Annual Gingerbread House Build

Children of both clients and family were invited to join in to build and decorate a Gingerbread House while having some good, old fashioned Holiday fun with the family.

Building and decorating a gingerbread house is a holiday tradition that can create magical memories for kids of all ages.  The smell of gingerbread alone is enough to rekindle the child within us.  Seeing how gumdrops, icing and candy canes transform into your very own edible masterpiece will surely entice the whole family.

Click on the link below to see a youtube video of the completed gingerbread creations.  You will see that each one is a unique and tasty work of art.  Way to go kids! 

 http://www.lj4homes.com/Ginger-bread-homes-houses-builders-challenge-contest.html

Seeing Spots?....on your Maple Trees that is

If you've been noticing quarter sized black spots on the neighbourhood maple trees recently, you are not alone. 

The unsightly spots found on our National trees are commonly known as  Tar Spot and is cause in part by our record breaking rainfall this past Spring.  Despite the fact that the leaves have...as my young niece describes as "polka dots" on them, it does not cause permanent damage to established maple trees. 

Tar Spot does however, survive the winter on leaves that have fallen and not been removed.  Therefore, we can do our part to diminish this fungal disease from spotting up our trees next year, by raking up and removing the fallen leaves before the snow flies.  For more information, take a look at the attached Toronto Parks & Recreation info sheet on Forest Health Care and the 'What to do about Tar Spot' article in Canadian Gardening. 

Highway 407 East Extension – Our voices were heard!

Overwhelming community demand results in Highway 407 extension going further East in phase one of construction to Harmony Road in Oshawa instead of Simcoe Street.  Great news for this Durham Region Realtor and for you!

In response to overwhelming community demand (including pressure from Toronto Real Estate Board members), the first phase extension of Highway 407 East will now go to Harmony Road in Oshawa by 2015 then, continue plans to expand Highway 407 East all the way to Highway 35/115 by 2020.

Originally, the Provincial plans to extend Highway 407 East were expected to be implemented in one continuous phase all the way to Highway 35/115.  Then, the provincial government had indicated that the extension would then be phased with the first phase ending at Simcoe Street in Oshawa.  After an overwhelming amount of municipal opposition and a petition with over 5,000 names was delivered to Queen’s park on February 24, 2011, the Provincial government did some re-thinking.

The Toronto Real Estate Board views transportation projects such as this as being critical to the current and future growth of the Greater Toronto Area including Durham Regional areas such as Whitby, Brooklin, Oshawa, Clarington and beyond.  Investing in this sort of infrastructure is important for the continued vibrancy of the area, including the Real Estate market.  This will not only ease traffic flow, it will create approximately 13,000 jobs in just the first phase of the Highway 407 expansion project.  This will be huge positive impact on the quality of life for many living in the Durham Region and beyond. 

More detail on  the Hwy 407 construction is available at the city of Oshawa’s campaign web page.  Here’s the link http://www.oshawa.ca/cit_hall/407campaign.asp

Feel free to contact LJ for all of your Real Estate questions or needs at http://www.lj4homes.com/