US Green Building Council for inclusion in the Greenbuild 2011 Tours Program.

Green Building Council for inclusion in the Green build 2011 Tours Program.

I am pleased to inform you that your Green Revelation proposal has been accepted by the US Green Building Council for inclusion in the Greenbuild 2011 Tours Program.

Your home will be featured with 2 other high performance residential infill homes. The tour description is below:

Building High Performance Infill Retrofit Homes

There are approximately 7,000,000 existing homes in Canada, many of which do not meet today’s building code standards for energy efficiency. As utility rates rise, there is a greater focus on sustainable renovations and remodelling of our existing houses to significantly reduce the country’s GHG emissions. This tour focuses on three designers and builders who have demonstrated their commitment to sustainability by renovating their own homes as a model for others.  Visit two homes that use the Passive House concept and one targeting LEED Silver.  See sustainable features such as grey water and rain water harvesting, a PAUL heat recovery system, and a green roof.

The half-day tour is scheduled for Friday, October 7 and participants will leave the Metro 

It took 90 minutes for Daily News to 'steal' the Empire State Building

BY WILLIAM SHERMAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, December 2nd 2008, 10:46 PM

Egan-Chin/News

Daily News reporter William Sherman in front of the Empire State Building.

Related News

ARTICLES

• PDF: Deed of Empire State Building sale (Page 1)
• PDF: Deed of Empire State Building sale (page 2)
• PDF: Fake notary stamp
• Dead man gets mortgage worth whopping $533G

In one of the biggest heists in American history, the Daily News "stole" the $2 billion Empire State Building.

And it wasn't that hard.

The News swiped the 102-story Art Deco skyscraper by drawing up a batch of bogus documents, making a fake notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property.

Some of the information was laughable: Original "King Kong" starFay Wray is listed as a witness and the notary shared a name with bank robber Willie Sutton.

The massive ripoff illustrates a gaping loophole in the city's system for recording deeds, mortgages and other transactions.

The loophole: The system - run by the office of the city register - doesn't require clerks to verify the information.

Less than 90 minutes after the bogus documents were submitted on Monday, the agency rubber-stamped the transfer from Empire State Land Associates to Nelots Properties LLC. Nelots is "stolen" spelled backward. (The News returned the property Tuesday.)

"Crooks go where the money is. That's why Willie Sutton robbed banks, and this is the new bank robbery," said Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Richard Farrell, who is prosecuting several deed fraud cases.

Of course, stealing the Empire State Building wouldn't go unnoticed for long, but it shows how easy it is for con artists to swipe more modest buildings right out from under their owners. Armed with a fraudulent deed, they can take out big mortgages and disappear, leaving a mess for property owners, banks and bureaucrats.

"Once you have the deed, it's easy to obtain a mortgage," Farrell said.

Many crooks have done just that:

- Asia Smith stole her 88-year-old grandmother's house in Springfield Gardens,Queens, pocketing $445,000 in mortgages she took out.

"Her grandmother raised her," said Queens Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kane. Smith, 22, was arrested last December and is serving a one-year jail term for fraud.

- A man posing as someone who had been dead for 19 years deeded the dead man's property to himself. He then sold it to the scheme's mastermind, who took out a $533,000 mortgage and vanished with the cash.

- Toma Dushevic managed to steal seven dilapidated city-owned buildings inBrooklyn 10 years ago.

He got renovation permits, fixed up one of the buildings, and rented out apartments. He sold another building for $250,000 and ran his scam for nearly two years until he was caught. Dushevic returned the buildings and did 18 months behind bars.

The FBI says financial institutions filed 31% more Suspicious Activity Reports involving mortgage fraud last year than in 2006. Nationwide, lenders' losses totaled $813 million, and New York was one of the top 10 mortgage fraud states.

The Renovation Consultant

Ontario builders seek relief in budget

Ontario builders seek relief in budget

TORONTO STAR GRAPHIC

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TONY WONG 
BUSINESREPORTER

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's top priorities in the upcoming 2009 budget should be job creation and infrastructure projects in an effort to stave off a devastating slowdown in the economy, according to the province's property developers.

A survey by the Ontario Home Builders' Association found more than a third of builders expect to lay off staff for 2009.

"People will continue to work and we can ensure adequate roads, transit and residential services are upgraded and expanded," OHBA president Frank Giannone said.

Job creation, infrastructure spending and personal and corporate tax reductions were the top three priorities identified by home builders. A balanced budget was in fourth place. Financing in tight credit markets was another issue.

About 47 per cent of home builders surveyed said availability of financing was down. A third also said they had difficulty financing new home and renovation projects.

Meanwhile, separate reports released yesterday show the housing market hasn't hit bottom yet.

"Issues affecting the overall economy are impacting housing markets across the country and the situation is not expected to be remedied until consumer confidence is restored," ReMax Ontario Atlantic Canada executive vice-president Michael Polzler stated in a report.

ReMax is forecasting average prices across Canada will fall 3 per cent this year and 2 per cent next year to $293,000.

Other forecasters however, are taking a gloomier view.

Carl Gomez, vice-president of research for real estate consultants Bentall Investment Management, said prices have to fall nationally by at least 10 per cent from their peak to return to normal valuations. In Alberta and British Columbia, where prices have gone up a lot quicker than the national average, values may have to fall by as much as 30 per cent. However, prices may fall further than that as the market seeks to correct itself, Gomez stated in a report released this week.

"All markets in Canada are facing deteriorating economic conditions that are likely to either accelerate or cause a larger than required cumulative decline in house prices."

Prices in Ontario are about 10 per cent overvalued, but could fall further depending on economic conditions, Gomez stated.

"The recent deterioration of macro economic conditions and the potential for deflation to affect all asset prices in the current environment could potentially result in Ontario home prices falling by even more than the expected 10 per cent," Gomez stated.

Globally, Canada is in better shape than other industrialized countries because home prices increased far more moderately, by about 80 per cent between 1997 and 2008, according to the report.

By contrast, Britain and Spain saw increases of 200 per cent in the same period. United States house prices jumped 190 per cent between 1997 and 2006 before crashing in 2007.

Another, tough-minded report yesterday by the Center for Economic Policy and Research in Washington says U.S. house prices must fall further to stabilize the market.

"Prices in many markets are still hugely out of line with trend levels," it said.

"As long as house price remains inflated there is no way that the market can stabilize since there will continue to be a large excess supply."

The best way to stabilize house prices is to deflate the bubbles by allowing government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refuse to buy mortgages in markets in which house prices are out of line, said the U.S. report. ."

Bathroom Renovation: Still Popular In Todays Housing Market

Double Bathroom Vanities Top Of The Line Bathroom Furniture

Toronto, CA 12/01/2008  

With homeowners significantly scaling back their remodeling plans or scrapping them altogether in light of a floundering economy, many are finding ways to create the bathroom of their dreams while avoiding the excessive costs of full-scale renovations – by opting for double bathroom vanities from www.the-reno-coach.com

Bathroom renovations are expensive. The cost to renovate even a small bathroom averages at least $20,000. A bathroom remodel, though, is also among the most valuable renovations one can make to a home.

Many leading economists expect the current financial crisis to last for some time, but the need for homeowners to renovate their bathrooms isn’t dropping with the stock market. But homeowners don’t have to forestall their remodeling plans.

With such a wide array of styles and sizes available, finding a double bathroom vanity to fit an existing bathroom, or the bathroom of your dreams, at a fraction of the cost of a full remodel at  is a snap.

Replacing existing vanities, or expanding a single vanity to a double vanity, can significantly upgrade an existing bathroom.

A double bathroom vanity is a perfect for master bathrooms. They offer more storage and the ability to use two sinks at one time – solving morning conflicts over who gets to use the sink first and ending battles over drawer space.

TradeWindsImports.com offers numerous traditional, antique and contemporary styles. The wood, color and metal finishes available can fit any bathroom’s motif. All of the vanities come complete with countertops and sinks, with many offering a number of faucet styles.

Double bathroom vanities from  make remodeling a bathroom simple and affordable without scrimping on quality. The vanities can be easily installed in one day without having to hire a contractor and cost a fraction of the price of a bathroom remodel.

What’s more, double bathroom vanities from  are durable and easy to maintain. They are sure to add a more luxurious feel to any bathroom.

Enhancing a bathroom with considerable improvements can be done easily and without breaking one’s budget. For a complete listing of different styles and designs, installation guides and more bathroom renovation ideas, 

visit www.the-reno-coach.com

 

Permits proposed to curb renovation hassles

Permits proposed to curb renovation hassles
Helaine Becker came home from a trip a few years ago to find a neighbour doing a major renovation had built a construction fence down the middle of her driveway.

"They had the fence for nine months. They damaged our car, they flooded our basement and we never did receive any compensation for the damage," Becker said in an interview at City Hall.

Her family would have had to take the neighbours to court, she said; that would have been time-consuming, costly and stressful.

Toronto's licensing and standards committee decided yesterday that a permit system is needed to help homeowners like Becker who live next door to problem renovations.

Frequently, homeowners have to use their neighbours' property temporarily to put up scaffolding or move equipment when doing major excavation or construction.

A patchwork of rules across the city govern the neighbour's right to access, but most say your neighbour has the right to temporary use of your property if there's no other way to do the work.

Usually, neighbours work out an agreement. But when that doesn't happen, says the committee, the homeowner who is doing the work should have to get a permit and state how long the project will take before using the neighbour's property.

Under the proposal – which must still be approved by city council – the affected neighbour would get a chance to comment and city staff would inspect the property. The homeowner doing the work would have to promise to repair any damage done to the other property and post a deposit.

If the work isn't done by the deadline in the permit, or repairs aren't carried out in a timely way, the city could move in and do the repairs, keeping the deposit and charging any excess costs to the offending homeowner's property tax bill.

City staff said similar bylaws are already in place in Ottawa and Windsor. Only a handful of permits are issued each year because neighbours usually work things out on their own.

They estimated that no more than 100 permits a year would be needed in Toronto