GOOD ADVICE WHEN SELLING!

A guy's guide to a spiffy abode
Barbara Mahany
Chicago Tribune October 31, 2011

We’re not pointing fingers or anything, but let’s just say we might have strolled into more than one apartment in our time in which the fellow in charge of cleaning was, well, clearly otherwise preoccupied.

Exhibit One might have been the kitchen sink, piled high with a good month’s worth of dirty dishes, spaghetti sauce now permanently splattered to the wall, a la Jackson Pollock. Or maybe it was whatever lurked behind the bathroom door. And made us slam the door, dash down the hall and bang on some stranger’s door in search of a salle de bain not quite so, um, pungent.

Fact is, plenty of males we know need help in the cleanup department. And we are here, mop and dustbin at the ready, to leap to the rescue. We enlisted the expert advice of Nicole Sforza, senior home editor at Real Simple magazine and a clean freak who knows her way around all the nooks, crannies and dust holes that might trip up a lesser soul.

Herewith, our Guy’s Guide to Housecleaning, headlining the top 10 tips for a spick-and-span abode. Or, as Sforza put it: “How to minimize the gross factor.”

1. DITCH THE TOILET BRUSH, DUDE. No really. You do not want that nasty thing festering in the holder, over there in the corner. “Minimize the concept altogether,” says Sforza. Go with disposable toilet brushes. Swish, and ditch. (Or ditch ‘em altogether: Next time you find yourself in need of Alka-Seltzer, well, your toilet bowl could use two, too. Just pop ‘em in the bowl, let the bubbles do their thing, and 20 minutes later, flush it all away.)

2. HIDE THE GOODS. Keep a bottle of all-purpose cleaner in every room in your house, but hide it. Under the couch. Beneath the sink. You name it.

3. CUT THE BIG SCREEN FIXATION. Do not, do not spritz any sort of cleaner on your big screen, boys. Ditto for the computer screen or any electronic gizmos that sport a dusty patina. Instead, next time you haul a load of laundry out of the dryer, grab the old dryer sheet (yes, the one that just came out of the dryer) and wipe down your screens, all of ‘em.

4. BE STILL MY DUSTER HEART. Yes, the hand-held shaggy-haired wandy thingy is the next best thing to that genie in a bottle. You don’t need any spray. Just swipe the duster on any surface and you’ll clear the decks of dust. But beware: When the duster starts to turn a greyish colour (say, how you look when you glance in the mirror on the morning after a big night out), it’s time to toss it out.

5. LEAVE IT WHERE YOU’LL TRIP OVER IT. The tile cleaner, that is. Tuck it between the shower curtain and the shower liner (if you have one), so you’ll remember to spritz the tile walls every time you suds up.

6. HIDE ALL BUT THE ESSENTIALS, when it comes to the bathroom at least. Toothbrush? Toothbrush holder? Razor? Rusty can of shaving cream? Why do you think medicine cabinets come with doors? Shove ‘em back there, and forget ‘em. If you’re lucky, no nosy body will stick her nose in there and sniff out your unsightly ways.

7. VROOM, VROOM GOES THE VACUUM. Just because you have thick rugs or shaggy carpet and can’t see the dirt, don’t think it’s not down there. Plug in the vacuum, and suck it up. Sforza’s tips: Don’t pretend you have no vacuum; remember to overlap your path; and a mini hand vac never hurts — you can swipe up a rug in no time.

8. THE BATHTUB. We could spend weeks on this sorry pit, but let’s start easy. If you’ve remembered to put a hair trap over the drain, know this: You do have to clean out the hairs. And pouring a shot of white vinegar and a clump of baking soda down that drain will never ever be a bad idea. Have at it, Mr. Volcano Man.

9. MOVE OVER, MICROWAVE GRUNGE. You’re gonna love this: Fill a microwave-safe bowl with water (a squirt of lemon scores you extra points); zap for five minutes, till the inside of the ‘wave is all steamy. Wipe it down with paper towel and you’re back in business, splatter-free.

10. TIME TO HIT THE KITCHEN SINK. Once you suds through the month’s worth of dirty plates and bowls, you will notice that there is a sink down there. It will need a shine. Take half a lemon and swipe it all over your sink’s surface, and if — and only if — you have a garbage disposal, make it purr: Stuff a half lemon down there and crank it up. Your kitchen will smell like a citrus grove. Well, maybe.

AND NOW FOR SOME TRICKS TO GET YOU IN THE CLEANIN’ GROOVE:

—INVITE FOLKS OVER. Yes, sir, surest way to force you to clean is to consider the faces of your friends when they realize what a slob you really are. Sorry, tough love is the only way sometimes.

—SPEED CLEAN. Set a time limit, something tolerable, say, 20 minutes. Crank the timer. Rush around like a crazy man. See how much real estate you can cover before the gong goes off.

—STICK TO COMMERCIAL BREAKS. Got a long night in front of the big screen? Well, put those commercials to good use, and commit to cleaning while the ads whir by. By the time you click it off for the night, your home sweet home could be shinin’.

—A GREAT PLAYLIST IS A HOUSECLEANER’S BEST FRIEND. We’ll let you compile your own.

Photo By: Christian Yanchula

A TIME TO REMEMBER OUR HEROES!

Miracle man: How one Chinese diplomat saved thousands of Jews from the death camps
Joe O'Connor 
National Post Nov 1, 2011

TORONTO — Eric Goldstaub curses, spits out a stream of naughty words and then abruptly apologizes for having uttered them. He can’t help himself, he says. It was a long time ago, a lifetime, but when he thinks back to the Vienna he once knew and all the doors that he knocked on — and all the doors that were shut in his face — his temper sparks.

“I went to every goddamn consulate there ever was in Vienna. Vienna, as the Austrian capital, had all the consulates,” the 89-year-old growls. “I wanted to get visas for my parents and for my relatives. I had 20 relatives. My family, we were 20. And I was going from one bloody consulate to the other. ”

He was a Viennese Jew, and this was his beloved Vienna in 1938, after the Austrians had welcomed Hitler and his Nazi thugs with straight-armed salutes and a campaign of Jewish persecution that would escalate into the Holocaust.

Mr. Goldstaub was a teenager from an influential Jewish family, with a trench coat, a fedora, kind-looking eyes and a talent for dancing.

His fruitless waltz around the city district housing international embassies ended when he visited the Chinese consulate and was met there by Dr. Feng Shan Ho, the Consul General.

“It was a warm reception, and he said bring your passports tomorrow and we will give you all visas,” Mr. Goldstaub says.

“I didn’t believe my eyes, my ears. It was like a miracle that he would say that and, sure enough, I went back the following day and brought all the family’s passports and he sent me away with visas for Shanghai, China.

“And I didn’t even know where the hell China was.”

Much was lost in the Holocaust including, in large part, the story of a Chinese diplomat, an Oscar Schindler of the Far East who, with a stroke of the pen rescued thousands of Jews from the death camps.

“Very few people did the right thing during the Holocaust,” says Bernie Farber, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, who is lecturing in Toronto on Wednesday about the unsung heroes of the Holocaust, for which Mr. Goldstaub will be in the audience. “If more people acted as did Feng Shan Ho, and others, it would be a different world today.”

The world in 1938 was a dangerous place, especially for Jews. Shanghai, an open port city without any diplomatic controls and with a Japanese occupying army watching over it, became a safe harbour for thousands fleeing the coming horrors in Europe.

“People usually ask me two questions about my father,” says Manli Ho, the diplomat’s daughter, from San Francisco.

“Why would some Chinese guy be saving Jews in Vienna when so many Europeans were turning their backs, and why didn’t he talk about it?”

The answer, she believes, is that helping people was the most natural thing for her father to do. And since it was, he never spoke about it after the fact.

Dr. Ho devoted one sentence of a 700-page Chinese language memoir he published in 1990 to the Viennese visa scheme. What he omitted is a Hollywood blockbuster that has never been made.

For two years, he issued visas. Five hundred a month on average, despite being ordered to stop by his superiors and being evicted from the building housing his office by the Germans. Dr. Ho opened a new office, and paid for it out of his own pocket when his Chinese boss in Berlin shut off the money tap. He kept issuing visas until he was transferred out of Austria in 1940. He died in California in 1997, having never met the people he helped save, beyond a fleeting, life-giving encounter in Vienna.

..Mr. Goldstaub was among the lucky ones. He got out with his family and, after 12 years in Shanghai, a time he remembers as a “great adventure” of youth, he moved to Canada and began importing classic clocks and barometers.

“My company is called Ergo Industries — Ergo — for Eric Goldstaub,” says the proprietor, plunking a business card in my palm.

Mr. Goldstaub is honorary president. It is a title he takes seriously, spending most mornings at an office in suburban Toronto reading newspapers, drinking tea and kibitzing with the employees, including his son, Danny, who runs the place.

The old man is turning 90 in a few weeks. On a rare morning at home, in a spacious apartment, surrounded by ticking clocks and trinkets from China and photos of his grandchildren, Mr. Goldstaub smiles. He says that he has lived a good life, one full of richness and luck.

“If I never knocked on that door in Vienna I would have been in a concentration camp,” he says. “And I would have died, I am almost sure of that. Our whole family would have died.

“We needed Feng Shan Ho. He saved us. It was a miracle.”

National Post

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ROBUST RETAIL

Calgary demand for new retail space ‘unprecedented’: Colliers
More than 10 million square feet proposed
By Mario Toneguzzi,
Calgary Herald October 31, 2011

CALGARY — Demand for new retail space in Calgary has reached an ‘unprecedented’ level, says a report by Colliers International.

The commercial real estate firm says 27 projects comprising just over 10.7 million square feet throughout the city are in the planning, permitting or construction stage.

“The momentum of the Calgary retail market in 2011 can be best described as resilient and very robust,” says the report. “The overall vacancy rate has remained unchanged over the past 12 months at 1.45 per cent.

“Calgary has the distinction of having one of the lowest, if not the lowest, retail vacancy rates in all of North America.”

With the influx of both Canadian and international retailers, all vying for a “slice” of the Calgary market, the retail market is expected to remain very strong into 2012, with vacancy rates approaching 1.3 per cent, says Colliers.

“The retail development community is actively pursuing new projects throughout the city, including a push into inner-city mixed-use developments,” says the report.

A FRENZIED PACE!

Calgary office leasing activity a sign of prosperity
Employment growth expected to follow
By Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald October 27, 2011

CALGARY — It is a symbol of both current and future prosperity.

And judging by the record, frenzied pace of leasing activity in the downtown office market, Calgary’s economic fortunes appear to be looking good right now - and down the road.

The leasing activity is sure to lead to future employment growth.

“Companies don’t snap up office space just to lounge in it — if energy companies are expanding their office footprint, they plan on growing their business. This means more drilling, more investment, more jobs and more economic growth for Alberta moving forward,” said Dan Sumner, economist with ATB Financial in Calgary.

Greg Kwong, executive vice-president and regional managing director of CB Richard Ellis Ltd., who moderated a panel discussion on the topic Wednesday at the Calgary Real Estate Forum, said so far this year absorption in the downtown market is 2.2 million square feet.

“To put it into perspective, the average over the last 15 years has been about 750,000 square feet annually. So unbelievable in that respect,” said Kwong. “Why is it happening? Probably two factors. One is if you talk to the oil and gas companies and energy-related services companies that are taking space ... they’re banking space again.

“The second factor is that there was an unusual amount of lease renewals that came up for expiry in the last couple of years and they took advantage of what was deemed to be a slower market.”

Kwong said the difference in the oil and gas industry between today and 30 years ago is that capital budgest and decisions involve billions of dollars being laid out over 10, 15 or 20 years.

Todd Throndson, managing director of Avison Young in Calgary, said many companies are making plans for the long term.

“They want to protect themselves for projects that they may have in six months, in 18 months, in 24 months. Down the road, they’re thinking big picture,” he said. “A lot of companies back in 2006 and 2007 were put in very compromising positions because of their real estate needs. They weren’t able to get the space they wanted. They had to pay a lot more money for the space than what would have been ideal.

“So a lot of them with strong balance sheets are making sure they protect themselves and get their space for their corporate needs going into the future.”

That’s reflected in the downtown office vacancy rate. According to Avison Young, it’s reached its lowest level since early 2009. Over the last three months, downtown office vacancy has dropped from 7.4 per cent to 6.2 per cent.

The addition of skycrapers Eighth Avenue Place and the Bow have not spiked the vacancy rate as was feared a couple of years ago. And demand is fuelling talk of more new development on the horizon.

Bryan Slauko, managing director of Base 10 Capital Advisors, said the amount of absorption implies significant growth in the number of office jobs in Calgary that would be needed to fill those seats. And filling all those seats requires new employees which would mean population growth in Calgary. But population growth can’t match that level of employment growth.

“It begs the question: if there’s not a ton of new office employment currently compared to the historical level to absorb all that office space then in my opinion it seems to mean . . . it’s for speculative growth. They’re planning on growing into that space in the future if the economy holds up and their hiring plans continue,” said Slauko.

“But that comes with a fair amount of risk to the office market because we see today in the economy there’s a lot of global economic uncertainty and I don’t believe Canada is immune and Alberta’s not immune because there’s a lot of risk to the natural resource prices that we depend on.”

And if the economy heads south then potentially a lot of office space will be coming back onto the market for lease.

A BRIGHT SPOT!

Resale home sales seen as bright spot
Garry Marr, Financial Post 
October 18, 2011

Existing home prices in Canada continued to increase last month, although the gains recorded were the smallest since January.

The Canadian Real Estate Association said the average price of a home sold in September was $352,581, a 6.5% jump from a year earlier.

The continued strength of the market in the face of a battered world economy was on display last month as sales rebounded from August, increasing by 2.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis. For the first three quarters of the year, existing home sales are now 1.2% ahead of last year's pace.

The Ottawa-based group, which represents about 100 boards across the country, said new listings have been flat for two months and markets have tightened but all signs indicate most jurisdictions are still in balanced territory.

The group says nationally the sales-to-new-listings ratio was 52.8% in September, up from 51.6% in August. CREA says almost two-thirds of Canadian markets have a sales-to-new-listings ratio of 40% to 60%, which is considered balanced.

"The Canadian housing market remains a bright spot against a backdrop of mixed headline news about the global economy," said Gary Morse, CREA president. "Low mortgage rates continue to draw buyers to the housing market, while recently tightened mortgage regulations are working as intended."

Adrienne Warren, an economist with Bank of Nova Scotia, noted that even as Canadians spend less on retail purchases, those low interest rates are enticing home buyers.

"Continuing uncertainty over the global economic outlook and highly volatile financial markets have yet to contribute to any notable slowing in Canada's housing market," says Ms. Warren.

Last month's numbers were boosted by a strong contribution from the country's largest market. Toronto average sales prices rose 8.9% last month from a year ago to $465,369 while sales activity was up 21.3% during the same period.

"It's pretty clear Toronto is the star of the national real estate scene at least in this act," said Phil Soper, chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services. "The reality is while the world may be on shaky economic footing and there are scenarios where it would cause hardship to business in Toronto, the current reality is we got jobs back from the recession quickly and there has been some slight upward pressure on income and salaries."

The market also appears to finally have adjusted to new mortgage rules. The latest round of changes saw amortization periods lowered to 30 years from 35 years, reduced refinancing limits to 85% of a home's value from 90% and removed government insurance on homeequity lines of credit.

Mr. Soper said those moves, combined with rule changes in 2010 that forced condominium investors to have a minimum 20% down payment, had slowed down the market. "What we didn't want to see was speculative house flippers and that's been tightened up," he said.

Gregory K lump, chief economist for CREA, noted housing has remained stable in face of market volatility, which has contributed to Canadian confidence in the economy.

"Interest rates are expected to remain low for longer, and evidence suggests that recent changes to mortgage regulations are preventing the kind of excesses they were designed to avert. Both of these developments are good news for the housing market," he said.

Photo By: Fiona Katherine

UP YOUR ALLEY!

Most walkable neighbourhoods: Beltline bustles with some big-city hustle

By Tony Seskus,
Calgary Herald October 13, 2011

Sushi bars, bridal shops, nightclubs, art galleries, homeless programs, historic sites and yoga studios — a stroll through Beltline is unlike any other in Calgary.

It’s got a big-city feeling that’s bustling, vibrant and even gritty, sometimes within a single block.

“It’s one of the few places in Calgary where one can live without a car quite easily and it’s probably the best place to do it,” said Rob Taylor, an area resident since 1983 and community president.

“It’s fun to go outside and watch what’s happening when there’s a variety of people and a variety of things going on.”

On a sunny weekday afternoon, the streets are indeed alive.

Office workers, hipsters, a panhandler and two police officers walking the beat all momentarily share the busy corner of 10th Avenue and 1st Street S.W.

They are among the thousands of pedestrians who use Beltline’s sidewalks each day.

It’s little wonder that when the Herald used walkscore.com to get a sense of Beltline’s walkability, it rated “very walkable.” That means most errands can be run on foot.

Strolling with Bright Pryde of the Beltline Planning Policy Group last June, that much is obvious.

There are streetside businesses to satisfy nearly every consumer urge. And away from the bustle is Central Memorial Park, which includes a stylish garden cafe that would look at home in any major metropolitan centre.

The community thrives on visitors and its large population.

Beltline has nearly 20,000 residents, filling a densely populated neighbourhood of upscale condos, rental apartments, townhouses and a few single-family homes.

As day becomes night, crowds arrive in the neighbourhood to dine, drink and be entertained.

With so many eyes on the street, Pryde says she always felt safe on foot in the community.

“I used to live in this little building here — it’s kind of a sketchy corner,” said Pryde, pointing to a rental where she might hear arguments in the street at night. “But, you know, when I walked out onto the streets, I felt safe. I felt comfortable because I knew that the community was there with me.”

There’s no avoiding the crime statistics, but behind the headlines there’s been improvement.

Beltline had 47 street robberies in 2010, but that number is down nearly 30 per cent from 2008.

Car thefts and thefts from vehicles are also down significantly from 2008, coinciding with policing efforts in the community.

Trotting through Beltline, the community’s size is striking.

Yet its grid street system, a legacy of early planning, often makes it easy to find quick walking routes.

But there are challenges.

Walking conditions range from model sidewalks to rugged paths.

The best routes are wide, treed and have comfortable benches. They’re as good as any in the city.

But there are also instances where sidewalks are narrow, patched or crumbling. Some have utility poles or other obstacles that walkers have to navigate.

And, of course, thousands of vehicles pass through the community daily. Along the busiest roads, there’s the steady din of traffic.

Despite the beauty of Central Memorial Park, there are also no parks north of 12th Avenue.

The community association is hopeful that improvements will come along as the city looks to bolster walkability in the city.

While interest in the “urban lifestyle” is growing in popularity, Taylor acknowledges it doesn’t suit everyone’s needs. But there’s also great pride in the many things the community does offer.

“If you’re of an urban mindset, it’s fun,” Taylor said.

And as Pryde headed off to work down one of Central Memorial Park’s picturesque garden pathways, the community’s walk appeal was clear.

“I always hear people say that it’s impossible to live in Calgary without a car,” added Pryde, who is currently studying abroad.

“I always argue the opposite. You’ve got to pick the right community. No, you can’t live in Cranston without a car. But you could easily live (car-less) in the Beltline — and many people do.”

Photo By: RemotelyBoris