Here are the links to all the new HOME listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days in Central Etobicoke/Markland Woods:

> Up to $400,000 (none this week…)

 > $400,000 to $600,000 (http://bit.ly/znfk4T)

> $600,000 to $800,000 (http://bit.ly/zzVUX9)

> over $800,000 (http://bit.ly/y9TvRZ)

Here are the links to all the new HOME listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days in Etobicoke/Lakeshore:

> Up to $400,000 (http://bit.ly/yEXc8z)

> $400,000 to $600,000 (http://bit.ly/wW58Es)

 > $600,000 to $800,000 (http://bit.ly/wm0XoC)

> over $800,000 (http://bit.ly/zaIXOD)

If you’d like to see any of these homes, contact LoriAnn directly:
email: loriann@lorianntoplak.com
call/text: 416-899-5785

Here are the links to all the new CONDO listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days in Central Etobicoke/Markland Woods:

 > Up to $400,000 (http://bit.ly/ycF8qK)
> $400,000 to $600,000 (none this week…)
> $600,000 to $800,000 (http://bit.ly/A3m4EG) 
> over $800,000 (none this week…)

 Here are the links to all the new CONDO listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days in Etobicoke/Lakeshore:

 > Up to $400,000 (http://bit.ly/zI4nn9) 
> $400,000 to $600,000 (http://bit.ly/wdEGcc)

> $600,000 to $800,000 (http://bit.ly/y0pfmt)  

> over $800,000 (none this week….)

If you’d like to see any of these condo’s, contact LoriAnn directly.

TICKETS ARE FREE, but must be reserved in advance. We tape Monday through Thursday, from 4pm to 6pm at the CBC Building, 25 John Street, Toronto. Audience check-in time is 3:30pm unless otherwise noted. Click the “Show Dates” drop-down menu below for a list of upcoming guests.   You can attend as many times as available.

UPDATE –  AFTTER THE SHOW:  The show was great!!  If you have the afternoon off, its definitely worth going.  Yes, you will initially wait in a line up, however, once you get seated, there’s not a lot of just sitting around.   There is the audience entertainer who was super quick witted and engaging to keep us laughing, and at one point George himself did a Q&A session with the audience so we wouldn’t be just sitting there.  Each taping segment was done once – no stops or re-takes (hallelujah), and the interviews were of a nice length.  (As an aside, you HAVE to see the Jordan interview.  He is such a grounded and humble individual with a very interesting background, and an endearing personality.) 

For those of you who, like me, have never seen the show before  (oh stop gasping, I was at the live taping to make up for it!) there is no live performance.  However, there are also no scripted questions or answers, which allows the interviews to flow and real personalities to come out.  Questions can get real deep and answers to be off the cuff.  It was great.  The initial segment was humorous as well showing how quick-witted George really is.  And, for those of you who love trivia, there were some give-a-ways as well!!

What a super afternoon!  Thanks George!

What a busy week! We had 95 new listings – 46 new HOME listings and 49 new CONDO listings in the past 7 days!!

Here are the links to all the new HOME listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days in Central Etobicoke/Markland Woods:

> Up to $400,000 (none this week…)
> $400,000 to $600,000 (http://bit.ly/yve4GG)
> $600,000 to $800,000 (http://bit.ly/zQIYWf)
> over $800,000 (http://bit.ly/w8BNKO)

Here are the links to all the new HOME listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days in Etobicoke/Lakeshore:

> Up to $400,000 (http://bit.ly/zSI0o1)
> $400,000 to $600,000 (http://bit.ly/wUyCA0)
> $600,000 to $800,000 (http://bit.ly/z4aJbH)
> over $800,000 (http://bit.ly/xkOuKn)

If you’d like to see any of these homes, contact LoriAnn directly:
email: loriann@lorianntoplak.com
call/text: 416-899-5785

Here are the links to all the new CONDO listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days in Central Etobicoke/Markland Woods:

> Up to $400,000 (http://bit.ly/Al5ezR)
> $400,000 to $600,000 (http://bit.ly/z8wStz)
> $600,000 to $800,000 (none this week….)
> over $800,000 (none this week…)

Here are the links to all the new CONDO listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days in Etobicoke/Lakeshore:

> Up to $300,000 (http://bit.ly/wW1QsM)
> $300,000 to $400,000 (http://bit.ly/yqo2wB)
> $400,000 to $600,000 (http://bit.ly/xSMxQo)
> $600,000 to $800,000 (http://bit.ly/ylHYRk)
> over $800,000 (none this week….)

If you’d like to see any of these condo’s, contact LoriAnn directly.

I’ll be back next week with all the new listings.

LoriAnn Toplak

A registered retirement savings plan, commonly referred to as an RRSP, is a savings tool that helps you invest the money you save over the course of your life, to supplement your income during retirement. The main advantage of this government-regulated program is that it allows you to put off paying taxes on your contributions. Every penny you invest in your RRSP is deducted from your annual income, which earns you short-term tax savings, usually in the form of a substantial refund after you’ve filed your tax return. Moreover, the income your investments generate, whether in the form of interest, dividends or capital gains, is also tax-sheltered. 

When you retire, you can spread out your withdrawals from your RRSP over many years and you only pay income tax on the amount you withdraw. Because your annual income will probably be lower when you’re retired than when you were working, you’ll pay lower taxes. But that’s not all!  Retirement isn’t the only use for your RRSP: you can also use it to buy your first home or finance your studies without paying extra taxes.

The annual contribution limit is 18% of your previous year’s earned income, to a maximum of $22,450 (for 2011), less any pension adjustments.  If you have not maximized your contributions, you can carry forward any RRSP room you have.

Contributions can be invested in a wide range of products such as a savings account, GIC’s, mutual funds, stocks or bonds.  You can also make contributions on a monthly or more frequent basis to tie in with your paycheque.  Paying yourself first is a disciplined way of investing and allows you take advantage of the ups and downs in the market.  If you deposit $100 every other week, and can earn an average of 5% over the long-term, do you know what the value would be after 30 years?

The deadline for contributions to apply to your 2011 income is Wednesday February 29.  If you would like more information feel free to contact Francine Dick, CFP at fdick@qtradeam.ca or telephone 416-506-1074.

While there may be more expensive homes and lots available, as of January 2011, this was the most expensive listing in not only Toronto, but all of Canada!  Although it did not sell and is currently not on the market, that’s pretty impressive.

Soooooo, what does one get for almost $27 Million?

Lets start with 26 + 5 rooms, 7+2 bedrooms and 13 washrooms!!  Add such amenities as an indoor tennis court, bowling alley, indoor pool, movie room, indoor putting range, 8 car attached garage, multiple kitchens, guest house…..   The master bedroom itself is over 4000 square feet!

In the past 2 years, there have been 3 other listings on the Toronto market in 2011, none has sold and one is still available – all over $23 million.  As an aside, what does one do with 22,000 or 30,000 square feet of living space??

On the flip side……..  can investors and first time home buyers still get properties under $400k.  Absolutely.  They don’t come up often and you have to move quickly, but they are around.  One home sold this year for $213k – attached home, set up as 2 x one bedroom apartments, both tenanted bringing in almost $1300 for rent.  Not a bad investment at all!  Would there be upgrades and renovations that needed to be done – absolutely.  However at that price, there’s money left over to put some work into the home.  

A client of mine purchased a great 2 unit home for $230k last year.  Her only decision?  Should she live in the lower level and rent out the one bedroom main floor where the tenant’s rent covers the mortgage?  Or should she live upstairs and rent out the lower level large bachelor unit where her mortgage would be a few hundred dollars a month?  Either way, she owns her own home, pays less than she was renting, and is building equity.

For more information on great opportunities, contact LoriAnn today!  416-899-5785 or loriann@lorianntoplak.com, www.LoriAnnToplak.com

Well you’ve been telling everyone that will listen that your home is the best thing since sliced bread.  Its time to put your money where your mouth is and here is your chance.  If you think you’ve got a pretty cool home, this is a pretty cool opportunity fo show the world….

May the Best House Win is on the hunt house proud home owners in Toronto’s various neighbourhoods. The show is looking for home owners who believe their home is a one-of-a-kind, brag-worthy, downright perfect showpiece. And a perfect home deserves to be shown off.

May the Best House Win is the ultimate Open House experience – giving participants a chance to brag about their living space and a vie for $1000. Each home owner will host a home tour for three guests. The guests will get a chance to tour the home, secretly give their opinions, and rate the home out of 10, hoping that at the end of the experience, it’s their home that comes out on top – May the Best House Win.

May the Best House Win consists of 13 episodes; 52 house proud home owners will be selected to participate in the ultimate open house experience. The audition process if well underway. Filming will begin as early as March. Selected participants will be required to be available for 4 consecutive days to complete the filming of the episode. Each participant will receive an honorarium for their time and the ultimate winner will received the prize of $1000

All interested home owners should contact besthouse@propertelevision.com or 416.598.2500 x297 for details.

For more information, click here.

Now is not the time to feign shyness.  Its your time to show off and shine.  GOOD LUCK!!

  hi Melissa,

Bought a toshiba satellite computer last December and have been plagued with issues ever since.

The disc drive stopped opening one month after purchase, but when took to repair they wanted to keep the computer for a week – not conducive to my work!  i since had to buy an external cd/dvd player.

i had problems about a month or so after buying, and called your company to get help to reboot.

 The windows operating system has closed automatically over the last 6 months, (at last scan over 140 times), but since it kept re-opening, i could deal with it.  It said i needed the newer version of Nortons, but even that didn’t help!

 finally last week the computer stopped working all together – it won’t start at all and F2 and F12 won’t help.  i’ve tried the external cd/dvd player with windows 7 backup disc and it won’t load.

after calling your lovely toshiba line, i got a testy lady letting me know that without payment, she would not help me since my warranty expired recently, and that i should have called earlier with all my problems.  after the problems i’ve been having, i’m not paying another penny for this machine!

 if this is representative of toshiba products, its pretty sad.

i’m interested to see what can be done………

 Here’s the reply:
Subject: RE: toshiba computer
From: “Melissa”
Date: Mon, January 23, 2012 11:51 am
To: “‘LoriAnn Toplak’”
Hi LoriAnn,

 Thank you for providing detailed information. I have sent this to our senior customer support team for review, they will contact you directly.
 Melissa
And so the wait begins.   We’ll see how long the review takes and if there’s a response at all.  I’ll keep you posted……
 
Feb 20, 2012.  Sigh.  The saga continues.  So Toshiba offered to fix the hard drive and reboot the computer at no charge.  I had to drop off the computer in Markham and pick it up as well.  I also mentioned the CD drive does not open.  I get a call to say its ready for pick up, and I ask again if the CD drive was fixed, to a response “should we look into that for you or would you like to bring it back to get that fixed?”.  Are you kidding me? 
I then have to wait for it to be fixed and I get another call to pick it up.  I open the box and of course the CD drive is not fixed.  What a surprise (sarcasm galore).
So that was around 2 weeks ago.  Let me repeat that – about TWO WEEKS AGO.   Since then, I’ve contacted Al from the service department (voice msg and email) with no response.  I’ve had so many problems it’s almost unbelievable if you’re not working on this plastic hunk of junk.  I even have to keep saving this blog post as the screen can freeze or windows could close unexpectedly at any time and I’ll lose my work.  Windows has closed unexpectedly over 18 times by now (I’ve lost count at 8 times TODAY ALONE!), the pages load with errors (and therefore don’t work properly), the screen flashes at times, line error messages come up (and pages won’t load). I have to keep shutting down the computer and re-starting just to attempt to get pages to load property and lots of times windows just keeps closing.    Did I mention that the computer was ‘fixed’ about 2 weeks ago??    I’d toss the laptop out the window, but knowing my luck with the crap, it would bounce back and probably knock me unconscious.  Hmmm, maybe that’s not a bad idea.  At least I could temporarily forget this nightmare!!
 
 

Urban Nirvana Thai Massage and Yoga is hosting a Grand Opening Showcase Week Jan 16-22, featuring a variety of classes: yoga, pilates, dance and martial arts for $5 per class!

Classes range from restorative and gentle relaxation to more vigorous practices for everybody. The idea is for the community, thru their feedback, to help us decide which classes to keep on the schedule! The class schedule is here:
http://urban-nirvana.ca/classes/

The place is located at 895 Yonge Street on the 2nd floor. It’s a rooftop studio that looks over some of the Toronto skyline and it’s truly an awesome place. The teachers come from various backgrounds and all have amazing energy.

Multidisciplinary movement studio in Yorkville, Toronto | Thai Massage and Yoga Studio – Urban Nirvana

Taken from my BMO Smartsteps blog:  Many first time buyers prefer condo living – its affordable, maintenance-free, and there’s the possibility of having lots of amenities right in the building. $500,000 can buy you into a 700 to 1,000 sq.ft one to two bedroom unit, even once in a while, a two bedroom + den unit. Choices in area can range from The Beaches to Bay/Bloor, Entertainment District to King West, or St Clair/Bathurst to Yonge/Eglinton. And yes, this price can include parking. Expect to pay anywhere from $450 to $600 per square foot depending on location. But luxury and waterfront buildings can go as high as $700 to $1,000 psf.

When looking at condo buildings, consider your needs. Do you want amenities a short elevator ride away, or do you like walking around the neighbourhood? Would you use any of the facilities offered, or will you be paying for maintenance you’ll never use? Do you love having lots of people in your building, or do you prefer fewer units?

Larger tower buildings are in high density areas and usually offer smaller units in lieu of an array of conveniences. The area should keep you so busy you only need your room to sleep in. Tower buildings can offer such amenities as a concierge, exercise room, games room, guest suites, gym, media room, indoor or outdoor pool, party room, rooftop terrace, sauna, and even bowling.

Smaller buildings are more frill-free, and may only have a few amenities such as visitor parking and a rooftop terrace. The focus is on the neighbourhood where you’ll find everything you need a short stroll away. Usually the maintenance fees are lower and the building can have more of a community feel to it.

Older buildings generally have higher maintenance fees, however the units are usually larger and the buildings are most likely are equipped with security, pools, gyms, and more.

Consider your lifestyle when making a list of what you must have in a home, and what you’d like to have. Toronto home ownership is like a relationship – it’s all about compromising.

Taken from my BMO Smartsteps blog post:  Not every first time buyer wants to live in a condo – so with a cool $500,000 here are some other options to explore in Toronto.

Townhouses under $500,000 can be found in many locations across the city and range in size from 650 to over 1,000 square feet. There are great locations to choose from: Little Italy, Leslieville, The Beaches, Liberty Village, and King West. In addition to the usual row house style townhouses – growing in popularity are the trendy and more affordable stacked townhouses, these are multi-unit buildings with their own private entrance placed on top of each other vertically. Townhouses are great options for home ownership, with usually lower maintenance fees than condominiums. Expect no amenities, with the exception of possibly some green space (hooray for dog owners), so make sure the neighbourhood has the coffee shop or gym that you need.

So where can you buy a detached home for $500,000 in Toronto? You’ll be looking in pockets known as The Junction, Earlcourt, Leslieville and The Upper Beaches. Depending on availability, you can still find a three-bedroom renovated semi-detached home at this price, however it won’t always be in the area you prefer. And not all come with that coveted parking spot, some may need a bit of work, but you’ll have your own home in the city – which is a reward in itself.

Toronto living is about give and take – determine what on your wish list you can do without, and what you just have to have to call a place your “home.”

Services include manicures, pedicures, waxing and facials.  All you need is a bit of space, and you’re all set.  The mobile spa is great for busy professionals, weddings, mothers…..and everyone else!

Most clients live in Toronto, however The Urban Beauty Bar has travelled as far as London for spa parties…..call Nina to inquire about travel fees.

And you can be sure that the products are chemical free; even the nail polish.  Nina focuses on local, Canadian based organic products.

Contact Nina today:  nina@theurbanbeautybar.com or call/text 641-232-6826.

Update Feb 20, 2012 – Exciting news!!  For those of you who would like to meet Nina before bringing her over to your home, feel free to visit her at 3777 Lakeshore Blvd West.  Or even better, drop by or ser up an appointment!!  Located in ‘Depicted Beauty’, you’ll definitely feel comfortable in this welcoming venue.   I had an appointment for a hand paraffin treatment.  Wow!  The heat definitely penetrated into my bones and smoothed out the skin making me leave feeling wonderful.  Book your treatment today – you’ll thank me!!

With all those harsh chemicals out there in many products we use, keep an eye out for Nina’s up and coming natural products.  Her goal is create a line that is chemical free and cost effective.