Weekly Blend: July 3, 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:

Happy (belated) Canada Day! As of July 1st, e-signatures are now accepted in Ontario real estate transactions.

CTV News travels across Canada and takes a look at what first time home buyers are purchasing from St. John’s to Victoria.

Job growth, weather, and hockey vs. church…Macleans magazine offers up a 22 maps of Canada as you’ve never seen it before.

Toronto homeowners are saying that a hydro pole installed directly in front of their front window has ruined their view.

Torontonians get ready for a brand new outdoor space along the previously inaccessible waterfront—with no future plans for residential development.

Are there any in your area? Student entrepreneurs are ditching traditional summer jobs and creating their own.

Maybe you’ve noticed or maybe you haven’t but as demographics change so have exit signs.

Following up on last week’s about a property being trashed after being rented out online, here’s a bit about why you should always check your insurance policy before you rent out your home.

70-year-old Netonia Yalte builds homes out of Haida Gwaii beach debris.

“You get a piece of land! YOU get a piece of land! EVERYONE gets a piece of land!”

The Airbnb co-founder welcomes Quebec regulations.

Before changing homes or apartments remember that moving day also seems to be a day of abandoned pets in Montreal.

Anti-Spam laws are something REALTORS® certainly are familiar with…and Porter Airlines was just slapped with a fine for violating them.

The Queen of England has bought a property in New York City. Prince Phillip is now growing a lumberjack beard, Charles will be doing all his shopping at Whole Foods and Camilla is working as a barista in a local coffee house.

Huffington Post blogger Julie Blais Comeau offers up tips to avoid moving day madness.

Five mini net- zero communities have begun to spring up across Canada.

In Rutland, Vermont, a family reduced the carbon footprint of their house by 88 per cent in a matter of days, at no net cost…why aren’t the rest of us doing this?

Coming soon to a theatre near you a movie based on a board game about buying property, building hotels, going to jail, passing go, taking a “chance,” dipping into the “community chest,” riding the “Short Line”…Lionsgate Pictures presents MONOPOLY…THE MOVIE (starring Liam Neeson as Rich Uncle Pennybags)!

Designed to promote tourism on inland waters that offer wonderful examples of untouched nature, The Weekly Blend gives you the floating hotel with Catamaran-apartments.

Thinking of listing this fall? Here are 11 interior designs to work on this summer.

What’s more American than a farmhouse in Woodstock, Vermont? $8.5 million will get you 200 gorgeous acres.

CNN.com gives us a photo essay covering the art of the abandoned sofa.

Meet the Volkswagen Doubleback Camper…but it’s more like a mini-RV.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House is becoming one of Buffalo’s most popular tourist attractions.

A World War II bomb shelter below the streets of Clapham, South London has been transformed into London’s hottest new farm.

No doubt many REALTORS® have musical aspirations too and that’s why a story about Rubber Tracks Boston, a studio that lets musicians record for free, might interest you.

She’s been on one of television’s most famous streets for over four decades and now, after 44 years, Sesame Street’s Maria is retiring.

Turns out that finding a mummified body in a San Francisco property is not a deterrent and you can still sell for nearly $1 million.

And if a mummified body in San Fran isn’t your thing, maybe a 140-square foot tiny home in the same area is what you’d like?

Esquire magazine brings us 5 reasons why a meeting at a bar is superior to an office meeting.

Two students at Yong In University have developed the “Camping Doughnut” and, as delicious as it might sound, it’s a tent concept that could change the way people camp.

Lately I’ve been finding a lot of architectural stories on Uncrate.com and this week was no exception. Have a look at this derelict post-WWII garage transformed into an amazing space at the Graypants Garage.

From San Juan to Seattle, here are 15 notable buildings and monuments lit up by rainbows.

I wonder what happened to the fish from these six abandoned aquariums (and one shopping mall that became an aquarium).

We’ve seen houses near cliffs, falling off of cliffs, below cliffs but never have we seen a house built into a cliff (artist rendering of course).

This says it all: “Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez is sparring with elderly Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary over the pending sale of the nuns’ former convent in Los Feliz to international superstar singer Katy Perry.”

For a guy named Slash, who fronted one of the most successful heavy metal bands of all time, you’d think his house would be a bit more “rock and roll” and a bit less Crate & Barrel.

From heavy metal to “Mission: Impossible,” Tom Cruise has put his Telluride, Colorado log cabin up for sale for just $59 million.

Villa Maggio—where Frank Sinatra hosted members of the Rat Pack, as well as other celebrities and dignitaries, is up for sale for just under $4 million.

I was going to make a Godfather joke but the writer of this article about Brando’s home being for sale beat me to it.

It may be a bit of a fixer-upper but for $1.1 million you can own ‘The Julia Child House’ in Georgetown.

Edith Macefield’s Seattle “Up House” could be demolished.

Nothing to see here except a Costa Rican hotel made from a converted 1965 Boeing 727.

What do you do after you’ve gone 18th overall in the NBA draft? Mow your parent’s front lawn, of course.

UberBoat…it’s like Uber but on water and it will shuttle you between Europe and Asia.

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.


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