Here are some items to consider to better winterize your home in this video from Lou Manfredini and Marvin.com

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Here's an article from shine.yahoo.com with 16 Budget-Friendly Home Upgrades for your home.

For the kitchen: the kitchen sink, a new countertop, new light fixtures or a "Splash of Color"

For the bathroom, their suggestions include: refinishing the cabinets, hooks, or a new tile floor

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Sometime soon most of us will see our utility company changing our electricity bill to "time of use" billing. It will cost more to use electricity during peak hours (for example a summer afternoon) than it will cost for non-peak times.

If you are considering the purchase of a new clothes dryer, you may want to take this into consideration while deciding upon your purchase.

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Summer is coming and so is the hot weather!

Here is a webpage from WikiHow.com (a user edited online how to manual) with lots of ideas about how to stay cool without using air conditioning. A great green idea and a money saver as well...

Just add water... Sweat it out... Dress (or undress) for success... Breathe like a dog... spicy food... Put a freeze on things... and many more ideas.

Cool-Yourself-Without-Air-Conditioning

If you having been thinking about listing your property for sale recently, you have probably heard about home staging. It can be amazing what a difference a home stager can make. It is usually money well spent!

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For most people, buying a home is the most significant investment of their lives. Moreover, in spite of the doubt and confusion clouding both the financial markets and news headlines, there are many genuine real estate opportunities - especially for first-time buyers.

In general, prices are stable and historical data demonstrates that purchasing a home has proven a sound long-term financial investment. However, first-time homebuyers are often understandably anxious when it comes time to making the purchase. We have come up with a simple "do and don't" list to make the process easier for everyone dreaming of homeownership.

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There is much information that points to the benefits to buying an older home. Older homes generally have lower purchase prices relative to newer houses. They tend to be located in established neighborhoods with an existing history of schools, transportation and commercial center offerings. Older houses have mature landscaping and period-style architecture and craftsmanship. If this type of home-buying information is important to you, you may want to consider an older house. Still, older homes come with their own set of issues. In order to make the best home-buying decision, here are five information topics you may want to discuss with when considering the purchase of an older house.

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Here's an interesting article from Coldwell Banker's US website on the process of buying building a custom home:

If you want a new home, but aren't interested in a cookie cutter subdivision, consider building your own custom home.

It's a "toss up" whether building your own home will be cheaper than buying one in a subdivision, said David Lupberger, a home improvement expert with ServiceMagic.com. A custom built home could run $100 per square foot, excluding land costs, he said, but up to as much as $300 per square foot with high-end finishes (excluding the cost of land).

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Every seller wants her home to sell quickly and bring top dollar. While there are some factors you can't control, like neighbourhood popularity and market fluctuations, you can help your house put on its best face for showings and open houses. If you want to sell your home, here are some tips to prepare your house and turn it into an irresistible home.

Before any physical preparations, you first need to prepare yourself emotionally. Begin to dissociate yourself, and decide to let go of your attachments to the home. From now on, this is a house you really want to sell, not your own beloved home.

It's important that potential buyers can imagine calling your house "home," too. Make it easier for them by de-personalizing the space. Remove personal photos and family heirlooms. Buyers should be allowed to connect with the space, and to imagine displaying their own photos and artifacts. You want buyers to think, "I could see myself living here."

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Like any other life changing experience, buying a home for the first time can seem like an incredible challenge. However, once first-time homebuyers are able to organize their priorities, conduct some useful research and interact with a trusted real estate agent, confusion can quickly turn into excitement. Keeping in mind some of the basic tips outlined below can help pave the way to a successful first-time home buying experience.

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Here's Christmas Tree 101 from This Old House.

• How to choose a good tree
• Prepare the tree
• How to keep it looking nice
• Responsible disposal

Check out Christmas Tree 101 from ThisOldHouse.com

Image via Wikipedia

Wouldn't it be great to know just how must impact a basement renovation will have on the market value of your home? Wouldn't it be great if we could supply some definitive figures here on our blog to tell you just that?

Unfortunately, definitive figures are pretty much impossible to calculate. Every home is different and every buyer's needs are different.

However, we took a quick and dirty look at some MLS® figures to see if we could find anything interesting...

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Here are links to information regarding first time buyer incentives, land transfer tax and also home renovation tax credit.

• This link refers to the Tax Credit for first time buyers announced with the recent federal budget: cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/bdgt/2009/fqhbtc-eng.html
• This link refers to information regarding the Land Transfer Tax Rebate for first time buyers...: rev.gov.on.ca/english/refund/newhome/

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