TORONTO – If you're selling your home over the holidays, don’t go overboard with the decorations. A big Christmas tree may look nice but it makes the room look smaller which isn’t the impression you want to make for prospective buyers.

Keep the decorating simple.

"Potential buyers expect that there may be some decorations, but when they arrive they are trying to envision how they would spend their day-to-day lives in the home,"

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PICKERING - A better job will be done of reviewing the sale price of a home when it differs significantly from its assessed value, according to Dan Mathieson, Chair of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) Board of Directors.

"Our job is to make sure that the assessed value of a home is accurate. While the sale price is a significant indication of the accuracy of our values, it is not the only one. A

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$395 Flat Fee MLS Plan

TORONTO - Home@Ease has continued its string of innovative money-saving plans for the home sellers by introducing a "$395 Flat Fee MLS Plan". Compared to the traditional 5% commissions charged by real estate agents, the Home@Ease seller can save $22,226 in commissions and HST on the sale of a $400,000 home. The company stresses that this plan comes with Multiple Listings Service (MLS).

With the $395 Flat Fee MLS Plan the sellers do much of the work. The sellers decide how much buyer's agent commission (if any) they will offer when they list the property

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TORONTO/MISSISSAUGA (TNW) - Toronto's housing market roared back to life in the first half of 2010, with single-detached homes and condominium apartments and townhouses posting unprecedented double-digit gains in average price in most districts, according to a report released today by RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada. This is in stark contrast to the July 2009 RE/MAX report that found that values in approximately 80 per cent of neighbourhoods surveyed in Toronto had depreciated over the same period in 2008.

RE/MAX examined 63 Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) districts in the single-detached category between January and June of 2010 and found that 85.7 per cent

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CANADA - Scotiabank, CIBC, TD Canada Trust, and RBC Royal Bank have made moves to change their residential mortgage interest rates.

New rates for Canada Trust and Royal Bank were effective on Friday, June 25th, while those at Scotiabank and CIBC are effective as of Saturday, June 26th.

The new rates for TD Canada trust are as follows:

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CAAMP Foundation and Credit Canada join forces to promote mortgage industry knowledge

CANADA - A new gateway to financial literacy for Canadians has been opened thanks to a joint agreement between the CAAMP Foundation, the charitable arm of

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MONTREAL - Condos Vue, is pleased to announce that construction has begun on Phase 1 of the six-phase development.

The new condo project will be located on 250,000 sq. ft. at the corner of Mountain Sights and Jean Talon, a former industrial/commercial area that has recently been

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SEAFORTH, ONTARIO - MacPherson Builders Limited is pleased to announce that Carol Mitchell, Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and MP Ben Lobb will be on hand to officially open the new 18,000 square foot recreation centre complex at The Bridges of Seaforth on May 28, 2010 in Seaforth, Ontario.

The Bridges of Seaforth is an adult lifestyle community catering to the active 50 - plus homebuyer looking for an affordable custom home in a quiet countryside setting.

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Rate cap feature protects homeowners from rising prime rates.

CANADA - One of the biggest decisions facing Canadian homeowners is choosing between a fixed or variable-rate mortgage. RBC has re-introduced a third option, called

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