Matt Grady, Moving Expert

There are likely many real estate agents in your area to pick from so you may be wondering how to pick the best person to suit your needs.

You have likely thought about the reduced cleaning time, lower property taxes, and less grass to cut. These are all great things, but there are many things to consider prior to downsizing.

There are a few key things to consider prior to deciding whether to rent or purchase a home. There are many factors at play, but here are a few key questions to ask yourself.

Here are some tips to get your landscaping headed in the right direction with your new home’s outdoor spaces.

Packing your books and clothes may seem simple, but packing your electronics can take some extra time and care.

It is key to invest in the right person for the job as they will spend plenty of time in your home and will be working on your dime.

The day you move into your new home will likely be both exciting and stressful. Here is a checklist to follow to guide your first hours at your new home.

You’ve found your storage unit and are ready to pack in all your belongings to be stored away for the season. You start to bring in all the boxes of items to be put away and begin to pile them as high as you can in whatever order you grab them. But wait. There is actually a strategy to the packing process. Make your life easier when it comes to packing and unpacking your valuables to ensure you get back exactly what you put away, in the condition you left it.

The housing market nowadays is stocked full of homes waiting to be bought up. So how do you make yours stand out from the rest? Why make any changes to the house when you’re just going to sell it and move on to your next home? Sometimes, it’s necessary to do some renovations on your house in order to sell it, hopefully with a better price tag attached to it. Certain renovations can increase the value of your home, allow you to appropriately price your home at a higher value on the market. You may need to fix and update some appliances, or maybe you just need a fresh coat of paint to brighten up the room. By knowing your market and what people are looking for, you can make your home appeal to the potential buyers and make it move in ready for the next family who gets to enjoy it.

In today’s world, where technology seems to be growing and adapting with each passing day, the generation entering the workforce have a unique opportunity in the flexibility of how and where they work. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for the option to work remotely to be presented. With this new form of freedom, millennials can put more thought into where they want to put down roots and what city or town they want to call home. There are many factors to be considered when choosing where to live as a millennial. Though there is the freedom to work from home or the local coffee shop, there needs to be access to the internet, available cell service, access to transportation for potential travel to the company or clients if necessary, as well as affordability among other necessities. In Canada, five cities stand out as the top 5 to check all the boxes for work and play.

With real estate prices climbing steadily in many markets across the country, Canadian homeowners and homebuyers are looking for ways to add value or much-needed living space to their homes. A steady diet of home reno shows has created a booming home renovation industry, and to many Canadians the opportunity to renovate can be one of the most exciting aspects of owning a home.

In last last article of this series we examined the first step in preparing for a basement renovation: understanding your basement’s function and materials. This week, we’re moving on to the next step in any successful basement project - mapping the space.

Shelving can be a pertinent tool in keeping your home clean and organized. It can also be used to improve and enhance the aesthetic of your home. Nowadays, shelving is common in many rooms for both function and design. There are many different types and styles of shelving to choose from. Use this list to help you decide which shelving is best suited to your needs.

Tetris – yes, that video game of fitting blocks together the ancients is what you should really have in mind when it comes time to load your truck or storage unit with your belongings. Your storage items come in many shapes and sizes, just like Tetris blocks, and just like the best way to beat Tetris, fitting them together as tightly as possible is also the best way to optimize storage. In other words, it’s the best way to save space and prevent your items from shifting and being damaged.

As we approach the cooler weather and the changing of the leaves, the last thing you want to be looking at is your summer items. Love or hate the cooler weather; it’s going to come! What better way to make more room and save the wear and tear of your summer goods than with a storage unit. Here are some ways to make the most of your storage unit during the fall.

When you think of self storage, you usually think of a place to put your overflowing belongings or unused seasonal valuables. However, this is just one way to use self storage. Some people have come up with creative and out of the box ideas and discovered alternative ways of getting the most out of their storage unit. From work spaces to extended rooms you can’t fit at home, your self storage unit can be so much more than a place to put your old couch and dining set.

After much thought, you have decided that a storage unit is right for your needs! But just like most things in life, there is no “One size fits all.” You might be left wondering how do I pick the right sized unit to fit my needs? A few factors need to go into your decision making. For instance, what do you intend to store? For how long? Can you foresee the need for storage down the road? It can seem pretty intimidating but picking the right size of storage unit doesn’t have to be when you follow these steps.

​Winter is almost over, and it’s time to spring-clean. There is so much junk we no longer need once it begins getting warm out. From our winter clothes and boots, to our snow tires and skis, we all know how expensive proper winter equipment can be. We don’t want to find our clothes moldy, or our sleighs rusty once it starts to get cold again, so it’s very important to know how to store your winter equipment to avoid damages.

Your foyer is the very first thing you see when you walk into your home and therefore it should receive the same amount of care and consideration as any other room in your home! Those first few steps inside can seem to get away from you so easily- suddenly there are mountains of shoes and jackets everything and you can’t seem to find your keys. But with a little work, this space can become anything you want it to be- and keep your keys in plain sight at all time.

The first step is to figure out exactly what you want to keep in your home, what you want to transfer to your storage locker and finally what you can throw out or donate. Do you really need that summer dress taking up space in the middle of winter?  You can carefully place all of your summer clothes into a box and then put them into yo Parksville, Victoria, Kamloops, Coquitlam, Surrey, Langley, Vernon or Mission personal storage locker for the winter months.

Are you about to move? Do you have items you need to store? Are you renting a self-storage unit for your belongings? An important part of the process is the – yes, we know – annoying task of having to pack your items in boxes. The trick to packing boxes well is...

Often, self-storage is considered a useful resource for households looking for additional storage space during a move or renovation, or a whole host of other reasons. One of the newest uses for self-storage though has come from the business sector: more and more companies are turning to storage facilities and portable storage solutions to increase their space in an economical manner.

If you’re a business that’s running out of space to store your products, supplies, equipment, or any other items, then this is probably a good problem to have, as your business must be heading in the right direction. Whether good or bad, a problem is something that requires a solution, and for this problem, the best solution you can find is self-storage.

When family and friends need help, it is always a good thing to step up and offer them a hand. That is, at least, as long as this help you provide doesn’t cost any great expense. Always provide help if you can, of course, but be sure to understand any consequences you may be faced with when offering this help. This is important if you have friends or family asking you to share space in your self storage unit.

Granted, determining that you need to rent a storage unit to safely store your belongings is as simple as recognizing you don’t have any more space in your garage, home or office building. However, the same cannot be said about booking a storage unit that needs to be placed in a moving truck to be transported. If you were to rent the first storage unit you come across, then there would be issues of establishing whether the truck is big enough to require a single run.

Whether you’re travelling for an extended period, renovating your house, downsizing, decluttering, storing your boat or RV for the winter, adding space for your business’ inventory, a contractor storing supplies and equipment, or requiring extra space for a whole host of other reasons, you’re on the market to rent a self-storage unit.

It’s a solution to so many problems. You’re moving, renovating, decluttering, storing off-season equipment, adding space for your business’ inventory, protecting your car for the winter, or a thousand other possibilities, but whatever your project, self storage offers an economical solution.

It is a common misunderstanding that a self storage facility’s building insurance covers the contents of their tenants’ storage belongings; this is not, in fact, the case. While the facility requires insurance to protect the building, so do the tenants require insurance to protect their belongings contained within the facility.

Appliances are not inexpensive household items. They’re a costly expense, so if you’ve upgraded your appliances or are moving homes, then keeping the old appliances in self storage is probably a wise idea – at least until you can arrange a buyer for them.