Should I Stay or Should I Go?

The immortal words of The Clash ring in my ears every time I hear the Bank of Canada has cut the prime rate. (I'm sure this is exactly what Joe Strummer and the boys had in mind when they penned Combat Rock's punk anthem)
More to the point for many mortgage holders is whether now is the time to break the shackles of their fixed-rate mortgages for the low, low and lower cost of a variable-rate mortgage. In 2005, a five-year fixed rate of 5.5 per cent sounded like a pretty sweet deal, especially as compared to the 18 per cent folks were paying in the early 1980s.
Times change. With the latest BoC cut, banks are offering variable-rate mortgages for as little as 1.9 per cent.
So, is it worth breaking your existing fixed-rate to get with the variable flow? A tricky question but one that Professor Moshe Milvesky of York University might be able to help you with.
Milevsky has created an interactive mortgage savings calculator that allows you to punch in a few numbers and let you see how much you'll save by breaking one mortgage and opting for another. The math is simple, in theory. The penalty could be as straightforward as the equivalent of three months of interest at your current rate.
Increasingly, however, banks are basing the penalty on something called an Interest Rate Differential (IRD) . It's based on a hocus-pocus calculation of the spread between the actual and new rate, multiplied by the balance owing and the number of months of payments left on the mortgage term.
Milevsky got a lot of ink in 2001 with a study that showed that people who opted for variable rate mortgages came out ahead of those who chose the stability of fixed rate mortgages 88 per cent of the time. I interviewed him and was persuaded to go the variable rate route. Haven't regretted it, either.
Today's environment might be the time when locking in makes sense, he told ctv.ca

That Sinking Feeling

The New York Times had a good piece in yesterday's Home & Garden section about five easy fixes any homeowner can do to make their home more efficient.
Face it, not everyone is in a position to install photovoltaic panels on the roof to capture and convert the sun's rays into energy (though one of my Verdun neighbors seems to have done just that). Everyone can fill a 2-litre pop bottle with water and place it in the toilet tank to reduce the amount of water that goes swirling down the bog every time you flush.
Perhaps the smartest fix is replacing your old electromechanical thermostat with a newfangled electronic gizmo. Hydro-Québec offers residential customers up to $65 back on the purchase of programmable electronic thermostats and another $65 (maximum) rebate if installation is done by a master electrician.
I have no idea how hard it is to install an electronic thermostat but I can't imagine it's a job that requires the services of a top-drawer electrician. He'll charge you an easy $65 just to cross the threshold. Maybe I'm asking to be electrocuted.
Bottom line? Swapping out the imprecise old thermostats will save you 10 per cent on annual heating costs. It'll also allow you to preset the system so that the furnace kicks in just before you wake in the morning, ensuring a toasty wake-up and cooler temperatures during the day if and when no one is home.
But I digress. The thing that really caught my eye in the Times pieces, was mention of the SinkPositive, essentially a toilet tank topped with a hands-free sink. Everyime you flush, water comes out the tap. The water you use to wash your hands then cycles into the toilet tank and is used to flush.
By the looks of the installation video, it's pretty easy to hook up. Here's the big problem: no hot water. That's right, you have to wash your hands with the icy cold water from the main water line. Yikes! Besides, call me crazy, but I think there's a cognitive disconnect involved. Rationally, we all know that the water in the toilet tank is perfectly clean. And yet, ewww! I'm washing my hands in the toilet.
I'm not sure it's an idea whose time has come.

Home Insurers' Use of Credit Scores Raises Red Flag

Consumer groups are warning that the way insurance companies use consumer credit scores to determine home insurance rates could affect affordability for some. The widespread industry practice also raises privacy questions.
The Globe & Mail and Toronto Star (no link) both report on the practice by some insurers to check their client's Transunion, Equifax and Experian files. The logic is that people who are late paying their bills are also likely to be less responsible homeowners.
No one, not even an insurance company, can access your credit information without your explicit approval. The insurance companies acknowledge as much. No one will be denied insurance if they refuse to allow an insurer to peek at their credit report, they say. You just might not get the very best rate possible, if you don't.
To quote Paul Simon: "What is the point of this story? What information pertains?" You should ask to see a copy of your credit report - if for no other reason than to know where you stand. If you're buying a house, applying for a car loan or looking for home insurance, having a clean credit report could save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars down the road.

Griffintown Saved?

Looks like brute economic forces have done to Devimco's ill-conceived $1.3-billion redevelopment of Griffintown what grassroots democracy and common sense at city hall could not?
Hey, we'll take it!
The developer has already had to scale back the project because of the economic downturn. The city has in turn lifted expropriation orders on 27 properties along Peel and Wellington Sts., freeing those owners to lease or sell their buildings. Some of them might even tear them down and rebuild, thanks to the new PPU (plan particulier d'urbanisme) or urban plan that Devimco bullied through city hall last year.
Irony of ironies that the the strong-armed developer actually may have helped the mostly small building owners of the area kick start change in the gritty and historic old industrial neighborhood.
In La Presse, Devimco president Serge Goulet said he's already spent $10 million on area improvements without seeing any return. Now it's time for the city to pony up or else he'll head back to Brossard and continue working on his Dix/30 mega-shoppotainment complex.
If it has any brains (?), city hall will take a pass and says "Merci M. Goulet. Attention que la porte ne vous frappe pas les cuisses!"

Household Objects May Be More Animated Than They Appear

Totally loving these installations by artist Rune Guneriussen. Common household objects like desk lamps and rotary-dial phones are transformed by placing them in group settings in the great outdoors. I'd love to have a massive photo reproduction of this or this in my living room.

Barbie's Malibu Dream House, For Real!

UPDATE The L.A. Times has a story and photos from the Barbie party. Also, the designer's name is Jonathan Adler, not Ken. That would have been too perfect.

A California decorator has dolled up a 3,500-square-foot Malibu mansion to resemble a real-life Barbie Dream Home.
Toymaker Mattel commissioned the house overlooking the Pacific Ocean as part of the festivities marking the preternaturally perfect plaything's 50th birthday.
Designer Ken Adler told the Associated Press he went for "glamorous, kittenish, chic, colorful and happy". That translated into pink, pink and more pink with the stylized "B" monogram throughout. Among the highlights, a $200,000 Andy Warhol portrait and a chandelier made up of 30 blonde wigs.(Sounds like a fire hazard to me.)
The kitchen is stocked with cupcake-making ingredients, while the walk-in closet has 50 pairs of peep-toed heels.
Where do you suppose Ken hangs his safari suits if Barbie's filling the closets with impractical shoes? Oh, that's right, Barbie and Ken broke up on Valentine's Day, 2004, after dating for more than 43 years. (In my mind, I can hear Beyoncé singing Single Ladies: "Ken, if you liked it, then you shoulda put a ring on it. Oh-oh-oh!")
The Dream Home will be the site of swanky party on Monday - all the plastic people will be there. The decor will then be shipped to the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, where Barbiephiles will be able to book a stay in a Barbie-themed suite.
The picture above shows the original 1960 Barbie Dream Home. I can't seem to make the link for the AP story work, but you can Google it.

Excellence Award For Green Development

A "green" condominium project on Nuns' Island has been awarded the Quebec Homebuilders' Association's highest prize, le prix Domus, for ecological excellence in residential construction.
The hardware has been given to Le Vistal, an ambitious two-tower project under development by Proment Corp.
Le Vistal is being billed as the largest residential project in Quebec being built according to LEED specifications for energy efficiency, environmental impact and sustainability. The 25-storey glass towers, rising on the south or open water side of Nuns' Island will feature elements like geothermal and passive solar energy, air-recovery systems, high-efficiency water management and a planted green roof over the underground parking garage to allow rain to be more efficiently reabsorbed into the ground.
The project has a $50-million budget, of which $1 million is dedicated to energy efficiency. The building will use 35-per-cent less energy than a conventionally built project of similar size.
Other features include the use of local building materials like wood and Quebec granite, rather than imports that might cost less but leave a larger carbon footprint. As much as 45 per cent of the concrete used on the site will be recycled. Manufacturing concrete is a killer in terms of the ratio of raw materials to finished product and the energy required in the transformation.
Proment has been building on Nuns' Island for more than 40 years. Chairman Sam Gewurz takes a lot of grief from bird watchers and environmentalists. They would prefer that he stop building. But here's my take on Gewurz and Proment - he never stops learning and he never stops striving to do better. He's incorporated riverfront walking paths, a forest preserve and a green corridor for migratory birds into each of his developments over the years.
With Le Vistal, Proment is setting the bar higher by taking on the added expense and logistical nightmares of building a high-rise project to the exacting specs of the Canada Green Building Council. The council oversees the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Leadership.)
Buyers, albeit, deep-pocketed buyers, are responding. Phase I is 95 per cent sold. Phase II is 75 per cent sold. Prices range from $230,000 for a 675-square-foot suite to $1.5-million for a lordly 2,600 square feet. They throw in the breath-taking river views for free.

February: Sales Declined But Prices Rose

The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board issued hotly anticipated new data on the local market this morning. It shows that sales fell overall by 30 per cent in the metropolitan area last month but that prices increased by 2 per cent.

Here's the breakdown:

Single-family homes: 1,947 sold, -30%, average price $225,000, +2%

Condominiums: 863 sold, -32%, average price $187,000, +6%

Plexes (2-5 units): 291 sold, -27%, average price $329,000, -1%.

The good news is that despite uncertainty in the economy, Montreal homeowners are in no panic to dump their homes. The flip side is that fewer people are inclined to list their homes unless they have to. A total of 7,360 new listings were added to the board's computerized MLS system in February, a 7-per-cent decrease compared to the same month a year ago.

Statisticians also caution against drawing conclusions from a small survey. One month's worth of statistics don't tell the whole story.

When Times Get Tough, Small Gets Big

UPDATE I just spotted this story on the renaissance of post-war housing on househunting.ca


There's a story in the current issue of Businessweek magazine about KB Homes, one of the largest builders in the U.S. offering 880-square-foot homes in Houston for the bargain price of $64,000. That buys you two bedrooms and 1.5 baths.
It's a return to roots for KB, which got its start building homes for World War II veterans in places like Levittown, NY.
If you know folk music, or have watched the TV show Weeds, you might be familiar with the song "Little Boxes". Songwriter Malvina Reynolds was inspired by a photo of Levittown she saw in Life magazine.

Little boxes on the hillside/Little boxes made of ticky-tacky/Little boxes, all the same.

The 880-square-foot "mini-houses", as Businessweek calls them, are direct descendants of those post-war homes.
KB Homes' chief exec says the cottages are the right house for a troubled U.S. market. Buyers today are asking themselves "What do I need?" not "What do I want?"
Montreal has its share of Levittown style cottages. Crawford Park, the so-called "Westmount of Verdun" is made up almost exclusively these peak-roofed houses on big lots. You'll also find them in western NDG, Rosemont and Ville Emard. Over the years, people have added dormers to the slope-roofed second storeys or extensions to gain extra living space. They're small, about 950 to 1,000 square feet of living space, but hardly what I'd call mini.
They've become hot commodites locally over the last decade, with the average price of a Crawford Park cottage leaping from about $95,000 in 1998 to in the range of $275,000 today.
It isn't about economic necessity, either. The houses are solidly built and, as mentioned sit on big ol' lots - typically between 4,000 and 5,000 square feet. There's lots of room to expand. Besides, they are all located in mature neighbohoods with big trees, quiet streets and a real sense of community.
We've just come through the era of the McMansion, all looming double-wide garages, pretentious porticos and fake turret. Excess houses for excess times. Maybe it's time for smaller,simpler homes to make a big comeback.

Give Up The Rolls? Nevah!

Further signs of the apocalypse come today from the New York Times, which reports on a Manhattan agent who is considering giving up her chauffeur-driven Rolls. OMG! Soon the baying hounds of economic restraint will expect us to ground our corporate jets, like so many cap-in-hand automobile executives.
I can't imagine the realtor's humiliation at having to downgrade to a lowly Audi. Oh the humanity!
Seriously, the Rolls, or in my case the Jaguar, is a business must. It tells clients that I am "successful". By extension, anyone who rides with me must be "successful" too. Still, needs must in these sober times. Here's what I've done - maybe you'll find this tip useful. I've had my Jag customized so that it bears an uncanny resemblance to an '03 Focus Wagon. (Seriously, you'd think it was the real thing.) So, those in the know, enjoy the incomparable luxury of a Jag but all the outside world sees is a boxy grey car with a slight ding on the front driver's side. It's what you might call a win-win.

Read the Times story here