Richard Silver

Archive for September, 2009

What Kind of Mayor Does Toronto Need Now?

With David Miller deciding not to run in the upcoming Toronto Mayoralty race, it begs the question "What kind of Mayor does Toronto need now?"  Mayor Miller has left us with a wonderful City in decline... If you, like me, are wondering why it took a 5 week summer Strike to end up with a City Workers contract that could have probably been negotiated without a Strike, I would tell you that it is symptomatic of what is wrong with Mayor...Continue Reading...

Real Estate: Downsizing with Style and Grace: Part Two

Thanks for the great response and ideas from the first post on Downsizing...before I add some more thoughts, let's talk about some of the issues generated after Post One: There seems to be a universal response to the negative naming of the difficult process: Downsizing. However, I remembered with some friendly prodding that Barry Lebow, Founder of  The Accredited Senior Agent Designation refers to it as "Rightsizing", a term defined as "to undergo a reduction to an optimal size". I like referring...Continue Reading...

Real Estate: Downsizing with Style and Grace: Part One

Up-sizing is real easy to do....we start with very little and at each and every stage we add more...and more. Fast forward a few years and young or old....you look around and find yourself surrounded by THINGS (of course they are Family Heirlooms too)....but do we really need them? Could we live in less space? Could we live in multiple locations at different times of the year by selling the larger home. Of course...but the enormity of the job ahead  hits with major...Continue Reading...

Toronto: Saturday Night on St. Clair Avenue West

Last Saturday night we dropped in on the new location of one of our favorite Italian restaurants: Acquolina Ristorante. They moved to 760 St. Clair Avenue West recently from their original on Mt. Pleasant Road. As usual, the food and service were great however... It has been a while since I drove the length of St. Clair Avenue West from Yonge Street to Christie Avenue without construction...and now we could truly experience the finished product of the past three years, including special...Continue Reading...

Toronto Real Estate Board Releases Canadian Consumer Price Index August 2009

Click on the Full Screen Button at the bottom of this slide to View. Then press ESC or escape when finished. Canadian Consumer Price Index August2009View more documents from Richard Silver.Continue Reading...

GTA REALTORS® Report Sales and Price Growth in September

TORONTO, September 16, 2009 - In the first two weeks of September, Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 3,361 sales – up 23 per cent compared to the first two weeks of September 2008. The average price for these transactions was up eight per cent year-over-year to $393,818. "An increasing number of positive reports pointing to economic recovery coupled with low interest rates have kept households confident in purchasing a home," said TREB President Tom Lebour. (more...)Continue Reading...

Some Video of the Cabbagetown Festival 2009….Why people love Cabbagetown!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6N7RTCu0R0[/youtube] Every year, the weekend after Labour Day in Toronto, Ontario, the residents of Cabbagetown get together and celebrate the neighborhood. It starts early in the morning with Blair's Run in support of the Cabbagetown Youth Centre, a Parade and then the Cabbagetown Arts and Crafts Show in Riverdale Park! There is great eats at the Park, Farm and on Parliament Street that really highlight the diversity of the neighborhood. It serves to remind us all that Cabbagetown is just a...Continue Reading...

Toronto Real Estate Board Launches Housing Market Stats

Great News! The Toronto Real Estate Board is providing us with housing market information in graph format that will help you be up-to-date about what is really happening in the Toronto Real Estate Market. Let me know what you think, or if you need more clarification and know that I will be updating these graphs on my web sites as they are published by TREB.... so please come back for next month's updates. Click here for Toronto Real Estate Board Market Stats Toronto...Continue Reading...

Artichokes: My Favourite Vegetable

 In my last years of University, I spent a Summer in Santa Cruz, California. Just South of there is a town called Castroville, California and it is the home of the big ARTICHOKE and the Artichoke Festival!!! It was there and then that I tried my first fresh Artichoke and I have been enamoured with the vegetable ever since. We eat them fresh as often as we can because they are very high in anti-oxidents, low in fat (except for the...Continue Reading...

Social Media: Gary Vaynerchuk Strikes Again!!

If you have not noticed before, I am a big fan of Gary Vaynerchuk. I heard him speak at Inman Real Estate Connect New York and was very impressed. He is living proof that Social Media and Web 2.o work and that they are not going away. In this video he echoes a lot of the frustration that a lot of us who "get it" feel when we have to spend so much time convincing those that don't. It is...Continue Reading...