Here is a link to the website that has the most up-to-date information about the program…

http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/retrofit-homes/retrofit-qualify-grant.cfm?attr=4

Thanks for reading!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil RE/MAX Twin City Realty, Brokerage ( 519.579.4110 | 519-498-8118
Connect with us on the following social networks Facebook: www.facebook.com/TeamMcNeilRemax
websites: www.TeamMcNeil.com, www.ClickThatHouse.com, www.KitchenerLofts.com, www.ElmiraRealEstate.ca

What an interesting three days I had, I just came back from lovely Las Vegas. What an amazing time. I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting many of the hotels and casinos. On our first day we visited Freemont Street and took in the “Freemont Experience”.

 I don’t have any night photos. I think one of my friends may have some and will add them later.

What a wild time. There was a really good band performing songs from Journey, Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi and Foreigner. They even did a Queensryche song which I found was interesting for a cover band.

In addition to the music, there was lots of other things that kept us busy. Casinos, a Hawaiian festival, and lots of food.

For the next two days we went to the main strip which was also really cool. I couldn’t believe how many hotels there were. I think the most impressive hotels were the Venetion, Caesars Palace, The Belagio and the MGM Grand. I didn’t go through all of them but I am sure they are all cool. When I go Back to Vegas, I would like to checkout Mandalay Bay, Aria and the Stratusphere.

 I also had the chance to learn about the real estate market. I guess the market is a little soft right now due to the recession. The cost of living seems to be lower there but so is the income. You can buy a nice sized family home for around 120,000-150,000. Propery taxes are around 1%.  I did a bit of research and also found a Trump condo for around 150,000. The interesting thing about this condo is that it was originally purchased for 550,000. If I had a spare 150,000 kicking around, I might be tempted to buy a Trump condo. Here is the link to the condo…

I must of walked 10-15 miles and my feet were a bit sore after the three days. Here is some advice if you are thinking of going to Vegas. Wear sunscreen during the day, bring proper footwear for walking (Running/Walking shoes) and be prepared to lose money if you decide to gamble. There is no secret formula for winning at gambling. Its all a game of chance.

Next time I go, I plan on taking in one or two of the shows.

Thanks for reading and Viva Las Vegas!

Thanks for reading!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil RE/MAX Twin City Realty, Brokerage ( 519.579.4110 | 519-498-8118
Connect with us on the following social networks Facebook: www.facebook.com/TeamMcNeilRemax
websites: www.TeamMcNeil.com, www.ClickThatHouse.com, www.KitchenerLofts.com, www.ElmiraRealEstate.ca

I decided I would write a little blog about what has been going on lately from my perspective.  Just the other day I was driving into the office and I was thinking about how nice the weather was. While on my drive I hear on the radio, “Good news for Canadians the dollar has reached parity”. When I got to the office, we received a call that someone wanted to list there house and we had a multiple offer situation on a house we had listed. I suddenly realized that we are surrounded with positivity. The cool thing about positivity is that staying positive helps breed more positivity. Now I am not going to start talking like the guys you see on late night TV. There is book after book preaching about positivity. What I will do is point out some positive things that are happening around me right now.

Here are a few things to brighten up your day!

• The weather.. Sun is shining what could be better then that. I love an early Spring
• Strong Canadian dollar. (This could be a good or bad thing. If you are buying real estate in the US, it’s a good thing!)
• Low interest rates.. The bank of Canada has kept the prime lending rate the same for the time being.
• Home sellers are getting multiple offers on their houses which are selling quickly
• Canada won gold in mens and womens hockey at the olympics
• The Kitchener-Waterloo real estate market is booming!

These are just a few things. I am sure I could sit here all day thinking of other things to add. My main point here is that we all feel better when we look at things positively. My life motto is, “It always get’s better”. In most cases it usually does.

Thanks for reading and “Stay Positive!”,

We are a full-time real estate team in Waterloo Region, Woolwich & Wellesley Townships. We enjoy assisting buyers and sellers with the purchase or sale of real estate in the Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Elmira, Wellesley, Wilmot, Drayton and  everywhere in between. If you would like us to help you with your home search, please check out our brand-new free search website or if you are thinking of selling, get a free market evaluation.

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage (  519.579.4110 | 519-498-8118                www.TeamMcneil.com, www.ClickThatHouse.com, www.LoftStyle.ca, www.ElmiraRealEstate.ca

Connect with us on the following social networks    Facebook: www.facebook.com/teammcneilremax

Winter is finally here in Kitchener-Waterloo…. My drive in from Elmira today was a slow one.

I was talking to a friend yesterday and he was saying that the difference between all season and snow tires is night and day. Driving with snow tires actually makes you feel bold and cocky because the traction is so good. My problem is I don’t want to buy snow tires without buying steel rims. Steel rims add another cost . I am not being cheap, I just don’t want to buy something that I will only need to use 10 times in a year. Most times the streets have been cleaned really well so I feel snow tires are unnecessary. I know people are going to say that they will save your life if you have them. The same thing can be said that if I don’t drive my car then I will be safer. Maybe if I where and oxygen mask I won’t have to breath in pollution…. Ok now I am stearing away from the main point. My main point is I am not sure if I need to spend the extra money on snow tires when all-seasons should do me just fine.

Anyways, welcome winter! Drive safe everyone…

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil
Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage ( 519.579.4110 
8 www.TeamMcneil.com, www.LoftStyle.ca, www.ClickThatHouse.com  

It’s amazing how quickly you can get up to speed with this social networking stuff. I have been blogging for over a year now but only recently started to use Facebook.  I think this is really useful for staying in touch with friends and business relationships. So far my experience has been a positive one with my new Facebook page. I like to write blogs on my website and then post them to my Facebook page. That way I can get the word out to more people regarding what I am blogging about. I might even get a Twitter account.

My goal is to provide useful information from time to time about real estate market in Waterloo Region. Whenever I find something useful I plan on publishing it to both my blog and my Facebook page.

Anybody who is a fan of our Real Estate Fan Page will receive the blog updates.

Thanks for reading!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil
Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage ( 519.579.4110 
8 www.TeamMcneil.com, www.LoftStyle.ca, www.ClickThatHouse.com  

This is like cutting off a a hand to a Realtor or any kind of business professional for that matter.  It’s amazing how much we use our phones in the car! Today I really tried not to use the phone while being in motion. I must say it was very difficult. The hunt for a good Bluetooth hands-free device begins. Our one vehicle already has a hands-free system installed which works really well. You just need to be a bit patient when initating phone calls. All the voice prompts take a bit of time to initiate and sometimes you have to repeat the number like 5 times. Voice recognition still has a little way to go.

My Blackberry has hands-free on it but I don’t like the speaker phone. It’s too hollow sounding.

Being a realtor, I rely heavily on my phone. I can’t say that I am thrilled that I can’t use my cellphone while driving but I think it was a necessary law to implement. Safety first! Obviously there must have been accidents due to cellphone usage. I think it is one thing to make a call, but people are text messaging now. I think this is extremely dangerous. I have been cutoff an numerous occasions by people who were texting while driving!

Hands-free, although a bit expesive to implement, is the right way to go. We will get used to this too! After all, we are Canadians!!!

Safe driving!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil | Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage
( 519.579.4110 | * Click Here to Email | 8 www.TeamMcneil.com, www.ClickThatBlog.com

This is something I have never blogged about but I thought I would post a blog on our dog Mickey. Those who know Melanie and I, know we love animals. We currently have a dog name Mickey. He is a Jack Russell.

He is a really good dog. He doesn’t really act like a Jack Russell and is more of a suck then anything. He is very lovable and does really well with kids. His favourite game is tug of war and he likes to chew whatever he can get his little chompers on. If you give him a squeeky plush toy, forget about it. His only goal is to remove the squeek.

We lost our other dog earlier this year. Her name was Winnie and she died at the age of 16 1/2 years old. We really miss her. She was a Cocker Spaniel.

Thanks for reading!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil | Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage
( 519.579.4110 | * Click Here to Email | 8 www.clickthathouse.com, www.teammcneil.com/blog

What a week we have had. There were several tornadoes that touched down in Vaughan and Durham region. I can imagine this was devastating for the people there. Many home were simply destroyed. I heard on the news that 100s of people had to be evacuated from there homes. Fortunately here in Waterloo region we only suffered severe thunderstorms and no tornadoes that I am aware of. I was in Cambridge showing houses at the time. I was actually a bit concerned when I was out driving during the storm. Our condolences go out to those who had there home damaged.

See http://newsdurhamregion.com/article/133855

Thanks for reading!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil | Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage
( 519.579.4110 | * Click Here to Email | 8 www.clickthathouse.com, www.teammcneil.com/blog

I have to admit, that I didn’t really look into the real estate market while I was away. The biggest thing I realized is just how large Canada is. We have so much land with nothing on it. The gaps between cities are huge. The route we took was very scenic. I am definitely not complaining. I loved it!

Now back to reality! Looks like June was another good month for real estate in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. I am going to be posting the stats for June very shortly. I see positive numbers. I read in the online paper that the Bank of Canada has decided to leave the interest rates alone. This should definitely help keep the momentum. I am continually optimistic that the downturn is going to be shortlived. We are planning to busy for the last leg of the year!

Anyways, Thanks for reading my rant!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil | Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage
( 519.579.4110 | * Click Here to Email | 8 www.clickthathouse.com, www.teammcneil.com/blog

What’s Happening? Quite a bit actually… Our market is up this month over the same month last year. This is good news. Things have been humming along very well lately. We are seeing some multiple offers on houses in our area and they seem to be selling quicker. This is extremely good news!

I think consumer confidence is increasing despite the news we have heard or read the past few months. First-time home buyers appear to be getting off the fence and into the market. Move-up buyers are also taking the plunge. This is good news for sellers and buyers alike. I think this added confidence will help the remaing fence-sitters to make their move. There are plenty of opportunities out there.

Sellers who are thinking that they might not make as much money as they did in a hotter market might want to reconsider. Timing could be the key in getting top dollar for your house. There could be a buyer out there right now looking for a house just like yours. The same can be said for a buyer who is waiting to find that great deal.

With the interest rates at an all time low, availability of governments incentives, I think now is a great time to buy and sell. I think that the increase we have seen this month over the same month last year is a good sign that things are looking up. I am optimistic that we will see more of the same.

Hope you found the information encouraging and helpful.

Thanks for reading!

Warren & Melanie McNeil | Sales Representatives, Team McNeil | Re/Max Twin City Realty, Brokerage
( 519.579.4110 | * Click Here to Email | 8 www.clickthathouse.com, www.teammcneil.com/blog