Ford May Navigate Us Out of a Jam

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Ford may have a way for us to navigate our cars through rush hour without lifting either arm from our cushy armrests. With many consumers raving about its Active Park Assist feature that can steer a car into a perfect parallel park, Ford is stepping up its game by toying with the idea of branching out into perpendicular parking and driving through heavy traffic jams.

“Active Park Assist can parallel park a car by using ultrasonic sensors to measure the length and width of a space. It then steers the car into the space with the car’s electric power steering, which is already controlled by a computer.” The company claims it already has the technology to extend this feature to other types of parking and driving. And who knows what else it might be able to do in the future?

Our interest in this technology goes a little deeper. If Ford is able to effectively steer through traffic, will it reduce idling and thus the tonnes and tonnes of wasted fuel Canadians burn through each year? It’s been well established that sitting in traffic is a big culprit of wasting gas, especially with constant breaking and accelerating. So if Ford can help to mitigate this, we’re all for it.

Via Digital Trends

Photo courtesy of Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious

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Confessions of a Calgarian Broker

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Interview with Corinne Lyall
Broker/Owner of Calgary’s Royal LePage Benchmark

Why did you decide to switch transaction management providers?

We had been dissatisfied for quite some time with our original document management provider. The system had difficulties integrating with our transaction management/accounting software and we had to almost check every deal to ensure it was imported correctly. When we were told that our transaction management provider was selling the business and that we were going to have to switch systems anyway, we really thought we should research what other options were available.

What were you looking for in a transaction and document management provider?

Our office administration staff and I had some lengthy discussions about what we were looking for from our accounting system, and really it came down to efficiency, a good document management program, and a simple conveyancing system.  We wanted something that we didn’t have to hire someone else to manage, a system easy for the agents and office staff to use… and we really didn’t want to have to import from other systems or perform duplicate entry.

What differences have you experienced since you’ve “Made the Switch” to Enviromint?

We certainly have received many less complaints with the new system – if any – and we were impressed at how Marc and the team tried to make the actual conversion process as smooth as possible. They did a great job converting us and they really took the time to make sure everything was running smoothly with our administration team before we officially launched it to the agents.

Since the transition, it has been much easier to manage our transactions and we feel secure knowing that at the end of the day we weren’t going to lose sight of missing documents or commissions.

The level of customer service we experienced from the team over at Enviromint from the first day we did a walk through demo of their solution was very detailed and thorough.  I think the first demo was over 2 hours long mainly because they patiently answered all of our questions!  Comparatively from our previous experience with our transaction management software, we are able to get a hold of someone almost immediately when there is a problem.  That is appreciated since our transactions have to be dealt with in a timely manner.

Did your agents have a good experience making the switch?

Everyone knows how hard it can be to change. It’s not something anyone likes because naturally we get comfortable with doing things a certain way. It was a big concern of mine that not only would we have a lot to learn on the administration side, but we would also have a lot of training to do with the agents. Again, we were pleasantly surprised. The amount of positive feedback we had coming in was reassuring. We heard everything from it’s easy to use, to the document storage – and conveyancing notes – have saved my butt.

What advice do you have for other broker/owners who are thinking about switching providers?

If you’re thinking about switching providers for any reason…customer service, product limitations, whatever, it’s not in your head.  You probably can do it more efficiently and there are better service providers out there. Specifically, I have enjoyed how responsive the Enviromint team has been in responding and molding the system to our needs – each brokerage and industry community manages their transactions differently and it is important to us that it fits our individual requirements.  It seems like such a time consuming and arduous process, but I am very happy we made the transition.  

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Back to the Basics

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Technology and industrialization have played a large role in the past century, carrying humanity to its current state. We have houses as big and creative as we want, with more power and air conditioning units than we could ever need, with fast cars in the driveway…you get the idea. But, every once in a while, amidst this grid of technological infrastructure, some choose to take things back a notch, and explore the concepts of construction through more natural and sustainable methods.

One example of these is a very unique village resort in the Himalayas built by dry-stacking wood and stone without the use of cement. Now, by the sounds of it, this place can’t possibly that magical without the basic constructive element of cement…prepare to be amazed: http://www.ecofriend.com/himalayan-resort-made-dry-stacking-stone-wood-cement.html Not only is the village resort functional, but aesthetically gorgeous, architecturally marvelous, and a truly appealing vacation spot.

The notion of construction through post-dated methods seems so foreign to us, but why? Humans inhabited the earth and built many astounding things without the modern technological advances we’ve made, meaning these methods were discarded through progressiveness; however it’s not to say that these methods shouldn’t be re-visited, as they are clearly applicable to modern construction when looking at the village mentioned above.

Just because something new comes along to replace the old doesn’t mean the old needs to be so rapidly discarded. We should be re-visiting previous methods more often for menial and advanced tasks, because these methods clearly worked before, definitely could do so again. If we can build playgrounds out of recycled potato peels and veggie oil, there shouldn’t be any reason for us to explore more eco-friendly construction methods as humanity advances.

photo courtesy of http://www.ecofriend.com/himalayan-resort-made-dry-stacking-stone-wood-cement.html

 

 

 

 

 

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Buyers Beware

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Today, Canada’s housing market took a strange turn that isn’t sitting quite right with some, and appeases others. The changes that took place were that the CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation), who oversee and insure the vast majority of Canadian mortgages, has lowered the maximum amortization period from 30 years, to 25 years.

Now, this is being done to “ensure Canadians aren’t taking on more debt than they can afford“; however little to the CMHC’s concerns, this change will be seriously detrimental to new home buyers, and especially young ones. This decreased cap on amortization periods will do nothing but increase mortgage payments for new buyers, and become a large market deterrent, especially when you consider that 40 per cent of new mortgages last year were amortized over 30 years. Despite the government’s attempt to bring things back to the way they were in 2006 (a 25 year maximum amortization was in place before the Conservative government took over in 2006 and extended these periods to 40 years, and have since been shrinking back) it doesn’t seem that this may be the right approach to stabilize Canada’s barely recovering housing market. The Canadian real estate is only very recently beginning to recover, but this doesn’t mean that it’s stable, or recovered, so introducing more buying deterrents seems to be an unwise move…

What are your thoughts on this situation? Is this a good or bad decision to be made? Will the housing market continue to recover despite this deterring situation? Join the conversation with us on Twitter.

photo courtesy of twicepix

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Canada Gets Dubbed ‘Fossil of the Day’

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While we’re on the topic of Canada’s ranking amongst the world’s nations, Canada is back in the spotlight. Only this time, instead of being a leader, it is a great, big loser. Given the not-so-honourable title of “Fossil of the Day” at the Rio+20 talks, thousands of world delegates are putting our nation in the spotlight for ‘standing in the way of a just and sustainable future.’ This award comes out the summit’s analysis of countries who are hindering more than helping the overall environmental goal.

Canada’s award comes out of the discovery of “deleting wording for funding for developing countries, weakening language on fossil-fuel subsidies, and causing confusion on policies related to oceans and fisheries.” But our country is second to receive it, after the United States.

So what’s wrong with North America? Featuring two globally influential countries, this continent needs to get its act together for the environment’s sake. With two of the biggest industrial powerhouses dragging their feet, it seems any progress the world makes will be undone.

Photo courtesy of brewbooks

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Canada’s Housing Market Ranks 2nd

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Canada’s housing market is one of the top dogs in the world, according to a report released by Scotiabank on Global Real Estate Trends. Although the market demand is getting cooler, it is still outperforming among industrialized nations. The shift is being attributed to income growth, as well as stricter mortgage insurance rules.

Global property markets are shown to be in distress, particularly in European countries suffering from recession. Specifically, Ireland’s prices dropped 18.9%, while Spain experiences a 9.1% fall.

Photo courtesy of palindrome6996

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The Problem With Fridays

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In most offices, or workplaces in general (referring to those that stick to a more typical M-F 9-5 model) start to dwindle down on their productivity the closer Friday approaches, and by the time Friday afternoon rolls around, everybody starts daydreaming about their weekend, socializing, or deferring tasks until “early next week”, instead of tackling them right then and there. Let us give you a simple yet effective tip on how to maximize your work week that may come as quite a shock: stop making a big deal out of Friday!

Yes, that’s right, we are encouraging all of you to adopt the following strategy and implement this approach to your work week. Now, we aren’t just referring to the concept of staying productive on your Friday, but dealing with the entire notion of Fridays as a whole. Friday is the most glorified work day of any and every work week, filled with eagerness, rainbows an unicorns, and the notion of the ever-impending weekend. The problem with making “Friday” such a big deal, is that it not only detracts from your productivity later on in the week, but also makes your weeks feel twice as long as a result of longing and desperately wishing that Friday would come quicker.

Stop making Friday something to work towards, or more special than every other day of your work week, and instead take your days one at a time, with no distractions leading you to pause and just wish that all of your work would go away and that Friday were here. This is a waste of your time, your co-workers’, and especially your employers. Making a big deal out of Friday does nothing but create a yearning sense of emptiness which is completely unnecessary and uncalled for. Why not just take your work week at a confident pace, deal with your tasks accordingly, and work hard the whole way through your Friday so that your Monday can be that much easier…it’s a full-circle whether you like it or not.

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Cali Goes Solar

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California, being the environmentally progressive state that it is, has approved a new set of building guidelines making it mandatory for all newly built houses to have roofs that are solar-ready roofs. These new construction standards not only encourage positive environmental changes, but also made stricter guidelines for window and housing insulation for the same environmentally conscious reasons, pushing new housing in California to turn over a greener leaf.

For clarity’s sake, no, not all new houses are required to don solar panels (although, that doesn’t seem like an awful idea), but to be ready for solar panel installation, should the owner decide to go down this path. To be fair, though this is not directly forcing positive environmental change down residents’ throats, this is a very big step in the right direction, not only for California, but for the rest of the world, in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability. What are your thoughts on this new construction guideline? Should more encouraged modifications be made to the housing industry, auto industry, any industry? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter.

photo courtesy of Richard Masoner

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