Monday, 15 June 2015

Where is your community in MoneySense list?

Workopolis uses Stats Canada numbers to assist in creating list of job prospects
Long list of criteria in MoneySense ranking system; Woodstock is #110

By Mark Schadenberg
Money Sense magazine recently released its list of the best Canadian cities to reside in. The ranking system had many criteria, including employment.
Now, the folks at Workopolis have announced their list of projected new jobs in various Canadian cities in the third quarter of 2015. The link to the story is below, but Ontario cities making the positive grade include Durham (Oshawa, Whitby, Pickering, Ajax, etc) and the adjoining York (Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Newmarket, Aurora, etc) regions.
The Workopolis method of gathering data is based on the number of job / career postings, but it also reflects on a Statistics Canada analysis study called 'May's Labour Force Survey'.
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Here at Workopolis, we remain fairly optimistic about the job market for the remainder 2015. May’s Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada showed that the country added nearly sixty thousand positions last month, mostly full-time, private sector jobs.
According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for Q3 of 2015, we can expect to see these gains in employment continue. The survey of over 1,900 employers across Canada reveals that 20% plan to increase their staffing levels in the third quarter of 2015. (74% say that they plan to maintain their current staff levels, and just 5% are expecting job cuts.)
While Ontario was the big winner for jobs in May’s Labour Force Survey, the Manpower report predicts the employment momentum to continue to move eastward with Quebec and Atlantic Canada seeing the most robust hiring in the coming months . . .
Some of this regional shift in hiring continues to be as a result of falling oil prices. The oil producing provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador saw increases in unemployment last month, while the rest of the country experienced job gains.
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Trends and statistics are always monitored to gauge long-term growth, but also short-term ups and downs in an economy we can always refer to as a roller coaster.
Numbers can always be considered accurate, but when you factor in so many different sectors of an economy, it's not easy to pinpoint why employment predictions in the near future for London are not overly promising.
If you watch the local media – Free Press and CTV London – you can follow depictions of a London wrestling the expanding commercial / industrial zones and attracting larger employers, and the costs associated with preparing such properties. Our proximity (Woodstock to London) with the 401/403 interchange connecting up to the 401/402 interchange and a busy automotive assembly area, especially with Toyota and Cami (GM), you would predict a healthy long-term future, but planning for that future by the folks in London must occur now.


Woodstock has lots of serviced land – ready for your industry. See: www.cometothecrossroads.com
The London development committee – Strategic Priorities and Policy – are working on a so-called 'just-in-time' philosophy on attracting large commerce and the readiness of land parcels. A Free Press story on June 10, quoted the mayor:
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Mayor Matt Brown cheered the notion of just-in-time land delivery.
“We need to have industrial land, the right size in the right place serviced and ready to go . . . What is critical here is that this will get us there. We will be in the right place at the right time to win investment. This strikes the right balance.”
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As for the MoneySense magazine list of best Canadian cities to call home, I've discussed this ranking in the past. Credit must be given to the magazine for its extensive criteria, and you must congratulate Burlington for staying head of neighbouring Oakville inside the top 10, but I certainly question how Woodstock could be slotted at #110, while Stratford with its massive municipal debt is at #7. Stratford has a festival, but its home prices are significantly higher than Woodstock.
MoneySense created the list to look at 219 Canadian centres.
Additional criteria for the survey includes weather, employment, average family income, access to health care, crime rates, transportation (public transit and biking trails all included), post-secondary education institutions, and of course both availability of sports and arts in a community.
Major Ontario cities and other southern Ontario rankings.
1 Boucherville, Que.
2 Ottawa
3 Burlington
6 Oakville
7 Stratford
15 Guelph
16 Waterloo
21 Halton Hills
23 Newmarket
31 London
35 Toronto
36 Richmond Hill
38 Vaughan
40 Kitchener
41 Hamilton
61 Mississauga
82 Tillsonburg
90 Cambridge
91 Ingersoll
100 Brantford
110 Woodstock
130 Haldimand
135 Sarnia
146 Windsor
154 Brampton
160 Leamington
172 Norfolk
179 Chatham-Kent


LINKS:
http://www.workopolis.com/content/advice/article/canadian-employers-reveal-their-hiring-plans-for-the-remainder-of-2015/
http://www.lfpress.com/2015/06/09/just-in-time-delivery
http://www.lfpress.com/2015/06/10/city-would-service-industrial-land-just-in-time
www.moneysense.ca
www.cometothecrossroads.com


Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Picture of me, enjoying a cold drink in summer
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Wednesday, 10 June 2015

Relay For Life - 2015 countdown

Canadian Cancer Society's signature event

Accept the baton
Still time to sign up for Relay For Life in Woodstock

By Mark Schadenberg
Relay For Life steering committee

The slogan might be 'Accept The Baton', but for the Canadian Cancer Society's (CCS) Relay For Life, the motto could read 'accept the challenge.'
The challenge is to raise money for cancer research projects in an effort to find a cure. The CCS has many additional challenges, however.
Relay For Life in Woodstock is Saturday, June 13, 6 p.m. - midnight at College Avenue Secondary School. Registrations begin at 4 p.m. and dinner is served, beginning at 5 p.m. The infield of the CASS track will still resemble a tent city, but there is no formal numbering and site designations this year.
As can be seen, the format has been modified from previous years, but the challenge remains the same.
“Statistics note that 210 Canadians die every single day from cancer,” notes Jan Cunningham, manager of the Oxford community CCS office.
The CCS in Oxford has about 1,200 volunteers in total, adds Cunningham, many working to make Relay For Life in Woodstock, Tillsonburg (June 6) and Ingersoll (June 19) successful, but the organization also has, for example, 70 volunteer drivers who escort patients to doctors appointment and chemotherapy sessions.

“Relay For Life is the signature event in Ontario for the cancer society,” says Cunningham.
Cancer research is only a small part of where Relay For Life dollars are directed, however, as there is also advocacy and education.
“Cancer prevention is important,” continues Cunningham. “We know that about half of all cancers can be prevented. We encourage screening and early detection too. People can know that our office is there for you to come in and talk to us.”
The CCS office is at 65 Springbank Ave North in Woodstock (519 537-5592) and the national websites of www.cancer.ca www.relayforlife.ca/woodstock are also an integral resource.
Relay For Life in Woodstock is a 6-hour walk this year after previously organized as an all-night walk for participants.
Everybody at Relay this year must register. The fee is $25 if you have not registered by an earlier date, but this includes a meal and entertainment. Survivors, by the way, register for $10.
“There's still time to register,” says Cunningham. “You can register online and set your modest fundraising goal.
“We also value all our volunteers and it's not too late to sign up as a Relay volunteer.”


All participants and volunteers will be fed, so there is a separate sub-committee for the food tent where coordinating for a crowd of more than 500 is complex, but made easier from sponsors Boston Pizza, Swiss Chalet, Pita Hut, Joe's Lunch, No Frills, and of course Tim Horton's.
“It's a challenge organizing the food for such a large group,” says Deb Sutherland. “We have quite a list – our own logistics checklist as we plan our volunteers to set up, pick up supplies, serve the food and of course clean up.”
Sutherland joined the organization of Relay For Life because both her mom and a sister-in-law died from cancer.
“I just wanted to help out. We're all trying to find a cure. Everybody is touched by cancer in some way,” Sutherland says.


Relay For Life also includes a solemn Luminary ceremony at 8:45 to remember those who have passed away from cancer, but also to recognize survivors. Luminaries are $5 and can be purchased online and also at the event.
On stage entertainment keeps the feet moving around the track with well-known local band Green Onions, along with George Straight cover singer Terry Empey among those in the night's lineup.
Relay For Life: Ready? Set. Walk!
Green Onions

LINKS:

LINK TO: Sentinel-Review final promotion story:
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2015/06/09/relay-for-life-preparations-underway-for-the-2015-event-at-college-ave-secondary-school
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Monday, 8 June 2015

Ernie Hardeman celebrates 20 years at Queen's Park

Oxford MPP has been dedicated to rural and urban concerns
Hardeman has won 6 provincial elections

By Mark Schadenberg
It doesn't matter if you have a closet full of blue, red or orange ties, you must admire the qualities of our Oxford County member of Provincial Parliament, Ernie Hardeman.
On Monday, along with my family, we attended Ernie's 20th anniversary party at Cowan Park – 20 years as MPP of Oxford County and at the age of 67 he's as busy as ever representing the interests of everyone in Oxford whether they be young or old, rural or urban.
The Salford farmer, who was also a former mayor of SouthWest Oxford township and Oxford warden, was first elected in 1995 for a post at Queen's Park, defeating incumbent NDP Kimble Sutherland.



Twenty years later, Hardeman has now won six elections and is the Conservative party critic for the ministry of municipal affairs and housing.
You can read some links below about his newest battle against the Ontario department of waste and poor spending when the topic revolves around subsidized housing in the province and the long waiting list. Hardeman has introduced a private member's bill to force a closer analysis of spending within the housing department, including where and how the provincial government secures services for such things as natural gas as a heating source (utility) and also insurance.

From his office press release of March 2015:
“Unfortunately there are many similarities between Housing Services Corporation and ORNGE, such as creating for-profit subsidiaries, expensing international travel and salaries disappearing off the sunshine list,” said Hardeman. “With an affordable housing waiting list of 165,000 families, we simply can’t afford for housing providers to be taken advantage of, and that is why this Bill would give the Auditor General the authority to investigate.”
Hardeman’s Bill, the Housing Services Corporation Accountability Act, would: • Save affordable housing providers money on natural gas and insurance by removing the mandatory requirement to purchase them through HSC; • Restore accountability by requiring HSC to once again report salaries over $100,000 on the sunshine list; and • Give the Provincial Auditor General the authority to audit HSC without requiring a Minister’s request.
“The goal of the organization was to save affordable housing providers money by negotiating bulk discounts, but it’s clear that over the last few years something has gone horribly wrong and housing providers are now paying millions more than if they purchased these services directly,” said Hardeman.

Hardeman's biggest success story is one about both perseverance and common sense law-making as he diligently pushed forward a private member's bill which made it mandatory for all homes with a natural gas heating system to have a carbon monoxide detector. This CO concern (odourless gas) includes not only furnaces, gas stoves and gas fireplaces, but CO which can consume the air of a house from an attached garage, plus the burning of other fossil fuels and the proper venting even of a woodstove.
This Hawkins-Gignac Act is now law and is sadly named after Richard and Laurie Hawkins, who along with their two children, died from CO poisoning in their Woodstock home in 2008. Laurie's uncle John Gignac is a retired firefighter, so he was Hardeman's partner in education, determination and pubic appeal to make the use of a CO detector mandatory, and now their foundation continues. CO detectors have also been distributed through fire departments to low-income families.
In 2012, Hardeman's office was busy with a survey, asking farmers to comment on the long-term sustainability of all levels of agriculture from small family farms to large-scale agri-business.
I specifically remember Hardeman lobbying in Toronto after subsidies were paid to pig farmers during a pork production crisis, but the system in place also paid many farmers who had left that particular industry several years earlier (some retired and some dead), but were still on a list, so they received dollars as well.
Hardeman concentrated his efforts to promote Woodstock's new hospital for funding – a hospital which opened in November of 2011. Woodstock and Oxford gained the large Toyota manufacturing facility under Hardeman's watch.
As a former critic with the portfolio for the Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs department, Hardeman's work included creating a marketing / advertising system to assist farmers in promoting along major highways where local farm markets and/or on-farm selling of produce was available.
His battles have been large and small, including gaining approval for MPP local offices to be able to sell poppies leading up to Remembrance Day. Hardeman has publicly stated he is against the large landfill proposed for Beachville-Ingersoll area (See letter).


Hardeman has attended fairs, parades, birthday parties, and has cut many ribbons. He has made his opinion known on rising hydro bills and taxation on middle-income families. Hardeman has promoted Oxford at every opportunity, whether it be for grants, gas tax cash, money for roads and bridges, and also education.
Next time you see Ernie, ask him to recall the Red Tape Reduction Act and how it assisted farmers in purchasing large equipment / implements.
Congratulations to Ernie Hardeman on 20 years of serving Oxford at Queen's Park, but actually many many more years in total when you look back to his time as mayor of Greater Salford.
Ernie gets my vote!
Ernie arriving at Woodstock Santa Claus Parade

UNRELATED STORY
GORDON PITTOCK RESERVOIR
When looking back at a long list of previous MPPs for Oxford, I noticed the name of Gordon Pittock from 1963-67 as Progressive Conservative member of the provincial legislature. He – I read– was from Ingersoll, but as a member of the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority board, was honoured to have the Thames River dam in Woodstock named in his honour when it was completed in 1967.

LINKS:
http://www.erniehardemanmpp.com/biography.html
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2015/06/08/ernie-hardeman-marks-20-years-as-mpp-for-oxford-at-celebration-event


Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
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Saturday, 6 June 2015

Kitchener - Waterloo - Cambridge area growing quickly

Population could be 750,000 by 2013 in Tri-Cities area

By Mark Schadenberg
Where does Kitchener end and Waterloo begin?
Is Cambridge on the south side or north side of the 401, or both?
Are the Tri-Cities the accumulation of Galt, Hespeler and Preston to make Cambridge or is it now the quad cities of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, and St Jacobs, along with Breslau, New Dundee and the tiny community of Mannheim?
CTV Kitchener just completed airing a three-part series on real estate trends in that area, which depicts the idea that boundary changes are needed again to find spaces for subdivisions.
Simultaneously, intensification also continues with many more condos sprouting up. If you want to save rural spaces, intensification is the only answer and it also fits the Ontario guideline known as the Provincial Policy Statement.
CTV Kitchener graphic

 The CTV story, featuring reporter Tyler Calver, predicts that the Waterloo Region population could reach 750,000 by 2031. By then, Baden and New Hamburg could also be inside Kitchener-Waterloo.
The CTV story focuses on a subdivision called Wildflowers (West of Fischer-Hallman and east of Trussler Road), but many neighbourhoods are blossoming.
In the Waterloo Region Record newspaper Susan Pigg wrote:

Last month the average sale price of a resale detached house in the City of Toronto hit $1.15 million, up 18.2 per cent from May of 2014.
And a recent report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. warned that construction of new, single-detached homes will continue to decline — and prices climb — because of land costs, lack of serviced subdivisions and land use policies, which is code for intensification and the shift to highrise rather than low-rise housing construction.

The story also printed stats. No source was listed for the numbers, but I'm sure they're correct.
Average price of a detached home in May 2015:
Kitchener-Waterloo: $390,704 (up 1.1 per cent from May 2014)
Hamilton and area: $400,893 (11.3 per cent)
Burlington: $709,719 (19 per cent)
Barrie: $381,520 (up 6.5 per cent)
Oshawa: $398,582 (21 per cent)
Orangeville: $428,918 (2.9 per cent)
As a full-time Realtor myself it's interesting to note that Toronto-area families are moving to the Guelph and Kitchener areas to find an affordable house. This reality drives up prices there, so now Cambridge-Kitchener-Waterloo home buyers are considering Woodstock.
One news story this past week which didn't gain a lot of attention was the planned expansion at Queen's Park to 122 ridings from the current 107. One of the new ridings will be in the Cambridge / Kitchener area.

LINKS:
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/investigates/ctv-investigates-real-estate-reality-1.2405433
http://www.mattamyhomes.com/gta/communities/kitchener/wildflowers/
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5664208-toronto-family-moves-to-kitchener-to-get-affordable-home/
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5664230-highway-401-widening-work-starts-monday-in-cambridge/
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5657224-region-spent-1-7m-fighting-land-plan-ruling/
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5662388-region-poised-to-get-fifth-provincial-riding/
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/ontario-will-match-most-federal-riding-changes-gets-15-new-electoral-districts



Want to move to Oxford County?
Contact Me
Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination

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Thursday, 4 June 2015

Computer ink, measuring tape and a cell phone

Realtors know real estate and people
I've been a full-time Realtor since January of 1999

By Mark Schadenberg
I am a Realtor.
As you can see from a humorous internet link below, real estate sales representatives do consider the front seat of their car as an office, and I too live on my cell phone.
Realtors text other Realtors to request a showing and then text our customer clients.
Proficient math skills, and an ability to delve into paperwork and forms is a must.
As independent contractors, Realtors accumulate HST for the federal government, but luckily we can subtract the huge amount of HST we pay out on advertising, computer ink, business cards, signs and flyers, computer ink, lockboxes, promotional calendars, computer ink, gas and stationery, but not for your stationary bike.
Most Realtors are not stationary very long as we show homes, work from home, scan listings and offers, email prospects, attend office meetings and open house tours, and wander through Staples to buy computer ink and at the same time 'work the room' for more prospects.




One of my office brokers, Peter Hoffman, is profiled quite prominently in the CTV London news feature (noted below) on becoming a Realtor, and traits of a real estate professional.
You truly need people skills, patience and the willingness to work silly hours. You also require more than just a basic knowledge of home construction. Not enough knowledge to build a house, but certainly enough knowledge to build up rapport with home buyers. A Realtor needs a strong background understanding mortgages, including amortization and credit scores.
I have always believed a Realtor must sell the community as much as a home within that community. Market sense is knowing current listings and recent sales and where another certain house will fit into the mix. All Realtors have over-calculated on the value for a house – a predicted selling value – it's not any easy chore, but a full-time Realtor knows his local marketplace. Therefore, not only must your Realtor be a full-time professional, but also must be experienced, local and have dozens of contacts.

ME, MYSELF & I
In 1998 as I was preparing to leave the writing media world as sports editor of the Woodstock Sentinel-Review (Another multi-tasking employment), it took me five months to complete and pass the OREA courses, but for most people you would have to commit at least that amount of time as you must pass an exam after each of three different course segments – whether you learn the material online or from a text book. The OREA courses were intense, but informative, but only just the beginning in the learning-on-the-job process.
Exceptional 'people skills' is the trademark of any successful Realtor as your confidence and expertise speaks volumes with buyers and sellers, as you also inform the consumers about trends and other frameworks of real estate such as conditions in an offer, high-ratio mortgages, inspections, market value, appraisals, buyer agency agreements, marketing, and depreciation of elements in a home. As you can see the list goes on and on, but the client must rely on your persistence, knowledge, integrity, and your measuring tape.

To add a little perspective to our pile of paperwork in real estate, at our office meeting yesterday (We do have office meetings to discuss industry news and trends) we debated the necessity for a new Form 801 from OREA which was created to document offers on a listing – just in case someone sometime complained that maybe their offer wasn't considered. We do – on occasion – receive multiple offers in our marketplace, but not too often.
Anyway, after 16 years as a full-time Realtor, I'm looking forward to another 16 years. I'll be 64 by then.


LINKS:
www.realtor.ca
Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
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Tuesday, 2 June 2015

I was a Red Devil from 1980-85

WCI remembers its past and creates athletics hall of fame
My alma mater hosted a Homecoming Reunion this past weekend 

By Mark Schadenberg
I am proud to say, I'm a former Red Devil!
Woodstock Collegiate Institute held a 75th Homecoming Reunion this past weekend. The school is more than 75 years old, but I think that particular number has been established as the age of the current building housing Red Devils between the ages of 14 and 18.


From 1980 – 85 (five years), I was in Galahad house and like everyone else I own many fond memories, including junior volleyball in 81-82, senior volleyball in 83-84, and the still unknown reason why I attempted football in my fifth year of high school in the autumn of 1984. I unsuccessfully ran for student council, played the role of a wall flower at many high school dances, and was both the foe and assistant for Al Huras (Note: Today, Al Huras is one of my Lions Club friends, but in the early 80's I was a typical teenager). My broadcasting career – you could say – began when announcing the up-coming matches and who was 'on deck' at a wrestling meet at the Collegiate for Mr. Huras, but I would (at the same time) also be his nemesis as my older brother and I were the 'Hansen brothers' of intra-mural ball hockey.
Mr. Terry Hobin would be another teacher who might recall an incident or two. One day, instead of sitting inside the school in my desk for Calculus, I was hiding outside my first-floor math class knocking on the glass and then quickly squatting below the window sill to disrupt Mr. Hobin from his chalkboard instructions.
I don't know if I was a Red Devil, but at times I was a little devilish.

VISITING THE ALMA MATER
This past Saturday, I attended the WCI open house. I ran into Audrey Hess, who ran the cafeteria in my era and baked great cookies. I had a chat with Ron Lindsay who coached me in volleyball in Grade 10 and was my teacher for the informative Economics 401 class I conquered. Our volleyball team would practice in the small gym, which today resembles a fitness club.
In the hallways, I spent a brief moment with current principal Chris Friesen and asked why he didn't have his picture on the wall with all the other former principals and he indicated the obvious answer (I always thought there was no such thing as a bad question, so I ask and that's why I became a reporter) – because he was still there. Richard Hall was vice principal, and Kerry Johnston and Ray Thomson were my principals. I noticed that Mrs. Hall (I think they weren't related), who was one of my teachers for one year, would later become a WCI principal. The surnames of some of my favourite teachers were: Duckitt, Harvey, James, James (brothers: one taught geography and the other science), Lavin, Tebbutt, Terry, and McDermott.
BACK TO THE CURRENT
Chris Friesen was pulling on a dolly cart a refurbished vintage desk and chair which was going to be auctioned off that night at the Reunion reception at the Oxford Auditorium. (With some regrets now, I did not attend the dinner or the Saturday afternoon alumni concert).
One hour (give or take) at WCI Saturday also included a short conversation with my graduating year prime minister Ellen Roach, and a stroll down memory lane by visiting the '80's room' on the third floor. 
Several yearbooks (The Oracle), old school shirts, photo albums, record albums from the era, newspaper clippings, and bristol board with cut-and-paste pictures were all proudly on display from my decade. I talked with a recent grad, who was scouring through yearbooks to search out recollections of his dad's tenure as a Devil.

Each decade had a classroom with memorabilia specific to that era, while the school's hallway also had displays of pictures from times long ago – cast from plays, orchestras, sports teams, Reach For The Top, and of course the gun / rifle club. For example, I took a picture of a picture of a 1930-31 girls' basketball team – quite an artifact indeed.


FRIDAY NIGHT SPORTS TRIBUTE
The inaugural ceremony for the WCI athletics hall of fame took place on Friday night and it was in tribute to the late journalist Steve Coad who spend many many years at the London Free Press after earlier being sports editor at The Woodstock Sentinel-Review.


Honoured on Friday were former Canadian Olympian Catherine Bond-Mills, a former world badminton champion in Penny Parkes, along with Dr Peter Fowler, Dr Henry Janssen, Dr Seth Yates, Tom Moulton, Douglas Stevenson, multi-sport athlete Dan Morris, Mike Elliott, cross-country skier Mary Thompson, and three football squads – 1960-61 senior, 1960-61 junior, and 1969-70 senior.
Bond-Mills was an outstanding track athlete, winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games, and competing twice in the Olympics (Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996) in the seven-discipline heptathlon. When she competed at the Ontario high school championships, she dominated on the provincial stage.
OFSAA 1985

OFSAA 1986

Moulton was a defensive back in the CFL with the Hamilton-Ti-Cats in the 1960's, but passed away in 2011. I had the opportunity to talk to him when he was inducted in the Woodstock Sports Wall of Fame in 2009.
It's interesting to see three doctors on the list. Yates is a two-time OFSAA gold medallist in the pole vault. Janssen was a football star with the Western Mustangs and was drafted into the CFL. Fowler, meanwhile, was a Pan-Am Games medallist in swimming and is a founder of the Fowler-Kennedy sports medicine clinic at London's Western University campus.
Mary Thompson has competed internationally in nordic (cross-country) skiing.
Dan Morris was a terrific basketball player and a standout hockey player with the Woodstock Navy Vets. He would play NCAA hockey at Ohio University and then coached at that school for many many years.
Congratulations must also include the athletics hall committee led faculty member / coach Kathy Roberts for the task of assembling this first-ever group to be enshrined, including the invites and plaques.
I'm a proud Red Devil.


LINKS:


Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
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Statistics are accurate numbers, but you want a 'SOLD' sticker

May we look at the May numbers?

By Mark Schadenberg
I've looked at all the statistics with my analytic eyes, and I've determined that the Chicago Blackhawks should win the Stanley Cup.
Whoever has the best game plan, however, should win.
When real estate is considered, a confident game plan is very important. What is your Realtor going to do to assist in selling your house?
I love doing open houses as they truly create interest and some hype in your property.
ONE STEP BACK FOR MANY STEPS FORWARD
A thorough market analysis is part one of the listing process because my report will not only tell you how much your house is worth and its market value, but it will also include tips on getting your home prepared for the market, list all negative points especially depreciated items (décor and mechanicals), and will accentuate the positives such as updates, competitive advantages, and your neighbourhood amenities. My market analysis will point out the selling price of recent sales and describe which current listings are likely over-priced. I will draw a picture in detail about current local sales stats (Toronto numbers mean zero here and quite frankly the London-area or K-W tabulations are indicators, but not reflections), and finally at the end I will list my game plan to sell your home.
While I'm not a professional photographer, seven years at a daily newspaper taught me about taking good pictures and conducting my research.
There are many ways to promote myself as a Realtor, but you want marketing of your home.



JOB INTERVIEW
If you're looking for a Realtor, ask them prompting questions about current sales numbers.
If you're talking to me, I will very quickly refer to the ups and downs on a chart and why it may be occurring. I firmly believe that prices currently are moving upward in the $200,000 - $300,000 price range locally because there is a true lack of listings – the inventory is low, or you could say the shelves don't include enough chocolate chip cookies for the kids' lunch by Friday.
MAY WE LOOK AT MAY'S TOTALS
May in 2015 saw a slightly lower total of homes sold in the Woodstock-Ingersoll district board territory (WIDREB), but in my opinion that's because May of 2014 was a revival month after an extremely slow winter of 2014 due to a bad winter. Our post-Christmas winter of 2015 was also colder than normal. I'm not a climatologist, but I think Canucks simply said this year: 'Let's just deal with it.”
To compare, the first three months of 2014 saw 204 sales, as compared to 284 in the first quarter of 2015
So, May of 2015 had 133 sales – slightly lower than the 139 of May 2014. The best number for May was the outstanding 195 in May of 2005 as hysteria for the Toyota announcement was running rampant like a wild bear in backyards of Newmarket.
The lowest Mays in recent times (see the attachment) was 2012 with 97 and 2009 with just 98. The 2009 economist recap looks back to the auto sector crisis, which has an obvious effect on the Oxford economy. In March of 2011 there was a Tsunami in Japan and in May of 2011 there was only 112 WIDREB sales reported – again not a coincidence.


My chart below on year-end sales is an indicator of the local economy and how the waves of the ocean of the world dictate that numbers will go up and down.
People need a home, but it's their consumer confidence which pushes them through their bank turnstiles and around the velvet ropes to have a chat with a loan officer about amortization and beacon scores.
Only one link at the bottom of today's prose, plus some of my produced flyers.

BOTTOM LINE
It doesn't matter if it's the hottest market ever or as cold as a freezer in Antarctica, if you're asking price is too high your home will not sell as quickly as you want it to. While establishing 'market value' can be attributed to both motivated buyers and sellers, sold stickers are applied usually only to front-lawn signs of vendors who consider themselves motivated to sell (See internet link below for more details).

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com




LINK:
http://homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/qt/012308_B4Sellng.htm?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons

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