Richard Silver

Archive for April, 2009

Province of Ontario’s Bill 150: the Green Energy Act

Years ago both the Toronto Real Estate Board and the Ontario Real Estate Association started lobbying the Government of Ontario to institute Green policies throughout the Province. However, what the Provincial Government has proposed in its' Green Energy Act has some very fundamental flaws which should be looked at: At present, in Bill 150, the Province is moving ahead with mandating energy audits on Residential Real Estate, making it part of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Condominiums, Commercial and Industrial properties however...Continue Reading...

Toronto City Council: An Idea whose time has come!!

If you have not noticed, Toronto City Council has been a greater mess than we have experienced for years. More taxes, hidden fees, special interests, posturing on the left wing and the right. Worst of all however, and part and parcel of what drives the issues is the politics surrounding the Wards. Aldermen want to be re-elected and in this City Council that means if you support the Mayor, there is a good chance that issues that effect your ward will be...Continue Reading...

Toronto Condominiums: Go New or Renovate?

The other day I was a guest on a CBC Radio show with Rita Celli called "Ontario Today". It was a call-in show and I fielded questions for one hour after a short interview. The topic, of course, was Real Estate, and there were some great calls. However, yesterday, I received an email from my web site and thought it was a great subject that needed discussed so I asked the sender if he would mind my quoting his question: I...Continue Reading...

Twitter Tweets from Interview with Jean Chretien at the CREA Leadership Conference 2009

This past Sunday at the Canadian Real Estate Association Leadership Conference in Gatineau, Quebec we were all charmed by by an interview with Right Honourable Jean Chretien. It was interesting to hear this past Prime Minister of Canada, relaxed and being interviewed in front of us by a CREA Staff Member about his life in Politics and Leadership. I must admit to not being a great fan of his as Prime Minister but I found him very insightful, relaxed, self effacing and funny and...Continue Reading...

My Real Estate Update: The Team Approach Works…

My day usually begins before 5 AM (seriously...look at the time stamp on emails you get from me). It is my time to return overnight emails, keep up-to-date through RSS feeds with emerging Technology and the real estate market, write blogs, input listings, feature sheets, read the Globe and Mail, update Virtual Tours, draft Agreements of Purchase and Sale and work on www.RichardSilver.com, etc., etc., etc., without the office or cell phone interrupting me. I will happily admit that I am a...Continue Reading...