74 Viscount Street

Airport Heights, St. John’s

5 year old registered two apartment in East End St. John’s. Three bedrooms on main plus family room and laundry in basement. Main floor has hardwood in living room and hallway. Eat-in country kitchen with oak cabinets. Master bedroom has ensuite and walk-in closet. Basement apartment has two bedrooms. Each unit has individual laundry rooms. Income presently $1400 per month and potential for more.  Asking price is $229,900.  Call Fraser or Stephen Winters for more information.

From hybrid cars to energy efficient appliances, no matter where you turn these days going green and reducing your energy footprint in the world seems to be the norm. Not only is reducing energy important for the environment but with the cost of oil and gas sky high, it can be very helpful to your budget.

Did you know that after furnaces and water heaters, household appliances are the biggest energy users in the average Canadian home?

Major electrical appliances (think kitchen and laundry room) consume on average up to 14 percent of the total energy used in the home.

Although the upfront costs can be a little more expensive, over the long haul you will save. Compare a $1 old fashioned 100w light bulb to a $7.50 23watt fluorescent bulb. Times that by 15 bulbs and the price difference is quite significant.

Not only will you save in the long haul, there are government incentives to help reduce the upfront costs.

ecoENERGY Retrofit provides federal grants and incentives to homeowners and small and medium-sized businesses, industry and public institutions to help them invest in energy and pollution-saving upgrades. In addition to the grants available under ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes, selected provincial, territorial and municipal entities also offer grants and incentives to homeowners who conduct energy saving upgrades.

When you get a mortgage on your home check out CMHC’s Mortgage Loan Insurance Rebate for energy efficient homes. If you use CMHC insured financing to buy an energy efficiency home, purchase a home and make energy-saving renovations or renovate your existing home, a 10% refund on the mortgage loan insurance premium may be available.

Newfoundland Light and Power has a Wrap Up for Savings Rebates & Financing. If you upgrade the insulation in your basement, attic or crawl space, you may be eligible for a cash rebate.

Unit sales in Canada for April rose the most in Newfoundland & Labrador at a 27 per cent gain over last year, followed by Saint John at 18 per cent, according to CREA.

While Home sellers flooded the markets in Toronto and Saskatoon last month, causing the number of listings to surge to a record level in Canada. Kitchener-Waterloo, St. John’s Newfoundland, and Thunder Bay actually saw a decrease in the number of homes on the market.

It appears that throughout most of Canada we are seeing a pull back in prices and real estate sales, a cool down. But not in Newfoundland. The only thing cool in Newfoundland right now is the temperature. Prices are continuing to rise. Buyers are continuing to flood the market and investors are still looking for rental properties.

In Saskatoon where prices are continuing to sky-rocket, buyers seemed leery about the idea of purchasing a new home. “70 per cent said it was not a good time to make a purchase.” In contrast to Atlantic Canada where 49 per cent were positive towards the idea of owning a new home.

CREA released it’s First Quarter Forecast 2008 earlier last week and as expected, MLS home sales are forecast to ease gradually in all provinces in 2008, but record-level activity in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland & Labrador during the first quarter will result in new annual records in these provinces.

Source: Homes Market Flooded by Sellers - Globe and Mail

With the home renovation season upon us, you might be thinking of hiring a contractor. There are many reputable contractors in your community ready to do the work and willing to sign a contract to make sure both parties are satisfied when the job is done, and protected if something goes wrong.

Not all contractors play by the same rules, though, and if you get stung by one of these underground contractors, you could lose everything – your peace of mind, your savings, even your home. Sound serious? It is. As the owner of the property where the work is taking place, you are legally responsible and liable for any damages or injuries that occur on your property, regardless if someone else is doing the work. If that contractor becomes injured, or causes a life-threatening hazard due to sloppy work, you can be sued. A professional contractor is covered by his own liability insurance.
Without a paper trail - no contract, no warranty, no estimate or invoice - there is absolutely no record that the work was done, who did the work, or that they were even paid.

The contractor you hire should have the technical, business and interpersonal skills, the tools and the experience needed to do the job you want done. Hire a contractor who has experience with projects similar to yours. This contractor will know what materials and techniques are needed for your work; and even better, about problems with similar work — and how to solve them.

You want to find out as much as you can, so ask a lot of questions, such as:

• How long have you been in business?
• What work are you, or your subcontractors, licensed to do, e.g., electrical, plumbing?
• What kind of work do you specialize in?
• Have you done a similar job before?
• Will you use your own crew for the work or will you subcontract all or part of the job?
• How would you handle a specific problem related to this project (e.g., installing kitchen cabinets on your sloping floor)?
• How will you deal with the health and energy efficiency aspects of the job?
• How and when do you clean up, particularly fine dust?
• What work schedule will you follow?
• What kind of warranty do you offer and what does it cover?
• Do you carry workers’ compensation and liability insurance?
• Will you provide a written contract?
• Will you take out all required permits (e.g., building, plumbing, electrical)?

Regardless of your approach to hiring a contractor, the most important fact to remember is…..do as Mike Holmes does “GET IT IN WRITING”

Venmar Ventilation has received several reports of major home fires where the suspected cause is a heat recovery system. Therefore, Venmar Ventilation released this press release which affects heat recovery systems as these systems can fail and pose a potential fire hazard to homeowners.

I looked into mine and it was determined that I had one of the HRV’s in question. (Model: 43720) You can fill out the Request Form Product Recall - Safety Upgrade Program and find out if your model is listed as well.

The recall is for models manufactured between 1991 and 2001 as well as between October 2006 and August 2007.
Owners of air exchange systems that are covered by this Safety Upgrade Program must immediately turn their unit off and unplug it, and contact Venmar as soon as possible. (1 866-441-4645) or by visiting their website at www.venmar.ca

It has come to Venmar’s attention that an unlikely series of circumstances could lead to a motor overheating in certain models of air exchangers that may result in a potential fire hazard. For models manufactured between 1991 and 2001 Venmar will provide a safety upgrade device, called Power Plug Adaptor free of charge. For models manufactured between October 2006 and August 2007 Venmar will send a field technician who will inspect and fix the affected units, free of charge.
The Safety Upgrade Program affects certain units distributed under the names: Venmar, Venmar AVS,Flair, vänEE, Sears, Guardian by Broan, NuTone, Conformax, Payne, Day & Night, Carrier, Bryant, Heil, York, Rheem, Ruud, Protech and Weatherking Heat Recovery Ventilators sold in North-America. This program covers units with the following model numbers only. This model number is located on a silver or a black label positioned on the outside panel of the unit.

(NC)—The cost of moving into a new home can be quite steep. New homeowners are often focused on buying new home furnishings, appliances and accessories. But one other important thing to consider is how your home can help you save money in the long run.
Insulating your basement is one way to help put money back into your pocket. An insulated basement can help reduce energy costs and increase your living space, as well as help increase the resale value of your home.
A substantial amount of heat can be lost through uninsulated basement walls. Installing full-height R-20 PINK Fiberglas batts is a simple solution to achieve energy savings in your basement. Using PINK Fiberglas batt insulation will form a solid thermal barrier between studs and conserve energy to help reduce heating and air conditioning costs. Lastly, don’t forget to install a continuous vapour retarder on the warm side of the wall surface and drywall.
Here are a few other helpful tips that can help reduce your energy costs:

• Help prevent cold air escaping from your home by checking for drafts. You can reduce drafts by caulking, sealing and weather-stripping around windows and door frames.

• Replace old windows and doors to help reduce the transfer of air into the home and help decrease energy costs for homeowners.
• Consider installing energy efficient appliances.

To find out how much insulation you’ll need for your basement renovation and how you can help reduce energy costs in your home visit, www.owenscorning.ca.

To achieve the best insulating system in your basement you will need:

• R-14 PINK Fiberglas batts between wall studs

• 2″ CodeBord rigid foam insulation to apply on the exterior of wood stud walls
Combined, this insulating system will provide you with the best performance solution achieving a total R-value of 24 to increase your insulating power.

I’ve recently witnessed knob and tube wiring in some downtown St. John’s homes. It’s not a common sight, but when things are uncommon and unknown a lot of questions arise.

So, just what is knob and tube wiring?

Knob and tube wiring is found in older homes dating back to the 1940’s. It was the electrical wiring choice at the time due to being inexpensive and practical. Knob and tube is a two wire system consisting of a ‘hot’ and a ‘neutral’ wire - no ground wire. When the wiring was run through floor joists it was placed in a ceramic tube to prevent the wires from chafing.

If you happen to notice knob and tube in a home you are purchasing (hopefully you have a Home Inspector) asks lots of questions.

In the “older days”, this method was quite adequate for the electrical loads being produced in a house hold. However as computers, plasma TV’s and microwaves became the new way of life, the increase is amperage (electrical current) to run these devices posed a problem for knob and tube wiring. It became subject to repeatedly blowing 15mp amp fuses. Quick fixes allowed homeowners to over-fuse circuits (changing the 15amp fuse to a 20 or 30amp fuse) which in turn caused heat damage to the wiring due to higher levels of current.

Some insurance companies in St. John’s will still insure knob and tube wiring but they require an electrician to inspect the house to make sure that there are no circuits over-fused. Of course there are some insurance companies in St. John’s that refuse to insure knob and tube wiring. No insurance = no mortgage.