Archive for July, 2007

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Waterfront gaining rail-themed eatery

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

‘Orient Express’ trip led to inspiration

Ashley Ford
Province

Eli Gershkovitch is proud of the sweeping staircases in his new TransContinental Heritage Restaurant and Railway Lounge. Photograph by : Jon Murray, The Province

A section of the historic Waterfront Station that has been sealed off from the public for 30 years is being reborn as a restaurant evoking the golden age of rail.

Owner Eli Gershkovitch got the idea of breathing new life into the station a few years ago while riding on “the” icon of rail travel, The Orient Express, from Paris to Istanbul.

“Canada has just as an impressive rail history and there was this magnificent space available that had been closed to the public for 30 years, to do it in one of the original grand railway stations in North America,” he said.

His TransContinental Heritage Restaurant and Railway Lounge, built in the east end of the station in the former “women’s waiting area,” will open this weekend.

Gershkovitch signed a long-term lease with the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, the building’s owner, and started transforming the 7,000-square-foot space a year ago into a mid-priced seafood/steak restaurant and bar.

He won’t divulge how much he has invested except to say “gobs and gobs of money.”

The eatery will have a strong Canadian theme, including train art and Group of Seven pictures producing memories of a gentler, more peaceful time.

“The goal is to capture the drama, elegance and romance of the period and it will feature many touches of that,” he said.

“This was the era of when the journey was itself more important than the destination.”

“We want to integrate the elegance, grandeur, history and lore of this place into a dining experience.

“But it is also our goal to make it a totally inclusionary venue where Vancouver locals, the business crowd and tourists can easily rub shoulders in comfort,” he said.

The restaurant will officially open this weekend and is spread over three storeys with impressive, curving grand staircases.

There will be seating for more than 250 customers and even the dishes and cutlery are designed in the art-deco mode of the 1930s.

Gershkovitch also operates the nearby Steamworks Brewing Company.

The latest project was designed by Soren Rasmussen, a Vancouver architect who has won awards for previous heritage restoration work.

The venture is creating 100 new jobs.

The station, which was originally the western terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway, opened in 1917. It was used by generations of railway travellers until the last passenger train left the station in 1976.

Today, thousands of commuters flow daily through the building and it is again one of the most important transportation hubs in Vancouver, linking SkyTrain, Seabus and West Coast Express.

The final touch will be the long-awaited clean-up of the much-admired CP veterans statue outside the restaurant.

Gershkovitch is holding to his early promise of cleaning it but says many other parties are involved and have yet to reach agreement on how it should be done.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

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U.S. markets, dollar take major beating as housing slows

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007

Gregory Thomas
Sun

U.S. markets took a beating Tuesday and the U.S. dollar dropped to a record low against the euro as Moody’s Investors Service slashed its ratings on 399 bond issues backed by residential mortgages, and Standard & Poors said it may cut ratings on $12 billion US in mortgage-backed securities.

Home Depot, the parent company of Sears, and D.R. Horton, the largest U.S. homebuilder, slashed earnings and revenue forecasts, blaming the housing slowdown in the U.S. for falling consumer spending.

With rising levels of delinquencies and late payments on mortgages in the U.S., S&P says it has “further evidence of lower underwriting standards and misrepresentations in the mortgage market.” Mortgage bonds moved lower on the news, with an index of the lowest-rated issues, known as subprime, falling to nearly 50 cents on the dollar.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 148.27, or 1.1 per cent, to 2,639.16. The S&P 500 fell 21.73, or 1.4 per cent, to 1510.12. The Nasdaq composite moved lower by 30.86, or 1.2 per cent, to 2,639.16. The U.S. dollar fell to $1.3729 against the euro.

Shares of Sears Holding Corp., parent company of Sears and Kmart, had their biggest drop in four years, plunging $17.20, or 10 per cent, to $154.21. Sears now expects second-quarter earnings to fall as much as 46 per cent from a year ago. Same-store sales fell four per cent, with appliance sales the hardest hit.

Home Depot slashed its full-year earnings forecast, saying it expects profits to fall as as much as 18 per cent from last year, while sales drop one to two per cent. The big-box retailer also announced the first half of a $22 billion US share buyback. Shares rose two cents to $40.25 US.

Shares of D.R. Horton fell 39 cents to $19.40 US after the company sold 8,559 homes in the third quarter, down from 14,316 a year ago. Revenue dropped 48 per cent to $2 billion and 38 per cent of sales orders were cancelled.

The S&P homebuilders group fell three per cent to its lowest level since October 2003. Financials lost 2.2 per cent, accounting for nearly a third of the decline in the S&P 500. Retailers ended lower by 2.4 per cent.

Canadian markets performed better Tuesday, buoyed by rising energy prices. The Bank of Canada raised its key lending rate a quarter point, as expected, to 4.75 per cent, but a softer tone from the central bank on inflation sent longer-term yields lower. The Canadian dollar fell 0.19 cents to 95.04 US cents, down from Monday’s 30-year high of 95.74 US.

The S&P/TSX composite shed 45.59, or 0.3 per cent, to 14,131.93, from Monday’s record high. The S&P/TSX venture composite gained 23.59, or 0.7 per cent, to 3,248.29.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index slipped 45.59 from a record, or 0.3 per cent, to 14,131.93 in Toronto. It rose in four of the previous five sessions.

In New York, the August gold contract rose $1.90, or 0.3 per cent, to $664.40 US an ounce, while August crude climbed 62 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $72.81 US a barrel. Hot summer weather in the northeastern U.S. helped send August natural gas up 29 cents, or 4.5 per cent, to $6.70 US per million Btu. Next day gas at Spectra Energy’s Huntingdon tolling station sold for $5.75 US per million Btu.

– – –

Gregory Thomas is an investment adviser and Certified Financial Planner. His market commentary is broadcast on all-news radio News1130. Views expressed are the author’s alone, and not necessarily those of his employer, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., member CIPF. [email protected] Tel 604-631-2693 www.gregorythomas.ca

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

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Riverbend Condo Project buyers seek equity lost in cancelled pre-sale contracts

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007

Riverbend buyers seek equity lost from cancelled pre-sale contracts

Derrick Penner
Sun

Stephen Bulat in front of his house. He is one of 32 home buyers in the Riverbend development who have a serious dispute with the developer who wants to cancel early contracts. Steve Bosch/Vancouver Sun

The ill-fated Riverbend condominium project in Coquitlam could face a class-action lawsuit from buyers seeking the equity they lost when their pre-sale contract was cancelled by the developer earlier this year.

Colleen Leduc-Ledezma and her husband, Gonzalo Ledezma, want a B.C. Supreme Court judge to approve a class-action suit against the developer, CB Development (2000) Ltd., its directors, the project’s main mortgage lender, CareVest Capital Inc., and Marion Lochhead, the realtor who sold them the unit and her employer, Sutton Group 1st West Realty Inc.

There are 31 other buyers who bought single detached homes at the pre-sale of the last phase of Riverbend’s 148-unit, strata-titled development. All their contracts were cancelled at the end of April.

CB Development cited rising construction costs that pushed the project into a loss, and a construction lender that would not release its mortgage for the project unless units were sold at current market prices.

Ledezma said the couple wants to recover the money they’ve lost, the money they’ve spent trying to resolve their situation and “to see the people responsible pay for their mistakes and pay for their errors.”

“We want justice, basically,” Ledezma said. “This has been a horrible and unfortunate situation for us, the consumer, and we have gotten nothing but heartache and lawyers’ fees.”

The Ledezmas signed a pre-sale contract for one of Riverbend’s homes in January 2006 at a price of $369,000.

Ledezma said the couple sold their North Vancouver townhouse a year ago and moved, with their two young sons, into his parents’ home to save money in anticipation of taking possession of their own single-family home in a few months.

“Now, we’ve lost our place in the market,” as well as the 4.25-per-cent, five-year mortgage rate that they had locked in for their Riverbend home.

The Ledezma’s were among the 17 buyers who first tried to get a court order that would compel CB Development to honour the contracts and deliver their homes at the promised prices.

That bid failed when CareVest foreclosed on the project and put it into receivership. After the foreclosure, Supreme Court Judge Ian Pitfield ordered that the receiver, the Bowra Group, complete construction of Riverbend’s units and sell them at current market prices.

He also ordered that a portion of the proceeds, representing the amount between current prices and the pre-sale contract prices, be held in trust until a court can decide whether pre-sale buyers had a claim to the money, essentially the equity their properties would have earned if they had taken possession of them.

Bowra Group principal David Bowra said Tuesday he has secured financing from CareVest and hired a builder, Mierau Contracting, to finish construction on 25 of 34 total units in Riverbend’s final phase.

He added that a decision on what to do with the nine remaining home sites — where little or no work has been done — is expected within the next three weeks.

Bowra said he has also contacted pre-sale buyers for the nine homes closest to completion and given them the first option to buy them at current prices, which are $80,000 to $85,000 higher.

Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association said that the possibility of a “white-knight” financier, who might have come in to finish the project and deliver the homes at the contract prices, has now been lost.

Simpson, who had exploratory discussions with the anonymous developer, said the cost — about $5 million — “takes his company beyond any realm of a goodwill gesture.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

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Single-family home has become a ‘dream’ for most

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007

Condo development surges as house starts fall

Ashley Ford
Province

Like to own one of these detached homes? You’re dreaming…

Is the dream of owning a single-family home in Greater Vancouver becoming endangered?

The latest housing-start numbers from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, released yesterday, show single-family starts slumping by nearly 33 per cent over the first half of the year from 2006.

Peter Simpson, head of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, said the desire to own a single-family home remains strong. But the realities of ever-increasing land and development costs are removing that option for many.

“This may be the first generation who do not aspire to the holy grail of owning a single-family home,” he said. “We just don’t know. Many buyers will stay in multi-family homes for their whole lives.”

Andy Ni, CMHC market analyst, agreed that ever-rising home prices — they are expected to increase another six to nine per cent across the Lower Mainland this year — are forcing developers to produce more cost-effective product.

“As a result, during the first half of 2007 multi-family starts, including semi-detached, row and apartment condominiums, reached the highest level for the same six-month period since 1991.” And that explains why multi-family housing now thoroughly rules the roost in residential construction across Greater Vancouver.

CMHC said multi-family starts were up five per cent to 7,333 units in the first half compared with 6,981 last year. Single starts were 2,011, down 32.5 per cent from last year’s 2,980.

Abbotsford, where land is less expensive, is the only area where single-family housing is flourishing, with starts up 38 per cent to 253 from last year’s 183.

Overall, the Lower Mainland market remains steady. Simpson said it will likely match last year’s performance of 18,500 to 18,700 starts. So far this year there have been 9,344 starts, down 6.2 per cent from last year’s 9,961.

Simpson, however, said there are many projects in the pipeline and he doubts yesterday’s interest-rate increase will have a major impact on buyers. But he conceded every rise in interest rates removes some potential buyers from the market.

“While the recent uptick in mortgage rates may curb demand in the long term, the prospect of gradually rising mortgage rates is also spurring some potential buyers into action sooner that later,” added Robyn Adamache, senior market analyst with CMHC.

Across the country, housing starts were stronger than some analysts had predicted.

CMHC says that although the seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts was 225,500 last month, down from 235,200 units in May, analysts had only been looking for about 219,000 starts.

Urban starts decreased 4.8 per cent to 192,600 in June compared to May. Urban single starts were up 2.1 per cent, while multiple starts decreased 10.4 per cent.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

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Performing-arts housing complex officially opens at Coal Harbour

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007

Peter Birnie
Sun

Liberal MLA Lorne Mayencourt (from left); Conservative MP James Moore; International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Local 891 president Elmar Theissen; actor Howard Storey; PAL board president Jane Heyman; Premier Gordon Campbell and Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan. Photograph by : Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun

A dream came true yesterday when the $20-million, 111-unit, mixed-income housing complex for seniors and disabled people in the professional performing arts was officially opened in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour.

Jane Heyman, president of Performing Arts Lodge, said the eight-storey facility was a response to “the urgent situation of Vancouver’s pioneer performing arts professionals and how it was met with tremendous generosity of spirit and imagination.”

The lodge raised $5.2 million from the sale of life-lease units and contributions from societies and unions while the federal, provincial and civic governments contributed funds and grants.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Heyman. “Our residents now enjoy secure, affordable housing, with the rooftop studio theatre providing a venue for their passion and creativity.”

The complex is already fully occupied.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

Curtain rises at Vancouver’s Performing Arts Lodge

Premier Gordon Campbell officially opens home for retired and disabled performing artists

Peter Birnie, Vancouver Sun

Published: Tuesday, July 10, 2007

VANCOUVER – Premier Gordon Campbell officially opened Vancouver’s Performing Arts Lodge on Monday by asking for a show of hands about PAL’s unofficial theme song: When I’m 64, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon and first released in 1967.

“The first time you heard it,” said the premier, “how many of you thought, ‘God, that’s a long way off!’ I’m almost 64 now, and so are a lot of people in the performing arts who have helped provide entertainment, understanding and, frankly, a lot of creative talent.

“What PAL really represents to all of us is a place that says as you get older, that means nothing except that you’re adding years. You’re still creative, you’re still thoughtful, you still have something to contribute.”

PAL Vancouver, which first welcomed tenants a year ago, features 111 suites (99 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom units) offered to members of the performing arts community who are retired and/or disabled. Six years of fundraising, led by veteran actor Joy Coghill and PAL board president Jane Heyman, not only saw the building successfully finished but fully 80 per cent of the rents subsidized according to need.

In a packed studio theatre on the eighth floor of the building at Cardero and Hastings, Campbell also read a note from Coghill, who could not attend because her husband was having surgery.

“Nothing but Jack’s operation could have kept me from being with you today,” Coghill said in her note. “We’re all very proud of what we’ve created here, but let us be very clear — we could not have done it without the help of every person present today. Take any one person away and it would not have happened.”

The federal government provided $250,000 under the Canada-BC Affordable Housing Agreement and the province ponied up $385,000.

James Moore, Conservative MP for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, acknowledged the presence of Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry as he noted that funding for PAL crossed lines of party and partisanship.

“We all recognize the need for creative solutions to important needs for the City of Vancouver,” Moore said, “and we’re all doing our best to ensure that the City of Vancouver remains one of the greatest cities in the world.”

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan pointed out the presence of four city councillors: Kim Capri, Peter Ladner, Raymond Louie and Elizabeth Ball, the last a “ferocious advocate for the arts at city hall,” Sullivan noted.

Sullivan says the city’s largesse in helping build PAL, including $1 million in matching grants and a gift of city-owned “air space parcel” zoning, came to approximately $6 million.

“But this is such a small contribution compared to the joy and the wonderful addition to our quality of life that the people who are in our arts and culture industry have made to us,” Sullivan added.

Heyman told the audience that when the process to build PAL began more than six years ago, everyone thought it would just be a home for retired actors.

“One of the most exciting aspects of living here,” she countered, “is that people range in age from their late 30s to over 90. Musicians, dancers, actors, writers, producers, publicists, carpenters or technicians — name a profession in the performing arts and you’ll likely find them here.”

Veteran actress and singer Ann Warn Pegg described for the crowd what she loved about living at PAL.

“The artistic souls can gather and enrich each other’s lives,” she said. “Most artists are not rich monetarily — the average actor’s salary is about $12,000 a year — but we are rich in the ability to create family, live life to the fullest, listen and respond — that’s what we do as actors — care for each other, share and encourage. Here at PAL, we’re able to do that a hundredfold.

“In the words of Martha Stewart, this is a very good thing.”

Arts Club Theatre artistic managing director Bill Millerd cast an admiring glance at PAL’s studio theatre, but says he certainly wouldn’t move into the building until he’s retired.

“Can you imagine? People hammering on my door, I’d open it and there’d be an audition!” Millerd said with a laugh.

Don’t worry, counters legendary impresario David Y.H. Lui, whose co-production with the Arts Club of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris in the 1970s is still noted as a watershed in Vancouver theatre.

“The thing I was most worried about is that all my neighbours would be people I rejected at auditions,” Lui said, “but that has not happened.

“This is not a building for retiring, grey-haired 90-year-olds waiting to push each other’s swing. It’s very dynamic, with a lot of energy, and people are really charged up about doing new things in that theatre.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

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Cheaper iPhone on way?

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007

New version expected to be based on Apple’s iPod Nano

Sun

Apple appears to be betting that consumers, such as this man who bought an iPhone in Santa Monica, Calif., late last month, would welcome a cheaper model of the phone -AFP

NEW YORK — Apple Inc. plans to launch a cheaper version of the iPhone in the fourth quarter that could be based on the ultra-slim iPod Nano music player, according to a JP Morgan report.

Kevin Chang, a JP Morgan analyst based in Taiwan, cited people in the supply channel he did not name and an application with the U.S Patent and Trademark office for his report.

Apple filed a patent application document dated July 5 that refers to a multifunctional handheld device with a circular touch pad control, similar to the Nano’s scroll wheel.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris declined comment.

Long lines of people turned out on June 29 when U.S. sales began for the iPhone, a mobile phone with a music player and Web browser. Analysts have estimated that sales in the first weekend were as high as 700,000 units.

Chang said a way to follow up the iPhone with a cheaper version would be to convert the Nano into a phone and price it at $300 or lower. The iPhone sells for $500 and $600, depending on storage space.

“We believe that iPod Nano will be converted into a phone because it’s probably the only way for Apple to launch a lower-end phone without severely cannibalizing iPod Nano,” he said,

noting that the new phone

could have “rather limited functionality.”

Another analyst, Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, said he expects Apple to bring out iPods that resemble iPhone, with features such as a touch-sensitive screen, later this year. Such products would help stop iPhone eating into iPod sales.

“We believe the iPhone reveals much of what the iPod will soon be,” Munster said in a note to clients, “iPods with some of the touchscreen features of the iPhone should lessen the impact of cannibalization.”

Kerris also declined comment on Munster’s note.

Because of the anticipated lower price for the Nano-based phone, 2008 sales of 30 million to 40 million units “is achievable,” according to Chang.

This would be a much larger volume than is expected of the first iPhone, Apple has targeted sales of 10 million units in 2008, which would give it a one-per cent share of the global market.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

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Recreational-property boom in BC to continue for varied reasons

Sunday, July 8th, 2007

Province

Recreational property is doubling in value every three to five years — and it’s no wonder, says the author of The Complete Guide to Buying and Owning Recreational Property in Canada.

“There is such a demand that it will keep on going up,” says Douglas Gray.

A former practicing lawyer, he is the Vancouver-based author of 24 best-selling Canadian books on real estate, small business and personal finance, as well as a consultant, columnist and speaker.

In his recent book on recreational property, he outlines the many factors driving buyer demand. Each has its own effect on the market:

– Boomers: Gray defines them as people born between 1945 and 1967. Because the tip of this group has just passed 60 years of age, lifestyle needs and wants are changing, he says.

People in this demographic are downsizing, cashing out on huge home values and buying a condo or smaller house — and taking that money to buy another, secondary home either in a warmer climate, or close to amenities that appeal to them, such as ski hills.

– Inheritance: Adding to the boomers’ wealth is the money they inherit from their parents. Some estimates say Canadian boomers are expected to inherit as much as $1 trillion in bequests over the next couple of decades.

nRetirement: Whether the boomers are retiring now or in the future, they’re buying now, says Gray.

– Quality of life: The need for a less hectic pace of life and getting away from the city stresses play a part in recreational property purchases, says Gray.

– Investors: Buying for investment is still a prime motivator for many people. Investors are a “hybrid mix,” says Gray. “Some buy for personal use and revenue generation, and some are 100-per-cent investment.”

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

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Check this out: Download your audio library books

Sunday, July 8th, 2007

Matthew Little
Province

The Vancouver Public Library is taking another step into the digital age with a collection of audio books patrons can download from home.

The collection includes 900 titles in genres from romance to business to self-help.

The files can be downloaded and played on a computer with free downloadable software. All selections can be played on a computer, most can be downloaded to an MP3 player and a few can be burned to CD.

“They can listen on the go,” said librarian Julie Douglas, who has The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson on her own MP3 player. “It’s surprising how easy it is.”

The audio books won’t play on iPods, but are expected to eventually.

Visit downloads.bclibrary.ca with your library card in hand to check it out.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

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Calgary buyers can take virtual tours of homes

Saturday, July 7th, 2007

Innovative website enables agents to show properties around the clock

Mario Toneguzzi
Sun

Re/Max agent Don Onda says a new concept in real estate marketing in which potential buyers can view properties online will save purchasers time. Photograph by : Lorraine Hjalte, CanWest News

CALGARY — It is being hailed as “cutting-edge technology” that will revolutionize real estate marketing throughout the country.

The Calgary Real Estate Board has unveiled what it is calling the “next generation in real estate marketing” as it has developed a program “that will transform the way houses are exposed and sold through open houses.”

Web Open Houses, offering virtual tours and video open houses, has been developed to help people sell their homes in Calgary’s competitive real estate market and make it easier for buyers to view the homes. Calgary’s is the first real estate board in Canada to offer an array of these products.

Included in the marketing package is a two-minute movie video of a property, which is a virtual online open house.

Don Onda, an agent with Re/Max Central in Calgary, called the concept “cutting-edge technology.”

“It’s an open house online. People can go right to MLS.ca or my website, which I promote from my bus benches and my marketing,” said Onda. “They can see a two-minute video of the property and a description by the realtor. It gives me a chance to present my listing and sell it. I’m just thrilled by it.

“I can have an open house 24/7 online. A two-minute video. It just helps me immensely, to be able to show all my listings. It’s just a tremendous selling tool and a tremendous benefit to the consumer to see a movie of the house.”

Brian McAsey, vice-president of White Rabbit Pictures, which is producing the videos, said the videos can be viewed through a wide assortment of media from websites to e-mails to cellphones and iPods.

“It seems to be a very popular sort of new way — revolutionary way — of doing this,” said McAsey.

“We hope it’s a new way of being able to show off a listing and being able to sit down and see something on a phone or a realtor being able to show off an iPod. . . . It’s only available right now in Calgary. We’re going national in a short while.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

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Calgary buyers can take virtual tours of homes

Saturday, July 7th, 2007

Innovative website enables agents to show properties around the clock

Mario Toneguzzi
Sun

Re/Max agent Don Onda says a new concept in real estate marketing in which potential buyers can view properties online will save purchasers time. Photograph by : Lorraine Hjalte, CanWest News

CALGARY — It is being hailed as “cutting-edge technology” that will revolutionize real estate marketing throughout the country.

The Calgary Real Estate Board has unveiled what it is calling the “next generation in real estate marketing” as it has developed a program “that will transform the way houses are exposed and sold through open houses.”

Web Open Houses, offering virtual tours and video open houses, has been developed to help people sell their homes in Calgary’s competitive real estate market and make it easier for buyers to view the homes. Calgary’s is the first real estate board in Canada to offer an array of these products.

Included in the marketing package is a two-minute movie video of a property, which is a virtual online open house.

Don Onda, an agent with Re/Max Central in Calgary, called the concept “cutting-edge technology.”

“It’s an open house online. People can go right to MLS.ca or my website, which I promote from my bus benches and my marketing,” said Onda. “They can see a two-minute video of the property and a description by the realtor. It gives me a chance to present my listing and sell it. I’m just thrilled by it.

“I can have an open house 24/7 online. A two-minute video. It just helps me immensely, to be able to show all my listings. It’s just a tremendous selling tool and a tremendous benefit to the consumer to see a movie of the house.”

Brian McAsey, vice-president of White Rabbit Pictures, which is producing the videos, said the videos can be viewed through a wide assortment of media from websites to e-mails to cellphones and iPods.

“It seems to be a very popular sort of new way — revolutionary way — of doing this,” said McAsey.

“We hope it’s a new way of being able to show off a listing and being able to sit down and see something on a phone or a realtor being able to show off an iPod. . . . It’s only available right now in Calgary. We’re going national in a short while.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

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