Markham Real Estate Today with Asif Khan

Feels like just last month that we were welcoming in 2011 with open arms, albeit with guarded optimism. We were excited for what was to come, setting goals and chasing dreams, yet we were guarded realizing that Canada could be pulled into the economic turmoil that had the rest of the world scrambling for survival. Canada continued to defy logic and lead the world in economic stability. Fueled by low interest rates and protected by our strict lending criteria, Canada's hot housing market continued to boost our economy and keep Canada well ahead of the others globally.
On a local level, the Greater Toronto Area showed healthy increases across the board in property values and unit sales. Consumer confidence continued to grow throughout the year and the strong housing market continued to generate tens of thousands of dollars in spin off revenues to keep our economy vibrant. On a personal level, 2011 set records for most sales, highest dollar volume and most referrals generated in a calendar year.

So much happened in 2011 as we reflect back on the year that was. It's hard to imagine that a year that seemed to fly by was packed with so many exciting and humbling events. Your continued support allowed me the privilege of receiving a few coveted awards during 2011. I had the honour of receiving the RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award in February, REBAC's Accredited Buyer Representative designation in March and the coveted Chairman's Award from RE/MAX International in December. Thank you so much for your trust and support. Without you, these achievements would not be possible.

In 2012, there will be 4 main opportunities to be taken advantage of:
1.    First time home buyers.
2.    Investment/Income property purchasers.
3.    2nd home or vacation property purchasers.
4.    Buyers/Sellers looking to upsize/downsize.
 
If you or anyone you know falls into these categories, please get a hold of me so I can help. Because of where prices are and where they may go this year along with ridiculously low mortgage interest rates, this could be one of the best times in a very long time to make these moves. I've also added Foreign Investment opportunities to our offering, allowing you to take advantage of the strong Canadian dollar and depreciated assets in the USA and other countries. I'm very excited about this and would love to explain in more detail when we chat.
 
2011 was an incredible year, and thus it really is hard to say goodbye! However, say goodbye we must. Thank you for the memories 2011. We now welcome the dreams of 2012 with open hearts, minds and arms, dreams that will help us create more memories that we will cherish forever.

Cheers to 2012!!!

Asif

Asif Khan, ABR
Re/Max Hall of Fame
Re/Max Chairman's Club
Re/Max All-Stars Realty Inc., Brokerage
905-888-6222

Via: CTV News:

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that causes diarrhea and more serious intestinal conditions, such as colitis.
Markham Stouffville Hospital declared an outbreak of the potentially fatal bacteria C. difficile recently, the first to hit the Toronto-area hospital in a number of years.

The outbreak, which was declared on Dec. 20, affected an inpatient unit and a surgery unit.

Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Joyce refused Friday to say how many patients were affected by the outbreak. She also stressed that the units were not closed due to the outbreak.

"We have never closed units or restricted admissions to those units," she said. "There was an outbreak in the units but they were not closed."

However, it is limiting visitors to two per patient.

Joyce said that there were no deaths related to the 10-day-old outbreak.

C. difficile causes diarrhea and other intestinal diseases. It is brought on when antibiotics taken by a person kill off both "bad" and "good" bacteria. When the good bacteria are killed, this can cause the C. difficile to grow and release toxins that can damage the bowel.

It usually afflicts patients whose immune systems are already compromised, which include the elderly and those already sick.

Joyce said the number of patients has not grown substantially since the outbreak was first detected.

The hospital was confident that it has the bacteria under control, and was working within the guidelines of health officials to staunch the spread.

"Our frontline staff right up to our vice-president are so involved with this and are so committed to getting this under control so that it doesn't transmit any further," Joyce said. "I am fully confident we are doing everything we can."

A handful of hospitals have reported outbreaks recently. Last week, a patient with C. difficile died at the Greater Niagara General Hospital.

By Keith Leslie, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The majority of post-secondary students in Ontario will receive 30 per cent tuition rebates in time for the second instalment of their fees, promises Colleges and Universities Minister Glen Murray.

A centrepiece of the Liberal campaign platform was rebates of $730 for each college student and $1,600 for each university student from families with incomes under $160,000 a year.

Those already enrolled in the Ontario Student Assistance Program — about half of the 310,000 who will be eligible for the tuition rebates — will automatically be in line for the rebates, said Murray.

"They won’t have to do anything," he said.

"They will get an automatic computer credit based on their OSAP application (and) that will happen well in time for them to pay the second instalment of their tuitions."

The rest will have to apply online at a website to be launched next month.

"There will be a simple, easy to navigate website established in January that will be available for those students to apply, and it will be done well in time for them to meet the payment," said Murray.

"They will have lots of lead time to be able to fill out a simple form on line."

Murray credits Dalton McGuinty — the self-proclaimed education premier — with pushing the idea, saying families need help to cope with the slow recovery that followed the recent recession.

"We’re removing significant financial barriers for families who are under financial stress, especially for families — and there are many — who have two or three or four children now either in college or university or in the final years of high school," said Murray.

The Liberals say five out of six families with students will benefit from the tuition rebates, but the Canadian Federation of Students said all students should get a tuition cut.

The students' group presented a 40,000-signature petition to the legislature asking that the $423-million annual cost of the rebate program be used to pay for a 13 per cent reduction in tuition fees for everyone.

"Dalton McGuinty was elected by promising to reduce tuition fees, and students are calling for him to keep his promise and turn this grant into an across-the-board fee reduction," said Krisna Saravanamuttu, Ontario Representative of the CFS.

The opposition parties support the students' position that the Liberals should reduce tuition fees for all.

The Tories said a government facing a $16-billion deficit should not be launching such an expensive program, and claimed the policy was "made up on the back of a napkin," and has not been thought out.

"They don’t have the details students need and it’s putting the onus on students to jump into the policy rather than giving it to everyone," said Progressive Conservative critic Rob Leone.

"This policy doesn’t apply to everyone equally, so it’s not a fair and equitable policy."

The New Democrats called the rebates a good "first step," but also said any tuition fee cuts should be given to all students.

"We need to help struggling students, they need a break," said NDP critic Teresa Armstrong.

"This grant is not addressing the affordability of post-secondary school tuition for all students."

The government is "doing the final kicking of the tires on the website and things like that," and will move quickly to streamline the rebate program, said Murray.

"We’re trying to move to a system where students register only once for student assistance or for tuition grants, and I’m very optimistic we’ll have that in place in January," he said.

The Canadian Federation of Students also complained post-graduate students would not benefit from the tuition rebates, but the government said the program was deliberately designed to help students with their first four years of university.

"The reason we said four years is because in Year 5 students become independent, and we calculate their student aid, grants and assistance based on their own personal income, not on their parents’ income," said Murray.

Asif Khan, ABR
Re/Max Hall of Fame
Re/Max Chairman's Club
Re/Max All-Stars Realty Inc., Brokerage
905-888-6222

If I was Burke for just one day, here's how I would change our beloved Maple Leafs. Coach: Dallas Eakins

G: Reimer-Gustavsson

F:Lupul-Bozak-Kessel
Macarthur-Grabovski-Kulemin
Kadri-Connoly-Colborne
Boyce-Steckel-Rosehill
Extras/Injured: Brown, Armstrong, Frattin
D:
Phaneuf-Gunnarson
Schenn-Aulie
Franson-Liles
Gardiner

Out: Orr, Dupuis, Lombardi, Komisarek, Ron Wilson!!

If you could ask Santa for your Leafs line-up, what would you want to see? (Working with just who we already have in the system)

RICK EGLINTON/TORSTAR

TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
December 21, 2011 Until now, 60 Absolute Dr. in Mississauga was the address for the celebrated “Marilyn Monroe” building, one of a pair of curvy skyscrapers that wind their way into the clouds.

Now it is also the address for the most expensive condo in the 905.

A 56th-floor penthouse in the iconic tower, with 180-degree views of the lake and the city’s skyline, is up for sale for $3.2 million, a price that is generating a lot of buzz. Set at the corner of Hurontario St. and Burnhamthorpe Rd., the Absolute towers, as they’re properly known, are the daring outcome of an international design competition won by MAD Architects of Beijing. The first tower, quickly dubbed the Marilyn for its sinuous shape — which took complex computer calculations to build — proved so popular the builders decided to erect a second tower.

Together they constitute the most recognizable and talked-about project beyond Toronto’s borders, Myers pointed out. “It is one of the most desirable addresses.”

The price tag of $3.2 million may be a new high for Mississauga, but it’s still peanuts compared with Toronto. A 55th-floor penthouse atop the Four Seasons Hotel Private Residences in Toronto sold for $28 million in May.

PATH is downtown Toronto's underground walkway linking 28 kilometres of shopping, services and entertainment. Follow PATH and you'll reach your downtown destination easily in weatherproof comfort.

PATH provides an important contribution to the economic viability of the city's downtown core. The system facilitates pedestrian linkages to public transit, accommodating more than 100,000 daily commuters, and thousands of additional tourists and residents on route to sports and cultural events. Its underground location provides pedestrians with a safe haven from the winter cold and snow, and the summer heat.

PATH facts:

According to Guinness World Records, PATH is the largest underground shopping complex with 28 km (17 miles) of shopping arcades. It has 371,600 sq. metres (4 million sq. ft) of retail space. In fact, the retail space connected to PATH rivals the West Edmonton Mall in size.

The approximate 1,200 shops and services, such as photocopy shops and shoe repairs, found in PATH, employ about 5,000 people. Once a year, businesses in PATH host the world's largest underground sidewalk sale.

More than 50 buildings/office towers are connected through PATH. Twenty parking garages, five subway stations, two major department stores, six major hotels, and a railway terminal are also accessible through PATH. It also provides links to some of Toronto's major tourist and entertainment attractions such as: the Hockey Hall of Fame, Roy Thomson Hall, Air Canada Centre, Rogers Centre, and the CN Tower. City Hall and Metro Hall are also connected through PATH.

There are more than 125 grade level access points and 60 decision points where a pedestrian has to decide between turning left or right, or continuing straight on. The average size of a connecting link is 20 metres (66 ft.) long by 6 metres (20 ft.) wide.

The building furthest north on the PATH network is the Toronto Coach Terminal at Dundas and Bay Streets. The building furthest south that can be accessed through PATH is the Toronto Convention Centre's Convention South Building. PATH does not follow the grid patterns of the streets above.

The first underground path in Toronto originated in 1900 when the T Eaton Co. joined its main store at 178 Yonge St. and its bargain annex by tunnels. By 1917 there were five tunnels in the downtown core. With the opening of Union Station in 1927, an underground tunnel was built to connect it to the Royal York Hotel (now known as the Fairmont Royal York). The real growth of PATH began in the 1970s when a tunnel was built to connect the Richmond-Adelaide and Sheraton Centres.

In 1987, City Council adopted the recommendation that the City become the co-ordinating agency of PATH and pay for the system-wide costs of designing a signage program.

In 1988, design firms Gottschalk, Ash International, and Keith Muller Ltd. were retained in by the City of Toronto to apply the design concept for PATH.

PATH's name and logo are registered to the City of Toronto. The City co-ordinates and facilitates the directional signage, maps and identity markers throughout the system.

Each segment of the walkway system is owned and controlled by the owner of the property through which it runs. There are about 35 corporations involved.

In the early 1990s, signage for PATH was developed to provide pedestrians with better ease of use and functionality. The signage enhances PATH's visibility and identity, ultimately increasing its use, attracting more people to downtown Toronto, and drawing more businesses there.

Each letter in PATH is a different colour, each representing a direction. The P is red and represents south. The orange A directs pedestrians to the west, while the blue T directs them to the north. The H is yellow and points to the east.

Signage includes a symbol for people with disabilities whenever there is a flight of stairs ahead.
 
The following story appeared on CP24 today, December 20, 2011 and explains plans for future expansion of the PATH.

Via CP24 - With condos sprouting up all over the place and more people living and working in Toronto's downtown, the city is drafting a plan to expand its PATH system to the waterfront.

The proposal calls for a new pedestrian walkway to link the Air Canada Centre and WaterPark Place at Bay and Harbour streets by 2015, according to a Globe and Mail report.

That extension may not go underground, however.

Because the topography drops close to Lake Ontario and the Gardiner Expressway leaves little room for above-ground tunnels, the extension may consist of a pedestrian bridge to cross over Lake Shore Boulevard but under the Gardiner, said Michel Trocmé, a partner in Urban Strategies Inc. who helped to develop the draft plan, during an interview with the Globe and Mail.

With 28 kilometres of underground walkways to escape the cold, heat or rain, Toronto's PATH system is the world's longest underground shopping complex.

The system features almost 1,200 stores and links subway stations, office towers, food courts and tourist attractions such as the Hockey Hall of Fame, Rogers Centre and CN Tower.

About 100,000 daily commuters generate nearly $1.5 billion in sales revenue each year, the Globe and Mail reported.

The plan also proposes an extension linking Union Station and a waterfront development east of Yonge Street, and extending the system west from Yonge Street towards University Avenue, the newspaper reported.

City council is expected to vote on the draft plan, which cost $200,000 to develop, in 2012, according to the Globe and Mail.

A funding plan hasn't been arranged.

The plan also calls for clear signage and entrances to dismiss any confusion or to make people aware of the PATH system.

Natalie Alcoba  National Post Dec 15, 2011

Matthew Sherwood for National Post

“You’re going to see a portion of the land transfer tax, I don’t know how much right now, be gone by the end of next year.” — Mayor Rob Ford, speaking to Stephen LeDrew on CP24.

His pledge was quickly applauded by the Toronto Real Estate Board, which issued a press release.

“Torontonians understand that the Land Transfer Tax is not part of the solution to the City’s financial challenges; it is part of the problem. It unfairly forces home buyers and business owners to pay more than their fair share, costing the average Toronto home buyer more than $6,000 every time they move; it is an unpredictable revenue stream that goes up and down with the real estate market; and it makes the City less competitive than other GTA municipalities,” said Richard Silver, president of TREB.

A Ford critic on council has another view.

“We can afford to cut the land transfer tax, if we impose a whopping property tax increase or put in service cuts that make this year look like a Sunday school picnic. I don’t think the Mayor could get ten votes on council to do this, let alone the 23 he needs,” said Councillor Gord Perks.

The land transfer tax raised $274-million last year.

Team Khan
Asif Khan & Associates
RE/MAX All-Stars Realty Inc.
549 Bur Oak Avenue
905-888-6222

December 15, 2011 - Unionville, ON

With all the talk about Markham's Parking Authority and their harassment of Markham residents being talked about in the news lately, it is surprising that the Parking Authority has stooped to a lower level today. It is questionable if the town actually favours parking dollars over the safety of children. Today at 3pm I witnessed the Parking "Officer" block off the driveway so that parents would not be allowed to drive through and pick up their children. Furthermore, a second officer patrolled the street on foot with his hand held printer threatening to ticket parents that stopped in front of the school. When confronted about this ridiculously blatant cash grab, the officer on foot stated that the first officer had called him as back up to assist with "enforcement". The first officer, still on a high from his new found power trip as he blocked the " "fire route" which he felt needed to be secured, threatened to ticket those that stopped to ask what he was doing.

The confusion created by the Town Of Markham's parking authority along with the newly opened South Unionville Avenue put the children of Unionville Meadows at risk as they crossed the street in the rain to try and get into their parents cars while dodging cars trying to flee the terrorists bearing tickets.

As a parent, I am disgusted and furious. It is the York Region Board of Education's responsibility to ensure the safety of my children until I pick them up after school. The teachers of Unionville Meadows do an admirable job getting kids safely into their parents' cars after school and keep the flow of traffic moving through the driveway. For the Parking Authority to jeopardize the safety of children so that a few of their employees can hit quota before Christmas is ludicrous. The Board should step in and stop this craziness. To the town Councillors, I raise the question "when does the safety of someone else's child take the back seat to generating cash flow?". The obvious answer is "Today" and it better have been the LAST time this happens.

At some point, common sense should dictate how and when the enforcement of by-laws is conducted. Unfortunately, when easy money is involved, it seems common sense is thrown out the window.

Cormac MacSweeney Dec 07, 2011

After months of waiting, the new Canada-United States border deal has been unveiled.

It is an unprecedented agreement that will change how you travel to the U.S. and the way companies conduct cross-border business.

The a massive deal is broken into two parts and will take years to fully implement.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says it is a merger between security concerns and a boost for trade and travel.

"These agreements create a new and modern bored for this century. Together they represent the most significant steps forward between Canada-U.S. cooperation since the North American Free Trade Agreement," said Harper.

On security, border agencies will begin sharing much more information to try and prevent future problems and stop high risk people from entering our countries.

U.S. president Barack Obama says it is about being smarter.

"Along with better screening and sharing more information, this will help us be even smarter about our joint security, concentrating our resources where they are needed most. Identifying real threats to our security before they reach our shores," said Obama.

For travel, new upgrades to infrastructure and technology at border crossings will help passengers make it through customs a lot quicker.

The deal will also benefit the economy. Many regulations and standards will be harmonized to increase trade, lower costs for companies and maybe lower the prices of products on the our shelves.