Archive for July, 2009

Fintrac Petition

Monday, July 27th, 2009

There is a new petition circling around the Saskatchewan real estate community from a Regina Century 21 agent, but I am wholeheartedly against this petition regarding taking personal information when buying or selling a house in Saskatoon. The realtor in Regina has some good points about the collection and use of confidential information, but as long as the realtor who is taking the information complies with the regulations, the original and only copies will be sent to Ottawa and we, nor our offices, will not have any of the client’s private information on hand.

I have experienced clients attempting to launder money through real estate in Saskatoon and this new legislation has put them off from purchasing a house for sale in Saskatoon, for the time being, until they find a way around it. Even when the market was starting to slow I was getting calls from people who wanted to buy a house in Saskatoon to ‘flip’ but I was suspicious as they were looking for people they could pay cash to fix it up. Chances are, money was being laundered this way as the sellers would turn around and sell it and not necessarily make much (if anything) but their money would have been ‘cleaned’ so to speak.

Unfortunately, this does not prevent criminals from buying a house in Saskatoon privately and then turning around and putting the house for sale in Saskatoon privately, but buyers (and private sellers in Saskatoon) need to be aware that they may be helping aid in terrorism and crime.

I have had to provide my ID when buying RRSP’s, and I certainly wasn’t spending close to what a person spends when buying a house for sale in Saskatoon, or anywhere for that matter!

I am realtor in Saskatoon who is okay with taking photo ID from people who are buying a house in Saskatoon or selling a house in Saskatoon with me as their Saskatoon realtor as I would rather not deal with people who may be aiding in terrorism. Unfortunately, there are realtors in Saskatoon, and every other city, who are less concerned with ethics and more concerned with making money, but even they are forced to comply now and take ID from every client.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.

Saskatchewan Medical Isotopes

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Saskatchewan is formally going to bid to produce medical isotopes. This was confirmed on Wednesday but Premiere Brad Wall. The proposal, currently being worked on by U of S and government officials, is to be completed by the end of July.

The federal government is dealing with the current shortage of medical isotopes and they are seeking input in how to rectify the situation.

Medical isotopes are radioactive material used in diagnostic tests such as MRI’s and Saskatoon, among the rest of the world, has been having to cancel them due to the shortage caused by the shut down of Chalk River in Ontario. The Chalk River reactor was supplying approximately 1/3 of the world’s medical isotopes and it will now be shut down until the end of the year.

Brad Wall has been campaigning to add some value to uranium that is mined in Saskatchewan. He is taking this process and consultation process seriously. While we are not spending any money yet, Wall says that we are just seeing if we can get the federal government to consider Saskatchewan as a place that could supply these very important isotopes.

The cost of building a reactor would have to be paid for by the federal government and partners from the private sector.

Wall believes there is an opportunity for Saskatchewan to take a leading role in nuclear medicine and that we should be exploring this opportunity.

It was here in Saskatchewan in 1949 that the first ‘cobalt-60 treatment’ was tried. This saved a woman who was battling cervical cancer.

Promoters of Canada’s nuclear industry made a direct pitch to Saskatoon business people last week. Their aim was to show that a nuclear power plant in Saskatchewan would create jobs and generate other economic benefits. Neil Alexander, president of the Organization of CANDU Industries, told a lunch time audience at the Chamber of Commerce that the promoters of nuclear power also need to address the concerns of safety. He states that so far, in Canada, no member of the public has been harmed in any way by 40 years of used fuel storage. With the medical isotope shortage crisis he brings a good point; “If radioactivity is so unsafe — which, you know, people have been telling us for years and years and years — why is it, now that we don’t have enough for them to inject in their veins, that they are complaining?”

Of course there are people who are emphatically against nuclear anything, but when it comes down to saving their life or a loved one’s life, I think they would be less opinionated.

The Saskatoon real estate market, of course, would benefit from this. The economy in Saskatchewan would be further ahead as well.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.

3 New Cougar Kitties Call Saskatoon Home

Monday, July 27th, 2009

One of the newest groups to find a home in Saskatoon are 3 cougar kittens. These kittens will be on display at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo in the Children’s zoo. They were removed from their aggressive mom in the Cypress Hills Region. Park Officials removed the cubs and they are now being fostered here in Saskatoon. They are about 8 weeks old and arrived at their new home in Saskatoon in early June. They have been hand-raised by staff since their arrival and will be ready for viewing this Saturday, July 11. Come down with your family to welcome the new cubs to their new Saskatoon home.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.

Housing Starts Down In Saskatoon

Monday, July 27th, 2009

For the first half of 2009 the housing starts in Saskatoon have fallen by a whopping 78%. We are down to 342 new houses in Saskatoon from 1574 new houses in Saskatoon started in the first 6 months of 2008. Multiple family starts dropped an astounding 93% from 754 to only 53 in the first 6 months this year while single family homes dropped from 820 in 2008 to 289 in 2009.

The decline has to do with many factors, but the overall economic downturn is a big part of that but our slowing of new housing in Saskatoon also has a lot to do with following one of the busiest years in history. Many builders were also trying to get rid of last year’s inventory as well as there are still many vacant new homes in Saskatoon. This helps the existing homes for sale in Saskatoon as the inventory of new homes in Saskatoon is starting to clean up.

Houses for sale in Saskatoon have been reduced in number in June with many more sold signs popping up. June did see more housing starts than in earlier months with 116 single family starts, but still down 28% from last June. Regina has also seen a decrease in new housing while Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, and Yorkton saw increases in houses being built.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.

Do Not Leave Paint Cans On Concrete

Monday, July 27th, 2009

I learned something new today after discovering last week that my paint cans, after having been sitting on the concrete floor in the basement of my house in Saskatoon , started to leak. I noticed the leaking paint cans about a week ago and couldn’t figure out which ones were actually leaking. I moved a few of them onto a plastic bag and it seemed to just get messier. Just a gooey orangey brown mess! Of course, the only can of paint that I needed to use was one of the few that was the culprit. I have my house for sale in Saskatoon and I wanted to do a bit of touch up work to help sell the house in Saskatoon, but of course the only one that I absolutely had to have was one of the bad ones.

I took my paint colour, thankfully I still kept the leaking can, to Benjamin Moore paint in Saskatoon and told them what happened. The girl just smiled and said “where were you storing your paint” and I thought she was assuming I was silly enough to store it in my garage and, as we all know in Saskatoon, our garages freeze in the winter so we must store our paint indoors. I told her I kept it in the basement, so I was happy I wasn’t one of those sillies who thinks paint is okay in the cold garage. She asked about the flooring and I said it was concrete…then she asked if I had anything under the cans and I confirmed that I did not. That was the problem! She told me that concrete and paint cans don’t mix and that in some new houses the paint cans can be eaten away in as little as a week. I was amazed! I had no idea! I am relieved that I can clean up the mess and prevent any further issues but storing my paint on something other than concrete. Even a small buffer like a plastic bag should prevent the corrosion. As I have one of the many houses for sale in Saskatoon I know how important it is to have everything in good shape and any nicks in the walls fixed, but also to ensure that buyers don’t look at the staining on the concrete and mistake the leaky paint cans for water issues. As a Realtor in Saskatoon I was told by other Saskatoon real estate agents when I first started to be careful of signals like staining on the floor and rust from paint cans as that may indicate a leaky basement…but now I know that marks on the floor from paint cans don’t always mean that the house has had water issues…maybe they just had improper storage of their paint like I did! I will be telling all other new Saskatoon realtors that I speak to about my experience as this does affect houses for sale in Saskatoon and it does affect people’s perception of homes for sale in Saskatoon as it can scare someone away.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.