Wishing the time away!!

I know its something that technically, we shouldn't do. We only get so much time here on this planet but lately I find it hard to stay in the moment. My wife, Melissa is almost 6 months pregnant for our first child. We know its a boy, so Im extremely excited. Cant wait for April 28th to come around.
Plus, my life lately has been ridiculously busy. Jan 1st means two things, finally 2011 is over and the market picks up about 5 times as busy as Nov-Dec. Homes that were stagnant for the majority of the fall are busy, getting showings and many people showing up at the open houses.
Couple great deals I have on the market right now is 61 Lily Cresc in Summerside at 144k and 52 Waugh rd, priced very low for 49k. Love to show anyone these if they are interested.
Ive been informing just about anyone I know about the first time home buyers rasp program. If your like the majority of the population, you can afford to pay rent but can't seem to manage enough money for the 5% downpayment on a house. If your interested in how this works please give me a call or read up on the program, I posted the nuts and bolts of it on my blog last year and also on my Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Darcy-Gallant-Realtor
On the hockey sides of things, the Granites have been playing great lately. Beat Souris twice last week. They beat us twice before and are touted as the best team in the league. The guys are really gelling and the chemistry in the room seems like night and day comparing last years group with this team.
Other than that, I had my brothers wedding new years eve. It was an awesome day and night, and we are thrilled to welcome his wife into our family.

Im just rambling now so Im gonna stop and get back to work. Remember if there is anything I can help you out with please feel free to call me!

Thanks for checking out my Blog!
Darcy

2012....Looking good!!!!

2012 will be Unreal!

Well I'm extremely fired up for 2012. New Year and highly motivated to get things rollin. Obviously and like 99% of the population Im back at the gym which is great because when Im going I eat better and I seem to get much more accomplished day to day with RE/Max. I went to Toronto back in December and attended a conference that really has me excited to use many of the tips and some of the cutting edge stuff that they are doing up there which I'm sure can make everything work much better down here on the east coast.
Im working hard with some first time home buyers and have some great listings throughout the Island so if you have some time Id love to show you a few!

Gonna try to post more often, I know I say that a lot but if I don't say it....Ill definaletly be right!

Fall is the new Summer

Hi Folks, 

Its literally been 6 months since I wrote anything which obviously....isn't performance. So here's an update on everything from personal to business. 

The weather this summer was terrible! My buddy Jamie Kelly told me the other day that in July we had rain 23 out of 31 days. Makes it tough to golf! It was without a doubt in my mind, the wettest month of any summer that I have experienced. August was much better and September is is shaping up to be just like a July should be. Hopefully the course will stay open even longer this year.

This summer was I was really busy at Re/Max. Sold most of my listings and worked with some beauty buyers from PEI and off island who were really a pleasure to deal with. Now I'm working on getting a few newer listing that I can hopefully show some buyers that I'm working with. You always hear people saying that now isn't the time of the year to be listing their house. They believe that the spring is the only time to list. Its not the case! There are people looking for property all months of the year. I have a client now who is listing their house no because they felt that the summer is too busy of a time to worry about setting the home up for showings and open houses. The fall is the opportunity time for them to be listing when the kids are back to school and everyone is back on a routine. 

Anyway, fall is here, hockey is just around the corner. I'm just hoping that the Island Senior Hockey League is operational again. It would be a long old winter without an excuse to get to the rink. There are rumours that one of the teams will drop out. Without 4 teams the league will fold and who knows how long it would take to rebuild the league. 

Hope to see you all soon,

Darcy

Let the snow melt.....and check out an open house while it does!

Hello Folks,

Well its been a crazy winter as everyone knows for the weather. Forecast for the next week is .....you guessed it..snow. Seems like we heard that for the good part of three months now. Every morning my wife listens to the radio impatiently hoping that Zack Bell from KRock 103.5 says the magic words..."The Western School Board is closed for the day" haha Sometimes he teases her with a one hour delay. I find it hilarious! 

I've been passing along what spare time I have coaching with the Kensington Senior Granites who play in the Island Senior Hockey League. We are in the middle of the first round of the play-offs right now. The series is tied up 1-1 with the O'Leary Maroons where my brother in law happens to play. It makes for some awkward moments at the in-laws. Melissa's father doesn't say too much but her Mom makes it quite known where her loyalties lie. Hahaha its actually hilarious and we have a lot of fun with it. Its been a great series so far, hopefully it stays as good as its been, and we can prevail at the end.

Anyway, I cant wait for the snow to go and the ground to dry so I can play some golf. Every year around this time I get the itch that just cant be scratched. I end up buying clubs and trying to get out to the simulator from time to time just to calm down  but all it does is leave me unsatisfied. Its quite an addiction...believe me. Don't try golfing unless you want to be addicted!

As far as the Real Estate and Re/Max is concerned, everyone seems to be under the impression that this is the slow time of year and everything picks up in the spring. I don't know if its true or not though because everyday I see all kinds of new listings and sold listings. My listings are getting looked at pretty well everyday online by other realtors and people sitting at home on their geek boxes so I cant complain. Its busy for sure.

I have a couple open houses coming up next Sunday, One is a new listing, 916 Clermont Rd. Its a beautiful Chalet style home on 3.6 acres riverfront on Indian River. Its truly a gem and will not last long on the market I'm sure. Ill be there from 10am-12pm Sunday the 20th so please drop in and take a look. The other is an amazing bungalow at 265 Macewen rd. The owners have reduced the price to 169k to intise someone to put some serious thought into buying it since there isn't a whole lot in Summerside around the price point for this kind of square footage. Come by from 1-3 and take a look. Its immaculately cared for and much larger than perceived from the road. Both homes are great, hope to meet some of you there.

I just received an email from a mortgage broker while writing this who says that the rules for the long term mortgages will be changed in effect in 35 days. Please call me for further details. 

Hope everyone has found a few things to pass your time with over these long winter months. Spring is on the way and everything seems to be a little better when the sun is shining longer and the grass is greener. Hope to see you all sometime soon and remember to keep me in mind if you have any real estate needs or wants.

Have a great day!
Darcy

New Year, Busy Season

Hi Folks,

I know that I'm still new to the whole, "Blog" world. I'm not 100% sure but I actually think that I have 2 blogs now because eblogger deleted all my info on one of them because I copied and pasted a form that I use here at RE/Max to advertise and open house I was having one weekend. I couldn't for some reason figure out how to retrieve my old blog so I basically had to start over and make a new one.

What a busy time of year here at the office. I'm trying to get everyone I know who is thinking about buying a home in the next year to get to the bank and take advantage of the first time home owners RRSP program. I did the program myself about 6 years ago when I bought my first place. I'm going to break it down in case anyone doesn't know exactly how it works. Remember that you can only do this once in your life and it has to be before you own your first home. After you buy your first home or move into a home with your spouse-forget about it...its too late! I thought that Melissa (my wife) could do it when we bought our new home last spring since when I bought the mini homewe lived in before with just my name on the deed, since she was still at university at the time so the master plan to the the home owners RRSP again in her name this time.....was squashed. Oh well. Back to how this whole plan works, and you must do this before March for this to be filed on this years tax return;

1. Go to the bank and take out a personal loan to buy your max RRSP ( likely around 20k but check the back of last years tax return)

2. File your taxes and include the new RRSP you purchased. You will likely receive more than $5000 back in taxes depending on the year you had obviously.

3. After 90 days you are legally allowed to cash in your RRSP without a penalty from the government so go ahead and cash out your RRSP to pay off the personal loan that you have.

4. Now you have the money your received from filing your taxes to use a deposit on your first home. Your personal loan is gone because you cashed out your RRSP bond. The only stimulation now that is involved is that you have 15 years to put whatever the RRSP was worth back into RRSP without a penalty. So if your RRSP was $15000, you must put $1000 back into RRSP's every year for 15 years or pay the yearly penalty which likely works out to whatever you got back in taxes divided by 15. Not an issue really either way because the important thing is that you have the money for your deposit and can start owning your own money and instead of wasting your money renting, you can be putting your money into earning equity in your own home. 

It really is a great program because let's face it, getting the 5% down on your first home is nearly impossible. Most people who are looking for a starter home are looking for something under 150,000 at best. After lawyers fees, fuel top-ups, bank fees, CMHC insurance you need more like 7-9% of what the actual cost of the house is. The normal person, in today's economy who doesn't own their first home yet, does not have that kind of money kicking around in their bank account.

If any of that doesn't make sense or you would like to further discuss it, please call me on my cell, 954-0581. Id love to explain it to you because it really is an awesome plan and obviously Id like you to consider me if your thinking about buying a  home. 

Upcoming open house at 265 MacEwen Road in Summerside January 29th from 1-3. Its a great house with all kinds of room for any size of family. Its deceivingly large and is well taken care of. If any of you are in the neighbourhood that day, do yourself a favour and check out this gem. 

Out of the business side of things, the hockey team is on a bit of a slide, I'm coaching the Kensington Granites of the PEI Senior Hockey League with one of my great friends Mitchell DesRoches. Its a great bunch of guys and its been hard to get into a rhythm lately but I still have confidence that we will turn things around and hopefully get hot right in time to have a great playoff run. 

I guess that's all for now, leave a comment if you wish, (if your any of my witty friends, please be tasteful, this blog if linked to my realtor website haha)

Remember, if you need anything or just want to catch up, call my cell, 

Hopefully see you all soon,

Darcy

www.darcygallant.com 

Open House Saturday Dec 11 1-3 265 Macewen

Hi Folks,

More than anything Im just testing this blog out to see is anyone really will get to read it.

I had an open house Saturday on one of my listings on MacEwen rd, in Summerside, its a beautiful bungalow in central Summerside. Had a few families through with positive comments. Hopefully I can see it soon as I know the vendors would love to see it sold.

Talk to yas soon,
Darcy