there!