I just received this joke via email and wanted to share it with all of you out on the web. It's not that we have anything against For Sale By Owners:

Inman News - Real Estate News and Advice for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

A trio of videos on YouTube humorously salutes the "Real Financial Heroes" in the same fashion as Budweiser's series of commercials that salute "Real American Heroes". This one is in honor of America's home buyers who bought too much house:

Improving Window Energy Efficiency [PDF]

Windows can account for up to 25 percent of total house heat loss. This fact sheet describes affordable and effective options to improve the energy efficiency of the windows in your house. Improving the energy efficiency of your home's windows can substantially reduce your home's energy use, cut your heating and cooling costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

If you are shopping for new windows Consumer's Guide To Buying Energy-Efficient Windows and Doors [PDF]. It contains the following Sections:

Home and Garden Canada - Heating and Cooling

1. Study up - Find out about license and insurance requirements for contractors*
2. Consider Seasoned installers
3. Call references
4. Find special offers
5. Look for ENERGY STAR qualified products that meet strict energy efficiency guideline

* Make sure to read CMHC's publication About Your House: Hiring a Contractor before you start!

Fighting Asthma in Your House | CMHC

Asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the airways. It is one of the most common chronic conditions affecting Canadians. Physicians have diagnosed more than 2.2 million Canadians as being asthmatic — 12.2 per cent of Canadian children and 6.3 per cent of adults — according to the 1996–97 National Population Health Survey.

Asthma is not only one of the most common chronic conditions among Canadians; it is growing rapidly among children. In 1996, physicians diagnosed four times as many children with asthma as they did in 1984.

Realty Times - Real Estate News and Advice

Health Canada is poised to tighten up guidelines for radon gas levels in indoor air, to a level four times more stringent than current guidelines. It could mean that radon testing will become mandatory in future real estate transactions, and that building codes for new homes will be upgraded. Critics say that Canada should have adopted the stricter guidelines in the 1980s, when the United States and other countries around the world set their radon guidelines. But Health Canada says that "until recently, there was no evidence providing a direct link between radon levels in the home and lung cancer." The ministry says that, "However, in 2005, two independent scientific studies performed in Europe and North America showed that lung cancer risks extend to levels of radon found in some homes depending on the length of time an individual is exposed to it." The Health Canada report estimates that lung cancers from radon exposure account for about 10 per cent of all lung cancers, second only behind smoking.

CMHC - Radon : A Guide for Canadian Homeowners

Mortgages

Interest rates have been rising, so should you lock in to a fixed-rate long term home loan?

My advice is to stay short, and stay with a below prime or variable-rate mortgage. You will have lower monthly payments, get rid of your debt faster, and still retain the flexibility to convert your mortgage in the unlikely event rates really jump. Remember that historically, borrowers have always been money ahead by not paying the extra interest required to lock into long-term loans.

The Ontario government intends to introduce legislation this fall to help ensure that landowners do not lose their homes because of real estate fraud or become responsible for fraudulent mortgages... If passed, the proposed legislation will:

• ensure that property ownership cannot be lost as a result of the registration of a falsified mortgage, fraudulent sale, or a counterfeit power of attorney
• instead, an innocent homeowner's title will be restored and the fraudulent document will be nullified
• introduce new safeguards for suspending and revoking the accounts of fraudsters so they cannot register documents
• raise existing fines for real estate fraud-related offences from $1,000 to $50,000

REM - Real Estate Magazine For The Canadian Real Estate Professional - Canada

Dorothy Mason, a broker with Royal LePage Your Community Realty, is the new president of the Toronto Real Estate Board. She has been a member of the Toronto Real Estate Board for 29 years and has served on its Board of Directors for five years. Her term marks the second time that both a husband and wife have served as a TREB president. Peter Mason served as president of the board in 1977. Dorothy Mason is also a past chair of the Markham Board of Trade, and she served for six years on the Unionville Home Society Board, a home for the aged in Unionville. She is also a past director of the Seneca College Foundation.