I love the holiday season. It’s a great time to catch up with friends and family, enjoy delicious foods and make merry. But, it can also be really stressful if you have to convert an already cramped home into a hotel and banquet hall. I know, I’ve been there. So, when we rebuilt our house, [...]
Continuing from Part I which focussed more on renovations, there are several misconceptions about renovations and rebuilds that often lead homeowners to make bad assumptions, causing them to end up in uncomfortable places. Remember, your home is as much about living your life today as it is about a financial asset that helps you pursue future [...]
For many, home renovations are becoming a part of life. This is in part due to the countless HGTV programs we love, and the practical need in places like Toronto. With aging housing stock and high property costs, more and more Torontonians need to fix, improve and update their house to create a home. Unfortunately, [...]
After a cold, dark, winter, most of us welcome the first warm days of spring with open arms. We happily open our windows and joyously shed those layers of extra clothes we’ve been wearing for months. But then, as summer comes in, and the temperature and humidity builds, the excitement wears off. We retreat to [...]
A common question I hear from prospective renovators is: “Where do I start?” There are so many different elements to these reno projects that it is hard for the inexperienced homeowner to know where to begin. They often get lost in the weeds, only seeing what’s in front of them. Maybe they call a contractor [...]
You have a house which you plan to transform into your dream home. You’ve been fantasizing about it for a long time: watching HGTV shows, scouring design magazines and even crashing open houses for inspiration. You know what you want: beautiful, stylish and plenty of room for your lifestyle. It’s exciting! It’s fun! You tell [...]
More and more people in the Toronto real estate market are finding themselves trapped in a starter home, unable to move to a larger house when more space is needed. Now they are looking for new ways to create space. As a result, the number of renovation/rebuild projects in Toronto has grown substantially. Given the [...]
Reno/rebuild projects can tax a relationship as much as the pocket book. Why? They require a lot of collaborative decision-making, and the path to consensus is not always easy. Discussions can be fraught with emotion because of the central role the home plays in our lives. Home is a place we go to rest, to [...]
Growing up as the child of immigrant parents who started with very little I was taught the value of money at a very early age. This was followed later by a tutorial on budgeting and the importance of sticking to a budget to meet my financial goals. These basic skills have proven invaluable as my [...]
Thinking about a major renovation or rebuild this year? Don’t dawdle. Projects of this nature typically take longer than expected. Based on our own experience, and my conversations with families considering major renovations and/or rebuilds, this is because most people don’t know: (1) what the pre-build process involves or how long it will take, (2) [...]
