Chris

Hi JohnF, didn't mean to imply that we have bought and sold properties without an agent. We have always used an agent and I would agree that most times a property is sold much quicker if sold thru an agent. I was only pointing out to others that YOU, the buyer (or seller) are the only one ultimately responsible for signing on the dotted line and if you assume that everything is being taken care of by others, you may be setting yourself up for frustration and potential losses. There are lots of good, honest agents and JohnF, according to the character you continue to demonstrate here on OFC I am sure you are one of them. Here is another example of what I'm talking about. Back in 1991 when I was looking to purchase my first home, I went thru 3 real estate agents in a relatively short period of time. I had written a list of "needs" and "wants" and they kept bringing me listings that were no where near what I was looking for, most times even out of my price range. After investigating things on my own I found out that all the listings I was being shown had been on the market for extended periods of time. I took that to mean that they were trying to unload the undesireables on an unsuspecting newbie to the game. In regards to fshrgy's comments I agree wholeheartedly with your comment....that's why I'm glad that nowhere in my original post do I paint real estate agents with a broad brush. After over 15 years experience I am hardly ignorant on the subject. I really hope that you do not believe that everyone in your profession is infallable. Now THAT would be demonstrating ignorance. Don't know exactly what you read into my post, but I will try to word things more carefully in the future so as not to offend anyone.

Never believe anything you read in a real eastate listing. Check all info yourself before you put in your offer. My wife and I currently own a few (and have owned a few more) income properties and have used several different agents when buying/selling. For example, we recently purchased a property and the listing had several errors. It listed the roof as ashphalt shingles...it was tin sheeting, listed as gas water heater....it was electric....listed the taxes at one amount...they were several hundred dollars more....and the list went on. But we had checked all that before putting in the offer. No offense to your profession John, but agents want to sell houses and many times they tell you what you want to hear. Every single property we have sold has sold for a significantly higher amount than what the real estate agent suggested listing it for. In my experience if you're selling, the agent wants a quick sale to get his cut, so they lowball it to get a quick sale. If you're buying, they are really no different than a car saleaman. My advice is check everything yourself, and know exactly what you are buying, before you make an offer. You can apply to have your property rezoned and just because the township may not want any more residential year-round homes dosn't mean they won't allow it. The property we just purchased was a laundromat with a two bedroom apartment on the second floor and was zoned as res/com. At first the township stated that they have a shortage of commercial space and they did not want to lose any more commercial space, but once they knew I was spending money to change the usage of the building, they saw development fees, rezoning fees and building permit fees, and the dollar signs started rolling around in their heads, they allowed it to be rezoned as res/com with a G5 exception....which allows us to convert the laundromat into a main floor 2 bedroom apt. It was approx. $1000 to rezone it and $2000 for development fees (which is another bunch of Bull when it's an existing property...but that's a story for another day). Townships are all about collecting money and when they can get a few thou $$$ more of taxpayers cash they can quickly change their tune.

Hahahahahah good one Lew! Thanks for the chuckle. I don't think I would pay to visit any website....however I don't think it's unreasonable to pay a fee to advertize something in the classified ads.

I don't find much of a difference in the way the site looks, certainly not anything to complain about. I don't see what all the fuss is about with a few ads embedded in the threads. Fer Gods sake....you're gonna quit visiting a site because you feel ads make it look unprofessional....gimme a break! I don't think I've ever been on a website that didn't bombard you with ads. Great job TJ, Rick and others....give yourselves a big pat on the back and keep up the good work!!

Congrats Lew, enjoy yer new digs!!!

I run a small business that provides mechanical design services mainly to the manufacturing industry. I currently do not collect any PST, only GST. I have been to the websites and read everything I can find but have not seen any way that the HST will benefit my business. Seeing as you have said that this tax will help small businesses, can you explain how? Thanks!

Yep, then I went to work at the optical factory, but I fell into the lens grinding machine and made a spectacle of myself.

Hi Roy, there actually was a time when you could get real good deals at the fishing shows. It was also a place where you could purchase products that were not readily available at your local tackle shop. When me and my brother first started going in the mid-eighties, the price of admission was next to nothing. I can remember buying my first Eagle 7200 fish finder for just a bit over half price from Britania Bait and Tackle at the Ottawa show. It seemed back then it was all about the fishing. Then in the late eighties and early nineties there was an explosion of sorts in the sport of fishing and it seemed like it became all about the money. Different non-fishing related vendors started to replace outfitters and tackle shops. Pretzel stands, golfing products, t-shirts, and running shoes are some of the different vendors I have seen at the shows. To me it's not worth the effort, time, gas, admission, etc. to see overpriced fishing tackle, but that's just me. Now if you're buying a boat, like someone said earlier, it's a great place to compare different makes, models of boats as all the vendors are under one roof.

Well at least we know who despises the U.S. now. Muskymatt and others please grow up!!

Haha just rubbing it in to them Sens fans ! Besides, Im a Bruins fan so I shouldn't be pokin' fun at anyone. They've lost 10 straight.

I have noticed that most of the people chiming in about how great our health care system is, are mostly from around the Toronto area. In Toronto votes are bought on a regular basis by our illustrious politicos. I'm sure wait times and medical assistance are timely and available for you guys. But to those who believe our system is so great, well I think you should look past the comfy environs of the GTA as the same is not so in many parts of our country. Toronto is the tail that wags the dog in Canada so to speak, and hey, call me Lundboy if you want haha. I had a kidney stone in '06 that completely shut down my left kidney. After being seen by at least 5 healthcare professionals that all checked the exact same things, one of them incorrectly diagnosed me with diverticulitis, for which I took several pills for almost two weeks, until finding out I had a kidney stone. Then I waited two weeks to see a eurologist. When he eventually saw me, he told me my condition was very serious and wrote "urgent" on his report that he sent to the hospital that would perform my surgery. He also told me that a kidney could completely fail anywhere from 2 days to 28 days after blockage. It was exactly 28 days before I got in to surgery. In the meantime I had been given the name of a doctor from Syracuse and called his office. They had a spot open to take me in for surgery in two days and the surgery was going to cost under $2000. I was about to book with them when the hospital in Ottawa finally called to book me in the same day as the US hospital was going to book me in. If I would have lost my kidney there would have been a lawsuit....probaly would not have won against McGuilty and his cronies....they would simply buy lawyers with my tax dollars. Same with my daughter who had a very severe ear infection. At the local hospital, she was bounced around by several healtcare workers who all performed the exact same checking, and then left us waiting.... When we finally got called in to see a doctor my daughter sat on a gurney for yet another half hour. While we were waiting we could hear a man and a woman in the next room chatting about their daily lives, laughing and talking and sure enough when they were done it was the nurse and doctor who entered the room to look at my daughter. From them we got no answers. We finally left in disgust and drove to CHEO....more or less the same thing. Checked eyes, ears, mouth, neck when we first arrived. Then another healthcare worker does the same thing. After about 3 hours in the waiting room, finally in to see the next healthcare worker. They did the same check and then told us a doctor would be in next. So in comes the "doctor" who performed the same test a fourth time. I started to ask a few questions and she says "I'm sorry, I'm just starting out in training, the doctor will be in to see you next". That next doctor after performing the exact same checking for a fifth time, finally gave her some medication to alleviate the pain. Nice way to to spend an entire day, listening to my daughter wailing continuously in pain, and finally receiving a bit of medication, a subscription for medication and a recommendation to see a specialist, with whom we had to make an appointment, which we did, but it was 8 months before she could get in to have those little ear implants installed.....about 15 minutes in surgery. Our hospitals, especially CHEO do some wonderful things and all the healtcare workers seemed genuinely concerned for our daughter, but when it came to actually resolving the problem it was not quick or timely by any means. And anyone who believes our healthcare is free, well.....never mind.......

Hey Victor, you will not be disappointed....there are huge carp on that stretch of the Larry. When we fish for early season pike in May, there are tons of carp swimming around all over the place in the shallows. Good luck....

So let me get this straight....it's ok to hate on people that hunt coyotes for fun, and then turn around and go fishing, impaling God's little creatures on razor sharp hooks, fighting them to exhaustion and then holding them up for the prize photo.....all in the name of fun. Pretty hypocritical in my opinion.

Awesome Cliff Very enjoyable to listen to.

Good bye to the gun registry and good riddance....and the lefties can whine all they want.

Nothing worse than a thief IMO. The lowest of all scum....glad they got caught and happy to hear that you got your motor back. Sounds like theft over 5K which hopefully will give them the punishment they deserve.

WTG Lew....enjoy yer new digs!!!

What good is more business if consumers no longer can afford to buy anything?

Some of you girls need to find a new sport to watch.

Thanks man. Here's one of my fav's.

If you have a natural gas hookup already you should check out some of the wall mounted fireplaces or stoves they have. A buddy of mine had one that looked just like a wood stove only it ran on natural gas. It heated his whole basement, and I believe he could still use it when the power was out, although maybe without the fan.

The one thing I find hard to believe is that a 150lb fish can eat 40 times it weight each day. That's 6,000lbs of food each day. Can that be true?

The fact that some gov't. employees are trying to justify bus driver salaries of upwards of 100K/yr just shows how out of touch with reality they have become. They actually believe it in their heart that their salaries, benefits and demands are justified. Believe me I have 3 sisters and one brother who all have gov't. jobs, and no matter what numbers you show them, they are still convinced that their salaries and benefits are fair and justified. When backed into a corner, they always revert to the common mantra of gov't employees........"if gov't. jobs are so great why don't you go out and get one". The other side of the coin is "if you, as a gov't. employee, feel so hard done by, then YOU go and get another job". Maybe try the private sector and see what kind of compensation packages the people who pay your salaries have. Might just be a real eye-opener. I have a friend who has worked in the mail room at Statscan for about 6 yrs. and makes about 40K/yr and he complains that he sits there doing absolutely nothing for most of every week. When he does have something to do, it's stuffing envelopes. With no post secondary education, he has full benefits, retirement plan, all kinds of time off each year and (the big one) job security. I work with several guys his same age (late 20's) that have been through post secondary school in engineering related fields (drafting, CET's, etc.), that have been working since leaving school that make approx. the same salary, half the benefits, half the time off, no pension and they work like buggers to meet deadlines. Oh, and they have absolutely NO job security. In fact several of them have been laid off or are working reduced work weeks during this recession. Yeah I know, "if they don't like it, go and get a gov't. job" yadayadayada. One word....ENTITLEMENT....No wonder the taxpayer is doomed. We are second class citizens in this country.

Or another way to look at it is the NDPers are selfishly unconcerned about the welfare of overburdened taxpayers and the conservative is only interested in getting every able-bodied person pulling some of the weight, just like the overburdened taxpayers do..

Hahahahahaha, Wayne you're killin' me!!!