How To Make Money In Buffalo Real Estate: Sell to the Canadian Government

A lot of people think that Buffalo is a shithole. The images most Canadians receive from television signals out of Western New York are of fires in Tonawonda, Bills losses, shyster lawyers and crime. It is the provider of jokes, cheap shopping, cheap flights, cheap NHL games and wings.

If you dig under the surface Buffalo has many hidden gems. In the early 20th century Buffalo was one of the richest cities in America and it still has many of the benefits. It has a park system by the designer of New York’s Central Park. There are homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and other great American architects. One of the best art galleries in the world is located in what many people think is the armpit of America. While businesses and people fled south there are many grand homes and boulevards left standing.

Well if you are selling real estate in Buffalo you are lucky that the Canadian Government shares my positive view of Buffalo. Along with the consulate offices in Downtown Buffalo, the Canadian Government, in the name of “Her Majesty the Queen In Right of Canada”, own 5 homes totaling $1.6 million US. At current exchange rates that’s about 1.8 million in canuck bucks.

The Consul General of Canada in Buffalo still needed a home befitting such a coveted role. The government has obliged with the purchase of a $1.39 million dollar home in Buffalo’s Mansion Row. This 5038 Square foot home at 196 Soldiers Place, with six bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms is located 6 minutes from the Peace Bridge and Canadian soil, where homes in Fort Erie range in price from $1 to $50000.

This is a great bargain considering that during the last time the home was sold was in 2004 during the housing bubble for $540,000. It is assessed by the city of Buffalo at $625,000. Incredibly the house has increased $850,000 in five years during the midst of a recession caused by the crash in the value of homes. Homes in the area range from $200000 to a million while homes in the rest of the city continue to get demolished to avoid becoming crack dens.

It must be a hard gig being Buffalo Consul General for Stephen Brereton. His colleagues in other parts of the world deal with refugees or Canadian tried by dictatorships. The concerns in Buffalo range from drunken Canadians at Bills games, Wing related food poisoning and giving directions to the Peace Bridge. He has been a godsend for the dormant Buffalo real estate market and the previous owner of the home who could not be reached for comment. He was too busy laughing all the way to the bank.

Image taken from the Buffalo News

Great Moments In Canadian Basketball Starring Bill Wennington

It has been said that too often the blogosphere focuses on the negative aspects of society. Once in awhile to prove those negative nellies wrong we try to focus on the positive. One of these positive features is our “Canadian Icon” series which showcased basketball great Bill Wennington.

This was a controversial choice for some who felt that Wennington was a supporting player on the Chicago Bulls dynasty in the 90’s. They felt that any awkward, untalented and uncoordinated tall white guy could have replaced him on this team. Well the one minute featured in the video above is proof that not only did Wennington wear the uniform, he actually got it sweaty on occasion. “The Play” as it will surely be called also has to rank as one of the top 7 moments in Canadian Basketball history.

1. James Naismith Vandalizes a Springfield YMCA Gym Wall with a peach basket in 1891.
2. Mike Smrek plays a minute of garbage time as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the 1986 NBA First Round against the Spurs
3. Steve Nash wins the 2005 NBA MVP
4. “The Play”
5. Steve Nash wins the 2006 NBA MVP
6. Leo Rautins breaks his knee while passing the ball to Dr J in a 1983 preseason training session
7. In anticipation of being drafted in the 2003 NBA Draft, U of Hawaii Junior, Carl English rents out a downtown Toronto Club to celebrate. He goes undrafted.

Let's take you back to the first round of the 1995 NBA Playoff Series between the Charlotte Hornets and the Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan has made his return from his one year in baseball exile (or 1 year gambling related suspension). Wearing the number 45 Jordan is still working out the kinks. The play starts with the only recorded NBA rebound for Toni Kukoc. The Croatian, also known as "The Waiter", leads the fastbreak up the court and serves up an alley oop to crew cutted Canadian Centre Bill Wennington. Not only does Bill deliver the dunk, he also serves up a facial on Hornets star Alonzo Mourning. Remember this is 'Zo before the kidney operation when he was good.

Let's forget about the Hornets basket where Bill completely misplays 'Zo and return to the offensive end, where Jordan receives the pass from Kukoc. MJ, instead of taking his trademark fadeaway jumper which always resulted in a plus one looks to pass. Wennington on a backdoor cut, receives the pass from Jordan and delivers a turnaround dunk back into Mourning's face. It was not a "Good Mourning" for 'Zo.

That is 50 seconds of pure offensive basketball from Beef Wennington which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the epitome of the term "Canadian Icon".

Canadian Icon: Tim Hortons

Today we feature the latest in our series of people, places and things which make Canada one of the greatest nations in North America. A source of pride for any nation is it’s culinary traditions. The taste buds of the global community have been enriched by Greek Souvlaki, Italian Spaghetti, Indian Masala and American Hot Dogs. These menu items define the nation from which they have emerged and enhance the international standing of their countries. The Canadian contribution to the global kitchen emerged from the opportune partnership of an aging hockey star and a police officer. They would take tepid coffee and fattening food offerings, baked fresh in a central location and transported frozen to locations across this great country and worldwide from Buffalo to Detroit. This is the story of Tim Hortons.

Tim Horton was born in Northern Ontario mining country in 1930. The hardscrabble towns of Cochrane and Sudbury offered only a couple of options for a boy growing up in the midst of the Great Depression. Most of his school chums stayed in town, took a job in the mines and become miserable drunks. Unlike most of his peers Tim excelled on the frozen pond and was able to escape the fate of his peers and become a functional alcoholic. His fame on the ice grew and at the age of 18 Tim signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. After short stints at minor league affiliates St. Mikes and Pittsburgh, Tim soon became the bedrock of the Maple Leafs backline. At 5’10, Tim towered over the malnourished players in the six team NHL.

A serious injury in 1955 made Tim realize that his hockey career could be cut short at any time. This convinced him to parlay his fame into a series of harebrained business ventures to secure his future. A hamburger restaurant failed but would show the way for McDonalds and its founder, future Leaf Lanny McDonald. He opened a Studebaker dealership in 1962 but that was doomed to fail as Studebaker went out of business in 1959. A bar was opened but quickly closed when Tim and his wife drank all the booze.

A Worldwide Success!!! An outlet in Buffalo

Salvation would be found though in the coffee which the Leafs used to sober up Tim before each game. In 1964 Tim would open up a donut shop in nearby Hamilton. In 1967 he partnered with his best customer, a police officer named Ron Joyce. Together they would expand the chain to 40 stores until tragedy struck on a February morning in 1974. Horton had beaten the odds with a successful hockey and business career. He could not beat severe head trauma caused by flipping his Italian Sports Car. This was done while driving without a seatbelt at 160 km/h, after a game and under the influence of vodka and antidepressants.

The tragedy caused pain for many including his business partner Ron Joyce. He fought through the tears to quickly take control of the company with a quick payout to the grieving widow, who like her husband was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Lori Horton quickly drank through the money and tried to unsuccessfully use the courts to turn back the $1 million dollar deal.

Throughout the turmoil the chain quickly expanded and destroyed the competition like an éclair fuelled Wal-Mart. To quell a mutiny in Afghanistan the Canadian Army opened up an outlet in Kandahar. A politician must prove to Canadians they love their “Timmys” and cannot survive if it is suspected he is a Starbucks drinker. A person can lose their job if they bring their boss a Country Style Coffee. Every year manicurists are filled with millions who have damaged nail "Rolling Up the Rim" to win a free cruller. Even the term “double double” has entered the Canadian lexicon to define brown water flavoured with 2 creams and 2 sugars. Though the company was acquired by Americans and later spun off it still retains the down home charm acquired by its association to a long dead drunk driving Canadian Hero. Luckily a drunk driver doesn’t have to go far as there seems to be a Tim Hortons on every block.

This makes Tim Hortons….A Canadian Icon!

Canadian Icon : Jack Layton

Today we present the latest in our occasional series of profiles of the people, places and things that define Canada. Our great nation has been the beneficiary of some of the greatest political minds in history. The names reverberate in the memory of all Canadians who have fallen asleep during history class. They include giants like MacDonald, Laurier, Borden, Pearson, Douglas and Trudeau. They have built this country, led us through wars, catastrophes and social change. Their greatness has been honoured with schools, airports, dollar bills and poorly acted CBC movies. Jack Layton is not one of these men.

John Gilbert "Jack" Layton was born in 1950 in Hudson, Quebec, a small town just outside of Montreal. He comes from a family with a historic political pedigree including a Father of Confederation and a provincial cabinet minister. From a young age Jack was taught that a Layton has never been paid for an honest days work. The men of the Layton clan were known for their soft hands, and their bare heads. As the privileged son of a Conservative cabinet minister there was no person in a better positon to defend the interests of the working class then a boy raised by a series of poorly paid maids. His political savvy was first witnessed when he was elected student council president of his high school. His platform to promise things he could never achieve mirrored every member of the NDP except for Tommy Douglas.

Layton joined the NDP as it was a party he could most easily move up in the ranks. This prompted him to move to Toronto in 1970 after graduating from McGill University. The province of Quebec has never been fertile ground for the NDP and his barren head would have frozen from the cold in Saskatchewan. His French would also be considered astonishing, if he was in the third grade. Taking a job as a Professor at Ryerson, then a polytechnic institute, Jack would teach students forced to take Political Science as an elective. Having to work a grueling 15 hours a week was tough on Jack. He used his spare time to build contacts with hippies, layabouts and anyone else who could help him in his birthright to gain political power.

It took him 12 years but in 1982 Layton finally got elected to Toronto City Council. As a councilor Jack would achieve nothing but oppose anything that could help the city. His opposition to development, the Summer Olympics and the Skydome achieved nothing but adding red tape and sending the 1996 Olympics to Atlanta. While on City Council, Layton met and fell in love with the ethnic political connections of Olivia Chow. They would marry and get close to the working class by living in subsidized housing while earning $120000 a year. They were criticized but cleared of any wrong doing. They subsequently moved out but it had nothing to do with the fact that they were hypocrites.

A political dynamo Layton ran and lost for Mayor of Toronto in 1992 and lost twice in his runs for federal parliament. In his defense, his opponents were June Rowlands & Dennis Mills. Rowlands was an intellectual giant who is best known for banning the Barenaked Ladies for their offensive name. Mills was a drunk kook who was noted for his support of a flat tax and being in the backbenches. The NDP mantra of run until you win or die, was strong in Jack and he finally won a seat in 2004. It took him winning the NDP leadership to convince the electors of Toronto-Danforth to make him a winning candidate. The members of the NDP were convinced the right man to invigorate the party was a city councilor who was a three time loser for higher elected office.

It is as NDP leader that Jack Layton has become a true Canadian Icon. With his trademark porn mustache and winning personality he has taken the NDP to heights it has always achieved; the fourth most popular party in Parliament. In the 2007 election, with the economy crumbling, a boring Prime Minister and a Liberal leader no one liked or could understand, the NDP rocketed to 8 more seats in Parliament. In late 2007 he tried to orchestrate a Liberal-NDP coalition to overthrow the Conservative Harper government. This would have enabled him to become a cabinet minister, but this initiative like everything else Jack has tried failed. It did however manage to convince the Liberals to change leaders which will cost the NDP seats in the next election. Hopefully it does not cost Jack or his wife, also an MP, the massive parliamentary pension to fund their self satisfaction.

Jack Layton, a Canadian Icon.