Just how hot IS the Winnipeg real estate market?

No, this isn't about how there were four or five listings that sold last month for over a million, although if everyone employed the following method, I can understand why.

Remember back in June 2011 (yes, that's right A YEAR AGO) when I wrote about the former bicycle shop on Selkirk Ave that was for sale? Well, at that time, it was $149,000. It is now a year later, an entire year that that property has sat there, unsold and now they want $169,000. Yup, $20,000 more.

Now, one could argue that real estate values in Winnipeg have gone up xx% in the last year and that the price increase makes sense blah blah blah. Sure, it makes sense if someone had've been willing to pony up the $149k last year. However since Winnipeggers are irrationally afraid of the North End known to be ridiculously cheap a touch frugal, do we really think that all of a sudden they will realize decide that this gem is worth $20k more simply because a year has passed?

Bonkers I say. So, to you prudent potential property purchaser of  prime North End real estate, let the record show that 354 Selkirk Ave will should probably take an offer of $149,000. Logic would dictate that at that price point last year it was over priced or it would have sold, so therefore whatever perceived increase in value there has been over the past year could perhaps reflect a purchase price of $149k to NOW be accurate.

It also appears as though 1070 McIvor has been sold - I am waiting for my invites to the final and first parties - clearly my blog was the catalyst for the sale.

Boats and Slurpee's

Just a quick post from me today (rare, enjoy it!). First, thankfully, the new main search that brings traffic to my site is the Paddlewheel Queen, or some variation of - much better than h00kers. Since folks seem to end up on here looking for river cruises in Winnipeg, enjoy this short lived link (expires today, sorry) for 50% off the Paddlewheel. You're welcome.

Next, for some reason 7-11 has been advertising the bejeezus out of Free Slurpee Day I seem to hear it mentioned every few minutes on the radio. Now, first of all, Winnipeggers don't need to be told about free Slurpee's, second, why on earth did they move free Slurpee day? Yes, yes, yes, one could argue that's why they're advertising it, but it still seems silly to me, we are going to go to Sev without advertising, and no true Winnipegger wants that dinky little free Slurpee anyway - we want the real thing.

New cup has poor design, too top heavy!

For those of you not in love with the sweet sugary nectar that is a Slurpee, free Slurpee day is usually July 11th, or 7-11 if you will. That makes sense, this does not. In other Slurpee news, for those of you that missed my breaking news tweet the other day, it seems as though 7-11 has changed the shape of the small clear cup. This my friends is not a good thing. The new cup is top heavy and for those of us without cup holders (ok, there is a small chance that this is only vintage VW owners, but I know a lots of those folks) it spells disaster. Plus, any true Slurpee aficionado will have made sure the car they purchased fit Slurpee cups in the existing cupholders before they bought their car. For the record, the clerk at Sev didn't even bat an eyelash when I was on my test drive and asked to borrow a cup for a second to check....

I am an evil genius

Okay, first, lets get this out of the way - I'm sure someone has touched on this, as that's the kind of crowd you are, but I missed it if you did, so please enlighten me: if the new gas tax that was added last Monday was 2.5c/litre, why did all the gas prices go up 2.SIX cents??? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Now, I am nowhere near the caliber of these guys, who took extreme advantage of a program that American Airlines offered, getting millions of dollars in value out of a one time, albeit fairly hefty, investment. I also can't believe that they seemed to earn points in the loyalty reward program on top of unlimited "free" first class flights. For those of you that think flying is a chore and who would want to do that anyway, let me tell ya, as someone who has been lucky enough to fly just Business Class (not First) it no longer really becomes a chore. The ability to check in basically as late as possible, then any of that pesky waiting time is spent in a room with any amenity you might want for free (no $15 bland sandwiches here folks) and especially now as airlines are reconfiguring their planes, any long haul flight will almost certainly have a lay flat bed to rest your pretty little head. Oh and bad airline food? Not really - first class folks get food that you can identify, and as much of it as they want. -->This girl<-- got real Haagen Dazs ice cream bars when the good folk at Cathay Pacific were good enough to bump me up. The only real downside to this whole thing was that they were flying a North American airline rather than and Asian one. Seriously, if ever given a chance always fly an Asian airline, the stewardesses and counter staff are actually kind of... what's that word... oh yes, FRIENDLY (note, this is more a slag at United and Air Canada rather than WestJet, who are generally quite pleasant, however have limited international destinations).

One last side note before I get to my real point, I've added flying "Upper Class" on Virgin Atlantic to my bucket list, ideally departing London Heathrow. They send a car to pick you up, you check in from the car, you get a separate security channel to whisk you behind security to their Clubhouse. Their Clubhouse offers anything you could possibly want, a fully stocked bar with real cocktails not just ________ and Coke. Hungry? Order whatever you want to eat, no cold buffet here like in the Star Alliance lounge. What's that? Need a haircut? Manicure? Maybe a massage is more your style? Seriously, check out all the wonderful things on offer. If I have any mysterious benefactors out there who would like to help me indulge in this I would be forever grateful. Maybe Richard Branson needs a Canadian reviewer???

So moving on to things that are attainable. The Aeroplan Star Challenge. I was sent a nifty little email telling me that up to 16,500 Aeroplan miles were up for grabs this month. After reading the fine print (someone please feel free to read it and break my heart or confirm my dreams) it seems that all I need to do is make 33 purchases over the next month to get my 66 stars (I have an Aeroplan Visa so I get an automatic 5 stars). Now, further to that, it seems as though there is no minimum purchase required for any of these transactions. Which means that I could buy 33 one dollar items at Rexall, go to Sobeys 33 times and spend two bucks (Sobeys points convert at two to one) or as part of my goal, purchase, ahem,  23 separate 45's off eBay, signing in through the eStore first. So basically, if I didn't have the financial card, I would need to make 35 purchases, which in theory means that for $39.92 ($35 plus taxes, the dollar needs to be pre-tax I think at Rexall) I could get 16,500 Aeroplan points, which is enough for a flight to Toronto!

See. Evil Genius.

If I paid half as much attention to the stock market as I do customer loyalty programs I would be a very very wealthy woman. Over the years I have taken 15 free flights, including Business Class to South America and tickets to London and Central America all with Airmiles and Aeroplan.

2012 Winnipeg Bike Auction

That's right - it's that time already again - this weekend in fact! The 2012 Winnipeg bike auction will be held this Saturday April 28th and Sunday April 29th out in the boonies Charleswood. According to the link to the Associated Auto Auction website, there will be over 700 bikes available. That means the police are recovering approximately 2 bikes a day. How are there that many unclaimed bikes per year?? Probably because people like me don't take my own advice (as given in the post last year about the auction) and register their bikes for the $5. Seriously, someone please make sure I do that this year. Call 311 for more information on that if you need. Also, this year apparently they have partnered with WRENCH to provide some of the bikes - take a minute to check out their website an learn a bit more about this great non-profit.

Because clearly you are all clamouring to know exactly how my brain works, that's the song that plays when I hear the word bicycle.

And this, is what I hear every time someone talks about Twitter and mentions a tweet:
Yes, my brain is a terrifying place.

Merry Christmas* to me.

Is it wrong that this is the time of year that makes me want to shop - for myself? It's the Winnipegger in me, but I can't seem to pass up all the bonus offers that retailers offer this time of year. I'm not the biggest fan of giving gift cards to other people, most of the time it seems fairly impersonal; however, giving them to myself is just good financial planning.

For example, fude, one of my favourite places to nosh, is having their annual Christmas offer, in fact I think this one is better than usual - if I buy myself a $100 gift card, they will throw in a $50 bonus one. So, if I basically pre-pay for a place that I'm going to eat at anyway, I get myself a free dinner in the process.

All sorts of places do bonus offers this time of year (I'm going to cite examples from previous years), so if you know you're going to eat at McDonald's anyway throughout the year, why not buy the gift card and get the bonus Big Mac. Offers like that are pretty common at fast food places, but you're not limited to fast food - Tony Roma's will throw in a bottle of their signature BBQ sauce, and I think Boston Pizza does something every year as well. Do you watch movies? Well, buy yourself a Cineplex gift card and get yourself their bonus coupons - one of them was a % off coupon for Chapters which you can use on yourself or discount your Christmas present shopping.

As if we don't get enough emails already, but signing up for those weekly ad reminders and such can bring about some pretty great deals as well - bonus airmiles from Safeway for buying things like gift cards can help make it worth it. And if you are extra crazy (like me) then you know that when you buy gift cards at Safeway, not only do you earn airmiles on the total purchase, but if you have an Aerogold Visa you also get 1.5 times the Aeroplan points...

Does anyone else do this? I mean it makes November/December particularly expensive, but the rest of the year benefits.

*It is okay to start talking about Christmas now because Egg Nog is now in store. Has anyone else ever noticed that the French side of Egg Nog basically translates as Chicken Milk?

Call me a prude but....

...I would think most people would prefer to buy their sex toys and games from the privacy of their own home. And of course being Winnipeggers, we would want to price compare - you can't beat online shopping for that!

I'm referring of course to the announcement that Discreet Boutique is closing their doors. According to the article in the FreeP the owner is blaming the demise on "harassment from downtown panhandlers". Downtown pandhandlers have been all over the news lately, scaring away Air Canada employees from their hotels is another of their trademarks, perhaps if only those cranky uptight Air Canada employees had been able to make it to Discreet Boutique to purchase some "relaxation aids" then we might not even be in the position of them talking about striking (as usual). My disdain for the general attitude of Air Canada employees aside, I just find it hard to believe that panhandlers have scared away all the delicate flowers wanting to purchase sex toys in Winnipeg.

In Winnipeg, where local gossip travelled at the speed of light (okay, maybe the speed of a cross-town bus) long before facebook, if you were buying something at DB with that gift certificate that you won at a social to get your rocks off, chances are, someone saw you; that's one of the drawbacks endearing qualities of a city like Winnipeg. Zero anonymity. I mean, most of us have probably stopped in to DB at some point, or maybe you just went to Dominion News as a giggling teenager to look at the various wiggling battery operated devices, or for the truly less adventurous, the 80's/90's mall staple - San Francisco. On a side note, did you know that Dominion News sells, y'know, like magazines? I went in there quasi-recently to find a small print magazine - totally forgot to look for dildos while I was there - maybe they don't even carry them anymore?!

We live in a society that doesn't freely talk about sex and masturbation, it's just not what we do for the most part. While respectable men and women, rich and poor may have shopped at DB over the years, the freedom to discreetly shop for these things from home on the internet without accidentally running into another mom from the PTA bakesale was probably what killed DB off rather than  the panhandlers. I mean, if you're willing to risk everyone in Winnipeg finding out what your sexual predilections are, then someone asking you for a dollar isn't going to keep you away.

Cheap river tour, Picnic in the Park

Well, we all know Winnipeg Girl is a fan of things that are cheap, or even better, free! I present you with both. Thanks to poor advertising done by the MS River Rouge (and people looking for the Paddlewheel Queen, which no longer exists) it seems from the stats that I am the go to place for information river tours. So, may I (not me of course) offer you - half price weekday river tours! I'm a generous sort. Click here to go to the Swarm Jam site. You might as well, you were looking for their hours anyway. Oh, coupons, how I love thee.

As for FREE! check out Picnic in the Park this Saturday at St. John's Park. It starts at 11 and there is entertainment throughout the afternoon, and even better, FREE food! Although, probably best not to get me started on the hundreds and hundreds of water and juice bottles that will be used. I will most certainly be at Picnic in the Park, since it's a hop skip and a jump from my place. I might actually walk there. Crazy talk, I know.

For my dear suburban readers, St. John's Park is the park on Main St. just north of Redwood Ave, and next to the Ukrainian-Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral. The park is way bigger than it looks from Main St. and actually quite a little treasure.

As a random coincidence note, this park is also roughly where you catch the River Rouge (but the coupon is only good for weekdays)
See you there!

In the name of research

Firstly, apologies to all the eager fans following the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes will they or won't they move saga who have ended up on my blog thanks to Google. My little blog was clearly not what you were looking for but hey, I hope I suckered you into reading a post or two. Since I may have suckered a few more in today with my sneaky choice words, take the time to read Spring Cleaning and Laughter, the best medicine (the video is pretty great).

Ok, enough of my shameless self-promotion and on to all things Winnipeg. Bargains. What does everyone think of all these new deal websites (Groupon, SwarmJam, Kijiji Daily Deals etc.) that have popping up? Now these sites are certainly not exclusive to Winnipeg and I have absolutely zero way of knowing if the population here purchases more than the average or not, but Winnipeggers do love a bargain. I came across a link somewhere for OneSprout which is a really handy service that will email you the deals from ALL of the various sites daily, and you can choose to have just new deals sent or have them remind you of all the current deals.

Believe it or not this leads me to a point. A North End point (I do that a lot). One of the deals available for about another day or so is 50% off an $80 voucher for Ideal Electric on Selkirk Ave.

Image borrowed from West End Dumplings

 So, in the name of journalistic integrity, and because quite frankly it has been on my to-do list for ages, I popped in there this afternoon to take a look. Ideal Electric's website tells me that they have been in business since 1924 and although their showroom isn't the flashiest in town they apparently do quite the brisk business including a lot of large orders for hotels and the like.  My favourites were some of the large art-deco inspired glass shades that they had hanging up. The SwarmJam offer is for a custom shade and apparently they can make one with most fabrics that you might bring in to them, or you can select from what they have - so head on down to Mitchell's and hunt through their retro fabrics for an extra unique shade!

Should you be looking for something a little more cultured, Groupon also has 46% off tickets to the upcoming Royal Winnipeg Ballet show "Bright Lights, Big City" with tickets starting at $44. What is kind of neat with many of these sites is that you can purchase discounts for online offers - so sometimes you don't actually have to live in the city something is offered in to take advantage. I bought a $100 credit for an online photo book from Picaboo for only $35 through the Chicago Groupon site. Should you decide to buy something from Groupon, do Winnipeg Girl a favour and get to the Groupon site from  here as I will get a $20 credit for the next thing I buy from Groupon (if you buy something by May 2nd, otherwise I get a $10 credit which is still awesome!).  Did I mention that the RWB tickets are through Groupon????

So far I think I'm a fan of these sites - I've just got the emails coming from OneSprout - I opt out of all the emails from the individual companies to reduce clutter in the inbox. My deals so far include: $0.10 for a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger from Wendy's (yup, ten cents), $20 for $40 of food at the Peasant Bakery, $15 for $30 worth of food at Ellice Cafe, $35 for $100 worth of Photobooks at Picaboo and the one I'm really excited to use: $39 for 4 hours worth of Eco-Friendly cleaning.

Winnipeg Love Hate Book

A suggestion for anyone thinking of buying the wonderful Winnipeg Love Hate book - keep an eye out and Google for Blurb Groupons (you can buy from any city) - you could save yourself quite a few bucks on the book.

Well, that's it for now, hoping that I react a little faster to the next coupon for a $0.30 ice cream cone (from Spotted Cow) as I will also have no problem researching that. I'm good like that.

Bad hippie, go back to your VW! Aka, bike auction this weekend

It's that time of year again - you can buy back your stolen bike (or someone else's!) The 2011 Bike auction is this weekend and with any luck, it will be warm enough in a few months to actually use your new bike.  Haul your butt on down to the far reaches of Charleswood for some un-godly hour on a weekend and get yourself a shiny (probably not) new (probably not) toy. If you're too lazy to click the link, Google 4230 Ridgewood Ave for directions - and bring $2.00 for parking (or be a cheapskate and park on one of the nearby streets and walk - just don't fall into one of the famous ditches!)

I hear bikes are a popular way to get around, this is one of the ways that I score a giant "F" in the ways of the modern hippie. No, it's not because I don't think that we have adequate infrastructure for bikes or a lack of bike lanes, it's because for the most part I like to get places in warmth and comfort in a timely manner. I admire those who are tenacious enough traverse our streets and climate in the name of Mother Earth. I prefer to use cloth bags to put my groceries in the trunk of my car. With heated seats. I also work two jobs and on the days that the weather might be acceptable to bike, I'm sure as heck not going to peddle my ass all over town (oh look, and amusing typo/pun) and arrive at job #2 all hot and sweaty. On those days, I take the convertible.  I do however, do my very best to respect the cyclists out there and try to always do a proper lane change to go around them rather than forcing them into the potholes curb. Of course, if at the next red light they zoom up along the curb and I have to pass them again.....

I do enjoy other such stereotypical hippie activities as traipsing about the planet with a backpack and flip-flops, driving old VW's (see, hippies don't hate all vehicles!), wearing vintage/used clothing, eating ethnic food and spending days loafing about at parks and festivals.

I do have a bike, a super sweet 1964 Eaton's Glider in minty mint mint condition (and not just because I don't use it everyday) with whitewall tires and original leather bag under the seat and I didn't realize I could register for a mere $5 - which means that the Police will give it back to me if they ever find it. Email 311 for more information. A slurpee fits nicely in its basket.

Dear National Retailers...

Hi there giant corporation, I live in Winnipeg, you may have heard of us before; Winterpeg, Manisnowba?  While I appreciate you and your glossy weekly circulars (actually, those are bad unless you're using paper from sustainable forests or recycled paper or whatever the current greener trend is) and your spam informative emails that you send me (I'm a points and deal junkie - there are some good things in your emails. SOME. Let's strive for quality not quantity please), I would like to tell you a little about our climate.

We still have snow.

Oh, and... we still have snow.  So, while I may be in need of a grass trimmer and grass seed in the future, I don't really need it now.  Canadian Tire, I'm tempted by your sale on Chest Waders, as we have an impending flood, however I am unlikely to need home car wash supplies until it stops going below zero at night. I think that maybe you may have meant those Chest Waders for fishing, which if I tried to stand in a lake or river now I would freeze to death, or be swept away to it.

Replacing my patio furniture seems like a great idea, however we will have to wait until I can get the old stuff out of the ice in the back yard.  For this I will grant you the advertisement of outdoor heaters - those I could really use.  Maybe if I stand close enough to those heaters I might need the sunscreen that Rexall has a special on. Sunscreen. In April.

While I'm at it, please do not try to sell me Christmas decorations before Halloween and Valentine hearts and chocolates should not be seen starting on boxing day. Of course, if you understood the Winnipeg market at all you would know that we all bought our new patio furniture last fall when it was on clearance and we can buy seasonal chocolates and candies at *Leader's anytime for about half the price.

Sincerely,
Winnipeg Girl

*That link will take you to a good forum that tells you a bit about Leader's, however if you're too lazy busy to check it out, the short version is this: CHEAP. CHOCOLATE. CANDY. CASH (as in bring it, they don't take cards). 279 Sutherland, almost unmarked door, use secret code words "North End Gem" to gain access.

Recycle this, 10% Tuesday

Today was recycling day in my own little part of the city and I'm not going to lie, I was worried. Dragging the recycling to the back lane in the throes of winter is not my strong suit. Most of it went out last week, but not all, in part because I think there was 3 weeks worth to go out last week. So I've been making the effort over the last week to drag the random cardboard boxes full of recyclables to the back lane. I'm lucky in that the garage next to mine isn't being used right now, so I was able to start stockpiling my boxes there, eagerly awaiting Recycling Day 4.

It arrived. Well, actually, first last night arrived. I pulled into the garage, looked next door, was please that the local scavenger guys have learned that there are no beer cans in my recyclables, thus there is no need to empty the boxes all over the ground, and then I remembered that the actual blue box itself was still inside. I don't know if you were out last night, but it was freaking cold. There was no hope of me going into the warmth of the house and then coming back out again. Fast forward to this morning. I'm pulling out of the garage and see the big pile of recycling. Craptastic. Well, I'm certainly not pulling back in the garage, turning off the car, unlocking the garage door, unlocking the house and then dragging the blue box out to the back lane. So, I figured that it would just have to sit there another week.

*sound the angels* Well, miracle of miracles, they still took it all away!! Hooray!!  I was fairly certain that there was some bizzare rule that involved the colour blue and if the blue box or a blue bag wasn't also out there, they wouldn't touch it. You know, in case the multiple cardboard boxes full of plastic and cans  and more cardboard weren't actually meant for them.

Sadly, I am one of only about 4 people in my back lane that recycles (we'll save the "is recycling really worth it when you factor in how far they ship it all etc etc" discussion for another time) and I give absolute credit to the guys in the truck for remembering that I'm one of them and possibly breaking protocol to pick up my stuff. A genuine thank you. Now who wants to bring my blue box out for me next week?

Today was Customer Appreciation Day at Safeway - now, since I have a steady diet of mostly cereal, this isn't a day that normally does much for me. However, today was an exception; I even remembered to bring my reusable bags.  I won't bother to tell you what I bought because it just makes me look like a crazy single woman who lives with her cat* but I will tell you that in an effort to not frustrate others I used the self-checkout so that I could be obsessive and pack everything into my bags and not hold up the line behind me. Of course my plan backfired somewhat.  You see, this is because I also had coupons, 10% Tuesday just wasn't good enough for me (I am a Winnipegger after all!) and if you have coupons you need the self-checkout monitor.

The employee who had the thankless job of monitoring all of us self-checkout folks (which really isn't self-checkout by the way, bloody machine rejects you every time you use one of your own bags and you have to wait for them to override it) claimed she had never seen so many. She clearly needs to watch that extreme couponing show. I only had 16 coupons, and 13 of them were the same. I did get 40 bonus airmiles (coupon), and saved an extra $15 off my 10% Tuesday shopping trip.

*I really do only have one cat and no rocking chair.