Ottawa resale market balanced, prices still rising via the Ottawa Real Estate Board

Yet more info, yay.

January 6, 2009 : Ottawa’s 2008 resale market: more balance, less booming

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 467 residential units in December, a decrease of 18.8 per cent over December 2007, when there were 575 sales. This brings the total number of residential properties sold through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® system in 2008 to 13,733, down from a record-setting 14,565 in 2007. However, the average price for all of 2008 was $289,766, an increase of 6.3 per cent over 2007.
...
The average price of residential properties, including condominiums, sold in December in the Ottawa area was $272,192, a marginal decline of 1.2 per cent over December 2007. The Board cautions that average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time but should not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value. The average price is calculated based on the total dollar volume of all properties sold.

The rest is here.

Stagnant Ottawa housing market predicted via the Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA - Ottawa house prices are expected to be flat in 2009 as global economic troubles drive down price gains from an average annual increase of six per cent over the last four years.

The RE/MAX housing market outlook survey released Wednesday predicts the average house price will hold at $292,000 in 2009 after rising seven per cent this year. It predicted that the number of sales of existing houses will drop three per cent to 13,500 deals after dropping five per cent this year to 13,900 this year

...

The tougher economic conditions started to hit the hot Ottawa resale and new housing market this summer, sending volumes down sharply and cooling out price gains. Average resale prices in October were only about two per cent ahead of a year ago. While prices of bungalows and townhouses were still running about five per cent ahead of a year earlier, prices of condominium apartments fell slightly behind year earlier levels.

The rest of the article is here.

Vintage shopping in Montreal via Amherst Street (rue Amherst)

Okay, okay, I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. There is a vintage furniture store section in Montreal - and it has decent selection, decent prices, and even better - decent parking. Not only that, but most stores are more then happy to ship!

My favorites are:

Cité Déco (art deco AND mid-century modern!) - 1761 Amherst - Website is here (though doesn't include everything).

Le 1863 (great selection of mid-century and art deco furniture - as well as the best selection on Amherst of dishes and other collectables, I recently bought a set of Fiesta dishes there!) - 1863 Amherst

Antiquiés A@Z (this store has art deco, a few pieces of mid-century, and an eclectic mix of other!) - 1840 Amherst

Antiquités Curiosités (GREAT light selection, furniture is mostly mid-century) - 1769 Amherst

There are three or four other stores there - all are open Saturdays (10am to 5pm, typically). Most are open Sundays (1pm to 5pm).

Where are your favorite vintage shops in Montreal??

***EDIT: Please be kind and reference my page if you re-post the info on your blog!

So I went to Montreal

I went to Montreal and hit up a gallery that I always enjoy - Yves Laroche. I bought a print by Travis Louie (who even has a blog!!!) It is called "Naven overcomes his phobia" and I can't wait to get it framed!!!

Then and Now

ACLAND HOUSE LIDDEN ROAD PENZANCE 1936
Originally uploaded by A30yoyo

Here is the now, via flickr of course. So beautiful!


ACLAND HOUSE, LIDDEN ROAD, PENZANCE
Originally uploaded by A30yoyo

I love this original photo - I think the hedge that exists now was a beautiful addition!!

Ottawa at home vs At home in Ottawa

I just found Ottawa at Home today (seriously, I didn't realize there was something out there with a similar name to my blog!) and found they had three great features: a section on food, home, and living. The home section (obviously my key interest here) currently has a fantastic article about a textile artist here in Otown. The start:

Andrea Stokes revels in creating funky designs, but just don’t ask the textile artist to repeat the same look again and again. It’s not her style, “I want to be in art, not factory production,” says the owner of Pink Wagon Designs. “I wouldn’t enjoy having to do the same thing over and over again. Even having to do 20 is too much. It happens when I have to do napkins, but I nearly go mad using the same colours.”

For Andrea, who founded her one-woman business in 2003, creativity is about distinction and she thrives on giving each of her pillows, table runners, duvet covers, hats, and bags a unique look. It’s the interplay of colour, form and texture that is key to her designs when she’s printing on silk and other fabrics.

The rest is here.

Her stuff is for sale on her website, here.

AND she has a blog, here!

More cool stair storage

So this actually got posted before with my blurb about my art deco dream (oops!). These stairs came out of the January issue of Canadian House and Home, aren't they gorgeous?? I want something like this in a house one day.

Black and White Decorating

I love black and white, a little bit in every room. I searched through all of my old photos and found alllll of these inspirational photos. It just goes to show that you can do black and white anywhere and be glamorous (not kitchy!). I first saw it done in stripes (like above) in the main show room of White Monkey. Please note, most of my images come from old issues of Canadian House and Home (unfortunately, I did not note the specific issues).

Ah, I can't believe I never told you about White Monkey!

So I was about to reference white monkey when I realized that I have NEVER EVER posted about my favorite store in Ottawa!!!

White Monkey is on Gladstone, just off of Bank Street. It's a relatively new store and is SO FANTASTIC, I can't even tell you! It offers an eclectic mix of old and new, the owners have amazing taste and style. The store keeps short hours but it always open on the weekends. The owners have been slowly converting an old house into their showcase, you have to check out their paintjob in the main room and the ever evolving style in the rest of the store. Every week offers something new!!

Edit: no wait, I did tell you about them! Oops.

Second floor and fence of Art Deco Home

Art Deco House 10
Originally uploaded by Clive Lawford

Okay, okay - I've seen the photos of how this house used to be (not bloggable, my friends!). The original fence did not have the iron on top, that is an addition. Otherwise, this is a perfect example of what I would do if we got an art deco house here in Otown! Second floor addition and nice fence!

Ah, dreamin.

Buying a House That Isn't For Sale

Art Deco House
Originally uploaded by Pennyd

Lately, I've been obsessing a little bit over art deco inspired homes. I even found one here in Ottawa that I want to buy!!! The problem is that it isn't for sale, looks run down, and has a smaaaaaall lot. I have no idea how to figure out what a reasonable offer is!

On eHow, there is a bit of an article though I don't think it totally applies to Canada. It offers a few good steps to follow:

Step One
Make a list of the addresses of the house(s) you love in your area and head to your local assessors office. As long as you have the street address, it is public information what the property taxes are and the contact information of the owner - now, I've checked out the City of Ottawas rules and am not sure this is true...Anyone have any advice?? I actually think the house I like may be rented out.

Step Two
Once you have the contact information for the owners, do a Google search on the owner's names. Often times you can learn about what the current owners do for a living, what company they work for, etc.

Step Three
Now do a Google search on the street address. Not only will this lead you to a map of the property, but you may see links to real estate listings for the property (sometime real estate agents don't take down their listings from their personal websites). Moeover, a Google search on the address may uncover mentioned of that property in "meeting minutes" of local government and zoning board meetings.

Step Four
Now that you are armed with some background information on the owner and the property, begin drafting a hand-written letter to the owner. Let them know that you have always admired their home and that while you know the house is not for sale, should they ever wish to sell.... you are interested.

There are more steps here with the original article.