What's Hiding in Your Tap Water

Water isn't always as simple as it looks. Sometimes there's a lot more lurking in what may look, taste, or even smell like otherwise completely safe drinking water.

In much the same way that many of the processed foods we eat can hide more sugar than we expect, sometimes things get into the water that shouldn't be there. Even some of the chemicals and procedures used to treat water at the municipal level can leave behind some unpleasant byproducts, like bromate, trihalomethanes, and chlorite.

Odorless and Tasteless Contaminants

MicroorganismsWhen we think of odorless and tasteless contaminants, microorganisms are among the more obvious offenders that can go relatively undetected in water and cause pretty major problems. Common microorganisms like cryptosporidium and giardia, and perhaps the less common legionella, can all pass a sniff or taste test, but cause severe stomach upset, and in some cases of legionella's presence, pneumonia.
DisinfectantsThe most commonly used disinfectant should be relatively familiar to us since chlorine has a variety of uses, both in and outside the world of water treatment. In large, sustained quantities, however, this fairly ubiquitous additive can cause eye and nose irritation as well as chronic stomach upset. Chlorine's chemical neighbor, chlorine dioxide, used to treat and control microbes, has been known to cause anemia in infants as well as certain nervous system effects.
Inorganic ChemicalsArsenic falls into this category, as well as other offenders like fluoride and asbestos. While none of these are particularly desirable additives to have in drinking water in the first place, arsenic and asbestos can present the potential for immediate health problems and irritations.
Lead, mercury, and nitrates also make the list of hard-to-detect chemicals, since they can generally pass undetected in water - the only way to identify them is a water test.
Know the RisksIn general, regardless of the kind of contaminant(s) that may be present in your water, the most vulnerable populations are the same: young children, the elderly, and anyone with a compromised immune response.
The best thing you can do to protect yourself from odorless and tasteless chemicals in water is have your water tested.

Courtesy of Culligan Rothesay.

What is a shower water filter and how does it work?

Dry, itchy skin? Limp, lifeless hair? Soap scum or residue? If these are some of the side effects coming from your shower, then it's no wonder you're searching for an answer. For a quick fix, you could try a shower water filter as a simple DIY solution, or you could explore a more permanent, long-term, and professionally installed solution.

How do shower water filters work?

Shower water filters come in a variety of sizes and styles that fit directly onto your showerhead. These DIY solutions effectively reduce chlorine, scale, and sulfur odor, and also help prevent dry skin and chlorine damage to color-treated hair.
Once your shower filter is installed, you'll likely notice your skin feeling less dry, your hair feeling cleaner and full of bounce, and there will be significantly less scale buildup around your tub and faucet (this means less cleaning, which is another hidden bonus), as your filter will remove a huge amount of minerals and potentially harmful chemical impurities in your water.
Although adding a shower water filter can produce instant relief from hard water and other problems associated with your water supply, it is a somewhat temporary solution. Most shower water filters have a cartridge that needs to be replaced regularly. Depending on its use, you typically need to replace your filter or its cartridge after every six months of regular use.

Is there a more long-term solution?

Yes, there is! Although a shower water filter is a relatively quick and easy DIY solution to your problem, there are also long-term solutions that may provide a more effective, longer-lasting result in more places throughout your home than your shower alone.

Installing a whole-house water filtration system means cleaner water everywhere, not just in your shower. By reducing particles, contaminants, and imbalances in your water, whole-house filtration addresses hard water problems like soap scum and residue, poor-tasting water, and chemical odors by treating your water directly at the source.

Another way to reduce hard water in your shower and its effects on your entire home is with a water softener. A water softening system is designed to help reduce water contaminants, scale buildup, and increase energy efficiency while extending the life of your appliances - that means spot-free dishware, soft laundry, and more.

Courtesy of Culligan Rothesay.

www.realtor.ca is not the MLS® system!

       

By Angela Boudreau, CAE CRAE Executive Officer, Saint John Real Estate Board You know what's ironic? The incredibly popular real estate website, www.realtor.ca, which is chock-full of REALTOR® listings, isn't actually the means by which REALTORS® search for properties. Not at all. Surprised? The site, which averages 3.5 million unique hits every single month from coast to coast in Canada, solely attracts the public. Day in and day out, thousands upon thousands of clicks and searches are made by home buyers, home sellers, and those who simply enjoy cruising the latest homes for sale. Real estate salespeople who are members of their local real estate board - in Greater Saint John, that's about 230 of them, or over 95 per cent of those licensed in our region - access the services of their Board’s Multiple Listing Service®, also known as MLS®. The MLS® system is wide, deep, and robust. It contains all residential and commercial properties that are actively for sale, or ever have been over the last 20-or so years. In addition to the basic information posted on www.realtor.ca, the MLS® system includes property taxes, sale prices, days on market, specific instructions about showing appointments, and details about heating, land titles, rental equipment, inclusions such as appliances, and dozens more. All of this data is collected by, submitted by, and accessible only to members of the Saint John Real Estate Board. The www.realtor.ca website gets its data from MLS®. Through a legal agreement in place with the Canadian Real Estate Association, a handful of key data fields upload nightly from the MLS® system to www.realtor.ca so the public can have a glance, in an organized and compiled way, at every single listing for sale with the country's more than 100,000 REALTORS®. But most of the true real estate exposure, marketing, and trading occurs as a result of the private MLS® system, where over 230 Greater Saint John REALTORS® share their inventory with fellow REALTORS® and use their professional expertise to endlessly comb through the inventory, analyzing, sorting, and using a variety of system tools to zero in on the properties that meet the needs of each of their buyers. If you choose to sell your home yourself, you probably know it won’t appear on www.realtor.ca, and it certainly won’t be in the MLS® system. But you should also be aware that even if you choose to post your property on a site that promises to get your home "exposed" on www.realtor.ca, it still may not be in the local MLS® system where local REALTORS® can find it and sell it. Only members of the Saint John Real Estate Board can enter listings into MLS®. If you entrust the listing of your house with anyone, make sure they are licensed to trade in real estate in the province of New Brunswick, and find out whether or not your home will be in the Saint John Real Estate Board MLS® system, where over 95 per cent of REALTORS® will find it and market it on your behalf.

Water that smells like rotten eggs

Culligan Blog

What to Do When Your Water Smells Like Rotten Eggs

Ever had the experience of turning on the faucet and what comes out is an affront to your senses? Especially your olfactory one? That's usually the biggest tell that you might have some sulfur sneaking its way into your water supply.
It can be a pretty upsetting experience, which is why we wanted to give you all the information we could to help make it a little more bearable, as well as a clear-cut plan for how to get rid of it, and help make sure it doesn't come up again.

Effects of Sulfur Bacteria in Water

The unmistakable odor of rotten eggs really has nothing at all to do with eggs, in this case - rather, the culprit is usually one or more variants of the chemical sulfur. The chemical typically creeps into your water at the source when the supply originates from groundwater resources; it's also common among well-water users. Although sulfur content in water may not lead to serious health effects, its presence is extremely unpleasant to the senses.
Not only will sulfur bacteria lead to offensive odor and taste, it can lead to corrosion of your metal appliances and discoloration of your silverware and copper or brass utensils. You may also notice the negative effects on your laundry - greasy-feeling water and discolored clothing.

What You Can Do About It

Now that you know what's causing the smelly, bad-tasting water, what is there to be done? These foul characteristics can remain even after the water treatment process and remain in the water once it reaches your home. By adding an in-home water filtration system like the Culligan HE Sulfur-Cleer® Whole-House Filter, you'll have better-smelling and better-tasting water throughout your home immediately.
This Culligan filtration system is expertly designed to reduce odor by oxidizing the presence of hydrogen sulfide in your water, while the Sulfur-Cleer® cuts straight to the root of your problem, leaving you with fresher water and fewer odors.

From the fine folks at Culligan Rothesay.

It’s been a while!

Sorry that it has been awhile since our last post but we have changed a few things around at Oakhill as we grow our business. We realized that the model home centre we had located on Ashburn Road wasn’t the right fit and we had an opportunity to change things up so we did. We have moved our office to a building we own, located at 25 Williams Court in Quispamsis, we placed two mini homes on land we own and order another spec home for Bermuda Court in East Saint John. We haven’t stopped there either as we are into the final negotiations on two parcels of land that we are very excited about, one that will be a land home package for mini homes in Saint John and the other a typical subdivision in Quispamsis.

 

 

We had a very busy month in July and August with the move and business went through the roof as we closed on a number of transactions. So as we look around and try to find some time to get things into their place we realize we feel a lot like our clients. Moving can be stressful, you lose things, the effort to get everything back up and running like you had it is always a struggle. We were operational here by the end of July but just today we had the cabling guys in to see how hard it will be to move one of our phones. We still have boxes to unpack, shelving to go up but like our clients we are getting through it all.

Rest assured you will see us back at the blog keeping you informed of the latest stats and market trends and sharing with you all the info we can.

Blog soon!

April Stats!

The Saint John Real Estate Board Inc. MLS ® Statistic Report [APRIL 2015 ]

2015 2014 2013 %INC/DEC [ 2014 - 2015 ] Total # of Listings [Month] 542 566 680 -4% Total # of Listings YTD 1817 1847 2033 -2% Total # of Expired Listings [Month] 204 154 177 32% Total # of Expired Listings YTD 754 704 698 7% Total # of Sales [Month] 155 166 151 -7% Total # of Sales YTD 505 473 474 7% Total Sales Dollar Volume [Month] $24,256,628 $24,693,417 $27,280,123 -2% Total Sales Dollar Volume YTD $76,626,860 $73,711,095 $76,863,526 4%   Show Chart   2015 2014 2013 TOTAL Total # of Closed Sales [Month] 135 140 139 414 Total # of Closed Sales YTD 448 406 397 1251 Total Dollar Volume of Closing Sales YTD $64,228,659 $62,746,578 $60,844,053 $187,819,290 Total # Sales Pending 0 0 0 0 Total Dollar Volume of Sales Pending $0 $0 $0 $0   Number of Active Listings in the MLS ® System At time of Report Creation. (click Number for Current Detailed Report) 3021         NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD BY PRICE 2015 2014 MONTH YEAR MONTH YEAR Under 30,000 13 46 7 38 30,000 - 39,999 2 20 4 15 40,000 - 49,999 5 19 5 13 50,000 - 59,999 5 15 12 23 60,000 - 69,999 7 19 4 15 70,000 - 79,999 3 16 10 19 80,000 - 89,999 8 27 9 24 90,000 - 99,999 2 11 2 8 100,000 - 119,999 8 35 15 38 120,000 - 139,999 10 44 17 47 140,000 - 159,999 23 50 15 44 160,000 - 179,999 16 40 18 38 180,000 - 199,999 11 36 12 34 200,000 - 219,999 15 33 7 23 220,000 - 239,999 2 13 5 17 240,000 - 259,999 8 19 5 13 260,000 - 349,999 12 39 14 37 350,000 - 399,999 3 10 2 8 400,000 - 499,999 0 6 1 8 500,000 - 749,999 2 6 2 10 750,000 - 999,999 0 1 0 0 1,000,000 + 0 0 0 1

Thinking of Selling?

If you are thinking of selling your home, then there are a few things to consider.

 We will start on the outside and work our way in.

 

You are trying to ensure that your home has as much curb appeal as possible. Sometimes potential buyers do a ‘drive by” to see if they like the look of the outside before they make an appointment to view the home. Make sure your lawn is cut, trimmed and shrub beds are attractive.

 

Your next decision is which door you want a possible buyer to use. Which entrance into your home creates the most WOW? Whichever door you choose, make sure it is clean and free of debris, spider webs especially this time of year. You want to provide buyers with a warm and welcoming feeling.

 

Smell is very important. The smell of your home can make or break the showing. I think we are all use to the smell of our home so perhaps a very honest friend or neighbor can give it the sniff test. I don’t really recommend the plug in things since that often can send off alarm bells “What are they trying to hide” Also so many people have allergies to scents that it can cause a problem. Clean, fresh and of course home baking make the best impressions. You also have to be careful if you have pets, the smell of a kitty litter box can be a huge turn off.

 

Next you need to declutter your home; pack non-essential things in boxes and store them in the basement, garage, storage sheds or with someone else.

Closets, linen cupboards, hallways, entrances and stairways should be as free from clutter as possible.

 

It may look bare to you but it enables the buyer to appreciate how much space is there.

All surfaces countertops and floor spaces should be as clean and clear as possible.

 

Now you have to De-personalize

·       Family Pictures

·       Diplomas

·       Personal reading

·       Front of fridge

 

So many people, buyers and Realtors alike love to look at the pictures to see if they know the people; they are there to look at the house not who you are. People are nosy so if you don’t want it looked at then put it away.

 

Neutralizing is sometimes a tough one but a neutral décor goes a long way toward enabling a potential buyer to see his things in your home. Paint is the easiest and cheapest way to prepare your home for sale. Soft, warm, clean neutral shades work best.

 

I realize that I am tossing a lot at you but it is a very competitive market out there. Buyers are very picky and for the most part know the market. To get your home sold in a timely fashion and get the most money for it you need to make your house really show ready.

 

Kitchens and bathrooms seem to be the 2 rooms that are of most importance. Now if they have not been updated in the past 10 years or so and you don’t want the expense then the price for you home will probably be reflected in that. If your counter top is a strong non neutral colour like rose or blue, then perhaps you should think about replacing it. You are trying to remove as many objections as possible.

 

 

Buyers and buyer’s agents will often over cost repairs. If you don’t want the expense of replacing the countertop then I would strongly recommend you get some prices and samples that you can leave out. You would be surprised how something like that can increase the value and make your home easier to market.

 

Also new hardware like knobs and pulls for the cupboards and light fixtures can give a kitchen and bathroom a quick facelift. Do make sure that both of these rooms are clean and decluttered.

 

As I just mentioned, new modern light fixtures can give any room a little face lift. Another item to update your home is the trim. Most people are looking for white trim it seems to brighten your home and give it a modern look.

 

Make sure everything in your home is in good working order. If you have had work done on your home recently, then receipts can sometime impress a prospective buyer.

 

Once you have your house listed with a Realtor and it’s ready to show, remember to have light bulbs in all sockets.

 

When your home is being shown turn on all the lights and leave.