It's been said you never get a second chance to make a first impression. In fact, your front door is telling people things behind your back! How come? What does it say? Since your front door is one of the first things guests and neighbours see, making your front entrance magnificent can go a long way in enhancing your home's attractiveness and your pride of home ownership. It is one way you can use to maximize both the curb appeal and the enjoyment of your home.

In recent years with the advent of technology and the internet there has been increased focus of privacy and identity theft but this is nothing new. Theft and fraud has always been a constant threat but especially in our society where your credit is everything and everything can be bought on some form of credit. And the largest form of credit most people have is their home mortgage. But what if the mortgage you have is not even yours and on a property you did not know even existed. This is mortgage fraud and it can happen to anyone.

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"This is a transaction in which the government of Canada, the taxpayers of Canada will not lose money....quite frankly, because the costs of our borrowing are lower than the value of these mortgages, we'll probably make money when this transaction is over."

Stephen Harper saw a buying opportunity and he pounced. Not with his own money, obviously, but on behalf of all Canadians. Most of us are too stupid or broke to see the buying opportunities that are out there and that's why Pappa Harper, our leader who's still sort of a leader, acted.

If Harper's statement is true, though, then why isn't the government permanently in this business?

October , 2008 -- Moving day has arrived, which means the mls.ca website is now REALTOR.ca. As a result of two years of study and re-design, the site has evolved into a portal providing consumer access to all of the public web sites operated on behalf of REALTORS®.

The re-branding of the website was recommended by a task force of The Canadian Real Estate Association, and approved by the membership at the CREA Fall Assembly in 2007. While the site is re-branded, the old address - http://www.mls.ca/ - will not disappear. CREA will maintain ownership of the old URL, and consumers using it or referring to bookmarks will be automatically re-directed to the new site.

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News

Toronto's real estate bubble in the late 1980's left a grave mark on the city. Those who didn't lose money in the bubble probably knew someone who did.

We saw the lingering effects of the last bubble in 2002 when after just five years of modest price appreciation in Toronto's real estate market (2.61% to 6.64% annually) fears of another real estate bubble loomed in the minds of many Toronto home owners and buyers. Six years later the fear of a repeat of the early 1990's real estate crash continues to be on the minds of many Torontonians.

In a previous post (see: Toronto Real Estate Market is balanced: UBC Study) I discussed how several prominent economists are in agreement that Toronto real estate prices are balanced. But many of our readers remain skeptical. They remain convinced that we are in the middle of a real estate bubble similar to the late 1980's that is just waiting to pop.

Today I'll highlight some of the key differences between Toronto's current real estate market and the market in the late 1980's.