Mike Giesbrecht

  Imagine a kid running a lemonade stand. He’s selling his product for 25 cents a cup. He’s doing okay. Sales are good. Then someone comes up to his stand and says, “I’ll give you 50 cents for a cup. But, I don’t have the money right now. Give me the lemonade and I’ll pay you later.” Should he take the deal? Chances are, you’d advise against it. After all, just because the price is high — ...

  Imagine you’re viewing a home for sale. You venture to the basement, check out the furnace room, and notice the water heater. Is it owned or rented? As a potential buyer, you’d want to know.  Now imagine a property you’re viewing has a brand-new gas fireplace. Nice! Is it under warranty? Is that warranty transferrable to you if you buy the home? Again, you’d want to know.  So, when you’r ...

  After your home has been cleaned from top to bottom, it’s natural to want it to stay that way. Don’t you wish you could just wave a magic wand and the place would clean itself? Unfortunately, even Harry Potter can’t manage that!  However, when you’re preparing your property for sale, you really do need to keep it clean and ready for showings. There are several ways you can make doing that ...

As you may know, a fresh coat of paint is an inexpensive way to make your home look great to buyers. But, what if you don’t have time to paint the entire place? Here are three areas you should prioritize—and one you can potentially ignore.  1. Rooms with bold colours  A red bedroom and orange walk-in closet likely won’t appeal to everyone! Replacing personalized colours with a neutral col ...

  If you want to sell an item quickly—say, a couch—you can post it online, stick a super-low price tag on it and, chances are, it will be gone by the end of the day.  So it’s understandable that some people think the same thing applies when selling a home. Indeed, if you need to sell your property quickly, you might assume that setting a low listing price is the best way to make that happen ...

  Is it really possible to improve your kitchen’s look for about the cost of a takeout gourmet dinner with the family?  Obviously you’re not going to be able to do anything major, such as replace the cabinets within that budget. But, there are many surprisingly low-budget ways to spruce up the kitchen. Here are a few ideas:  Do you have old cabinets? You’d be surprised how much newer the ...

  There are two trends impacting real estate photography that you should know about if you’re thinking of selling this year.  First, more than ever before, buyers are relying on pictures to decide whether or not to schedule a viewing. They expect to be able to go online and “tour” your home via the photography. If they don’t form a good impression of your home from the pictures, they may qu ...

  There’s no doubt about it. Preventing mice from entering your home is much easier than evicting them once they’ve moved in. If you take just a few simple precautions, you can avoid the trip to the store to buy traps or the call to the exterminator.  Here’s what the experts recommend:  Install mouse-mesh in the drainage slots of exterior brick or siding. There are many types available o ...

  Is there a neighbourhood you drive through occasionally and think, “Wow. I’d love to live here. What a fantastic area”?  Why don’t you take that thought any further? Maybe you think getting into that neighbourhood just isn’t doable – at least, not right now.  Perhaps you’re worried about the home prices or the current lack of homes for sale in that area. Maybe there’s some other reason, ...

  These days, just about everyone relies on the internet for work, school, entertainment, shopping, networking, you name it. So, speed and connectivity have become big issues.  Ideally, you want a fast, reliable connection — consistently.  If you have a router and connect with WIFI, here are some ways to boost the signal:  Occasionally unplug your router, wait ten seconds, and then powe ...