The Lovely June Callwood, Founder of Casey House

Over 20 years ago, I found myself in the basement of a house on Isabella Street in downtown Toronto, handwriting receipts for donations given to a fairly new project called Casey House Hospice . I guess you could call it survivor guilt but by the mid to late 80′s I had a lot of friends who had been lost to HIV/AIDS. I became involved in fundraising for Casey House, sat on the Board and in the early-90′s was President of the Board of Directors of Casey House. I learned so much and was motivated by the work and words of the great June Callwood , who felt that death should be a “velvet experience”.

I was lucky enough to be part of a group that welcomed Princess Diana  to the house: not many people know this about Diana, Princess of Wales  but she was not only strikingly beautiful but conversant in sign language (ASL ) and physically touched the residents at a time when many of their families would not.

The work that has been done over the years by great staff and volunteers has been amazing. Casey house expanded into a Home Hospice. Art consultant Paul Conway and I chaired the first “Art with Heart”  event.

Last night we attended the “Casey House Snowball ”. It was a great event but the sad message is the battle is not over and infection rates have been rising. A few weeks ago I participated in the video attached and a Casey House Capital Campaign was launched to build a new Casey House that would add  a Day Centre to the Home Hospice and Residence.

I would ask that you please keep it in mind as a charity that you would like to support. I know that it has and always will be that special place that June Callwood and the original volunteers first conceived. The work is not over and your help is needed.

Please take a couple of minutes to watch this video.

casa de los arcos

Let me begin by saying that I totally understand the lure of “all inclusive” vacations and have taken them numerous times when my mental ability was at an all time low and deciding where to go for dinner was a major decision…

That said, if I have the time and even passable energy, I am always happier and more fulfilled when I can experience a total change in culture and weather.

I have travelled in the Far East, India, Africa, South America, Central America, the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia and even Antarctica. I have tried everything in terms of types of travel: Cruises, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and from the highest end to the lowest….camping on the 4 day Trek to Machu Picchu , nearly did me in….

However, at the end of the day my favourite holidays have been in Puerto Vallarta Mexico . We always stay above the old town, usually at Casa de Los Arcos.  It is a villa owned by my friend Susan Wiseman and has commanding views of Banderas Bay .

Our days are simple starting with a walk down the hill through the cobblestone streets to the Malecon /Boardwalk. We explore different areas in our 1 hour  walk and usually end up at Fredy’s Tucan , Cafe’ San Angel  or the Memo’s Pancake House  for breakfast. The “people watching” whether it is the Gringos  or the locals is better than a Broadway Show and you never know what you will see.

Lunch is usually picked up at Pollo Feliz  (the Happy Chicken) though I don’t know what he would be happy about since they are barbecued splayed in the Portugese tradition….we refer to it as road kill chicken but the taste is amazing…

Afternoons are spent reading, blogging swimming, whale watching from the hillside and of course, napping…a Siesta is a must.

Evenings are an easy walk down to the Zona Romantica  where we can go to El Brujo  for the Shrimp Fajitas and bubbling Cilantro Cheese, La Piazzetta  for their great Pizzas and Pastas…Archie’s Wok  for Asian cuisine and El Repollo Rojo  (the Red Cabbage) know for it’s signature Chiles en Nogado…

The days go by and get all jumbled but there is a lot to see and do with great streets to walk, markets to shop, books to read…

If you have not tried this kind of holiday, I would encourage it. I know too many people who travel and expect the American experience when they land. Experiencing other cultures, food and music makes us appreciate the world more and that is what good travel is all about.

So this morning, I was taking a nice long New Year’s walk…around the deck of a Cruise Ship as we are leaving Antarctica (not a bad life!). I challenged myself, as I routinely do to try to decide on changes that need to be made in my life.

Clarity came to me after a couple of minutes: I think that the whole concept of New year’s resolutions means that last year was not up to snuff. Is there an assumption that each year must be better than the next? Last year was a great year; sure, my weight went up and down, the Real Estate market went up and down, my commitment to exercise went up and down and my bank account went up and down…but then there were lots of great moments with friends and family with some new arrivals…

Remember the movie where Jack Nicholson  walked out of the Psychiatrist’s Office, looked around the waiting room at the other patients, had an “uh-huh” moment and said out loud “what if this is as good as it gets ” (also the name of the movie). The other patients looked at him in horror…

What if this is as good as it gets? What if my five-year plan has me doing exactly what I’m doing today? Is that a bad thing? 

This year, my New year’s resolution is “more of the same please”!

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 lanes for the TTC Trolleys….

Sadly, on a Saturday night at 6:30 PM (early eaters are we)…the street was vacant of any life. The St. Clair Avenue West BIA or Toronto City Council that proposed the rebuild of this vibrant area have really blown it. There used to be life on the Street, people sitting in sidewalk Cafes, shopping, strolling, etc.

I really hope that life will come back to the St. Clair Avenue West shopping area and it is just a timing issue for the neighborhood, especially since it seems that Eglinton Avenue West is next on the political  agenda…

Your thoughts on this are appreciated. Check out the changes on the street and at the same time…check out Acquolina Ristorante…

“The results for the first half of August indicate that many households in the GTA remain confident in their ability to purchase and pay for a home over the long term,” said TREB President Tom Lebour.

Year-to-date sales, at 54,303 are up slightly compared to 54,138 in 2008. Average price, at $385,603 is down by less than one half of one per cent.

“Strong resale housing demand will contribute to broader economic recovery as each transaction results in substantial spin-off benefits to other sectors of the
economy,” explained Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

Jeff Turner

Provide a great customer experience.

Jeff then spoke of Tech Tools to Leverage Social Media. 

Use the tools that help you achieve your Social Media goals:

1. Look outside the real estate industry. What is happening in other industries…
2. Move Offline to Online (Find other modes to get the message out). Add clients to Facebook (take your client database and put them on Facebook)
3. Care deeply about something. (Don’t just give lip service…get involved)
4. Share openly and often. Always be free with your knowledge….
5. Listen with intent. Are you really listening or thinking about what to say next?
6. Target someone unreachable (David Armano). Great stuff on David Armano’s Blog.
7. Teach a newbie. Be a mentor.
8. Meet face-to-face. At the end of the day it is all about the face-to-face, the social media is a way of getting there.

Some great questions were asked through the balance of the day:

• Does brand mean anything anymore?
• Are they all the same?
• Does it matter what brand a REALTOR has behind them?
• As “Teams” have evolved within Brands, will they move to be Independents to have more control over the product.
• Are Brokerages and Boards/Associations too numbers driven as a profit model?

Discussion about the use of the Amazon Kindle: Harper Studio led the discussion but it was not geared to potential uses in the future of Real Estate however it is interesting to note that usage is increasing exponentially. As a Kindle owner and user, I await applications that will allow listings to be viewed on the Kindle. Newspapers, Blogs and magazine’s are now downloading content to the Kindle overnight.

In another Discussion about Boards and market statistics….it was stated that Boards need to explain the data to the members to explain it to their clients…the Skinny. Short videos about the market down loadable to agents web sites and Blogs for content!  

Houston Area Realtors HAR.com is now allowing closed Buyers and sellers to rate their REALTORS and the services they provide. They are also working on a REALTOR production analyzer that will be available to the Public and help the consumer shop for an agent by past success in different areas and price range. When I asked Bob Hale, CEO of HAR.comwhy they were moving to that kind of transparency, he rightfully stated that if the Board/Association did not provide this service, it was their belief that a 3rd party would soon be providing it and the quality of data from the trade association would be better.

In discussing tools for surveys Zoomerang.com, Redfincalculates bonus by surveying their Buyers and Sellers (Redfin’s Realtors are paid salary) on survey, the ultimate question, since reviews launched conversion rate has increased 100 fold. Before then, they had a lot of people using their web site to search but not converting to online Consultants/Realtors. At the end of the day however, it was suggested that the most important question to ask is:

“How likely are you to recommend this Realtor’s real estate services to a friend or family?”

A speaker from MRIS’ Homesdatabase.com had a great top 10 for Consumer Focused web sites:

• 10. Aim for a particular duck: Who is your consumer?
• 9. Turn the binoculars around: What is your consumer searching for?
• 8. The Wine is only as good as the grapes: Garbage in, garbage out…
• 7. Get the big picture and the big pictures…Large photos and lots of them…
• 6. Don’t set it and forget it: keep the content up to date and add more applications
• 5. If it’s real, it’s spectacular: if it is worth doing it is worth overdoing…(my words)
• 4. Build it and they will not necessarily come: make it easy. MRIS describes their site as the most comprehensive Registration-free MLS search.
• 3. Make it habit forming. Consumers will come back if there is always something to come back to…
• 2. Show me the money. Make sure that it is benefiting all your members and their Brokers in terms of leads…
• 1. Stop, look and listen: continuously monitor the site….and ask for feedback…

It was a great second day…and sadly the afternoon was divided into 4 different tracks…try as I might I could not be in all 4 at the same time but…still a great day.

Related Blogs:

What I Learned at Inman Real Estate Connect: August 2009 Day Three

What I Learned at Inman Real Estate Connect: August 2009 Day One

Inman Real Estate Connect: August 2009 Sano Stante’s List

Social Media: REBarCamp San Francisco August 2009

REBarCamp San Francisco August 2009.

There is a mystique about Rosedale. Just responding “Rosedale” when people ask where you live is tantamount to admitting that you are enormously wealthy, have never worked a day in your life or care for anyone but yourself… You must be anti-anything that smacks of social consciousness.. Rosedale is the media darling in Canada when it comes to discussing the “privileged”.

But, for those who live there it is a Downtown neighborhood with a lot more diversity than the Media gives it credit for. I’ve lived there for 3 years but would still be considered on the outskirts of Rosedale (our street is south of Bloor) but when asked, I do hesitate to say where I live because of all the baggage that entails.. Of course, I have not been back to any High School reunions where I would proudly wear a flashing ROSEDALE sign on my back. See, I flunked my High School gym class and lived through 3 years of intimidation..

However, the great thing about Rosedale is its’ proximity to everything in the City; half way to the Danforth or Yorkville, half way to the Financial District or Yonge and Eglinton and like all of the Downtown is starting to be filled with new voices, young families and caring neighbours..

On our street we watch out for each other, there are lots of children and dogs and we get together each year at a neighbors for Halloween. We have our own mayor and he is in charge of keeping an eye out and updating all of us on each others health concerns….and of course, garbage pick up. He monitors a couple of shut-ins on the street and anytime there are leftovers they have a way of working their way down the street. In other words, we are a community.

So the next time you hear the Media or your friends making assumptions about Rosedale, remember, it is a community of people whose real “privilege” is to live in the centre of Toronto.

Nothing gets you scurrying to the windows faster than to see what the neighbors have put out; Recycling, Garbage and is it leaf day? What if the neighbors are wrong? The Leaves can sit there for a month!

Usually someone heads to the kitchen drawer where the calendar was last seen…it’s not there! Someone heads to the utility room…or is it in the garage? Help!

A Great Idea;

The City of Toronto Solid Waste Management Division has a year-at-glance Calendar that you can download from their web site by clicking here.

You can check the area of the City that you live in, download the schedule to your computer, print out 10 copies and leave it all over the house. My favourite area is actually in the garage above the garbage bins.

Then you can avoid that eerie wake up call…sadly, the garbage still has to get to the curb!!