18. August 2011 by Kari Calder.

With Saskatoon Curbside Recycling. I recently switched from using Saskatoon Curbside Recycling, who is a small start up company, to the All Green Recycling Program from the well known name of Loraas. I was reluctant to end my 5 year relationship with Saskatoon Curbside Recycling as they have been great to deal with and they were pioneeers here in Saskatoon to get the recycling program up and running and I give them a lot of credit.

Sadly, it came down to the bins. Loraas offers a large bin similar to our garbage cans that can accomodate all of my recycling (for 2 people we recycle a LOT!!) whereas Curbside had 2 separate boxes that, when set out by 8am and not necessarily picked up until later in the day, often resulted in my neighbours in Willowgrove ending up with my recycling on their front lawn.

Every delay the City of Saskatoon has in making a decision and accepting a bid means more and more recyclable material ending up in the landfill. They are considering 2 different companies; one to collect and one to process. I think that is a big problem as the company who collects isn’t going to care what gets collected as they just drop it off to the company that processes it and leaves them to sort it out. According to the Star Phoenix article today it will be at least another 2 months before the city starts accepting bids from companies to run the $29-million household recycling pickup program due to last minute changes to the bid guidelines.

As one of the fastest growing regions in Canada we need to get on this program! I have had lots of people buying houses for sale in Saskatoon who are from out of province and they just can’t get over our lack of mandatory recycling here. I even had one first time home buyer in Saskatoon from Ontario ask me about our garbage pick up as they had to put everything in CLEAR plastic bags and if there was anything in there that was recyclable their garbage wouldn’t get picked up that week.

Well hopefully Saskatoon gets its recycling together and makes this mandatory sooner than later as I am definitely frustrated when I walk by garbage bins full of cardboard and plastics because people are too lazy to drive to the larger recycling centres!

Kari Calder
Century 21 Fusion
653-8222

Posted in Environment, Saskatchewan News, Saskatoon News, Personal | No Comments »

16. August 2011 by Kari Calder.

As a Saskatoon real estate agent I am usually a little bit slower in the summer, but not this summer! The Saskatoon real estate market has been a busy one this year and I have not been able to slow down for a moment! It is amazing and sad at how fast time flies, especially the older you get. I now understand what ‘old people’ (when we were10 people my age seemed ancient!!) were talking about.

There have been many great festivals and events in Saskatoon already this summer. I am happy to say I was able to enjoy one of my favourites, Taste of Saskatchewan, at least twice. I love food so this is one not to miss. I actually bit the bullet and shared a Deep Fried Mars Bar with my fiance as well…I knew why we shared and why I hadn’t done it in 3 years shortly after biting in as it is the richest dessert I have ever eaten!

I am excited to say I will be heading to see Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan tonight for my first time ever! I did miss the Saskatoon Exhibition this year. Usually I like to pop in at least once to check things out but I was too busy selling houses for sale in Saskatoon this year to make it by even for an hour.

Now that summer is coming close to an end I am finding I need to make more time to enjoy the festivities but it is a fine balancing act with my career as a realtor in Saskatoon. Luckily I sleep less in the summer! The next festivity I will look forward to is Folk Fest this weekend.

Kari Calder
Century 21 Fusion
653-8222

Posted in Saskatchewan Events, Saskatoon Events, Personal, Saskatoon | No Comments »

6. August 2011 by Kari Calder.

I love how, right on the heels of an article that people in Saskatchewan have a cheery outlook on our economy and that Saskatchewan’s economy will be doing better than the national average, CBC prints news that we have the highest overall crime rate (and of course Winnipeg as their economic forecast is also pretty good!)

It seems to happen often like this. One article will bring people looking for job opportunities in Saskatoon or Saskatchewan and as a result the newsmakers will print a downer article to make people question if their lives are at stake if they come to Saskatchewan!? Maybe I am just jaded about the news industry, but I see it happen quite often so I don’t think it is a mere coincidence. CBC writers who are more than likely not from Saskatchewan?

What they always fail to mention about our crime statistics and and number of murders is that they are typically gang related and happen in the core neighbourhoods so 95% of the population is not affected by it. I have had people looking to buy houses for sale in Saskatoon who were worried because of ‘news’ like this. I am always sure to take them into the areas they will want to avoid. They are small and people should not lump in the rest of the west side of Saskatoon as there are loads of beautiful neighbourhoods on Saskatoon’s west side.

This map of murders though shows a more accurate story http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=215928702728334129136.0004976527ab5a5294799&ll=52.136624,-106.675694&spn=0.072763,0.153714&source=embed 

Saskatoon, and Saskatchewan in general, is one of the leading markets for economy, real estate, etc so it isn’t surprising that we also get negative publicity. I have certainly lived and traveled in scarier places in the world so take what you read with a grain of salt…as always! Saskatoon real estate is still a great investment and will continue to be so in the future in my opinion.

Kari Calder
Century 21 Fusion
306-653-8222

Posted in Saskatoon News, Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan News, Canada Real Estate, Saskatchewan Real Estate, Buyers, Saskatoon, News, Current Market, Saskatoon Real Estate | No Comments »