Weekly Blend: April 2, 2015

The Weekly Blend is your ‘weekly’ source covering real estate news that you just may have missed. Our hard at work Weekly Blend crew scours the web, newsgroups and forums looking for obscure, bizarre, interesting and informative real estate (or real estate related) stories. If you have one you’d like to share please feel free to share it in our comments section or tweet about it using the hashtag #WeeklyBlend. So brew yourself a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy these stories…maybe even share them with friends or colleagues. Happy reading!

Here are my weekly picks:

Dog cafés, cat cafés, fox cafés … and now, for the first time in Canada, a Death Café has opened up in Halifax.

House or condo? CBC’s “The National” has a look at the tough choices some families have to make. (VIDEO)

Toronto’s iconic waterfront is about to undergo a $700 million transformation.

Vancouver’s Eastside neighbourhood is shifting from industrial to mixed commercial … and bringing with it a new radio station, too.

Planning a summer vacation? Here are 10 places to visit before they disappear forever.

One more place you may want to add to that list is “Flipper Gallery” – a pinball museum in a Budapest apartment house.

KODAK used to be the lifeblood of the Rochester, NY economy. The New York Times takes a look at what is now going on inside Kodak’s vast campus in a short film called “After the Kodak Moment”.

Not to be outdone by Edmonton and Toronto, Devour.com takes a look at the lives of people living in the hidden tunnels of Las Vegas.  (VIDEO)

But the best tunnel story I’ve found so far provides us with detailed blueprints of the tunnels beneath the Playboy mansion and the celebrities whose homes they were connected to.

Users of the “Pivot” app will receive a notification when they are near a pivot point, which then brings an image to your phone of the place you’re visiting as it appeared decades ago.

To quote the granddaughter’s tweet (and yes, it was all in caps): “MY GRANDMA IS TRYING TO SELL HER HOUSE IN FLORIDA AND THESE ARE THE PICS I AM LAUGHING SO HARD.”

It would be a great oversight if I didn’t include the trailer for “5 Flights Up” – a new movie starring Morgan Freeman & Diane Keaton about a couple selling their Brooklyn apartment. Does cinnamon really make a property smell “homey”?

Don’t be afraid if you see a drone delivering the latest Hunger Games or 50 Shades of Grey … Amazon is testing drone delivery in a secret Canadian location.

If you’re looking for a place to rent in Los Angeles, the Winklevoss twins’ stunning mansion is available for a mere $150,000 a month.

Los Angeles not your style? Maybe you want something a little bit more “down-to-earth”? Try Peekskill, N.Y. – a little country, a little urban.

HGTV gives you the 10 best-kept secrets for selling your home.

File this story under “what were you thinking”: a college apartment had to be evacuated after an April Fool’s Day prank led to a fire.

Why is Vancouver YVR? Where are you travelling from and to if your departing from GEG and heading to FWA? This CNN.com article deconstructs airport codes.

Lovers of tiny homes rejoice! You can now be married in your very own tiny chapel.

As Mad Men comes to an end, we here at the Weekly Blend take a look back at the inside of Don Draper’s kitchen, office, and more.

If you’ve ever wondered how Houston’s neighbourhoods got their names (I know I have), then you’ll find this article from Mental Floss quite informative.

If approved, the world’s tallest hotel – 7132 Tower – will be completed in 2019 in the tiny village of Vals, Switzerland.

As they are now well into the home buying market, here are four things you need to know when marketing to Millennials.

And finally, speaking of Millennials, Newsweek.com has a look at why Millennials are still moving to cities.

Jonathan Baker, our former Speech Writer, contributed to the development of speeches, advertisements, and communications to our membership. Our staff knew him as the go-to guy at 200 Catherine for some comic relief. Prior to joining CREA, Jon worked in the radio industry in Ottawa. If you meet Jon, be sure to ask him to tell you about his encounters with many famous musicians while volunteering at a local music festival for more than 10 years.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *