How is the real estate market and ice cream retailing very similar?

Consider the "hot" real estate market.  Remember when you were on a sandy beach on a very hot day?  There is one ice cream stand.  You see a long line up of people at the stand.  Those in line behind you are grumbling for you to get moving; and, you are wondering what is holding up the folks in front of you!

Once you get to the stand, you really have no choice: it's vanilla soft ice cream, already starting to melt.  Buy it and get on with it!

Now, look at

Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the swings and harrows of off-side variables, or to simply go fixed:  that is the question.

Are mortgage rates going up because of uncovered massive fraud?

Last week, CBC's breaking news story of a civil lawsuit started by the BMO-Bank of Montreal, at the Calgary Court of Queen's Bench, action 0901-07347, has caused quite a stir of media activity and consumer speculation.

The action is to reclaim about $30 million in mortgage losses. Alleged master-minds also pulled their schemes off with another sixteen financial institutions, according the the BMO statement of claim.

With a sitting Member of Parliament on the list of defendants,

Watching the news over the weekend leads to this May 3, 2010 report.

Please check out Facebook "MAC Rally of Hope"!

It is the second stop of a cross Canada motorcycle rally, arriving in Calgary at Canada Olympic Park on July 12, 2010.  Timings?  5-10pm

It will be the best leg of a cross Canada event, because Calgarians know how to celebrate and donate!

If a family attending, there is entertainment for the kids:

• Face painting
• Kid's crafts
• Merlin the magician

For the "kids" at heart:

• Dunk Tank
• Water guns
• Bocce Ball

With music

As a self-employed individual, you have the ability to make more money selling your goods or services than working for wages for some one else.  You also have the ability to do some tax planning that is not limited to the "normal" T-4 income to continue to build your Canada Pension, and now contribute to EI for health related loss of income.  Cash from the company can be received through dividends, repayment of shareholder loans, and income splitting within the family.

The Conference Board of Canada March review of home prices for metropolitan areas, produced in March 2010, said house prices in Calgary were most likely to increase between 5-7% in the next six months, year over year.

At the same time, there are a number of forecasts that interest rates are going to increase again.

So, what does this mean if you have been struggling to put a down payment together in order to avoid "the boiler-maker mortgage" option?   That option is in another video.  It has a higher interest rate compared to having a saved down paym

This information is from Scotiabank's Commodity Price Index news release on April 22, 2010.  It advises that premium-grade hard coking coal contracts with Japanese steel mills has moved from $US128 per tonne to $US200 per tonne.  That's a 56.25% increase.

Better news yet, is the Asian market for Hamersley fines iron ore moved from 97 US cents per dry metric tonne to 184 cents: that's a fraction shy of 90% increase.

This is a great lift in the building blocks of manufactoring- steel, and especially since world steel production increased almost 31

The recent recession has changed unemployment rates in Alberta from a low of 3.5 in October '08 to a high of 7.5% in March '08 according to Stats Can labour market numbers.

There is bound to be rumours in many companies about lay-offs.  Of course, senior management creates new jargon about lay offs with each change of economy or corporate plan. 

What words have we heard before to avoid using, lay off?   Re-organize, re-engineer, restructure, right size, rationalize...and I think the new one is simplify.

There will always be rum

The Minister of Finance rule changes for insured mortgages takes effect April 19, and there is a big house price gap for qualification if you plan on using a variable rate mortgage instead of a five year fixed rate mortgage.

Take for example you were told the maximum payment for a mortgage you could have to qualify for a mortgage was $2,348 per month.   That will cover you for a $500,000 home purchase with 5 percent down, using a 4.64% five year fixed rate amortized over 35 years.

April 19, the lenders are obligated to use the Bank of Canada website "post