Thanks Again – RLPNSC

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Last weekend we were lucky to take part in an amazing weekend conference for the Royal LePage National Sales Conference. Upon our return – in typical fashion – we were bombarded with extra work, and only just got a moment to catch our breath.

That being said, we’d love to extend a thanks to those of you we were lucky enough to meet and talk with. We had a wonderful time and hope to have the opportunity to return next year, so hopefully see you next year!

For those of you who still have questions for ourselves or our associates EstateVue (with whom we shared a booth) please reach the following contacts via e-mail.

EnviroMint – Eric Joseph – [email protected]

EstateVue – Cory Alexander – [email protected]

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GMO Companies Losing Traction

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Monsanto and other companies responsible for the production of GMO foods and products are in the midst of a raging PR and lobbying battle over California’s Proposition 37 – a bill which, if passed, will require all genetically modified foods to be labeled and identified as such in Californian grocery stores, as they are currently flying under the radar as regular food. Monsanto has shown nothing but ardent resistance to this motion, donating over $4.2 Million to lobby against it. Despite these efforts, recent speculations and polls indicate that the proposition might in fact be going through. According to one poll, 67% of registered Californian voters support Proposition 37, while only 25% are opposed.

Russia has also put its foot down by ceasing the importation of Monsanto corn for fear that it may cause cancer, as results of a recent study imply. A longitudinal study was conducted over a two-year span where test groups of rats were compared for medical abnormalities after one group being fed regular corn and another being fed Monsanto corn. The test results revealed that the group of Monstanto corn-fed rats developed more tumors and pathologies than the regular corn group.

All-in-all, it seems as though the veil is finally being lifted and revealing the true nature of GMO production companies, and the high potential detriment of their products on consumers. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Should GMOs be labelled, or passed off as regular food in grocery stores? Will Proposition 37 pave the way for a larger, possibly global policy revision in relation to GMOs? Would you feel safer having GMOs labeled in your local grocery store?

For more environmental and real estate news, be sure to follow us on Twitter and check the blog regularly.

image courtesy of Frapestaartje

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Southern Security

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Canada’s property market, as we talked about in our post last week (The Market’s Flip-Flops), has been shaky as of late – and that’s understating the fact. With predictions of another market slump on the horizon, property investors are spinning their heads in circles to keep their eyes open for the right investment move. Problem is that nobody’s drawing their guns just yet because of the probable impending doom the property market’s about to suffer. So, what’s a guy supposed to do?! Take it down South.

Literally, take your money over the border and into the United States. At the moment the US market is starting to legitimately recover, with housing prices growing by 2% over the last quarter. Now, this may not seem like much, but we assure you it’s better than gambling on the probably 8% value decline the Canadian market’s about to supposedly suffer. According to BMO chief economist Sherry Cooper, there hasn’t been a better time to buy property in America’s sunshine states in over 40 years. Right from the horse’s mouth folks. The rising stability in property prices and lack of impending double-dip housing decline make investing in US properties more appealing than ever to Canadian investors.

For more real estate news, office tips, and environmental updates, stay tuned to our blog and follow us on Twitter.

 

image courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory

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How To Avoid A Heart Attack At Work

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Some days are difficult. Others are even worse. Let’s face it, no matter how much you love your job, there’s always gonna be days that are tough to get through, whether it’s from having way too much to do, or having little to no motivation whatsoever. You know that anxious feeling like you don’t know where to even start? That’s what we’re talking about. It seems to be a vicious cycle because if you don’t tackle the pile right away you tend to get even more anxious about how much work you have to do, and so on and so forth – don’t worry, it happens to the best of us. So, here’s a couple tips to get you through your overcrowded “where do I even start” work day.

Make a list – One of the easiest ways to get all your eggs in one basket is to write down absolutely every little thing you need to get done before the end of your work day. If you’re super busy and were hoping  to get everything done and have time to spare to get ahead on something else, but are getting worried about not having the ti- STOP. Take a deep breath, and stick to your list. If you get everything done in time, then move onto getting ahead on some other stuff. If not, leave it until another day. Nobody’s going to follow you home over it.

Check it Twice Prioritize – Once you’ve compiled your tasks, sort them from highest to lowest importance. This is the most effective way to manage your time in terms of figuring out where you need to be the most focused. If each task equally as important as the next, pick one, stick to it until you’re done, cross it off the list, and move on to the next task; which brings us to our next point.

One Step At A Time – Yes, we all know you’ve heard this probably since elementary school, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Multi-tasking is a virtual impossibility, especially if your head is already cluttered and your heart rate’s starting to rise. Pick a task, take a deep breath, push everything else out of that little brain of yours, and get it done. Once you’ve completed, scratch it off the list, and get going on the next item on your list.

It’s Just Work – At the end of the day, you must remember that it’s just a job. Unless your employment hangs in the balance (in which case you’re probably a little late to be reading this) or your life is in danger, then you need to take a step back, breathe, and realize that this is just work. Despite the fact that it may feel like a life or death situation (because the pressure’s making you feel like you’re about to have a freakin’ heart attack) the clock is still going to turn over to 5 o’clock, and you’re still going to get up and go home to your family, cats, television, or whatever else you may have in store after work. It’s going to be just fine despite the crushing weight of the world being on your shoulders at this point in time. Keep calm and chive on…Now, get back to work!

For more office tips, real estate, and environmental news, be sure to follow us on Twitter and check our blog regularly for updates.

image courtesy of Kai Hendry

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The Market’s Flip-Flops

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It seems the market analysis of the current North American real estate situation isn’t in agreement with anyone in particular. One day we’re hearing that everything’s doing better, but with some digging you can scratch beneath the hopefuls and figure out what’s really going on. The issue being that it appears nobody wants to accept what’s probably coming next.

As we discussed in a previous article – Are We There Yet? The Long Road To Recovery – the Canadian market is (according to some) going to experience another dip wherein housing value losses up for 7.8% may occur. Well, as it turns out, these predictions are being proven more and more accurate. For example, the Globe an Mail just published an article declaring a softening of the Canadian market – an indicator that the worst is yet to come. Part of the speculated reasoning behind the slowing growth of the Canadian market is the tightening of mortgage restrictions over the past year (another issue we talked about in our article Buyers Beware) in combination with low employment rates.

Another contributing factor we’re speculating could be the same as that of economist Dean Baker’s speculation for the economy and the real estate market’s suffrage in the US – over-production of housing during the bubble. Now, this reasoning seems feasible to apply to the Canadian market as well, as the lack of growth in the market and slumping sales could indicate and over-stock of properties which are in turn doing nothing positive for the market. It may have been productive to commence the construction of new properties now, or even after the next market tip to encourage more affordable housing (if these places were constructed with economic and real estate rehabilitation in mind) but at the moment it’s not looking like any of these places will be filled up quickly.

It seems as though the market’s at a current stale-mate with itself. On the one hand we have the sellers who are holding on to their properties for dear life, and on the other hand we have buyers who want to do nothing but pillage the market. It seems like to move forward the sellers need to cut their losses immediately before the market dumps again, or we’re never going to recover.

let us know your thoughts and ideas on how we can stimulate the market into a state of recovery in the comments below, or on Twitter.

 

image courtesy of Steve A Johnson

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Unplug and Unwind

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Post-vacation season (aka Fall) tends to be dreary for most office and professional types as the days get shorter and the darkness literally closes in. There also seems to be a sentiment of borderline regret in terms of not taking full advantage of the great weather the past few months have delivered…but really, when IS a good time to take a vacation? Never…

At least that’s how most of us tend to feel, because no matter what, at the end of the day, in our absence our presence and position are not compensated by anybody else. Going on vacation tends to be a stressful time for this reason, because there’s a pent up anxitey and guilt revolving around your time off and how much it will impact your workplace and co-workers. There may even be an impending fear of upsetting your co-workers by your not being there, as workloads may be divided out during your absence.

Then, after spending a week of sweating it out, you return to work and, surprise surprise, the building’s still standing, your job’s still there, and nobody hates you. So what’s with all the stress and worries in the first place? We think it’s got a lot to do with being “plugged in” while on vacation, which is ever so easy from anywhere in the world with a wifi connection. Whether you’re only checking e-mails or voicemails, this is not done innocently and should certainly be put on hold for sanity’s sake.

To fully take advantage of your time off, you must fully emerge yourself as opposed to sitting on the sidelines white-knuckle gripping your Blackberry until your next potential e-mail comes through. You took time off for a reason, so commit to it! Don’t worry about work, it’s going to be fine, and most importantly, whatever you do, do matter how hard it is, DON’T check in with work in any way shape or form. In fact, just leave your device locked in your room and turned off so that it’s only there in case of an emergency. Or even better, just leave it at home! How much are you really going to need it while you’re kicking back on a beach sucking back a Mojito anyways?! There’s always next year, so when that time comes around, listen to us and try to unplug so you can fully relax and detach from your nagging workplace and guilty conscience. It’s always worth it no matter how hard it seems to do.

For more office tips or real estate and environmental news be sure to follow us on Twitter and check our blog regularly for updates.

 

image courtesy of Alan Cleaver

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Are We There Yet? The Long Road to Recovery

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Unfortunately, no, we aren’t even close.

BC, and quite possibly the rest of Canada, are presumably about to experience what economists are calling a double-dip recession, meaning that housing prices are going to drop once again, and this time in a very aggressive way. Despite being thought to have stabilized, the Canadian housing market is in fact quite vulnerable at the moment, and though prices have been “bottoming out” it appears the barrel goes even deeper than most expected. How much could values potentially drop? Vancouver Sun reports that they could drop as much as another 7.8% lower than the already frighteningly low prices we see today.

Now, this isn’t to say that every house in BC will depreciate this much, however we can already see the market slowing down quite a bit, which is a pretty good indicator of this theory coming true. For example, home sales in Vancouver are a whopping 30% down from this time last year, and August’s sales were 21.4% down from July…unsettling would be an understatement at this point.

Experts are divided on whether or not the housing market will actually take the 7.8% dive, but one thing is for certain – the seller’s market isn’t looking hot. If you were thinking about listing in the near future, it might not be a bad idea to sit on your property for a little longer and try to do some value-added home improvement projects to pass the time. We aren’t there yet…but hopefully we will be soon.

For more real estate and environmental news be sure to follow us on Twitter and to check the blog regularly.

image courtesy of breahn

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