Interview with Marc Staples - proprietor of Florabunca Inc - Leslieville...

Open Housing on a Wintry Day

Yesterday (Sunday) I woke up to about 10 cm of snow which had fallen since I went to bed the previous night after a day of constant rain. I was shocked to say the least. I was also a little put off with Mother Nature! You see, I thought the deal was to put up with all the rain and in return, that and the milder temperature would wash away all the dirty, icy, snowy remnants of winter. Somebody didn't keep their end of the bargain.

I confess to having had just about enough with winter this year and I find myself craving what passes for spring in Toronto. I want longer days of sunlight and warmer, milder weather BEFORE we get hit with the heat and humidity of the summer. Guess I just want it all. I think most people probably echo my sentiments.

Yesterday I did an open house and got a chance to meet and greet about 100 people, who clambered in, shook the snow off their boots and took a look at the house. I asked most of them what they thought of the weather lately and my informal straw poll agreed with my views. Oh they liked the house too! Charming 2 bedroom bungalow with tons of upgrades and features! (shameless self-promotion! lol).

So come on Mother nature, we know you have it in you! Please give the nice people of Toronto a decent spring this year, we did, after all, put up with your winter!

The Next Level

Yesterday I attended the first in a series of classes facilitated by RE/MAX Hallmark co-owner Debra Bain designed to help Realtors grow their business to "the next level".

I have been fortunate that in my three years with Hallmark, I have been exposed to a large group of people who take that message to heart. The first day I spent with this company, I attended the opening of a kitchen at First Nations School here in Toronto. Agents from Hallmark diligently raised about 50,000 dollars to support building a kitchen so they could then volunteer at a breakfast program there (the school didn't have a kitchen to support a breakfast program). I have volunteered for the breakfast program since and enjoy getting out Wednesday mornings to attend and help out. It boosts my day.

We raised thousands of dollars during a stationary bike-a-thon for Juvenile Diabetes and I anticipate greater involvement this year.

This week the company got together and had a great time bowling, drinking, partying etc. and gave Big Brothers and Big Sisters a cheque for in excess of $30,000-.

Collectively, we have given over a million dollars to The Hospital for Sick Children here in Toronto through the Children's Miracle Network.

So what does all this have to do with "the next level". Whether you are Carolyn Griffis (Children's Breakfast Program), James van der Borgh (Juvenile Diabetes), Harvey Malinski (Friends for Life Bike Rally for Toronto People With AIDS), John Kennedy (Big Brothers/ Big Sisters) the common thread is people who are successful (and very busy) using their organizational skills and connections to help other people. I'm proud to be associated with people like this who work hard every day and have an impact on the world around them. Their passion is inspiring.

There is a direct correlation between business and civic success, my own success has been the result of constant exposure to people like this and I am happy to continue my climb to "the next level".

35 Year Amortizations, Good-Bye and Good Riddance!

On March 18 of this month CMHC will no longer allow mortgages amortized over 35 years (meaning if you follow the payment schedule it will take you 35 years to pay off the principal and interest on your home). This has caused a feeding frenzy on the market as primarily younger home buyers rush to get an agreement to purchase in place before the March 18 deadline at a time when listings have been low. The result has been more bidding wars, more buyer frustration and homes, in many cases, selling for more than they are worth.

I guess this might be good news for home sellers but the majority of them are trying to buy in the same market so it's probably a wash for them. Bottom line is more listings will be on the market in March and April and the market will probably adjust itself a little.

If a home buyer purchases a home with a 5 year closed mortgage and only 5% down, they effectively pay no principal from their mortgage at the end of 5 years! This would be like only making minimum payments on your credit cards. Interest rates have been at historic lows for quite a while; they can really only go up and home prices have been rising steadily so no one has really noticed but we will eventually have a market correction in price (for any number of reasons- this is the historical cycle). If this coincides with a rise in interest rates a number of people could see their mortgage payments rise. The cumulative effect is increased consumer debt.

The long-term health of the Canadian economy (and real estate market) will be much healthier if we can reduce consumer debt and this will be good for all of us! So, kudos to the government for eliminating 35 year amortizations! As a side note, the extra cost of carrying a $100,000 worth of mortgage under current rates will amount to about $40 per month.

A Metre of Beer and My Involvement With Rotary

Last spring Linda and I joined about 30,000 Rotarians and a number from my own club in Montreal for our international convention and a celebration of 100 years of Rotary's community involvement in Canada. To paraphrase a popular advertising campaign: 'This is not your father's Rotary'.

The Rotary Club of East York which is celebrating its 60th year of relevance has transformed itself with younger members representing both genders and a number of ethnicities while enjoying the help and guidance of our older members. This year we will have 35 members and will raise over $100,000- to benefit our community and international efforts.

So what does this have to do with a metre of beer? In Montreal Darryl Patterson introduced us to a microbrewery called 'The 3 Brewers' and we had a great time and enjoyed a sampler of all 5 brews featured on a rack a metre long. A little of this, a little of that and good times with good friends. A lot like Rotary.

Last night we met at The 3 Brewers here in Toronto to celebrate Darryl's 40th birthday. Darryl teaches other clubs how to use current technologies and social media to spread Rotary's message. Darryl will also be our club president next year...at 40...not your father's Rotary!

Rotary International is a service club of community volunteers and our motto is 'Service Above Self'. We pledge to run our business in ethical ways and number more than 1 million men and women worldwide. Internationally we are teamed with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a 3.3 Billion dollar effort to eradicate polio.

Was It Really There All Along?

Have you ever walked through your neighbourhood and noticed an establishment for the first time without realizing that it had been there forever? Linda and I had to attend a visitation last night for a friend who's father had just died and we were getting home around 8:30 without having eaten. We went down to Greektown here in Toronto along the Danforth and decided we'd try a restauarant we hadn't been in before.

Pan on the Danforth has a very unassuming front and is a smaller restaurant for the neighbourhood. I knew of it because Zelinde Kaiser in my office often uses it to cater lunch for her agent open houses. We walked through the door and into a part of the past that I thought was long gone. Pan is an establishment where they actually dim the lights, have candles on the tables, tablecloths and cloth napkins. There was a live bazouki player for much of the evening and a live belly dancer who started with a candelabra of lit candles gracing her head (I hope they were the dripless variety!).

I spent years in the restaurant business having owned three myself and I can say that the service was unlike anything I have experienced in years. It was unhurried and thoughtful. Anyone working the floor would respond to you. The servers were happpy, taking time to dance with the belly dancer and they were all led by co-owner Soula who took a moment for every table in the restaurant.

They have a prix fixe menu for $25-. Linda had mussels, New York steak and rice pudding. I had calamari, crusted salmon and creme caramel. With coffee and wine, dinner was about $100-.

We have a new favourite restaurant!

Pan on the Danforth, 516 Danforth Avenue, Toronto
416.466.8158

*Make a reservation, you'll need one!

The Rise and Fall...and Rise of a Neighbourhood

With few exceptions neighbourhoods go through cycles from being in development to maturity to decline and then through renewal back to being desirable places to live. In the urban centres of Toronto examples of this would be High Park or Bloor West Village in the West, Cabbagetown in Central Toronto and Riverdale and South Riverdale (now Leslieville) in the East. Some neighbourhoods like Rosedale, Forest Hill and The Kingsway appear to have avoided this cycle by virtue of their continued desirability and afflence but you never know - just ask the former mansions of Jarvis Street about that! Some neighbourhoods began as more middle class havens and have become increasingly gentrified as a result of a desirable location like Leaside or the Beach.

I was walking through Leslieville yesterday with fellow agent Sam Soukas meeting and talking to neighbours and was very much reminded of the whole process of urban renewal. 10 years ago Leslieville began an oddysey from a forgotten down on it's luck neighbourhood to one of the most desirable locations for young urbanites. Today it is an eclectic mix of trendy young professionals living in wonderfully renovated old Victorians right next door to the couple who inherited grandma's house. It was truly amazing to see the differences as we walked door to door and the different people we spoke to and met. The perfect example was an older woman living the past 37 years in a grand Victorian semi with stunning architechtural features but definately faded and in need of more than just a facelift (the term gut reno comes to mind) and her next door neighbour living in the other half of the semi who greeted me in her fabulously renovated foyer with her young baby in her arms.

I enjoyed my conversation with both ladies even though they were each at very different points in their lives...much like the neighbourhood they live in. This, to me, is part of the essense of living in a metropolis like Toronto. You can turn around a corner and never know quite what you'll see...or who you'll meet. I wouldn't live anywhere else!