Although the Town of Wasaga Beach did not get to be official until January of 1974, its stature as the longest fresh water beach in the world has continually brought in both permanent and seasonal residents, particularly from neighboring Toronto. As a result, the community has continually climbed -- from 12,419 permanent occupants in 2001 to 15,029 by the time the 2006 census was conducted.   As the numbers continue to rise, Wasaga Beach has earned a reputation as one of the quickest developing communities in the country. Since 2009, there has been a dramatic increase in both the number of sales and the volume of Wasaga Beach real estate sold, indicating a good mix of new residential property as well as seasonal and weekend properties springing up all along the popular beach front.    ... 05/04/2010

1) Sutton Member Program, the lowest mortgage rates in the industry available through me. Why rent when you can own and build equity as the housing market rebounds??? http://www.suttonmember.com/ 2) Land Transfer Tax Refunds for First Time Home Buyers http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/en/bulletins/ltt/1_2008.html 3) First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/bdgt/2009/fqhbtc-eng.html 4) Home Buyers Plan http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/rrsp-reer/hbp-rap/menu-eng.html 5) Canada's Remarkable Housing Recovery http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/09/17/f-housing-bubble.html 6) The Impact of Ontario's Harmonized Sales Tax coming July 2010 http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/nw/10988/en 7) Canada's Home Renovation Tax Credit http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/hrtc/ 8) Its a Buyers Marke... 09/25/2009

I'm sending my very best wishes for a peaceful holiday that is positively buzzing with joy—and cookies!—and may health and happiness abound in 2009. One of the themes for our family this past year seemed to be the quest for knowledge.  Modeling adult learning to school-age children holds tremendous value and our daughters have seen Daddy's core beliefs lead him to become a GREEN® realtor (one of the first in Canada!) and Mommy to become a Certified Staging Professional with a flare for feng shui.  Travels this year have served as reminders that we live relatively free and abundant lives in Canada.  May we all find that magical work-play, learning-leisure, carrots-cookies balance point!   -Mary   12/10/2008

I've been asking (begging?) clients for testimonials lately to post on my website. Here's quite possibly my favourite testimonial ever, received this morning from some treasured clients: "Here goes Bruce: Working with Bruce in the buying and selling of several homes had many advantages for my wife and I.  Firstly, his dyslexia is often amusing and puts potential buyers at ease almost immediately.  This can be tempered somewhat by his Tourettes, but if you give him a shot of scotch prior to meeting with the buyers he seems to control it better.  Just one shot though, there was this once, oh, nevermind. One other advantage, although it is more in his favour than ours (although we do like Mary quite a bit), is that when he gets a commission cheque he can feed his Meth habit with Mary havin... 11/21/2008

We Canadians are indeed a breed apart. One of my co-workers just sent me this timeless Jeff Foxworthy list describing us Canucks perfectly. Read on: If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you live in Canada. If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in Canada. If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Canada. If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in Canada. If 'vacation' means going anywhere south of Detroit for the weekend, you live in Canada. If you measure distance in hours, you live in Canada. If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in Canada. If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day... 11/20/2008

Most of us seek out references on a daily basis. What's that new movie with the talking gorilla like? Is that a decent car? What kind of hockey coach is he? Heck, I'll ask 30 people about a new restaurant before spending $8.95 on the Lumberjack breakfast special (I can be fussy about my pancakes!). So isn't it amazing that most people never even consider asking for references from the person they are about to hand their house keys to? Selling your home is a massive decision. It can go smoothly and take you to your happy place or it can leave you feeling extremely frustrated. Your choice of REALTOR® should be the first step in determining which outcome you will have. The best way to find out what a sales representative is really like is to call some of their former clients. Most people f... 11/20/2008

All my life I've heard people say that time really begins to fly when you have children. Now that we have our two wonderful daughters, I finally see what they mean! Or maybe it's just getting older that does it. You want time to speed up so that the holiday break will come-so you can hurry up and relax. Then when the holidays arrive you want time to sloooow down so you can really feel ready, rested and refreshed for the New Year. Well, I'm learning that the secret to slowing time down is to stay where all life's riches reside: in the moment. But living mindfully takes some doing-you have to stop the endless stream of thoughts about the past and the future. You have to stop judging, doubting and worrying. My wife Mary believes that to fully experience each moment it helps to turn your at... 11/20/2008

This week's Wasaga Beach Open House that we hosted on Sunday was quite slow; I guess everyone was at the beach... We only had couple of visitors and as usual, we asked them to fill out the information form (OREA Form 270). Usually people have no problem with that, but this time one of the visitors agresivly refused to comply with our request. Not only she said she would not provide her information, she was quite rude!... From the perspective of couple of days I try to put myself in her shoes. In her mind I'm yet another person trying to get her personal information. We are all tired of that, and try to avoid situations like this one. On the other hand... My Client, Mr. Seller has the right to know who is snooping around his house. In fact many Sellers request that this information is pr... 06/24/2008

The Beach is just the beginning! Go to  http://www.wasagaopenforbusiness.com/ for all of the latest news on future developments and events! 05/23/2008

BIG, BIG news in Wasaga Beach this week.  Plans have been announced to transform Wasaga's famous Beach Area 1 with a 350 million dollar development over the next five years.  The new development would encompass some 25 acres and would feature a conference centre, shopping mall, major indoor theme park, condo's, seven hotels and even a monorail linking parking lots to the project.  This is what I call a very grand vision that could and most likely will change the future of Wasaga.  Early reports suggest support and excitement for the concept but the magnitude is undoubtably a little frightening for some.  In an article in yesterday's Globe and Mail, Wasaga Beach Mayor Cal Patterson was quoted as saying,  "I'm nervously excited about it, because it is a huge, huge development. "It's a maj... 08/22/2007