Vern McClelland's (mccl) Blog

Bits and Pieces - Observations about 2008  I was on my way to a meeting and crested the hill overlooking the North Saskatchewan River.  The valley was completely filled with fog.  I hesitated; there were a lot of heavy trucks that needed to cross the bridge, some would be going faster than normal...

Live Life Abundantly My wife and I were guests last week at a Christmas supper for area seniors. Being there with Dad, and seeing him surrounded by old friends and neighbours, reminded me of all things that our generation takes for granted - conveniences like television, computers, and cell phone...

Fad or Function? It's the time of year that many homeowners bring out the tape measures, paper, and pencils in an attempt to design / redesign the perfect house that will meet all the needs their families have.  The first question is "Do we need it?" followed by "Can we afford it?" It is easy to ...

Aching Knees and Other Facts of Life 335 days.  That was how long it took us to think through a decision to build a new home on the farm, design it, get the banker on side, retain the general contractor, watch construction, and move in.  These days that is pretty well a record, but never again wi...

Life in a Small Town Many of our readers know that my wife and I live in on a farm NE of Maidstone, a community of approximately 1,200 people fifty kilometers east of Lloydminster on the Yellowhead.  It is your typical small Saskatchewan town, but one that boasts both oil and agriculture as prima...

100 in Review   Two years ago I sat down with Deanna Reschny, sales manager for the Lloydminster Source, and Robyn Newstead, accredited buyer's agent with the McClelland Group, in a local coffee shop to talk about the concept of writing a weekly commentary on Western Canadian real estate.  It wou...

Press Release - For Immediate Release Lloydminster, AB - November 18, 2008   New service allows for online bids on Midwest real estate from anywhere in the world!  Canada's first online real estate auction site supported by professional advice from real estate brokerages, www.bid4realestate.ca , ...

Canada's Newest Real Estate Tools    Last week we discussed the many ways in which real estate is bought, sold or leased including the Multiple Listing Service, exclusive listings, for sale by owner, trades, and live auction. The Internet and personal computers has become increasingly pervasive i...

Going Going Gone    There are many ways in which real estate can be bought, sold or leased.  By far the most popular today is using the assistance of a professional Realtor to place the property on the Multiple Listing Service.  Real estate brokerages created this system in order to share informa...

Now is the Time    We may not be able to do anything about the financial problems of our neighbours to the south, their angst over who will be leading them the next four years, the difficult war that has drained trillions of dollars from their economy, but we can dispassionately examine what is h...