Well - just completed one of our busiest weeks yet this year.  The market in Ottawa is pretty hot at the moment, especially for houses.  Not many good properties on the market and there are many people looking for them, so the process is quick and competitive for anything that comes out priced well.  Even condos are starting to move. If you're thinking of selling - now is the ideal time. If you have any questions - call us any time!

Cheers,
     Eric

Stats For The 12 Months ended April

The number of sales is up significantly year-over-year, particularly in the “Downtown East” area, but notice that the average price has actually declined in that area.

And the reverse is true in the Glebe & Old Ottawa South: the average price has a dramatic increase of about 16%, but there are fewer sales (lower supply can have the effect of higher prices).

We have also found that there are more “multiple offer” situations this year, particularly in certain neighbourhoods. Good for the sellers, but disappointing for buyers. However, Ottawa hasn’t reached the same extremes as we’ve been hearing about Toronto!

View the PDF at this link to see how we have divided the different areas.     ...read more...

Wash Your Clothes With Magnets?

Washing your clothes with magnets instead of laundry detergent seems crazy.  So of course we decided to give it a try, and the results are astounding!  There's virtually no difference between the sock washed in detergent and the one washed with the magnets.  If anything, the one with the magnets is somewhat cleaner!

Apparently the concept of detergent is that it greatly reduces the surface tension of water so that it can get between the particles of the fabric and clean away dirt.  And strong magnets do the same thing!  Interestingly, you can even skip the rinse cycle because there isn't anything added to the water that needs to be rinsed away.

I was also surprised to learn that laundry detergent is made from petro-chemicals.  I just presumed that detergent was similar to soap, but apparently they are very different.

These may be available from other companies/websites as well, but we got ours from  www.magneticlaundry.ca
 

"Software To Make Your Life Better"

Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow?

Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen?

During the day, computer screens look good—they're designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn't be looking at the sun.

f.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.     ...read more...

Polish Stainless Steel Appliances With Baby Oil

[Note: the first person in this account is by the author, not us personally - but I might try it out soon.]  

A friend shared a tip with us that he’d heard from a salesman at an appliance store – use mineral oil to shine stainless steel. He swore by it, and said not only did it work to shine the surface, it actually helped to keep it shiny and repel fingerprints and smudges.

BUT, we didn’t have any mineral oil, and I wasn’t even sure exactly what it was or where to buy it…so I figured I’d try baby oil instead! A quick Google search led me to discover that this had indeed been done before with success, so I was excited to give it a try! (Don’t have any baby oil? You can try olive oil instead!)  Clean the appliances first, as this only adds shine and removes watermarks.    ...read more...