Toronto Condos

Easy Home Fixes

Nothing can function flawlessly for too long. It is the same with all the machines, furniture and basically everything in your home. If something stops working, many people immediately call professional help. But that isn't always really necessary. You can save quite a lot of money, if you are skilful enough, especially if you at least try to do the easiest of fixes yourself. On the other hand, professionals save you time, patience and energy. 

What can you do alone and when is the help of specialists necessary? Let's take a look at couple of activities:

Changing the light bulbs - okay, I do not think anyone calls a repairman to change a light bulb, but many people will not do it themselves. They would rather survive long hours with no light until someone perhaps taller and handier comes along. It is an easy task, but be careful. Never forget to turn off the power switch when changing a bulb. 

Painting - it can be considered as some sort of repair, too, as it improves the way your home looks. I think I have already said this before, but paiting sure is an activity anyone could do themselves. It is not expensive. You only have to pay for the paint. On the other hand, though, it takes a lot of time and energy. 

Clogged drain - everyone has to deal with it sometimes, especially due to minerals in the water or hair. You certainly shouldn't call specialists to repair the drain immediately. They would probably only give you some chemicals to use. Those can be found in many specialist or DIY shops, try to visit them! 

Roof - yes, you can possibly try to repair the roof but I don't think it would be very smart. It is not the safest activity, first of all. Secondly, as you know, the roof is one of the most essential parts of the house. If the roof is not repaired correctly and it rains, water can get inside your home. It is therefore smart to leave the repairing of this vital part of the house, to professionals. 

Electricity - repairing anything electrical is something only professionals should be allowed to do. There is probably no need to tell you that working with electricity, especially if you are not an expert can have devastating effects. 

If this article has at least partly inspired you and you have decided to save a little money by doing the easiest fixes at home yourself, good luck wit it! Search the web a little, there are so many book, articles or videos which could serve you as a guide online. Many are very helful indeed, try to find some. Not to offend anyone, I am not a professional at home repairs either, but when searching for some guides on the internet, I found a book, the title of which I think is worth mentioning: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Simple Home Repair, written by Judy Ostrow. It really sounds amusing.

Toronto Real Estate - Some Vital Advice

• Just because the tenants were already resident when I bought my property, does that mean I'm stuck with them or can I evict them?

The easy answer is no - according to the Tenant Protection Act, the tenant must agree to go upon the agreed notice given to them. If they do not wish to move out, they do not have to, though a homeowner facing this problem should certainly seek legal advice. One anomaly: If the homeowner's immediate family is to use the currently tenanted rooms, a homeowner may give proper legal notice to vacate to the tenants, which must be complied with. • My property has a completed basement, is there anything I need to think about before renting it out?

As with hiring out any type of real estate there are things that must be complied with. There are many regulations covering rented space, such as Fire Codes, Zoning By-laws to name a couple, so it is in your interest to check on whether the space complies with all relevant legislations before advertising it. The finished basement, to be used as a secondary unit would need a second exit to name one regulations, so by finding out about these regulations you will be in a position to know what upgrades, if any, needed to be completed.

• There is a difference between my occupancy date and the registration date, I'm unsure why is this?

If you are buying a newly built condo or Lofts in Toronto, then occupancy fees become your responsibility from the occupancy date, even if you haven't moved in yet. It is the time at which the home is said to be completed, though all your finishes may not yet be complete. When the whole building is fully registered and has closed, the suite is legally completely yours to live in or dispose of as you please.

• Please explain what is a reserve fund and what is it set up for?

Repairs have to be completed to shared areas of a condo building from time to time, the reserve fund which is legally set aside, is for this purpose. You may see that you pay a monthly maintenance charge this fee from all the unit owners builds and is called the reserve fund, this is a requirement by law.

• Does the condo corporation or the reserve fund for the block take care of things that are broken inside my condo?

The apartment and all items inside of it belongs to you once you have purchased it. As a result if something breaks, then it is up to you to fix it. The shared parts of the condo building are the responsibility of the condo corporation and they will deal with any problems and maintenance of these areas.

Painting Your House

We all have that yearning from time to time to change how our property looks. As the owner you have probably lived with the same designs for many years and while it still looks great to others, to you its ready for a change. A swift way to transform the look of your property is by painting it, it doesn't cost a lot of money and the results are quickly seen.

So now you have determined you are going to repaint, there are one or two choices that need to be made. By far the most major decision is whether this redecoration is going to be on the interior, exterior and for the more adventurous, both! It's not just you who will observe the results of your hard work, if you paint the outside, individuals passing by will see that fresh new look. Painting the outside is not an option if you live in a building that is not owned by you, such as a flat Therefore if you live a flat, any redecorating will have to be done on the internal walls. It often is, and should be, painted more regularly, too.

Moreover, it is essential to choose who will do the painting itself. The cheaper option is to complete the painting yourself, with hopefully the help of family and friends. The only outlay will be the new paint colour, some tools and maybe a couple of beers and pizzas for your assistants. There is a negative side to completing the work yourself and that is the amount of time it will take and the disruption involved over a longer period of time. You could always pay a decorator to do the work for you, so you can go only with your daily life with little or no hassle to yourself.

Now you have decided what you are going to redecorated and what part of your property is to be painted, you need to decide on the colour. A small or dark area can be easily changed by painting the walls with either a pale light colour or a bright colour such as yellow. Take into consideration the existing furniture and flooring when you make your selection, you don't need the paint to be the same colour, but you definitely don't want it to clash either. When choosing a paint the external walls, you probably don't want it to look exactly the same as next door. Although, it is probably not a good idea to paint the outside of the property with overly bright colours, a colour that blends in with the neighbourhood is probably the best idea.

These are all decisions that only you can make, after all you know your property and you know what you want. In case you are arranging to paint your property anytime soon, good luck with it!

Delivered by Elli Davis and her team, awarded Toronto Condos real estate agents

picture by Barjack

Give Your Home an Autumn Look

Days and weeks are passing by so fast and before we know it, summer will be gone and people will walk around parks with fallen yellow leaves and relax listening to raindrops. All of the season have some specific characteristics. Autumn does too. These features should also be shown in your home. 

Many homeowners redecorate their homes many times during the year, in accordance to the current season. Fall seems to be the most colorful one, hence the redecorating might be pretty interesting. The most visible colors of the season are red, yellow and orange. These can give your home a very comfortable and warm look. There is no need to repaint all the rooms and change the furniture completely but accessories are absolutely fabulous and can make your house completely different. 

Pillows, candles, pictures or paintings could easily change the way rooms look. They are not overly expensive and you can create specific themes for different times of the year. It is easy to buy a little painting depicting, for instance, autumn nature. Of course, it does not have to be painted by a well known artist. You can basically buy them everywhere. It is also very stylish to combine yellow, orange and red - many people do it and it looks very nice indeed. There are cases when the colors in your home do not match the mentioned ones, though, and it is smart not to use them then. 

Leaves are pretty much what come to our mind first, when we say autumn. Go and pick up a couple of nice ones from outside. This is where a vase comes in handy, use it to show the wonderful leaves you found. Are you creative? Then you surely can turn the leaves into something very nice. Red apples in a bowl have an autumn athmosphere too. 

Autumn is also the time of the year when it is starting to get cold outside, so we have to prepare for the cold winter. This is also a very good time to get your roof and heating system checked, chimney cleaned and purchase a supply of wood, if necessary. It is much more comfortable during cold autumn and winter night if you are well prepared for them.

Are There Advantages to Living in a Property with Lots of Generations?

Do you live in a house with your kids and your mother and father? For some cultures this is a very common scenario and in Canada it is becoming more common throughout every culture. You many think this is a very good thing or the thought of it may fill you with terror, but there are negatives and positives to living with extended family. I want to show you a couple of them in this feature. If moving in with extended family is something you are looking to do shortly, hopefully this article can give you an insight into what to expect.

Let's begin by looking at the positive side.

-sharing the financial burden of owning a property, is one of the good points of this type of living. With large homes, where families only meet in a couple of rooms, then it probably won't make as much financial sense.

-you are living with your whole family surrounding you. A warm family environment with good, close relationships is another benefit.

-the financial pressure of babysitters or childcare could be alleviated, when there is lots of individuals living under one roof there is bound to be someone who is available. The older generations are able to support or advise the younger generations, especially with regard to bringing up a kid.

-the older generations may have health problems, consequently the younger members of the home can support them to living independently as much as possible. On the flip side, the older members could cook while the younger generation is at work – reciprocal help is the key.

-the older individual can feel lonely, primarily if they are housebound or have lost their life partner. We all need a shoulder to lean on at times, living with your whole family can help assuage that loneliness of becoming older.

Let's now think about the bad side.

-some of you might feel like they have no real independent time, like they are never really alone.

-parents and grandparents could feel that you are intruding in their lives, or you may feel that they are intruding in yours all the time.

-disagreements about bringing up the children (the grandparents are treating them too much and so on).

worries of being compared to other family members is not a nice emotion to feel, primarily if it's your partners family you are living with and not your own.

-different generations see things in a different way, so this could be a hard adjustment to deal with. Naturally, it is important to live in a house, which is capable of accommodating more generations Forest Hill real estate is great for this.

Rules need to be set up before entering into this kind of situation, there are lots of other points to think about that I haven't covered, as a family it's up to you how you deal with it. Honesty is extremely important, though. If you know you could never dream living in such a property, do not do so just because your husband or wife wants you to. When all said and done, if you are miserable then other people are going to feel that, which makes for a very strained home and relationships could break down.