November 6 2017
Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Update
November 6 2017. In today’s news: small cities at risk, farmer’s market trail, how your country got it’s name, clutter, cool transit visual, off to Taipei…
Woodstock, Ingersoll, you’re on the list
Canadian cities that face the greatest risks from automation. Small metros with large shares of workers in blue-collar manufacturing and service jobs are likely to be hit harder.
Notice of study commencement – farmers market trail feasibility study and detailed design
Stage one will develop the detailed design and estimated cost of a multi-use trail within the railway right-of-way between Farmers Market Road and Northfield Drive. The completed detailed design will position the city for future infrastructure funding opportunities when/should they arise
Nearly every country on earth is named after one of four things
According to research, the majority of country names fall into just four categories:
- a directional description of the country
- a feature of the land
- a tribe name
- an important person, most likely a man
Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Update
What is clutter?
I always advise home sellers to clean and declutter before putting a home on the market, but what is clutter? We don’t all define clutter the same way. I define it as “stuff” that distracts potential home buyers.
Mapping the ebb and flow of transit around the world
Who knew transit timetables could be so zen?
Average house sale price in KW up 11% year-over-year in October
The Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors says 481 residential properties were sold through its system in October, with an average sale price of $454,398. That price is an increase of about two per cent over September’s figure, and an 11 per cent increase over the average sale price from October 2016. It’s the second straight month an increase has been recorded in the market, following four straight declines after the average sale price topped out at $512,656 in April.
What I am thinking about
I’m off to Taipei in a couple of days (and then onward to Ubud on Bali).
Taiwan is a special place for me. I lived there for most of the 1990s. I landed there in 1989 as a road-weary backpacker and eventually left maybe for good in 2000. I bought my first home in Taiwan. I got married there. Both my kids were born there. I had cars and motor scooters, dogs and furniture there.
I love the place. It is just so fun to be in a completely different culture and society. I love struggling with the language. I love much of the food – Taiwan is a foody’s paradise, not that I’m a foody. The weather is usually good and although I really like hanging around in big cities, it is so easy to get into the countryside for hiking and other exploring. And that is what I plan to do. Eat and hike in the mountains. And revisit some old haunts.
