The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

Helping Women And Children Escape Violence And Rebuild Their Lives

Because we are committed to strengthening the communities where we live and work, Royal LePage is the only Canadian real estate company with its own charitable foundation. The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is Canada’s largest public foundation dedicated exclusively to funding women’s shelters and violence prevention programs.

Every dollar raised goes directly to helping the more than 50,000 women and children who are served each year by the shelters and support programs we fund. Since 1998, the Shelter Foundation has raised more than $27 million and currently supports 200 local women’s shelters and national partners. Our agents donate a portion of their commissions and Royal LePage offices across Canada hold local fundraising events. Our brokers, agents and staff also volunteer and provide in-kind goods to benefit the women and children residing in their local shelters.

To read brave stories of hope from families whose lives have been touched by abuse or to learn more about domestic violence, please visit us at www.shelterfoundation.ca

Royal LePage real estate agents help Canadians find their dream home. For those who do not have a safe and peaceful home, Royal LePage is also there, helping families in the neighbourhoods where we live and work.

Violence against women and their children is a significant problem in all communities in Canada. We are proud to be working with women’s shelters and our national partners to provide safety and hope to women and children experiencing violence and abuse.

Research tells us the following:

• Violence against women happens in all cultures and religions, in all ethnic and racial communities, at every age, and in every income group
• Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 161
• Every year in Canada, an estimated 360,000 children witness family violence2
• On any given day in Canada, 3000 women (and their 2500 children) are living in an emergency shelter to escape family violence3
• On average, every six days in Canada a woman is murdered by her intimate partner. In 2009, 67 women were killed by a current or former partner.
• Physical and sexual abuse costs Canadians over $4 billion each year (taking into account social services, criminal justice, lost wages and productivity, and healthcare)5
• By supporting women’s shelters, we are ensuring that women and children have a safe place to go to escape domestic violence. With our national partners, we fund healthy relationship programs for youth and support programs that help women and children heal from their experiences of abuse and rebuild their lives.

For additional research on family violence, visit www.canadianwomen.org

To make a meaningful difference at a local level, the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation matches Royal LePage offices with a women’s shelter in their community. Royal LePage brokers, agents and staff are passionate champions for their local shelter. They help organize fundraising events and many agents donate a portion of the commissions they receive when they help their clients buy or sell a home. All support stays in the local community and because Royal LePage covers the administrative costs of the Shelter Foundation, one hundred percent of the funds raised goes toward our cause. Since 1998, the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation has raised more than $27 million.

Women’s shelters direct our funding to meet their greatest needs and priorities. Shelters use our funding to provide critical services such as: trauma counseling; job training and placement; emergency transportation to the shelter; play therapy for children; homework help for youth; renovations to existing shelters; and building new shelters. In some cases, the funds are used to help women and children after they leave the shelter and move into their own accommodations.

In addition to addressing the immediate needs women and children have for safety and support, we also take a long-term view to stopping the cycle of violence. We are a founding partner of the Fourth R, a curriculum-based education program that has been delivered in 5,500 schools across North America, and we continue to help youth develop healthy relationships through annual funding of educational programs.  With the help of our national partner, the Canadian Women’s Foundation, we support grassroots programs in every province that help women rebuild their lives after violence, that help children heal and prevent them from becoming victims or abusers themselves, and that help teenagers recognize and avoid abusive relationships. As a founding national partner of the online resource sheltersafe.ca, we are making it possible for women seeking safety to identify a shelter in a specific geographic area along with its 24 hour emergency phone line. This ensures that women and children get the help they need as quickly as possible.

Donate to this great cause. 

11 Tips - How To Stain Your Deck Like a Pro

Canmore, the land of beautiful decks with gorgeous views.  We spend a lot of time on our decks and we want to keep them beautiful.  Here are some tips to get you though your next deck staining with ease. 

Follow these steps to help guarantee a great-looking, long-lasting result.

Step 1: Take Your Time
With each step of the deck staining process, take your time. After the project is complete and your tools are cleaned and put away, nothing will have had a greater impact on the quality of the job. Take your time and allow new pressure-treated lumber to weather for a few months and dry out before staining it. Leave stain strippers on the surface long enough to break down old finishes before you rinse it off. Take your time in order to prevent overspray and spills on non-target surfaces; wait to start your project until the weather forecast is favorable.

Step 2: Preparation is Everything
Preparation is key to the final results. All wood needs to be well cleaned before staining — whether it’s a brand new deck or an older deck that’s been out in the weather and needs to be re-stained. Brand-new lumber needs to be cleaned to remove mill scale, which is a crushing of the grain during the milling process. If it’s left uncleaned, it can prevent wood stains from properly penetrating into the wood pores.

Sodium percarbonate wood cleaners, also known as oxygen bleach wood cleaners, are a great choice for this step. They are highly effective at cleaning the wood, yet don’t harm plant life and vegetation. Best of all, they won’t hurt you either. Their soapy consistency won’t burn your skin.

If there is a build-up of old stains on the deck, then the job gets a little tougher, but not impossible. Instead of a sodium percarbonate cleaner, you’ll need to use a wood stain stripper. Stain strippers are a little more caustic, so follow the directions carefully. They work well and will remove most weathered stains in a single application. Lastly, if there are small spots of stain that won’t come off during the cleaning process, they should sand off easily using a palm-type sander after the deck has dried. If those spots of stain are left on the deck, they will show through the new finish and detract from the deck’s final appearance.

Step 3: Brighteners are Beautiful
In the deck staining process, no step is skipped more than this one. It’s by far the easiest step to do and will have a dramatic effect on the final results. Wood brighteners are easy to apply. They help open up the surface of the wood to improve penetration, neutralize any stain strippers that were used, and restore the appearance of old, weathered wood to look like new again. That’s a lot for one product to accomplish, but brighteners will do all of that, so don’t skip using them. To use them, simply spray them on, wait a few minutes, and rinse them off. No scrubbing, no ‘elbow grease’ needed. They’re so easy to use and have so many benefits, there’s no reason not to use them!

Step 4: Rinse Like Mad
Use plenty of water after using any cleaning chemicals. Even though some of these chemicals can seem safe and harmless, they all need to be rinsed off extremely well after they are used. Left in the wood, these chemicals can resurface over time and begin to attack and break down the new stain. So once you are done cleaning, rinse the deck thoroughly to get all of the chemicals out of the wood.

Step 5: Stay Away From the Cheap Stuff
Now that the deck is clean and dry, it’s ready to be stained. Before you decide which stain to buy, keep in mind that you always get what you pay for. Better ingredients cost more money. If you expect premium results, then you’ll need to buy a premium product. Quality differs in resins, pigments, mildewcides, and many other materials that make up a gallon of wood stain. So stay away from the cheap stuff if you expect it to last.

Step 6: Take a Look at Waterborne Deck Stains
Water-based deck stains have become really popular in the last few years. If you have been reluctant to try them in the past, don’t be reluctant any longer. Air quality regulations have forced manufacturers to really improve these products, and some are now better, more durable, and longer lasting than conventional oil-based alternatives. They offer some distinct advantages that oil-based stains can’t offer. Good quality, water-based stains clean up with soap and water, have no nasty solvents, have a significantly better resistance to weathering, don’t need the wood to be completely dry, dry more quickly than solvents, and are much easier on the environment.

Step 7: Read the Can; Follow the Directions
Every product is a little different, so always read the label for directions. It only takes a few minutes and it will ensure that you have all of the right information before you get started. Pay attention to how many coats of stain to apply, how long to wait between coats, how long to wait after cleaning, and how long to allow wood to weather. Read the label first and you’re likely to get it right the first time.

Step 8: More IS NOT always Better
Semi-transparent deck stains are a great choice because they allow the natural grain of the wood to show through, allow the wood to naturally breathe, and are easily cleaned and reapplied. Pay attention to the directions and don’t over apply these types of products. When too much stained is applied, a film can form, much like paint, that will no longer allow the wood to breathe; the end result is peeling, which is a real mess. Only apply as much stain as the wood can easily absorb.

Step 9: The Paint Brush is Still King
Deck stain can be applied in several different ways. Using a pump-up garden sprayer and roller are two popular methods. An even better way is to use A car wash brush that is available at most home improvement stores. Using this to stain the horizontal boards will save your back and your knees and allows you to move much more quickly than using a small paint brush.

Regardless of how you apply your wood stain, keep a paint brush at hand. A paint brush is necessary for the vertical posts and railings and will work the stain deep in to the pores of a board. The agitation and friction caused by a paint brush will cause the wood to absorb more stain. So if you are spraying or rolling the stain, always back-brush it in with a brush while the stain is still wet; you’ll achieve much better penetration in to the wood. Watch the short video clip below for the best type of brush to use.

Step 10: Let it Dry
Step one of this article told you to take your time. When your project is finally done, take a little extra time before you start use it. Let your deck dry out well before putting it back in use. The stain needs to cure out before being subjected to the rigors of patio furniture and foot traffic. You’ve done everything correctly to this point, so make sure you allow at least 24 hours for it to dry out before using it.

Step 11: Maintain It
A small amount of effort can keep your deck looking great longer. Just as you would wash the dirt off of your car, you should occasionally wash down the surface of your deck to keep leaves and dirt from damaging the finish. If the deck stain starts to show signs of graying or loses its color, it can be easily cleaned up with a little wood brightener and a light maintenance coat of stain.

Conclusion
That’s it; eleven keys to deck staining success. Go ahead and try them to see what the results are when you set out on your next project to do it like a pro. You may just surprise yourself!

Nearly half of existing mortgages face renewal in 2018: CIBC report

The Canadian Press

Nearly half of all existing mortgages in Canada will need to be renewed this year, substantially more than in prior years, according to a new report, amid rising interest rates and new rules that make it tougher for some borrowers to shop around.

A CIBC Capital Markets report suggests an estimated 47 per cent of all existing mortgages will need to be refinanced in 2018, up from the 25 to 35 per cent range in a typical year.

The increase is an unintended consequence of various rounds of regulatory changes in the past few years aimed at reducing risk coupled with rising house prices that made it harder for homebuyers to qualify, said Ian Pollick, CIBC’s executive director and head of North American Rates Strategy in a report released Tuesday.

“Over the past two to three years, as home prices have risen unchecked, you’ve had people trying to get into the housing market unable to afford longer term mortgages and taken out short-term mortgages,” he said in an interview. “And in 2018, everything is falling on top of one another.”

The increase in renewals comes as mortgage rates have been rising.

Recent Bank of Canada interest rate hikes have pushed up variable rate mortgage rates, while five-year fixed rates up about half a percentage point compared with a year ago as yields on the bond market, where the big banks raise money, have been on the rise since late last year due to an improved economic outlook.

Meanwhile, new lending guidelines introduced this year stipulate that homeowners looking to renew their uninsured mortgages are subject to a new stress test, unless they stick with their existing provider, hobbling their ability to seek out a more competitive rate.

Under the tighter lending guidelines, known as B20, homebuyers seeking a loan from a federally regulated lender must prove they can service their uninsured mortgage at a qualifying rate of the greater of the contractual mortgage rate plus two percentage points or the five-year benchmark rate published by the Bank of Canada. An existing stress test already requires those with insured mortgages to qualify at the central bank’s benchmark five-year mortgage rule.

However, borrowers who renew their uninsured mortgage with their existing lender are not subject to the new stress test, which took effect Jan. 1.

In turn, there is less incentive for lenders to offer lower rates to compete for market share, as they did during the so-called “mortgage wars” roughly five years ago.

“Some of their customers won’t be able to leave the bank,” said Scott Hannah, president and chief executive of the Credit Counselling Society. “Where is the motivation for financial institutions to offer the best rate?”

Craig Alexander, chief economist for the Conference Board of Canada, said the new underwriting guidelines were necessary to limit the growth in household debt and contain the associated risks.

“It’s just going to be a shock for some Canadians when they go shopping for a mortgage,” he said.

Mortgage broker network Dominion Lending Centres spokesman Dave Teixeira said clients looking to switch do have other options, such as credit unions which are provincially regulated and not required to implement the stress test. However, it is taking longer for its brokers to find another suitable lender, he added.

Alexander said Canadians will likely renew their mortgages at rates higher than they have currently, which will have a financial impact. He expects the share of income going towards servicing household debt to rise over the coming year, contributing to the trend of slowing consumer spending.

However, the economist stressed that interest rates still remain “incredibly low” and he does not expect the central bank to raise rates until next year.

“They have increased from where they were, but when you look at debt service costs for Canadians, they’re still quite manageable, except for a very small portion of the population,” Alexander said.

Research conducted by CIBC Economics suggests that just 20 per cent of all outstanding mortgage and non-mortgage debt is exposed to higher rates, said Pollick.

“This is a small proportion and, should have limited near-term ramifications,” he said. “Over time, as interest rates continue to rise, it will at some point in the future restrict consumption patterns.”

Source Article - Calgary Herald