Design Key to Functionality.

From Sue Wastell, Special to Postmedia News


Builders invest considerable energy and funds into constructing and furnishing model homes, knowing that home buyers need to be able to see the size of rooms and traffic flow. 

Visualizing a home from a blueprint can be challenging even for experienced builders, let alone for people looking to build their dream home.

A model home with an open concept floor plan will allow you to stand at the stove and the sink, both common standing spots in real life, and see a true picture of how much you will be able to oversee behaviour in the family room — or the line of sight to the TV for your own viewing pleasure while you are busy creating gastronomic masterpieces in the kitchen.

It will also show the pattern of movement required to clean up the table afterward and load the dishwasher and even the path from the dishwasher to the appropriate cabinet.

A colleague recently confided that she missed this last point in a home she had built. She didn’t realize until too late, that the dishwasher was at the wrong end of the island; resulting in her trying to lessen trips back and forth by carrying bigger piles of heavy dishes in each trip. Functionality is truly in the details and models give you the opportunity to test drive a layout!

Model homes are also used to display a variety of finishing and decor options. Where better to see of line of pot lights in the ceiling, or types of flooring and cabinets, shelving and pull-outs, sinks, faucets and showers or countertop and backsplash options etc.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Yael Engelhart, Architectural Digest.

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Online Real Estate Giant Zillow to Enter Canadian Market.

Tess Kalinowski, the Toronto Star.

U.S. online real estate giant Zillow has announced it will post Canadian homes on its site through a direct listing feed from Century 21 Canada.

That means Canadian real estate listings will be exposed to millions of consumers who visit 
Zillow every month, the company said in a Wednesday release.

The Seattle-based company announced last year that it planned to feature Canadian property listings early this year. The most recent news release says that it now expects to post Canadian listings, including those from Century 21 Canada, later this year.

“We know U.S. buyers are interested in purchasing Canadian real estate so we’re excited to offer the millions of buyers already coming to Zillow for their home search an easy way to see homes for sale in Canada and connect with an agent to help navigate the sale,” said Errol Samuelson, Zillow’s Vancouver-based industry development officer, in the release.

The agreement is the same as the relationship Zillow has with Century 21 in the U.S., said the Century 21 Canada chief technology officer Jack Miller.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Google Maps.

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Guelph Company Purchases Five Sarnia Apartment Buildings.

Photo by MMSarnia, (Wiki Commons.)

From Dave Dentinger, Blackburn News.


A Guelph-based company has snapped up five Sarnia apartment properties with a total of 346 units.

The purchase by Skyline Apartment REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) was made Wednesday, (July 6) bringing the company’s total number of apartment units in Sarnia to 668.

The newly-acquired properties are at 125 College Ave. S., 225 and 233 Capel St., 811 and 817 Devine St., 835 Devine St., and 849 Devine St.


Link to the rest here.

Local Real Estate Market Stoked with Fifty-Million Month.

From  Melanie Irwin, Blackburn News.



Speculation that Nova Chemicals might build a new world class polyethylene plant in Sarnia-Lambton has further stoked the hot real estate market locally.

221 properties sold in June, up 14% compared to the same month last year with dollar volume hitting an unprecedented $52.8-million.

Real Estate Board Vice President Steve Park says it’s the second time the $50-million mark has been reached over the past 12 months.


Link to the rest here.